Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

A friend said that she held a cooking party at Williams Sonoma in the Time Warner Center. Give 'em a call.

Much obliged, Ed. Most recipes call for two whole eggs and two egg whites. I was going to substitute four egg whites and skip the yolks to see what would happen. Since biscotti are twice baked (hence the name!) they are dry anyway and the unctuous nature of the yolks is probably lost, this may turn out undetectable.

Next batch will be with almonds, dried cherries and fennel or anise seeds.

P.S. Latest batch of whites came from eggs used to make buttermilk ice cream (one of my faves).

Oh, one more thing. I noticed Time Out recently published their London Cheap Eats guide.

http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/2553.html

Definitely try local curry (aka Indian Food). Don't bother with the London Chinatown.

Good glasses don't have to cost much. After breaking too many Riedels, I picked up some Spiegelau Authentis Bordeaux glasses (link below) for $35 for six on sale (and free shipping). They have a nicely tapered bowl though they are made with slightly heftier crystal than good Riedels. They work wonderfully for all wines. I even prefer dessert wines in them--swirl and warm to release the esters.

Spiegelau is now owned by Riedel so hopefully their quality will continue. Many restaurants prefer Spiegelau machine-made glasses for their durability.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005Y1E5/

There's a butcher right next to what used to be Chinese American Trading Company, now known as Tongin Mart, at 91 Mulberry. The butcher is one or two storefronts to the south. If you're near the B/D train on the east side of Chinatown, there's a butcher on the corner of Grand and Chrystie (*) which always has chicken feet. And Bayard Meat at 57 Bayard. Duck feet might be a better choice since they have more gelatin and are tastier to boot.

(*) I've lived in NY all my life and when I give a corner I might not have the street names exactly right but like a rat in a maze I know where everything is in on foot.

One trick which I've used in the past when a pan is really grungy is spray-on oven cleaner. While caustic, it's a ton less work than scrubbing with steel wool and doesn't damage the surface as much and also cleans to a gleam inside and out. I wash the thing very carefully and very well then reseason from scratch. The seasoning I get from close-to-raw iron tends to best those I get from scrubbing.

The most recent pans I got were Civil War era scored at a museum in the Ozarks. They're really good and better, I think, than Lodge since their cooking surfaces are smooth rather than the pebbled surface Lodge uses not to mention they're just beauties...