@ belleza
I love soup dumplings to the point of distraction and I have spent many sleepless nights thinking of how I would create a french version with white truffle oil and lobster.

Panda Express doesn't factor in my life since I only see them in malls in NJ but I do know people who thinks olive garden is the food bomb and once when my husband and I were visiting friends in Seattle we were forced to go since it was already planned which for a couple who lives to eat is like asking us to perform ritual hara-kiri. We went as not to offend and tried to order the least offensive dishes but it was still pretty bad.

@Ockoala
"I’m not a big foodie, except when you lure me to French Laundry, Per Se or Masa with an omakase meal."

Denial. You eat at Thomas Keller and Masa Takayama's restaurants and you don't call yourself a foodie? Non of my non-foodie friends would think of going there since its too expensive.

"people who thinks olive garden is the food bomb "

Coworker of mine was raving about the salad dressing at Olive Garden. I was just . . . I needed to move to another country.

"I would create a french version with white truffle oil and lobster."

Oh that's easy. Poach the whole thing in butter. :D

(Strange how Paula Deen and Thomas Keller interpret poaching lobster in butter, and yet one comes out so brilliant and the other so . . . BLEERGH)

"I’m not a big foodie, except when you lure me to French Laundry, Per Se or Masa with an omakase meal."

Speaking of . . . is the fried chicken at Bouchon REALLY that good? I mean, I've looked at the recipe. I don't get it. I really don't get it. Brining+buttermilk+peanut oil, seems pretty standard. Maybe food critics on the West Coast don't eat a lot of real soul food?

"I made sticky rice for Thanksgiving in lieu of the usual stuffing, all 12 cups of rice!!!"

Yup -- never had bread stuffing until I went to college. Always sticky rice in our turkeys. I didn't even taste cranberry sauce until like Hometown Buffet came into our neighborhood. Turkey meat + purple stuff? Really America? WTH is green bean casserole? And what's with all the breast enhancement surgery done to soy milk? Is soy milk so disgusting to you guys that you have to make it taste like raspberries? Really America? Sigh.

Gawd I remember the first time we tried the Chez Pannisse brine (even better if you add lemon juice, the acidity gives the breast meat some character and ameliorates the succulent structure of dark meat.) with the turkey. First time I actually got to bite my teeth into juicy white meat. Well no, there was that party sophomore year . . .

@ nycgrl

Caught in a web of mine own lies. Ha ha, okay, I was in fact a foodie, but now I only wish I had the time or luxury to go to those restaurants, so I was just being glib tis all. When I lived in NYC, I did check out pretty much all the famous restaurants, but my favorite turned out to be the least fancy - I die any day if I can just eat at Peter Lugers. I'll bring the wads of cash. Or a pizza at Patsy's.

Having babies and toddlers does mean eschewing the Per Se's of the world in exchange for the CPKs, but I'm alright with that these days. I figure, I've done it all before, and once they grow up, I can do it again, but for now, Panda Express sounds just fine with me. :-)

@ belleza

The fried chicken at Bouchon is *good*. That is all, merely *good*. Hype makes it taste a whole lot better.

"Oh that’s easy. Poach the whole thing in butter. "

haha. I love Keller's poached lobster in butter but the last time I was at per se I actually left hungry and that was after the tasting menu. If any of you are in NY let me know so I can send you to the best food dives since you will already know all fancy places.

My family has always had chestnut stuffing and gravy but we didn't start eating cranberry sauce until like 8 yo and we have never looked back. My husband's family, you know the family that hasn't evolved since the 70s when they immigrated, don't eat turkey at all. They hate it. We have kalbi or roasted chicken at their house which is one of the reasons my in-laws have branded my family too americanized because we celebrate thanksgiving with all the trimmings but we don't celebrate chusok and we celebrate christmas with the whole tree and stockings but we don't celebrate new years. We are perfect heathens in their eyes.

Lots of chit-chat while I was gone!

@ nycgrl

Email me - lal1964 at yahoo dot com

@ ockoala

Your man is so hot. Lord have mercy.

