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HOME > Chowhound > Wine >
Dec 22, 2010 05:20 PM

How to measure wine temperature?

I'm a wine newbie, I have some questions regarding wine temperature. I store my wine in a rack in my kitchen because I dont have a cellar or wine fridge yet. I keep it as far away from heat sources and window as possible. I've been reading charts that suggest what temperatures different wines should be served at and I understand that, however I have no clue how to guess the temperature of the wine and whether it needs to be chilled or warmed up further. Are there any tips you have?

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  1. I'm not sure this needs to be any big deal. If you place a thermometer of some kind (a typical metal refrigerator type should be fine) next to where the wine is kept that will tell you the approximate temp of the wine. The actual temp, inside the bottle, may vary a bit, but I wouldn't worry about that. I keep two inside my wine fridge (one at the top, the other near the bottom) to monitor that it's working correctly.

    1. There are several wine "thermometers" and for your instance, maybe one of the ones that is digital on a collar, that fits around the bottle would be fine.

      In very general terms, I find that most US whites are served too cold, and the reds are served too warm. Temp does matter.

      I used to be quite anal about the temp, but got over that. General temps are fine, when you find the range of your wines. Exact degrees are not quite so important.

      4 Replies
      1. re: Bill Hunt

        Bill, I spend a whole lot of time around the wine biz and I've never seen one of these before. Just how anal does one have to be about temp to need a thermometer 'collar' for $20 as opposed to a $3 type next to the bottle..................... or just, say, a pretty good idea of the ambient temp in the space where the wine is kept?????? In your more 'anal period' did you ever really notice significant differences in a wine at say 52° vs 57°?

        1. re: Midlife

          Most of the units that I have, or have seen, use a crystal display, but those seem close.

          The unit that you show is a few steps up from the ones that I have.

          1. re: Bill Hunt

            "The unit that you show is a few steps up from the ones that I have."

            And about a mile up from mine. I use my hand. If bottle feels too hot/cold, it probably is.

            1. re: RicRios

              In many restaurants, I do the same. Cannot recall the last time that I accepted the ice-bucket for a white. Now, I have turned a few heads, when I requested one for a few reds, but that is another story.

      2. Not sure if you store any wine in your kitchen longish term, or if it's all of the drink-now variety, but my best advice is to move it as far away from your kitchen as possible. There's too much heat variance and light. For now, stick it in the closet you use the least and that seems to be the coolest.

        1. Loosen up. It is very simple and doesn't require worrying about.

          White and sweet wines are better chilled. Put the bottle in the fridge before serving

          Red wines whould be just a bit cool to the tongue, not warm -- forget 'room temperature' which referred to unheated rooms.

          Your tongue is the best guide. If the wine is too warm, chill it. If the wine is too cold, cup the glass in your hands.

          You'll know when you open the first red bottle from your kitchen whether it needs any chilling, and in future you can pop it in the fridge a while.

          Forget wasting money on thermometers: get a freezer sleeve. Its a plastic tube filled with some jelly like material which you keep in your freezer. Any time you quiickly need to chill a wine pull it over the bottle.

          Forget temperature guides -- all that matters is whether the wine is at a temperature that you find pleasant.

          3 Replies
          1. re: Gussie Finknottle

            I have a sleeve and it doesn't work that great. I read so many rave reviews online before I bought it.

            I have a wine thermometer I've never used . . .

            Gussie, what do you think of the advice we got at a wine tasting: put a bottle of red in the fridge 20 minutes before you plan to drink it and take a bottle of white out of the fridge before you plan to drink it?

            It sounds similar to your advice . . .and so simple.

            1. re: financialdistrictresident

              IMHO................ that would work for 90% or more of people, with the possible exception that some reds would still be too cold aftyer 20 minutes. If you're talking a bout a regular food fridge, I'd say that wouild be likely. Wine fridge.............. not so much.

              1. re: financialdistrictresident

                There's no rule that fits all situations, its just commonsense. Pick up the bottle of wine, if it feels cold then don't fridge it, if its a hot day and the bottle doesn't feel cool, fridge it.

                In the heat of summer I always fridge red wines. Red shouldn't taste warm to the mouth.

                Its not a matter of life or death, after opeining a few bottles you soon work out what suit syou and your house.

                Another factor is the temperature of your fridge!

              1. re: andtheodor

                I think that Kintrex device would be great for people who don't yet have wine fridges or temp/humid controlled cellars yet. And judging based on feel seems too vague. We all have different room temperatures set at different times of the year. So many variables. Also, if we've decanted some red wine (old vintage or new) how would we know if it's too warm or not cold enough even if we did have wine fridges/temp controlled cellars after having let the wine in the decanter sit in "room temp" for X-mins? The first few times. We're not all Jedi here. :) I think I might order one...

                lso, just going by "if it feels too warm put it in the fridge for 20 min"....sounds like just a shot in the dark...drinking it at a temp we think suits us. So subjective.

                ion't think these collars would be good if you had only so much decanted wine in your decanter. Again this is where I think an infrared (laser) thermometer might come in handy the first few times serving wine in what ever happened to be the ave temp in that room.

                I do have a digital cooking thermometer with a metal rod attached to a wire which is attached to the digital readout.

                nd I suppose you would leave the decanted wine in the decanter only till it reaches "proper serving/drinking temp". Not for the suggested 2 hours I keep hearing about.

                Btw...a few paragraphs above...you see "lso"....I typed "Also" but the A kept disappearing after I SAVE. :)

                1. re: BDD888

                  >>> (J)ust going by "if it feels too warm put it in the fridge for 20 min"....sounds like just a shot in the dark...drinking it at a temp we think suits us. So subjective. <<<

                  Wine IS subjective! You may love Château __________, and I may prefer a thousand other wines to that one. Which one of us is correct?

                  You may love your _________ served ice cold, while I may prefer it only slightly chilled. Which one of us is correct?

                  You may prefer your ___________ served before dinner, while I prefer it with dessert. Which one of us is correct?

                  You may prefer your _________ at room temperature, while I prefer it with a slight chill. Which one of us is correct?

                  You may prefer your 2010 vintage __________ to be simply decanted and poured, while I may prefer it to be decanted six hours before service . . . or perhaps not decanted at all. Which one of us is correct?

                  nd the absolute reverse may be true . . .

                  We are speaking of YOUR taste buds, and only YOU have your taste buds. Not me. Not he. Not she. Only you. And only you can tell yourself what you like and how you like it.

                  There are no iron-clad rules here, ONLY personal preferences. Nothing is exact. All is relative.

                  2F / / / /

                  nd good lord, yes -- how did we ever possibly get to enjoy a single bottle of wine in the days before "wine fridges or temp/humid controlled cellars"???


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HOME > Chowhound > Central South >
Jan 9, 2011 12:46 PM

Where can I find reasonably priced sea scallops in Birmingham?

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  1. I like the dry pack scallops at V. Richard's but they are kind of expensive. Crestline Seafood has some good ones too, not sure of the price as I only had them as part of a meal there.

    2 Replies
    1. re: Dax

      They're very expensive at Whole Foods, nearly $24/lb. on NY Eve.
      In order I would try: Snapper Grabbers, Sexton's, Fresh Market, Gulf Seafood, V Richard's, Fish Market.

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HOME > Chowhound > Washington DC & Baltimore >
Jul 11, 2011 07:27 AM

DC/Inner Harbor Suggestions

Hi. We will be traveling to DC in August. We plan to stop at the Inner Harbor Area on the way down, a Friday evening, and would appreciate a moderately priced suggestion for dinner. It can be casual. We are also interested in locating a place for dinner in Alexandria, for either Saturday or Sunday evening. We are not stuck on Alexandria, so anything in the area would be appreciated. Thanks so much!!!

