A Tasting Party,

[CathyL]

Not exclusively for your consumption, Tommy.

But..... he's not on the list..... unless he's somebody's Beau.

Oh, I thought Tommy was on every list, by virtue of his Tommyness.

[tommy]

i'm out.

[stefanyb]

i'm in.

Is this your usual tease? Maybe Tommyx could also make it And what about mrs. Tommyx? I guess its a little too close to Thanksgiving for certain people.

[Shermar]

WHEEEEEEEE!

Thinking about what to bring...open to suggestions!

[Rachel Perlow]

OK - so we can't bring salami. I could go back to the original thought of strawberry jam, but I'm not very enthusiastic about it. I think we need to get the list of who's bringing what posted and I'll try to think of what would fit in with the current selections.

[stefanyb]

OK - so we can't bring salami. I could go back to the original thought of strawberry jam, but I'm not very enthusiastic about it. I think we need to get the list of who's bringing what posted and I'll try to think of what would fit in with the current selections.

Rach,

I think that the Arthur Ave idea was great. I bet there's another item that could be acquired there, like mozzarellas or provolones or another type of cured meat. Remember each thing we bring needs other very close comparisons. How about sopresattas or pepperonis?

[Double 0]

Let me start the list; I'm bringing pure uncut dark chocolate. I thought I might also bring some dessert wine to match with the chocolate.

[Rachel Perlow]

I assume the chocolate will be at least a little sweet?

OK - so we'll bring Italian cheeses from Arthur Avenue. We may have to buy the fresh mozzerlla the day before - I'm not sure which stores are open on Sunday and which aren't.

[Double 0]

Of course. mostly 61-70% cocoa with some as high as 77%.

[LaNiña]

FYI, I just did a big comparative mozzarella tasting from several of the "big guys" in mozzarella-ville. We had a thread on this a while back. They all use commercial curd. Nobody makes it from milk. Not even the Arthur Avenue folk. Disappointing. Fresh mozzarella made in NYC can't compare to bufalo mozarrella, unfortunately. The issue is that fresh mozzarella is made by deli people trying to make cheese, as opposed to cheese people making cheese.

I bought some bufalo mozzarella that's being made in CA, which was pretty darn good.

Anyway, I'd be interested in Rachel's findings.

[tommy]

so there's no confusion: i'm not actually in.

[CathyL]

so there's no confusion:  i'm not actually in.

[SobaAddict70]

I'm bringing olives.

There will be a selection of olives, from Kalamata to oil-cured to picholine.

There will also be something more substantial incorporating olives, besides marinated olives. Details to come, probably the day beforehand -- this is subject to market availability.

-----------

Are squash flowers a spring thing or a fall thing? If a spring thing, then that nixes one dish.

thx,

SA

[Rachel Perlow]

Do they all have to be the same types of cheese? There doesn't seem to be much point in getting two different fresh mozzarellas. So I'll do a more generic Italian Cheese tasting: Provelone, Parmesean, Romano, Aged Mozzarella. Or I could do a more specific one, like several different provelones?

[LaNiña]

Rachel, I'm having those same discussions with myself about salamis. Should I pick one "nationality" of salami and get different kinds, or similar types of salamis (hard, garlic, pepper, etc...) and get different ethnicities?

What do y'all think?

[Rachel Perlow]

I think we should both just get a nice assortment that people will like and not obsess as if this is actually going to be a scientific tasting.

[LaNiña]

Seeing as Smug Scientific Bastard is not on the list, I suppose you're right...

[g.johnson]

I will, however, be grading your reports.

[SobaAddict70]

L'hopital's Rule and all that?

Speaking of which, I've never gotten a satisfactory (layman's) explanation of that.

Yes, I failed calculus (actually, it was a No Credit grade I had.)

SA

[tommy]

L'hopital's Rule and all that?

i passed 4 semesters of calculus and have no recollection of this whatsoever. in fact, i don't think i remember *any*thing, but i particularly don't remember this. perhaps i was always lucky enough to have a derivative that existed.

[g.johnson]

L'hopital's Rule and all that?

You may need it to differentiate the salamis.

[SobaAddict70]

Wait, do you mean public schools in the British sense or the American sense? Because they have two different meanings, ya know.

My calculus comprehension stopped at the concept of a derivative. Negative limits threw me off and kept on going....

SA

[Shermar]

[i passed 4 semesters of calculus and have no recollection of this whatsoever.  in fact, i don't think i remember *any*thing, but i particularly don't remember this.  perhaps i was always lucky enough to have a derivative that existed.

NOW I think I understand!

[tommy]

[i passed 4 semesters of calculus and have no recollection of this whatsoever.  in fact, i don't think i remember *any*thing, but i particularly don't remember this.  perhaps i was always lucky enough to have a derivative that existed.

NOW I think I understand!

and that makes one...

[jaybee]

I'm planning to bring butter. I hope someone brings good bread so we can have a butter taste-off.