SYP Says

SYP Cooks

So...it's been a while since I posted here! Just a friendly note that if you want to see what I've been up to, it's all happening over at my SYP Cooks blog and on Instagram @ sypcooks. 

I'm sure I'll get back to this blog at some point -- it still boggles my mind that I get notes about Cutting the Cord and Pretty in Pink! And there are things I'd love to tell you more about, including my biathlon training(!), but until then, do feel free to join me on Instagram. (And if you want to talk shop, I'm over at LinkedIn here.) Thank you so much for the support! <3

 

 

 

Ras El Hanout Me!

 

I recently started a recipe blog on Tumblr called Ras El Hanout Me! at http://www.RasElHanoutMe.com. I will still have food-related posts on this blog, mostly as it relates to restaurants and trips, such as my recent dumpling excursion in Flushing.

Ras El Hanout Me is really just a place for me to log recipes I've tried or created, and a centralized location for family recipes that I hold near and dear. I've gotten lots of requests from friends for recipes, so this is also an easy way to store and share them.

The name of the blog is a nod to the Moroccan spice blend Ras El Hanout, which is "The King of Spices." My food is global and I love to eat and try food from all over the world, so I thought it was fitting. At some point, I may change the name to SYP Cooks, but I'm not there yet. In the meantime, check it out and let me know what you think. 

So far, my most popular recipes are:

1. Springtime Garlic and Chile Shrimp, Asparagus, and Fresh Corn with Whole Wheat Pasta

2. Honey and Lemon Madeleines

3. Everyday Granola

4. Quick Kimchee Coleslaw

5. Summer Three-Tomato Gazpacho with Watermelon and Avocado

This collage, btw, is not on my blog, but on Instagram. If you just want photos of yummy food, I often post food pics there. (You need to have a free Instagram account online or on your mobile device.)  

***UPDATED: My recipe blog is now at http://www.SYPCooks.com because my mom could never spell ras el hanout. :)

Dumpling Trip to Flushing, Queens

NYC is one of the best places in the world to explore (and, some would say, the greatest city in the world). Most people come to NYC and just see Manhattan, but some of the most interesting places are in the boroughs. That's because the majority of NYC's 8.3 million residents actually live in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, or the Bronx, and are from all over the world, creating ethnic enclaves that are fascinating to visit. You can always tell at any given time which ethnicities are well represented in NYC by which languages are on city signs. For example, the current subway notices are in English and translated into four main languages--Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Russian.

I know I'm lucky to live here (and even luckier to have left and been able to move back), so from time to time, I plan on highlighting a different part of NYC.

Today, we're going to Flushing, Queens. According to Wikipedia, NYC is home to more than one million Asian Americans, greater than the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the highest total Asian population of any U.S. city, with nearly a quarter of the nation's Asian Indian population, 15% of all Korean Americans, and the largest population of overseas Chinese outside of Asia. Over 40% of these Chinese live in Queens and many say that the Chinatown in Queens is now larger than the one in Manhattan.

Flushing, Queens is a neighborhood I have (embarrassingly) never been to. To get there, you take the 7 train to the end of the line and you'll be downtown. It has approx 200,000 people, 44% of whom are Asian. Two of the largest ethnicities are Chinese and Korean, so it's no surprise that the food is really great there. When it looked like I'd have a reason to go to Flushing, I was very excited. :)

My husband is a Tae Kwon Do student and instructor. As a result, he has a few aches and pains and his master recommended he go to his acupuncturist in Flushing. Great excuse for a dumpling excursion!

In preparation, I mapped out a few places to visit. 

In the end, we ended up at two Chinese restaurants and one Korean grocery store with plans to visit more often. I would have taken pics of Flushing itself, but it was pouring rain and snowing while we were there. What you need to know is that it is very crowded, many of the restaurants are cash only, and most of the signs are not in English, so it really does feel a bit like you have travelled to another country (until you pass by the all-pervasive souvlaki cart).

Nan Xiang Dumpling House

This unassuming restaurant often has a waiting line, but we were lucky to get in right away due to the bad weather. Because we knew we were making another food stop, we stuck to ordering the two dishes Nan Xiang is best known for -- scallion pancakes and soup dumplings.

