bloviatrix

Has anyone noticed the that Rocco's and Coors has the same letters (ok, so Rocco's has the extra "c")?

Friday I bought: Zukes Nectarines Musk Melon Assorted Plums Apricots A loaf of Pain Rustica

That's sounds absolutely wonderful. Great writing - I found my mouth watering as I read about your meal. It sounds like you had a fabulous evening.

I assume she only eats store-bought mayo. Why not start by introducing her to various types of homemade mayonnaise - basil, lemon, garlic, etc and move on from there?

I just made them for the first time last week. I did a beer batter and deep-fried them. Then sprinkled them with some sea salt. Very simple. Delicious. Nice and crunchy. We loved them.

A slice of Pain Rustica schmeared with butter, some red-jacket apricots. I'm a happy girl.

I shop at Fairway uptown and I've noticed that the bags they use at that location aren't nearly as good as the ones available at 73rd st. The plastic is lighter. I've also notice the bags that Gourmet Garage use aren't as sturdy as they used to be. The Shop-Rite bags are the worst. They tear very easily, plus they pack the bags very inefficiently. My current favorite plastic bag comes from the Kosher Marketplace. It's heavy duty and they line it with paper, without asking! Paper bags get folded and stored in the space between the wall and the dishwasher. The plastic bags get crumpled up and go into, what else but, a plastic bag sitting on the washing machine. My preference is for the paper/plastic combination. This is perfect for when I'm working in the kitchen and I want to keep a bag near my feet to dump chicken skin or vegetable peels in (we don't have garbage disposals in Manhattan). I also like having paper bags around for when I need to ripen some fruit. My husband likes the paper bags for paper garbage and recyclables. We put our newpapers in plastic bag - the paper is just too precious. But I find plastic is important as well. I use the plastic bags (always doubled) to line the garbage pails in the kitchen,bathrooms and bedrooms. I dump the kitchen bags a minimum of once a day, and I'm still inundated with plastic bags. I think they multiply on their own. edited because I can't spell.

OMG! I had forgotten all about that. I remember covering my books with the brown paper the evening I would get home from the first day back at school. It was sort of a ritual. That was in the 50s, elementary school. I don't remember doing that when I got to high school. My mom used wallpaper samples to cover my books, although I preferred the brown paper - you could doodle on them.

This is completely off-topic, but I grew up in Elmont. And it's not in NYC, it's Nassau County.

I just pulled out my notebook of menus an in 4 years of hosting Rosh Hashanna, I have yet to make straight chicken soup -- chicken gumbo, yes, but no chicken soup. You can take these foods and update them. Instead of a regular, braised brisket, why not do it in a chimichurri? For potato kugel, carmelize some onions and layer them into the potatoes. Use duck schmaltz in your tsimmes and add a bit of rum and instead of honeycake do a pain d'espice. An excellent book to use as a resource in updating traditional foods is The Gefilte Variations by Jayne Cohen. Another book that's worth looking at is Adventures in Jewish Cooking by Jeffrey Nathan. I'm lucky, my none of my guests expect traditional foods. But, then again, I think have a lot more leeway than many of you because everyone I host are observant jews and they see the "traditional" foods throughout the year. I think for many people who only eat "jewish" at the holiday, there's an expectation of the standard ashkenazic fare because this is the only time of year they see it. A lot of what I serve depends on what's in the greenmarket. If there are still tomatoes around, and it's warm I might start with a chilled yellow tomato soup. As of now, I'm considering either gravlax as an amuse or maybe a tuna tatare as an appetizer. I might do a stuffed veal breast or a roast beef for a main. I haven't even considered sides, but since I have duck fat in the freezer, I assume I'll make use of it. Rosh Hashanna is in 7 weeks and counting.

Tonight we're having: Pan-roasted salmon in a citrus-balsamic sauce Basmati rice and red lentil pilaf Sauteed Zukes in EVOO and butter To drink is Lemon verbena infused iced tea.

Nope... I LOVE those guys. I forget the exact relationship (cousins? in-laws?) but I think one of them is from the Mandola family. They have some excellent restaurants here in Houston. Carrabba's was just one of their ventures. They are just as entertaining in person. If I remember correctly, they're an uncle and nephew.

One warning about the garlic fries at the ballpark - If HWOE has meetings the next day, he might want to stay away from them. They're mighty intense.

Interesting. Carrabba's started here in Houston. Did they sell out or did they aquire Outback? Outback aquired them. I believe it was the later part of the 90s, but I'm not an expert on their corporate history.

Oh yes. I was just talking about the tuna tartare, not making a recommendation for the menu. Sorry for any confusion. Has there been an "Asian-style" tuna tartare thread? If not, shall I start one? (I'm very interested.) By all means, do. I've started thinking about my menus for Rosh Hashanna (after all, it's in 7 weeks) and I was toying with the idea of gravlax as a starter. After this thread, I leaning towards a tuna tartare. I want suggestions as well.

