fredbram

I like chanterelles in almost any form. One of my favorites is chicken poached with chanterelles, cream, shallots, white wine and thyme. My wife, however, finds them bland in this type of preparation. Last week, I tossed some in olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme and broiled them under a hot broiler for 6-10 minutes. Cooked this way, they seem to retain all their flavor, and it intensifies because no liquid is released from them. I have trouble keeping them from exuding moisture when sauteeing, and this worked to keep the moisture in. She liked them.

The buy-one-get-one-free dungeness crab for $20? I don't know if that's what it was, but as we were walking out we passed a single guy with a VERY large platter of crab in front of him.

We dined at Ocean City last night. It is not extremely inviting or neat at first impression, but we persevered. We sat down and perused the menu while watching olympic volleyball (real volleyball, not the bikini beach variety) on Telemundo in spanish. At the last minute we noticed the special board and ordered Salt & Pepper Beef Shortribs off of it, as well as Squid with XO sauce and Seafood Chow Fun (dry) from the regular menu. The waitress was actually very personable and extremely communicative (for a chinese server talking to caucasians). I'm not sure if I've got the exact title of the beef dish, but I am sure that it was delicious. Slices, bone and all, of what I don't think were actually short ribs, braised with garlic, ginger, salt and black pepper, then stir fried with onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Or maybe they weren't braised first, I don't know. The Chow Fun had actual seafood in it--big pieces of scallop, large shrimp and fingers of what seemed to be catfish maybe--with thick noodles, bean sprouts, onions. The squid was the weakest dish and it wasn't bad, just a little boring. The food was a little like the dining room; a bit sloppy and haphazard but delicious. We'll return. The crab looked very promising.

You all have me intrigued--I just made a reservation for Labor Day weekend.

I grow the Italian pole variety (super marconi) of green romanos and they are great. They are better than the bush types--longer, sweeter, they stay tender and sweet at a larger size. I am not familiar with yellow romanos, although I'd be surprised if they were a lot different, however yellow wax beans are quite a bit different from green beans so who knows? And Judy Rogers of Zuni certainly knows her stuff, so who am I to dispute. IMHO, romanos can be quick cooked like any good fresh bean, but are also uniquely suitable for slow cooking like in the Zuni recipe which I've made and is delicious, although I don't think I cooked them quite as long as she recommends. I just cooked some southern indian style last weekend with spices and fresh grated coconut--they were wonderful. Tonight I think I'll roast them in EVOO with garlic, salt and redpepper flakes.

And unfortunately, it may not happen with these folks, but it will happen with someone eventually--you'll be left holding the bag when they go out of business. A lot of times that stomping and huffing is because they don't know how to run a business themselves very well and they don't have enough money and they're scared because they don't know what to do and so they get mad. A natural human reaction. My approach is to try to reach them at a time when they are not in the middle of picking up, in private--not in public where they might get embarrassed, and appeal to their sympathy. "I know it's difficult running a small business, I go through the same thing, but we are so small ourselves that we just can't afford to have anyone owe us much". Not just you, so they don't feel singled out. What can we do to work this out? You could also take a much tougher approach, very legitimately, but what the heck, there's always time to step up to the tougher approach if the soft approach doesn't work. And don't be afraid to expect them to pay on a regular schedule that you have both agreed upon--they aren't doing you any favors by buying from you if they won't pay.

If I were to guess, I'd say that you understand their website just fine, but it isn't working so good. It didn't work any better for me.

I entered this conversation in the spirit that you did Mongo--curiousity and respect because I know how much work it can be to teach a cooking class--not, god forbid, because I had any interest in taking it on. My wife took classes from Lynn Rosetto Kaspar many years ago in Denver--she has managed to parlay that start into a bona fide career in the food field, cookbooks and a radio show among other things. But, I'd be willing to bet that she found herself working for a pretty low hourly wage when she was doing cooking classes.

I have no experience with teaching indian cooking, although as a former chef, I have taught a few cooking classes here and there. It has always been my impression that teaching cooking, outside of professional, degree-issuing culinary schools is generally not a lucrative economic venture. It seems that more often it is a labor of love, a portion of a multi-faceted food career, or a means to promote cookbooks, restaurants or the other parts of that multi-faceted career. At least in Denver I don't think anyone makes much of a living teaching cooking classes to home cooks. Does this seem a fair assessment?

