Alex

Whoa, indeed.

Mine, too, by far. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by a surprising number of dishes.

And that certainly got one's taste buds standing at attention. No messing around at this place! IIRC, on the table was Spicy Szechuan Cabbage; Sliced Beef and Maw, Szechuan Style; and something with Pig's Ear.

How about A Mano? (restaurant site here) The tagliatelle and skate wing I had been looking forward to were off the menu when I ate there on the 10th, but my three companions and I had an excellent meal nonetheless.

I love this recipe, from Gourmet/Epicurious. It calls for Bosc pears, but I've made it successfully with Bartletts. It gives a choice of Manchego or goat cheese, but I've always used the latter.

The people you are missing are Neil (Amy Viny's husband), Amy Viny, and then me (Santo_Grace). The person next to jesteinf is my guest Steve. Also, judging from the serious look on Marisa's face, I know what she was talking so intently with Tammy about. ← Me, too, but I'm not telling...

Here's one of the four different "cocktail stations" at The Violet Hour. The ones we sampled -- all gin-based -- were Juliet & Romeo, Aviation, Martinez (precursor of the Martini), and something I can't remember (help, please). The Juliet & Romeo was by far my favorite. It recently was named one of the 20 best cocktails in America by GQ (#3 on the slide show). Toby (Alchemist) posted the recipe here on LTH, although I believe he used Hendrick's gin at TVH instead of the Beefeater specified in the recipe. Groups rotated through the stations, and Toby would stop by for an instructional session on how and why each cocktail was constructed. For example, if I remember correctly (someone correct me on this, if needed), when we sampled the J & R, we started with just the main liquids, then in succession added the mint leaf, bitters, and rose water. Clockwise from the far left, there's tammylc (Tammy); two people I recognize but am absolutely blocking out their names (help, again, please); nyokie6 and spouse (Toby and Ron); HeatherM (Heather); someone I don't recognize; and jesteinf and spouse (Josh and Marisa). I'm pretty sure this was the Martinez station. And this is how things looked after sampling all four cocktails. That's Ronnie (ronnie_suburban) on the right.

From Kerry Beal et al.: 1. how to temper chocolate 2. how to dip stuff in tempered chocolate 3. the wonderfulness of Portuguese "Saltcream" sea salt from The Spice House 4. the even greater wonderfulness of crème brûlée chocolate cups And let us not forget: 5. how three days of continual eating and drinking (and cooking) tires one out. In a happy way, of course. Oh, and I really don't like the texture of pig's ear.

The corn fungus is called huitlacoche. Great-looking hats there, guys, but I can't quite make out what's on them. Could you clue us in? (Nice picture, too, Randi, getting the Sears Tower in the background.)

For my table, clockwise from the far left: Toby - nyokie6 Ron - Toby's spouse Maggie (aka Margaret) - maggiethecat Lou - Maggie's spouse Ann - Alex's spouse Richard - Alex a friend of the family whose name I forgot -- help! Randi - CaliPoutine Kerry - Kerry Beal Steve - Fresser Please let me know if I got any of this wrong; I'll correct it ASAP. ← The woman between Richard and myself is Cathy2( on LTH forum). I'm not sure if thats her Eg name too. ← Thanks, Randi. IIRC, her real-life name is Cathy, too (Ha! -- Cathy2). I don't think she has an eG name. I'll edit my post right now.

For my table, clockwise from the far left: Toby - nyokie6 Ron - Toby's spouse Maggie (aka Margaret) - maggiethecat Lou - Maggie's spouse Ann - Alex's spouse Richard - Alex Cathy - Cathy2 (LTH) Randi - CaliPoutine Kerry - Kerry Beal Steve - Fresser Please let me know if I got any of this wrong; I'll correct it ASAP. (Edited to add Cathy's name -- see CaliPoutine's reply three posts down.)

I use a slightly tweaked, jammy-leaning recipe out of the Cooks' Illustrated Sept/Oct 2001 issue. I've yet to eat a tastier version. Make it even better by plopping it on some crispy fried polenta and topping it with some goats cheese.

I'd love to post a few pictures I took at TVH, but ImageGullet is not cooperating with the upload. Oh, well.

I'm also having a bit of a hassle uploading the two decent pictures I took at TVH , so I'll do that when I get home. It's been a good time so far. There was a surfeit of wonderful food and beverages at the group dinner last night, of course, especially, imo, the desserts. A big thank you again to elfin and Lady T for their contributions of wonderful after-diner potables. It's 11:30 a.m. and I'm finally able to think about food without feeling woozy.

If you're planning on using CTA trains (aka "The El" or "The L") over the weekend, especially the Red Line, it would be good to read this construction information first.

