Malawry

Despite Derek's absence, and Evan's night off, we had a terrific experience yet again at Palena tonight. I highly recommend the Pensylvania broccoli raviolini with mussels and garlic-olive oil sauce especially, and the new spinach soup with nut-crusted Dover sole and a langoustine. Check out the white burgundy and the prosecco-pomegranate cocktail with this and you've got a great dinner on your hands. And the service at the bar hasn't slipped the tiniest notch.

I covet one of these seriously. I've burned through a lot of lesser models at work.

I might be meeting a fellow food nerd at Palena tonight to console Evan...

Roasted chicken leg quarters Bright red Swiss chard, cooked in the chicken drippings and deglazed with balsamic reduction Then I ate a kit-kat mini bar while enjoying the trick-or-treat parade.

Tonight: Pork-turkey meatballs, with some challah crumbs soaked in half-and-half as a little filler/lightener. In a slow-cooked tomato sauce. Simply steamed broccoli. Sometimes that's all you need.

Hi Ashley, welcome to eG. I'm going to weigh in on the opposite side here, and suggest you not try to mimic meat with your vegetarian dish. I was a vegetarian for close to a decade, and I found that most omnivores were quite squicked by the idea of "fake meat." They'd often tell me that they wouldn't eat any kind of fake meat if I was cooking for them, because they thought of soy foods like tofu especially as quite disgusting. Rather than try to convert them to fake meats, I'd try to wow them with a terrific vegetarian dish that didn't rely on such products. Unless your speech focuses on a vegan diet, I'd lean towards something containing egg and/or dairy. These foods are familiar to most omnivores and are easy to make in forms that are transported across campus. For example, a quiche with blue cheese and pears, or a spinach-ricotta lasagna were two of my potluck standards in those college vegetarian days. The infamous tomato-zucchini tart, showered with basil and parmegiano-reggiano, or perhaps a caramelized onion-gruyere tart strewn with fresh thyme would be delicious as well. I've seen very few people turn up their noses at such dishes. I like to cook with beans, but I think they're a little harder to "get" for your average college-age omnivore. White beans with sage and roasted garlic, mashed into a dip with olive oil and smeared on toasted baguette, are an easy entry to the ways of bean-eaters. Vegetarian chili with cheese, sour cream and chips is also an accessible bean dish. If you really want them to try some kind of fake meat (which was not widely available during the first years I was a vegetarian, and which I therefore didn't even seriously consider when delivering a similar speech to my public speaking class), you can still bring Quorn nuggets. Better yet, pick up a couple kinds of veggie burgers and bring them in for taste-testing. Don't forget ketchup and mustard. Let us know how it goes.

Huh. That is strange. I wonder why they didn't just close that side of the bar--were you there at a peak time? (To be fair, that's no excuse, and Tweaked is talking about going someplace at a peak time too...) Thanks for telling us about your experience though. I'm disappointed for you. I used to work at Ortanique and prepared many of the tasties for the parties--the party snacks and bar menu are generally the best things going at that place. (Plus the mojitos, especially if Emilio is at the bar.)

Ortanique is well-designed to accommodate your group. I'd give them a call.

This column by Robert Wolke addresses ways to make cheese sauces work--including information on why they split and how to prevent that from happening. I found it useful when I made a cheese sauce (actually, broccoli-cheese soup) the day the article came out.

Fifi, that goo is what we called demi at my culinary school. We called the roux kind "ye olde" demi. (We made it once and it really is tasty, but it's a much bigger PITA than straight reduction demi. I think there are very few professionals making ye olde demi these days--I've only seen straight-reduction demi personally.

Oh no, that's not heresy. That's how you cook efficiently. I'm amazed at how quickly I amass useful bits of things, at work especially.

As you reduce it, don't boil it hard--I usually reduce at a slow boil or heavy simmer. Move it into progressively smaller pots as you reduce its volume to help prevent burning. Straining well is important to avoid concentrating impurities--several runs through a chinois helps, as does sticking around to remove any scum as it reduces. Demi is a beautiful thing.