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  1. What sort of place are you looking for in Alexandria? There are some great places, but it depends on cuisine, price, etc.

    1 Reply
    1. re: katecm

      My friends prefer not Mexican, Thai or Indian. Nothing too spicy. I looked at The Chart House, but we have one in the area, here. I guess either steak and seafood, or contemporary cuisine. My friends that we are traveling with are not as adventurous asy husband and myself. Thanks.

    2. For Alexandria, perhaps Hank's Oyster Bar would be a good choice, or the Majestic. Not too wierd, but also good. Columbia Firehouse might work too.

      Hank's Oyster Bar
      1026 King St Ste 1, Alexandria, VA 22314

      1 Reply
      1. Unfortunately, anything within a few miles of the Inner Harbor is generally on the pricey side of moderate. If you travel about a mile or so east of the harbor, there are a couple of choices you could check out. Both are a little pricey to me, but that might just be my empty wallet talking. If you travel about a mile east on Pratt St, you'll come to Obrycki's (1727 E Pratt, near Broadway). Famous for crabs and seafood, but you can also get sandwiches. Prices are generally $20-30 for entrees, and roughly $10-$15 for sandwiches. http://www.obryckis.com/pdf/pratt_men...

        About 2 miles east on Boston St is Bo Brooks' (2701 Boston St), which is similar to Obrycki's. The prices are generally the same as well, but pasta will run you about $10-$15.

        Speaking of pasta, if that's your thing, you might want to check out a number of the restaurants in Little Italy, which is a couple blocks east of the Inner Harbor. Everyone has their favorite restaurants in Little Italy, but all of them are quite good. Keep in mind that pretty much all of the restaurants in Little Italy are a bit beyond what most people would call "moderate" in price. Expect to pay about $25-$45 per entree at most places, although Amicci's is closer to moderate.

        If you're determined to stay in the Inner Harbor area, you might want to check out Rusty Scupper (402 Key Highway). Seafood restaurant, with nice views of the harbor, but with tourist prices. Prices here are about even with Little Italy at $25-45 per entree.

        You mentioned you weren't too interested in certain ethnic foods, but may I suggest Little Havana Restaurant (1325 Key Highway, a few blocks further down from Rusty Scupper). Obviously a Cuban menu. If you've never tried Cuban food, you're really missing out!

        231 S High St, Baltimore, MD 21202

        Bo Brooks Restaurant
        2701 Boston St, Baltimore, MD 21201

        2 Replies
        1. re: Beeracuda

          I don't have a favorite in Little Italy - nearly everything I've had there has been mediocre at best as well as overpriced, unless you count Isabella''s for pizza and sandwiches. There are good places in Fell's Point and Federal Hill that are moderately priced.

          But yeah, whatever you do avoid Little Italy.

          1. re: JonParker

            Yeah, I'd describe Little Italy as astoundingly bad, for a neighborhood that famous. AnnEEE, could you elaborate on what you mean by moderately priced? Do you want a culinary experience to remember or some decent pub grub?

        2. Try Cinghiale in the Inner Harbor -- they have a prix fixe menu for $59/person for a 4 course meal. Birches may also fit your bill of casual, moderately priced food.

          If you're willing to drive outside of Alexandria, try Trummer's on Main in Clifton, VA. If you're looking for a special meal, a couple of the better restaurants in the area, like Palena and Citronelle, have cafes/lounges that offer more moderately priced versions of what is served in their normal restaurants.

          In Alexandria, La Tasca (spanish tapas) is good, and there is plenty to choose from so your friends can find something that's in keeping with their non-spicy tastes.

          3529 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

          3000 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007

          La Tasca
          Alexandria, VA, Alexandria, VA

          822 Lancaster Street, Baltimore, MD 21202

          1. If proximity to a waterview is your main goal in Baltimore, I'd recommend Nick's Fish House just off of 95 for moderate-priced seafood on their outdoor deck. Another option is Miguel's in Locust Point for Mexican. Miguel's is near Ft McHenry--in addition to having a great new visitor center, there's also amazing views of the harbor.

            1 Reply
            1. re: shorty40cdm

              Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I will share them with my friend. I would probably stay away from Little Italy, as we are over run with terrific places in NY. I'd love to try the Cuban suggestions or one of the seafood options mentioned. Thanks again!!

              Little Italy Restaurant
              6920 Bradlick Shopping Ctr, Annandale, VA 22003


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HOME > Chowhound > Ontario (inc. Toronto) >
Aug 7, 2011 12:54 PM

string on filet mignon

Am I missing something here...seems many butchers at the big and small chains sell filets that have string or gawd forbid glad wrap around the filet. I don't get the "bacon" thing..other than it tastes better than string or glad wrap. if it is a good filet, no need to "add flavour imho.

Now it appears the string guys are basically trying to put the turnedo ends of the filet towards the centre of the whole loin piece so it all looks uniform and supposedly cooks evenly. I have asked several different butchers for a centre cut..i.e. bring the whole loin out and cut 2 filets. 4 out 5 didn't do it because they didn't have full loins around and that all the ones in the display case were centre cut namely Loblaws Queens Quay, Longo's ACC, Bruno's Delisle and Sobey's St Clair. Oliffe did but under MUCH duress. I asked the Oliffe butcher to take the string off and the meat fell apart. Another "senior" guy came along and did the right thing :-)

I hate being charged serious coin for crap, hence my rant...Sorry but just had to vent..maybe it's the heat..LOL

Y'all have a great day!!!

St Clair Restaurant
69 St Clair St, Chatham, ON N7L3H8, CA

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  1. If they use string, they are probably just tying together some scraps of meat to make that filet. Take your choice, string or meat glue, or go to a real butcher.

    2 Replies
    1. re: foodyDudey

      If it's a whole tenderloin, they're often tied not because they're tying together scraps, but to keep the tenderloin together (and also so that it cooks evenly if you're roasting the whole thing). Often, tenderloin steaks are cut in such a way (when they're cleaned) that they may fall apart. This isn't representative of tying together scraps, but rather so that the tenderloin resembles the shape it should even though it has been cleaned up for sale. Numerous cuts/roasts are tied using string, even at real butcher shops.

      Also, it's fairly easy to identify meats bound with transglutaminase; if the steak is falling apart when it's untied, it obviously hasn't been "glued."

      Bruno's and Oliffe are reputable/real butchers.

      1. re: tjr

        I couldn't agree with tjr more. I employ the same method at home when I handcut steaks. It isn't that the cut is bad. It's that the string 100% ensures that I get a perfectly even finish.

    2. Bacon does serve a purpose. Filet Mignon is very lean. The fat from the bacon helps keep it tender and moist as well as flavour. Although you're right if you have a top grade piece of filet it shouldn't need any help but the majority that you buy from supermarkets aren't dry aged triple A.

      1. I have bought a whole tenderloin with what the called fat removed from Costco. It was significantly more expensive than the regular whole filet they sell. It was cut completely even and then vacuum sealed. Like most of Costco beef it was pretty good and I felt no complaint paying the 80$ for getting the whole filet that was cleaned like that (it had no strings holding it together just Vacuum Seal) I used half of it for beef wellington and other I used to cut huge. steaks :) Sometime I buy the whole filet from from Sobeys when it goes on sale (it is AAA but I guess not as aged but is very good IMO and hasn't fallen apart from both times I bought it)

        1. Well, if you buy a cryovac PISMO, or whole "peeled" filet, you get three pieces on that bad boy: The main filet muscle, that side chain (sp) that runs the length of the roast, and that short, fatter muscle that cooks up nice by itself. I separate them, and cook the main muscle and the other fat one. If you're doing that you do not need to tie anything, cause they are whole muscles. If you have a tied roast that has been deboned, ok, but otherwise, I don't want it on my filet.