Because Zabar's is in my neighborhood, that's where I tend to go most frequently. But, I'm wondering what are the best places on the Bowery? I've been to Chef Restaurant Supply (NW corner of Bowery and Houston) and there's the place on the NE corner of Bowery and Delancy. But is there any particular "go to" place? I mean I walk into Bari and I'm convinced it's a mafia front -- the place is just way too clean and I get the uncomfortable feeling that I don't belong.

An interesting thing to note is that Outback and Carrabba are owned by the same company.

Call me a traditionalist, but that is just so wrong.

Let me say that I am bloviatrix's spouse and an attorney with some knowledge about this litigation. There were several cases filed around the country regarding foreign currency transaction fees that were consolidated into one proceeding in federal court (the Southern District of New York, to be precise). The suit includes most of the major credit card companies (Citibank, Chase, Bank One/First USA) that charged (and, in most case, still do) a 1% to 3% fee on top of the 1% fee that Visa or Mastercard charges. The suit alleged violations of antitrust law, along with violations of the Truth in Lending Act and other consumer law -- mainly for the failure to properly disclose the fee. The judge has ruled on some preliminary motions, but the case has not been fully decided yet. Some of you might be confusing this case with a similar case in California against the Visa and Mastercard associations, where a state judge ruled that customers should be reimbursed the Visa/MC 1% fee to the tune of several hundred million dollars. That California ruling is being appealed. As several of you mentioned here, when you make a purchase abroad, most of these companies simply convert the purchase to dollars without telling you exactly what conversion rate they used, on which date they made the conversion, and what fee did they take when they made this conversion. It's simply embedded in the dollar charge without any transparency to the customer. The various reasons/defenses they have offered are as follows: (1) They tell you in the initial customer agreement about these foreign surcharges, or they've slipped inside your billing statement an amendment to the agreement allowing these surcharges; (2) they're doing this to make up for the higher amount of fraud they get stuck with from foreign purchases; and (3) they're giving you a better rate than you would get at the moneychanging centers abroad, so don't complain. There are a few credit card companies that generally don't impose this surcharge (MBNA, Capital One) but check with your company to ascertain the policy on your card before you go. You may get a better deal with your ATM card, but these will generally impose fees up to $3 per transaction. In that event, you won't want to pull out just 100 euros each time you go to the ATM, because that would amount to about a 3% fee. Again, check with your individual bank to determine its policy.

You're not the only one. We get three daily papers, and I assure you, the Post is not one of them. As my dad likes to say "It's not fit to line a bird cage."

Last night, I re-read Laurie Colwin's essay Repulsive Dinners: A Memior. My favorite line was:

One of my favorite places to spend an afternoon is Kitchen Arts & Letters. Great bookstore and Nach Waxman, the owner is extremely knowledgable. None of the chains compare. Kitchen Arts & Letters 1435 Lexington (btw 93rd and 94th) 212/876-5550

Elyse's thread on her search for sheet pans led me thinking.... We all know about Broadway Panhandler, Bridge Kitchenware, JB Prince etc, but wouldn't it be a good idea to set up a resource thread of places to shop for kitchenware? This could be useful for those of us who live here or E-Gulleters coming to NY for a visit. So, open up your rolodexes and share.

We have aquaintances who invite us over for shabbat meals every couple months. I cringe whenever we get the invite, as the menu never changes and it's awful. First, they start with gefillte fish that is absolutely tasteless. I have to smother it with horseradish to get it down. Then the salad is a little lettuce, shredded carrots, tomatoes, scallions and canned mushrooms. The mushrooms ruin what would otherwise be a perfectly good salad. The main course is always chicken heavily coated with something undescribable. My husband thinks it's a spice-rub. It's somewhat greasy and has a burnt taste. As an accompaniment, there's derma (which is literally stuffed intestine, but in this case it has been pulled out of its casing - its spices, fat, and flour) mixed with overcooked tasteless pasta. Dessert was fresh fruit and soy ice cream. I stuck with the fruit, but according my husband the "ice cream" had a protective layer of frost . The last time we ate there, I couldn't wait to get home and eat some real food. My husband only recently realized that the side was derma and he's disgusted. You should see the look of revulsion on his face, and he's not a picky eater. I need to invite this couple back to my house, but I'm afraid it will only encourage them to extend future invites.

My husband has begged my not to experiment on our guests. So we settled on a compromise - our dull friends get boring food, the adventurous ones get the experiments. I find the meals which are experimental to be a lot more fun. Plus, a lot more wine gets drunk.