Norwitz Notions

Reading reviews of Lemongrass Thai Cuisine, I’m shocked by how many people love it.  Did we go to the same place?  Did they change chefs?  Are all the reviewers blown away by anything a step above fast food? Lemongrass Thai Cuisine 109 N McDowell Ave, Petaluma, CA 94954 (707) 789-9777 As we perused the menu, […]

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It’s Christmas Day and time for our annual tradition of Jews eat Asian food on Christian holidays (why? you ask…because we get the day off and nothing else is usually open, though that’s changed in recent years).  Normally we go down to Todai, a chain of buffets with huge amounts of decent sushi and other […]

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My brother, his girlfriend, and my 10 year old niece came to visit us and shop at the local outlet mall.  Last time I saw them all (at the Marin County Fair the 4th of July) I brought a huge picnic lunch for everyone but this visit I decided not to cook.  I’d been wanting […]

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At the end of our day-long trek into Portland, we met up with a friend and her son at Kalga Kafe, a vegetarian restaurant in the southeast part of the city.  Dinner hours are 5pm-midnight (it serves lunch weekdays) and it hosts live bands some evenings.  Since this was a Saturday night, we thought we […]

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While visiting the Vancouver area last month, we stayed with friends in Burnaby, a suburb to the east of the city.  Some other friends from New Brunswick overlapped their stay with ours then went to a hotel in downtown Vancouver for a convention.  On their last night, we met up with them for dinner. Finding […]

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Michael and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary on August 21st (and 12 years of being together).  I was ill for our first wedding anniversary, and our second was a so-so dinner with Miriam after a doctor’s appointment, so we were determined to have a romantic dinner alone this year.  We were in British Columbia […]

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Episode seven of the Next Food Network Star still takes place in Las Vegas and we’re down to 3 contestants: Aaron, Lisa, and Adam. Challenge #1: Prepare a 30 second promo for what could be their new show. Unlike in previous versions of this, each promo was carefully scripted (including wardrobe) by the Food Network […]

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Foodlab is an internet mailing list for sharing recipes, tips, support and more while discovering and living with food allergies/intolerances. Monica started the list a couple of years ago, after realizing that off-topic discussions of food allergies were starting to take over a parenting list. Most of the folks on Foodlab (the active posters anyway) […]

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Kim Chee (aka kimchi) is a wonderful collection of vegetables and spices brought together to ferment. This was my first attempt at making it. I used the recipe from Wild Fermentation, adapted a bit. Recipe: Napa cabbage (aka Chinese cabbage), 1 head chopped Daikon radish, 3 Leeks, 2 Dried chile pepper, 3 Ginger (I used […]

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I was inspired by a trip to Han Il Kwan, a Korean restaurant in San Francisco. They had a huge spread of fermented dishes, including glorious crisp and sour turnip pickles. My attempt was simple and only partially successful. I can tell you straight out that I used the wrong kind of turnip. What I […]

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This review was written February 15, 2006 as a letter to local restaurant reviewer Jeff Cox who promoted this place in the Press Democrat on January 22, 2006.  Note that we went there before discovering our food allergies, so the review doesn’t speak to that. CHEAP EATS Authentic means good Here’s what I look for […]

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Todai is a small buffet chain specializing in sushi and a variety of Japanese and Chinese foods, with a smattering of other things. They started in Hong Kong I believe and had a strong presence in California. But they’re growing. They have many restaurants in South Korea, a couple in mainland China, and one in […]

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(This review was written October 12, 2007) We had an appointment in San Francisco last Wednesday and got together with friends at a Korean restaurant I’d read good things about on the net. It did not disappoint. Han Il Kwan 1802 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA 94118 (Outer Richmond neighborhood) (415) 752-4447 Review & Menu […]

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