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HOME > Chowhound > Outer Boroughs >
Oct 31, 2011 07:14 AM

North Indian/Pakistani like Shalimar

Greetings all,
I spent a few years in San Francisco and the restaurant I ate at the most (by far) was Shalimar in the tenderloin. I'm looking for a place anywhere in ny where I can get comparably mind-blowing north Indian food. Just about anything else I get outside of an Indian friend's home lacks the depth and complexity that makes great indian so delicious. It seems easier to find awesome South Indian in this city, there's a lot of mediocre North Indian food out there. I'm thinking likely candidates are Floral Park, Flushing, Jackson Heights, or that strip down on Coney Island/Ocean Parkway in brooklyn, but i'm open to anything. I hope somebody can help me.

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  1. Foodisgood17, unfortunately you said it. The S. Indian restaurants are generally better than the N. Indian ones in our fair city.

    I have my eye on a little N. Indian place in N. Hyde Park/Floral Park that looks promising (though I haven't tried it yet): Surya.

    Maharaja in Jackson Heights is adequate (though it's pure veg -- so no meat; not even eggs!).

    Dhaba in Curry Hill is a slight cut above the rest, but nothing terribly special.

    Punjabi Deli in LES is good/junky fun, but more about greasy/fried chaat than the kind of daals and subzis you would find on a dinner table in an Indian home.

    Good luck!

    Maharaja Sweets and Snacks
    7310 37th Ave, Queens, NY 11372

    1. Wow... Shalimar! One of my all-time favorite restaurants, and the first place I ever sampled Pakistani food. Definitely fun to see the Tenderloin's finest mentioned on a NYC board.

      I can't say that I've found anything of similar quality in NYC. I usually head to either Roti Boti in Astoria or Lahori Kabab in Manhattan when I want some spicy Pakistani treats... but very few dishes at those places match the magic of Shalimar. They're usually good, but rarely amazing.

      Thanks for bringing back some fond memories, Shalimar blew my mind on my first trip to SF as a wide-eyed 18-year-old from a small Midwestern town. I wish I could help you find something comparable around here!

      Roti Boti
      27-09 21st St, Queens, NY 11102

      1. how about Neerob in the Bronx? It is Pakistani, and wwe had an outstanding lunch there. If you search this board, there are a number of threads on it as well as a link to a NY Times review.

        2109 Starling Ave, Bronx, NY 10462

        1 Reply
        1. re: roxlet

          Neerob is quite awesome. They serve some of the best rotis I've ever had in a restaurant (rotis are the anchor of most North Indian meals). And their exceptionally flavorful samosas would put many a North Indian housewife to shame. But their food is most definitely Bangladeshi, not Pakistani.

          2109 Starling Ave, Bronx, NY 10462

        2. Ah, Shalimar! There is nothing more wonderful than the smokey delicious smell that you take home on your clothes after a trip there. Hubby and I had many many many meals at Shalimar and Pakwan in the Mission and they are two of the things that we miss most since leaving in SF 4 years ago. I totally agree about S. Indian being much better than most N. Indian places here. While we've yet to find anything as good as Shalimar/Pakwan, there are a few places worth trying...Mumbai Xpress in Floral Park (veg), Pakistan Tea House in Tribeca, 5 Star Indian Cuisine in Long Island City (haven't been but have heard good things), Punjabi Deli (veg) on the Lower East Side, Madina on Coney Island Avenue, Shandar also on CIA, and Suganda Restaurant on McDonald Avenue (not the most woman-friendly spot). I've also heard good things about MashAllah on CIA. Let us know what you discover, and happy eating!!!

          563 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

          Five Star Diner
          13-05 43rd Ave, Queens, NY 11101

          Mumbai Xpress
          256-05 Hillside Ave, Queens, NY 11004

          Shandar Sweets
          679 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

          483 McDonald Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

          663 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

          1 Reply
          1. re: natashapea

            Add Bukhara, Bukhari, Pakiza, and a host of others to the list on Coney Island Avenue (from Beverley Road to Avenue H) and you've got yourself a Paki-food crawl. Best part is that most are steam table in full view so you can see the goods before ordering.

            I've found the naan varies greatly. Good one at Madina but ask for sesame seeds and butter for the best flavor.

            Samosas at Abdullah's on Church Avenue near McDonald F 'n' G station usually good. Kabobs at Zaffran across the street and Bukhari on CIA have the best kick. Chicken tikka pieces at MashAllah usually tender and complex.

            1032 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230

            563 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

            Abdullah Sweets & Restaurant
            91 Church Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

            663 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

            786 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

            1095 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230

            90 Church Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218

          2. I don't know if this is south or north. All I know is that it's delicious:

            Raj Darbar
            1827 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230

            1 Reply
            1. re: Sluggo1407

              Looks like North Indian as rendered by Bangladeshi cooks (the spellings on the menu -- "ponir" vs. "paneer," etc. -- are the clue...).


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HOME > Chowhound > Los Angeles Area >
Jun 27, 2012 12:22 PM

House Special Pan Fried Noodles

I'm looking for help finding this dish prepared a certain way.

When I was younger, there was a place in San Diego that made these really well that has gone out of business. I've tried ordering it at other places since then and have realized that the style of pan fried noodles I got at that place in SD years ago is not the normal style.

I'm finding that the norm for this dish is a bird's nest of crunchy noodles, topped with sauce, meats and veggies. The sauce is either a nice rich brown sauce, like a oyster sauce I think, or it's that weird clear ectoplasm gravy.

That is NOT the way I want it. The way that place in SD made it, the noodles were thicker, but not as thick as the szechuan style fried noodles common in SGV (although the place in San Diego that made these good pan fried noodles was called "taste of szechuan") picture something between Szechuan style fried noodles and regular pan fried noodles... They weren't fried to a crisp, they were fried so that the noodles were very well browned and crispy in some places and still noodle-y in others. And the sauce was that rich, brown (oyster?) sauce.

If anyone knows a place that makes it in the style I like, let me know! I have tried to find pictures of what I want that will help

This one looks close http://www.cafetaipeihouston.com/imag...
this one does too http://cdn.biggestmenu.com/00/00/9b/2...

this one has the kind of noodles I DON'T want. http://s3-media2.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphot...
so does this one http://www.toatoachineserestaurant.co...

Unfortunately, there are no pics of the pan fried noodle dish I liked from that place.

I wish I could describe what I liked about that dish better, I think it really boils down to not completely frying the noodle and using a thicker noodle, and not using that ectoplasm gravy. Thanks for the help!

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  1. Your photos of the dish you are seeking just look like "lo mein" to me. Have you tried ordering pan fried lo mein at your favorite Chinese place and seeing if you get what you want?

    lo mein images here: https://www.google.com/search?num=10&...

    1 Reply
    1. re: Servorg

      The noodle was exactly like lo mein, but the fried, crispy aspect was a key part of the dish.

      Pan fried lo mein tends to be not nearly fried enough.

      The style I'm looking for has about 50% of the noodle fried to a dark brown, even borderline black in places, and the other 50% is like normal noodle. Again I wish I was describing this better. I ordered pan fried lo mein once and it wasn't nearly crispy enough.

      If you know a specific place that makes PF lo mein that has the level of crispiness you see in the photos I posted, I'd love the rec, but the pictures your link brings up are (in almost every case) not nearly fried enough.

      I guess I'm looking for something between lo mein and the typical "bird's nest" style HSPFN.