The scallion pancakes were unusually light and crunchy, but the real stars were the soup dumplings. There is an art to eating these. I put one on my spoon with a bit of soy and chili sauce and then make a small hole in the dumpling with my teeth. This allows me to easily slurp some of the yummy soup that is inside while some of the hot steam escapes.  Then, I eat the rest of the dumpling in one large bite. Heaven. 

Biang

Next up was a visit to Biang, the team that created Xi'an Famous Foods. This is a much different restaurant than Nan Xiang--it has been suitably hipsterized with its wooden tables and sleek decor. It has been written up quite a bit lately, so the clientele was mixed. At 4pm on a Saturday, we were still able to get a seat, but by 5, there was already a line, so come here during an off time unless you don't mind waiting.

The dishes everyone raves about here are the noodles and the lamb dumplings. We were too full to eat the noodles this time, but we tried a few smaller dishes and they were all good. I actually liked the spicy cumin chicken skewers the best. Usually, I don't eat red meat, but because everyone raved so much about the lamb here, I had to give it a try. The lamb sliders were almost like a Chinese gyro. The bread was not fluffy and sweet like you might find with a Chinese bun (say at a dim sum restaurant for example), but instead was more like a plain flatbread with a bit of crunch. The spicy and sour lamb dumplings were savory and tasty, although quite rich. 

 

 

Goowha Market

This specialty Korean grocery is smaller, but closer to the 7 train, than the other Korean markets in the area. It is very clean and bright with a broad selection of Korean ingredients, as well as produce and a good seafood and meat counter. Excellent prices too. We got a few things and hightailed it back to Brooklyn. I definitely recommend coming here if you are on foot, rather than trekking all the way to H Market.

Looking forward to next time! 

 

 

 

Chocolate-Cayenne Cocktail Cookies from Food and Wine

I'm not a big dessert person and when I have desserts, I tend to like ones that are less sweet. These Chocolate-Cayenne Cookies are just about perfect. They are easy to make, you can make them ahead of time, and they are melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious--almost like chocolate shortbreads.

This is my adaptation with tips from the recipe that was contributed by Dorie Greenspan for Food and Wine Nov 2011 issue.

 

Chocolate-Cayenne Cocktail Cookies

Makes about 50-60 cookies.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (make sure you use very good quality cocoa powder, such as Valrhona or Guittard which is what I used)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• Maldon salt, for sprinkling
• Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, cayenne and sea salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with both sugars at low speed until creamy. Add the egg yolk and beat until smooth, then add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead gently until it comes together. Note: The dough is very moist and melts quickly. Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disk. Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of wax paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Slide the wax paper–covered disks onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour, until very firm.
3. Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one piece of dough at a time, peel off the top sheet of wax paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out the cookies as close together as possible. Arrange the cookies about 1 inch apart on the parchment paper–lined baking sheets and sprinkle with some Maldon salt.
4. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes (my oven runs hot, I guess, because my cookies were done at 12 minutes so I would start checking starting then), until they are just firm; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Before serving, I dusted mine with a little confectioners' sugar so you get a sweet & salty hit right away when you eat it.

Make Ahead: The rolled-out frozen cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept frozen for up to 2 weeks. The baked cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

* It is important that in Step 2, you make sure the dough is rolled out evenly and 1/4 inch thick otherwise the cookies will not hold up.

* In Step 3 when you are punching out the cookies, begin doing this step as soon as the dough is out of the freezer. The dough softens very quickly, so you need to work fast while the dough is still very firm.

* Make sure you roll out the dough to the thickness you want before freezing because whatever state the dough is in at that point is what it will be when you go to stamp it out. IOW, don't just make a dough ball and put it in the freezer. 

* I had read some reviews of this recipe that said it didn't make as many cookies as indicated. I found it made about 50 cookies. Make sure you stamp the cookies out as close together as possible. Also, after doing the first round of stamping, I re-rolled out the dough and made more out of the leftover dough.

Enjoy! These are my new favorite cookies. :)

Sweet Potato and Fennel Salad

Happy Post-Thanksgiving Coma! A friend asked for this recipe, so I'm sharing it here.  I made it up (and got a bit of grief about it too...sweet potatoes and fennel together??) so the measurements aren't exact. Happy to say, it's yummy. It's also simple to make and healthy. Enjoy.

