They have another store toward the eastern end of Spring Garden. But the one on Oregon is much better, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.

How about some ginger soup? Ginger is a vasodilator and it enhances peripheral circulation.

If you like it sweet, just boil many thick slices of fresh ginger root with water and then add brown sugar. If you like it savory, boil ginger slices in pork stock, season with salt and white pepper powder. Chicken stock, veal stock work also.

After warming up your body with tasty ginger soup, cover yourself up with a good comforter and take a long nap. When you wake up, chances are your cold would be gone if you have caught it early enough.

In the winter time, I have found it helpful to always wear scarf to keep the throat warm. Between this preventative measure and the early treatment plan of feeding myself hot ginger soup, it's been a while since I suffered from a bad cold last.

One day I requested a pair of chopstick while dining at Zahav, the modern Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia. The manager told me that they only have chopsticks for their customers around X'mas time when they serve Chinese-style food. Isn't that interesting? Jewish restaurant serving Chinese food at X'mas time?

To further illustrate the subculture of how some Jewish and Chinese people celebrate X'mas, one can find many of us on the ski slopes then. Not only because many of us try to get away from the gift exchanges and perhaps a lonely feeling, but also because we get to enjoy ski discounts at "off" season. Last year, in Vermont, after spending X'mas day at a ski resort, our gang ended up having diner at a local Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was CROWDED, the food was so-so, but the mood was jovial.

So, if you are wondering about how to find folks to pass the holiday with, a ski slope lounge is a fine place to be in - bring your ipad and watch streamed movies/TV shows or your kindle to read some books. There wi-fi is avaiable and free. In the evening, hit a Chinese restaurant for noise and some "fa-ra-ra-ra-ra". It's not X'mas until I sing the song that way on X'mas day because I love the movie "A Christmas Story", too.

Do they also serve tofu soup using the traditional kind of tofu?

For this year's Thanksgiving, I bought the turkey from Bolton's Turkey Farm.

Showed up 30 minutes before they closed the day before Thanksgiving to pick up my turkey. By then most customers who pre-ordered had stopped by and their names had been crossed off on the big board. I counted, wow, they sold about 2,000 birds that day.

I coated the bird with a mixture of salt and black pepper inside and out overnight, brushed off the granuales and smear syrup all over the bird. Cooked it, covered, at the lowest temperature (170 F) allowed by the oven for 5 hours and then finished it, uncovered, at 350 F until skin became golden and drumsticks had shrank to show the shin bones. The finishing took about an hour and half. There was very little fat on the bird and no grease in the roasting pan after cooking was done.

The turkey was delicious - flavorful, tender and juicy. Comparing this with my farmer's market heritage turkey last year, this year's fresh turkey was as good a bird but at $3 per pound only half the price.

Guess Bolton will be raising my turkey for 2013.

Perhaps you should email SK to let him know you are coming from New York and need advance notice. Typically he sends the email either the day before or the morning of the dinner.

Breakfast for Dinner is a very popular one. I am sure you will have a great time no matter what wine you decide to bring.

Would be nice if we have such a list of chefs/restaurants.

Last night at this week's Studio Kitchen dinner, a fellow diner mentioned Chef Andrew Deery and his Majolica in Phoenixville, saying Mr. Deery is another one who CARES about his food. I have never been and my curiosity is up. Majolica is now at the top of the list and is where I'd like to go next when I can peel myself away from thinking about and eating Shola's food.

Please, if you have a suggestion, let us hear it. Note that the emphasis is on the person who is behind the food. Thanks.

Don't know about Christmas holidays. But for folks who are here now there is a 4-course foie gras tasting ($45) being offered at Mica (8609 Germantown Ave) tonight (10/31) and tomorrow night.

1st course - foie gras soup; apple dumplings, red baby kale, parmesan
2nd course - foie gras tortellini; butternut squash, sage, banyuls vinegar
3rd course - whold roasted quail; foie gras stuffing, chestnuts, purple cabbage
4th course - foie gras creme caramel; fresh cranberries

Dressing for shaved ice.