    2. Why not go to a place like Yang Chow, which has the thick lo mein noodles you want, and ask for it to be extra crispy?

      1. The first picture likes like a different type of noodle that I've seen used in a few places for chow mein. I think Paul's Kitchen near the Garment District used those noodles at one point, but they did not fry them as much as you are looking for.

        1. years ago, Twin Dragon on Pico had pan fried noodle dishes that looked like your photos......haven't been there in ages so don't know if still on menu

          1. BrewNChow, I personally like the kind of noodles you don't like, but I have had noodles fairly close to the first two pics you posted, just wish I could remember where. Hop Li? I can't recall if they had the thinner, yellow, crunchy-fried noodles or the thicker kind that you like.

            The ideal noodles that you want, is the fried portion of the noodle kind of hard-and-chewy, rather than crisp-and-crumbly, and depends on the sauce to soften the fried parts enough to eat?

            3 Replies
            1. re: PeterCC

              I was also thinking Hop Li for those kinds of noodles, but haven't ordered this type of dish there in a while, and haven't been to either Hop Li but sparingly...

              1. re: bulavinaka

                Hop Li is my emergency-authentic Chinese food place to go. I try not to "have to" go there more than once or twice a year. I'd rather go to Chin Chin and enjoy it for what it is, if I can't go to SGV for the real stuff.

                (Admittedly, I haven't tried Hop Woo or Mandarin Kitchen, which I hear is better than Hop Li, while still being on the Westside.)

                Edit: Looking at the photos on Yelp for Hop Li, it looks like they use the thin yellow noodles: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/FR6vaL...

              2. re: PeterCC

                YES you definitely seem to be talking about the same noodles.

                I had to laugh when I saw Hop Li mentioned. No, I haven't been there, but one of the pics I put of the noodles I don't want is from... you guessed it. So I don't think I'll go to Hop Li haha


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HOME > Chowhound > Minneapolis-St. Paul >
Sep 15, 2012 02:00 AM

Any good white chocolate available in MSP?

I have purchased Callebaut in large chunks at Whole Foods and it's okay. I purchased a pricey bar of Green and Black which I did not like at all because it tasted minty to me. I can order Mercken's from King Arthur, but that too, in my humble opinion, is just okay. Anyone have a suggestion for where to get really good white chocolate in MSP? (FYI--I use this for baking.)

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  1. Aside from checking with some of the chocolatiers (Chocolat Celeste, BT McElrath, etc.) in town have you checked with some of the upper end bakeries (Salty Tart, Butter, etc.)?

    3 Replies
    1. re: bkmnus

      Good suggestions, bkmnus.

      I asked about a good brand on the Home Cooking board and Becca (who knows her way around the kitchen :0) posted that she likes El Rey brand. Has anyone seen El Rey white chocolate in MSP?

      1. re: soccermom13

        pretty sure Kitchen Window carries El Rey, IDK if they have their white variety though.

        edit: may be white chocolate isn't your thing though, and I doubt bakeries use anything more exotic Callebaut or Merckens. Chocolate Celeste sold Felchlin before, but I do not see the white listed on the site right now.

        1. re: getgot211

          Whole Foods Minneapolis has El Rey white chocolate.

    2. I haven't found anything I like better than Callebaut white chocolate - though I agree, it's not that great unless it's really, really fresh. The other stuff is horrid, though. Definitely DON'T buy "regular" size bars of white chocolate; even if the quality is decent (though it usually isn't), they're usually too old to have any decent flavor.

      1 Reply
      1. re: AnneInMpls

        Thanks for the great tips, all. I am headed to Mpls Whole Foods to get some El Rey white chocolate :0)


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HOME > Chowhound > Greater Boston Area >
Feb 12, 2013 07:56 AM

Bar menu in the dining room at Bergamot

Four of us trudged over to Bergamot on Sunday around 5:45 pm intending to eat on the bar. Only one place open so we opted for a table, only to find out that the bar menu is not available at tables. Two of the four of us are bar regulars. The dining room was not very busy (this was before 6 pm, right after the blizzard).

I'm not slamming them - I am asking for reactions from those of you who are more knowledgeable and/or experienced in restaurant management. Is this common practice? Should they have made an exception?

BTW, we ordered lightly (two of us were not planning on eating dinner so early) and were treated with total professionalism and respect. When we left, the bar was still full and there were many, many empty tables.

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  1. I would not expect a restaurant's bar menu to be available in the main dining room.

    In your situation (empty room, full bar, weird night) I'd ask if they'd let us order off the bar menu *before* being seated at a table, and I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if the answer were no.

    1 Reply
    1. re: emannths

      We did confirm that the bar menu was not available before we were seated, so we took the table with full knowledge.

    2. As a general rule, I think the concept is fine. Post the blizzard, much like craigie and west bridge, it probably would have been intelligent to advertise a discounted pre fixe menu given the fact they were unlikely to drum up that much business. That said, i think it was a poor decision price wise, but not in any normative sense, to not make the offer.

      I get generally of course why restaurants don't offer a bar menu at dining tables, and i think this was just a bad bet on their part that, even if they didn't have tables at 6, they possibly might fill those tables in the next hour or two, such that that would be the better business.

      There is room to say post-blizzard there might be a claim for being more accomating, but of course the converse of that is, post the blizzard, they've just experience a significant loss in expected revenue, so if they thought they were going to fill the table, they're in more of a dire need to do so than usual.

      but, yeah, ultimately, probably overly optimistic to expect that to have been the case, smart move would've been to go the discounted prix fixe (or similar) route for all that sunday.

      2 Replies
      1. re: valcfield

        The prix fix was on offer - one of us had just dined on a weeknight a few weeks ago and did that. But three courses was more than any of us were looking for. In the end, it was a small tab for a four top and they were completely gracious.

        1. re: LauraBear

          a special prix fixe? i was in particular referencing the fact that craigie was offering a 'neighborhood menu' discount to 40 from their typical 3 course price (with mostly the same menu) as did (and still is, tonight) west bridge (though in their case, its a more restrict menu, and they don't typically have a 3 course option).

          so anyway, more was just saying it would probably business wise have made sense (if they didn't) to have some special deal for the blizzard night/s, but that i still thought it was reasonable to not serve the bar menu at tables.

      2. It is extremely shortsighted on their part given the situation.


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Aug 26, 2014 01:43 PM

Looking for really good food for Kings Point parents weekend

We will be visiting our son at USMMA next month. Our hotel is in Garden City, and we will have a car and don't mind a short drive (30 min or less). Peter Luger's seems to be a consistent recommendation, but is there anywhere else worth trying. I've heard that Lola's is good, but I'm worried that portions might be too small for our big hungry midshipman (am I wrong about that?). We love all kinds of food. Any ideas? (I'm not worried about price -- we only get 1 meal with him off campus).

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  1. It's Long Island. Portions are never small. Lola has small plates but also plenty of regular-sized entrees and one fantastic Hudson Valley whole duck for two with cabbage, Brussels sprouts and truffled polenta which you can also have topped with foie gras. (Restaurant owner also owns Hudson Valley Foie Gras.)

    2 Replies
    1. re: emarcus

      Thanks! I made a reservation at Lola's :)

      1. re: alermar

        Let us know how it goes. Also recommended in Great Neck: Kensington Deli, real, old-school kosher-style deli.

    2. Arturo's in Bellerose has fabulous old style Italian food.

      1 Reply
      1. re: Motosport

        Arturo's might work for Fri night if he gets leave. Thanks!


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Economy growing too slowly to lift US job market

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy is growing too slowly to pull the job market out of a slump, according to data that suggest June has been another weak month for hiring.

