LaurieA-B

During our last visit to Portland, we took our two-year-old daughter to Pok Pok twice (because we all loved it). Very delicious Thai food. I haven't taken her to Pambiche before, but I think it would work (for lunch, because I hear they have long table waits at dinner). Wonderful Cuban menu, with fruit shakes that I go nuts for and I assume your 3-year-old would too. Both are in SE Portland (across the river from downtown). I'll try to think of some downtown spots. Sorry for no links; I want to get this reply up before said two-year-old wakes up. You might also look around at PortlandFood.org.

As of very recently, Larry's Market is out of business. Fortunately, Metropolitan Market is also very good.

And docsconz reports in a Spain and Portugal thread: Spain and the World Table

First blog posts I've seen: Michael Ruhlman Matthw Amster-Burton (my husband)

Just across the river from WA, try Pok Pok in Portland. Matthew wrote about it back in April. When we visited my family in July, we went to Pok Pok twice because it was so delicious. (The other night when I was singing Iris to sleep she interrupted to ask, apropos of nothing, "When can we go to Pok Pok again?") Both the food and the atmosphere (plus the hot July weather in Portland) made me feel more like I was in Bangkok than any Thai restaurant in the U.S. had. I think the larger restaurant adjacent to the Pok Pok shack is open now; I'll look up the details and add later.

QFC also carries Grand Central bread, which is quite good. I agree with Lorna that Columbia City is the best right now, but far south from you. At the U-District farmers market I think you'll find a stand from Tall Grass Bakery to try.

Here's Matthew's article on lard, which includes the recipe for Amazing Gingersnaps (christened Lardsnaps at our house).

The Stranger reports that Red Line is closing. It was my family's favorite restaurant.

I posted my grandmother's recipe on this pasty thread. I've never made mini ones myself, but when I was a kid my mom made them in graduated sizes (enormous for my dad, down to tiny for my youngest brother), and the shops in Cornwall sell all sizes.

We just visited a couple of weeks ago, as Matthew wrote about on his blog, and had a wonderful time. Berries were delicious, and perhaps peaches will be there in August. Definitely plan to eat lunch there--I loved the tamales, and there were so many other good choices. Friends really enjoyed freshly prepared sodas in interesting flavors. There was also gelato and those great ice cream sandwiches. Ken's Artisan Bakery croissants and bread, and if you like blue cheese, get some of the Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue.

They've dropped a some information on their blog; here's one post about the new location.

6-7 months doesn't seem like a delay; I think that's the common recommendation now for starting solids. My daughter started solids at 8 months and wasn't interested in it (we offered a little each day) for a couple more months. She did very well on just breastmilk up to 8 months. I know other families who waited to introduce solids even longer. I don't see any reason to rush; feeding gets more complicated once you're giving solids (though less so once they've got teeth and can eat what you're eating).

Just read on PortlandFood.org that Criollo Bakery closed permanently last weekend. Very sorry to hear that.

Not a pastry, but their walnut levain is one of the best breads I've ever eaten. Orangette wrote about it.

Matthew made the cakes yesterday using the recipe from Orangette. I thought they were fabulous. I've been thinking about possible variations since rhubarb won't be around much longer. The cakes were much browner than those in the above photo--maybe you used blanched almonds? As Lauren mentioned, the batter was almost solid when I took it out of the fridge. I stirred it up with a spoon and spread it into the muffin cups. Next time I would put even more rhubarb in. The tart rhubarb was a great contrast to the rich, sweet cake. The cakes rose quite a bit, so the rhubarb ended up in a layer at the top. The cakes were absolutely perfect with a cup of tea, eaten with my fingers. A comment on Orangette cites the Rhubarb Financier recipe from the March issue of Saveur (No. 91) as a possible inspiration for this recipe. The financiers look very similar, and have almost exactly the same ingredients. The main differences are that the Saveur recipe requires beating the egg whites to stiff peaks and cooking the rhubarb before mixing it with the batter--so it's more work. I haven't tried it, but if you wanted to make a whole cake I think a round cake pan would work much better than a loaf pan.

About three hours is right--but Salumi is also only a block or two from Seattle's train station. Go Amtrak, and you can travel home with the best train picnic ever.

Theo Chocolate is not being taken over, moving, or going under; Theo Chocolate, located at 3400 Phinney, has space for a restaurant in their factory building. Apparently Tom Douglas will be operating the restaurant. The Bread and Chocolate is not made with feuilletine (I think that's what you're thinking of). I don't know if it's breadcrumbs in the sense of grinding up baguettes, but they call it breadcrumbs, and it's delicious.

Orangette has a great post about this cake, with a more detailed version of the recipe adapted for baking in a muffin tin.

That's more like it. Clearly he recognized how big the mistakes had been, and tried to make up for the staff errors.

chuck, followed your tip for the LCB website, and noticed this very interesting application: Notification Date: 4/7/2006 Business Name: CHOCOLATE LOUNGE Business Location: 3400 PHINNY AVE N SEATTLE, WA 98103-8624 Applicant(s): CHOCOLATE LOUNGE LLC; DOUGLAS, THOMAS EDWARD; CROSS, JACALYN Liquor License Type: SPIRITS/BR/WN REST LOUNGE +; CATERING Application Type: NEW APPLICATION 3400 Phinney is the address of Theo Chocolate (www.theochocolate.com)

On Friday we had dinner at home with Iris, then went out by ourselves for dessert and a glass of wine in the bar at Eva--it was great, definitely something I would do again on a "date night." Le Pichet is another place where you can get either dinner or just drinks and cheese (the cheese is always more appealing than dessert). New places: definitely try Fork. I haven't been to Moxie in Lower Queen Anne yet, but it sounds good, and Cremant in Madrona is getting raves. Not quite as new, but if you like Thai, May in Wallingford is beautiful and has great food and drinks. Our current favorite date place is probably Dinette (when Iris is with us, we go to Red Line across the street).

Dahlia is great. If you want a big, old-fashioned layer cake, try North Hill Bakery on Capitol Hill (15th E and Mercer). They always have several nice layer cakes ready to go. (Every time I stop for a cookie there's someone getting a whole cake boxed up.)

I was shocked by the service lapse Wendy experienced. Not only is Canlis known for fine service, but you paid a large extra premium for the private room and designated server. And he FORGOT a course that you ordered? That's just abominable--the mistake itself, and the the extremely poor handling that followed. I think some major comping--perhaps of your Cache Room fee?--would not have been inappropriate. Coupons for free dessert sounds tacky. If they want you to come back, why not a substantial gift certificate? I hope you wrote or phoned the restaurant to express your displeasure, but it's really too late for them to make up for this series of errors now.

I read the extremely enthusiastic review on Seattle Bon Vivant, but haven't been there myself yet.

Tea and Sympathy is a great book to look through for ideas (I haven't tried the recipes, so can't speak for them). It's from the teashop of the same name in New York, and offers both sweet and savory, including lots of the dishes annachan's husband prefers like pasties and shepherd's pie. I had delicious high teas at T&S with Welsh rarebit and shepherd's pie; I also love to get finger sandwiches (egg or cucumber) and scones for afternoon tea. Definitely good to offer different options. I was just reading a Rosamunde Pilcher novel in which tea is served at a Cornish country home, 1940s: "Sponge cakes, lemon-curd tarts, gingerbread, scones; tiny sandwiches of cucumber and gentleman's relish, iced fairy cakes and shortbread biscuits."