And didja see my I LUB YOU in his tux? Sweet dreams are made of this...

@ belleza

Please don't think any less of me, but...c) I order the orange chicken. :-(

@ langdon-unni

It was a *very* good day for the both of us, wasn't it? Your LMK was beyond dashing in his tux, he even makes wearing a tux seen fun and not stuffy.

It appears that all I needed was 4 plus minutes of my "I lub you" to chase away the bah humbug doldrums I've been in for the past week. That YT video - I am pretty speechless.

@ crzycpl - you asked last week who this Jung Woo-sung person is. Well, watch the video I posted and you'll see for yourself.

Decorated the tree halfway (ran out of lights so stopped until I can replenish).

Oh, and confession belleza, I ate enough orange chicken from PE when I was pregnant with my baby girl to feed an invading Hun army. It was one of 2 things I craved. The other was boba milk tea.

@ belleza
"Does anybody’s mom go NUTS in the crab leg section of the Asian buffet, even though the crab legs aren’t any good?"

What Korean/Asian parents don't go all out on the crab at a buffet? Gotta get their money's worth, ya know.
My parents are the buffet professionals. Big shock to hubby and sis-in-law when they joined the family. Once, my niece asked, "Why do halmoni and haraboji ALWAYS go to buffets?" LOL. And in recent years, my parents have discovered the joys of going on cruises - the food! (OMG, the horror)
Luckily, hubby always wants to have Korean food when we visit, so I no longer have to endure Hometown Buffet. ;)

@ cingdoc

Does one regular fridge and two wine fridges count? :P
My parents do have 2 fridges - one in the kitchen and one in the garage...but for Korean parents, you have to add #3 -> THE KIMCHI FRIDGE!

@ ockoala

*wiping up drool*
Thanks for the vid. Aw, damn. HOT. DAMN.
Hubby just asked, "What are you doing?" when he saw me grooving with a giant silly grin on my face. Luckily, Mythbusters is on, so he didn't bother looking at what I was watching on my laptop. Phew, almost got busted! :P

French Laundry isn't as good as it used to be...but that might also be a result of (aside from Keller's split time between CA & NY) going straight to the source and having fabulous food in France. No one does it like the French. :D

I haven't had Bouchon's fried chicken, but the food there, in general, is inconsistent.

@ langdon813

"Email me"

Done! Thank you Langdon. Bonk, bonk.

@ ockoala

You lived in NY? Where? how long? I love my city so much I take immense interest in it almost as much as I keep tabs on NYC real estate. NYC is the only place I know where you can go to a party and ask a perfect stranger how much they paid for their apartment and it isn't considered rude or weird.

Also in regards to pizza and if you are here go to Roberta's, DiFara or Lucali--all in Brooklyn. Patsy's if you mean Grimaldi's beneath the brooklyn bridge hasn't been good in a while. Did you know they actually mentioned Grimaldi's in "Sons of Sol Pharmacy" I almost spit out my drink when I saw that.

@ hjkomo
Yes the kimchi frig counts and my older sister and aunts all have that. They all make their own kimchi and I have to say no one makes kimchi like the ladies in my family (its that good!) but it takes hordes of people two days to make and if you want a couple of bottles you have to put in the time.

@ nycgrl

I love your city so much as well. If I can kidnap my NYC-hating hubby and hogtie him back to NYC, I so would. I lived there for law school (3 too short years), on the Upper West Side, closer to Morningside Heights. I lived on the corner of 103rd and Broadway, close enough to walk to school with a long enough walk that it felt like exercise, 12 uptown blocks or so.

Leaving when I graduated was hard, but I was really close to going back, I even took the bar again to get my NY license and was all prepared to go when........my cheating cheater of a cheat ex-BF cheated on me and I ended up staying in LA.

It all worked out, but I miss NYC, and the ache gets especially strong around Autumn to early Winter. I loved NYC in the fall. And yes, the food scene there changes lightning fast, I'm sure the restaurants I loved some may no longer be around, others not so good anymore.

I'll be in NYC in July 2010 with the entire family, probably for a week. I'll hit you up for recommendations. I can't wait!! *claps hand in glee* Still deciding where to lodge, Midtown, Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, Gramercy. Decisions, decisions.