Applications for unemployment benefits stayed above a level last week that is considered too high to lower the unemployment rate. And the growth rate for the U.S. economy from January-March was unchanged at 1.9 percent.

Two government reports released Thursday added to the picture of an economy that is faltering after a promising start. Job growth has tumbled, consumers are less confident and Europe’s financial crisis has dampened demand for U.S. exports.

Most economists don’t see growth accelerating much from the first-quarter pace, although some are hopeful lower gas prices could help lift consumer spending.

Growth of around 1.9 percent typically generates roughly 90,000 jobs a month. That’s considered too weak to lower the unemployment rate, which was 8.2 percent last month.

Slow improvement in the economy threatens President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes. He is likely to face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any president since the Great Depression.

The Federal Reserve last week downgraded its outlook for 2012 growth. The Fed now predicts the economy will grow between 1.9 percent and 2.4 percent this year – a half a percentage point lower than its forecast in April. Hiring hasn’t likely improved in June, based on the level of people applying for unemployment benefits.

Weekly applications fell only slightly last week to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, the Labor Department said. Applications have climbed nearly 5 percent in the past two months.

When applications are above 375,000, it generally means hiring isn’t strong enough to rapidly lower the unemployment rate.

“Jobless claims are still too high and show that employment growth is slowing and no progress is being made,” said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Employers added an average of only 73,000 jobs a month in April and May after averaging 226,000 a month in the first three months of the year.

The report on the first quarter’s growth showed that U.S. corporate profits fell, the first quarterly decline since the final three months of 2008.

U.S. corporations earned less profit overseas, the report said. That’s likely a result of Europe’s economic woes and slowing growth in countries like China and India. Lower overseas profits could discourage employers from adding some jobs in the second half of the year.

“With global weakness continuing ... corporate profits are likely to remain under pressure, a development that is unlikely to help the employment outlook,” said Jeremy Lawson, an economist at BNP Paribas.

Other recent indicators have painted a mixed picture of the economy.

A closely watched private survey released this week showed consumer confidence fell in June for the fourth straight month. The Conference Board said worries about the job market outweighed lower gas prices and steady improvement in the housing market.

Americans have received little in the way of pay raises this year, with wage growth trailing inflation. That has started to slow their growth in spending. Retails sales have barely grown in the past two months.

Less growth in consumer spending has also hurt U.S. manufacturing activity, a leading economic driver since the recession ended. Factories produced less in May than April, the Federal Reserve said this month. Automakers cut back on output for the first time in six months.

There have been hopeful signs.

Gas prices have plummeted since peaking in April near $4 per gallon. The average national price for a gallon of gas was $3.37 on Thursday, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service.

U.S. factories received more orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in May, while a key measure of business investment plans rose.

And Americans are starting to gain more confidence in the long-suffering housing market. Home sales are up from last year and signed contracts to buy homes matched a two-year high in May.

One reason home sales are increasing is mortgage rates have fallen to the lowest levels on record. This week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage stayed at 3.66 percent. That’s unchanged from last week and the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

Home prices have started to rise in most cities. And homebuilders are planning to break ground on more projects in the next 12 months.

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Female Third Army soldiers form group to mentor one another

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SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. — Under a poster showing a female soldier in full combat gear and toting an M-4 automatic rifle, about 40 Army officers and enlisted soldiers came together last week at their military headquarters in South Carolina to form a mentoring group dubbed “Sisters in Arms.”

Chief Warrant Officers Stephanie Truax (from left) and Felecia Shurn speak with Lt. Col. Stacie Hatten at the first meeting of the Sisters in Arms in Sumter, S.C.  TERRY DICKSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chief Warrant Officers Stephanie Truax (from left) and Felecia Shurn speak with Lt. Col. Stacie Hatten at the first meeting of the Sisters in Arms in Sumter, S.C.

Organizers said Thursday’s lunchtime session was the first of many monthly meetings, which they hope will help women navigate a career in the military.

Participants made clear they don’t intend to shy away from tough topics. An introductory slideshow said difficulties such as sexual harassment and rape were open for discussion, as well as family matters, education or getting along in a military atmosphere.

“It’s anything the service member wants to talk about,” said Lt. Col. Stacie Hatten, 43, a logistics officer who appeared as one of eight senior women offering to advise others. “It could be personal, financial, training, education; it could be an array of issues.”

Hatten, who has served in Korea and Afghanistan during her 25-year career, said she thinks women in uniform need to organize in order to support one another “and just build camaraderie.”

The Army is an overwhelmingly male atmosphere. Only 15.6 percent of its 1.1 million soldiers are female.

“We can learn from the experience of our senior leaders and inform each other,” said Hatten, who is married to a former Army man and has two children.

The rigors of balancing a home life with life in uniform came up in remarks from another organizer, Lt. Col. Catina Barnes-Ricks, 40.

The single mother told the group she took an assignment in Korea because she thought it would allow her to spend time with her daughter.

However, she was required to work six days a week and spend many late nights and early mornings away from home. She said she was too afraid to discuss her schedule with her commander, and often told her daughter she worked hard to put food on the table.

But her daughter balked one day, telling her mother something that shook her emotionally.

“My little girl said she was willing to give up eating, to have me stay home,” Barnes-Ricks said. “My little girl was willing to sacrifice so I could stay home.”

Barnes-Ricks said she hoped the group could learn “there’s a way through every situation” and they shouldn’t be afraid to speak with superiors about difficult family situations. Her daughter is 16 now, and doing well, she added.

The group met at the new Third Army Headquarters on Shaw Air Force Base outside Sumter, S.C.

Hatten said the headquarters has about 170 women assigned to it and handles logistics and support for Army forces in the Central Command region, which stretches from eastern Africa through the Middle East to Afghanistan.

The command was shifted to Shaw last year from Atlanta, which means many at the session have just moved to a new place and were getting to know one another.

Several women said they got the idea from a similar meeting held last month at the Third Army’s forward base in Kuwait. Barnes-Ricks said she hopes the group will be able to have video teleconferences if they need to discuss similar topics for women in both units.

Barnes-Ricks, who has been in the Army 23 years, said she thinks there are similar groups at Army units in Hawaii, Georgia and Kansas, but she’s still researching the matter. In any event, she said she hopes the idea will grow.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Staff Sgt. Cylenia Harvey, 37, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who came in for the one-hour session. “I think I can really gain some insights.”

The communication security specialist said she’s been in the Army 19 years, but always can learn from such a group.

“It’s really comforting to know because we all have jobs that can be really stressful,” she said. “I really hope a lot of females will feel very comfortable in this forum.”

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text:
Aiken fire victims identified

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013 2:06 PM
Last updated 7:20 PM
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Bianca Cain Johnson
Staff Writer
E-mail | 706-823-3486

A husband and wife and the woman’s mother were identified as the three victims of a Tuesday morning house fire in Aiken.

Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton said Calvin Warren, 62; Diane Warren, 65; and her mother, Helen Williams, 89, died from carbon monoxide poisoning and thermal injuries. The deaths have been ruled accidental.

Firefighters responded to the home on Edgefield Highway about 2 a.m. They discovered the bodies inside.

Aiken County sheriff’s Capt. Eric Abdullah said the investigation into the cause of the fire continues.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is assisting in the investigation.

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faithson 10/02/13 - 03:24 pm
sounds like no smoke detectors

check em if you gottem, buyem if you don't........

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Framing the Constitution

To the Editor:

While it is clear that Lawrence Douglas and Alexander George had their tongues planted firmly in cheek when creating "A Pop Quiz for Constitution Day" (The Chronicle Review, September 15), their evident biases resulted in a number of questions in which none of the listed answers are correct.

