prasantrin

I'm at the very tail-end of fig season, and I'm terribly sad. I missed most of it because I was in Canada for the summer. I'm hoping there's some kind of fall fig available, because I can't stand the thought of being without fresh figs for another year!

There are plenty of non-spicy options at Thai and Salvadoran places, so both are still within the parameters you set. None of home-cooked Salvadoran foods I've had have even been remotely spicy, but I guess spice-factor depends on one's frame of reference.

I trust that recipe is on your blog? The evil admins have blocked all blogs at work, so I cannot check. But that looks like it would be the perfect summer supper! (It's still 30 degrees C where I am, so I still consider it summer!)

Maybe your ground hazelnuts turned into hazelnut butter? I can't for the world of me think what might have happened, except that maybe your butter was too soft. Last night, I made the Korova cookies, but since it's so hot in Japan, my butter got very soft very quickly. Instead of a crumbly cookie dough, like I usually have, it was more like regular cookie dough (but even softer). My cookies turned out OK, though they spread more than usual (even though I baked them right out of the freezer). So it seems what happened to you and what happened to me are sort of similar.

I just read in David Lebovitz's blog that one of the co-founders of Scharffenberger passed away.

Sounds great! I won't be going back to HK for at least a year, but does XiYan only take groups, or can you go as a party of one or two? And is that $250 HK dollars?

May I ask if you have a lot of vegetarian options? Not seafood, but just vegetarian. I have a friend who will be moving to Santiago in January, and I'm sure she'd be interested in some restaurant possibilities!

Has she gotten the results of the questionnaire, yet? I'm curious as to what they DO want. Do they want to eat the same things every week? I kinda like shake and bake, though I haven't had it in decades...

Maybe your third hot filling could be cubed tofu (actually, I think thin slice would be better for one-handed eating). I used to make a marinated salmon soft taco for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner), but I think most people don't consider fish for breakfast except smoked salmon/lox. I like the idea of tofu, toasted almonds (for crunch), tomatoes, and avocado, though.

Canelle? Or is it Cannelle? I don't know if the dough, itself, is difficult to make, but I don't remember ever seeing a good homemade one. OK, I lied. FoodMan, Patrick S, and Pille's partner made some really beautiful ones at home, and you can see them over in this topic. Paula Wolfert has some pretty ones, too, but I didn't really read carefully enough to determine if they were homemade or not. But I still think they're difficult to perfect with the first try. According to those in the know, it's "canele" (with an accent aigu on the final e).

I think it's still bad, no matter what kind of restaurant it is. That being said, I have done it very occasionally. I bring other food into Starbucks. I hate Starbucks food (and their beverages), but it's one of the few non-smoking places where I can sit and do my work for as long as I want. So I buy some tea, and when I get hungry, I eat my non-Starbucks food surreptitiously. Lately I've noticed more signs at restaurants (fast food and otherwise) that request customers not bring outside food onto the premises. I wonder if it's not only for business reasons, but also legal (if a customer gets sick from eating outside food on their premises, could they be held partly responsible?). I still bring my own Sigg bottle to my favourite burger place, though. It's only got water in it, and though they sell water, it's such a waste of plastic.

I'm so sorry that happened to you! I hope when things get settled (legally and otherwise), you'll open up again, if you want to, that is. If not, I guess I'll have to take cooking classes from you, instead! (And it took me forever to find this thread again, but I had been thinking about it for ages!)

Interesting. I'm going to have to try this on eggs benedict soon, though I'm a little afraid. If you only use 1/4 cup of the sauce per serving, it's only about 2 WW points! Still a lot if you factor in the egg, ham, and English muffin, but not so bad if you compare it to real hollandaise.

You can do that on an English-language/system computer, too. You just have to adjust the keyboard settings. PM me if you want more details. Antenor has macarons!? Maybe I'll have to drop by to check them out. I'm still on a quest to find the perfect coffee and caramel macarons, so I need to be fair and eat everyone's!

Anything new and exciting happening with the restaurant? Although I have no plans to visit Italy, I'm sure I'll get there eventually, and Erba Luna is on my list!

I think her inserting herself in my space was her advice--if you don't know how to choose a fig, you don't belong here! I guess that's what I'll be doing from now on! At least when there are other people around...

It's a Japanese chain based in Kobe. While I haven't tried most of their cakes, I haven't been impressed with the ones I have tried. But I remember they had some cakes/desserts that were served in really nice dishes that you got to keep. I liked that!

Prior to cooking a fig, how does one choose a good one? I was at the supermarket buying my weekly dose of figs. Almost all the shoppers were passing over the boxes, complaining about them. I figured the ones with split bottoms weren't so good, but I decided to pick a few up--heavy ones must be better than light ones, I thought. But one of those typical busy-body old ladies scolded me and then inserted herself in my very small space, so I had no choice but to leave (without any more figs). Gourmet Traveller says, "When choosing figs, look for ripe ones which are slightly yielding to the touch but not mushy. Also, the base should look moist – dryness indicates the fig is past its prime." That means one should be able to touch them, doesn't it? It's not like I was man-handling them. I was delicately picking them up and just as delicately returning them. So can I pick up a fig? And if not, what other methods (other than looking at the bases) can I use to choose a good one?

If I were to use a pyrex 9x9, is the recipe you posted enough for 2 pans, or did you double the recipe? Will the cake pop out of the pan, or does it get served in the pan? It's getting a little cooler in Japan (it actually got down to 28C the other day!), so it's almost time to start baking! One more thing...can the cake be frozen after (or before?) baking?

That was my other guess, but I just couldn't imagine eating it without cooking it first (not that imagining spam was any easier). Corned beef fried rice, however, is quite good!

I'm a little afraid to ask, but is that meat-looking thing spam?

I also think you need to quit. But... I would serve them one more meal, and make it all processed stuff--like that pot roast made with cream of mushroom soup and lipton onion soup mix. And instant potatoes. And those horrible bagged mixed vegetables complete with lima beans. And lots of cool whip topped canned fruit. They'll rave about it, and say, "This is what we've wanted all along! You're great!" And then quit, and let the next person suffer them. Always go out on top.

What did you marinate the grilled pork chops in? It looks soooooooo good!

This is going to be sooooooo cool! I can't believe you had to ponder for weeks about it! Are you going to give your son his own little corner to grow whatever he wants, or will the two of you tend to everything together? Any particular plans for what to grow, yet?

Maybe they're waiting for some free samples? I'm waiting for it to show up on amazon.co.jp. Tick...tock...