cheeseandchocolate

When I was little, my father made Bisquick (damn fine, for a mix) pancakes for me every Saturday morning. He used a round, flat, cast-aluminum pancake pan, with seven shallow round wells to hold the batter in a perfect circle. Being one of those naturally neat-and-tidy kids, those little identical circular pancakes really appealed to me. I'd eat them smothered in maple syrup--only the good stuff. At any rate, I saw the same type of pan for sale in a recent Williams-Sonoma catalog and requested it from my mom (my dad died a year ago) for Christmas. I've used it at least four times in the three or so weeks since she gave it to me, and my pancakes are light, cakey, and tall. Granted, it could be that I, like some others here, make mine with buckwheat and buttermilk--and then let the batter rest for an hour, so the batter itself is thick and full of air bubbles. But I think there's something about the pancake-pan wells that confines the batter and makes it puff even higher. Mmmmm!

Friday night comfort-food breakfast-for-dinner: Long-cooked stoneground grits (from Hoppin' Johns in SC--I read about 'em in Saveur a few months ago) cooked with butter, water, milk, and a bit of cream Sunnyside-up egg on lightly sauteed chard and spinach And for dessert: Blueberry buckwheat pancakes (made in my beautiful new pancake pan!) with maple syrup

While we're on the topic... Milk chocolate makes the inside of my throat itch. It's a weird burny itch. Could it be the high level of sugar? Dark chocolate, thank goodness, goes down just fine. Actually, it goes down too easily. Mmmm.

My favorite of the traditional bunch can be found at Laduree (or at least, it was there in 2001 and 2002). It's a traditional puff pastry round, but they've mixed moist hunks of dried apricot into the almond filling. Mmmmm. I was also really pleased with the filling-to-crust ratio; Laduree's galette stands fairly tall, with plenty of filling. And I LOVED the tiny ceramic macarons they use as feves! Mine was pistachio green, with "Laduree" written in script across the top. Now that I'm back in the States, I have to make my own galette des rois. But the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's "Paris Sweets" is fairly uncomplicated (assuming you, like me, buy Dufour's excellent puff pastry rather than making your own) and deeeeelish.

I loved cooking for one! I lived alone for two+ years in both Paris and Seattle before my boyfriend moved in with me last June, and it was actually hard for me to adjust to cooking for two. I've always frequented local farmers' markets (in season), and I used to cook a couple of big dishes on the weekend to last me through the week, along with a last-minute add-on or two each evening. I'd have ratatouille (with a last-minute fried egg on top or lentil salad on the side, a hunk of fresh bread, and maybe a salad), or a hearty soup with good bread and cheese. I still do roughly the same type of meal planning, but now I wind up doing additional cooking midweek too, since we quickly plow through what I've made on the weekend. I do love cooking for two now that I'm used to it, and the added effort is more than returned by my boyfriend's appreciation for a good meal at home with me. That said, I did love cooking only for myself and never found it too much effort--but that could be due to the fact that I rarely did new dishes each night and often (especially in Paris) had dinners consisting only of a couple simple (braised, roasted, salad-ed) vegetable preparations along with bread and cheese. And being a big sandwich eater, lunch has never been a bother--plus, I enjoy scheming up creative (vegetarian) sandwiches. I rarely have food go bad because I can't eat it fast enough--but then again, I've generally eaten out rarely, so I always turn the odds and ends of raw materials from various recipes into another something to eat in the following days. That said, Kristin, I'm not cooking for three kids, so that keeps things simple! And I've now got a Whole Foods Market only three blocks away, so when the farmers' market is off for the season or when I need more of a certain dry good, I just hit the pavement.

Tonight: Leftovers from last night's dinner, a little belated-birthday feast for my boyfriend-- --Black-eyed peas masala (from Saveur, some months back) --Saag paneer (another Saveur recipe, from quite a while ago. I made my own paneer for the first time and was amazed by how easy it was! I was positively tingling with glee! "I made this!" ) --Cinnamon basmati rice with golden raisins And for dessert, double chocolate layer cake with Richmond chocolate frosting and raspberry preserves between the layers I ate too much, but how could I not?