Regarding Question 1: The delegates to the Constitutional Convention included two Roman Catholics and 53 Protestants (if one counts Ben Franklin as a Protestant).


text:
• May 28, 2015

Number of Foreign Students in U.S. Hit a New High Last Year

Number of Foreign Students in U.S. Hit a New High Last Year 1

Rick Friedman for The Chronicle

Jialu Chen (left) and Lingyue Yang are among the 116 students from China enrolled at Mount Holyoke College. The college, like many others, has seen its numbers of Chinese undergraduates grow rapidly in recent years.

The number of foreign students attending American colleges hit an all-time high in 2008, capping three consecutive years of vigorous growth, according to new data from the Institute of International Education.

Some 671,616 international students attended U.S. institutions in 2008-9, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier. First-time-student enrollments grew even more robustly, by nearly 16 percent.

But the rosy data highlighted in the annual "Open Doors" report may obscure some potentially worrisome trends. Though graduate programs typically rely more on international students, enrollment grew far more strongly at the undergraduate level, where the number of students jumped 11 percent, than at the graduate level, where enrollments climbed a little more than 2 percent. What's more, the increase in students pursuing undergraduate studies was largely dependent on enrollment from China, which shot up by 60 percent.

Nor do the figures reflect the impact of the global economic downturn, which could affect both students' ability to pay for college and the financial assistance American institutions provide.

"Everything has to be set against the economic crisis we're mired in," says Ken Curtis, assistant vice president for international education and global engagement at California State University at Long Beach.

Indeed, a survey this fall of 700 institutions suggests a mixed picture: Half of the institutions reported foreign-student enroll ment increases this year over last, while a quarter experienced declines. A second recent survey, by the Council of Graduate Schools, found that growth in the number of first-time international students in American graduate schools was flat. Enrollments from India and South Korea, two of the three largest sources of foreign students, declined.

"The question," says Debra W. Stewart, the council's president, "is the extent to which we can continue to rely on international students to feed our graduate schools."

Victor C. Johnson, senior adviser for public policy at Nafsa: Association of International Educators, says the recent slowdown points to the need for a national strategy for international-student recruitment.

"We don't want to wake up one day and find out that, because we have not adopted a national policy, we're no longer competitive," Mr. Johnson says. "We need to respond before it's too late to do something."

Other international educators, however, point out that the United States remains the top destination for foreign college students, despite efforts by colleges in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere to attract them.

Key source countries like China and India simply cannot meet domestic demand for higher education, and a rising middle class in those nations means more families have the money to send their children overseas to study.

"There's still more talent out there than can be accommodated," says Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president of the Institute of International Education, who notes that international students contribute an estimated $17.6-billion to the U.S. economy. "It's not a fixed pie that we're all competing for pieces of."

Eye on India

Still, both the Open Doors data and the council's report suggest that the makeup of the international student body in this country is shifting. If current enrollment trends hold, the number of foreign undergraduates, which includes students studying for associate or bachelor's degrees, is poised to surpass the number of those pursuing graduate degrees. In 2008-9, there were 269,874 international undergraduate students and 283,329 graduate students. (Students enrolled in intensive-English or other nondegree programs and recent graduates who are temporarily staying in the United States to work through the Optional Practical Training program are also counted in overall figures.)

In a way, that would be a reversion to historic trends. Until 2001-2, foreign undergraduates at American colleges outnumbered their graduate-school counterparts, Open Doors data show.

There are several reasons behind the earlier shift, according to Ms. Blumenthal and Rajika Bhandari, director of research and evaluation at the institute. Financial slumps in the 1980s and 1990s depressed enrollments from Japan and the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, which traditionally sent large numbers of undergraduates to the United States.

India and China, which predominantly send graduate students, rose to become the top two suppliers of international students to American colleges. And the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks convinced some parents that the United States was not a safe place for their teenage sons or daughters to study.

This time around, all eyes are on India. It and China account for more than 45 percent of all foreign students enrolled in American graduate schools. The rate of enrollment growth of Indian graduate students studying in the United States has slowed significantly, from 14.4 percent in 2007 to just 4.3 percent in 2008.

Foreign Students in the U.S. by
Region of Origin, 2008-9

Asia 62%
Europe 13%
Latin America 10%
Africa 5%
Middle East 4%
North America 4%
Oceania 1%
Total 671,616
Note: Percentages are rounded and so do not add to 100 percent.
Source: Institute of International Education

This fall the number of Indians studying in American graduate programs declined by 4 percent, according to the Council of Graduate Schools' survey of 257 institutions. New enrollments of Indian graduate students dropped even more sharply, by 16 percent, the council found. (Graduate enrollments from South Korea, the third-largest source of students, also declined.)

The falloff in Indian students is hitting some institutions and degree programs hard.

The number of new Indian graduate students this fall at the University of Georgia is down nearly 50 percent. At California State University at Long Beach, many students started but did not complete applications for the master's-degree program in computer science, which typically draws large numbers of Indian students, says Nathan Jensen, senior director of the university's Center for International Education.

Recruiters in India say that students are steering clear of the United States because the job market is so bad.

"The U.S. was looked at as a land of opportunities. It was seen as a utopia for good students who were confident they would get jobs," says Bindu Chopra, head of the Bangalore office of N&N Chopra Consultants, which advises students on studying overseas.

"When they see that they are unlikely to get jobs, they'd rather not take loans and spend so much and go for a graduate degree."

Observers are also watching closely to see whether enrollments will rebound as the global financial crisis eases. Already, some Indian students are opting for countries like Britain or Singapore because they make it easier to stay and work after graduation, says Premlatha P.M., founder of Sri Vajra Consultants, in Chennai. Meanwhile, India's new education minister has vowed to expand higher-education and research capacity at home.

A long-term slowdown in graduate enrollments from overseas could have an outsized effect on American institutions because international students make up 10.5 percent of the graduate-student body. By contrast, they account for less than 2 percent of those enrolled at the undergraduate level.

A Chinese Wave

Despite discouraging signs this year, Indian enrollments, including both graduate and undergraduate students, actually posted a healthy 9.2 percent increase in 2008, according to Open Doors.

Other countries saw even larger gains. Enrollments from Vietnam climbed 46.2 percent, matching the previous year's increase, while enrollments from Saudi Arabia, fueled by a large government scholarship program, jumped 28.2 percent. The number of Nepalese students studying in the United States surged by 29.6 percent.

But the most significant development was the growth in Chinese students, whose numbers swelled by 21.1 percent over all and by nearly 60 percent at the undergraduate level. The rise is even more pronounced at some institutions. Doctoral-level institutions, for example, reported an increase of 130 percent, on average, in Chinese undergraduates, Ms. Blumenthal says.

Anecdotally, at least, that growth appears to be sustained. At the University of Southern California, which once again enrolled more international students than any other American college, the number of Chinese students increased 61 percent this fall. Forty percent of Purdue University's latest international freshman class this fall is Chinese.

What's behind that trend? Thanks to a push by their government to make secondary education universal, more Chinese students are seeking college degrees, but there are not enough colleges, and too few high-quality institutions, to meet the need. A decline in the value of the dollar has put an American education in reach of middle-class Chinese families—who probably had already been salting away much of their disposable income to pay for education.

"The day their child was born, these families were dreaming of studying in the United States," says Nithyanantha J. Sevanthinathan, director of international programs for the Lone Star College system.

There also is growing interest in China in American-style liberal-arts education.

Jialu Chen was so intent on studying at a liberal-arts college that she applied to 28 before eventually settling on Mount Holyoke College, in part because of a generous financial-aid package. "They really value education and develop you to be a full person," says Ms. Chen, a mathematics and international-relations major from Shanghai. "They give you a lot of attention."

