i've got kind of a strange question: i would like to bring some dark chocolate to my grandmother in india but will be traveling for a month before then (in the summer)... does anyone have any suggestions for dark chocolate that won't melt? i thought something candy-coated might work... like m&m's but nicer? thanks in advance for any suggestions!

i'm making dessert for my friend's birthday dinner party (probably for 15 people).
it has to be gluten-free and she has expressed a preference for something maple flavored...
one idea i had is to make individual maple pot de cremes (found a recipe from saveur)... any other suggestions?

Have you been to Tamarind or Tulsi? How did those compare in your opinion?

Wow, okay -- sounds pretty unequivocal so far! Thank you! Any other suggestions? Anyone?

I'd like to organize a small dinner at an Indian restaurant for my husband's birthday. He loves Indian food and we've never been to any of the upscale Indian places in the city. Can anyone suggest the best choice among Devi, Tulsi, Tamarind, Junoon, Amma, Vatan... Or any other suggestions?

actually it doesn't have to be a private room! just good food!

looking for a restaurant (preferably downtown/east village) where we can have a private room with dinner for our office xmas party. we are all young, arty people. we want somewhere not too fancy, but with very good food. we've had dinner parties at edi & the wolf twice, and love the space and atmosphere there but are tiring of the menu... any suggestions?

Thanks for all of these suggestions -- they're really helpful!

a dear friend of mine lives in charlottesville and is unable to cook right now because of a family illness/crisis. can anyone recommend good places to have food delivered to her? she lives on mulberry avenue. i looked online but it seems that grocery delivery places like fresh direct don't deliver to charlottesville. she expressed interest in a place called ariana grill kabob house, which i'm going to get for the first night, but then i would like to plan a few more... can anyone local offer any suggestions? thanks in advance!

Or if anyone can suggest someplace similar but better, please do! I was told that the menus at Scarpetta and Maialino look a little too expensive. We also tried for Lupa but they can only seat us at 5:30 and Porsena but they said for seven it's a prix fixe... We want to order off the menu, for sure...

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Lupa
170 Thompson Street, New York, NY 10012

Scarpetta
355 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10014

Maialino
2 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010

Porsena
21 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003

We're having a family dinner for seven on Friday night as an early Father's Day celebration. We want an Italian place that's good/authentic but not too pricey (entrees in the twenties rather than the thirties or forties)... We were hoping to try Locanda Verde but they can only seat us at 5:30 or Osteria Morini but they said parties of six or more have to do their events menu with a minimum $1200 spend.
We were able to get reservations at both Peasant and Hearth... Which is better? Somehow I am guessing Hearth, but I was wondering if anyone has tried both and could let me know how they compare...

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Locanda Verde
377 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10013

Osteria Morini
218 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012

I won't be able to get to nearby cities, unfortunately, and I'm just flying in and out of Venice for the Biennale, but I will def check out both stores and the bakeries...
Thank you so much for your input, everyone!

Thanks so much for your advice! I will check out Drogheria Mascari and the bakeries mentioned... Has anyone heard of or visited a shop called I Tre Mercanti?

Can anyone recommend a good place to shop for Italian provisions in Venice?
I'm looking for stuff to bring home like miele di castagno (chestnut honey), salsa di noci (jarred nut sauce for pasta), and cantucci alla mandorla (little biscotti) to bring home... Usually I go to Milan, where I know the supermarkets and specialty food stores, but this time I am only going in and out of Venice. Will track down a supermarket of course (if anyone can recommend the best one, I'd appreciate it -- I'm staying in Cannareggio) but was wondering if there's any famous specialty food store like Milan's Peck or Drogheria Radrizzani in Venice? I have found mentions of Drogheria Mascari but can't tell if that's mostly for spices... Any tips would be appreciated!

Thanks for these tips! I will definitely check out Matunuck Oyster Bar and Champlin's (is that this place: http://www.champlins.com/ in Naragansett?) I'm not familiar with the area at all yet... just looking for the best seafood hopefully not toooooo long of a drive from Charlestown! Is the local way of eating seafood mostly fried?

I'll be spending a week at the beach in Charlestown, Rhode Island, with my family this summer...
Looking for the best places to eat nearby -- hopefully within a 30-45 minute driving radius. My parents are especially interested in seafood and love lobster.
Also, can anyone recommend a place nearby to pick up fresh lobster? (I know some places will steam them for you, so that would be great too.) Really any recommendations for the area would be appreciated as I've never spent time in Rhode Island. Thanks in advance for your help!

