you forgot 'wholsome'!

Thanks! I'll pass the advice on. Where did you get your certification,if you don't mind my asking?

Hello All

My sister is interested in becoming a sommelier, and thought their program sounded appealing. I know a lot of cooking schools and such tend not to mean much to restaurants looking for employees, is it different or somms? the course promises certification from the ais (Italian Association of Sommeliers). has anyone either completed or contemplated this program? is it a huge waste of time and money to certify in this way? any feedback from somms, restaurant owners, or people who have taken the course would be much appreciated!

Check out Rudi's, they have a delicious sunday brunch menu. They are a smaller place, but can easily accomodate your numbers. The service is great, the atmosphere is beautiful (art nouveau bar, taupe walls, they usually have a jazz trio). They are right next to the parking garage, so only one block away from the 100 club.

www.rudisportsmouth.com

I am going on an overnight sail this weekend, and am totally stumped as to what to cook and bring. Challenges of no refrigeration (though temps should stay blow 60), sogginess, and pleasing a group that contains two very carnivorous sorts (one of whom dislikes spice, so my thoughts of curry are nil) with a pseudo vegetarian. Not to mention keeping especially moist foods like soups off the menu due to sloshing. Any experienced at sea chefs? Or at least just some good thoughts! Thanks you

there is a stall at the portsmouth farmers market, i am embarrassed to say i can't recall the name of the farm, but they sell cuts of lamb and goat from a maine farm.

There hasn't been much talk about salt yet. I find that especially when i marinade if i add salt to red meat while it cooks it gets rather tough on me. without a sear on the meat, all your moisture from both the fat of the meat as well as your marinade end up as a black syrup that adds a rough dish washing experience to the already untasty meal.

i would opt for a couple of template dishes. for example, you can make a marinara sauce or soup following the same instructions and using the same skills, so in a short period of time she gets the basics, but a couple recipe cards send her down different paths. whats more, both sauce and soup can be pureed, which eliminates the need for honed knife skills. dishes like paella and curry also follow similar steps but with very different seasonings, yielding two supposedly different dishes.

if the family is vegetarian geared, i find that stuffing tomatoes or peppers with rice/bulgur wheat/etc along with whatever veggies are best loved is very simple, easy to make ahead and transport, and always delights and impresses company.

she is really lucky to have someone like you.

what about a piecemeal paella kit? saffron, smoked paprika, really nice arborio rice and real chorizo with a bottle of their favorite white. good eat it cold in bed food for the honeymoon, and the more expensive ingredients take it out of gift basket territory and into the realm of personal and thoughtful. if you are a cutesy type, you could opt to wrap it in a good paella pan, though i think that would take you past $100.

i grew up in eliot, one town north of kittery, and now live on the nh seacoast, so i've tried a goodly number of each.

a higher end indian place by the name of Tulsi just opened in downtown kittery, easily the best indian on the seacoast and definitely worth the price and wait. a group of seven of us all got different dishes and we shared them all, each one was heaven. while waiting, we walked around and found a wood grilled pizza place had just opened around the corner. i haven't eaten there yet, but read that it is the pet project of the head chef of anneke jans, so there is some promise there.

as for bars, the location of the shipyard keeps the local options a bit lower end and occasionally skeezy, i would head to portsmouth, as it is just across the bridge.

again, if you don't mind crossing the bridge, i find that the two best fish markets in the area are Philbrick's Fresh Market in portsmouth and Seaport Fish in rye. locals will send you to sue's, but i have twice purchased questionable fish from her. even though i lived 5 minutes from sues i would drive 20 to get the fresher options in nh.

oh, and if you want good chowda and someplace that is open, drive south on 1A until you hit Petey's in rye. far superior to bob's in price and quality, you also get to sit down if you prefer (bob's has seating, but no serviced tables) and the beer is reliably cold. not to mention the lovely drive and view.

hope that helps some, let me know what you look for in a bar and i can hone my recommendation further.

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Philbrick's Fresh Market
775 Lafayette Rd, Portsmouth, NH

Seaport Fish
13 Sagamore Rd, Rye, NH

Is this necessarily a bad thing? Innovative, and apparently delicious results, have often been the frugal chef's brainchild. I had a friend who worked at a restaurant who was shocked to find they made croutons out of their stale bread (he obviously isn't much to speak of in a kitchen-he was waitstaff). If grinding up all the edible leftovers creates a tasty and consistent flavor, I'm game!

I always add a couple sour apples (peeled/cored/sliced) at the beginning with the onions, the sweeten it up and give a great depth of flavor. I add curry and cinnamon to mine, not enough to really taste, just enough to notice something fun going on.

I just had a similar predicament with a carrot salad with raw red onion; the onion flavor stared overwhelming everything else after it sat overnight in the fridge. i added a little sugar and some medium diced cucumber, which mellowed it enough for it to taste good. The onion is still rather strong though, maybe I'll try lemon juice next.

sorry, probably should have mentioned in my original post that the golden egg is a favorite stop of mine. i've been well over 10 times in the past couple years, and tried various menu items all to much satisfaction. their homemade granola featuring parfait is great, and actually has fresh rather than frozen fruit. every egg i've had has been perfectly cooked, the bearnaise is homemade and beautiful. also, their baked goods are fairly good. and they are definitely cheaper and more customer friendly than the supposedly amicable toast or colbys.

from what i've read, mojos is a really hit or miss sort of place; the consistency of even the same menu item is dubious, and the dichotomy of delicious and atrocious on the menu is broad and risky. but their sauces are very good, we purchased not only the arkansauce but two bottles of the hot sauce the offered at the table. well balanced, flavorful, definitely of the finger licking variety. the sides were almost inedible (we had the very dry mac and cheese, oily collard greens, and definitely frozen corn), but i found the ribs to be tender, and subtly smoky. worth trying out, but not all around exquisite.

unfortunately, the breakfast scene is very limited. i personally would rule out colbys and the toast both for being overpriced for the bad service (at the toast, the service is legendarily awful amongst us locals). one alternative though, a number of the better restaurants in the downtown area do a sunday brunch menu. Radici's is decent, the frittata was delightful, but I would rather recommend Rudi's, as their food is consistently beautiful and delicious, if lacking a little creativity. www.rudisportsmouth.com

Not a truck, but Loco Coco's in Kittery Maine (right over the bridge from Portsmouth NH) is the best mexican i have ever had, including two trips to Mexico. The fish tacos in particular are superb, even if they aren't on wheels!