The dean of the college, Ms. Chen volunteers with some amazement, recently sent her an e-mail message checking to see how she was handling her heavy course load, of 28 credits.

Ms. Chen, now a sophomore, is part of a wave of Chinese students at Mount Holyoke. In 2001 the women's college had just 10 Chinese students, says Jane B. Brown, vice president for enrollment and college relations; it now enrolls 116, the most from any foreign country.

Having such a large group of students from a single foreign country has raised some concerns, says Donna Van Handle, the college's dean of international students. "It's easier to default to talking in their native language," she says. "We have to think of ways to get them out of their little groups."

Chinese recruiters also attribute the increase to a move by some American colleges to offer conditional admission to students whose English-language skills might not otherwise meet entrance standards. With a provisional offer in hand, students can polish their English at the college or at an approved language school before taking an English-proficiency exam.

Conditional admissions may appeal to students who don't have time to sit for both the English test and China's rigorous national entrance exam, says Percy Ho, vice president for overseas development at AOJI Enrolment Centre.

Economic Effects

In addition, American colleges are simply becoming more active recruiters in China.

The University of Southern California, for example, opened an office in Shanghai this spring, which will aid with recruitment as well as with the university's other international activities.

"It's a critical area for us," Jerome A. Lucido, the university's vice provost for enrollment policy and management, said by phone from Hong Kong, where five staff members were about to leave for mainland China on a recruiting tour.

Other colleges are also trying to step up their overseas recruiting, in China and elsewhere. Mr. Sevanthinathan, of Lone Star, traveled to India this fall and hopes to visit China next year. The five-campus community-college system, outside Houston, has drawn foreign students in the past through personal or family connections, but Mr. Sevanthinathan argues that two-year colleges could appeal to even more students as an affordable path to college. (Foreign-student enrollments at community colleges increased 10.5 percent in 2008-9.)

"You can't just sit on the sidelines and rely on word of mouth," says Mr. Sevanthinathan, who came to the United States from Indonesia as a student.

In fact, many of the institutions that reported international enrollment increases this fall credit active recruitment efforts.

But fiscal belt-tightening has squeezed international-recruitment budgets at many colleges, leaving them to rely on more novel and cost-effective ways to attract top students. Mount Holyoke, for example, has improved its international-admissions Web site and appointed student volunteers to deal specifically with international applicants. The Rochester Institute of Technology is cultivating relationships with universities and governments to draw larger numbers of qualified students. The university has 61 students from Kazakhstan through a government scholarship program, says James G. Miller, senior vice president for enrollment management and career services.

At Cal State-Long Beach, where travel restrictions have nixed biannual overseas recruitment trips, Mr. Curtis, the assistant vice president for international education, hopes to draw students from closer to home, at nearby community colleges. About 70 percent of the university's incoming international undergraduates are usually transfers from two-year institutions. But admissions freezes and limits on the number of students the university can accept from outside its local area have shut out many of those students, too, he says.

"They're ready to transfer, and we're putting up a stop sign," Mr. Curtis says. "The policy isn't directed at international students, but it's affecting them."

Mara Hvistendahl contributed to this report from China, and Shailaja Neelakantan contributed from India.

1. 11171607 - November 16, 2009 at 02:45 pm

International Students: Strengthening a Critical Resource by By Maureen Andrade and Norman Evans provides practical, hands-on, broadly applicable solutions to addressing international student issues. Additionally, it serves as a practical guide for identifying and adopting best practices for serving international students.

2. choudaha - November 16, 2009 at 08:32 pm

Graduate level enrollment of Indian students is weaking. Much of the growth in India number for 2008-09 was contributed by two levels: 1. Optional Practical Training (OPT) and 2. Undergraduate. Nearly 725 more Indian students are enrolled at the undergraduate level as compared to 3,300 lesser students enrolled at the graduate level. Also, there were 3,000 more Indian students enrolled for OPT. This increase in OPT may be a result of the new rule issued in April 2008 that allowed students with a degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to extend the duration of OPT from 12 to 29 months. Thus, fall'08 numbers show a optimistic picture due to increase in students working on OPT. For the current academic year (09-10), graduate enrollment for Indian students is expected to further decrease as most of the student at this level seek financial support from university.
--Rahul Choudaha, PhD (wwww.DrEducation.com)

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• May 28, 2015

We Must Prepare Ph.D. Students for the Complicated Art of Teaching

We Must Prepare Ph.D. Students for the Complicated Art of Teaching 1

Christophe Vorlet for The Chronicle

Graduate study for the Ph.D. in the United States presents a curious paradox. Our universities have developed thousands of distinguished scientists and scholars. More than half the winners of Nobel Prizes in the sciences and economics from 1997 to 2007 did their graduate work in this country, continuing a pattern that has persisted since the end of World War II. Students all over the world come here for graduate training, and universities in many other nations have expanded and reformed their doctoral programs to resemble our method more closely.

At the same time, graduate schools can justly be condemned as the worst-designed and worst-administered of any major academic program in our research universities. There are far too many Ph.D. programs, many of them of mediocre quality. Dropout rates are embarrassingly high. More than 40 percent of graduate students fail to earn doctorates within 10 years, a number far greater than in other advanced degree programs. Students take too long to finish, with almost 30 percent in the social sciences and 40 percent in the humanities lingering for more than seven years before earning their degrees.

The most glaring defect of our graduate programs, however, is how little they do to prepare their students to teach. Doctoral candidates have long had the chance to assist professors in large lecture courses by leading weekly discussions among small groups of undergraduates. Yet only a minority of those assistants report that they receive adequate supervision by the faculty member in charge of the course. In fact, professors often tell their graduate students not to spend much time on their teaching duties, lest it distract them from the all-important task of writing a thesis.

Some improvement has occurred in recent years with the spread of centers to help graduate students learn to be teaching assistants. Still, participation in those centers is typically voluntary and rarely offers graduate students more than an orientation program, an occasional workshop on a specific topic, and perhaps a chance to have their teaching videotaped and critiqued by a member of the center staff. Although such assistance is helpful, it is far from adequate to prepare aspiring professors for the challenges they are likely to face once they embark upon an academic career.

There are reasons that departments have been unwilling to do more. Most professors are not convinced that teaching is a skill that requires formal preparation. Rather, they are inclined to regard it as an art that one acquires naturally and improves through practice over time. After all, that is how they learned to teach. Besides, with Ph.D. candidates already taking so long to complete the programs, why add new requirements to existing programs?

These reasons have never been convincing, but they have gradually become increasingly untenable. Over the past two or three decades, research about learning has yielded useful insights about teaching that graduate students need to know. Much has now been discovered about cognition, motivation, and the relative effectiveness of different methods of instruction.

New research about the behavior of students has also revealed compelling reasons to make full use of this knowledge. Among the recent discoveries, investigators have found that college students are not making as much progress as most people have assumed in mastering essential skills such as writing and critical thinking. Other findings suggest that undergraduates are less engaged by their courses, and that they are spending much less time studying than they did 40 years ago. Those problems will not be solved by simply continuing to teach in the same way as in the past. Professors will need to make use of the growing body of knowledge about teaching and learning in order to succeed.

Meanwhile, more than six million undergraduates are taking at least one course per year online. Carnegie Mellon University has developed computer-assisted courses in several subjects that allow students to master the subject matter in much less time than in regular classes. The emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs), enrolling huge numbers of students, is causing many prominent professors to take an interest in teaching online. Graduate students clearly need training in the uses and misuses of technology to be adequately prepared for the classrooms of tomorrow.