I'm so glad to hear someone mention Au Levain du Marais! Amidst all the talk of Poilane, Kayser, Poujauran, etc., this wonderful little spot tends to get overlooked...but then again, with the lines already out the door, maybe this is a good thing! When I was living and working in Paris in 2001 and 2002, my apartment was on rue du Chemin Vert, just off blvd Richard Lenoir, and I happily took a daily trip over to Au Levain du Marais for their boules de campagne, flutes de campagne, and the occasional traditional baguette. And you're right--their pains au chocolat are sublime, especially around 4pm, when they're warm from the oven and flying out of the case into the hands of schoolchildren. I went through phases in my sweets consumption there, with my favorites alternating from their pain de Genes to the chausson aux pommes, coffee eclair, little cookie cups filled with mousse au chocolat, little lemon curd tartelettes, and on and on. Oh, and there's another outpost of Au Levain du Marais on the rue de Turenne, just one block up from rue des Francs-Bourgeois. Look for the burgundy awning. Its days of closure are different from the one on blvd Beaumarchais.

We did a vegetarian Thanksgiving this year, and although it was all delicious, I'd say the biggest hit was Shirley Corriher's "Touch of Grace" biscuits. I'd heard so much about them and finally got around to making 'em myself...WOW. We had a few left, and they even reheated beautifully the next day. Mmmm. Again, WOW. We also made a wonderful, spicy, rich cranberry linzer tart with toasted almonds and orange zest in the crust. Topped with loosely whipped cream, of course.

Mmm...Colston Bassett Stilton, Langres, a perfectly ripe St. Maure...and I'm sure there are more. I can't possibly narrow it down to only THREE!

Friday dinner: Mujadara (we've been eating a lot of this lately...mmmm!) Braised cabbage with apples and cider vinegar (one of my winter favorites) Roasted delicata squash, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with fleur de sel And 70% dark chocolate, with a glass of milk SethG, where did you get the Steingarten recipe? And the Torres one too?

I miss the apples I ate in France... Boskoop (and I see I'm not alone in this!) Reine des Reinettes (although they could tend to a bit mushy sometimes in shops) Back in the Seattle, I do like a good Pink Lady or the local Ginger Golds. I also picked up some delicious apples at an orchard stand outside of Boston--Russets. They reminded me of the "Canada" apples I used to buy in France when I couldn't get the aforementioned two.

Oops! Forgot to mention dessert choices: Profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup Frozen lemon mousse Warm apple tarte with vanilla ice cream Plate of three cheeses Alas, no warm chocolate cake. I would have been allllllll over that.

We *must* have gotten leftovers. The crust was definitely light and crisp, but the interior crumb was...crumbly. There was no nice, fresh elasticity to it at all. And one thing I forgot to add about the bread tray itself: it was lined with a white folded napkin, with the four slices they gave us covering only about 1/3 of the napkin, and the other 2/3 oddly covered with crumbs upon arrival. My first thought was that they'd brought us a tray and leftover bread recently cleared from someone else's table. The olive oil and hummus dishes were fresh, though. Hmmmm.