@ockoala
We are having a mild Nov and Dec so autumn in NY has been especially nice. Hearing you describe NYC actually makes me ache for it myself and I'm here. I know this sounds crazy but when I come back from London or Paris or SF for work or play I literally tear up when I see the skyscraper from the airplane or car service back and as mentioned I'm not a cryer. Let me know if your town. Can't recommend a place to stay since I've never stayed in a hotel here but lots of food places I can recommend.

Also its easy to guess which law school you went to haha since my sister's ex went to that school.

Also my christmas tree isn't up and I'd have to take the decorations out of storage. That is the minus to living in the city lack of space and everything being in storage.

244 belleza

Well. I've been living in a small town(8000 people) in Ventura county for past 7 years now(moving back to may be South bay area sometime this year), 20m drive to the nearest Trader Joe's... Maybe less than 20 Asians in this town... Yes. I do have TJ's frozen vegetarian gyoza in my freezer, my staples. I know my sisters make them at home about 100 at a time and freeze them or just finish them of within 2- 3 days.

And I do stay away from all the fast food places... Since I'm a vegetarian(when traveling) or vegan( at home) and like to eat organic usually. I guess I'm influenced by my mom who has been a co-op distributer for 40 years. Well, to confess, I might have a fry or two from In & Out if my friends are going...

My friend was visiting all the way from LA this afternoon and it was really fun except as his stay got prolonged, I started to wonder when he was going to leave??? I was dying to continue on Iris and also Dae Jang Geum(finally arrived from Netflix!) I'd better start taking care of my business matter tomorrow and on and today is my free day.

Oh, a question. Anybody transitioned from PC to Mac, Was transferring files from PC to Mac easy enough? With all recommendations on this site, I am seriously considering getting a Mac really soon. I'd like to know for non techy type like me, is it easy enough?

Anyway, just got off the phone with another friend from LA, He lives near K town. and we are getting together this Friday. ANYONE, Please tell me which one is the good CD/DVD store there? I want to get "Shelter" by Yoochun&Jaejaejoong. Japanese one doesn't have the version I love, so I'd like to try to look for Korean one. And anybody seen Pig rabbit sold around? Thanks in advance!

@ nycgrl

*Replied* :-D

All of this NYC talk is making me jealous. My husband knows that if the possibility of me living there ever materializes, then I'm gone. No "I'll think about it"...GONE. He will just have to visit me there because I will never never never (really never) turn down that opportunity. And the great thing about this is...it could actually happen. My company has an office there and the bulk of work that my division does all comes from the East Coast...so, never say never. The office manager is retiring in a couple of years and my super secret campaign to get her job is already in full swing. I would take a demotion to live in NYC, no problem!

I've only been there once, two years ago. I went for a meeting and only had from 2:00 one afternoon until my flight at 10:00 the next morning to see as much as I could. You'd be amazed at how much I actually managed to see in that time frame, and in the rain at that! I ended the day with dinner at a place called Serafina on Madison Avenue. It was lovely. I felt like Carrie Bradshaw.

I'm supposed to be going back there for a wedding next October. Well, the wedding is actually on Long Island, but I'm going to do it right this time and spend several days in the city either before or after the wedding. Should be quite interesting...200+ Italian New Yorkers and two Southerners from Mississippi. Think we'll blend in? :-D

nycgrl 258

gotta question. what is the typical rent for a studio/1 bedroom apt in the upper east side?

thanks.

265 cingdoc

Thank you! I'm copying this right now to my calender!

$30 for the hair clip!? Must be extra special!

I guess, for me, New York City never had that pull for me. Not like SF. (I think NYC vs. SF is truly a binary preference in a person's DNA. Either/or and never their snobby sneers shall meet!) Living all over the East Bay and then in downtown SF . . . gah LA sucks lol. if it weren't for the row of $9 Korean BBQ joints down Gardena, what would be the point of LA? :D

@ockoala,

"It was one of 2 things I craved. The other was boba milk tea."

