I think this is a bad idea in that a naturally free market, once consumers are educated about what to look for, they’ll demand it and in return, vendors (restaurants) will find ways to provide it even if in varying levels of sophistication and authenticity. I’m all for chefs showing off which schools they went to and which restaurants they worked at and other parts of their résumé but, I don’t think a government should be deciding what “authentic” japanese food is since cultures change with the times. Instead a few private culinary schools or committees/boards would be better as it would allow for more schools of thought to allow for diversity and flexibility to change on the preparation of sushi.

Cilantro, lemon, lime, garlic, mint and parsley are staples in my kitchen. Lavender would be too if I could find it in the groceries in my neighborhood -- I'd love to experiment with it beyond creme brulee. I also stock up on other herbs, plants, spices as recipes need them -- paprika, shallots, thyme, rosemary, oregano, etc. As for marinades, mine are made with with a mix of the above ingredients in a bse of soy sauce, vinegar, olive oil, something sweet (papaya, guava, orange, apple) to tame the salt and vinegar flavors.

HTC Wizard and Apple Powerbook. Maybe my Compaq laptop too.

Nope, no cablecard yet.

Yo, DirectTV!

Veronica Mars!

Elle should have hired Nokia. If I wanted an ultra-chic phone with an underwhelming set of features, I'd get a Nokia 7380.

Info from Paypal's site: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/mobile/MobileOverview-outside

I myself am looking forward to this. Most my friends have a Paypal account and this would help so much with those lunches where there are three of us and the bill comes out to something around $40 and try splitting that three ways when everyone has only $20 bills from the ATM. Heh, I've already programmed Paypal's numbers into my cell phone.

Yo. I want.

Ooooh. Winning one might convince me to switch to t-mo.