Former employee Jennifer Galatis and a group are re-opening Mike & Patty's in Bay Village, a popular breakfast and sandwich spot. Original owner Michael Fitzhenry sold it to Galatis and the others.

Husby and oenophile Stephen Meuse and I are taking a group of Boston Globe subscribers to Sicily in May, so we're studying the food and wine of the region (which we know a little about already).

Don't worry: it's not just us. Travelers are accompanied by a Sicilian food critic and professional tour guide. They visit Palermo, Agrigento, Segesta, and the Aeolian Islands, and the trip includes wine tastings, a cooking class with a Sicilian chef, and more.

Here are details.

The first dish I started making is a simple garlicky tomato sauce in which you poach eggs. This dish, known in the Middle East and North Africa as shakshuka , is part of the Arabic influence in the area, which you see in many other preparations.

But join us and let's discover all this together.

Yes, we should all be debating more serious matters, like the Fiscal Cliff and the troubles in the Middle East and whether Mick Jagger should just retire already. But apparently there is another storm brewing:

Is "foodie" a word?

Before you choke on your vegan veggie chips, here is why this question is even being asked. Sam Sifton, the former New York Times restaurant critic, now national news editor, sent out a tweet recently that said: "Foodie is not a word."

Okay, fine, no big deal, right? Grammatically, he's correct. Except, well, a whole lot of people say foodie, are foodies, have friends who are foodies, like foodies, and even like the word foodie.

Sifton inspired a writer in Milwaukee who, naturally, calls himself the Wisconsin Foodie, to fire back with a lengthy blog post that included this dig:

What troubled me was not the latently New York-centric, snobbish subtext, which I have come to expect from Sifton, but that the comment was aimed and fired, like an unexpected spit ball in a high school hallway, at people like me.

Sifton answered with this tweet today: "If it is "New York-centric" to not want to sound like a 5 year-old, then I am clearly a New Yorker. Detest the word."

He may detest it, but as another tweet on the subject said: "Only a pretentious nincompoop would pretend "foodie" ain't a word." It was only lacking a nyah-na-na-na-nyah at the end.

And so, as Michael Buffer likes to say, Let's get ready to rumbbbbbbbble!

Any thoughts on this? And then we can all get back to what really matters these days. Mick.

Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

The recent social-media spat between a Pigalle customer and chef Marc Orfaly left us wondering: Just what could be in that pumpkin pie? Here is a recipe inspired by the event. Definitely one to clip for your next Thanksgiving! If you have any questions on how to proceed, please call me.

'You must enjoy vomit' pumpkin pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

1 pre-baked pie shell
1 raw chicken breast
1 3-pound sugar pumpkin or kabocha
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 can (13.5 ounces) spinach
2 containers pork lo mein from sketchy Chinese place on the corner (note: doesn't matter which corner), at room temperature
2 cups heavy cream
1 pair testicles (can be purchased frozen at specialty markets)

1. 1-2 weeks before serving, unwrap pie shell and set on shelf in refrigerator. Unwrap raw chicken and chill beside it until flavors have mingled. Reserve chicken.

2. Take sugar pumpkin or kabocha and find a tall building with roof access. Take elevator to roof (if there is no elevator, it is fine to take the stairs; this step will simply take a bit longer). Drop pumpkin from edge of roof.

3. Return to ground level and scrape pumpkin chunks from street, storing in compost bucket, bed pan, garbage bag lifted from city trash can, or other handy receptacle. Return to kitchen and simmer chunks in pot of water until tender. Drain.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor with metal blade, beat together pumpkin chunks, reserved raw chicken, sugar, cornstarch, spices, salt, eggs, evaporated milk, and canned spinach.

5. Throw chunks mixture into pie shell and bake until filling is set, 20-30 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

6. Eat 2 containers pork lo mein.

7. Wait for chills to set in. You are almost there! The next part won't be pretty, but judging by how fat your face looks, you most Likely shouldn't be eating anymore greasy Chinese food anyway, Sweet pea. xo.

8. Vomit into heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. Pour heavy cream into pan and simmer until cream is infused. Strain through a fine strainer. (Some prefer to wrap vomit in cheesecloth, but we find this unnecessarily fussy.) Chill cream.

