I’m putting together a list of Downtown favorites for Memphis in May. What are your top picks? I’m also doing a roundup of barbecue joints around town for BBQ weekend, and the blogger who created the Google map will finally be revealed…

I love the dog show, but I won’t watch it until it’s over and won’t read about it before then (although of course I know Patty Hearst has a winner in it and everyone is pulling for the beagle). So while TiVoing it, I had dinner with friends last night and one told the pitiful story of how she goes to the movies, usually alone, on Saturday afternoons, and always orders a Diet Pepsi and a hot dog. I’m not judging when I say it was pitiful–that’s what she called it–and the reason is because this past Saturday, the counter guy at the cheap movies knew what she wanted before she ordered it.

Talk turned to hot dogs. When I was a child I despised them and remember calling my aunt from Girl Scout camp to come get me because I was sick of eating them (and I hated camp). I only came to like them when I had a Chicago-style dog (like the one pictured) at Jimmy’s in Bartlett a few years ago and I have to say, that’s the way to eat ‘em. I saw the nuclear relish, or at least something that looked like it, at Kroger last week and bought a jar along with my favorite dogs, Aaron’s chicken franks. Since I’ve been on Dr. Gott’s no-flour, no-sugar diet, I let myself have a treat once a week. This weekend, I’m going to have a hot dog while I watch the dog show. (And, um, yeah, there could be an argument made here for who’s more pitiful.)

Anyway, where are the good dogs around town, past and present?

I know we’ve covered this topic before, but today I heard something that took me aback: Our blogmaster will not eat macaroni and cheese. He despises it with a fervor I reserved for canned green peas or other people do for say, liver and onions. And it gets better: He will only eat two kinds of noodles: Spaghetti (in a pinch he’ll go with angel hair, but vermicelli is preferred and anything heavier verboten) and ravioli.

Allow me to continue. Lord knows I understand the cooked fruit phobia, but Bryan won’t eat cooked vegetables! He loves them raw, just like I love raw fruit, but doesn’t want them cooked. There are exceptions, of course: French fries and sometimes roasted veggies. It just depends on the texture.

I love it that someone here understands the nuances of food texture–but I don’t get the noodle deal. Still, it’s quirky and that makes it funny to me.

I love just about any kind of fish or seafood (although I recently had an allergic reaction to sea bass, but that’s another story). But of all the varieties, I have two hands-down favorites: Crab and crappie. Now I can buy crab whenever I want it, but crappie is a different story. It’s a game fish and you have to catch it. And I don’t catch.

Lucky for me, my mother and stepfather are fishin' fools. They retired last year, moved to a lake and have signs that say things like "Fish quiver at the very mention of my name" hanging in the garage (my guess is my mother put her foot down on where the signs can go). They fished and froze all season long, and yesterday we had a big ole fish fry at the cabin. And this is something you don't get just anywhere: Ron doesn't just clean and de-head the crappie--he filets them. No joke. Now maybe you know someone else who does this, but I've never known anyone who'll get out a knife and turn out those tiny fillets like he does.

I love cheese and have been planning to go to River Oaks since I first heard about the Tuesday night $12 tasting. Last night, I made it, and was overjoyed to find that I could also purchase a flight of four wines–anything sold by the glass except for one of the Champagnes–for $15. That was a great deal.

When the cheese plates came to the table, everyone was a little amazed at the tiny portions (I think it did seem a bit light, but the wine pours seemed a little generous–isn’t that evening out?), but these were excellent cheeses and the accompanying toasts were so good.

My favorite cheese (there were five) was either the Cypress Grove Purple Haze, a domestic goat’s milk with hints of lavender and fennel, or the Petit Pint L’Eveque, a double cream from France.

The cheeses change according to what’s best, so next Tuesday will likely be different. And I might just be there to find out…

Last night we went to Lobster King for dim sum on the way home–sometimes I crave those turnip cakes dipped in vinegar, hot peppers and soy!–and I tried something new that I don’t think I would have if the waiter hadn’t recommended it: bean curd skin with shrimp. Doesn’t sound appetizing, does it? But he was right on when he told me that if I liked the turnip cakes and the chive dumplings, I’d like it. It was a thin, crispy shell of bean curd wrapped around a generous portion of shrimp and fried. Yum. Try it next time you’re in.