Alright! A Brasa report: My friend Keaton and I hit Brasa tonight for a little Sunday-night-catch-up dinner and thoroughly enjoyed it. We arrived a few minutes late (grrrrr...parking in Belltown) and were promptly seated on the upper level, overlooking the main area, bar, and entrance below. It was a nice spot, especially when it came time to choose our dishes from the $25 menu--we peered over the railing and scoped out the dishes on the tables below, trying to identify what was what. Our waiter was quite young and very nice. We both wanted glasses of white, and he very knowledgeably offered his suggestions. Keats wound up having a very crisp, citrus-y wine (can't remember the varietal, though, nor the producer), and I had a Viognier, which was quite spicy and apple-y. Mmmm. We had a terrible time choosing what to order--we'd thoroughly studied the menu on nwsource.com, but it had changed. Curses! Tonight's appetizer options were as follows: Curried mussels with coconut and cilantro Butternut squash risotto with sage and crumbled bacon "Wild" greens salad with sherry/shallot vinaigrette Hummus with house-made pita Spinach salad with goat cheese, shitakes, something else, and sherry/shallot vinaigrette And entree choices: Squab with chocolate risotto and dried cherries Fish stew with saffron broth (today's fish were mussels, clams, and shrimp) Petit filet with bleu cheese butter, mashed potatoes, and some kind of demiglace Ravioli with aged Fontina Val D'Aosta and porcini jus Lamb curry with minted yogurt, Moroccan flatbread, and saffron potatoes We were seriously torn and asked if there was anything we really shouldn't miss on the menu. Our waiter steered us towards the lamb curry with minted yogurt and Moroccan flat bread, although he did say that the filet was awfully good. The squab sounded interesting, if not a bit odd. He said that the risotto was "quite chocolatey" and that it cut the "oilyness" of the squab nicely. I had a hard time imagining the flavor myself, but then again, I wasn't tempted by the squab to start with. Keats wound up ordering the butternut squash risotto and the lamb curry, and I went for the simple-but-refreshing-sounding green salad and then the lamb. We had just enough time to enjoy our wine before the apps came out, along with a tray of four meager slices of bread, a small dish of olive oil, and a smaller dish of hummus and kalamata olives. The bread (two slices olive, two white) was quite dry and worthless, but the oil had a nice deep flavor, and the hummus was smooth and just right in terms of tahini, lemon, and garlic. My salad was perfectly dressed and tangy with sherry vinegar, and Keaton's risotto had a lovely consistency--not too runny, not too firm. They seemed to have throw into it some "warm" spices, maybe clove, cinnamon? The risotto was a bit pumpkin pie-y for my tastes, but the bacon and hint of Parmegiano Reggiano cut the sweetness and filled out the flavor. The entrees arrived with just enough of a time lapse after our appetizer plates had been cleared, and they were deeeeeeeelicious. The curry flavor was not very pronounced, but the lamb was tender and earthy, tucked in a lovely, thick, meaty stew-type sauce. We each got a little bit of carrot and a couple small onions along with the potatoes; altogether, the dish seemed like a livened-up pot roast of sorts. A tasty pot roast, at that. No complaints here. I needed some tender meat and a warming sauce on a blustery night like this one. Mmmm, mmmm! Oh, and the Moroccan flat bread that came with was also delicious, chewy and just the right thickness to hold together as I dragged it through the meaty sauce. Mmmm, mmm! We were happy girls. Dessert was also very good, but not outstanding. I had a warm individual apple tarte with vanilla ice cream, and Keats had a slice of frozen lemon mousse in what looked like creme anglaise (I didn't taste it, though...I had my head in the trough). My tarte had a wonderful buttery flaky crust, and the ice cream tasted homemade, or at least damn close. It was intensely creamy and had flecks of vanilla bean throughout. The tarte also looked wonderfully rustic, which always pleases me, aesthetically. I don't know; I just like things to look as though they were made with human hands, not with all kinds of tubes and such. Keaton thorougly enjoyed her mousse, although I would have been disappointed, myself. I just don't like slabs of things for dessert, whether we're talking mousse or torte or whathaveyou. But she said it was delicious and refreshing, and like I said, I had my head in the trough of tarte. All in all, two three-course menus and two glasses of wine: $68.04, before tip. I think we wound up paying $80 total. Very, very satisfying. I'm trying to get over feeling overly stuffed. Ahhhhhh. Mmmmmm.

Braised, definitely. There's a very, very tasty recipe in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Mmmmmm. I also like it sliced very thinly (yes, I suppose you could say "shaved") in a butter-lettuce salad with sliced kalamata olives and a lemon-EVOO-Dijon vinaigrette. Mmmmmmm. But braised fennel is really, really

Another night of picnicking on leftovers at my desk at work (my default dinner table on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays). I usually lug a sizeable (sp?) brown bag with me, complete with silverware, foil for warming my hunk of bread in the toaster oven here, and sometimes--when I feel a real need to reproduce the aesthetic pleasures of eating at a *real* table--one of our nice plates from home to spoon my Tupperwared goodies onto. My boyfriend thinks this is hilarious. Mollie Katzen's Dreamy White Beans (with EVOO drizzled on top before reheating) Green salad with quartered baby beets and lemon-tahini dressing Molly O'Neill's 6-hour roasted tomatoes Pain au levain And when I get home, I'll have some 70% dark chocolate and a glass of milk. Just realized this was a triple-Molly/ie meal; I'm the third! Well gooooodness me.

