Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I think saffron tastes horrible, adding an air of staleness and old cupboard to everything. Tarragon makes me feel queasy. I love cilantro and just about everything else you can eat.

Grace used to hold the Philly top spot for me too. But calling a burger the best in Philly isn't saying much.

But I recently had the burger at Village Whiskey, and it is not just the best burger in Philadelphia -- it is easily one of the best burgers I've ever had. Get there. Now.

Just a note about Mario Batali's San Marco in the Venetian -- be prepared for a marathon meal. I've been there three times and never did we leave before midnight. And not because we had 10 courses either, it's a slow enjoy-your-food/wine sort of place - like in Italy. You are NOT going to get in/out in an hour or two. And be prepared to wait, even with resos.

Hey Gastronomeg, you must be in Columbus. Me too!! Heard about Anthony on NPR. Wish I could go, but have to work. Have fun!!!

Spotted him recently in the wilds of the Upper East Side, Manhattan...he was approaching his limo at 88th & 3rd. People were calling at him from their cars...

I saw the bourdain/batali tour in seattle. Tix were $50 for the cheap seats. Mario actually outshined tony by quite a bit. He seemed older, wiser and funnier than bourdain's cursing bitter persona. I'll note here that it really was a show, in that many of the jokes/anecdotes were well rehersed and came off very scripted. That said, I did overall enjoy the show, even if it was a little pricy.

And a note here to women/gay men: during the q and a part of the show don't get in line and ask tony to go out to dinner/marry you. You're wasting the audience's time. And you sound like a drooling idiot. And to my fellow cooks: he's not gonna go out drinking with you after the show.. So, again, quit wasting everyone's time.

I plan on seeing him when he comes to Austin early next year. Hopefully it'll be a great time!

*swoon with jealousy*

@dbcurrie - your post reminded me of my cousin many years ago - she was trying to make popcorn and she grabbed one of our Uncles who was a priest and had never been in a kitchen for 30 years - even he knew she was using split peas and that is why it "wasn't popping up and down!"

I was a busy baker...besides the French bread that's long gone, I made a sweet bread with a crumb topping, a loaf of everyday bread, and just for fun, a little sculpted loaf...all uploaded to Photograzing.

Some day I'll spend enough time out of the kitchen to get my blog whipped into shape. Meanwhile, just photos. The French bread was an experiment to see what the difference is when letting bread rise on a baker's couche as opposed to on a pan. The Placek (sweet bread) was from a Polish cookbook that I just got, the everyday loaf was because we had leftover meatloaf and I wanted sandwiches (and I was playing around with a decorate top) and the last one was just for fun.

The first time I bought purple potatoes, I mashed them. And yup, it's muppet. I still buy them, but they look a lot better when they're in pieces. Or whole.

The other night, I followed a recipe for a crockpot concoction of sauerkraut, mushrooms, barley and split peas. Overnight, and the peas weren't cooked. Into a dutch oven and at a higher temp, peas still weren't cooked. Back in the crockpot the next day, and the peas still weren't cooked. The barley cooked fine, but the stupid split peas are still less cooked than I'd like them to be. I don't know if I bought peas that were harvested last century, or if it's yet another high altitude quirk, or if there's something in the mix that's keeping the peas so solid, but this is just ridiculous.

A couple days before I was testing a bean soup mix that included split peas, and they cooked just fine in the same crockpot.

I once made the most delicious and perfect looking omelette in the history of omelettes. I beat up the last eggs we had and sauteed some onions and mushrooms and sprinkled some cheese. They looked and smelled amazing. I served it up and bit into it and realize that the mushrooms in the omelette were rancid.

@bobbieAnn - I didn't know Meat guy's explanation, but I've seen this with meat I was quite sure was adequately cooked. I'm thinking it happens more when it'd cooked hot like this. I now just roast chicken at 350 until the leg bones are loose and I've not had it pink, nor dry either.