alanamoana

did you use the red salt? it sounds great. i'm on a salt jag right now and have been eating bits of large salt crystals when i can get my hands on them .

samaki, i wish i had better knowledge of chocolate to help you out! from your web-site, your chocolates look beautiful! maybe you should just try a different recipe altogether and see if it behaves the same...sorry not much help!

in hong kong there used to be a "bankers' club" restaurant. they had the best buffet you can imagine. so many different styles of food offered and all hot and fresh. i can't spurn "private" places like that if i have a chance of getting in. conversely, if i don't know about it, i can't care one way or another. i guess i would just get moody if i knew a place existed and i knew it had good food and i couldn't get in to eat!

just made some with dried cherries and almonds (a generous dash of salt, as well). dark chocolate. taste nice and not too sweet.

what kind of raspberry filling are you using? i've just made some filled chocolates which are filled with a mixture of raspberry jam, rum, butter, glucose and dark chocolate. they aren't trying to escape the shell, but this is a rather loose ganache that is for molded chocolates.

james beard awards also! well, i'll preface this by saying that peter reinhart was my bread instructor when i went to the california culinary academy. i can't bash the guy as this was my first experience baking bread in my life. let's just say i learned a lot...and i learned a lot of what not to do... for a beginner, i would recommend anything by beth hensperger ("bread for all seasons", "bread", etc.), she's easy to read, the books are cheap and i think they cover the basics (very basic, basics). for a little more in depth with regard to european/italian bread: the il fornaio baking book is pretty good. and of course, baking with julia...from which you can move on to get books by the people who contributed to the series.

slkinsey, i loved your comments on crowd dynamics...i often wonder if anyone else ever thinks of these things at all! bourdain, of course, that's what i try to do on the subway to keep people away, or when i want a seat! but really, what i've ended up doing is deciding when i really need to go to fairway and when it really makes sense to order from fresh direct! i love them. i live on the fourth floor of a walk-up building and i'm tired of lugging up my seltzer and other heavy comestibles... anyone else have anything to say about fresh direct?

squeat, that's the best way to treat a burn...i've always thought! sailors must heal faster than cooks . i always wish that i had taken care of the burns on my hands and arms better. i have racing stripes all the way up to my elbows (practically). but the one burn i did take care of was on my face (don't want to make it harder to look at me than it already is ). i was pouring caramel sauce (freshly made) through a chinios. while watching myself doing this and knowing it was a bad idea to leave the wooden spoon in the pot, i blithely ignored the nagging feelings...in slow motion, the spoon flipped out of the pot and landed directly on my cheek! well, it did blister. i used a solarcaine (sunburn treatment with mostly aloe vera gel and a pain killer) gel and vitamin e oil on that puppy every day, every coupla hours until it disappeared. no scarring at all! of course, it is much easier to treat a wound on your face which isn't in the water or batter or chocolate or whatever all the time!

i would definitely say that you could soak the sundried tomatoes in warm water to plump them up, then chop them finely and incorporate them into the cream cheese. it sounds like it would go well with everything. also, you could even combine the two ideas (red pepper dip) by not using the bottled heinz sauce and substituting the red pepper sauce or even using the sundrieds on top somehow. anyway, i think it will be easy to come up with something different and tastier than the usual spinach-dip-in-a-bread-bowl (which i love).

from what i remember, there's a cookbook place off of union street. of course i can't remember a name or exact location but it is on a side street and has almost no storefront...i'll try to find out. anyway, i think they sell used and new but it is a tiny place with no comfy armchairs.

a good friend of mine makes what i consider a "white trash" dip, but it is really very good. i don't know the exact proportions but i ithink it is something you can make by taste: cream cheese worcestershire sauce (few drops) salt pepper lemon juice canned crab (i think one can of crab to one pound (two packages) of cream cheese would be good) heinz chili sauce (more like a cocktail sauce, not spicy at all) dried parsley (garnish) i'm working from memory here, so i could be wrong... you cream/mix the first five ingredients and spread it into an attractive serving bowl. then you put the crab meat on top then you pour the chili sauce on top of the crab sprinkle the dried parsley on top of that my friend insists that it has to sit overnight before you can eat it, but it is great on crackers immediately! everyone who has eaten it loves it, as do i...but i love anything with cream cheese. i'm sure if you're even semi-literate in the kitchen, you can do something with this general idea. also, because it uses canned crab it seems fancy but doesn't bust the wallet.

one of the topics at the imhr show was olive oil in desserts. michael laiskonis and heather carlucci both made desserts using olive oil. michael did a financier using 50% butter and 50% olive oil. heather made a chocolate mousse using olive oil. i'm not sure if both recipes are up on the thread, but check the imhrs thread to check.

i don't think you need to cover them. just a low temperature should work. also, even if you think your oven is heating evenly, it probably isn't...i turn my sheet pans often (front to back) and move them from top shelf to bottom shelf halfway through. you can't be too careful! i find that there's no difference in color on the sides or the top. it should be pretty uniform.

just checked in my swiss confectionary cookbook and they call it "soda lye" here is what they say about it: "a) commercially: soda lye is available below 5% concentration, without a poison certification (max 4.9%) b) own preparation of the lye: 1000g warm water and 50g sodium hydroxide, pure, in disc form boil the discs in water until completely dissolved. use at a temperature of approx. 40 degrees celsius" they don't say to leave it in the water while boiling, just dip and then sprinkle with pretzle salt and bake

pretzels and pretzel bread are treated in lye before baking which gives it the characteristic dark brown, slightly bitter exterior.

