prasantrin

I like eating grilled fish for dinner sometimes.

I forgot to ask, for the Friday breakfast, will drop-ins be allowed? If I do the eG breakfast, it will probably be a last-minute decision or close to last-minute. Dimo's breakfast bagels are calling me (I might be able to do Dimo's Saturday, but I'm not sure, yet), but if I still have room, I'd like to go to the breakfast, too. So many places to eat, so little time!

For the Friday pm field trip, I'm in if it's the Dearborn Middle Eastern tour, but if most people want to do Mexican, I can do it solo or with whomever would like to join me. Shatilla, here I come!

The writer of Cannelle et Vanille blog was diagnosed with gluten-intolerance relatively recently, so she has a number of gluten-free recipes on her website. Including this one http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2010/05/soaked-lemon-poppy-seed-and-olive-oil.html . It's more like a pound cake in terms of texture (at least it seems so from the picture), but it meets all your requirements--gluten-free, dairy-free, and potato-free. She made them into cupcakes, so I don't know how it would work as a square or round cake.

Thanks! I'll let you know. I'm still trying to find a domestic source for it. That restaurant supply place looks great, by the way!

@tammylc--could you tell me the name of the restaurant supply shop that will be included in the Friday pm tour? I'm trying to find a replacement 4-cup rice pot (just the inner pot) for my rice cooker and I'm hoping they carry it or can order it in for me. I found a source online, but then I'd have to find someone to accept the shipment for me (assuming the store would ship to a US address even if I use a Canadian credit card).

Patricia Wells has a recipe for an Italian Winemaker's Grape Cake, but that's not a patisserie recipe. The only other use I've seen of grapes in desserts is as part of the topping of fruit tarts or simple cakes with whipped cream icings.

5-10 cm is huge, not thin. I've never even seen a "gourmet" burger patty that thick. If you mean 5-10mm (or 1/2-1cm), then it's still do-able on the grill, you just have to be careful about flipping them. If you flip them too soon, they'll fall apart (in my experience).

I'd prefer to keep the workshop at its scheduled time, or even shift it earlier half an hour earlier (but I'm probably the only one who would want that!). I'm planning to do Blimpy Burgers, too, but probably on Thursday if I don't do the group dinner.

I may have already asked this, and forgive me if I have, but is there any chance of getting in touch with the No.9 Burger guy? I tried to send him a message via Twitter, but he hasn't shown up there lately. I hope he'll be setting up his burger trailer at the Farmer's Market or somewhere!

At this point I'm in for: Friday morning bread workshop Friday night dinner at Grange Saturday Evening Feast Sunday Bacon Tasting & Brunch Maybe for: Thursday night Szechuan Banquet at Chia Shiang Friday breakfast at SELMA Friday Thermomix/Friday foodie field trip (one or the other, or neither, I'm not sure) Saturday afternoon taste tests Regarding the Thursday dinner (it seems Szechuan is a definite?), will there be enough options for pescatarians, vegetarians, or non-spicy food-eating people? I don't necessarily mean separate options just for them, but at least a good mix of dishes that will leave them as well a the omnivores satisfied. Re: Friday pm outing, I vote for Middle Eastern. Then I can visit Shatilla Bakery without worrying about getting lost.

20+ years ago, I loved Dufflet's dacquoise and florentines. It was a much smaller operation back then, so I think they took more care in making their goods. The last time I had anything from Dufflet's was 10-ish years ago. What I had was OK, but it didn't impress me as much as it had so long ago. Whether that was because the quality had indeed changed, or because my tastes had changed, I do not know.

Just to clarify, my preference for individual ordering was also a statement of my preference for non-Chinese food. Of course if the Thursday meal were Chinese, it would have to be family style. I can't imagine Chinese food any other way (although I do know people who ordered family-style servings of dishes and then didn't share them with anyone else at the table, but that's another story).

I'm in for #1. Maybe #4 or part of #3, depending on how much of my personal stuff I get done. Regarding dinners, for Friday dinner, ditto on Alex's range, but I'd go even cheaper on the wine. How much was last year's wine pairing at Bluestem? Neither I nor my mother partook in the pairings (although I think my mother had a glass of rose), and we got a $40 refund which would place the pairings at $20 per person. That's more like my range. (where's the "cheap" emoticon?) For Thursday, I'd rather stay local or near local, too, but I'd rather do individual orders (like at Lidia's Restaurant last year) than family-style, mostly because of our experience at LTH (the food was good, but for example my mother and I had to share a single piece of shrimp in order to try one of the dishes because by the time the plate got around to our end, there wasn't much left). I care more about that than the type of food, but also excellent Cantonese restaurants are a dime-a-dozen where I live, and Szechuan is well-represented, too, so it's like everyday food for me. Those are my thoughts about Thursday, but really, I'll do whatever.