I don't leave anything on the stove overnight either, and also subscribe to the better-safe-than-sorry attitude. Instead I start stocks early in the morning (having all my mise-en-place done the night before) and I only cook them on days when somebody will be in the house all day, preferably me. I don't make a lot of veal stock, though, and I might reconsider if I did.

Had a small dinner tonight with a friend--the black bean riblets and the goat camembert salad with a simple and lovely glass of cotes-du-rhone. The riblets are delcious, tender morsels showered with sesame seeds and thin-sliced scallions. They aren't excessively sticky, nor are they heavily flavored with soy as I feared they might be. And the salad was simple but delicious--I enjoyed the goat camembert quite a bit and was glad the dressing was light enough to showcase it. I had a taste of my friend's steak frites. The flat iron steak is richly flavored and comes with a nice shallot butter topping. I think our server recommended every single dish on the menu by the time he was done talking about what he enjoyed, which I took as a good sign.

Guajolote did come through with a bumper crop of pickled okra, FWIW. Still, okra oughta appear at least three times on the menu, right?

Oh no. I saw his back, the fabulous apron Maggie gave him, and even his face once or twice. (I saw these REALLY close-up. Those of you who have seen Varm's kitchen will understand.) Of course his glasses were usually steamed up... In addition to really good bunnies, the VD stew contained LSD. It was so good, it was psychedelic! Eunny, I suspect we DCers may arrange a caravan or carpool. Don't speed in Dinwiddie County, VA though. Only place I ever got ticketed.

This morning, I ate an omelet filled with a crab-boursin mixture leftover from the party I catered last night. (The crab-boursin stuff was used to fill mushrooms.) I had about four cups of coffee with it. Then I ate a Rome Beauty apple while reading the paper. Ahhh, Sunday.

I have to say, Susan, that the photo of you blow-drying a duck amuses me on many levels. Not the least of which is the fact that you thought to take such a photo. Thanks for posting it. I thought the best way to get a crisp-skinned duck was to deep-fat fry it. That's how I remember doing them in culinary school, anyway. Not everybody has access to a big vat of hot oil on notice, though. (I don't anymore, which is one reason why I rarely get that crisp-skinned duck.)

Dean, could you consider making this a ticketed event, along the lines of the NJ event where everybody has to pay a flat amount? Or is that out of the question for some reason? I bet you could set it up through PayPal so you even get some of the money in advance of the event if you want. I personally am of limited means and tried to put enough effort in to make up for my lack of cash last time--but I'd hate to think you would have to bankroll this a second time and would gladly help with ticketing if you wanted to go that route.

FWIW, I cracked open the can, mixed it with some cream over medium heat in a pan, and then stirred in a hefty shot of rum. I served it with some fruit and pretzels for dipping. I ate a few too many of the pretzels myself--they were goooooood.

YAY! I'm so happy you're willing to do this again! And nobody had to offer to power-wash the tennis court, even! The 2003 Picking was the most fun I ever had on any weekend besides the weekend I got married.

This year, I'm thinking of trying latkes fried in duck fat.

I can't believe nobody has suggested latkes. Latke eating season isn't that far off, you know!

Slow-braised chicken thighs with fresh thyme Roasted asparagus and Belgian endive cores (the leaves are for tomorrow's party that I'm catering, but it seemed foolish to toss the cores). EVOO and Maldon salt. I've been picking at the whipped ganache, the caramel dipping sauce, the candied chocolated almonds, etc so no additional dessert is anticipated.

Are you kidding me? Wild horses couldn't keep me away. I'd even repriese the hush puppies. (And the slaw. And the banana pudding. And the shrimp and grits. And the homemade jams.) 'Course, I'd only come because I want to challenge Ryan to an Uno tournament.