[I_call_the_duck]

Lorna, you was robbed by that French judge! What was his/her reasoning behind the 5?

Quote

"Very refreshing."

Did that come from the giggly actress?

Ling, on Aug 30 2006, 12:41 PM, said:

Swisskaese, on Aug 30 2006, 09:37 AM, said:

I know what you mean. David and I decided it is better for us to work on separate things. Otherwise, we would drive each other nuts. Sometimes, we are each others sous chefs, but generally we prepare dishes or meals separately. In the beginning of our relationship, David used to criticize every dish and it used to piss me off. Now, I understand that he was just trying to suggest things.

Yes, it's much better when Henry and I work on separate components of the same dish, and bring it together at the last moment. That way, we're not getting in one another's way.

Same here. I actually do most of the cooking in the house since I'm a control freak and VERY anal about my knives. Our styles and levels of cooking are also different (Mr. Duck has a limited repertoire and skills to match). When we do cook together, we either do things separately or occasionally be each other’s sous chef. I think my New Year’s resolution this year will be to be a little more relaxed in the kitchen, because we do have fun when we cook together.

BUT he knows more about wine than I do, so I'm the cook while he's the sommelier.

[Ling]

Pontormo, on Aug 30 2006, 09:55 AM, said:

Now, Lorna: let's see that stash of chocolate you keep at Henry's place.

And what did you two have for breakfast to recupe from last night?

I'll post the (small) stash of chocolate in the afternoon, along with the rest of our pictures from last night. It is nothing really special so I hope I don't disappoint you all. Also, I am out of Valrhona at the moment--I used the last of it in a dessert last week, and haven't had time to go to TJ's to buy more. So what's missing from the stash is the 5-10 bars of Valrhona I usually have on hand.

Breakfast was an empty leftover hazelnut tart shell from my IC dessert, a few forkfuls of leftover pork ribs/pulled pork and a 3 shot Americano from Vivace (one of the best coffee places in Seattle.)

Now we're going to have some lunch at Salumi...the grilled cotechino is calling me....see you all soon!

I_call_the_duck: There was no comment from that judge on the peach gastrique/stilton biscuit dish.

This post has been edited by Ling: 30 August 2006 - 11:41 AM

[Daniel]

Nice.. Salumi, I have been to Seattle only once and heard about Salumi after the fact.. I am looking forward to seeing it through the eyes of two good eaters like yourselves..

[FabulousFoodBabe]

racheld, on Aug 29 2006, 07:38 PM, said:

OK---I'll give you the old codger-cooks definitions:    Grits is grits.  Polenta is Mush.

Ling, you gonna ask any Italians to define Grits and Polenta?

[Ling]

^Sure! I learned a lot from Rachel's definition. I would love to hear an Italian's view on how the two differ as well.

[Ling]

Swisskaese, on Aug 29 2006, 05:11 AM, said:

I would love the recipes for the Gorganzola Polenta and the Caramel Curry Peach tart.

For the tart, I just poached, skinned, and sliced the peaches, and gently transfered them to the pre-baked, hazelnut tart crusts. Then I made a caramel with sugar and heavy cream, and added enough curry powder so I could taste it well enough. Then I ladled the caramel over the peaches.

The gorgonzola polenta was made with 4 cups vegetable stock (I should've used 3, though...it was a bit too soft), and 1 cup of ground, organic, polenta. I stirred it on low heat for about 25 minutes, and then added half a stick of butter and a little more than a quarter pound of gorgonzola. Then I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and a bit of thyme.

[Ling]

So last night began with a stop at a party at Henry's ex-boss's house in Madison. It was a posh cocktail party with open bars and lots of little nibbles. (Of course, I didn't take pictures as that would be rude.) I ate: pepper-crusted ahi, mini crab cakes, mini potato cakes, roast beef on crackers, heirloom tomato, basil and mozzarella, mini jerk chicken sandwiches...the list goes on. I drank a glass of wine and Henry had a martini.

We weren't all that hungry for dinner, but had to soldier on for the blog

First stop--Sitka and Spruce. CLOSED. Rats! (again!)



Since John wasn't at Lark (he was cooking at the Boomtown event), I suggested we go to Elemental instead.



It's REALLY small inside--only 5 tables, and 2 seats at the bar.



The infamous Phred...


"Have a palate cleanser," he said.
We drank it. It was a sherry.


"Would you like to start off with cocktails?"
We said sure.



We asked him to bring us a few dishes of whatever he liked. I understand how some people would have a problem with the service, as Phred gave us each wine without any explanation. I didn't mind this, as I like guessing. I got the first wine correct! It was a Riesling.


The Riesling was paired with a crab and mango salad. It was very simple, but the quality of the food is good.


