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Isn't that caul fat? edit: I'm about to make my second attempt at pie crust but I'm switching the proportions of butter and crisco. I'm also going to use table salt instead of Kosher, the Kosher hardly dissolved and you were left every once in a while with a big grain!

GREAT, now I'm going to DIE of embarassment when I purchase an Elle magazine.

What did he say about Mashiko's? I pushed it pretty hard when FG asked us to do his work for him.

This is a nooner right?

That sounds good enough for me. I have some guanciale at the moment, that will work even better that than bacon.

Nightscotsman, your marshmellows are the best!

Any future plans on doing a version for the palm pilot like The Onion does?

Ate the fugu tonight, no tinglies or time travel.

Batgrrrl and I just finished watching "One Fish, Two Fish, Blow Fish, Blue Fish." I was quite proud of the The Simpsons as they got all of the lingo correct, even the pronounciation of karaoke. We pretty much ate everything Homer did including uni! The only thing we didn't eat was the flying fish roe with a quail's egg on top, for some reason I didn't feel like it. I told Ann that we should've watched the episode before we left for Shiki. I feel disgraced for letting Homer down.

Tried the fugu tonight. It was fun! Though it was more of the idea of eating that was cool rather than actually eating it. I'll give a full report later.

Yeah, being able to eat there whenever I'd like. Seriously though, congrats on your first sandwich. Which one did you get?

Not off the top of my head, but I can find out for you.

I have a friend who just built a new house in Canada and they installed the vents with the fans at the exterior. They were extremely quiet and totally cool. They were operated by wall switches that reacted to close movements and kept the fan on for 7 minute increments up to 28. I was extremely jealous. They operated as well as standard air fans.

Ahh, I will be going to the last one on the list, Shiki and will be served by this guy: I've been there before, but it wasn't fugu season at the time. I had asked for omakase but all he gave me was nigiri. Granted they were all very good, but it kind of defeated the purpose of ordering omakase. Luckily, Ken has a tank of fresh sweet shrimp on the bar and when I had some, the tail was still twitching. It was single-handedly the best sweet shrimp of my life. I also appreciated the terrarium of live sawagani too.

For a sashimi platter it's $80 and for the hotpot it's $90 both of which need reservations. Nigiri however is only $12 and can be ordered any time. Does anyone know of another place in the States that servers fugu? Is it readily available in New York?

Yeah, Bourdain wasn't keen on it and the local writers weren't too keen on it either. But at least I'll be able to say that I've eaten it! I've already had a portion of flounder that supposedly has the same texture as fugu but it also has flavor. It was from the perimeter of the fish, but the main dorsal fin. Man, that was really tasty.

I'm having fugu tonight! Jealous? I'm hoping my eyes tingle and I can see through time.

sauteed squid with guanciale, evoo, garlic, red pepper flakes and lemon juice seared albacore in a wasabi ponzu sauce roasted asparagus and Mexican spring onions (a large scallion and really, really good roasted) Salmon marinated in a ginger/onion ponzu sauce, pan fried and served with the marinade reduced and with a smoked salmon, cilantro and spring onion mousse. I ended up putting too much Mirin in the mousse and it ended up being too sweet, but otherwise everything came out great.

I TOTALLY SWEAR I'll be there.

Honestly!!!

I'm in for Friday.

Does anyone else have experience with Mundial knives? I picked up the starter set shown below about 7 years ago: There's a 4" paring, 6" utility & 8" chef's. When I brought them home they weren't that sharp but two years ago I ran them through a Chef's Choice sharpener and fell in love with them. They hold their edge pretty well but it's getting to the point to sharpen again. I steall them before every use and I can easily cut through poultry bones and fresh meat. The 8" chef's weighs about 8 oz and I can get a nice rocking motion on it.

Dave, everyone received only a pound each except for Jason and Rachel who got two pounds and that's only because he ordered four pounds to begin with. Everyone else ordered only two pounds. As for the pepper, that flavor came off stronger than I would've liked. There is supposed to be a balance of flavors and you taste the garlic after the pepper, the pepper should be second. In the next batch I will be lowering the pepper quotient and with the casing problems I've been having, I'm going to reduce the amount of fat. Heron, I'm sorry about misleading you about cooking the sausage in the bag, I meant you cook them in the bag only if it isn't opened. Sorry about that! The casing is edible but it only becomes an issue if the sausage isn't stuffed to full capacity. When the sausage is smoked it is heated and the fat renders out leaving a small amount of meat for a casing with larger capacity, this makes it difficult to cut and drops the moisture content. Jjhlurie, I haven't thought about making breakfast sausage though I have thought about making sausages other than kielbasa. I'm very close to getting the kielbasa just right. I'm sure that the next batch I'll have it 95% to 99% there and the rest will be a matter of really expensive equipment. Maybe after the next batch of kielbasa I'll take a stab at something else. And yes, breakfast sausage has sugar, has a smaller diameter as well as length and it has roughly the same fat content. There is a local butcher here that makes a pork and blueberry sausage that's really good. One note of difference is that breakfast sausages aren't typically smoked making them more difficult for transportation. However, I'd be willing to give it a whirl!

Swedish Meatballs This recipe is courtesy of Batgrrrl's mom and it's been in the family for over four generations (they're Swedish!). It's a relatively easy dish to prepare but it will take upwards of an hour and a half. Swedish meatballs are great comfort food and perfect for a cold day. They are typically served with riced potatoes. Meatballs 2 lb ground beef 1/2 lb ground pork 1 slice of bread milk for bread to soak up 2 eggs 1 medium apple 1 medium onion 1 small cooked potato 1 T salt 1 T pepper 2 tsp allspice or nutmeg Gravy 4 T fat (butter or otherwise) 1/2 c flour 3 c beef broth 1 c cream Meatballs Boil small potato. Finely dice apple and onion and mix with other ingredients (the potato should be done by now, mash it). Chill for 10 minutes in the freezer. Roll small meatballs, no larger than an inch, in flour. Brown them in butter. Remove and make gravy in the same pan. Gravy Make a roux with the fat and the flour, make sure to constantly whisk until you get a nice dark brown. Add broth and simmer. When the flour is completely cooked, add cream and then pour the gravy over the meatballs in an oven proof dish. Bake approximately 40 minutes to an hour or put in a crockpot. Serve with riced potatoes. Keywords: Main Dish, Intermediate ( RG152 )

I made some brussel sprouts tonight a la Nightscotsman. I boiled them for 3 minutes and cold shocked them. I then sauteed them in duck fat and evoo with garlic and s/p. They were good, but I needed to boil them an extra minute and wait longer before I put the garlic in. I also deglazed the pan with a cup and a half of beaujoulais vilages. You couldn't taste the duck fat so I'm thinking bacon would be better suited. Yes, bacon. These sprouts were not as good as ones I've previously roasted.