Salad
* 2 peeled & diced sweet potatoes or yams (I used jewel yams.)
* 1 fennel bulb, sliced
* 2 cloves peeled garlic (optional)
* 1/2 cup roasted or toasted nuts (optional) ... hazelnuts would be good
* washed and dried greens of your choice...rocket, arugula, baby kale (optional)

Dressing
* Juice of one or two lemons
* olive oil
* salt & pepper
* creme fraiche or plain yogurt (optional)
 
Toss sweet potatoes, fennel and garlic (if you're using that) in olive oil and salt & pepper. Spread out evenly on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees until tender (approx 30 mins.). Stir it every once in a while.

While the vegetables are cooking, make a basic lemon & olive oil dressing. Put the lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk in olive oil to emulsify (I usually do two parts olive oil to one part acid). Add salt & pepper to taste. If you want to make a slightly creamier dressing, add a tsp of creme fraiche or plain yogurt. It just gives a little body to the dressing. 

When the veggies are done, let them cool. If you have time, you can even refrigerate them so they firm up a little bit more. Put them in a large bowl with the greens if you are using those. You can choose to keep the garlic or not. This is the point at which you'd put in the nuts if you want. Toss it all in the dressing and serve. That's it!

July 4th Cherry BBQ Sauce

Happy 4th of July! I'm back in NYC (hurrah!) and having a little celebration shindig. I'm making this BBQ sauce which is always a big hit--I baste it over oven-baked and broiled chicken legs, but it would be good on any broiled or grilled meat or fish.

July 4th Cherry BBQ Sauce

1 1/4 cups apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 cup dried tart cherries
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons honey
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp ground coriander or cumin
few splashes of worcestershire sauce
few squeezes of sriracha sauce
hot hungarian paprika to taste

(You can replace the sriracha and paprika with 2 large dried ancho chiles (1 oz), stemmed and seeded. You can also replace the honey and maple syrup with 3 tablespoons light molasses.)

Combine all ingredients in heavy medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer until cherries are tender, about 20 minutes. Working in batches, puree mixture in blender. Return sauce to pan. If necessary, simmer uncovered until sauce is reduced to 3 cups and thickens. Season with salt & pepper. Use to baste on any grilled or oven baked chicken, shrimp, or pork. It would also be good on salmon.

Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

My version of Ancho-Cherry BBQ Sauce Recipe adapted from The Bon Appetit Cookbook.

Making Olive Oil Bechamel Even Healthier (& Tastier!)

The NYT recently published a clever recipe for olive oil bechamel that I was really interested in trying. A traditional bechamel is rich and heavy, so not exactly great for Summer weather. The olive oil bechamel recipe in the NYT is super simple and low fat (1/4 cup is only 84 calories and 5 grams of fat), but you can make it even healthier, and dare I say it...tastier, by replacing the milk with original soy milk.

I came up with a simple Potato, Artichoke & Leek Gratin that uses the olive oil bechamel and it turned out beautifully. The gratin had a crusty top and you could really taste the vegetables in a way that just doesn't happen with a regular bechamel. It was surprisingly light and rich at the same time (making it perfect for Summer vegetables) and we kept feeling like we were being decadent in eating it, even though we knew better. Perfect with a simply prepared meat or fish and green salad with a homemade herb vinaigrette.

If you love gratins but not the calories, I really encourage you to try a variation of this. This recipe has no dairy, btw, so it's great for vegans and vegetarians. Let me know how it turns out.

PROVENCAL-STYLE POTATO, ARTICHOKE & LEEK GRATIN WITH OLIVE OIL & SOY MILK BECHAMEL

Olive Oil Bechamel (variation of NYT's recipe)--makes 1 1/2 cups

* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

* 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot or onion (optional)

* 3 tablespoons flour

* 2 cups original soy milk, cold or at room temperature (I used Edensoy. Make sure it is original flavor and not vanilla!)

* salt and pepper to taste -- You will probably need to use a bit more salt than usual to counter the natural sweetness of the soy milk. Make sure you start with a little salt and add more as you taste.