I should take this time to say that we had a wonderful evening yesterday night. However, none of the dishes we had were what Henry and I consider restaurant fare--as you will see in the pictures below, there are no fancy techniques or presentations here. In fact, I think most decent cooks could make stuff like this for regular weeknight meals. So in that respect, I wasn't really impressed. However, Elemental offers a very different experience in that the wine pairings are very generous and very good/excellent.

The next course was a chicken thigh dish with tamarind glaze and couscous. Phred poured us two wines each for this dish "for comparison purposes".

Based on the nose (and before tasting), I guessed that the first wine was a New World pinot and the second was an Old World burgundy. I got it half right--the first wine was a blend from Oregon and the second was an obscure wine from France.





We got a white wine with the next course (greens and hazelnuts).



We were falling behind on the drinking...at multiple times during the meal, there were like 8 glasses on the table for the 2 of us!



The crust was nice, but the crumb too spongy.


Lamb t-bones with walnut tapenade and roasted vegetables.
We drank two more glasses of red EACH with this dish.



Excellent cheese board. We each got a glass of white and a glass of red with the cheese. (Is anyone keeping count with how much wine we've had at this point?!!!!)


Phred insisted we have a dessert drink as well. Just in case we didn't have enough alcohol with our meal, you know....


All in all, we both had a fantastic night. I do see how Elemental might rub some diners the wrong way. I think most diners would like to see a menu and choose their wines on their own--and I think they have every right to expect that as paying customers. At the same time, Henry and I both enjoy getting some direction from people much more knowledgable than we are about food/wine...we like to be educated at dinner, as that enhances our dining experience. Would I go back to Elemental? Possibly, for the cheese and wine...the food was solid, homecooking, and while it was tasty, it is not really something that appeals to either of us when we're dining out.

ETA: To clarify, Elemental does have menus, but we opted to let the kitchen choose for us, as we often do when we dine out.

This post has been edited by Ling: 30 August 2006 - 02:12 PM

[hhlodesign]

We didn't want to repeat things from my last blog. However, One cannot write about food and Seattle without a trip to Salumi. Since we did the special lunch last time (read about that here) we decided to just stop in for an ordinary weekday lunch.


Fennel sausage was the special this week. That is one of my favorite specials. I'm also a fan of the pork cheeks, and oxtail.

Most days you can find Armandino back behind the counter.

Here he is slicing some bread.

The have a small curing room in the front,


but most of the curing happens in the back.

Here are a few finocciono sandwiches being made.

Finocciono is a spicy salumi with fennel and lots of black peppercorns. One of my favorites.

they have quite the selection of house cured meats

My favorites are the lamb prosciutto, finocciono, lomo, culatello, and hot soprassata.

and the sandwich menu


Lorna and I decided to split the hot meat plate.

It's a selection of all their cooked meats.

We have Porchetta, fennel sausage, meatballs, grilled lamb, grilled cotechino, and peppers.


Lorna's favorites were the grilled cotechino, meatballs, and fennel sausage.
Mine were the fennel sausage and grilled cotechino.

The other reason we had to go o Salumi was to drop off a present for Armandino and the entire Salumi gang. A few months ago, I stopped in and talked to Marilyn (Armandino's wife) about shipping salumi to Iraq for a marine friend of mine. She helped me put a package together with tons of their products all prepped and labelled so shipping it would be easy. It must have been hundreds of dollars worth of products. When I went to the front to pay, they said, "That's on us, tell him thanks from all of us at Salumi!"

Needless to say, my marine friend, Doug, was extremely grateful. As a sign of gratitude, he flew an American flag over the his base in Iraq on the 4th of July then sent it back to me to give to Salumi.



Armandino loved the gift!


He even offered to have Doug in for a special lunch when he gets home. Thanks to Armandino, Marilyn, Gina, Brian, and all the staff at Salumi. They really are wonderful people.

This post has been edited by hhlodesign: 30 August 2006 - 02:07 PM

[Ling]

the chocolate stash I have at Henry's place

Thanks Klary and Abra for the pistachio chocolate (in the green wrapper)! It is really good...very dark, with a nice long finish.

This post has been edited by Ling: 30 August 2006 - 02:14 PM

[Ling]

I haven't written about coffee in a few days, because I've been drinking some weakass coffees. What is up with that? I thought the quality of coffee in Seattle should be pretty good whereever you go, since it's known as the coffee capital, is it not?

Anyway, today I had great coffee from a coffee place I first visited awhile ago, thanks to the Seattle Egulleters.





cool artwork inside!






I was really happy with this morning's 3 shot Americano.

[Smithy]

Ling, on Aug 30 2006, 03:56 PM, said:

We were falling behind on the drinking...at multiple times during the meal, there were like 8 glasses on the table for the 2 of us!

