I love shallots. I cook with them all the time. I guess they are, as Scrappy says, a "milder onion" but I think of them as more flavorful, but subtle.

I am a picky-ass eater and what I do is look for a main ingredient I like, like chicken, and then take a chance. the worst that can happen is you won't like the flavor--and you are more likely to have something which is a slightly new but really yummy taste.

The trick with cooking scallops is to get them to be not tough. That means you either cook them very very fast (frying) or slowly and carefully. Poaching means a nice tender scallop that doesn't bring bicycle inner tube to mind.

Robin is very wise, as usual. The steak is also usually safe -- most restaurants put a plain steak on the menu to cater to people who hate fiddly food.

I have some bacon wrapped scallops in my freezer and you people are making me want to go fire up the oven to fix them.

I was going to say Allyson, just order the chicken.

Taste of human.

Power of poultry?

Hooray for the yet to have a final name show coming sooner and not on a Friday.

I think we should have a show-naming contest and whomever wins gets to be a Kazui.

Also, I just got back from my fancy dinner. I had shrimp, oysters, rare prime rib, potatoes, and raspberry chocolate cake.

And I made people laugh when i said most JPLers look like they rolled in glue and were attacked by hampers. Which is how I once described how Joss dresses.

And! I brought up Buffy. And everyone there was a fan. They were intrigued by my book and asked me many good questions.

As it turns out, at a table full of scientists, I can actually sound smart.