9. Whip cream until it almost holds peaks but remains runny. Cut pie in slices and serve with dollops of the whipped cream.

10. Oh yeah, the testicles. If you had any clue about eating out, or balls, you would know what to do with them.

11. Apologize to your angry, ranting guests, then friend them on Facebook.

Not adapted in any way, shape, or form from the actual Pigalle

This recipe for an open-faced farmhouse apple cream pie was sent to The Recipe Box Project (recipebox@globe.com) last year by Melinda Kessler Spratlan of Amherst. We had our doubts. Instructions called for whisking sugar, flour, and cream until smooth. We worried that this mixture, which contains 1/4 cup flour and 1 cup light cream, wouldn't set. Well it does set and turns into a pretty terrific, easy pie. You can arrange sliced apples in concentric circles or use chunks, which we prefer; they make a homier pie.

Kessler wrote, "My mother, Nelle McFarland Kessler, was raised on a farm in east central Indiana. She and her mother, Bessie, often baked pies for the farm hands when they came in from the early morning chores." Her mother also made the pie for Thanksgiving, a tradition that Kessler continues with her own family.

If you have a favorite recipe to add to The Recipe Box Project, please forward it to us. We'd love to hear from you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers. We hope your table is full of good food and laughter.

Farmhouse apple cream pie

Makes one 9-inch open-faced pie

Come talk about food and restaurants today at 11. Also: Guy Fieri (as if there's anything left to say), dishes you were thankful for this year, favorite stuffing recipes, and more.

Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times

Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square.

Have you read the New York Times review of Food Network host Guy Fieri’s Times Square restaurant yet? Of course you have. Critic Pete Wells’s takedown of Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar went viral in less time than it takes to say “Guy’s Pat LaFrieda custom blend, all-natural Creekstone Farm Black Angus beef patty, LTOP (lettuce, tomato, onion + pickle), SMC (super-melty-cheese) and a slathering of Donkey Sauce on garlic-buttered brioche.”

And if you have read it, your first thought was likely something like mine: “Hahaha, gasp, oh, hahahahaha.” Because the review is mercilessly funny -- unless, of course, you are Guy Fieri, who dismissed Wells’s assessment as ridiculous and suggested he had “another agenda.”

The review is presented as a string of questions, such as, “Is the entire restaurant a very expensive piece of conceptual art? Is the shapeless, structureless baked alaska that droops and slumps and collapses while you eat it, or don’t eat it, supposed to be a representation in sugar and eggs of the experience of going insane? Why did the toasted marshmallow taste like fish?”

Scathing as it is, I’m willing to bet the review is accurate, because as the Globe’s restaurant critic, I have been there. Not literally there, as I plan to never eat at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar if I can help it, but in a similar situation. Reader, we all have. Anyone who patronizes restaurants has, at one point or another, paid good money for slop. And when that happens to a reviewer, the impulse to lay mocking waste to the place can be strong. As one critic friend of mine said, “I bet that was the most fun Pete Wells has ever had writing a review. And I bet it was the fastest review he’s ever written.”

Yes to both. Guy Fieri is low-hanging fruit, the obnoxious host-dude “real foodies” love to hate. His restaurant is an easy target. And the stakes feel relatively low. Fieri is hugely successful. Fans of the show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” are legion. When they go to New York, they will want to eat at the restaurant run by their greasy-spoon-boosting bro-in-arms. A review like this is freeing because Fieri essentially cannot be destroyed. A comparatively bad little bistro would be very unlikely to receive the same treatment.

The response to Wells’s review has been mixed. Some called it unfair and mean. Some called it classist. Some cheered what they saw as a turning point in American restaurant criticism. Many readers revel in rants; others find them facile. What is unquestionable is that with criticism comes responsibility. Here’s one litmus test: After writing a negative review, could the critic look the chef or owner in the eye and defend it? If the answer is yes, even an uncomfortable yes, the business hasn’t been sacrificed on the altar of reader entertainment, for the quick, easy laugh.

Many of the flaws called out by Wells are common occurrences in restaurants, things we’ve all experienced -- hyperbolic and inaccurate menu descriptions, billed ingredients gone missing, dishes ordered then forgotten, poorly paced courses, subpar food. It’s no surprise to find them at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar. Did Wells have high expectations of this place going in? I doubt it.

