Vietnam!

We (Teddy, Guy, Anthony & myself) arrived in Ho Chi Minh & checked into our hotel. We went to a local bar & had a few beers & lunch. I opted for the Green Chicken Curry which was excellent & cost a little over $2.

We had breakfast at a tiny eatery the next morning, a so-so omelet & a delicious mango juice drink.


After a hair-raising cyclo tour of the city, we stopped off for lunch, the national dish of Vietnam; Pho. I immediately fell in love with this dish. It's very light, unlike Japanese noodle soups. Adding a little lime & some veggies really brings out the flavor. For $1, you can't go wrong!



We visited a large market soon afterwards & saw some of the freshest foods & amazing street-side cooking.



We headed down to the beach 'town' of Mui Ne & were treated to more culinary delights. One of the most fun meals was had at a restaurant by our hotel. We started with fried calamari & a shrimp cocktail, then Teddy & I had a seafood dish that we grilled ourselves. Delicious!


We hit up a fancy hotel the next day & were treated to some of the best food of our trip.








Where do I begin? Calamari, Barracuda, Slow roasted pork, squid & more. We finished 3 bottles of wine that day, right on the beach... Who could ask for more???

All in all, the culinary experience of Vietnam was worth the 23 hour trip, anything else was a bonus!

Pho - Mach I

I just couldn't wait to spin up some Pho in the kitchen.

I did cheat too. I used 'Superior Touch "Better than Buillion" Beef Base'. It is a fabulous product for us people with small kitchens if used correctly. Not too much. Heavy handedness just won't do it. The broth is important because it's the base for the soup, the backbone if you will. I used 1 tsp beef paste per pint of hot water. I reckoned about 3/4 pint per soup portion, so 1.5 tsp of paste.

To this I added a tablespoon of fish sauce, about half a thumb of thinly sliced ginger, a really good pinch of dried pepper flakes as the local boy had let me down and I couldn't get fresh red chili, five spice powder (in the absence of star anise and cinnamon sticks) and a few black peppercorns. I thinly sliced a bison steak, enough for 2. D'Agostino's didn't have a decent beef fillet and this was an interesting substitute. My first time in fact. I shoved it in the freezer for a bit to firm it up to make thin slicing a cinch. D'Ag's didn't have plain Chinese noodles either (!) so I bought some Top Ramen noodles and threw the sachet away. (1 TR noodle pack pp.) So that's the main ingredients of the soup. Bring the stock to the boil, add aromatics, reduce heat and let it simmer for 20. Strain. I chucked the noodles for the soup into boiling water and let them cook, about 8 mins. I drained and added them to the strained stock.

While that was cooking I got all my garnish together. Beansprouts, fresh basil, coriander, lime wedges, fish sauce, sliced onions and scallions, pepper flakes, radish for colour and I had some leftover cooked bok choi in the fridge.

Now for the assembly. Follow closely. It should only take you 23 seconds. Put the cooked greens if using into the bottom of the bowl. Add noodles. Ladle your simmering stock into the bowl and drop the thinly sliced bison or beef into that. It should cook pretty quickly. Grab some fish sauce and add a few drops, a small handful of sprouts, onion, basil and coriander, radish, a lime wedge and a few pepper flakes on top. And that's it. The Mrs said it was delicious.

Ho Chi Minh - Pho

After the excesses of Singapore, we four were looking forward to Vietnam where we believed we could eat and drink a little less. We were mistaken. Ho Chi Minh is culinarily mature and there seemed to be endless possibilities when it came to food.

We landed in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day 'acclimatising' with a few Saigon beers. We were to tackle the heart of HCM the morning after. We left the hotel early, and stumbled into the heat looking for breakfast. We found a place straight away and a woman carrying a gurgling baby fed us with bread, jam, omelettes with cheese and vegetables and a mango shake. One is never far from somewhere to eat in HCM. Detemined to soak up some of the culture, we headed out into the city on foot, coated in sunscreen. We bumped into some very friendly Vietnamese blokes who wanted to take us around the city for the nxt 2 hours in the front of their tricycles. "Why not?" we said. I was nervous as hell as we weaved in and out of the relentless tide of motorbikes and bicycles. Some mopeds carried up to 4 generations of a family, others huge boxes of fruit and vegetables, and all road users share common philosophies. Just hit the gas, pray, don't bump anybody in front, weave at all times and sound your horn as often as you can. I remember one moment when we pulled into a massive roundabout with no lines on the road, 93 lines of traffic and everybody seemed to be heading for us. Great way to see the city though.