I tried to take apart the lid but couldn't find any way to do it without snapping the pieces of plastic that keep the two parts together. Finally decided to email OXO and get some answers...
Apparently in my older model (the bowl is clear and the lid is black and white), the lid does not separate for cleaning. They have a newer version (she said it has a clear lid) that comes apart for cleaning. They're sending me a free replacement lid for my model (hooray for "satisfaction guaranteed" policies!) and offered to send me a discount code for use on their website if I decide I would like to buy the newer model. We were able to get some mildew off with the weak bleach solution, but not everything, so we're very happy to be getting a new lid!

I have an Oxo pump-style salad spinner -- it's made of plastic and I've probably had it for almost a decade. It still works perfectly. The only problem is that what looks to be black mold seems to be growing between the two pieces of plastic in the lid... I can also see more black stuff inside the round piece that protrudes inside the lid where the pump mechanism is. I'm not sure if it's mold or just dirt (but I think it's probably mold since it looks a lot like the little black specks of mold that sometimes grow on the plastic lid of our Brita water pitcher)... I'd like to clean it, but I can't get to it. Has anyone had success in taking apart the lid of this kind of salad spinner? Would soaking the whole thing in a pan of bleach be a bad idea? Or should I just suck it up and buy a new one?
Any advice would be much appreciated!

good to know... thank you!

I bought some cheese in Paris two weeks ago: a St. Marcellin, an Epoisses, a Camembert, and a chunk of 2-year old Comté. I bought unripe versions and had them vacuum packed after they were wrapped in wax paper... The cheesemonger told me they would be ready in a week or two. I just realized that I should have taken them out of the vacuum pack plastic bag as soon as I got home... I just opened them. The Comté looks perfect, and the Camembert (wrapped in wax paper in a box) looks fine too. The Epoisses (which was plastic-wrapped at the store, then wrapped in wax paper, then in the vacuum bag) looks the same as when I got it, though it is surprisingly firm. But on one part of the St Marcellin there is a little bit of white peach fuzz... is this mold or normal? I've always bought these in the US when they were fully ripe and ready to eat on the same day so I'm not sure if I killed them through suffocation in the plastic bag? Does anyone know if fuzzy white mold is normal on St Marcellin or should I throw it away? Most of the wheel looks normal otherwise...
I'd be grateful for any advice!

Please report back! I am considering it for dinner with a friend tomorrow night...

We just got back from a six-day trip to Paris, full of great meals based on recommendations here and from friends... Here are some of our favorite meals (with pics):

La Régalade Saint Honoré: http://didactickatydid.blogspot.com/2011/02/paris-day-four.html
The complimentary housemade paté and cornichons were a delicious start to what was one our favorite meals in Paris. I had a delicious seared tuna salad with beet carpaccio to start and my husband had some nicely dressed raw scallops. Then I had a giant piece of pork belly with skin so crispy I had a hard time cutting it, served on a bed of Puy lentils, and he had what seemed like a pretty traditional beef bourguignon. For dessert he got the Grand Marnier soufflé and I had a delicious giant serving of riz au lait... (33€ for three-course menu

Chez L’Ami Jean: http://didactickatydid.blogspot.com/2011/03/paris-day-six.html
Lunch at this crowded Basque restaurant (lots of seafood on the menu) was the best meal I had in Paris. It was pricey (42€ for three-course menu) but well worth it. I started with crispy bone marrow and a sardine filet served on top of some kind of deep-fried flatbread, which added a terrific crunch to everything. I'm not a big sardine fan, but I thought the combination was great. Hubs had an enormous serving of cockles and mussels, served in a Staub pot. Then he had veal, which included the kidneys and glands and other innards. I had the roast chicken, which turned out to be the most delicious chicken I've ever had in my life! So tender and moist and exquisitely seasoned. We also got a little pot of the most delicious mashed potatoes I've ever had in my life... don't want to think about how many calories were in there, they were so rich! But dessert really knocked it out of the ballpark... He had something involving grapefruit and tapioca, and a little box of flavored meringues, and I got the riz au lait (again), which has received rave reviews here... The "milk jam" that came with it was so caramelized that it was almost bitter tasting, which worked perfectly with the creamy rice pudding (I think they must fold whipped cream into it). I couldn't finish it, and was so sad to leave some behind. It will linger in my memory forever.
The Cantin cheese shop is just a few blocks away from here so we stocked up on unripe cheese which they vacuum packed for us to take home...

