ludja

Joanne Weir has a recipe for Socca in her book, "From Tapas to Meze". I've always wondered if 'socca' and 'panisse' are the same thing. Is the difference that socca are more like pancakes while panisse are thicker strips that are fried, kind of like fried polents (but made w/a chick pea batter)?

Went to the Wharf Rat (bar) in Fell's Point a while ago--As I recall they have lots of non-domestic beers on tap, although I think they are more slanted to British brews.

Yum, one of my favorite "sweet" breakfasts; and we know the maple syrup was good! What grade do you usually buy? Or does that depend on the intended use? edited to add: slkinsey's cappucino looks perfect and a perfect way to get your morning dairy...

This sounds great. I've also made a "non-Asian" inspired version of this salad using grapefruit, curly endive and avocado in a citrus vinagrette. This is inspired from Chez Panisse Vegetables, which also has a great Green Goddess Dressing recipe using avocado, anchovy, green herbs, shallots, citrus, olive oil, vinegar, etc. I also agree that avocados are great with eggs-- not cooked, but folded in at the last minute in big chunks. My favorite is just cooked scrambled eggs, with brown butter and avocado folded in just after removing from the heat.

One example for me: A freshly fried cannoli -- filled with sheep ricotta lightly sweetened and roasted pistachios sprinkled on the ends. (just had a great one a week ago, so I remember how I felt... )

and/or rhubarb. Could be an interesting ingredient which might be used as savory or sweet. Some interesting recent discussions here and here. Hope that a seasonal (to both places) ingredient is picked.

I've been reading Gerald Hirigoyen's "The Basque Kitchen" and saw something that might fit your needs: meringues flavored with cocoa powder; after baking he tops them with chocolate mousse and dusts with cocoa powder. They are not a Basque dessert, rather one of his inventions from his earlier life as a pastry chef. He makes them in a larger individual dessert size and calls them "chocolate rocks". They look rustic (the meringues are spooned rather than piped) but elegant at the same time and I think would easily work in a scaled down version. The concept sounds good to me; crunchy merginque bites topped with rich mousse. One could pipe instead for a different effect. One could play around with the mousse and flavor it with cinnamon or orange, liqueurs, etc. Hey, your almond paste could be used as a part of a mixture on top of meringues also. Orange, Rose or Vanilla-flavored meringues with an almond mousse-like spread on top? Artistically garnished with two almond slices set in sideways on top? A nice cream puff filling I've made is whipped cream swirled with passion fruit puree. A seasonal and tasty alternative would be to fill with a rhubarb fool (roughly puree cooked and sweetend rhubarb swirled into the whipped cream).

Other guac ramblings

Absolutely. And it's easy to tell that they are from someplace else because they are behaving so poorly. ← No comment on similarities or difference of Belgium/Canadian/French children ( ) but it seems likely that kids travelling on vacation are likely to be more tired, excitable and out of their normal routine, thus being more likely to whine or misbehave...

It's 231 Ellsworth in San Mateo. The link has a menu; I ate there once ages ago, but don't have any strong remembrances pro or con. The Left Bank in Menlo Park might also be an option; it's a nice space and they have a mixture of French Bistro/Brasserie food. Please do tell us where you end up and give a brief report if you have a chance! We don't have many egulleteers on the Peninsula/South Bay, so up to date information would be appreciated.

This link on the Smith Brother's website describes some of the issues (and it does not require registration): click Thanks for posting this ImportFood.

Zibbibo's is a spin of LuLu's up in SF. It has a nice atmosphere but I agree pretty much with your assessment--although I don't know if it has improved foodwise in the last few years. Recently, we've usually gone there only for drinks as there is a nice bar.

I love going to Trader Vic's for cocktails and they have a very nice bar area--but I ate there once and was quite disappointed with the food--not special or well done and quite expensive to boot. I would not recommend it for dinner; strong yes for drinks. I haven't stayed at Dinah's; I think they have rennovated in the last few years when Trader Vic's came in. From what I've heard it is a slice out of Silicon Valley history--where all the mover's and shakers used to stay and kibbutz in the 60's, 70's. It could be fun to stay there but it will likely not be as upscale, sleek as some of the other places mentioned above if that is what you are looking for. It has been a few years since I've been there, but one of the better "fine dining" places down here--if you're not going to Manresa, is Marche in Menlo Park. (This is town north of Palo Alto and is only 5 min away from downtown Palo Alto). We had a very nice upscale, French-inspired meal there with good service. It also has a elegant and calm, quiet atmosphere. We usually eat up in SF for 'finer dining' but this was one of the few meals down here that we thougt was comparable to what you can get up in SF. (Manresa is a whole other level and you can check that out in the links.) I have not been to Chez TJ in Mountain View, but from what I have heard from a few people I would not recommend it. For a nice, medium-scale dinner place down here, I like a Cuban-inspired restaurant in Palo Alto on California Ave called La Bodeguita del Medio. Has anyone been to Evvia in Palo Alto (sister restaurant of high end Greek restaurant, Kokkari in SF) recently? The service and dining room are less formal than Kokkari but we had a nice meal there; been a few years though..