We were dropped off at the market, a good 2 hours later having covered maybe 5 miles and one temple. This market was where the real action was. Food everywhere. Hot streets paved with hot pans, curry, soups, vendors haggling over live fish, greens, intensely coloured fruit. Everybody was selling something you could eat. I bought some coffee that smelled like chocolate. I wanted to buy some crabs too, but good sense prevailed and I held off. I mean, where would I cook them? It was getting close to lunchtime and I was delerious and hungry. We spotted a shop just called Pho and headed straight in for cold beer and some soup.

Pho is Vietnam's national dish. It's a simple noodle soup with meat/fish and fresh garnishes. I wanted some Pho Bo, or beef noodle soup. A well flavoured beef broth is made by stewing beef fillet, oxtails and brisket with aromatics. The beef fillet and brisket are thinly sliced and added to the strained broth with noodles and garnished typically with sliced red chilli, fish sauce, greens, beansprouts, coriander, basil leaves and lime wedges. Fresh and delicious. Mine had some thin slices of tripe in it too, for good measure. I enjoyed every slurp. Pho is eaten at any time of the day, and I was eager to try my own hand at Pho when I got home.

I found a great authentic Pho recipe online. I will cheat though when I finally get around to making it and not make my own fresh stock at home. It's just not practical in my kitchen. I will cook the thinly sliced beef from raw in the hot broth rather than stew it first. I am thinking about some interesting variations too. A surf and turf one with oysters. Perhaps a decadent pho with slivers of foie gras? Scallops and pork belly?

Singapore: Sreuth! The Beaufort

My good buddy Sid has been living in Singapore for the past year or so, and he has been relaying tales of lavish banquets, fresh king crabs and fish-head curry. The stories eventually got the better of my curiosity and before I knew it I was on a plane to Changi Airport, dreaming of seafood, spices, the Orient, equatorial sunshine. Our friend Guy was to turn up in Singapore too, he'd been in NZ for a wedding and he was 'in the area'.

I arrived 14 hours after leaving London (where I had stuffed myself silly with pies, pastries and good British cheeses) and walked out of the terminal into searing heat. It was like climbing into a tumble dryer. My throat was dry and my appetite unabated by the time I arrived in a cab at Sid's place in Clementi, and I was in luck as I had arrived on a Saturday morning. The weekend brunch buffets at Singapore's decent and historic hotels are notorious and I was keen not to be outbrunched by anybody on the island. I had butterflies when we rocked up to The Beaufort Hotel at noon exactly. Lovely place it is too, all tropical green and lush, with mirror marble floors and dead posh waiters in starched cuffs. We were escorted through to the brunch salon, where other early birds like us were hovering around chef's trolleys in anticipation.

In all my years, I have never seen a spread anything quite like it. Tables creaking under the weight of halved lobsters, clams, scallops, whole and split crabs, little dishes of sliced duck, foie gras, lamb chops, smoky bacon, poached eggs, cured salmon, continental cheeses of all kinds, chocolates and tropical desserts. Every waitress had in her grasp chilled bottles of champagne and they were frantically dashing from table to table topping up crystal flutes. The deal is $50 US dollars for as much as you can keep down. The brunch lasts for 3 hours, 12-3. Champagne, wine and Bloody Maries flow freely for those 3 hours to accompany the food. You can understand why I was so excited. Sid and I made a beeline for the seafood cradle where we loaded gold-rimmed plates with crab, lobster, jumbo shrimp and scallops which we ate messily with lemon wedges and dollops of thousand island dressing.

Purists might suggest that TI dressing is the best way to mask the subtle taste of fresh seafood. I say bollocks to that, and what the hell, if I want it plain I can just go back and get some more, right? Remember, decadence is the key here. I followed this with a mini English muffin layered with smoked ham and chorizo, a perfectly poached egg, spicy sauce and chives. Then a few slices of duck with foie gras and cherry marmalade, a juicy pink lamb chop with pistachio crust.

I switched from champoo to a red Merlot and I was about to assault the cheese table.

