bloviatrix

Jason, I agree with you, but technically, olive oil is the more appropriate fat. Afterall, it was a vial of olive oil that was found in the Temple, and used to light the menorah.

I wish I was so blessed -- Blovie loves his 'sparagus. Unfortunately, I have the nose of the scent hound.

Beware: Chanukah starts in 17 days. Normally, I use canola oil for frying, but this year I might use duck fat. Poor Blovie, I think he's convinced I'm trying to give him a coronary. My favorite Chanukah memory was walking through the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem. I had attended the menorah lighting at the Western Wall which is pretty amazing to experience, and walked back through the narrow streets. People had their lighted menorahs in the windows, and wafting through the narrow alleys was the smell of frying latkes. I wanted to knock on doors and invite myself in for dinner.

I spent some time looking at the book today while at Kitchen Arts and Letters -- I'm trying to convince Blovie to give it to me for Chanukah. They have it for $180. They sold out their first 100 copies and have 50 more on order. Anyway, it's a beautiful book to look at. The photos are magnificent as each dish is plated in an amazing way. I don't have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe how amazed I was. I commented that I wouldn't mind enlarging some of the photos to hang on my wall. I should mention that the book weighs a ton. Not something easy to read in bed.

I totally know what you're talking about. I make a curry which calls for a lot of fresh ginger. I find I have to carefully calibrate the amount of ginger I use because after a certain point it tastes soapy.

Wow. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Without a doubt, hardcover. They just stand up better. Plus they use better quality paper.

Good point. The convention is the week before Labor Day. None of us natives will be around. We'll be elsewhere.

Suvir, congratulations. You, Hemant, Bikky, and the crew must be flying after that fabulous review.

A braise might be in order. I hear the meat is tough.

Thanks for the explanation. At least you made a raccoon happy.

Please explain -- seriously, I've never heard of being limited on the amount of garbage you can have taken away.

Puff pastry roulades filled with a combination of marinated artichokes, chopped spinach and cheese. Make the logs then freeze. Before the party, take out of the freezer, thaw, slice, and bake.

I plan on making a conscious effort to be out of town that week.

I can't get over how timely this thread is. Tonight, while eating dinner at Dougie's, a kosher barbecue joint, they were playing John Lennon's Happy Christmas.

I guess that means Mix is a bad place.

When I lived in Israel, I had a good friend who originally hailed from Louisiana. It was really funny to hear him speak Hebrew with his drawl. The waiters, used to orders coming in "chick-chock" (hebrew euphemism for speedy) would go nuts when he ordered as everything was done nice 'n slow.

Fighting for Truth, Justice, and a good meal.

...is sitting on the butter

Like Kim, I'm a luddite. I keep recipes in binders with plastic sleeves. So I bring the needed page in and hang it off the side of the refrigerator with a magnet. If I use a cookbook, I leave the book on the counter. We went 2 years without hooking up our printer and I just found out it doesn't work, so when I want to use something that's online, I handwrite it on a piece of paper - there are slips of paper with recipes all over.

I laughed so hard at this because I saw myself in this. Growing up, mom only used mayo with milchig (dairy). It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I realized that it was parve. I make a duck at least once year just so I can dender off the fat. I love keeping a stash in my freezer. My feeling is that since I can't use pancetta or bacon due to kashrut, duck fat is my substitute. My epitaph is going to be "everything tastes better with duck fat."

New York Magazine has an article about Bill Harris, the guy responsible for orchestrating the convention. Nowhere is there mention of the boat.

I think the problem is that UWSiders had to travel out of their neighborhood for so long for quality food, that when it's available locally, they treat it as they would any other neighbor place. They don't associate quality and fine dining with their neighborhood. So, they behave at SCQ in a way they never would if they had to travel to a similar place. The other thing, and Steve, this is directed to your experiece last night, is that people never think their kid annoys other diners -- that's why they perpetuate in taking them out. It's the "my shit doesn't smell" school of thought. This isn't unique to the UWS. It's a problem everywhere.

We went shopping in the freezer tonight: black bean chili over rice

We're having chili for dinner tonight. It's got ground beef, diced onion, green peppers, garlic, chipotles, diced tomatoes (muir glen has a charred tomato), cumin and chili powder. Oh, and black beans. How could I forget that?