mukki

I've only had it once, at St. John's in London, but it was delicious. I'll try to find one of our photos and upload it. Perhaps Fergus Henderson has a recipe in one of his cookbooks?

Williams Sonoma stores have them.

I saw these made on Martha Stewart's show a few years ago. Here is the recipe.

I baked 1/2 a recipe of the Date Cake with Toffee Sauce which is basically a sticky toffee pudding. The cake wasn't too sweet (to compensate for the toffee sauce) and had a nice texture. I didn't notice the impact of the espresso powder and Grand Marnier. I've found that this type of cake is mostly about the toffee sauce and Kate's version was better than others I've made -- very buttery and it soaked into the cake nicely. I'd definitely make this again.

Bellwether Farms in Sonoma makes fromage blanc as well. I'm sure it has a wider distribution in Northern California, but here in the southern part of the state, it's available at Whole Foods and Bristol Farms.

I LOVE that cake -- we eat it for breakfast with applesauce!

It looks like Dan Leader's new bread book Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Bread's from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers contains a number of German bread recipes. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, though, so I can't provide any details.

I made the banana cream last night and served it with chocolate cookies that I had on hand rather than the recommended toffee. Delicious -- like banana pudding but entirely smooth (it gets pressed through a sieve) and more elegant. I think it would be wonderful in her recommended chocolate cookie crust with a whipped cream topping.

I've been trying to get one of these for almost 2 years now. I've had an order in at Sumeet since Feb. 06, but everytime I call, I'm told they'll have them in a few months. Very frustrating. I'm thinking about checking out the shops in Little India (in Artesia, CA) to see if any have leftover stock.

Ahh... I was wondering how the huitlacoche story was going to turn out! Speaking of green corn, I planted some Oaxacan green dent corn (from Seeds of Change) this summer to make green corn tamales, but the plants didn't get enough sun. I'll have to try again next year. Kalypso, thanks so much for doing this ~ it's been great so far and I look forward to the rest.

I just ordered some browning from Kalustyan's after your note about homemade browning just not doing it. I also bought some "mixed essence" which is listed in Saveur's recipe; I'm not sure if I'll use it, but the flavor sounded good (vanilla, almond and pear). I put my fruit in to soak in July, so I'll probably bake mine in late November.

Just a thought -- does your toffee recipe contain any baking soda? I use David Lebovitz's buttercrunch toffee recipe (which is the best I've had) and it doesn't stick to your teeth. The small bit of soda aerates the candy which makes it a lighter and less sticky.

I missed the carrot cake macaron, but I did try a chai macaron last week, which I thought was great. It was a bit firm and chewy, but I didn't find it to be a problem. Other seasonal flavors include Concord grape and mint. Linzer cookie and the "nutter butter" were good, but I'm beginning to think I've lost any zeal for pb cookies. My real love at Bouchon remains the TKO/oreo.

What was better? ← Just the fact that it's an actual meat counter where everything isn't pre-packaged and starting to decompose in it's own juices. I find it a bit gross unwrapping those chickens that have been sealed in plastic for who knows how long. Plus, WF seems to put a bit more emphasis on organic/humane and that's great with me, even if it's not perfect.

I had lunch today at JG. The makeover is fine (banquettes are quite comfortable), but I prefer the overall effect of the old style -- a bit warmer and the room didn't look quite as small. We had several of the same dishes as markk. The Foie Gras Brulee with Slowly Roasted Strawberries and Aged Balsamic has to be my favorite rendition of the JG foie gras dish yet. The strawberries were perfect with the foie, which I wasn't expecting. Sea Trout Sashimi Draped in Trout Eggs, Lemon, Dill and Horseradish was great, as always, but I much preferred my foie this time. The Green Asparagus with Morels and Asparagus Juice was fantastic -- the hollandaise and asparagus juice were a delightful combo. I was told that today was the last day for morels, though, so this won't be available again for a while. I highly recommend it. After the foie gras and the asparagus, the Charred Corn Ravioli, Cherry Tomato Salad and Basil Fondue wasn't quite as amazing as I had hoped, though the ravioli corn filling -- sweet and silky -- was very tasty. I know a lot of people complain about the macarons, but I enjoy them everytime.

Well, count me in the pleased camp about the move. The old store was just too inconvenient for me to shop there. As others have noted, I think the parking/entrances suck. I won't be shopping there during peak times. (And the piped-in parking lot music -- ugh). Too many prepared foods, most of which are not worth buying. 6/7 items at the prepared foods counter were undersalted and completely lacking in flavor. Pepperoni pizza was too greasy with a too sweet sauce. I did kind of like the pizza bianca (w/ ricotta and roasted garlic). Meat department didn't thrill me, but it's so much better than buying meat at Gelson's or TJ's that I'm fine with it. Organic baby back ribs were great and I've got a dry-aged steak in the fridge I'll be cooking today. Ice cream section has some interesting ones -- Vosges, Palapa Azul and a kulfi line. The wine bar is a bit lame, but they do have a list of first growth Bordeaux vintages that you can order by the ounce. Not a bad way to try them.