Bought an ice cone machine for under $30 this summer and had a ball making shaved ice dessert using ice cubes from my freezer.

Typically, I would squeeze some sweet condensed milk on top of the shaved ice, and then top it with something sweet and yummy, such as strawberry jam, condensed juice, softened dried fruits that have been marinated in wine.

Try to avoid Mondays or Tuesdays. For most Chinese restaurants, these are the days when #1 cook in the kitchen is off.

The differences of the various locations are on 2 things: who is cooking in the kitching and who is managing the business. The cooks are anonymous to the consumers but kept from leaving too quickly by higher-than-going rate wages; the managers are mosly family members: last I heard, currently Han at Manayunk, girlfriend at Old City, sister at UC, parents at Royersford and an outsider-manager at Exton, aunt split to open Pin Wei at KOP. Thus the best approach might be to stick with a manager you personally like the best and try to get to know who is cooking.

Hello, NuMystic.

I have been mulling over your comment about "a feat of decadence". And I agree, it's pretty fancy.

But comparing the cost of Whole Food or Trader Joe pine nuts with the cost of other ingredients used in Shola's food preparations, the use of pine nuts as "rice" was not out of line. When it comes to food sourcing, he only uses the very best in quality. The serving size was not big because typically he serves at least 6 courses per meal

People do come from out of town jsut to eat at his dinners. It would be nice if perhaps one day you visit Philadelphia to experience what Shola can do?

There are a few more places not-yet-mentioned but worthy of your consideration:

Studio Kitchen - for truly unique preparations and outstanding flavors, not to mention warm and friendly conversations, this should not be missed. Chef Shola is listing multiple events on his website now for folks to sign up. Here is a thread that provides more details: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/872157

On Barnes Foundations - event though I only ate there during a private sit-down dinner event once, I liked what I ate and was told their kitchen does turn out similar-quality food during regular visiting hours. It's just such a treat to satisfy one's taste buds at the same time giving the visual sense a treat at this beloved Philadelphia institution.

As mentioned above Bibou is very doable. I especially appreciate the honesty of the owner/chef couple who tracked me down to give me a refund of $60 once when I overpaid.

If you like Amada, you probably will love Tinto even more; If you did Distrito away from center city, you may want to check out Black Fish one of these days.

Was born in China but grew up in Taiwan. Had plenty of Klim (dry milk powder) when I was little. Tasted fresh milk for the first time when I started college - the experimental dairy farm ran by the Department of Husbandry at National Taiwan U supplied the school's 'food court' with fresh cow's milk, something not available to consumers on the markets at that time. No, dairy was not part of our traditional diet then.

There are, however, many Chinese tribes that have been herding animals for ages. My impression is they live primarily in the north, west and southwest regions. These folks are familiar with a diary-centered diet. We, on the other hand, are not familiar with what they eat.

But living in the U.S. has greatly expanded my eating experience. After decades of sampling I now can out eat most people on cheeses - not only have I eaten nothing but cheese all day long but I have also graduated to enjoy the stinkiest. On cheese-eating days a sign hangs on my office door says, 'Eating XXX today, enter at your own risk' to warn off coworkers who has a low tolerance of certain smell.

I still do not drink milk, claiming lactose intolerance.

Assi is a Korean grocery store. This means it's perhaps less expensive than a Japanese place, cleaner than a Chinese store and definitely less smelly than a Vietnamese one, based on my experience. I go there regularly for their excellent produce selections, for seafood (live or not) and large varieties (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Southeast Asian and Latin Aemrican) of dry goods. However, I only eat at their food cour if pressed for time. The food tasted hurriedly assembled or re-heated, no matter which vendor or what dish I ordered. To satisfy my taste buds I'd go to Coco, a decent Korean restaurant on the other side of the same building, for any sit-down meal.

