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Eeee! Bento book! :D I'm trying to learn more bento recipes, since my current menu is somewhat limited.. Favorite bento lunch combo right now is a natto maki, edamame, and edamame shumai, with maybe some pickled daikon slices for something crunchy :}

I just can't figure out how to get the fried things to stay crunchy in bento! I learned how to make korokke this week, but they get soggy if they're not fresh :(

That just makes me squee :D

Probably my funniest "Asian food experience" is also my earliest experience with Asian food. In fact, it was my first experience with any solid food at all! There is a family-owned Chinese restaurant walking distance from my parents' house. It's a place that we've gone to countless times over the years, and is always a nice place to take company when they come to visit. When I was very small, my parents took some guests out to eat there, and set me up in the highchair to entertain myself. Well, apparently at some point, the conversation must have gotten very intense and no one was paying much attention to me, but the next thing anyone knew, I had reached over and helped myself to my fatther's rice bowl, using my little baby hands to try and shove as much of it into my mouth as possible! There was rice all over me, all over the floor, pretty much all over everything in a fairly wide radius around my highchair. I had only managed to get a few pieces actually in my mouth, and fortunately the staff thought it was hysterically funny, and I was young enough that there was no embarassing stigma to prevent me from going back. ;) My parents still say that my first solid food was a Chinese dish called "Sticky Rice All Over The Floor".

They don't have a huge selection, but the MoMA store has some really gorgeous ones, if you're into modern design.. Otherwise, Barney's has some lovely, more classic ones, and a much larger selection... But I'm making the assumption that by "in the city" you mean in NYC?

Congratulations on your pending engagement! I hope it's as lovely as the sentiment you're putting into it :}

My favorites are Boudros (hands down, every single time I'm in San An), and Pesca for seafood, both on the Riverwalk. Definitely try to sit outside at both places! I would suggest Pesca for lunch and Boudros for dinner, though both have excellent lunch specials... I highly recommend the duck and quail at Boudros. ;}

Anything that requires a stand mixer, since I still haven't bought one, as I can't decide on what colour I want.. So anything that requires multiple stand-mixer settings and prolonged beating? Back-burnered until I'm in someone else's kitchen, or I shell out for my KitchenAid ;}

Or recipes calling for a pressure cooker... *shudder*

I make sushi and onigiri at home on a pretty regular basis, and have served it to tons of guests, so it can definitely be done. ;} I but my nori already toasted in the packs, and make my rice on the stove (no rice cooker), and then add the seasoned rice vinegar from the grocery store. For insides, it depends on what kind of mood I'm in. I like Krab sticks, and smoked salmon the best for the meats (easiest to get and deal with), but I've also used things like eel steak and fresh tuna when I find good ones. I use a lot of veggies: green onions, avocado, shallots, cucmber, zucchini, etc. Aaaaaand... secret ingredient! Cream cheese. I love Philly rolls and every variation. Mostly, I just mix and match everything I've cut up, no set recipe. It's fun to do for parties!

Only techniques I can share would be to pre-wrap your bamboo mat in saran wrap to save on clean up, and have a bowl of water to dip your hands in before you smoosh the rice into place so it doesn't stick to you. A wet cloth to wipe your knife off on in between cuts when you're slicing rolls is also very helpful. Oh, and lots of practice of course.. Tasty, tasty practice... ;9

I'm in the same age group, and honestly, the most successful technique I've found in persuading my friends to cook is to invite them over for dinner parties where I (usually with the help of a friend) cook the entire meal. These have slowly evolved into pot lucks, with more and more people offering to bring something.

Now, I don't particularly like to bake - I don't seem to have that particular flavor of patience - but one of my friends does, and between the two of us, we can put out a pretty amazing spread. This raises the bar for the pot luck participants, and it is very, very rare these days for people to bring something they just bought and warmed up.

If nothing else, it's a great excuse to get a bunch of friends together around a table for a good meal :}

Yes! Casellula is it, Emmi24g! Thank you so much! We really enjoyed it there, and the serving staff were all very friendly, helpful, and knowledgable. I highly recommend it as well!

Thank you again!

Dallas: Dream Cafe, or if you're more on the Fort Worth side, hit up Joe T. Garcia's and sit outside. Looove their fajitas!

Austin: Chuy's for a real "Austin" experience (it's a chain now, but began in Austin with two guys who only had $20 for decorating, and a penchant for Elvis, hubcaps, and painted wooden fish). Fonda San Miguel or El Chile for Sunday brunch, Kerbey Lane Cafe (the one on Kerbey Lane) for breakfast all other times. Skip Trudys unless you want a super good Mexican Martini - the food is only so-so. Good BBQ, either County Line or Salt Lick.. everyone's pretty split on which one is better. I like 'em both, but County Line makes the best turkey. Skip most of the steak places though, you'll get a better one in NYC, have to say. Oh, and definitely hit up Amy's Ice Creams if you're an ice cream fan. Best ice cream anywhere, ever, period.

San Antonio: Eat on the Riverwalk, lots of great restaurants. Boudro's for game birds - duck and quail, soooo good. They also make great guacamole, right at your table. Pesca for fish dishes, especially their lunch specials. Las Canarias for upscale, reliably done standards - everything they make is good, but it's not adventurous or creative by any means. Most of the restaurants on the Riverwalk post their menus outside, so wander around and you're bound to find something that catches your interest!

Hope that helps, and enjoy your visit!

Feast holidays are definitely my favorite gather-round-the-table home gatherings. In particular Samhain and Thanksgiving.. one with friends, one with family. For Samhain, a friend and I hold a special dinner for a small group of our closest friends, and each person brings a dish that was somehow meaningful to the person that they're choosing to remember that night. As we serve each course, the person responsible gets to tell us all a story about the dish and the person. It's a great night of sharing food and memories :}

I found it surprising to see the Dinosaur listed as "upscale", seeing as when I went there this past weekend, it looked exactly the same way it always has, with the same crowd of decidedly un-upscale diners and servers. But then again, I've only ever gone to the original Syracuse location, which looks like it's quite a bit different from it's off-shoots. I just hope it doesn't end up changing the original! I still love it better than just about anything I can get down here in Texas. :9

Most absolute favorite? Probably my memories of eating gelato in the shade of a summer in Florence, Italy, while I was a student. Absolutely everything I tried was amazing, though I'm sure half that was due to the experience itself.

Locally, my very favorite is real, homemade strawberry ice cream with big chunks of strawberries and a touch of vanilla, topped with fresh, cut up strawberries (and blueberries, if I can get 'em). Yum!