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OMG SOOO YUMMY! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

That looks like a Doughpro! Those dough presses are awesome!

Living in Hawai'i for eight years is imbedded in my DNA....Spam Musubi ....truly a Hawaiian favorite snack or meal if you have two! The method and recipe here is good - but I've only had spam musubi made with the spam fried in teriyaki sauce - then placed on top of the block of rice - and a strip of nori about 2-inches wide wrapped around the center of the spam.

Going back to Honolulu for my yearly infusion of Aloha....I may be a native-born New Yorker, but my heart and soul is Hawaiian!

In between visits each year, I make Malasadas at home and buy spam musubi at a small sushi place around the corner from where I live....when I saw "spam musubi" on their menu I nearly fainted! Visit my website at www.cookwithaloha.com

I completely agree. I have pretty much set up my life so I live within 10 minutes of the best pizza places in the country. My parents live 5 minutes from Pizzeria Bianco (which is great because we can go home during the 2.5 hour wait), now I live in LA 10 minutes from Mozza, and I went to college in New Haven. New Haven pizza is only good if you don't get too many toppings because then it becomes limp and soggy (although clam and bacon at Pepe's is totally worth the trade-off), Mozza has more innovative and complicated toppings than Pizzeria Bianco, but Pizzeria Bianco proves that sometimes less is more.

None of Chris's pizza creations have too many toppings for the crust to support and all of the flavors combine brilliantly (although when we get the Wise Guy, we get reg mozz instead of smoked because we all hate smoked cheese, no matter what Bianco might say). The Rosa at Bianco might be my favorite dish of all time, it is nothing short of culinary perfection.

@kaszeta Congrsts on your Pizzeria Bianco visit. I did not see a fig and proscuitto on their online menu. Does he serve specials or did you construct that pie yourself?

Thanks,

Paulie Gee

@Allison: The Institute of Culinary Education is an outstanding place. Back when it was known as Peter Kump's Cooking School and located on the UES, I took Tech I and Tech II (Techniques of French Cooking). 20+ years later, I still use recipes and techniques I learned in those courses and gave my son Tech I as a present.

The place is probably much slicker now. Great place to learn to cook.
Thanks for the great report: I'll watch for the pizza course to be offered again in the future.

Oysters, land based restaurant in Utah. Had them twice before and they were great! No alcohol (Utah) and we drove less than 1/8 mile before I had my husband pull over. We were only there a few weeks for work so didn't go back. But we should have told the manager afterwards. I was busy at the time praying to the porcelain god.

In general, we do best eating from our own kitchen because I practice good sanitation that we can't expect in a local eatery.

#1 -- a PAN?

I know I'm a little late to the table, but this is an issue that always gets me wound up and I just wanted to add my 20%

I was a barista for years, at an independent coffee shop and I depended on tips to survive. My minimum wage salary barely covered my rent and utility costs, so my tips provided me with food and other essentials as well as funds non essential items and activities which a person needs from time to time. To me a barista is no different than a bartender, they just serve different kinds of beverages. And I would assume that most people tip their bartender, even if all they are ordering is a bottled beer.
I actually labeled my tip jar "Karma Jar" and with the exception of one Hindu woman who found it offensive, people were very responsive to it. I always tip at least $1 esp if I know the tips are being pooled.

I also always tip the pizza delivery guys. They may get paid more than server rate, but they have to use their own car, and making frequent short trips does add to the wear and tear of any vehicle, plus buy their own gas and we all know how that's been lately. People have told me that it's not necessary to tip when a delivery fee is added to the bill, but more often then not that delivery fee goes to the restaurant, not the delivery guy. Pizza delivery can also be a rather dangerous occupation, for more info visit
http://tipthepizzaguy.com/
Which is a little snarky here and there but does give some perspective from the delivery guy's point of view

I have read the comments with great interest. I live in New Zealand and generally there is no tipping. If I take a taxi I round up the amount owing, if the fare is a straight $20, then that is what I give. That is the norm here. There is no tipping of hairdressers for instance, and you might tip a waiter/waitress after having received truly good service and on a special night out. That amount is given as a thank you but it is not expected. The minimum wage here is $12.00 per hour from age 16 and that is before tax. I can't get my head around tipping. I feel that a working person ought to receive a "proper" wage and should not have to rely on tipping (people's mood etc etc) to make a living. Let the price of the meal reflect the true cost of that meal. Having said that, should I travel to the States, I would make an effort to find out how to tip correctly but I would prefer not to have to think about what is appropriate to give and suffer embarrassment through ignorance.

If you ever leave less than 10% for ANY reason - you are a thief. By federal law at least a 10% tip must accompany all service transactions. The problem with the law is that they punish the victim. You see, whether you tip or not Uncle Sam still taxes the server for a 10% tip, thus making not tipping a crime. The server pays a fine for a bad tip in the form of income tax. So when you do not tip you are actually taking money they earned from other customers. That makes you a thief. If the service was not up to par, speak with the manager. If you do not speak with the manager but leave a poor tip the service wasn't bad; you are just cheap. And to be quite honest if you get any food, be it what you ordered or not then the server has earned a 10% tip.

I am a good tipper, WHEN my server is good. I believe that just like a bonus at other jobs, extra tip is all about how you work. For satisfactory service I'll give 15%. But, if the waiter is rude or ignores the table, I don't mind tipping less that that. I'm a reasonable person . . . if they can't figure out what they did wrong, then they'll probably just do it to someone else.