Gifted Gourmet

I have just returned from a marvelous dinner with a friend at Ricesticks in Atlanta and came away in awe of the beauty and delicacy of the Vietnamese cuisine served there! Some of the flavors were new to me and I found the entire experience quite an eye-opener: the pristine and clean fresh tastes of Tran's springrolls full of shrimp, meats, noodles and basil with a bright, spirited dipping sauce of hoisin mixed with sambal (not sure of this exactly but I was thrilled with the heat and sweetness!). The entrees were equally theatrically presented with various dipping sauces and fresh limes: the "shaking beef" was rare and delightful on a bed of greens of all types while the pork and shrimp on rice noodles was equally flavorful. Coconut flan rounded out the meal without adding to one's already full stomach ... a definite must if you want a learning about ethnic culinary artistry in north Atlanta! the autumn menu Thanks, Kevin Tran, for giving this town something very different and most welcome!

Last time this occurred, eventually someone posted a link to the article .. is that possible again? We here in the boondocks would love to share the wealth ...

Pretty much anything roasted in duck fat turns you on, huh, Bloviatrix?? your picture is on the wall in the "wanted dead or alive" photo gallery at the duck post office ...

This all came about because of Al Gore's book, no??

Amen, Andy! Were we separated at birth? I see amazing similarities in this statement ... and, if we were in fact, relatives, will you please remember me in your Last Will? I personally am leaving everything to the eG Society for Culinary Arts and Letters, that is only one small indication of the high regard in which I hold Steven Shaw and his diligent crew!

I don't know that it is so much a matter of "catching on" so much as it is a result of what has changed in our diets and our lack of physical exercise. Both have led to this sad denouement actually... how much can one ask of a pancreas which has to produce more and more insulin each time yet another Coke is drunk? I think we must have "pooped pancreases" ... and then the media has brought home the message even more strongly .. so our collective knowledge is greater now ... Diabetic dessert recipes are available all over the Net and a quick Google will confirm this ...

There is absolutely no resemblance between the fresh beets one roasts and enjoys, in any number of ways, and canned beets! They, canned beets, are hardly representative of what a beet ought to taste like .. go back and see if you aren't surprised at how great fresh roasted beets taste! If I said that the last two posts bear any "uncanny" resemblance to each other, and they were posted at the precise same time, would you want to "beet" us both to death??

Imminent? You don't find 100 years imminent, docsconz? I find the very idea of no more maple sugar to be quite disastrous! Therefore, I shall stockpile the precious stuff ....

Of the many wondrous things I have received as "gifts of the Gullet" (and they are far too numerous to begin to enumerate here!), this one particularly hits home for me: I have met an individual who has brightened my life with her generous gifts of her garden and we live a full continent apart! Aside from the myriads of great ideas she sends me daily, Andiesenji has enriched my larders with her candied ginger, dried citrus peels, black mustard seeds, dried shallots, rose candy, and so many more items! I cherish the loving friendship Andie has shown me and, to think, were it not for eGullet, we would never have "connected"! So, a special debt of gratitude for both eG and Andie, not necessarily in that order ...

White beets ...

One of my very favorite Southern vegetable casseroles is one which I first tasted at a now-defunct local restaurant, Aunt Fannie's Cabin in Smyrna, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Basically, I have altered the ingredients over the years, to best suit my tastes ... it is now more oniony, custardy, and sweeter than the original recipe indicated. 3 Lbs. yellow summer squash. 1-2 cups sweet Vidalia If seasonally appropriate) chopped onions. 3-4 large eggs. 1/2 cup of cream or milk 1 stick of butter. 1-1 and a 1/2 Tbs. sugar. 1 tsp. salt or to taste. 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, or to taste. 1- 1 and 1/2 cups of cornbread crumbs. a bit of ground nutmeg is also an option I enjoy! Directions: Wash and cut squash into 1/2 inch chunks. Then place squash chunks into pot of salted boiling water and return to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until squash is fork tender... approximately 10 minutes. Drain well! Add onion, eggs, sugar, cream (or milk), salt, pepper and half the butter to your drained squash. Mix well to blend. Add cornbread crumbs and let sit to soak up some of the liquid. Pour mixture into a 2 quart buttered casserole. Melt remaining butter and pour evenly over squash mixture. Bake in Pre-heated 375°F. oven for approximately 1 hour until nicely browned and cooked through. Serves 6-8

more information on your questions just until Bloviatrix resumes her online reading ...

a virtual nutella goldmine of ideas right here Nutella confessions thread here at eG

eGullet thread on these cream puffs right here! enjoy the comments! oh, and the cream puffs! I envy you!

Turkey ..... lah dahnd ......La dinde Calvados: 'kalvu' dows ... I always accent the first syllable

If he is in St Louis, don't sharpen your Wusthofs just yet!

Next, you'll tell me that there is no Santa and the Tooth Fairy is just a parent trying to be sweet to their child .. illusions being dashed is not nice ... I thought the "secret sauce" was only like Thousand Island in color ... anyway, why someone would take a pristine, sweet, crisp lettuce like iceberg and not top it with blue cheese dressing is beyond my comprehension ...

Not Lactaid but I have a kosher home which will not allow for any dairy products to be used with a meat meal .. so, when I make a Thanksgiving dinner, I use Coffee Rich in place of milk or cream in my mashed potatoes and my pumpkin pie filling ... One caveat: Please be aware that Coffee Rich solves the lactose intolerant issue but makes the completed dish sweeter (bad for mashed potatoes, good for pumpkin pie)and it has a goodly amount of calories because of the oils in it ... Perhaps Lactaid works better in recipes but because it is still considered to be dairy for kosher homes, I have yet to cook with it .. their website has numerous recipes: Lactaid website recipe collection

Golden beets are wonderful! They do not taste as earthy as the red beets tend to ... the recipes for different ways of preparing golden beets are numerous and I will bring more info here shortly recent thread I began last week .. some good ideas here one of my very favorite recipes from Alice Waters

Boston Globe tonight ... Congratulations to a superb effort and to Theo Epstein, youngest general manager in baseball history! ... now my appetite for clam chowder has increased exponentially!

Penzey's website notification ..and the update

Since more and more interesting varieties of apples have become available lately, I find myself increasingly bored with the tastelessness of Red Delicious, which was mostly all that was available for a very long time .. anyone else feel likewise??

It is, of course, a fruit(y) salad so I serve it as the salad course with roasted meats and poultry ... the sweetness it contains works well against the more savoury aspects of those dishes ... probably not with anything such as fish, however ...

How about a day tripper down to Atlanta to meet him and have some really good food?

Thanks for your input, deibu! I, too, mentioned the Hampton Street Vineyard (scroll upward for their menus on the website) ...