Kerry, I checked and I unfortunately do not have 6 or 7" cake pans. Sorry. ← Ok then, I guess Alex is still hauling them along. Thanks Alex! ← You're welcome. No problem at all. Ronnie mentioned that there's a stand mixer at the church, so whipped cream certainly is an option. Kerry, is one blowtorch enough or should I bring mine, too? Randi, as Grace mentioned, Whole Foods undoubtedly will have an extensive selection of ice creams and gelati.

Is that the upgrade from the 39¢ pork?

I've been looking forward to a BBQed or smoked meat (or salmon) product from you for the past five years, ever since the first Gathering. This one'll be barely worth attending otherwise.

That's great, Tammy. We'll still need a way of knowing if the train is simply too late, even with a ride from the hotel. Perhaps you and Kerry could decide on the absolute latest possible arrival time, then the participants could call Amtrak (1-800-USA-RAIL, train #365) to check. ← Totally OT, but how can a train be 2.5 hrs late??? Its not like there is traffic. Oy, its going to be a long day ← The most consistent contributor is that Amtrak doesn't own the track in Michigan, so freight trains get priority. Sometimes the train has to travel slower than anticipated or simply stop for a while. There also can be mechanical problems with crossing gates, track-switching mechanisms, control lights, etc. Remind me to tell you the story of when the crew hit their limit about ten minutes out of New Buffalo, and we had to wait on the train for a new crew to arrive from Chicago.

That's great, Tammy. We'll still need a way of knowing if the train is simply too late, even with a ride from the hotel. Perhaps you and Kerry could decide on the absolute latest possible arrival time, then the participants could call Amtrak (1-800-USA-RAIL, train #365) to check.

Here's a chocolate workshop thought or two. I know we were aiming for a ~3-hour workshop, starting at about 2:00. However, there are a couple of potential flies in the ointment (or the ganache). As I mentioned upthread, Kerry Beal's train, scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 11:14 a.m. often is significantly late. For example, over the past six days it was late by 1 hr, 34 min; 11 min; 1 hr 58 min; 2 hr 30 min; 42 min; 1 hr 4 min. There also are the variables of 1) whether Kerry needs to check in to the hotel first or is willing take the train directly from Union Station to Beth's house, if necessary, and/or 2) whether Kerry can get a ride with someone from the hotel or if she'll need to make her way back to Union Station or the Green Line. It's not far from Union Station to the Hyatt, but it's about an $8-10 cab ride each way. Kerry, if you take the Metra commuter train from Union Station without first going to the hotel (and Randi is willing to take your luggage to the hotel), you can arrive up to about 2 hrs, 10 min late and still make the 1:40 Metra, arriving Mont Clare at 2:00, then about a 10-minute walk to Beth's. If you need to go to the hotel first, you probably can arrive up to about an hour and a half late. If you're willing to perhaps do some last-minute rushing, it would be appreciated, of course, but I for one would understand if there's too much risk and you thought it best to postpone the workshop for another Gathering. If you're willing to give it a shot, the other issue is how do we know if the workshop is still on or if it's canceled because the train was just too late? My thought is that by the time the train is scheduled to depart Niles -- the last station before Chicago -- at 9:25 CDT, the conductor should have a reasonably good idea of the arrival time into Chicago. If it's going to be too late, perhaps you could call Beth, then whoever's attending could call and check. Beth, would that be OK by you? The other potential fly is that with our starting the workshop at about 2:15, the most likely return train departs Mont Clare at 5:05, which means leaving the house no later than 5:50, which means it'll be about a 2½-hour workshop. Kerry, is that enough time? I hope this all made sense. Please add your own thoughts and ideas.

Thanks, Grace. That would be extremely helpful. We'll need to be extremely diligent about locking the car after we drop off the produce. If we leave it open, when we return it's likely we'd find it filled to the roof with zucchini.

Some folks might have discussed this privately, but there's been no public discussion of a post-shopping rendezvous or a lunch venue. Based on history, this probably won't be decided until we meet at the market at 9, or perhaps the night before at LSC if all of the shoppers are there. If you like, we can get your phone number and call you when we decide. However, given the variety of easily accessible restaurants in Evanston (see posts 451 and 585), my guess is that we may or may not meet up after shopping, but may well follow diverse paths for coffee/lunch. In a related issue, I certainly don't plan on schlepping a couple of watermelons and a peck or two of tomatoes around Evanston. The market closes at 1:00, so my first thought is to ask the vendors if they can hold onto my purchases until 12:30-12:45, if they're not leaving early. Any other thoughts?

I'll be shopping at the Farmers' Market. I'll also be the Evanston coordinator for whatever isn't taken care of at LSC the night before.

I have two 5", one 6", and one 7" springform pans. If someone local could provide the pans, that would be easier, of course, but otherwise I'd be willing to bring mine. Lemme know...