Pat

Turkey meatloaf topped with oven-dried tomatoes in oil and herbs de provence White potatoes with butter Buttered green beans and fresh corn kernels The tomatoes, potatoes, and beans were farm-dug and picked late last week (I've enjoyed this year's CSA/U-Pick experience, though it was horribly impractical).

I don't eat there incredibly often, but I usually find the food fine (the service is more of an issue). It seems to be in the geographical and price range requested. I had a very good Christmas dinner there a few years ago. I can't guarantee they'll like it, though. If price weren't as much of a consideration, I'd say Bis or Charlie Palmer.

Another board I post on has a special thread dedicated to the best member quotes. If there were such a thread here, I would nominate this .I believe my husband and I will be there. I don't know that my turkey chili is up to chili cookoff standards, so I'm mulling over food possibilities. I'll bring a noodle-cheese casserole (vegetarian, not vegan), whether I do chili or not.

Cafe Berlin

We just finished some Hebrew National cheese-stuffed hotdogs* on whole wheat buns, with sliced plum and yellow pear tomatoes for my husband and sweet relish and French's yellow mustard for me. Also piled on top, some sweet onions and cukes pickled in pinot grigio vinegar for a couple of days. *The cheese was purchased a week or so ago from Cheesetique, a fairly hard cheese that I recall being a cross between Gouda and something else. It worked nicely with the dogs.

I thought of the Pollan book too when I saw this story, even before they linked it to a particular company. I'll be interested to see where this goes.

What is the best quality/type vodka to use for this? I don't usually keep vodka on hand but am thinking that it might be an interesting experiment with my remaining blackberries. I'm running out of ways to prepare and preserve them.

There used to be a waiter there whom I had trouble with every single time I went there. He would say I hadn't ordered food I had ordered and was just generally contrary on every point. It was a pain, but we liked the restaurant so we kept going back. We used to joke that that it must be a real French restaurant because it had an authentic surly French waiter (no offense!). The last few times we've been there (we've only been there for dinner), he was gone and the service was much better. It's been much more attentive and pleasant.

I was kind of getting the feeling that Tom was happy the Style section got this one. I still have never been there. Around the time I was thinking seriously of trying to make a reservation, I started to hear people saying it's not so good anymore. For the enormous cost of going and staying there because it's far out, I'm not so interested in gambles.

So, did you eat the chocolate box or are you saving it? Congratulations.

Roast them, then package in ziplocks.

Braised Lamb Shoulder with tomatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, and potatoes Spaetzle Baguette slices with assorted cheeses

Am I the only one finding this ironic, given the quibbles about the length of time allotted for some meals at RTS? I would probably get antsy if it took a really long time between courses, but this issue just hit me in a funny way, I guess. I'm looking forward to getting out there but still haven't called for a reservation. Perhaps some of the timing issues will be worked out by the time I get there. I imagine that it must be really difficult to increase the scale of a restaurant operation so much and keep all the details right.

The salad was just a mixed green salad--lettuce, radishes, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and whatnot. That's something I wouldn't taste along the way unless I wanted to munch on a carrot. The soup I had not made before (it was the succotash chowder from the Moosewood Cookbook), and I did not taste as I was making it. I checked on it purely by sight and smell. I even altered the recipe somewhat, knowing, for instance, that she seems to call for tamari sauce in almost everything and that I didn't think it would work with this.There certainly are times when I eat as I'm cooking, but there are numerous times that I'm just sure of how it's turning out and don't need to check. I think I sample meats more than anything when cooking. A lot of times, though, I rely on smell and sight and just how I "know" it's supposed to be.