I think I'm the only one who thinks tacos are a fine idea. If your goal is to introduce Mexican flavours to your friends, then it's nice to have something familiar, yet different. The first time I had a "real" taco, I was surprised at how small they were and overwhelmed by the options I didn't know could be had in a taco. My only concern would be your filling. "al pastor" refers to grilled meat, does it not? I always thought it did, but you are cooking your lamb sous vide. Last I checked, sous vide wasn't a traditional Mexican cooking method. And last I checked, in Mexico "al pastor" usually refers to pork, not lamb (although it's based on grilled lamb). So, just to clarify, your goal is to introduce your guests to Mexican flavours, but not necessarily food as it is traditionally cooked in Mexico (i.e. "authentic" Mexican food)? If that's the case, it might be a good idea to clarify that to your guests, particularly the part that "al pastor" is usually pork, not lamb, and it's usually grilled, not sous vide. Not that lamb sous vide can't be served somewhere as Mexico, but I would guess most Mexicans have probably not eaten lamb cooked that way.

Just a warning, she wants me to sneak some of your breads away, bring them home, and freeze them so she can have some when she gets back. So if you think a loaf or two is missing, it wasn't me! I know this is very early for this question, but do you think your workshop will likely be 9-1? 10-2? I have some running around to do in the afternoon, but I don't want to miss any bread so I'm trying to plan ahead!

@tino27 My mother has a request for some kind of sweet potato bread. She's not even going to be there yet she thinks she can make requests.

I knew there was a salad with tomatoes I was missing, and it was yum yai. It doesn't always have tomatoes in it, but I have seen versions with tomato (in Canada and the US, but I've never had yum yai in Thailand, so I don't know if tomatoes are a frequent addition to yum yai there). Anyway, it's interesting how people interpret dishes of other countries. To Thai people, the cucumber salad is a salad, but I can see how most westerners would think of it more as a pickle. And the interpretation of "yum/yam" as "salad" is problematic, as well, since most Thai salads probably don't match Western ideas of what salad is.

The quotation wasn't from me, but from the recipe header. I suspect it's not really Thai because of the focus on the tomatoes. Raw tomatoes are traditionally used as more of an accent or garnish than a main ingredient (much like carrots). Even in something like som tam, tomatoes are an accent and are never supposed to take the focus. Of course with increased cross-cultural contacts, raw tomatoes may now be used more frequently and more plentifully, but traditionally, not so much (I think Issan cuisine uses raw tomatoes more, but I'd have to consult my friend about that).

Is the bartender getting tips on full checks (alcohol plus food) or just on alcohol? If it's the former, I'd ask him to tip out to the pizza maker, the amount depending on what percentage of the check was for food. (ETA--if you were to ask him to do that, he may decide just to tip out a set percentage which would also be fair and easier) It would be very unfair if he were making a lot of money based on the work of the pizza maker, especially since he, himself, is not technically a server. Another option is to exclude him from serving customers directly. That way the server (I assume that's you or your partner) can split the tips however you see fit.

That's not really Thai, it's "A light, green salad with a Thai twist." But if it's good, it's good. A more traditional accompaniment would be cucumber salad. Eat some satay, dip some grilled or toasted bread in the sauce, use the skewer to eat the cucumbers. . . it's all good. I just had flashbacks of barbecues in the park with other Thai families. That's pretty much what we ate and how we ate it. Good times.

The Super Peel was mentioned quite awhile ago in a thread about pizza-making. I think Marlene had one, and she really liked it.

According to Amazon, the National Geographic Field Guide covers Points 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 are all useful for any photographer. Point 2 might be more useful for travel photographers, but I would bet there are some useful ideas in there for any photographer. And if you start to take more photos of other subjects, point 1 would be handy to read about, too. And food is always an important part of travelling, so point 7 will be useful for you eventually!

I purchased stuff twice through Amazon's bundling system before I realized I was getting a deal. It was stuff I was going to purchase separately, anyway (camera stuff, actually), but I was still annoyed with myself when I realized the prices were the same. As I mentioned, the Field Guide does discuss things like composition and lighting, and (to me), those are the most crucial aspects to photography of any kind. Depth of field is next, and I'm sure there are other important things, but that's as far as I've gotten. I used to have a great all-purpose photography book put out by Nikon. It was published in the '70s or '80s and I think is out of print now. The brief search I did only shows model-specific Nikon photography books. There are some very good online food photography tutorials, mostly on food-related blogs. I can't remember any of them off-hand (I think David Lebovitz had one, and maybe Canelle et Vanille), but they all seem to link to each other, so if you find one, you can find the rest. Most of them discuss using DSLR cameras, but much of the information is useful for any kind of camera. Oh, former eG poster Ling has some posts about a food photography internship she did. Her blog is called The Cookbook Chronicles if you want to look for it. The posts presented some useful information, especially for newbie food photographers.

We may be looking at something different, but under the "Frequently bought together" so-called deal, the three books together are $50.75. Individually, the first book is $17.13 The second book is $16.49 The third book is $17.13. That adds up to $50.75. Try to find one book that will start with the basics. Something like National Geographic's Field Guide which isn't about food photography, but talks about composition and exposure as well as other topics. Better yet, go to your local library and take a look at the photography books they have and borrow a few. If you find one or two that you really like, then buy them.