Are you sure? How many fingers did you see when you held up your hands?

Quote

Lamb t-bones with walnut tapenade and roasted vegetables.
We drank two more glasses of red EACH with this dish. 

That lamb looks wonderful. If you were to make a walnut tapenade, how would you go about it?

[Ling]

Smithy, on Aug 30 2006, 02:15 PM, said:

That lamb looks wonderful.  If you were to make a walnut tapenade, how would you go about it?

I would make a tapenade and add some fine chopped, toasted walnuts and some walnut oil.

[dandelion]

Ling, did you ever make it over to Caffe Senso Unico? I still really recommend their Americanos (I just finished one myself), and the Italian owner, Mario, is a real treat. If you go in, be sure to mention to him that you're from Vancouver -- he LOVES Vancouver.

[Ling]

No, I feel bad--I haven't had it yet, and I remember your recommendation from awhile back! I am always rushing around, trying to eat and drink at as many places as possible when I'm down here. I promise I'll go there before the blog ends, and take pictures of Caffe Senso Unico (and my Americano--with crema! BTW, no crema today at Vivace, as usual.)

[hhlodesign]

We stopped by heyjude's house today to return and borrow more cookbooks. She has a HUGE collection of cookbooks and has become our own personal cookbook librarian. We met Judy and Richard recently through eGullet, and have since enjoyed some wonderful meals together. Judy works with Kim Ricketts events and knows many chefs and cookbook authors. She recently invited us to sit with Emily Lucchetti at an "Ice Cream Social" at Eva. It was a wonderful event.

Judy and Richard live in a classic Seattle building.

The Loveless Building in Capitol Hill

I'm more of a fan of modern architecture. But I can appreciate a well designed, timeless work.


The street frontage contains shops and restaurants. including the recently demised Fork, and soon to be Sue McCown's new dessert shop Coco Latida.

But a small opening on the street leads to a beautifully manicured courtyard.


With residences off the courtyard.


An overview of the main bookshelf


Overflow bookshelves




And when those fill up...




Lorna was entranced with the Chocolate shelves....




The Classics


Interestingly enough, Judy mentioned that anytime chefs come over, they love looking through the Time / Life series.


She says she currently has over 3500 cookbooks! Wow!

[hhlodesign]

I_call_the_duck, on Aug 30 2006, 07:09 AM, said:

You mentioned that it was hot and crowded in Henry’s kitchen, but it seems that otherwise you work well together. How do you coordinate your cooking when you're not doing an Iron Chef competition?  Can we have a kitchen shot, or did I miss it?

Wow, that was some first date!  Has he been up to Vancouver yet?

Here is a detailed look at my kitchen from me previous blog.

The Kitchen Photos

I go up to Vancouver often. I love Chinese food, and good Chinese food is pretty hard to come by down here. We usually trade off weeks of driving up or driving down.

[Ling]

hhlodesign, on Aug 30 2006, 02:35 PM, said:

Wow, that was some first date!  Has he been up to Vancouver yet?

Our first date didn't end after the Mistral dessert tasting. Henry then drove me back up to Vancouver, dropped me off at home, and then got a hotel room for the night. The next day, he waited until I was finished work, and took me out to dinner again in Vancouver before he drove home.

This post has been edited by Ling: 30 August 2006 - 02:54 PM

[BryanZ]

Ling, on Aug 30 2006, 05:02 PM, said:

A totally random question, but what do you think of that chocolate in the orange wrapper? I don't know much about chocolate and can only tell the difference between "good" and "bad" chocolate but not much in between. I ask because I can get that orange stuff at school on food points (ie "fake" money). Is it okay to bake with, complex enough to serve on its own?

This post has been edited by BryanZ: 30 August 2006 - 02:42 PM

[Ling]

I bought the Santander chocolate because Gourmet magazine had a chocolate taste-test a few months ago, and Santander rated #2. I personally use Valrhona as my "benchmark" because I've eaten so much of it over the years, and I know the taste very well. If a chocolate is not as good as Valrhona, I generally don't think it's worth eating. (I apologize if I sound like a know-it-all-snot, but I'm just being honest. I can get Valrhona at TJ's for $2.69 a bar, so why waste money on Santander, which is $6 Cdn a bar?)

The Santander bars are chalky, don't have a long finish and have an unappealing, fake nougaty-vanilla smell when you open the package. I have not baked with it yet so it could be good (or at least, not bad) in a baked product. I would not buy this particular brand again, though.

ETA: Some chocoholics might notice that I have Phinney3000 (local Seattle stuff) and E. Guittard. I use the E. Guittard in my baking sometimes because it is moderately priced, and pretty good. It's not something I would eat alone, though. I do not like the Phinney3000 chocolate...that particular bar is the "Bread" bar, which contains salty crispy pieces of "bread" (kind of like very small pretzel pieces.)