This is perfectly acceptable. Boba milk tea is the breast milk of Taiwan. :D (I love my boba with barley. But nothing satisfies on a hot day like a massive bowl of shaved ice and 20 different toppings cheap from Rowland Heights or the SGV. I even prefer it to . . . Pinkberry!!!!)

"I die any day if I can just eat at Peter Lugers. "

If you just ate at Pete Luger's, you might die any day. ;) But I heard their prime burger is a reasonable $10-15 or so. I wonder though -- Kobe beef or Prime Dry-Aged Beef? Whenever I visualize the father of my children LBH, the association is pretty similar to Kobe beef. Like buttah. :D

@hjkomo,

"going straight to the source and having fabulous food in France. No one does it like the French."

I actually thought the French Laundry would compare fairly well with 3 star restaurants. (When my brother does the business trip thing, he and his coworkers usually spend $80-100 each on dinner. Thank you corporate pork and barrell!!) Have you been to Ducasse?

"Well. I’ve been living in a small town(8000 people) in Ventura county for past 7 years now(moving back to may be South bay area sometime this year)"

Oh cool. Torrance? Gardena? HERMOSA BEACH BABY?

@ belleza - i love me some PE hehe... but i hate pick up stix... and pf changs. i think cuz PE doesn't try to hide the fact that it's fake chinese food, but pick up stix and pf changs pretends to be genuine asian fusion something or another. plus whenever i eat at those 2 places i feel nauseous.

re: NYC... it's been over a year since i've been... i wanna go back so badly!! just for a week...or 3! haha. so many awesome food places yet to eat at...and i have yet to go to brooklyn!! (much to the dismay of all my brooklyn friends). i had contemplated living in ny awhile back, but i don't think i could deal with having 4 distinct seasons. winter i could work through but the humid summers would just about kill me.

"and pf changs."

I've never been to PF Changs Bistro. The IDEA of PF Changs just really offends me.

Then again, I don't mind me a little Bennihana . . .

@ langdon-unni

Sounds like we need to ditch our NYC-hating, k-drama non-loving husbands and move to NYC together.

Someday? I'll bring the baby ockoalas. ;-)

@ belleza

My sister currently lives in the South Bay, with no plans to move. Where I live isn't much better, but if hubby had his way, our ass would be back in SF in a heartbeat. He grew up in Pacifica, and went to high school in SF, and loves the Bay Area. Yeah, he and I don't really share the sames tastes is the understatement of the century.

As for your boba milk tea analogy, it's quite apt, we Taiwanese sure loves to chew on tapioca (I alternate between Earl Grey and plain Black Tea), and I'm sure I have a play on joke but am deeming it too late and probably too inappropriate for this forum. Suffice to say, my kids were well fed. :-)

@ ockoala

It's a deal! Although with no husbands around, the ockoala babies are going to learn self-sufficiency pretty quickly with their drama-lovin' mommy and auntie glued to their laptops for hours on end. ;-)

@ hjkomo

AZNV fixed their problems so I finally made it to the sticker scene (so cute, when she blows on his face, what a doll)! But, but. but...the whisper-kissing! Gah, my knees are weak and I feel all swoony now.

But I've got a bad feeling about those nosebleeds. That's all I'm saying, and I don't want to know...but I'm worried. :-(

267 belleza

Exactly like Torrance, Gardena or anywhere around the area, I used to live in Sherman Oaks for 6 years and Westwood for another 3 years before I fell in love and got myself out of freeway madness of LA. That boyfriend been gone for 5 years now and I still love hiking in Los Padres Mountains, but my friends are pretty much all in LA and commuting to LA really suck big time(for my day job) and even for my own business, LA area is more convenient. I think SB Beach area is a bit out of my price range....

I'm surprised you guys are still up at this time of the day. Me? I'm still jet-lagged.

and more food talks going on as well.
Yes! I'm all for boba drinks, my fav. is Azuki beans/sesami seeds drink with tapioca from Easy ways in Sydney since it seems like I spend more time in Sydney than at home. Love the texture. Have to admit I've been to PF Changs, It seems like usually go there with non Asian friends, though... Nothing like Arcadia...
I'm watching Iris right now, my heart feels heavy with anticipations for what's next, it's heavy duty and I can't watchstraight through the episodes, so I come here to take a break. yet, I just can't stop watching.... Help!