I'm one of those people, and Icon Burger is close to home. But you've already admitted that you wouldn't even cross the street for a good burger, haven't ya?

Tacos of corn smut and bright green sausages at a roadside stand outside of Mexico City. Green papaya salad made from a green papaya that they plucked out of the tree over our heads on the Mekong river in northern Thailand. Gnocchi with blue cheese sauce at a trattoria outside Bologna where we watched the old women sitting in the kitchen making the gnocchi as walked in. It was all that they were serving that day. A meal at Georges Blanc in burgundy in 1984. The standard against which all high end tasting menus have been measured since then--and none have met. Perfection and innovation without attitude or overreaching. I can still taste the amuse bouche of foie gras, tomato coulis and quail egg as I write this.

OK, even I think it would be unrealistic to offer two types of fries at a simple burger restaurant. But, I do think that blanching the fries makes a big difference. Doesn't the double cooking method improve even frozen fries?

OK, it's not all desert, but this is my dilemma. I drink espresso and milk drinks exclusively, as far as coffee goes--I was not a coffee drinker until I discovered good espresso, so I just haven't ever drunk "cup of joe" for my fix. I am heading out on a road trip through mostly small towns in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah and I'm trying to figure out if there is a relatively uninvolved way of producing something I want to drink in the morning, assuming that I have access to a kitchenette most mornings. Those Turkish metal pot thingies? Or something else?

Perhaps it depends on what dishes you are making? From following your foodblog and some of your other posts, I don't recall you using curry powder or other spice blends (with the exception of garam masala) much Mongo. Are there some dishes that you use curry powder for and others that are prepared from particular amounts of particular spices? In my indian cooking (rudimentary though it is) most of the dishes I make call for custom quantities and combinations--cumin, coriander and fenugreek in this one, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon and cumin in another etc. And different proportions of each. I don't have anything against curry powder, but I usually want more control than it offers.

We always mangia naan-zaa for kwanza.

We had some discussion about just these pastries on this Pastry Forum Thread. The upshot seems to be that they are not easy to make, in Portugal no-one makes them because they can buy them, and we are waiting for David Leite to publish his research on them. They are quite unique and delicious.

A shop with pastries of your quality and variety does not exist in Denver. It looks great.

We tried the Proto's in Denver last night. Had the special of the night which was sausage, green pepper, basil and mozzerella. The pizza was pretty good, but for me the crust does not have enough chew. I like a thin crust, but theirs is a little too crackery for my taste. The sausage was not as good quality as it could have been, and the green peppers were kinda washed out from being kind of stewed ahead of time. IMHO, Parisi's is much better.

They are tomato hornworms. What we do is hunt them, and remove them from the plants. This works fine, except that they are kinda gross, and they blend in well, so it's easy to miss them. I don't know about their mothiness.

I think that the 19th or 20th of September works for us. Assuming Ms. Fredbram will allow me to drag her to another meal with egulleteers at all. But, I do have a back-up date in mind in that case.

At the indian restaurant that we frequent the owner almost always sends two snifters of Grand Marnier over to the table, just when we are ready to get up and leave. We have become very innovative in our attempts to hide/dispose of/eradicate the nice gesture which we really have no interest in drinking.

You weren't out sledding during that snowstorm last week, Mongo? Remember to wear your parka when you go out on the balcony to water the basil.

I think your plan sounds good--of course there is always the option of sneaking off to the Boulder farmer's market and grabbing a couple of the basil plants they have for $2.00 apiece right now (if the same grower is at boulder that is at the cherry creek market).

Well, there is the Taco Truck Crawl that came up at our Da Lat dinner as a possible group outing. I am partial to Parisi's pizza, it is the most italian style that I've had in Denver. Basil Doc's used to be better than it is--I think that they have slipped under new ownership and with expansion. But, they are close to my house and they are better than a lot of the competition in spite of the slippage. Proto's looks intriguing--I'm not familiar with them.

We did, in fact, enjoy dim sum at Empress recently. Not West Coast quality (or selection) but very good for Denver.