* dash of nutmeg (optional)

Heat the oil over medium heat in a heavy medium saucepan. Add the shallot or onion, if you are using it and cook, stirring, until softened, about three minutes. Stir in flour, and cook, stirring, for about three minutes until smooth and bubbling but not browned. The paste should have the texture of wet sand. Whisk in the milk all at once, and bring to a simmer, whisking all the while, until the mixture begins to thicken. Turn the heat to very low, and simmer, stirring often with a whisk and scraping the bottom and edges of the pan with a rubber spatula, for 10 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and lost its raw flour taste. Season with salt and pepper. Not necessary, but if you want, you can strain while hot into a heatproof bowl or a Pyrex measuring cup. 

Gratin

* Approx 6 Red potatoes or other low to medium starch potato, sliced thinly (enough to cover the bottom of whatever gratin dish you are using)

* 1 large can of good quality artichokes, rinsed, dried, and sliced or of course you can use frozen or fresh

* 2-3 leeks, rinsed and sliced

* salt and pepper to taste

* two teaspoons chopped, fresh thyme

* finely chopped parsley

* panko or fine bread crumbs

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Use small amount of olive oil to oil the bottom of a large gratin dish. Layer potatoes in a traditional gratin pattern with each slice partly covering the next in a circular pattern until the entire bottom of the dish is covered.

Saute sliced leeks in a pan with olive oil for a few minutes on medium high. Add salt, pepper, and half of the thyme to the leeks. Add artichokes, salt, pepper, and the rest of the thyme to the vegetables. Saute a few minutes more. Taste to make sure it is well seasoned. Layer leek and artichoke mixture on top of potatoes and spread to make a second layer.

At this point, make the bechamel (this takes about 10 minutes). Pour finished bechamel on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle top with bread crumbs and drizzle olive oil on top. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Broil if you want to make the top extra golden brown. Sprinkle parsley on the top before serving. Delish!

Because this dish is so much lighter than a vegetable gratin with traditional bechamel, it is a much better fit for meals year round. Try making this with whatever combination of fresh veggies you have available--summer squash, carrots, eggplant, artichoke, and/or asparagus.

Peas in Romesco at Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica

Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica, CA (109 Santa Monica Boulevard, 310-458-2012) does a good job of recreating the tapas experience in Spain.

I haven't found a tapas bar in the OC that I love, so we drive the 45 mins to Bar Pintxo if we're feeling the need. It's just authentic enough to make me miss Barcelona more than the typical tapas bar.

They serve excellent cava, especially the Avinyo ROSAT, a refreshing, dry rose which is lovely on a sunny SoCal afternoon.

And while they don't serve nearly enough anchovies and sardines, both of which are pintxos maintstays, and they don't count toothpicks for the bill, Bar Pintxo does have a healthy reverence for fresh vegetables, and one of my favorite dishes of theirs is the Sauteed Peas with Romesco Sauce.

Lucky for you, it's pretty easy to recreate a similar tasting dish at home. I've made this a few times and it's really delicious.

SAUTEED PEAS WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

* Mix of whatever kind of fresh peas and pea shoots you can find (sugar snaps, English peas, pea shoots, etc). I have made this dish with just sugar snaps and it was delicious. If you are using sugar snaps, cut them in thirds.

* 2 chopped shallots

* olive oil

* Romesco Sauce (adapted from Deborah Madison's excellent Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone):

-- 1 slice country-style white bread

-- 1/3 cup almonds (roasted if you have them)

-- 1/4 cup hazelnuts, roasted & peeled

-- 4 garlic cloves

-- 1-2 tsp paprika

-- 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

-- salt & pepper

-- 4 Roma tomatoes with the seeds removed

-- 2 tbsps fresh parsley

-- 1 roasted red bell pepper (if you use one from a jar, make sure you rinse it thoroughly to remove any vinegar)

-- 1/4 cup good quality sherry vinegar

-- 1/2 cup olive oil, preferably Spanish

Make the Romesco first. Fry the bread in a little olive oil until golden and crisp. When cool, grind the bread, nuts, garlic, and chile in a food procesor. Then add everything else but the vinegar and oil and process until smooth. With the machine running, gradually pour inthe vinegar, then the oil. Taste and make sure the sauce has plenty of piquancy and enough salt, and is the texture you want. You may need to add a few extra tablespoons of oil if it is too vinegary for your taste or if it the sauce is too thick. Set aside.

Saute shallots in a few tbsps of olive oil on med high until translucent. Do not brown. Add the peas (and pea shoots, leaves, etc if you are using those). Saute further until just cooked through and still crisp. This may only take about 5 mins. Add sea salt to taste. 