"My sister currently lives in the South Bay, with no plans to move."

Truth is, I actually do like the South Bay, and I'm hoping to do some volunteering over at PV in order to work with horses. The Peninsula would be perfect if it were more foresty.

I think for me, both SoCal and Bay Area are about compromises. I love SF and East Bay, but other than that, I don't like Palo Alto, Cupertino, Mountain View, etc. To me, it's like the Lonesome Crowded Northwest turned into the city of Irvine. And while I love SF, I tend to avoid the whole Chinatown/Cantonese experience of it. I feel very specific with Sino identity -- to me, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Hongcouvah, northern parts of the mainland, southern part, etc., all different. I like the Sino diversity in the SGV, or the casual familiarity of Rowland Heights. But when I go to SF, I sometiems feel like it's just one very monochromatic version of the experience. Hmm.

That and it's kinda hard to find real tongue-burning Hunan cuisine in SF.

"I have to say that I have yet seen any of JWS drama"

Definitely start with his movie with Son Yeh Jin, "Moment to Remember." Everybody loves that one.

Way back when, he did a Choi Wan Kyu drama with Lee Byung Hun, Choi Jin Shil (RIP), and Lee Young Ae -- Asphalt Man (or Dream Racers.) It's . . . well let's just say that it brought back vivid memories of that infamous pre-Hallyu Korean makeup. All ten pounds of it. WOW. :D

@ belleza

French Laundry is good, but the 3-star restaurants in France I've been to (all except one) are better. I haven't been to Alain Ducasse yet. Most of our culinary excursions have been outside Paris.

@ ockoala

If you're Bay Area residence was limited to Palo Alto, then perhaps you should try other areas...hubby spent 11 years on the Peninsula, and he finds our current location 100 times better (out of 10 ;) ). One thing we do agree on is that we're never moving to L.A. ;)

If you ever move back here, there's a well-qualified babysitter at your disposal. :D

I've lost track of how many times I've watched that JWS-Ain't No Other Man montage...I downloaded it to watch on the full screen. And if I ever get an ipod, it's ready in mp4 format. :D

I'd love to get my hands on that racing drama he did on the 90's - 21 years old and hot, no doubt. Dayum.

@ langdon813

If I weren't swamped with dramas, I'd rewatch Robbers with you.
Yes, the kisses are hawt.
I won't spoil the rest, though.

Bigbang's official MV for Let me her your voice. Soo cool. and for a change, I understand all the lyrics both in English and Japanese part!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQjcJBGIFsA&feature=related

277 cingdoc

May your Physical be totally uneventful with grace and ease and you'll just zoom through it. Mine's coming up in a month or so as well.

@264 kb -

what is the typical rent for a studio/1 bedroom apt in the upper east side?

Depends on how close to the park, whether there is a doorman, etc.

But check craigslist for the range of options. Given a quick peek, I see $1,250-$1,500 for decent 1BR.

Oh, btw, my opinion, but I think Peter Lugers is overrated. Not that I didn't enjoy the extraordinarily large and juicy porterhouses, but for the price and the effort to get out there, the difficulty in getting reservations for the times you want....

Best steakhouse in NY, dollar for dollar, and I've been to many of the ones people rave about, in my opinion is Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House on 6th Ave (ave of americas).

It used to be an elegant cigar bar or something like that, and so it has a smokey kind of decor and very nicely laid out 2 floor restaurant.

If you go, make a reservation and go for LUNCH not dinner. You can get the same wonderful steak but at pre-fixe cost and menu: 3 course meal - 6 oz filet mignon, soup/salad, potatoes, gigantic dessert... pre-fixed at $30!

Yes, that's right. $30. In the heart of Manhattan, with steak that I like better than Peter Lugers, as good as Sparks, better than BLT Steak, as good as Smith and Wolensky, better than Craftsteak (at least the Craftsteak at the MGM Grand), not charred like Morton's, without the buttery aftertaste of Ruth's Chris...