Café Constant: http://didactickatydid.blogspot.com/2011/02/paris-day-three-things-start-to-get.html
Following a tasty lunch at L'As du Fallafel, we tried Café Constant for dinner. After all the nervous phone calls we'd been making for dinner reservations (some unsuccessfully: we never managed to get through at Frenchie), it was nice to randomly end up somewhere that didn't take reservations and find that we only had to wait 10 minutes for a table. (We had ruled out Les Cocottes down the block because its line extended out to the sidewalk.) This was my husband's favorite meal in Paris. We started out with a simple duck foie grass and oeufs mimosa (they were described as old-style deviled eggs, but I found these weird -- I think the white egg half was filled with a herby mayo, and the yolks were grated on top, which is fine, but the yolks didn't taste like anything). Then I had roast chicken, which was ok but nothing to write home about, especially in comparison to the amazing chicken I had two days later at Chez L'Ami Jean. Hubs had veal head, tongue, and brains in a gribiche sauce. He raved about the flavor of the brain, which he'd never had before. We finished with an ile flottante (a puff of meringue floating in caramel custard cream).

Breizh Café: http://didactickatydid.blogspot.com/2...
We had delicious buckwheat galettes and Brittany cider at this little café in Le Marais. The dessert crepes were also awesome... I love how the caramel is cooked until it looks and tastes really dark!
We recommend any savory crepe with the confit d'oignons and any sweet one with the caramel sauce.

We also had good meals at Rose Bakery in the Marais (tasty quiches and really fresh salads) and Le Café des Musees (standard bistro fare - I wouldn't necessarily recommend going out of your way for it, but the steak tartare was really good), and a fun picnic in our apartment with provisions from La Grande Epicerie de Paris (I could live in there). We also loved the croissants from Au Levain de Marais, which we tried to get every morning, the caramels from Jacques Genin (too bad they are so pricey!), and, in addition to the famed macarons, the chocolate sable cookies with fleur de sel from Pierre Hermé.

In the end, we ran out of time (and were trying to stick to a budget) so we didn't get to try everything we wanted to, but it was a great trip and we can't wait to get back!

Has anybody tried this new Mexican place at Smith and Union?

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Diego
305 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

how much was the tasting, pray tell?

I believe that tomorrow is Paczki Day... I'd love to get some paczki in Greenpoint for my husband. Can anyone recommend the best bakery for this? Thanks!

My favorite brownie recipe is Alice Medrich's cocoa brownie recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
I use an organic, Dutch-processed cocoa (Equal Exchange) and forgo the nuts. I melt the butter in the microwave to save time, and double the recipe to fill a 13 x 9 inch pan (lined with parchment). If you have all the ingredients, it's almost as fast as making brownies from a box mix. They are especially delicious when stored in the fridge or freezer... super chewy with a dark chocolatey taste!

Tomorrow's our last night in Paris and we're looking for a good place to eat after an afternoon of art-viewing in Belleville. We had hoped to check out Le Baratin but it appears to be closed for vacation. Can anyone recommend a good, not-too-pricey place for dinner? Many thanks!

I've made a list of fromageries to check out (Cantin, Ferme St. Hubert, Alleosse, Barthelemy) but was wondering if anyone could suggest a place to sit down and have a cheese plate or course? I have read about the cheese course at Astier, but am not sure if that's the best option. Any suggestions?

sure... like i said i'm not sure where it's from, but it's good!

serves 6
1/2 c olive oil
1 med onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 TB minced fresh basil
2 TB tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 16 oz cans chickpeas
1 lb fusilli
1/2 grated parmesan
Heat oil in large skilet and sautee onion until golden. Add garlic, basil, tomato paste, salt, and pepper and stir. Stir in chickpeas and add water to cover. Simmer until chickpeas are tender (about 30 min) then puree half the chickpeas in their liquid (can use a fork and mash against the pan). cook the sauce until it thickens a bit. cook pasta, drain, and toss with sauce. top with parmesan.

seconding the pancake idea! mark bittman's beet pancakes with rosemary are awesome and would be even better topped with a poached egg!