Back to Chong's: they do offer other types of dumplings - both in filling types and cooking methods. I have ordered water-boiled Jiao Zi filled with Chinese leek and pork and found it as good as home-made ones.

I am a frequent customer of theirs.

Their crispy-bottom 生煎包（raw-fried dumpling) is pretty good. Its pork filling is wrapped in leaven sour dough, steamed with small amount of water and a bit of oil. When the water is evaporated, the bottom of the dumplings is then crisped up by the thin layer of oil in the pan. In my opinion, theirs is better than the same dish offered by Dim Sum Garden (Chinatown in Philadelphia) mainly because their dough is more fragrant and superior.

However, for soup dumplings (juicy pork in thin unleaven wrapper), Dim Sum Garden is still the top spot in greater Philadelphia. Yes, going to Chinatown is a trek. But it's still a short drive compared to the drive to NYC. Years ago, I used to have to go THERE for soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai.

In Lansdale, between Shell.Fish.Sue and Chong's (a few doors apart), I'd pick Chong's. Both fit the description of hole-in-the-wall in my book (meaning not all that fancy). But Chong's offers more and better food for less $. One simply cannot beat that.

Received a flyer in my email. This one is piquing my interest, in a very pleasing way. The question I have is not "Go or not go?" but "Shall I do 1, 2, or all 3?"

Was born in the year of the Pig. The best thing my parents could have done to me since I have lived a very piggy life of eat, drink and be merry. If you go and see a gray-haired old Asian woman looking very happy, that's yours truly. Please wave and say "Hi".

I was there.

Everything was good, as usual. There was a pine nuts risotto cooked in mushroom sauce, a most unusual dish and, of course, very very tasty. Dessert was a combination of several small chocolate preparations with smoked chocolate powder sprinkled on. I who normally would not touch anything made of chocolate ate and ENJOYED the whole thing.

The power of good food is it makes me very mellow and extremely happy. That's what Studio Kitchen managed to deliver each time I went.

There are some new terms in the arena of dining that is just very new to me: 'pop-up' is just one of them. The other is 'collaboration'.

Very new not for the words themselves, but by the way the messages get acrossed - would you believe by twittering? I opened a twitter account but to this day still have no clue how to use it efficiently. Last time a collaboration took place, a fellow Yelper sent me a message saying, "Have you heard...?" and that's how I found out.

I miss the days when I found TV channels by turning a dial and events through reading the newspaper.

Yes, there will be various glassware for guests to use. I have seen different kinds. Since I am not familiar with the wine-drinking culture, I can't tell what's proper and what's not - just know that no one ever seemed to have any problem in the past.

No tipping. Once you made your reservation (and paid at the same time), there is no additional cost. Since the street parking is free you will be fine even if you come with not a penny in your pockets.

I'd like to recommend the French BYOB bistro Bibou. A cozy space with great ambiance. Fantastic food. Very nice owner/host team. Take with you your favorite wine and settle down for a joyful meal.

For Saturday morning, the Barnes Foundation opens at 9 AM. It's a must see.

Hope you have fun during your stay in Philadelphia. It's a place I love and am proud to call home.

Yes, I am going since I try not to miss any of Shola's pop-ups. Looking forward to meeting you.

Arrival starts at 7:00 and dinner starts at 7:30; it usually ends around 10 to10:30. Dress code appears to be 'business casual'.

You can bring your sparkling wine to drink just between you two. Some bring wine to share. I have taken beer, sake, and even water with me. It all depends on what you want to do.

It is near Spring Garden and 12th. Plenty of street parking closeby.

Shola sends out details by email to his guests the day before or the morning of the dinner. So if you register, you will surely get his email.

Happy anniversary no matter where you choose to go!!!

If you are talking about being in Philadelphia on 10/6 you might want to consider Studio Kitchen (http://www.studiokitchen.com/events).