I think I had maybe 5 different cheeses with grapes, all French, all marvellous. Another glass of red got me through the next course of Belgian chocolates and cheesecakes. By that time, there was only about an hour of brunch time left, and in the interests of caning it and getting my money's worth I switched back to champoo. It was at this point that Sid announced that he had been to change his shorts as he'd had a small accident while trying to rid himself of some painful gas. His excesses of the night before were taking their toll. After much sniggering about his predicament we had a pair of coffees, a couple of smokes in the sun and one final glass of bubbly.

At 3, Beaufort brunchers are invited to take a dip in their black glass swimming pool to complete a wonderful afternoon. The have a very handy pool bar next to it too, and it was from here that I was able to coax a delicious white Russian from the barman who beamed with delight while he mixed it for me. Clearly, he enjoys his work and I had to applaude him after I'd taken my first sip. "Good work, Son."

Guy joined us for drinks shortly afterward. He'd been been taken ill the night before so he stayed home for the food part as he didn't want to overload his system. A 'dodgy prawn' was blamed. I had been rendered incapable of anything after all that eating and drinking, and it was all a real effort to get my shit together to climb into a cab. We headed for Sid's place, but we took a diversion and ended up in a 'traditional Irish pub' where we played a few frames and had a couple of Guinni. I slept like a baby that night, all stuffed and drunk and happy. Another day of food followed, and then we were off to Vietnam to eat our way around Ho Chi Minh.

Thu Club, London

After a few days in London I drove up to my Mum's place in Cheshire. Besides the obvious, there's a few reasons I love to go back to the place of my birth, and not least to get stuck into some good old fashioned British pies. The local butcher Clewlow's in Nantwich, an old market town, makes some astonishing award-winning pies and I always call in here first before doing anything else. I bought about a dozen - a mixture of simple pork, Shropshire (with beef and tomato), Dabbers, and my favourite, the Hunstman's Pie. This has a layer of pork, topped with a layer of chicken, topped with a layer of sage and onion stuffing. It's cross-section is something else. Hardly any of the pies made it past a visit with my old friend, Organic Dave, who makes furniture and grows his own hops. I went straight from the butcher's to Dave's, clearly a big mistake as I'd turned up at lunchtime and despite my keeping my mouth shut, it was almost like he could sense that there were pies on the back seat of the car. The 2 Huntsman's however, were safely wrapped in brown paper and secreted away in the boot. It was these that I was to cart back to London for a TC before I flew out to Asia.

Matthew and Nana had been breeding some junior Thursday Clubbers, and it was a delight to see Oscar in fine fettle.

Matt wanted to cook mackerel with a sort of salsa verde, Olivier had been home to France and had returned with some beef cheeks his mother had made, and together with my Huntsman's pies, and a Reblochon Oli knicked from his Mum's pantry, we had four courses. Nana joined in the fun on this Thursday night too, and was very keen to make sure our glasses were never empty.

The pies were first up. We sliced em thin and we all had a couple of slices each. There is only ONE accompaniment to a good pie, and I had procured a jar of piccalilli, which we dolloped on to our plates and swiped the pie slices through this before dropping them into our mouths. Matt filleted the fish which he grilled with loving attention, and arranged them artfully on plates with the sauce. The mackerel was delicious, the sauce pungent and tasty with capers and olives. A great match up.

Beef cheeks were re-heated (I know we only actually cooked one course, but it was an impromptu affair and I had to up early so minimal fuss was the order of the day) and served with crusty bread. The cheeks are a great cut, low cost and really flavoursome. Madame Leclerc briaed them with carrots, onion, garlic, some herbs and not beef stock but water. She didn't even use salt. How simple could it be. They were super tender with a sheen of sweet fat on them and I was tempted to lick the plate but I remembered I was with company.
The last leg was a Reblochon, a big-gun French cheese with a luscious texture and nutty taste which Olivier presented with Gallic pride. It had been getting up to room temperature on a cutting board, and it had started to slip over the side as all good soft cheeses do.

I loved it, it went very well with a red wine we were drinking which cut through the fat (I can't remember what) but I could only manage two small pieces, it was very rich and I'd just eaten 3 dishes already. I don't know whether it was the cheese, or just that I had eaten and drank too much. I woke up at 6.30am to go to Heathrow with chronic heartburn and there was little I could do to stop the burning. I felt truly rotten. I guess what goes up must come down. Every action has a reaction.