And the service is great, fast and efficient (it's a business lunch after all), the food is wonderful, just all around great. I've only gone there once for dinner, and the pre-fixe lunch was just as good.

Oh, and give a week's notice and you can get a table for lunch almost any day of the week.

@ samsooki

Thank you much! I've made a mental note to go to Del Friscos for lunch when I'm in the City. I cannot pass up a bona fide steak joint. Here in the OC, I'm stuck with either Mortons or Mastros, neither are terrible but its leagues away from a great steakhouse in NYC or Chicago.

As for Peter Lugers - I agree its overrated in general, but to me its underrated, because I just about had the best steak in my life there with the best experience (i.e. date), so I have fond memories. Isn't food half about what you ate and half about who you ate it with? :-) I also love the 90 yrs old average age of the waitstaff, the cash only, and the fact that "transactions" were taking place when I was waiting for my table by the front door. Muy authentico.

@ belleza

The NYC/SF preference is exactly as you describe it - one or the other. And then everyone agrees to haterade on LA. I'm cool with that, LA just "is" and you live here for a reason, and love it because, well, it's your life, so stop bitching. But we who live in LA not-so-secretly all want to move to either NYC or SF. But then we'll defend LA when called upon. It's complicated.

So hubby wants to move to SF, I want to move to NYC and we compromise and stay in LA. Do we both win or lose? I'm not sure, but I love my house, so it's cool for now.

@ hjkomo

Yes, hubby also reminds me that since I've only lived in Paly, I cannot make a sweeping determination of the entire NorCal peninsula. I'll take you up on your babysitting offer when we visit SF, how's that? Just kidding, we have enough aunties, gramps, and assorted friends in SF to babysit for the next 360 days if we need it.

I've also watched the Aint No Other Man video over and over last night - I'm still a bit astounded at the video creator for doing such a stellar job, we're so lucky Christmas came early, no? @ cingdoc - I'm glad you enjoyed the video by yourself late at night. I'm also excited your GY is coming back, so you won't eye my JWS. Hee hee, I'm kidding!

In the meantime, I'm still on anticipating Chuno mode. Thanks for the links earlier! Mwah,

@ langdon-unni

Don't worry, the kids know not to bother mommy when she is watching, reading, discussing, squeeing, or otherwise doing anything related to dramas.

Lastly, to anyone out there, has anyone eaten at El Bulli (Ferran Adrian's restaurant)? I just want a review, tis all.

San Francisco is like the place you want to live and work if you can afford it, if you are cool with the fact that it is just a city full of awesomeness. It is my second favorite city, after Boston. By the way, Napa Valley + Norcal food in general is the best food I've ever had in my life. They make everything taste better. For example, I've had calimari everywhere, all around the world. But then I go to some average place near Monterrey, and I ask for fried calimari, and they give it to me, and I'm like, what IS this, and they say, oh, that's calimari, and I say, I've never seen calimari like this, and they say, oh, lol, that's because this is filet of the squid, and i'm like, omg this is like a billion times better... and now, i don't order fried calimari any more because, it. just. isn't. the. same.

New York City is the capital of the world, as far as I am concerned. I lived there once, working there a long time, near Wall Street for a gigantic law firm and for a midtown white shoe law firm. It is a place where you are surrounded by 8.5M people and you can be lonely. It is expensive, dirty, powerful, cool, lonely. Some people love it, I am not a huge fan. LOL.

=)

@ belleza

"I don’t like Palo Alto, Cupertino, Mountain View, etc."

HAHA. that's where i'm from. Specifically, Cupertino. Right down the street from Apple, where I swear half the people I knew from high school work at. I've always felt that Irvine was just a giant Cupertino with higher speed limits. Maybe that's why when I came down to Irvine for college, it wasn't such a big shock to be 400 miles away from home. And now I can't seem to leave.

re: AC discussion from a little while back. I believe serendipity likened it to a romance novel about 100+ posts ago and that's totally it!! i couldn't put my finger on why i was enjoying AC so much when it's exactly the kind of cliched dramas i usually stay away from. but when romance novels were mentioned (totally my guilty pleasure as well!) , that's when it clicked! glad to find other fans of that genre here :) I really must get a kindle so that my collection of books stop piling up and taking up so much space!