Technology changes the nature of teaching in several ways. Developing an online course is a collaborative venture in which instructors work with technicians and media experts. Teaching, then, becomes less intuitive and more of a collective, deliberative activity. In addition, technology can produce a record, not just of what instructors say, but of how students respond to questions and homework problems. As a result, professors can discover what material gives students difficulty and try to adjust their teaching accordingly. Once again, however, professors will have to know more than they have in the past to make the most of these intriguing developments.

In short, pedagogy has become a much more complicated process that has evolved from an art that one can acquire by oneself to a subject requiring formal preparation.

The need for such training is all the more urgent because of the conditions that many graduate students will encounter in their professional careers. Only one-quarter of the recent Ph.D.'s seeking academic careers are finding jobs in research universities. Most of the others obtain positions in institutions with students who tend to be less motivated and less prepared for college than the undergraduates their teachers knew, and teaching them successfully will be a greater challenge.

Many students today are also multitasking, looking at their email during class and listening to music or texting friends while they study. Undergraduates are using much of the time previously spent on homework communicating via social media, surfing the web, and playing computer games. Therefore, whether they know it or not, professors everywhere are now competing with Twitter, smartphones, computer games, and much else for the time and attention of their students. In this environment, doctoral candidates planning on an academic career will need to know more to figure out how to engage their students in the learning process.

Graduate students are unlikely to receive the preparation they need if academic departments continue to have almost complete control over Ph.D. programs. The problem is not just that faculties resist change. Professors in departments of English literature or economics or chemistry are simply not trained to offer instruction on the applications of cognitive psychology and motivation theory, or the findings of researchers concerning the relative effectiveness of different methods of instruction, or the skills required for developing online courses. If such material is ever to become a part of preparing graduate students, then provosts and deans will have to take the initiative, not only to persuade the faculty that change is needed but also to recruit instructors from across the university who are capable of teaching graduate students what they need to know.

It is not entirely obvious just when and where the necessary instruction should take place. One's instinctive response is to make room within the graduate program itself. The problem with this approach, however, is that one-third to one-half of all new Ph.D.'s do not pursue academic careers but find jobs in industry, government, or some other field of employment. So it is hardly fair to force all graduate students to take instruction in pedagogy. Graduate schools could and should require prospective teaching assistants to receive enough training to carry out their assignments effectively. But any further preparation for teaching will have to be offered on a voluntary basis.

Some graduate students may not choose to acquire all the training they need, while other successful candidates for faculty positions will have received their doctorates from universities that offer little preparation for teaching. As a result, institutions wishing to equip their new recruits properly for duties in the classroom and as members of the academic profession will not succeed by merely offering a day or two of orientation.

Instead, to prepare their professors properly, colleges may need to give them a course that includes material dealing not only with pedagogy but also with ethical problems in teaching and research, the history of higher education, the principal schools of thought on the undergraduate curriculum, and the organization, financing, and governance of universities. If beginning instructors are thought to have too much else to do, they could be given a reduced teaching load for their first year. Any short-term costs should be more than compensated for by the improved preparation given to new recruits to fulfill their responsibilities as teachers and faculty members.

It would be hard to overestimate the importance of instituting these reforms. One of the legitimate complaints against colleges and universities is that they have been exceedingly slow to change their methods of education. Lecturing is still the most common way to teach, even though it has long been shown to be ill-suited to the task of developing the capacity for critical thinking, a competence that almost all professors regard as the most important goal of undergraduate education. Feedback to students continues to be skimpy and late in coming despite its importance to learning. The basic division of the college curriculum into majors, electives, and general education has likewise remained pretty much the same over many decades despite its many weaknesses and unsubstantiated rationales.

Critics often say that the reason instructional methods change so slowly is that professors do not care about teaching and prefer to spend their time on research. This explanation is hardly convincing. International surveys regularly find that professors in America care more about teaching and education than do their counterparts in virtually any other country in the world. Even in research universities, faculty members spend much more time on teaching than on research when classes are in session. Studies also have found that prolific researchers are no less successful or conscientious in the classroom than are their colleagues who rarely publish.

A more plausible reason for the sluggish pace of reform is the scanty preparation given to graduate students for their role as educators. Lacking such training, newly minted Ph.D.'s naturally begin their teaching by trying to emulate the professors they respected most during their student days. While there is something to be said for this practice, it hardly encourages innovation in the classroom. Rather, it tends to produce an uncritical, conservative attitude toward teaching, quite at variance with the way most faculty members go about their research.

Continuing this approach is likely to prove even more costly in the future than it has been in the past. President Obama has called for a significant increase in the number of Americans graduating from college by enrolling hundreds of thousands of new students every year. Many of these young people will be less prepared for college work than the average student today and, hence, more difficult to teach.

Even if colleges manage to meet the president's goal (and that will be a tall order indeed), America will never regain the huge lead in educational attainment that helped to make it the world's most prosperous nation from 1870 to 1970. Now that a dozen or more countries have made the transition from an elite to a mass or nearly universal system of higher education, it will be all that we can do simply to keep up.

If the United States is ever to regain a significant economic advantage from the education of its people, it will have to come through the quality of instruction that our undergraduates receive and not just from the quantity of college degrees being offered. Such instruction will surely be slow to arrive without a faculty trained to bring to its teaching the same ample store of background knowledge, the same respect for relevant data, and the same questioning, innovative spirit that professors have long displayed in carrying out their research.

Derek Bok is a former president of Harvard University, where he is now a research professor. His most recent book is Higher Education in America (Princeton University Press, 2013).

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May 28, 2015

Lorain man with 32 driver’s license suspensions arrested

LORAIN — A Lorain man with 32 driver’s license suspensions faces additional charges.

Wilfred Lawson Jr. drove through a flashing red light at the intersection of East 28th and Grove streets around 1:05 a.m. Sunday, according to police Officer Eric Alten’s report. Alten wrote that after stopping Lawson, Lawson said, “It was a flashing light. I yielded.”

Alten said he explained drivers must stop at flashing red lights and when he asked for Lawson’s driver’s license, Lawson said he didn’t have one.

Alten said 22 of Lawson’s 32 suspensions are open.

Lawson, 28, of the 1900 block of East 41st Street, was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license and failure to obey a traffic light. He was also detained on an unspecified warrant.


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May 27, 2015

Harold R. Perkins

OBIT FLAGHarold R. Perkins, 85, of Olmsted Falls, formerly of Clarion, Colorado, passed away Tuesday, June, 17, 2014, in the evening, at Renaissance Care Center, Olmsted Falls, following a brief illness. Born in St. Petersburg, Pennsylvania, May 2, 1929, he was the son of the late Raymond Henry and Annie Black Perkins.

He was a retired employee of General Motors of Ohio, member of the UAW, and was an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Army.

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Robert (Vickie) Moss of Garrettsville; two sons, Roger Perkins of Auckland, New Zealand and Randy Perkins of Olmsted Falls; a number of grand and great-grandchildren; two sisters, Sally Chase and Alice Mae Fulton, both of Pennsylvania and a number of nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, the former Virginia Jean Bowser; sister, Bertha Green; and brothers, Raymond and Clifford Perkins.

Friends may call Saturday, June 21, 2014, from 5 until 8 P.M., at H. Jack Buzard Funeral Home, 201 South Wayne Ave., Parker, Pennsylvania, 16049 and Sunday June 22, 2014, from 12:30 until 2 P.M. Funeral service will be held at 2 P.M. Sunday, at the funeral home, with The Reverand Ken Hughes, United Methodist minister, officiating. Interment will follow at Perryville Cemetery, near Parker. VFW and American Legion Posts of Parker will conduct services at 1:45 P.M., Sunday, June 22, 2014, at the funeral home.

To view or send condolences, sympathy cards, flowers, visit