Stone

"Smushy crisp" -- a description from someone else's post. And a perfect description at that. That's just how I like it. Not too crisp, or it dries out my mouth. Not too rare or, well, it's just gross. How do you like your bacon? (Other than plentiful.)

Two replies to my "simply sublime" post got me thinking again. First -- what food(s) do you love now, but hated growing up? For me, it's olives and tomatoes. I used to hate tomatoes unless they were buried in a sandwish dripping with mustard and mayo. Now, I could eat a good tomato like an apple, with just a little salt. As for olives, I could never understand what all the fuss was about. People loved them, but I found the flavor of an olive so harsh and stinging that I steered clear. When I was vacationing in Croatia, however, there were bowls of olives on every dinner table, so I just kept popping them into my mouth. Now, I love them. (Although I still don't much like too many of them in my meals. Puttanesca, for example, is much too strong for me.)

I admit it. I don't really know what "sublime" means when, as Shaw points out, it appears in just about every food review. So lets stick with simple. What's your simplest food pleasure? For me it's a toasted sesame bagel with real melted butter. I grew up on margarine, so it wasn't until later in life that I discovered the joys of real butter. It tastes like a cool, spring afternoon. And the bagel is its perfect vehicle. Warm, soft, and delicately chewy, with a gentle crunch and a sublime hint of bitterness from the toaster. It doesn't get much easier or better. (And yes, a good toasted Jewish rye will substitute nicely.) For another twist, sometimes I stick the bagel in a 400 degree oven and leave it in for 10 minutes. When it comes out (use a hand-towel!) the crust is well toasted and crunchy (almost like bagel chips), but the inside is moist, soft and piping hot. A great combination.

Yes. Fried cubes of tofu are always a decent substitute for paneer (which I've tried to make a few times, but it always crumbles apart).

I find the easiest way to enjoy tofu is to press out as much moisture as possible, cube it (I'm sure large, thick slices work find) and fry it. Get the oil very hot before putting in the tofu or it will stick and crumble. The tofu will take on a consistency more palatable to us in the West. You're still not going to get much flavor out of plain tofu though, so it depends on what you do with it. (I wouldn't expect it to be much good beyond Tofu Parmesan, etc.) Another option is to crumble it and saute it -- use more oil than you would ordinarily use. It then takes on the qualities of ground beef (but not the color or flavor). Someone on the board suggested that you freeze the tofu before crumbling.

I was having a big BBQ and one person I did not much know or like told me she would like a veggie burger. I suggested she bring one, and she started whining about how if I was having a party the least I could do . . . . So I made one. It was simple. I was delicious. I started with a patty of lean ground chuck. Grilled it to perfection. And added a thick slice of tomato. Damn I'm a good cook.

I love skate. I find it's texture similar to a thin hanger steak. The only time I didn't love it was, surprisingly, at Le Bernardin. It was in a thin rasberry sauce that was almost a sweet vinegrette. Bad choice for me. But lighted floured and sauteed in butter -- excellent.

I'm finally heading back to K-Du after 14 years. Someone told me that KC's is gone. What are the new hot-spots? Any recommendations?

Can someone send me a good recipe? This is another dish that I loved in NY and can't find a decent example in San Francisco. (I can't even begin to describe how disgusting they make it out here.) I actually wrote my favorite restaurant in NY and begged for the recipe, but they ignored me. Please!

couldn't get past the decor. It's like an acid-trip Dali painting a Jules Verne theme.

Steve -- you just described every non-burrito restaurant in San Francisco. Except you forgot the mango chutney. Can't go anywhere in this town without them tossing mango chutney at you. (Although sometimes they get sneaky and call it mango coulis. The Southwestern fusion places call it mango salsa.)

My Mom was in from New York recently and she took some colleagues there for dinner. They all thought it was one of the best meals of their lives, and said the service was spectacular.

I guess that was my problem. I gave it two years and ditched it when I moved.

Has anyone tried to grow lemongrass? A few years back I ordered from fresh herbs from Lingles Herbs including lemon grass. (By the way, if you want fresh herbs, they sell and deliver healthy seedless of almost anything you can imagine.) The lemongrass just grew as a large clump of grass. No stalks. I put in the largest pot I could find (as advised by Linlges), but still no stalks. Anyone else try this?

o.k. I'm working on the Molto recipe right now. Not doing too well, I'm afraid. I've got a pot full of browned, ground meat (maybe I started with a half pound too much) swimming in a reddish watery "broth". Nothing about it is creamy or resembles the bolognese that I love. Damn.

I haven't read this whole thread, so maybe someone else suggested this -- but what about throwing a piece of bread or a pat of butter at the cell phone user? It's simple and it gets the point across.

I started looking for a good recipe for bolognese, and was surprised to find recipes that do not call for milk or wine, each of which I thought was a requirement to turn an ordinary meat sauce into a bolognese. Oh well. I'd love some recipe recommendations.

I once ate at a little restaurant in Verona and had a pasta dish sprinkled with Bottarga. The flavor was amazing and unidentificable. Because of the language barrier, the waitress couldn't explain what it was. Thanks. I highly recomend this to anyone.

I just read about a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died after eating Escolar, a fish from the mackeral family. Seems that oils in this fish are known to cause, um, intestinal issues (I couldn't tell whether castor oil comes from this fish, or whether it's similar). Some woman ate Escolar at "Shame on the Moon" in Rancho Mirage (supposedly a classy joint), and died three days later from "food borne illness". Her lawyer claims that Escolar is defective product, and the restaurant should have provided an adequate warning. Seems that a few years back the FDA issued an advisory about the fish. I'll stick to Chilean Sea Bass and Swordfish. Kill them before they kill us, that's what I say. Go figure.

When we did this thread some time ago, Fat Guy and some others concluded that the no-shows should be sued on a breach of contract/intentional infliction of emotional distress theory. By the way -- what ever happened to the woman who was going to sue the theater because actors in a play were smoking?

I don't know if Texans would be interested, but I make a great tofu chili. The trick is to cube and fry the tofu first -- not too much, though. You want it to crumble a bit so the pieces act like ground meat and add a little body. I throw in a can of tomatos and flavor/thicken with good portions of coriander (not much flavor, but a good 1/4 cup or so to thicken the chili), cumin, garlic power, onion powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, etc. People love it-- even devout carnivores.

I just read the thread on homegrown tomatoes, and it reminded me that I haven't made tomato sauce in a while. I assume people have good recipes and suggestions. One of my favorites is simple -- saute some onion and a little garlic in a good dose of extra virgin, add a can of good peeled tomatoes, crush and simmer. Finish with some fresh chopped basil and parsely. My big problem (no matter what recipe I follow) is that the water in the sauce always separates -- I pour it in the pasta and end up with water puddling around the edges. Who's got ideas? Recipes? Secrets?

I've heard that BBQ sauce shouldn't be added until the end -- otherwise it will burn on the ribs.

I forgot about gyros at the mall. Love 'em.

I agree that Sam Adams is over-rated. I think they got a huge boost by being the first well-distributed alternative to the big-guys, but it's not all that interesting compared to a lot of other stuff out there. As for IPOs, I'm pretty sure that Pyramid went public (and didn't do well). What about Pete's Wicked Ale? I find it too sweet to be refreshing, but it still seems to sell well. (I think Pete's might have gone public also.)