Question for romance novel readers: Any favorite authors?? It's been awhile since i've read any new authors (drama-watching has zeroed out my reading time, surprise surprise haha).

@ lovenyc52

I'll soompi you. It's too embarassing to mention here. ;-)

@ ockoala

HAHA. i feel ya. i have no idea how to navigate around soompi. i can't even figure out how to post on threads - everytime i try to post it doesn't let me. don't know why. but my username on soompi is the same as it is here if that helps!

And......I think we've officially formed a new club in OT, sanctioned by JB herself (thank you for lifting the stigma - hee hee, teasing, I'm totally open about it, and hubby mocks me, and I mock him back for reading his umpteenth Dune copycat involving time travel, dinosaurs, apocalyptic societies, et. al.)

The SBWLTB Club is born. I loved both of your recommendations, JB (esp. Private Arrangements, inasmuch of both doofoids in the novel needed to be smacked upside the head, at least the couple stood toe to toe in personality, intelligence, and passion).

@ lovenyc52, I soompied you a few more recs. Enjoy!

No trashing Dune! I'm a HUGE fan of Dune and Dune Messiah. Read and mostly enjoyed Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune. And I liked Chapterhouse Dune alot.

As for later works and derivatives, well, I've no opinion yet. =)

@ samsooki

No, no, no diss of Dune intended. I still need to read the Dune novels myself, it's a modern sci-fi classic, no? Hubby loves reading so much, he'll read ads if it's in front of him. So for one of his favorite genres, I shall call it the Dune-ish genre, it's like catnip to him, so there is apparently an entire otherverse of novels along the same vein, but poorly written. And yet he still will read them. So he and I are square.

There are that many Dune novel? Who knew, do they need to be read in order? I'm assuming it doesn't act as standalone novels.

@ JB

Brava, well said! *Scurring home to put all my romance novels on the shelf instead of hidden in boxes under the bed* :-P

New author, I enjoyed Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare (but didn't like her other two sequels, might be a one-hit wonder), but not as good as ST or MD in terms of great tension and dialogue.

But I love the older stuff, like Georgette Heyer. And even newer old stuff, like Judith McNaught.

Foodies??? I have found kindred spirits in the OT!! :D I'm tossing up between 3 or 6 Michelin stars this month. I think, for the sake of my wallet, I'll stick to just 3. I'll be heading to Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons later this month and maybe another one star here in London. There are so many that you can't eat through them all.

I've never been to El Bulli but another Foodie friend has and she said it was pretty spectacular. I think there were like 32 dishes all up or something. However, she said that the other local restaurant was just as great.

When I was in SF in May, we went to a Michelin restaurant in the Mission area and then another all the way down in Santa Ana (?). The one in Santa Ana was pretty good, although again, the name escapes me.

As for NYC, well, the choices are endless, no? I also heard Del Friscos was very good for steak but didn't get a chance to go. I went to Benjamin's instead, the Peter Lugers of Manhattan. I didn't enjoy Gramercy Tavern but did enjoy Gotham Bar and Grill. Oh I could go on and on about restaurants on this OT but I think I'll spare JB the pain. ;)

Oh, God.

See, THIS is why I can't stay away from this place and why I'm goofing up on the job today. CRACK. It's CRACK. :-( And now we're off on a trashy book tangent? Please just give me an IV and hook me up for life!

So...here are two of my very favorite authors in the supernatural / romance genre. My book crack, if you will.

