Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Just prepped two jars of kraut using this recipe. Much appreciated! Thanks go to Lorenzo for the supplemental info. My kraut certainly won't be ready to eat tomorrow for good luck but I wish you all a happy New Year!!

A bowl of steamy pho ga soup with a ton of basil, lime and nuoc cham and Vietnamese coffee.

@bitchincamero: Congrats! Hope you are feeling good. I haven't been around for so long. Miss all the familiar voices here. I had a baby boy last April . . . wonder how many SE'ers have multiplied since the site started. Didn't Alaina just have a baby, too?!

Good point, hmw0029. I bet portiaf does eat sushi. And there is -- of course -- a very easy work around here for the germaphobes.

Just wear gloves when rolling the cake balls.

Love the stuff. You can use it to flavor pound cake, scones, compound butter and also use it in a hair rinse and potpourri.

http://oldfashionedliving.com/lemonverbena.html
http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/lemon_verbena.html
http://www.superbherbs.net/Lemonverbena.htm

And if you love the smell as much as I do, you can wear it as a perfume.

http://www.fragonard.com/parfums_grasse/eaux-de-toilette/verveine-c-86.htm

I'd like to add Swad coconut chutney, if you're a fan of South Indian dosa (like me). It's available at Patel Bros.

(delete "on crusty bread").

India Pavilion on Calder Way offers a very reasonable all-you-can-eat lunch buffet for $6.95, Seoul Garden on Locust Lane has wonderful Korean food and Viet Thai (in the stone cottage) off of North Atherton actually does justice to Vietnamese and Thai food. They've all been around since I lived in State College (8 years ago) and they are still there . . . which must be some testament to quality.

@Dcarl1: Agree 100% on Saint's for coffee. I caffeinated there often as an undergraduate and for a year after graduation. Webster's Bookstore on Allen Street also has good coffee and tea but I hear they're behind on rent and may be closing soon. Sad.

If you stop in State College, PA, try Herwig's. It's an adorable Austrian bistro run by the Brandstatter family and is located on College Avenue.

The Berkey Creamery at Penn State is also fun to visit if you end up on campus in University Park.

Enjoy your trip!

blair_houghton: My goodness. How did you get the idea that the federal court judgment "changes things"? It follows the current controlling case law on the matter (i.e., the 2005 Granholm v. Heald SCOTUS case referenced above). Read about that case ruling and what it means at some point. Also, you may benefit by reviewing the concept of "legal precedent."

Here's my beef with H.R. 5034: It appears to change the controlling case law/legal precedent here by (1) getting rid of the BOP shift to the state once a challenger has met their initial evidentiary burden (i.e., facts prove discriminatory effect/discrimination) and by (2) creating an impossible BOP for a party challenging a discriminatory state wine law.

I hope that makes sense to somebody reading this. I really don't wish to go on and on.

Can we end this now?

And, no, I did not get drunk but I did enjoy two glasses of wine with my dinner on that weekend in question. Thanks!

(And no I'm not a "boozer," people. A lot for me is two glasses.)

@Jen Blacker: I'd hit SE while eating lunch, too, when I was working. It's a great source of meal ideas and I'd hit the market after work to pick-up whatever I it inspired to me to cook or bake. I'll be back to work soon . . . my infant son just turned three months.

HUH? I don't know what to say except good luck in life, blair_houghton. Good luck!

. . . oh and section 3(b) appears to *allow* states to have laws that discriminate against out-of-state alcohol producers as long as there's justification. I can't believe I didn't mention that earlier. It's written in the bill.

Anyway, the people at the National Association of American Wineries are a lot smarter than I am and they issued an excellent summary of why H.R. 5035 is evil.

http://www.wineinstitute.org/files/Wine%20Institute-WineAmerica%20Opposition%20Letter%20to%20H.R.%205034.pdf

Check it out.