I don't like the Scharffen Berger bittersweet and semisweet baking bars too much, but I do like their 99% unsweetened baking bar more than the 99% Valrhona bars.

This post has been edited by Ling: 30 August 2006 - 02:52 PM

[Smithy]

What do you think of Ghirardelli chocolate?

[Ling]

I think it's OK for baking, but again, not something I eat on its own.

[Pan]

Lorna, it's amazing that you were able to take good photos while drunk!!!!

[Renka]

Wow, I'm in awe... heyjude has a crazy amount of cookbooks! That's probably more than any known library out there. Can I be correct in that assumption?
More importantly does Judy mainly collect and lend out the cookbooks, or have any of them been used/flipped through?
Henry, you went to an ice cream social with Emily Lucchetti?? Did she preview stuff from her new ice cream book?? Jealousy!!

[Ling]

^Yes, guess who got to sit next to Emily--ME!!!!!! The desserts that night were from her A Passion for Ice-Cream book.

Judy's collection is her pride and joy. She has a very generous spirit and likes lending them to people who she thinks will appreciate them, so we are very lucky!

BTW--the books I borrowed today are great. One is the new Tartine book, and another is one from City Bakery (in NY). Also, a great European dessert book that looks super fancy.

Pan--you don't know HOW many pictures we had to delete because they were too blurry. Luckily, I took 4 or 5 shots of each dish, so we got some decent ones here.

This post has been edited by Ling: 30 August 2006 - 03:46 PM

[hhlodesign]

Here's a link to some photos we took at the Emily Lucchetti Ice Cream social event.
Ice Cream Social

[Renka]

Ling, on Aug 30 2006, 06:44 PM, said:

^Yes, guess who got to sit next to Emily--ME!!!!!!  The desserts that night were from her A Passion for Ice-Cream book.

Ahh!!! Can you make anyone more jealous?? Ha ha. This, the little AB exposure, all the dining, shoulder rubbing with the chefs and being in the midst of it all, I don't know how I'll keep up with you!
I should just seclude myself and live vicariously through you (and your stomach).

[mizducky]

Ling, on Aug 30 2006, 02:11 PM, said:

I haven't written about coffee in a few days, because I've been drinking some weakass coffees. What is up with that? I thought the quality of coffee in Seattle should be pretty good whereever you go, since it's known as the coffee capital, is it not?

Yeah, but it's also $tarbuck's home base, so ... there you go. Actually, when I lived up there I would even choose a Starbucks over an SBC shop--some of the most wretched excuses for coffee drinks it had ever been my dubious "pleasure" to consume.

Quote

Anyway, today I had great coffee from a coffee place I first visited awhile ago, thanks to the Seattle Egulleters. 

Now you're talking! The Vivace Roasteria was my personal favorite when I lived up there--in fact, for a couple of years I lived only a five minute walk away. Or perhaps more accurately, a five minutes walk there, and more like a two-minute jet-flight back! Their roast will definitely put hair on your chest--dayum!

hhlodesign, on Aug 30 2006, 02:28 PM, said:

Judy and Richard live in a classic Seattle building.

The Loveless Building in Capitol Hill

Oh ghod, the loveable Loveless. Now I'm *really* having major Seattle nostalgia.

[maggiethecat]

Lorna and Henry: You've given us a terrific blog -- great food, great wine, even a lovebird's Iron Chef. But for me, the originator and Calculatrix of the
How many cookbooks? thread, the peek at heyjude's cookbook library was the icing on the cupcake! It's the Vatican Library of eG cookbook collectors.

(Of course chefs turn to the Time-Life series! As discussed elsewhere, they're an endless source of information, great photography, and recipes that work. )

[Ling]

Renka, on Aug 30 2006, 03:58 PM, said:

Ahh!!! Can you make anyone more jealous??  Ha ha.  This, the little AB exposure, all the dining, shoulder rubbing with the chefs and being in the midst of it all, I don't know how I'll keep up with you!   
I should just seclude myself and live vicariously through you (and your stomach). 

Oh please... Only 2 more months 'til we get to show you around!

[Ling]

maggiethecat, on Aug 30 2006, 05:08 PM, said:

Lorna and Henry: You've given us a terrific blog -- great food, great wine, even a lovebird's Iron Chef.  But for me, the originator and Calculatrix of the
How many cookbooks? thread, the peek at heyjude's cookbook library was the icing on the cupcake!  It's the Vatican Library of eG cookbook collectors.

It really is! Not only is it massive, but it is a quality collection. It's well-chosen and diverse, and it is marvellous to see how the joy on Judy's face when she shares it with people!