You can toss the peas in a few spoons of Romesco or serve the sauteed peas on a mound of Romesco so it gets tossed as people serve themselves. Enjoy!

NOTE: This Romesco is a great all-purpose sauce--I've served it with grilled shrimp and even used it as a a sandwich spread with grilled vegetables and goat cheese.

Heartbreakers: Closed NYC Restaurants RIP

Since I left NYC a few years ago, I've become obsessed with reading The Shutter and Eater NY's ongoing Status Closed list. Many of my faves are still around and of course I always find new places to love, but with the economy and NYC's ever-rising rents, the number of long-time eateries that have bit the dust seems to be on the uptick.

I am a huge foodie--some might say I am a bit of a food snob. :) Mind you, I'm not highfalutin'. I love dives as much, nay more, than I love Michelin stars. What I take umbrage with is the crap served in many restaurants. They do a disservice to the ingredients and the cooking process. So many great local, often inexpensive, usually independently-run places to eat--where hard-working people are putting their soul into their food--yet customers flock to restaurants that are just churning out mediocrity. It boggles my mind. (And no, I'm not against restaurant chains--they have their place (road trip!) and like most things in life, some are better than others.)

SoCal has great restaurants too, but it's harder to get to them just because the area is so much bigger and everything's spread out. Besides, after only a year, I don't have the kind of attachment I do to the countless places I've eaten in NYC. I've built up so many great memories over the years and this is a brief tribute to all those places I've lived and loved. Even when I first started working in NYC right out of college (I still don't know how I survived on my first salary which was $17,000 before taxes!), I scrounged up enough money to eat at the tastiest places I could, finding all of the best bargains and up and comers. Many of the places I've listed below, I literally frequented for decades. RIP--you will be missed. The loss of these all make my heart hurt a little.

1) Florent: 24-hour French diner. Meat-packing district. Clubbers. Transsexuals. 4am frites. Nuff said.

2) Empire Diner: The classic, iconic NYC diner with the EAT sign. Closed after 35 years.

3) Comfort Diner on 45th street: This was the first Comfort Diner in NYC and it opened right across the street from A&E Television Networks. I ate countless late night dinners here after 14-hour work day after 14-hour work day trying to build my little A&E and The History Channel online store into something special.

4) BB Sandwich: The only place I ever liked a steak sandwich.

5) Miracle Bar & Grill: One of those great NYC gourmet bargains--fantastic Southwestern/Mexican food, teeny and cute, inexpensive. Bobby Flay's first job as a chef was here.

6) Zoe: My go-to post-shopping rest stop in Soho for years. California cuisine, great brunch, and wood-fire pizzas.

7) Etats-Unis: French wine bar with great food and strangely, they also had fantastic guacamole and chilaquiles. One of the few places I really liked on the UES.

8) Vong: Jean-Georges Vongerichten's classic. When it opened in 1992, this French-Asian Fusion restaurant was an innovation and I always felt super-special eating fancy businesses lunches here back when I was in my early '20s and totally broke. :)

9) El Rey Del Sol: I will miss being able to lounge in the hidden 14th street backyard garden with a margarita and sun shining on my face.

10) Bright Food Shop: My first NYC apartment was in Chelsea and right from the beginning I loved this crazy Asian/Mexican fusion diner and their moo-shu burritos and awesome corn pancakes. Next door, they had a take-out Mexican gourmet food shop called Kitchen, sadly also now gone.

11) Mi Cocina: Where I had my first molé!

12) Moondance Diner: I still remember going here after dance class one Saturday to meet my boyfriend and his parents for lunch. I felt very "Fame" in my little leotard and leg warmers strolling down 6th Ave. Yes, this is the diner that was in the Spiderman movie. Apparently even that was not enough to save it from the death knell of NYC real estate--the inevitable condo building.

13) El Cid: I really loved the old school tapas and sangria here. It was dark and cave-like and fabulous.

14) Chez Brigitte: The best French hole-in-the-wall ever. There were only 11 countertop seats and the windows were always steamy. This restaurant was in the same West Village location for FIFTY YEARS before they closed recently. When I was broke, this place always kept me going with hearty, made-to-order food like chicken fricassee and rice, and a friendly, but gruff atmosphere. 

