bloviatrix

I got there at around 3 this afternoon. Those 6 were the extent of my damage -- $82 plus one of their great canvas sacks (which are great for marketing).

Keep in mind that for the kosher clientele there won't be any association between the name Pasta Factory and chains like Macaroni Grill and Cheesecake Factory. Many of these people aren't even cognizant of those chains' existence.

6 more for me!!! I attended the annual Goddard-Riverside Community Center Book Sale and picked up 4 cookbooks and 2 memoirs. All books are discounted at 50% or greater and the money goes to charity. My latest additions are: A Return to Cooking - Eric Ripert w/Michael Ruhlman A Blessing of Bread - Maggie Glezer Flavor - Rocco DiSpirito (yeah, I know it's Rocco, but I've heard good things about the book) Seduction of Rice - Alford and Duguid The other two are: Between Bites - James Villas (for $1!!!) Love by the Glass - Gaiter and Brecher (the wine columnists for the WSJ. I adore their column)

We need a dairy place like this on the UWS. I'm jealous.

Friday night I served to my guests slices of toasted baguette topped with warm onion confit as an amuse. Total hit!! I give you all credit for the success.

I haven't had a chance to read Fast Food Nation but I've had the opportunity to hear Schlosser speak on the subject. For me, the book that really opened my eyes to the problems with our food industry was a novel called My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki.

We call them arbas. I have no idea what language it is, but that's what chickpeas were always called when I was growing up.

Al -- you might know this already, but your best bet for finding the smoked turkey leg will be at one of the kosher markets in Silver Spring.

Whatever you do, make sure you get a self-cleaning oven. The manual process really sucks.

I find that chipotles add a nice level to smokiness - if you're looking for that kind of flavor.

Do you have any idea whether they'll make these butters available via the usual retail channels?

It's 10:30 am. Unless something major happens, my menu will be: Sparkling Ginger-tinis (vodka, seltzer, and my own ginger/lemongrass syrup) Onion Confit toasts Curried Coconut Squash Soup Chicken Marbella Orzo w/onion and mushrooms Jerusalem Artichoke pancakes Roasted Root vegetables (turnip, beets, carrots, parsnip) Roberto Cohen Pouilly Fouisse 2002 Flourless Chocolate Cake Concord Grape Sorbet Tierra Selvaje Yecla Monestrell Dolce 2002 Now, back to work.

Jacques-Imo's is in the process of opening a kiosk up in the Food Hall at Grand Central Terminal. They're calling it Jacques-Imo's to geaux. It looks like it will be opening fairly shortly.

Broadway Panhandler most definitely ships (although I've schlepped my pieces home on the subway).

We're entertaining this week. Thus far we have RSVP's from 2 couples. I'm waiting on one more. I've barely given thought to the menu, but I'm leaning towards brisket. I'm going to be a busy girl tomorrow and friday.

I've made onion confit several times over the last 2 months. We love it. I'm intent on always having a jar of it in the fridge for any occasion.

Dipalo can also be found at the W. 97th St greenmarket on Friday mornings. (the week of thanksgiving, the market has been re-scheduled to Wed)

My mom was a food nazi. As result there were no sugared cereals allowed in the house. The only two cereals she would purchase were Product 19 and whichever bran cereal looked like animal droppings. Needless to say, as soon as I got to college I rebelled. I have fond memories of eating Capt'n Crunch with whipped cream as a midnight snack (the joys of living in a sorrority house ). I haven't outgrown my love of sugared cereal. Our favorites are Honey Bunches of Oats w/Almonds and Coco Pebbles. Occasionally we'll get a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch -- cinnamon milk is really quite yummy. In the fall and winter months I tend to go with oatmeal for breakfast, but a bowl of cereal always makes a great snack at about 11 pm. Ironically, nowadays, if my mom sees Coco Pebbles on sale she'll buy us some boxes.

Kosher Marketplace (bway & 90) is selling fresh Empire turkeys for $2.89/lb -- many supermarkets only carry the frozen ones.

I believe the kosher restaurant in Venice is dairy. At least it was in '97 when I ate there. The menu was fish and hand-made pasta.

Musicon Farm is the source for kosher venison. They're located in Goshen, NY.

My dad has been known to use the inverse of this phrase as in "I won't be disappointed if I never see this again." He used this for one course of the first meal I ever cooked. I never forgave him.

Blovie has banned the expression "to die for" from usage. Therefore, when something is really outstanding our phrase of choice is "lick the bowl/plate good." My in-laws frequently describe a dish as "interesting" when it's made of ingredients that are new to them and they're not sure what they think. It pisses me off when they use it.

Earlier today I got a call from a friend looking for advice on what fruits she should pair in a tart. As soon as I hung up, I decided to give her a copy of Culinary Artistry as a Chanukah gift.

I'm already on record for stating that all vegetables are better roasted. Fennel is great tossed in evoo with a little balsamic added at the end. I introduced my in-laws to this and they're hooked.