But what, to me, makes his review feel legitimate is the real criticism couched within the funny. Fieri’s show celebrates what Wells calls “no-collar American food.” Fieri’s restaurant, however, brutalizes it. It doesn’t, in the critic’s eyes, respect the cuisine.

Hypocrisy is a dish best not served at all, never mind slathered in Donkey Sauce.

The legendary North End restaurant Lucia Ristorante recently celebrated its 35th year in business. Check out Dirty Water TV's Sophia Goulet at the anniversary festivities.

The popular Zagat guide is releasing their "30 under 30" awards today. The honor goes to young talent in kitchens, bakeries, restaurants, shops, bars, etc. Here is the list. Congratulations to all.

Jessie Banhazl, Owner/Managing Director, Green City Growers (28)

Marley Brush, Co-Owner, Crema Cafe (29)

Brahm Callahan, Wine Director, Grill 23 & Bar, Post 390 (28)

Patrick Cassidy, Former Bar Manager, Saloon (26)

Christopher Coombs, Executive Chef, dbar; Owner/Exec. Chef, Deuxave (28)

John Paul daSilva, Executive Chef, Spoke Wine Bar (28) 

Joey DePasquale, Vice President, DePasquale Ventures (21)

Meredith Devinney, General Manager, Menton (26)

James DiSabatino, Founder and Chief Cheese Griller, Roxy's Grilled Cheese

Selena Donovan, Restaurant Manager, Towne Stove & Spirits (26)

Patrick Gaggiano, General Manager, Trina's Starlite Lounge and Parlor Sports (25)

Robert Grant, Executive Chef, The Blue Room and Belly Wine Bar (27)

Shore Gregory, President, Island Creek Oysters (28)

Kurt Gurdal, General Manager, Formaggio Kitchen (29)

Jeremy Kean and Philip Kruta, Chefs/Owners, Whisk (Jeremy, 26; Philip, 23)

Jason Kilgore, Beverage Manager, Catalyst (27)

Katie Kimble, Pastry Chef, Area Four (28)

Kristen Kish, Chef de Cuisine, Stir (28)

Hilary Koloski, Owner & Chief Baking Officer, Cow & Crumb Baking Company (27)

Tim Maslow, Executive Chef and Co-Owner, Strip-T's (28)

Heather Mojer, Bartender and Front of House Manager, Hungry Mother (29)

Samuel Monsour, Executive Chef, JM Curley (29)

Helder Pimentel, Founder and President, Backlash Beer Company (28)

Daniel Raia, Chef de Cuisine, Sweet Cheeks Q (28)

Marcos Sanchez, Executive Chef, Tres Gatos (29)

Shaun Brian Sells, Executive Chef, Harbor View Hotel (28)

Mike Smith, Chef de Cusine, Toro (29)

Fernanda Tapia, Chef de Cuisine, 51 Lincoln (28)

Josh Taylor, Bar Manager, West Bridge (29)

Sam Treadway, Bar Manager and Co-Owner, Backbar

Think your kitchen skills could impress Gordon Ramsay? Well, good luck. But if you do, the first step on that journey would be attending the casting call for the FOX series "MasterChef" in Kendall Square on Nov. 3.

Ahead of its fourth season, the show is conducting a nationwide search for home cooks for the opportunity to appear in front of its trio of judges -- Ramsay (pictured), Joe Bastianich, and Graham Elliot -- while offering a sizable cash prize to the winner. This Saturday's Boston-area audition will be held from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Le Cordon Bleu, 215 1st St., Cambridge. Instructions and more details can be found at www.masterchefcasting.com.

And if you do get called to appear on the program, let's hope you fare better than former Patriots defensive end Jarvis Green during his brief appearance on the show.

[image via Scott Eisen]

Tracey Zabar (above) wrote "One Sweet Cookie," in which 70 well-known New York chefs give her their favorite cookie recipes. And yes, she's related to the famous Zabar family and the kitchen, shown here, looks pretty grand.

I leafed through the volume, very nicely printed and photographed by Rizzoli, and wanted to call in sick for a week of cookie baking. The oatmeal-raisin cookies from Maury Rubin of City Bakery were burning a hole in my curiosity. I've been searching for a very crisp cookie with a little chew, not a soft round like usual.

