Killing time...

well, we're all "packed" and according to our little bathroom scale both bags are under the 50 pound limit...so before we hit the road and air just a few banal comments

From the latest Food and Wine:

Why does (editor) Dana Cowin think i want to know that she thinks the dim sum at Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong is her favorite? who gives a ....

There is a print ad for Silver Oak. don't think i've seen one in magazines before. wonder if sales are down...

Tyler Florence announces the winners of his Twitter recipe contest. These things tend to depress me. I have always thought that there was a class of chefs that were above the allure of the "celebrity status", and would remain content in their kitchens and cook good food and make people happy when they put it in their mouth. No "contests", no "competition", just food for food's sake. I have always put Tyler in that category. He's a little more tarnished now. I have also seen Thomas Keller appear in some things, but a lot of them are charity efforts. Hang on, Thomas..

Consumer Reports:

the pulse of the consumer...the results of the reader poll on burgers...I may have mentioned this before, but at the head of the class was In and Out, pretty much tied by 5 guys, leading the Culvers, Whataburgers, White Castles.. the bottom three were Burger King, Jack in the Box, and dead last, McDonalds..I'm lovin' it.

General...

a friend sent me a menu from Chez Panisse (Alice Waters, Berkeley). One page, black and white, all prix fixe, and published for the week. Fridays (8/27) downstairs dinner was:

An Aperitif
Wild Alaskan salmon carpaccio with fried capers
Squash blossom rissoto
Grilled Paine Farm Squab with roasted figs, aged balsamico and cippoline cooked in the coals
Zabaglione ice cream pasticcini with wild blackberries

Price? $95 with an automatic service charge of 17%, and my friend reports that there was a blank on the bill for "tip". Hmmmm

same friend reported that they ate at the Border Grill (Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger) and it was lovely.

and of course they always

DFD

Okay, the odessey is about to begin. who knows when the next feeder will hit the ether..