1) The Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine

I love these books so much. Here is the Amazon blurb of Book 1 called Ill Wind:

Joanne Baldwin is a weather warden, who can control the weather and keep it from being more chaotic and destructive than it already is. She is on the run, though, for she is accused of killing a senior warden, which she did, sort of. A thread of corruption runs through some of the most powerful wardens, one of which put a Demon Mark on her and then died. Her only hope now is to get a djinn from her old friend Lewis, who stole three of them from the council of the wardens many years ago. As she runs, she picks up a hitchhiker who knows things an ordinary person wouldn't, and who offers help. With djinns and other wardens, including those sent to arrest her, all giving her conflicting information, Joanne never quite knows whom to trust in this romantic escapist romp rife with danger, excitement, and even classic cars.

By the way, a "djinn" is like a new and improved version of a genie in a bottle. I want one that looks like Lee Min-ki. :-D

2) The Southern Vampire mysteries (the Sookie Stackhouse books) by Charlaine Harris

HBO butchered these wonderful books by turning them into something unrecognizable. Hated the show, LOVE the books. Here's what Amazon says:

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life, and one of her coworkers checks out....maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea. A fun, fast, funny, and wonderfully intriguing blend of vampire and mystery that's hard to put down, and should not be missed.

Hard to put down and should not be missed...massive understatement!

One more confession - A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux pretty much ruined me for romance novels. Still one of my all-time favorites.

@ JB

"And I cut my teeth on McNaught (and Julie Garwood)."

Don't forget the grandmama of them all (in terms of sheer volume output, not in terms of talent and craft) - Jude Deveraux! I loved all three authors (JM is my fave if I had to pick), and my very first romance novel was Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught (courtesy of ma verra nice then high school sis), and it still remains as my all-time-favorite RM novel. It has exactly all the elements in the formula you mentioned, but done perfectly! It's still perfect 20 some years later!
I wonder if I would have loved RMs if I read one of the many, many "CRAPOLA" ones (as you so aptly describe the RM scene) as my first foray into the genre? Yeah, I still probably would.

My Heyer collection was humming along nicely (they reprinted so many of them in the late 90s, early 2000s) but I was still living with my mom, so when I went home once, I found the entire box chucked! By my dad! He's the crazy clean freak like me, mom would have let it molder in my room for another 10 years. So, I lost my Heyer books, but read them first, thank the lord. Now you've reminded me to hunt them down again. Mucho gracias, JB! I am having such a productive day (and it has nothing to do with work).

And I hazard a guess that many of us RM readers (JB, serendipity, lovenyc52) - many of us started off on Sweet Valley High in junior high? The perfect size 6 blond twins? ;-)

re: Dune - there are probably more than a dozen Dune books now, but the ones i mentioned are (were) the original series.

Dune and Dune Messiah (along with Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, and maybe Ender's Game / Speaker For the Dead) are among the greatest science fiction books ever written.

if there is a trashy romance novel that can measure up, in epic style, to Speaker For The Dead, or Foundation, or Dune, then I am all for reading it.

:D

OMG my head is spinning with all the things I want to respond to but I'm at the client's so when I get home I'll respond to Dune (huge fan), foodie-ism, NYC vs SF, Romance novels etc.

But the only thing I wanted to respond immediately is to :

@samsooki /kb -

"what is the typical rent for a studio/1 bedroom apt in the upper east side?"

When I lived on the Upper East Side I paid $1900 for a small 1 bdroom (e.g. 550 sq feet) and this was 7 years ago so unless prices came down a lot $1,250-$1,500 seems a little low. I own now so not positive about rental rates anymore.

My friend's studio in the mid-30's which is about 450 sq ft is $1450

@ JB / ockoala / langdon813 / newly minted members of the SBWLTB Club

My very first was a Gaelen Foley book (Princess), plucked off the shelves of UCI's bookstore my freshman year on a random browsing trip. Her Ascension Trilogy ended up being really good and her Knight clan series was half good half eh. Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series was decent, but my absolute favorite is Susan Elizabeth Phillips and her Chicago Stars series. In the past few years I discovered Judith McNaught (just amazing!) and am steadily going through her collection... She may just surpass SEP for me yet... we'll see :)

@ ockoala - i'll go check my soompi message now...

@ samsooki - JUST realized you had sent me a soompi message back in the end of october. i guess i need to log onto soompi more regularly now ha. sorry i didn't respond earlier...really, NO IDEA.