Smith's of Smithfield, London

It had been a while since I'd returned to the Motherland, and I was keen to catch up with the chaps over some old fashioned beer and some good grub. I landed early in the morning, dropped my bags and headed for The French House, a classic London boozer steeped in history. General De Gaulle used this along with the French Resistance as a hideout during WWII. The bar is now a hideout for aspiring actors, writers and film directors, and this is reflected in the prints that hang around the small bar. There was a flicker of recognition from the barmaid who must have remembered us from our heady summer drinking sessions a few years ago. Shane, Alex, Matt and I turned up the heat gently with Kronenbourg 1664 (why can't I get that in the US?) a few large G&Ts and some jolly conversation and liberal back slapping.

From here, we headed out to Smithfield Market, a huge market in London's east end dating back to 1327, where fresh produce is whipped straight from the vendors stalls into the surrounding restaurants. We had booked a table on the 4th floor of Smith's of Smithfield, a dining room specialising in rare meats and fish. Our table wasn't quite ready so we waited at the bar and nursed a martini or two before we were seated. We surveyed the scene - City boys entertaining clients, advertising pros discussing new campaigns. I think we were the worst dressed people in the room, but we weren't there to show off our frocks, we were there to indulge. The menu listed solid British stuff, and we had each chosen very different starters and mains so we could sample morsels from each other's plates. Fresh bread arrived with some fabulous butter and were tore into that like we hadn't been fed for a week. Beef raviolo with parsnips, greens and foie gras sauce, goose liver terrine with Sauternes jelly, cod with mint-pea puree, chips and mayo, fillet of dab (a flat fish found in the channel) and a rare-breed fillet steak featured highly and caused the most fuss at the table. Everything tasted delicious and we concluded that great produce simply cooked and presented with minimal fuss was the way forward. I had a 'special' terrine of rabbit and venison with honey, followed by fillet of dab. It was thick and succulent, wrapped in it's own crispy skin nestled on a bed of greens, with some Thames mussels lying around the plate in a great butter sauce. Matt's beef raviolo in FG sauce was sublime, as was Alex's terrine, although he was convinced that the Sauternes jelly on his plate was not what it should be. I helped him polish that off. I hate waste.

We had a couple of great wines to wash it down too, and by 5pm we were feeling really good. Then the bill arrived. All told we'd spent about 100 quid each with wine and pre-lunch drinks. I thought that was expensive, but after calculating the time we'd spent at the table, about 4 hours, I didn't feel it was OTT.

Thursday Club 01/18/07

Round 9 & Teddy's first of 2007 was awesome...

- Cauliflower and Stilton soup with chive oil.

- Trio of Oysters (Casino, with Pernod, ‘Normande’)

- Braised veal shank with potato mousseline.

- Classic British bread and butter pudding with cream.

We began with an excellent soup topped with chive oil. I've really grown to love Stilton & the soup hit the spot.

Teddy busted out his knife for the next course. A trio of oysters with various toppings; a: bacon, tomato & parsley. b: baked breadcrumbs & cheese. c: Pernod sauce. An interesting take on oysters & they were delicious.

The Veal stole the show in my opinion - there's something about braised meats that gets me all excited. The meat was falling off the bone & you didn't even need to use your knife.

By the time the bread pudding came around, I was ready to burst... A great meal all around...

Buenos Aires!

I had a chance to check out the 'Meat Emporium' that is Buenos Aires (513 E 6th St) this weekend with some family members that were visiting from out of town. It was a Saturday night & the East Village was busy as hell, but luckily we snuck into the joint right before the rush.

The space is somewhat cramped as it's generally busy & they've tried to maximize the amount of seats. We were a group of 7 & had a great seat considering how busy it was. I started with the meat empenadas which were excellent. A few others got the chorizo - which stole the show as far as appetizers went.

I got the breaded chicken for my main course as I wasn't in the mood for steak (a fatal error). I really did not enjoy it at all as it was very overcooked. The steaks, on the other hand, were excellent & cooked to perfection (trust me, my roving fork left no plate untouched). We drank Sangria that night which was also very good.

Despite my chicken-fiasco, I recommend Buenos Aires for your inner carnivore. Get any one of their excellent steaks, or the veal sweetbread.