a good cookbook is the "il fornaio" baking book. it might not be perfect for beginners, but the recipes do work. you may need to start with some easier doughs to gain some confidence in dealing with dough, yeast, etc. for that, i'd recommend any book by beth hensperger...her books are easy to deal with and will get you started off on the right foot. il fornaio is a restaurant chain started in california. they borrowed the name from an actual bakery in florence, italy (i think it's florence). they pride themselves on being authentically italian. the food isn't terrible, but their breads are great. their baker (don't think he's with the company any more) has won many awards in competition for his baking. i can (and have) easily eat an entire loaf of ciabatta right out of the oven .

the best blowtorch i've used (of course we used them a lot in the restaurant and you may not need as heavy duty a one as we use), is usually sold under the ace hardware brand. it has an automatic lighting trigger and you can push a switch to keep it lit without keeping your finger on the trigger. it works off of regular propane tanks and i find that the best of those are the squat coleman tanks for camping. they are short and fat and therefore don't fall over as easily as the long skinny ones...much safer. the torch head is sold on its own (sometimes comes with a tank of gas in the package) and usually costs about $45 (same pricing in san francisco and new york). this one will probably last forever with home usage...we kill them in the restaurant about every six months which is still pretty respectable. i have a small butane torch (from williams sonoma or something like that) that i've never used, so i can't compare.

i ate at sushi yasuda on halloween night this year. i witnessed the haole (white) guy behind the sushi counter grating fresh wasabi root. it would seem logical to me that when he has the fresh stuff he uses it and when he doesn't he substitutes it with high quality prepared stuff. they do sell frozen, freshly ground wasabi that is rather expensive. i don't, however, know anything about customs or the legality of importing fresh wasabi. i didn't know that he didn't like the oregon stuff.

if you're looking for something fatty with good flavor, you may want to try using chicken/duck skin if your wife eats poultry. i know that pancetta and pork products give you that wonderful fatty salty flavor, but why not? a lot of recipes call for crispy poultry skin cracklins and isn't schmaltz just chicken fat? i could be wrong on that last tidbit.

try pm-ing kimo as she's (i think she's a she) from the island. i was on molokai for a couple of days and unfortunately, i don't think there's a whole lot there. it isn't as touristy as the other islands, so the food scene isn't as happening.

i have to agree with most of the posts on this thread that sushi yasuda is the best sushi that i've ever had. unfortunately, when i was living in japan (and the yen rate was 275 to the dollar) i wasn't old enough nor inquisitive enough to eat anything more than at sushi robot-type places (with the conveyor belt where they add up your different patterned plates). haven't been back lately, either. having said that, i am always happy with my meals at sushi yasuda. i was introduced to the restaurant by a japanese friend who loves the fact that it is traditional and doesn't offer all the crappy, gimmicky rolls that other places do (to use up the tempura crumbs and old fish). i really feel that for the price and quality, it would be hard to beat yasuda anywhere in the united states. yasuda-san is a great host, the sushi chefs describe the fish for you, they recommend when to dip or when not to dip (depending on whether they've brushed the fish with a special sauce or "micro-brewed" shoyu). everyone is knowledgeable. to top it off, they're japanese (except for the white guy). in this city of chinese/burger/taco/korean/sushi joints all rolled into one, it is great to go where you can just get great tasting fresh fish!! i also had my first date with my boyfriend at sy, so sentimentally it is memorable for me. he's been living in nyc for seven years and i had just moved to nyc. i suggested we go eat at a little sushi place i knew. he was nervous (as was i) and we sat there staring at the menu like a couple of goofs. yasuda-san took over and one after the other placed wonderful morsels of fish in front of us and took the time to describe everything. it was the best meal ever. my boyfriend was so impressed that i knew about this place that he had never heard of after only living in nyc for six months! okay, enough babbling... p.s. i do like sushi of gari...they have this great "tuna of gari" dish with like 10 pieces of sushi, all tuna done in different ways. it is great. now that place IS overpriced!

that's a great idea! my technique is to leave the lid on at an angle (so steam can escape)...when i want to stir, i actually turn the heat off so that it won't splatter on me, then i cover it again and turn the heat back on. what a pain! thanks for the common sense solution.

right now, haagen daz is offering a promo: one scoop purchased before 2pm for $2 (which means it costs more later in the day). i think that's a little excessive since their scoops are smaller than most other ice cream places. besides, you can buy when they're on sale, two pints for five dollars, so bux, you're right. the prices are high.

the fl serves dinner 7 nights a week and lunch on friday, saturday and sunday. i think at the level of service/quality of food they're trying to get across, that's just too hectic of a schedule. most restaurants at that level are closed at least one night a week (i don't vouch for places like daniel, etc. here in new york where there are plenty of cooks to fill the gaps). my point is, i know what it is like to try and keep up with production levels, etc. and it isn't fun. especially when you know that the restaurant is booked two/three months in advance (there are no slow nights at the fl). unfortunately as someone posted, they're really not allowed to have an "off" night at that level. a friend of mine has dined at fl on more than one occasion and her most recent meal there was also a disappointment. i can sort of agree with you that the weather and other extenuating circumstances affected the mood/tone of your meal. i'm glad your mother had such a great meal, i could never take my parents out and spend that much money on a meal without them both being completely shocked (unless of course i worked there and got a hefty discount ).

i think refrigerating them once they've cooled (well wrapped) may make them easier to slice. but i agree with the other posts that you don't need to adjust the ingredients too much. pound cake should last at least four days well wrapped.