The private chef Shola is scheduling this week's pop-up on Saturday. The one night only theme of "Espana : Classic and Modern Flavors of Spain" sounds very interesting. As with any of his dinners, it will be a meal not to be forgotten.

You can find more info on him and his work by checking out his website to read his blogs or by searching with the keyword "studio kitchen" or "shola" in Chowhound, Yelp or Google.

Does 'no casing' qualifies as sausage? If it does, this "oxtail bacon" (http://www.studiokitchen.com/BlogRetr...) is the best. I ate.

2 thin slices. I will never forget the pleasure it brought me.

Oops, it appears that I got 'regulated', for the second time.

You are right, NuMystic. I forgot the water portion. It's a pleasure to be corrected. Many thanks. Fiber is usually included as part of the carbohydrate content. According to an online source, water content in pine nuts amounts to about 5%.

Two things to report on pine nuts:

1) It makes great risotto, substituting rice. Had such a dish (risotto of pine nuts and mushroom) last night at Studio Kitchen (http://www.studiokitchen.com). The best risotto I have ever had, beating even the risotto cooked with tomato water previously served by Shola during another of his pop-up (and I thought that was great already).

2) Evaluted another brand of pine nuts - Italian nuts sold by Pinoli (they have a nice page about pine nuts at http://www.pinoli.co.nz/about-pine-nuts). Beautiful kernels, pleasant mouth feel with no biiter after-taste, nuttiness ranks better than the Turkish variety tested above. Very expensive but available in small quantities (50 g = less than 2 ounces, photo below).

Found a great read about pho on the internet and would like to share:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/09/the-food-lab-how-to-make-traditional-vietnamese-pho.html?ref=search

After reading it, for the first time I am motivated to do home-made pho AND feeling confident that mine will be as tasty as the best restaurants can offer. Yeah!!!

This article also convinced me that REAL pho does not need MSG and perhaps not many pho places make pho the REAL way 100% all the time. Restaurants (most pho and ramen places) use MSG as flavor enhancer to save time and money preparing broth. But what does it mean when a restaurant claims that no MSG is used in their broth? Does it mean they use a substitue? I came across such a possibility. Called "Mushroom Seasoning" and it looks like freeze-dry essence of perhaps mushrooms. Have been using it to prepare instant soup noodles for lunch at work. Here are 2 photos showing you what I bought out of curiosity. Notice the Chinese and Viet texts on the package. On the back it says: product of Singapore, imported by www.polokutrading.com. Interesting, isn't it?

[For Jewish folks, please don't take offense of the tiny symbol (background yellow) on the package. It's not a Nazi swastika but a symbol implying suitability for consumption by buddhists since the seasoning is vegetarian. The arms of the cross bend counterclockwise here, not clockwise as in a Nazi swastika.]

I am thinking that a golden triple shall go nicely...perhaps a Chimay?

Once upon a time I attended Frank's wine-tasting dinners frequently for many years. However, I never developed a knack matching wine with food. When I started going to Studio Kichen this year, I took with me beer, sake and, sometimes, just plain mineral water. Guests there have yet given me any flak dispite the fact that I usually was the only person who showed up without any wine.

Folks at Bibou are very pleasant. You'll be fine with your beer. The only thing there that requires prior request, to my knowledge, is the bone marrow since they prepare only a few servings per day.

If you see a Chinses store with roasted ducks/chickens/pork meat hanging in the window, wait around and check out 2 things: do the strips of hanging meat look appetizing? are there other customers buying the meat? If yes to both, then chances are you just identify a potential source of char siu.

Kam Man at 200 Canal used to always had a line of customers waiting (inside the grocery store by the counter at the "duck window") . I shopped there for the tastiest shao kao (Cantonese cook-roast meats) for over 20 years. Then one day the familiar face of the man behind the counter was gone. The person with the new face said, "He retired." I think that event coupled with the death of the grocery store's Grande Dame (owner) had impacted the business. The line is not like it was before. It's been quite a few years now. I still shop there but I do miss the old Kam Man very much.