After a long week you spend Friday night lounging in bed







reading excerpts from a French cookbook to each other and oohing over the pictures.


Corollary: When you make the above post and then realize that because other LTH'ers will demand to know the name of the book rather than the gorgeous girl, you have to add the following;

It was Bourdains' Les Halles cookbook - good recipes and better banter, I recommend it.

You're a relative newlywed in your king-sized bed with your spouse surrounded by about 100 pages of notes, printed from LTH for some Vegas pre-trip planning together. I say to my husband, "Read what Vital Information wrote, he's one of the moderators". He knows what I mean and he reads VI's suggestions. Though he's never been on the site, he knows many of you by LTH "name".

You know you are an LTH'r when...

the company calls and says they might be sending you to Mexico City and the first thing you do is search on the board for related posts.

Hey... Mexico City is better (food-wise) than Columbus OH!

---You experience another dreamland sighting of GWiv.

I am visiting a venerable burger/dog joint for the first time when I turn and see Gary to my right. I congratulate him on the great interview he gave The New York Times about BBQ. Gary then tells me that LTH has had a surge in new members since the Times article came out. Without warning, a piece of sausage flies through the air from the direction of the grill, and Gary and I compete for the tidbit.

Not so farfetched, eh?

...your wife asks you why there is an entry for "Brown Sack, The" in your iPhone contact list.

A great way to kill time is to visit restaurants ...

Not in a hurry to go home today, I ate lunch at Spring World. Afterwards I hunted down the Chinatown mall elevator. I visited Tony Hu at Lao Sze Chuan to discuss Christmas Eve dinner and maybe a future mushroom dinner. Bought Chinese roast duck and BBQ pork, because it would be something nice to eat later.

Stopped by Olga's Deli at Irving Park and Kedzie to find it closed with Olga inside counting money. Someday I will finally step over the threshold. Finding Olga open is beginning to be an obsession. I am now at my 3rd unfulfilled visit.



Collected leaf lard from Mike G, because everything goes better with leaf lard!

I thought about visiting the Home Economist, then decided to drive by Bread 'n' Bowl Company to check out their Georgian-Russian offerings and left with a cross section to try over the next few days.

Relaxed at days end retelling some of the days adventures to you.

Regards,

You know you are an LTHer when. . .

. . . dreamland sightings of other LTHer's become a regular thing and are no longer post-worthy.

It is then that LTH Synchronicity takes over.

This week I opened my NPR webpage to listen to Obama's 11/25 news conference and instead, the media player went right to the exact beginning moment of Hammond's WBEZ-848 feature on gluttony. Good thing I am not truly superstitious. I might have to interpret this coincidence as a sign of leaner times, in the literal sense. Anyway, I truly enjoyed hearing Mike G and Hellodali reveal their thoughts to David "We're Eaters Not Fighters" Hammond, and it made me feel just a little closer to all of you back in Chicago. Happy Thanksgiving!

You know you are an LTHer when. . .

You have an amazing meal at Jitlada Thai ordering for 8 when there's 4 at the table and still wake up dreaming, literally, about the fish kidney curry you didn't order.

Enjoy,
Gary

You know you are an LTH'r when...

... you go to Sun Wah and when you order garlic fried ribs, Kelly goes "you must be one of those LTH'rs, don't you know to order a day in advance?"

... this being my first post, I don't "officially" consider myself an LTH'r yet, but I've been visiting LTH almost daily for more than a year now, I feel like you are all my close friends with whom I share one of the most special things in my life... delicious food...

Thank you so much!

neurochic wrote:You know you are an LTH'r when...

... you go to Sun Wah and when you order garlic fried ribs, Kelly goes "you must be one of those LTH'rs, don't you know to order a day in advance?"

LOL! Who needs a secret handshake when our order screams LTH!

Welcome to the tribe!

Regards,

you run into a fellow LTHer on a flight that is delayed by two hours and he keeps calling you by your LTH name!

My bf, Mike was wondering why YourPalWill was calling me CrazyC...

...you go to the ChanuKwanzaXmas Party and book a nearby hotel room so you can come back to Chuck's for a Sunday breakfast of Sweet Potato pancakes with cane syrup, plus two pots of Chuck's special coffee -- one Chicory and the other Mexican.

"You know you are an LTH'r when ..." UUUUUmmmmm......That ain't not no good English.

... you read this piece in "News Of The Weird"...

A group of recently published cookbooks touting imaginative dishes served by world-renowned chefs includes Ferran Adria's volume on just his everyday fare at the world's top-rated elBulli in Spain. Probably too complex for home cooking are the parmesan ice cream sandwiches, quail eggs with crispy caramel coating, calamari tube ravioli with coconut gel, and especially the preserved tuna-oil air (to create foam). However, for about $250, wannabes can purchase Adria's "Sferificacion MiniKit" with utensils and guidance on more manageable possibilities, such as watermelon soup with tomato spheres. [Time, 11-13-08; The Australian, 11-22-08]

...and don't understand why anyone would think it weird.