Party Like It's 2007

Our first Thursday Club of the New Year was one to remember.......through pictures......the next morning (see: www.painfulfridayhangovers.com). Jason prepared an awesome menu for us four (with Wax being the 4th man in) and we brought the wine, to a tune of 6 bottles. So much for sobriety being my New Year's resolution.

-MENU-

- Crab Salad served in an Avocado

- Escargo Provencal

- Duck Cassoulet (de Casséus)

Paired with the creamy flesh of the avocado, the crab salad had a ton of crunchy diced vegetables folded within and a nice curry spice to it. A nice, light way to start off.




Clearly, what makes a good plate of escargo is the amount of butter, garlic and parsley piled on top. As you can see from the pictures below, there was plenty to go around. Once it was done broiling, each moist little snail had it's own personal pool of fragrent melted butter to swim (one might say drown) in. This left plenty of golden goodness to mop up with a warm baguette.


The main course was gasp/groan/curse-worthy. Once the duck confit nestled in a thick and spicy cassoulet was spooned liberally onto our plates, conversation ceased with the exception of a few subtle ooohs and aaahs. The smoky andouille sausage and al dente white beans added a perfectly balanced flavor and texture to the entire dish.

After this feast rendered us unbelievable full (and unable to operate heavy machinery or drive), a hidden bottle of single malt scotch found it's way to the table. It looked a bit like this.....


I'm sure some of you photo-types out there would claim that this image looks blurry because of the lack of light on the object being photographed, therefore effecting the speed of the shutter and blah, blah, blah. Forget all of that. This is a first hand account of how that very bottle looked that night. The blurryness can be attributed to the amount of fun I was having.....after all, that's what Thursdays are for, right?

Papatzul - 55 Grand Street

For a friend's birthday we headed for some authentic Mexican food at Papatzul. The dining area was adequately sized for the table of 8 we had. The atmosphere wasn't anything shocking or revolutionary, but if you're analyzing the ceiling fans and window treatments for the majority of the meal, chances are you need new company......or your Ritalin is wearing off.

The margaritas were nice and sour and seemed to have the correct amount of booze in them. They really didn't cut you a deal on the pitchers though (yielded 4 glasses for $36 when glasses were $9 a piece.......this led to some unecessary confusion on our part). Although I didn't have any, the tequilla menu was really impressive too.

The menu was packed with alot of Mexican classics (quesadillas, tortilla soup), but had a few nice fusion twists also. This was mostly featured in the starters, which I feel really carried the meal. Chile rellenos were stuffed with goat cheese and lump crab meat (definitely a dish i'd like to re-create , aka steal). Everyone got a good size appetizer and fought, across the table when necessary, to stab at others' plates. The octopus with sweet chipote-tomato sauce was extremely tender and flavorful. This and the spicy ceviche were the main plates that I eyed.

By the time the main course came, I already had a good base of food and drink in me. I had the Budin al Pasilla, a sort of a Mexican lasagna. It layered flour tortillas with shredded chicken, black beans, cheese and heavy cream. Truthfully, it was a bit bland and under seasoned, but a little hot sauce perked it up the next day in the form of leftovers.....the sign of a true good dish.

Overall, the meal and service was satisfactory, but not mind-blowing. Definitely good to check out once.

The Mighty Balthazar

It was my Mom's birthday last night, so my brother & I took her to Balthazar (80 Spring Street). We had tried to go to Blue Ribbon (97 Sullivan St.), but the Maitre D' informed us that it would be an hour or more for a table. It was freakishly hot yesterday as well as being a Saturday, so we knew it would be busy, but not that busy. So, we decided to go to Balthazar & didn't fare much better.

Balthazar can be somewhat imposing & upon opening the front door, our senses were barraged. The smell of the various foods, the sight of the sheer size of the place with it's staff doing what looks like a choreographed dance, the sounds of hundreds of people eating & chatting & the feel of 75 or so people waiting for tables & brushing up on you. We didn't get to the taste part until an hour later, & that was with preferential treatment as my brother knows the Maitre D', Kevin.

We were finally seated in an area away from the door, with far less foot traffic which made for a far more pleasant/comfortable dining experience than those who were sitting by the door or bar. I was still recovering from the night before, so I drank San Pellegrino all night, but my brother did order an excellent '05 Sancere which I had a few sips of. The wine list simply blew my mind. I thought it was only the front & back of a large sheet of paper, but it actually opened up to reveal 2 inner pages - over 400 wines; amazing!