Alas, the book sat and sat on my desk until this weekend, when I thought it imperative to fill the freezer with cookies, just in case Hurricane Sandy cut power and heat and we were huddled in front of the fire. We have wine, plenty of chicken soup, thanks to a pressure-cooker batch I made yesterday, some baguettes and cheese, lots of apples, canned beans if things get real tough, and now cookies. Couldn't wait for the emergency to eat them. This recipe is perfect.

Oatmeal-raisin cookies
Makes 4 dozen

Allow time for the batter to sit overnight, then come to room temperature.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups regular oats
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups raisins

1. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats to blend them.

2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add the brown and granulated sugars and beat to blend them. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the flour, half at a time.

4. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand. With a wooden spoon, stir in the raisins. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight or for up to 1 day. Let the batter sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until pliable enough to scoop.

5. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. Scoop walnut-sized balls of dough onto the sheets, setting them 2-inches apart. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until they are just firm and the edges are golden. Slide the parchment onto wire racks to cool for a few minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies directly to the racks. Continue baking cookies until all the batter is used. Store in an airtight container. Adapted from "One Sweet Cookie"

The editors at the Boston Globe Magazine are wrapping up a special Food Issue, looking at restaurants that serve terrific vegetarian food for the fall. With four beautiful options to choose from for the cover, we thought we’d get some other opinions. Which one is your favorite? See the covers below, vote at the bottom, and then check out the Globe Magazine on Sunday, Nov. 4, to see the final cover. Go to bostonglobe.com/magazine for more Globe Magazine.

The closing of Locke-Ober this week marks the end of another Boston dining institution. Reminisce about the old days and tell us which Boston restaurant you'll be missing the most.

Globe Staff Photo/Essdras M Suarez

Locke-Ober, as it once was.

On Wednesday, in a print review of Oak Long Bar + Kitchen, you will see me wonder what will become of Locke-Ober's historic space. Since the review went to press, the likely answer has been revealed, thanks to Patrick Maguire of JM Curley.

Maguire reports that a group has signed an agreement to purchase the space and its liquor license: Jay Hajj of Mike's City Diner in the South End, Michael Fallman of British Beer Company, and James P. Robertson Jr. of Origen Property Management. The team, Maguire says, plans to open a new bar and restaurant but preserve Locke-Ober's architecture, woodwork, and other historic features. (Please keep the dumbwaiter!) The sale is expected to be finalized in November. Despite the Mike's City Diner/British Beer connections, neither concept will open in the space, Maguire says. A new, independent restaurant is at least a year away.

Boston isn't the kind of city to turn its back on the past, and it is heartening to see a team of restaurateurs step in to preserve the irreplaceable Locke-Ober. Now perhaps that gorgeous bar will get the high-quality period cocktails it demands.

Anyone waited on line for ramen at the new Yume wo Katare yet? Would you trade in your electric coffee maker for pour-over equipment? Farmers' market season is dwindling -- what are your favorite produce markets year-round?

We'll talk about that and more Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 11.

It's time to get rid of that mildewy old coffee maker that's been lurking on your counter since your junior year of college, following you from apartment to apartment and never ever making a decent cup of coffee.

On Saturday, get thee to Counter Culture Coffee's training center in Somerville. Your coffee-making life is about to change, because you can trade in that smelly, brown-stained plug-in apparatus for a ceramic pour-over cone with accouterments. Pour-over coffee is easy to make and often tastes better, although if you are such a caffeine addict that you require a device with a timer, it is probably not for you. The folks at Counter Culture will also demonstrate how to use the equipment. And think of all the counter space you will save!

Earlier this month, the Food section ran a review of "Burma: Rivers of Flavor," author Naomi Duguid's first solo venture since she and Jeffrey Alford (below) separated. The two wrote six books together in the Far East and won many awards. Both are cooks, writers, and photographers, and told stories of taking their small children to remote areas and feeding them whatever the village women were cooking.

Today, they're working independently. She blogs her adventures here. Alford lives in northeast Thailand, near Cambodia, and is working on "How Pea Cooks: Food and Life in a Thai-Khmer Village."