Some favorites (and others I've tried) to satisfy a sweets craving: Penzey's mint hot chocolate mix Pistachio cream from Sicily (I can't even buy this stuff anymore because I end up eating it from the fridge one spoonful at a time) Creme fraiche mixed with sugar Maple cream Creme de calissons Raw oats mixed with honey, mace and hazelnut oil And when I was younger... canned chocolate frosting (good with graham crackers)

Has anyone used a refractometer when making sorbets? From the Sweet Napa website: It's clearly not necessary, but sounds like it does away with the guessing game on how much sugar to use.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be back in Boston at the end of October and will have to see what's offered around that time. The cocktails at No. 9 Park are great; that class would have been interesting since every one of the 5 cocktails I've ever made has sucked. On another note, Ana Sortun's cookbook is a favorite -- her pistachio beef kebabs are always a hit (though I always double the spices).

For the first time today, I saw a new and very welcomed Trader Joe's product: Artisan Puff Pastry. An all-butter puff pastry, the only ingredients are flour, butter, salt, sugar and water. It's priced at $4.99 and comes with two sheets of puff pastry. I'm pretty excited about this development as the only all-butter puff (Dufour's) I can find is a 45-minute drive away and is about twice the price. This must be the puff pastry jgarner53 mentioned in her blog a few months ago and the strawberry tart pictured on the cover must be hers!

Nancy Silverton has a recipe for "Jewish-Chinese Almond Cookies" (aka the ones in Jewish delis with a big chocolate drop in the middle) in her Pastries book, but she added oats and skipped the chocolate... so they're not exactly the same cookie. Anyway, she says that the flavor and crunchy texture come from baker's ammonia.

I made the potato loaf this morning and just had a slice with some tomatoes from the garden, mayo and salt and pepper --- delicious! I've never had the bread from the bakery, but mine is very flavorful with a light crumb. The crust did go soft very quickly. Also, my loaf is pretty ugly -- she has you flour the last bit of dough when rolling it up to prevent the seam from completely sealing, but mine opened too much in the oven. I also made Olivia's chocolate chip cookies earlier this week, but they looked nothing like Ling's. Mine were completely flat. I'm thinking it was probably the organic shortening (Spectrum brand, I think), which is very very soft (especially in the heat we're having -- who knows why I'm baking bread and cookies when it's 90 degrees outside). The dough was practically melting when I spooned it onto the baking sheet even after chilling it for several hours. Flavor was great, though. I'll try these again with regular shortening (now that it's trans-fat free). I have the old edition of the book and haven't seen any copies of the new one in bookstores or my library. Does the new "most requested recipes" chapter have any interesting recipes?

Weiner tongs?! I still have a pair -- those were the only type of tongs in my mom's kitchen. Amen to several sets of measuring cups. I finally got another set this year. I have no idea why it took me so long. Having several sets of measuring spoons is a relief, too. I confess that I almost bought a tomato knife until the Williams Sonoma sales lady told me I didn't need it. It was so pretty, though, and red just like a tomato. I love looking through the catalogue, but, yeah, some of those new items they come up with -- avocado pitter indeed. My garlic peeler used to get a lot of use, but not so much anymore. If I had to peel a bunch of cloves, I'd probably pull in out of the drawer again. Canning tongs are definitely a necessity. I learned that the hard way. Most useless item I can remember buying is the corn zipper. It made me very angry.

There are a lot of books in a similar format -- I've often found them in the "food literature" section of a bookstore. Here are a few that are mostly biographical: Ruth Riechl's books Madhur Jaffrey's Climbing the Mango Tree: A Memoir of a Childhood in India Memoirs of a Lost Egypt Katish: Our Russian Cook Clementine in the Kitchen On Rue Tatin

Chuao has got some new frappe flavors, some based on their chocolates. From the newsletter: No. 73 -- for the true dark chocolate junky Zero -- white chocolate Melao -- caramel and chocolate Spicy -- with a kick Zen -- green tea, ginger and chocolate Cambur -- banana-caramel and chocolate I tried the Melao and liked it quite a bit -- tasted very much like the actual caramel inside the bonbon. I'll have to try the Zen and Cambur next. I've had the Zero and enjoyed it as well, even though I'm not a huge white chocolate fan. The only problem was that the chilled chocolate coated my tongue, but it wasn't that bothersome.