A few bits of good news though: Pink Tea Cup, the 55-year old West Village soul food restaurant, was saved by fans early this year from what seemed to be sure death (albeit in a different location around the corner from the original spot). Long live their fried chicken & sweet potato pie! Zucco, Le French Diner is still hanging on even though its owner and proprieter died of a heart attack earlier this year. Keep on trucking--you were my favorite new find right before I left NYC and I want you to make it! And Mappamondo, an Italian restaurant I used to go to in the West Village that closed 11 years ago, is back open on 11 Abingdon Square. Hard to believe it's back after such a long time, but that's NYC for ya. Never say die.

Finally, a small personal victory. Thé Adoré, a charming French-Japanese sandwich shop in the West Village that I went to regularly back in the '90s, is still open. I have not been in many years now and had forgotten it until I started writing this blog post. I was worried that it had gone by the wayside, but it's still around and hopefully thriving. As much as I love NYC, it has pushed out a lot of what makes it unique over the years (hey, shoot me, I was living in the East Village back when you actually tried to avoid Tompkins Square Park) and Thé Adoré is one of those places with real character that helps keep NYC my most favorite city in the world. Now get out there and support your local restaurants!

La Regle du Jeu: Jim Haynes Dinner in Paris

Jim kissed my hand and advised me as I was leaving,"Always work as little as possible. Make sure you're fullering!" 

At the time, I had no idea what he was referring to, but it turns out Jim Haynes has coined a new word, "fullering," (in honor of Buckminster Fuller) meaning "to spend energy joyfully" as opposed to working which means "to spend energy painfully."

If anyone is a model of fullering, it's Jim Haynes. An expat artist who was a key figure in the London counter-culture of the '60s, Jim has been hosting a Sunday dinner party for the literati set at his Paris home for over 30 years. 

When I first heard about his infamous get-togethers, I was doing research on a recent trip to Paris and I knew I had to try to attend. They are notoriously hard to get into and I e-mailed Jim only a week in advance, but somehow I was able to wrangle five spots for me and my family.

Dinner is always made by a different friend of Jim's. There are usually between 50-60 guests--sometimes more, especially when the weather is nice--and you have full use of his backyard garden. It gets pretty dark back there though at night, so I'd bring a flashlight (seriously). The dinner was pretty good--the night I was there, we had an endive, walnut, and stilton salad, chicken and ratatouille, and some kind of rice pudding-ish thing for dessert--but the conversation's the thing.

Most of the guests at Jim's dinners are strangers to him and also to one another and I think that's the way he likes it. There are regulars, certainly--in fact a few people I met had been there a couple weekends in a row--but by and large, these are "salons" as Jim likes to call them that bring together people from all over the world for a few hours in Jim's home to drink wine, break bread, and talk in a civilized manner about the things that matter in life--art, politics, travel, music, literature.

There are rules to the game, of course. So for you newbies out there, some tips:

1) Call or e-mail Jim as far in advance as you can with the number of people in your party, their genders, and the date you want to attend. Be polite and friendly.

2) Be sure to call Jim to confirm the morning of your booking. There is always a waiting list.

3) Sunday dinners begin at 8 and end at 11. Jim lives in Montparnasse in the 14th arr. From the Champs-Elysees we had to switch trains and the ride took about 20-30 mins not including walking to/from the Metro.

4) The suggested donation is 25 euros per person (although they will accept more or less). Bring one envelope containing the total donation for your party in cash (plus business cards if you have those) and make sure you write your names on the back.

5) Dress is casual and comfortable. You don't need to bring any gifts (in fact, he specifically asked me not to). Just bring an appetite and a mindset for connecting with new friends.

6) Keep your fork.

7) *Do not serve yourself.* I was standing in line for the second course and a woman in front of me took some leftover salad. Let's just say she got a stern talking-to from one of Jim's friends. (The reason is in case people show up late.)

A Jim Haynes dinner is something to enjoy at least once in your life. He's having a special 2010 New Year's Eve soiree btw. There might still be room...have fun!

Listen to Jim Haynes talk about why he holds these Sunday dinners on NPR.

P.S. La Regle du Jeu means "rule of the game" and often refers to the 1933 Jean Renoir film of the same name (although in English it is usually called "The Rules of the Game"). It's one of my faves. Check it out.