Here is an excerpt from his blog: "with rain pouring down tonight, we ate grilled catfish (raised by Pea, and now more than a pound in weight), fried scorpions, and cucumbers from the garden (and of course, chile sauce). the catfish live in a small pond in front of the house, and right now they are mating ('boom boom in the water'). they are noisy. and we now have 500 new baby frogs."

On Oct. 25, Alford will be at the University of New Hampshire Durham at 7 p.m. in Richards Auditorium in Murkland Hall. The subject of his lecture is "Eating Leaves: Seeing the World through Food on the Thai-Cambodian Border."

Let's see: Fried scorpions were on the menu he blogged about. I imagine leaves were too at one point. Undoubtedly frogs are next.

It's a brave new world.

Check out the latest video in our Smart Cooks series with Catherine Smart, in which the cook shows how to make skirt steak with chimichurri sauce.

The kitchen at 808 Comm. Ave. last night was pretty lively. Local chefs who knew Julia Child cooked with the culinary students to make a grand menu of her favorite dishes to celebrate her 100th birthday. Julia was the one who encouraged her friend Jacques Pepin to join her in urging Boston University to start a culinary arts program and a masters in gastronomy.

The meal began with Arctic char by BU culinary teacher Jean-Jacques Paimblanc, monkfish by Legal Sea Food chef Richard Vellante, and foie gras by Stan Frankenthaler of Dunkin' Brands. (Stan brought Munchkins and muffins for the kitchen staff; the Munchkins sat almost untouched; the muffin tops were cut off and eaten and only the bottoms sat in the box.)

Above are Jacky Robert of the Petit Robert group of restaurants (he cooked for Julia when he worked with Ann and Lucien Robert of Maison Robert). Gordon Hamersley of Hamersley's Bistro, a favorite restaurant of Julia's, is beside his former sous chef, now Rialto chef-owner Jody Adams. Susie Regis of Upstairs on the Square is the caboose. Her pithiviers (very flaky puff pastry) of Roquefort with striped beets and candied nuts is below.

Gordon made his famous roast chicken, which he said was the first time he prepared it outside his restaurant. I tasted it in the kitchen and it was truly to die for! Jody made rabbit ravioli, which had just a little heat and heavenly pasta. Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger (below) made duck cassoulet (also below).

Ihsan Gurdal of Formaggio Kitchen, who teaches a popular cheese class at BU, brought fine cheeses and unusual preserves to eat them with.

New Hampshire native Jim Dodge (below) of Bon Appetit Management Co., flew in from San Francisco. He and the students made a luscious dacquoise layered with coffee-flavored buttercream (also below). I was pleased to see a couple of my food writing students (I teach at BU in the Spring semesters) in the culinary program working with Jim.

Later, he told the guests that when Julia left Cambridge to live in Santa Barbara, he used to make mini dacquoise for her to keep in her freezer. (He also took her to Costco for hot dogs, a favorite excursion for her.) 

Jacky Robert made the other dessert, individual tart Tatins. He brought old-fashioned salamanders, which someone made for him. They consist of thick iron disks on a handle. He let the disks heat on burners for half an hour. Then he set baked apples on rounds of crisp pastry, dredged them with sugar, and pressed the hot iron onto the sugar to sizzle madly into caramel (below). We were spellbound.

He served the desserts with whipped cream and handmade caramel roses (below).

Guests paid $300 ($50 of that went to the Julia Child Foundation). If you had asked me yesterday if any meal is worth that much money, I would have said no. Today, I say yes. These chefs knocked themselves out and after many many hours in the kitchen, the students were all smiles.

Another JC dinner will be held on Nov 7.

Come talk about food and restaurants Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 11.

This week I review Sip Wine Bar + Kitchen, which I think could use some work as a wine bar. Belly just opened, too. Spoke is on the way. After a heady love affair with craft cocktails, is wine turning our heads again?

Brian Lesser of Saint is opening Vine Brook Tavern in Lexington. I expect to see city restaurateurs looking increasingly toward the suburbs. What do you think?

Southie's Lincoln Tavern is here. BoMa and Yume wo Katare are among the restaurants slated to open soon. What are you looking forward to eating?

We'll talk about that and more.