Girl Chow, how was Brasa? Did you make it there last weekend? A girlfriend and I are planning on heading there this Sunday night...that menu does indeed look *good.*

Had a couple of friends to dinner, and I made my first souffle! I was quite unreasonably worried about making the bechamel (what if it's lumpy? what if it scorches? what if--gasp!--if if if?) , but it was sooo easy and so beautifully smooth. I used the spinach souffle recipe from Julia's "The Way to Cook," with some delicious cave-aged gruyere folded in. Mmmm. So, the full menu: Spinach souffle Oven-roasted tomatoes (six hours at 200, with kosher salt and ground coriander) Green salad with roasted baby beets, shaved fennel, and lemon vinaigrette La Brea's Organic Wheat bread (from Whole Foods, not bad. Heartier than white bread, but less hardcore rustic than the pain au levain we usually go for) And for dessert: Marian Burros' Plum Torte, with vanilla ice cream (we all had seconds--and polished off the entire torte)

Simple Monday night dinner: Warm lentilles du Puy with sherry vinaigrette Ratatouille Pain au levain with a little bit of Stilton and a bit of Peilloute 77% dark chocolate, graham crackers, and milk

Half a culatello sandwich with peppers, onions, and various sauces from Salumi, last night's Food Network star. Also had some leftover roasted cauliflower at home. I'll have the other half of the sandwich later today, since the last time I ate the whole sandwich in a sitting I wanted to die. Also tasted the much-talked-about lamb prosciutto, which was indeed heavenly--but I worried that an entire sandwich of it would make me feel like I'd been going at a salt lick.

Would you be willing to share your recipe?

Ooooh! I think I've got it! I think that "plum-shaped thing" you've been enjoying is a prune plum, also known as a French prune plum, an Italian prune plum, a sugar plum, or a quetsche (this last if you're in France). Does anyone concur? Do I win a prize?

Sunday dinner: Spinach-mushroom quiche (with all-butter crust, of course) Steamed leeks with vinaigrette "Rustic" bread (storebought, and that's what it was called) Boca Negra (from "Baking with Julia"--3/4 lb bittersweet chocolate + 2 sticks butter + 1/2 c bourbon + 5 eggs in an 8-inch cake pan = )

We went to Udupi Palace for dinner last night, and it was hands-down the best Indian meal I've had since moving here a year ago. Granted, it's hard to compare between different regional styles of Indian cuisine, but in terms of delicacy of seasonings alone, Udupi Palace is leagues beyond what I've tried here (Taste of India, Bengal Tiger, Maharaja, Moghul Palace). Although I'm anxious to try idly and its accompanying chutneys, we kids on a budget moved straight to entrees. We ordered a thali (platter with small servings of nine savory dishes and one dessert, plus rice, raita, "yogurt rice," a pappadam-ish wafer, a tortilla-ish pancake, and a small dish of ghee) and a gobi ______ dosa (can't remember the middle word--somthing like "chettidad") and planned to share both. The thali was beautifully presented and more than ample, and last night's special savory dishes were lemon rice (very subtle and moist), beets (cubed and tossed with--maybe?--a few split peas, lightly and aromatically seasoned), pumpkin curry, some sort of rice/lentil porridge that was *heavenly* and reminded us of grits , and chana masala (the best rendition of this I've ever had: chickpeas in more of a broth than a sauce, delicately seasoned with garam masala, redolent of cinnamon). In addition, there was sambhar, a thin but very flavorful yellow dal, and some sort of broth. The dessert was a warm rice pudding with golden raisins and cashews--not too sweet, not too thick, just delicious. All for $7.95! The dosa was also exceptional, very light, crispy, and toasty-tasting. It was folded in half with a generous layer of spicy cauliflower inside, and on the side were bowls of sambhar and a green, yogurty sauce. I ate it both with my hands and with a fork, tearing off pieces of dosa, dolloping some cauliflower inside, drizzling on the green sauce or raita, and folding it up like a tiny taco. It was absolutely delicious and, in keeping with the rest of our dishes, very delicate. And only $6.75, if memory serves. My only complaint is that the cauliflower was a touch oily, but nothing at all like the oily food I've had at Taste of India (which, incidentally, I want to love, since it's so close to my house and has such delicious naan...but the dishes are just swimming with ghee/oil/margarine/whatever they use!). And the service was very attentive--our waiter even came back a few minutes after bringing us our food and explained each dish to us. The place was nearly full when we left (around 8:30pm)--many Indian families. Needless to say, we'll be going back often.

This made me chuckle...I am David's little sister, and I quite recently introduced him to eGullet! Ooooh, he owes me...