We started with a dish known simply as 'Le Grand'. A towering, two-tiered monster of selections from the raw bar along with a seafood salad, crab & gigantic shrimp. We also ordered half a dozen Fanny Bay oysters for good measure.

Stefan ordered the Sat. special; Braised short ribs, which fell off the bone at the slightest touch. He also got a glass of Syrah-Grenache blend which he seemed to enjoy. I got the duck shepherds pie which I thought was so-so (that having been said, my taste buds were still recovering from the whiskey beating they had taken from the night before). We ended the night with coffee & a chocolate cake for my Mom.

All in all, an excellent experience. Don't let my horror story of the wait deter you from checking Balthazar out. The food is excellent & the service is among the best I've ever had (our waiter, Provost was awesome) despite the huge number of people dining. You can thank me later...

Hangover 101

Another hangover? Yes? No problem - Try my my magic recovery butty. It has everything you need to come round. Steak, avocado, mushrooms, mayo, ketchup. Grill the meat, slice mushrooms and fry in a bit of butter, mash the avocado. Spread ketchum on a slice if crusty bread, cover with mashed avocado, a sprinkle of salt, mushrooms and steak on top, liberally coat the other slice with mayo, press together. Find a bib, a comfy chair, eat.

Dok Suni

I had a chance to check out Dok Suni (119 1st Avenue) with my buddy Todd for some excellent Korean food. Dok Suni means 'strong woman', which is quite fitting seeing as they've been open for more than a decade.

We started with a small plate of shrimp which was fried in a white cornmeal batter & served alongside a particularly tasty crab/seafood salad. They were good, but really not that filling.

I used to go to Dok Suni a lot back in 2000 or so. I would make the trip all the way from the upper east side just to get their mackerel, so I was delighted when I saw that it was still on the menu. It was marinated in sea salt, lightly fried & served with a fried red pepper sauce. The recipe had changed somewhat (if my memory serves me correctly), but it was still very good (& very spicy). The dish was served with white rice & mid-ban-chan (a selection of marinated vegetables & tofu).

Todd got the Bibimbop which looked excellent. We ordered a large bottle of 'OB', a Korean beer. It wasn't very impressive (think watered down Bud Light), but I'm glad that we gave it a whirl.

All in all, it was an excellent meal & reasonably priced. The decor is great (old Korean book pages cover the walls), the service was top notch (it was somewhat empty when we arrived but began to fill up while we were leaving) & they played some really good hip hop all night. In short, I recommend Dok Suni.

Holiday Doubleheader

After traveling back to Buffalo, the stage was set for a Christmas Eve/Day cook-a-thon. I would provide the first days dinner and the family would colaborate in the kitchen for day two. Both of the days in question were fueled by day long snacking and white wine. Here are the menus:

-X-mas Eve-

Creamy Potato Soup w/ Bleu Cheese Fritters

Applewood Smoked Porkchops
Tomato Gratin

The soup and fritter combo (mentioned in a previous post) blended that whole creamy and crunchy thing well and was a good start for meal.


A stovetop smoker was used for the pork chops. Handle little kitchen gadget that smoker. Definitely worth a peek. It cooked the thick chops almost all the way then they were tossed in a hot pan to finish off the crust. You could definitely the taste of the smoking wood chips throughout the meat. I bet that would be awesome with bacon.......not that any means of cooking bacon has proved to be less than awesome. Tartare? Why Not??

-X-Mas Day-

Caesar Salad

Yorkshire Pudding with Glazed Brussel Sprouts and Baby Carrots

Mashed Yams

Cajun Rubbed Prime Rib Roast

In true Johnson Family form, meat was a featured member of both main dishes. And damn was it good.

The Christmas Dinner was an absolute gutbuster. The plate crammed with sides and a juicy steak definitely made it tough to stop eating....even after I hit the point of 'full'. The roast was crusty on the outside from the dry rub. Right under that was the thinnest layer of fat that made the meat really moist (taste over health in this case). A tasty drop of red tied the meal together well.

I think there's a tiny bit of space in the middle
where you can fit some more beef.










I didn't leave the house for 2 days, i'd say it was worth it. I'm sure 2007 will yield some further culinary excellence.....i'm hungry.

Happy New Year.