shogun

Yes. And his posts are generally first-rate. I can do with more Landrum and less of a lot of other people, frankly. It's not just the Ray's thread that's the 'problem', it's just a convenient example, which is all I meant when I cited it.

Ack! Sorry about that...I'm still in! Is anybody else carpooling?

I agree with the statement that there's a lot of repetition in some of the threads. Landrum burns a good steak...we know, thank you. I've had it. It rules, and I'm confident that it STILL rules. As much as I appreciate the service of the 'everything is ok alarm' (If it stops going off, something is not ok!) it does get tedious after a while. It always kind of struck me, the spiteful, cynical (jealous ) bastard I am, as a statement of "Hey, look where I ate! My dinner was better than YOUR dinner!" And as the guy who probably didn't eat anywhere of note this week, let alone this month (Not true THIS month, but as a general trend...), there's only so much of this you can read before it begins tearing at the very fabric of your being. Or something. Point is: there was an administrative announcement a while back about going easy on the "The $popular_item at $popular_restaurant is still really great!" posts and highlighting the new and different, or the extraordinary experiences or interesting anecdotes, at least in regards to the high-traffic threads, and I still agree with it. As to the 'database' vs 'chatroom' argument, the day this place starts veering too much towards 'database', I'll be having a Guinness at the back table at Tonic, and you're welcome to join me! (And yes, we can throttle back the 'everything's ok alarm' and not turn into a database...on a forum, there must be balance. This understanding can be extended to all things. )

He revisited Bonapartes in the last episode of season 2.

Excellent...I hadden't heard about that. If it's like season two, it'll be half new episodes, and half revisiting places from season 2. That is...in the half hour show, they'll re-play most of the season 2 episode with seven minutes of new footage for the visit.

Oh yeah, I love Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares! Great show! Is there another season coming up? ETA: DUDE! A quiz on British restaurant slang! brb!! EETA: 4 out of 5!

You know...next Friday is, in theory, legacy libations night at NB...maybe somewhere around there?

Three kinds of beef, and it's huge? That's it? Come on...where are the truffles? The Fois? The 'free' bottle of Dom? Weak at best.

Freude, schöner Götterfunken,Tochter aus Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken. Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

So...Birreria?

Strawberry-Bresaola Packets The Thinking Man's 'Prosciutto and Melon Ball' Ingredients: Strawberries, tops cut off and sliced in halves or thirds, depending on size Bresaola, sliced thin, cut in half if nessesary Ground black pepper Sea salt, preferably sel gris or fleur de sel for a bit of crunch Chives, blanched Procedure: Blanch and shock a suitable number of chives for how many packets you wish to make, plus a few for good measure (Some will be too short, etc). Slice your strawberries and bresaola. This is pretty much it! Now you're ready to assemble. Lay out bresaola slice on work surface, place strawberry slice in center, sprinkle with black pepper, a few grains of sel gris, and wrap with the bresaola in whichever way you find is best. Place on top of chive and tie with overhand knot, using tip of a paring knife to help push through if need be, and carefully pull snug. The blanched chive is surprisingly resiliant, so you can get it pretty tight and neat looking. The whole thing should hold together nicely once you get a technique down. Looks kind of like this: Might try additional fillings such as balsamic reduction, herbs, maybe something like a basil creme fraiche or lemon-zested chevre. I tried herbs and balsamic vinegar, but the basic strawberry/salt/pepper worked best!

Eh, it was open, and it's old...have moved it at least twice. It's not like I drink this stuff! Plus I couldn't roll up to the picnic with a bottle of open Alize. Reminds me: I'm asking for a friend.... --Matt Eating a frozen dinner, drinking a 'purloined' High Life. Moving night!

Does Alize go bad? I mean, it wasn't great to start (ZING!!) but I mean from a rancidity standpoint. Assume it was refridgerated. It DID depressurize when I opened it, and fizzed a little. Does it fizz? Eh, it probably won't survive the 'moving cull' anyway...

Who cares who he came with, dude brought the Gouda

Sounds like a better show.(Doo doo deee, do dee dee dooo....)

GAH! I almost forgot! Is anybody doing anything to celebrate The Feast Of Maximum Occpuancy? Ignore the incorrect date information on that site: The Feast is today, as corroborated by the Worlds Most Accurate Source of Information, Wikipedia! Probably going to hit up happy hour at Oyamel. ETA: Oh yeah, Oyamel isn't open Mondays. Went to Bailey's. Merry Feast Of Maximum Occupancy to you and yours!

Don't worry Babka, I gave the remainder a good home while we were sitting around at the end waiting to get kicked out. It was rather neat being visited by dead relatives and pets, the swirling colours were mind-blowing, and when I awoke, I was laying on top of that tower on the other end of the field, in a light rain. Interesting wine!

Thanks, but to be fair, Porcupine did the mixing on that...I just brought a couple zested limes left over from the (abject failure) gravlax process crushed with some sugar!

Nope!

Surely you're joking!Just back from a three mile walk for chives. Why are these things always such races to the finish?

Yeah....that whole region....I might do lime granita, or make sour mix (have oranges and lemons, too, but mostly a pile of zested limes) I see your corkscrews and raise you 'bottle openers'.

Bring it.

.........crap. Knew I forgot to go somewhere (namely the liquor store).

Curing some fish. Because it has a fever, and the only prescription is a 2:1 salt/sugar mix, some olive oil to bind, and some flavorings. And more cowbell.

Oh man, I had the most messed-up idea for something additional to bring. Going to try it out tomorrow and see.