Every time you watch Valerie Bertinelli's latest Jenny Craig commercial, you do not notice Valerie in her kitchen making her impassioned plea to the camera, but rather, the collection of good-looking cutting boards behind her on the counter.

aschie30 wrote:Every time you watch Valerie Bertinelli's latest Jenny Craig commercial, you do not notice Valerie in her kitchen making her impassioned plea to the camera, but rather, the collection of good-looking cutting boards behind her on the counter.

Cutting boards Valerie no longer gets a chance to use, since Jenny is her cook now.

you know you are an LTH'r when you have to keep buying new pants

When you are driving and you tell your spouse
"Ok, if I pull over abruptly, it's because there's this joint. I've never seen it, so if it jumps out at me, and I screech to park, it's because I see it." It's called ___________, and it's supposed to be GREAT." Spouse starts looking for the place harder than you are, because past occurrences like this* have netted stellar meals.

*Brown Sack, Depot Diner, Xni-Pec, Sticky Rice - the above example was for Cemitas Puebla last Sunday. Didn't get to stop in, but I know exactly where it is now.

Along those same lines.... "Oh there's _______, I hear it's really good. We should have gone there."

after looking at LTH all day, and seeing the reviews, and pictures of the food people are eating, you cannot bring yourself to go home and do the economically responsible thing of eating a grilled cheese for dinner. Instead some carryout, or dinner out becomes the acceptable alternative.

jimswside wrote:do the economically responsible thing of eating a grilled cheese for dinner.

Don't be dissing the Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

Little too much butter, quality cheese, slow melty toast in a heavy pan, heaven. Saveur has an "Ultimate Grilled Cheese" this month (Jan/Feb 2009) with comte, sourdough bread and two tablespoons of butter per sandwich which I can't wait to try.

G Wiv wrote: two tablespoons of butter per sandwich which I can't wait to try.

Is that the low fat/diet version?

G Wiv wrote:

jimswside wrote:do the economically responsible thing of eating a grilled cheese for dinner.

Don't be dissing the Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

Little too much butter, quality cheese, slow melty toast in a heavy pan, heaven. Saveur has an "Ultimate Grilled Cheese" this month (Jan/Feb 2009) with comte, sourdough bread and two tablespoons of butter per sandwich which I can't wait to try.

Saw the picture, couldn't wait, didn't have comte, but baked a loaf of country bread, slathered slices in butter, topped them with provolone and fried in old bessy the cast iron skillet. Ate with homemade tomato soup.

Yup. If there was a doubt.

stevez wrote:Is that the low fat/diet version?

Only if you eat it on a treadmill...............

1. The only thing preventing you from posting pictures of last night's dinner, well, last night was the fact that you maxed out the monthly bandwidth on your free Flickr account.

2. Rather than waiting until 2/1 (for the bandwidth allotment to reset), you seek another image hosting establishment

3. Then you realize the only reason you are maxed out, really the only reason that you have uploaded so many pictures period, is to post them here.

G Wiv wrote:

jimswside wrote:do the economically responsible thing of eating a grilled cheese for dinner.

Don't be dissing the Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

Now thats a grilled cheese sandwich.

I enjoy a good grilled cheese sandwich as much as the next person. I was just talking about being tempted by pictures of Chinese food, BBQ, and other items all day, and craving those items vs going home, and being somewhat responsible financially.

.
Here's a link to Saveurs The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Your dinner plans now includes two stops thinking 'I godda pace myself here'

You find out about a new place and immediately start making plans for bringing your non-LTH friends there and they end up having a new favorite restaurant and visit it over and over again

When visiting family out of town they start recommending places without you bringing it up

You have a habit of going around the block (to get a second look at that new restaurant you just glimpsed)

You head off to a GNR fully knowing you are going to have a great meal. No question in your mind

People working at restaurants mention 'You're from The Internet, aren't you?' like I am from Mars or something

Panther in the Den wrote:People working at restaurants mention 'You're from The Internet, aren't you?' like I am from Mars or something

Why do you think people react to you that way? I almost never have that kind of conversation in restaurants I visit.

At some restaurants, the choices 'we' make from reading a post here begin to form a pattern. Unknown diner orders old potatoes at Patty's Diner, that clues the staff. I once asked for six-year-old gouda at Cheese Stands Alone to quickly learn it was an error on Chowhound because they only had four-year-old gouda. Someone asking for Gary's chili oil at Little Three Happiness. Are there any new 'typical LTH requests,' I haven't heard yet?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:People working at restaurants mention 'You're from The Internet, aren't you?' like I am from Mars or something

Why do you think people react to you that way? I almost never have that kind of conversation in restaurants I visit.

At some restaurants, the choices 'we' make from reading a post here begin to form a pattern. Unknown diner orders old potatoes at Patty's Diner, that clues the staff. I once asked for six-year-old gouda at Cheese Stands Alone to quickly learn it was an error on Chowhound because they only had four-year-old gouda. Someone asking for Gary's chili oil at Little Three Happiness. Are there any new 'typical LTH requests,' I haven't heard yet?

Regards,

The only experience I've had with this was the second time I went to Schwa. After my first dinner their I put up a pretty glowing post on egullet detailing what we had eaten. The next time I went, the hostess at the time thanked me for my kind words (I guess at the time they were keeping pretty close track of everything that was written about them, and if you know my real name it's not hard to track it back to my user name).