ludja

Pumpkin recipe ideas: pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pastry cream

Thanks for posting on this. I accidentally caught the show on Thursday at 7:30 pm. From the weblink it looks like the showings are: Thu at 7:30pm on KQED 9 Sat at 1:30pm on KQED 9 I thought the first show was pretty good and I learned of new resto: Hard Knox Cafe.

Ok, here's a fritter I've never had but am dying to try: elderberry flower fritters. I've loved everything I've had made with elderberry flower syrup (spritzers and champagne cocktails) so I think this might be very good. Elderberry flowers have a very special aroma and taste. edited to add: Wow, Adam! Sea anenome fritters sound quite wild. The texture must be rather unique as well. I didn't even know these were edible. Also, corn fritters sound like a perfect accompaniement to grilled salmon, spaghetttti!

Love the menu, bergerka, congrats on a wonderful dinner party! Do you mind sharing what wines you had with the meal? I also had a question re: the goat cheese fig dip. First, I wanted to clarify if it was dried figs (seems like it would be so). Second, is it a real winner? Would you make it again? It sounds like it could be really nice but I'm just wondering what the final consensus was. (Sorry if I missed the back story on this earlier in the thread).

On a wine tasting excursion to Dry Ckeek Valley AVA in northern Sonoma we once tasted a fine Late Harvest Zinfandel. As is not so uncomnon nowadays, the winery offered us a square of dark chocolate to have with the wine. There was another group, consisting of three guys who took their late harvest zin outside and enjoyed it with cigars... The wine was from J. Fritz but I have no idea what type of cigars they had!

Here is some other information that looks reliable: click The full article discusses potential health issues in more detail.

Oliveto in Oakland usually has some truffle dinners as well. Looking on their website it looks like this year's truffle dinners are on Nov 15-18. click I would also check with Acquerello and Quince in SF.

"The Splendid Table" is an excellent book. As you mention, the chapter on ragus alone is worth the price of admission. I've only made the "classic ragu" so far. It would be fun to see you try one of the other ones. If you've tried some of the other ragu recipes, do you have any commnents to share?

Here's a discussion on Susur: A Culinary Life in the Toronto, Ontario, Central Canada forum.

Typical Manhattanite...??? Although I suppose this would really be a badge of honor! It would be even more exciting if you told us this occurred on a tiny NYC balcony, thirty stories up with a Hendricks martini in hand... edited to add: After a few glasses of wine and a certain detente with recalcitrant dampish charcoal the best idea a group of hungary chemists came up with was to use nail polish remover... I think no lashes or eyebrows were missing.

And La Traviata... I'm picturing Bergerka breaking out into song and creating a sensation at the Pegu Club right about now...

Nice idea! I typically always serve a soup beforehand but this is an interesting twist. Still not too heavy if the portions are not to large and lots of flavoring options. Roasted garlic flan, anyone?

I'm really intrigued by the soup, actually. It sounds like a potentially nice soup for Thanksgiving. I saw one write up where they described it as a celery root soup so I'm wondering if it was cream-based puree...

Thai Corn and Shrimp Fritters with dipping sauce Clam fritters and definately, Apple... (a little rum and lemon in the batter is very good)

I just discovered that Nando's makes "Portuguese-style flame grilled chicken". I guess this would be something close to Piri Piri chicken. This sounds like a good concept. Are there any other fast food chains in the UK that specialize in non (traditional) British/American food? Indian? Middle Eastern?

I've never heard of a citrus cobbler, and I'm intrigued by the idea. I would think there would be too much liquid in the fruit, and that the membrane would be tough. ... ← Same here, a grapefruit cobbler sounds very unique. To avoid the membranes, though, you could make 'supremes' of the grapefruit sections. That is. you slice off all the peel and white pith, then cut in between the citrus sections to release membrane-less wedges of grapefruit. I do this for citrus salads.

Thanks for pointing this out. I had not known her name before but also see that she is the co-author on the well-known Martha Stewart Hors d'Oeuvres book.

As much figgy pudding and cider as you can eat and drink???

This is funny! I think I know exactly what place you are talking about. Well, at least there is a place that fits that description from the outside on 84 (between Woodside and San Gregorio). Whenever we drive by there I always think or say out loud that the place looks 'kinda neat' and we should check it out... Maybe I'll do it once but plan on a beer as I check out the food! There are always quite a few cars there! edited to add: I just remembered that there are another bunch of 'log cabin' type places in another part of the Santa Cruz mountains as well--down south by Felton and Boulder Creek, nearer to Santa Cruz--so we may be thinking of different places. I guess I'll just have to check it out sometime!

Thanks for the info. Looking at their website it looks like they've been there for only one year. Besides the upcoming expansion to the East Bay they also have a restaurant in the Netherlands! Their menu listing looks pretty extensive and interesting. Maybe there is a trend towards new Malaysian/Singaporean/Indonesian restaurants about here--There are two places in Mountain View, now. (I've not been to either). The Spice Islands Cafe Address: 210 Hope St, Mountain View Phone: 650.961.0628 Baba Neo 311 Moffett Blvd., near Central Expressway, Mountain View. (650) 903-9219. www.babaneo.com

ooh, there's that "a-word" again. and in perfect context! whatever the book's strengths and weaknesses, it is one of the best-selling cookbooks in italian history (it would be interesting to compare its sales figures with something we would find much more respectable such as artusi). the recipes, as i understand it, come from domus, which is a longstanding high-end architecture and design magazine. what the book pretty much indisputably represents is a very authentic look at one upper middle class italians were cooking from, say, 1950 to 1970 or so. ← Interesting. So it's not really an "Italian" cookbook, but rather what Italians were cooking in the 70s? So, even if a recipe is not necessarily Italian (like the Cantonese stuff) but Italian household were cooking it, then it made it to the book? It's like writing a cookbook about Lebanese food that has a recipe for Beef Stroganoff because it is a popular dish in Beirut! ← Or like a "Joy of Cooking" or "The Doubleday Cookbook" having a recipe for hummus, sauerbraten or lasagna... which they do.

I noticed that Ramadan is coming to a close. Are there special foods or feast dishes associated with the end of Ramadan?

Thanks for reminding me of this place, Jaymes. I haven't been there in awhile but had several nice meals there. I love the roti with curry sauce and the coconut rice, and there is much more than that. The Malay scallops sound great! It's the only Malaysian restaurant I really know of around here; there are not too many in the Bay area as far as I know.

For a simply flavored butternut squash soup, drizzled Austrian pumpkin seed oil make a beautiful and delcious garnish alongside some croutons. The oil is dark green and contrasts nicely with the soup and the oil has a very deep, distinctive flavor.

I just learned about something called a "Maryland Ham". As I understand it, it's a ham which has been rolled around a kale stuffing. I think that they can also be purchased. A sister of a friend lives in Maryland and makes this each year for large family functions.