This is fascinating to me, as I can only develop recipes by making them, and my attempts to develop a recipe on paper, as it were, are generally failures. I actually have to be working with the ingredients to come up with something. It certainly requires a particular kind of cognitive skill (which I lack) to develop a recipe in the abstract.The ability to create a recipe that way may also imply a different type of relationship to food. I wonder if it is accurate to conclude that someone who is very thin and seems to exhibit signs of anorexia doesn't love food. It seems more like a different, complex type of relationship to food (love-hate might be too simplistic a description, though). The creation of the dish might take the place somehow of consuming the food, rather than happening in conjuction with it as one would expect. On another aspect of your question, I find that when I prepare an elaborate meal for other people, I am often spent by the time I put the food on the table and no longer have any appetite. All of my energy has gone into making the meal and I cannot appreciate it the way I could, say, if I were in a restaurant having it served to me. There are also nights (such as last night) when I prepare a meal for my husband and don't eat. Sometimes this is because I'm dieting and have already consumed my calories for the day. Last night it was because I spent a great deal of time searching for a pasta sauce I made over the weekend (which took hours of preparation) that seems to have vanished from the refrigerator without a trace. I got myself so worked up over not being able to locate it and having to alter my dinner plans that I found I had no appetite when dinner went on to the table. In that case, you're talking about an emotional cause for not eating food one has prepared (or prepared and lost ), which relates to the point of your topic. Before my husband commented on how good they were, I knew the salad and soup I prepared were good by sight (salad) and smell (soup), without tasting them.

Last night was shredded pork sandwiches (can I call it pulled pork if it's not done on a smoker? ) on sesame kaiser rolls, corn on the cob, and baked beans. The pork sandwiches were fabulous and worth the time investment. I cooked the pork in a dutch oven for most of the day (about 9 hours), starting on top of the stove and then for about 7 hours in the oven at lower heat. I started out with pork shoulder that I dredged in flour with sweet and half sharp paprika, yellow and brown mustard seeds, white and black pepper, kosher salt, and adobo seasoning. After a quick browning in some oil, I threw in some sliced onion, crystallized ginger, and half a bottle of pale ale (I added most of the bottle eventually). It cooked and cooked and cooked until I could pull it apart with a fork. I finished it with a little white wine vinegar and some barbeque sauce. I was going to make homemade but ran out of steam and used some Whole Foods 365 sauce that I keep on hand.

I might give Pete's another try. I was in there this morning with a friend in need of an egg sandwich. It's had a makeover and looks a lot better than the last few times I tried eating there. I don't know exactly how appearance and quality of food correlate. They were doing a brisk business. She got a corned beef hash and egg sandwich to go. I'll check with her later about food quality. I used to like this place for breakfast in the 80s, so if it's having a revival, I'd be happy for it.

I was trying my best to stay at the speed limit there, as I remember people posting warnings about the speed traps. I hope I escaped unscathed When I looked at the cost of what I got there (even setting aside the superior quality) I think it was cheaper than Whole Foods would have been for the same types of fish.

Tonight will be mixed green salad, garlic toast, and beef stew with fresh tomatoes, corn, squash, green beans, and carrots. It feels odd to be making beef stew on Labor Day weekend, but this weather seems suited to it.

I bought some locally caught sashimi grade tuna and dry pack scallops at the fish counter the other day. They were fabulous. I love the idea of having that right there in the restaurant. I wish the location were a little easier for me to get to.

Tonight is gazpacho and penne with pesto and smoked salmon.

It's good in salsa.

The bonus to driving to visit someone at Sibley today was stopping at Blacksalt on the way back. I bought a gorgeous tuna steak, which was so thick that I had the man behind the counter slice it in half lengthwise. I'm marinating the steaks in an Asian type of marinade with soy sauce, mirin, garlic, mustard, pepper, soy balsamic dressing, and scallions. I emptied out a bunch of bottles and jars. Before throwing on the grill pan, I'm dredging them in sesame seeds, and I'm serving them over polenta. I also bought some dry pack scallops that looked wonderful. I've got half a dozen and they are going to be sauteed briefly and served on greens with baby corn, green beans, yellow baby pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, garlic, lime juice and olive oil (s+p).

I've really become disappointed in Whole Foods bread over the last year. Their own brand of sliced breads is terrible. I used to like it, especially the oatmeal bread, but it falls apart more often than not. The slices don't hold together. If you go to make a sandwich, you end up with a bunch of smushed up pieces of bread. I've been buying Arnold and Pepperidge farm breads at Safeway and Giant and have found those better choices than anything I've tried from WF recently.

--> QUOTE(Mrs. B @ Aug 28 2006, 06:16 PM) Gilding the lily I say. But if you must finally diced anchovy, just make it fine and don't tell'm. I made this last week: cherry tomatoes, pasta, olive oil, anchovies, finely grated Parmesan, and a little bit of torn basil. I love the whole white anchovies in the refrigerator case at Whole Foods. Sometimes they have them and sometimes they don't. I've been on a roll using them when I can get them.