What a week. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I had a nasty virus last weekend (it actually lasted four days) and while I feel fine now, I’m in need of rest and unfortunately, a lot of catching up on things that haven’t been done. I had to cancel a cooking get-together I had planned for tomorrow night and I don’t even know at this point if I’m going to cook at all. I hope you eat better than I do this weekend, because I could be happy with microwave popcorn…

Everyone have a good weekend!

We had email problems around here for a few weeks and I didn’t get two emails announcing a wine dinner and tasting. (Also, if you tried to get to the blog yesterday and couldn’t–sorry. But that’s fixed, too.)

Both of these events are for Monday, Sept. 24:

Miss Cordelia’s Grocery
737 Harbor Bend Road
Drop-by tasting of specialty cheeses and paired wines that have been paired to match!
6-8 pm
$10 per person
Please call 526-4772 for more information.

Bari Ristorante
Autumn Wine Dinner
Chef Jason Severs will be preparing 4 seasonally inspired courses that will be paired with 4 Italian wines from Victor Robilio Co.
$55 a person.
The dinner will be hosted by Brett Barrett of Victor Robilio Co.
Reservations are required; call 722-2244 or online at barimemphis.com.

Looks like the Ciao Bella post has turned into a discussion of ethnic restaurants (and the lack of) around town. Let’s post that here, instead, so we’ll know where to find suggestions.

I’ll start, but it’s kind of like naming my favorite Beatles song–I’ll think of more later.

Emerald Thai on Mt. Moriah. I have friends who travel to Thailand on eating trips once or twice a year and this is their favorite, too. Certain dishes at Jasmine and Bhan Thai (love the Bangkok chicken at lunch) are also good. Chao Praya is excellent, and I’m also a big fan of Leelavadee in Southaven.

Saigon Le and Shanghai for Vietnamese (there’s a Vietnamese menu at Shanghai).

Edo is a family favorite for Japanese.

Guadalupana and La Espiga for Mexican (by the way, there’s a butcher at La Espiga who makes AWESOME chorizo you can buy by the pound, but a note: Last time I ate there, the food wasn’t as good as usual).

Al Rayan on Cleveland, Jerusalem Market (select items), Raffe’s and Sean’s for Middle-Eastern.

I’ll think of more…

I’m excited about Marisa Baggett’s sushi class at Mantia’s tonight. I love to make sushi at home, although it’s not always very pretty when I finish. So I’m hoping to pick up some tips.

When I want sushi flavors but don’t want to fuss with preparing it, I’ll make a sushi salad. I make the rice (the most important part of sushi, I think–do it wrong and it messes up everything), plate it and then just pile up whatever I’ve got on hand. Sometimes I’ll poach a piece of fish, sometimes I use shrimp, crab or even canned smoked tuna. I add that, then veggies like cucumber, green onion, avocado, top it off with a little masago (I have a $7 container in the freezer that could probably last the rest of my life, it’s so big), maybe sesame seeds, and serve it with wasabi and ginger. I always have ponzu sauce in the pantry and a sauce in the fridge that I made with a light soy and bonita flakes; the longer it sits, the better it tastes.

But here’s what I want: Real wasabi. Has anyone eaten real wasabi or know where I can find it locally? The green powder or paste we buy at the store isn’t the true stuff, but is instead horseradish mixed with mustard and coloring. Real wasabi is a rhizome and you grate it, traditionally on a sharkskin grater, to make a paste.

My very favorite Booker T & the MGs song… huge high five for the well-deserved lifetime achievement award presented at last night’s Grammys to these soul survivors.

If you haven’t already, be sure and read Bob Mehr’s excellent account of the evening. What a great moment for Stax! And da original house band.

What’s your favorite Booker T tune?