At a local art fair last weekend there was a Haagen-Dazs booth set up giving out free samples of Dulce de Leche Light. Don't know how they would compare in a one-on-one comparison (Light vs Not) but I was amazed at the taste. Without a direct comparison there was no way to tell (for me) it was a "light" ice cream. Next time I'm at the store I'll have to check what the caloric difference is between the two.

Ooh, some interesting tips already. The Cypress Grove Purple Haze sounds very interesting Amy... and I have wanted to try the Rouge et Noir as well. The selection in Hawaii and Seattle does sound promising too, it's nice to see wider distribution. I know there have to be a lot of other opinions out there from CA folks and elsewhere; hopefully we'll hear from more people. I'll definately report back after my next purchase...

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...&hl=dessert+bar or in hyperlink... click

Yeah, and I was just remembering "Linzer Torte" (a nut crust filled with jam and a lattice nut crust on top)--not really similar to my discussion or the dictionary definition of "torte" above except that there are nuts in the dough. So there are exceptions to the general definition... I'm probably biased b/c of my Austrian roots--in which the German word "torte" is used... So I think of German/Austrian/Hungarian layered (often) cakes (and with nuts or bread crumbs (often) as tortes. Separately I think of American layer cakes, French Gateaux, Dacquoise, Bavarians, etc...

Ii think Della's definition is the more general traditional definition of a torte; some but not all tortes are multilayered. (Most of the tortes you would see in a bakery or at a restaurant would tend to be multilayerd, while many homemade Austrian and Hungarian tortes are single-layered). But both will all have little flour, nuts or bread crumbs and eggs (often divided, with the whites whipped) as part of the cake base. Also, a typical multilayerd American Southern Cake is not really a torte but is something different and it's own thing. I think the definition is used rather loosely sometime nowadays though. I think the dessert that Ellen describes does not fall neatly into either a classical "tart" or a "torte". Tortes may have different layers but more in the vein of baking a cake or multiple cake layers, and then splitting and filling the layers, jam, buttercream, nut filling, whipped cream, etc. To me the described dessert is *more* like a tart, but as mentioned, tarts usually have sides... Also, usually tarts don't have a graham cracker base--so maybe it a "pie" or a "no-bake bar" made in a round form... In any case, most importantly, I'm glad that it tasted good!

So many dishes I didn't grow up with on this thread that I love but... Grammelschmalz may be offputting to some. It's a spread of lard (schmalz) and grammeln (pork cracklings) that is commonly seved with bread at small wineries or Gasthaus in Austria (Heurige or Buschenschank). It may or may not have some other flavorings (pumpkinseed oil, marjoram, sauteed shallots, etc). Another great Austrian specialty is Speck or Tirolerspeck, a cold smoke and salt cured bacon that you eat as is--thinly sliced with rye bread. It is basically a cured bacon that can be eaten without cooking. It's gaining more "cachet" as a northern Italian cured meat product which comes from the SudTirol (the part of Northern Italy that was part of Austria prior to WWI).

Community Supported Agriculture Basically, you can purchase a "subscription" to a local farm; then each week, (or seasonally, depending where you live), you get a box of fruits and vegetables. With some CSA's you can work on the farm for part of your payment. So it's another way for smaller farmers to sell their food and for consumers to get locally grown produce. Also, it can help small farmers w.r.t. financial stability b/c they have a guaranteed customer for the season or else the months you sign up. Some of the farms tanabutler talks about on the "small farms" thread or in her offsite blog participate in CSA's. This website: www.localharvest.org has lots of information re: the many CSA farms across the country that you can sign up with and gives a lot more detail on CSA's in general. There are also a number of threads on egullet re: CSA's, but here's a thread where people share the "loot" they get each week: click

I had the good fortune of being up at Pt. Reyes last weekend for a wonderful hike. The added bonus of hiking up there is the de rigeur stop off at Tomales Bay Foods to peruse the cheese offerings of the Cowgirl Creamery and many of the other cheeses they sell, some from smaller Sonoma or Marin producers that may not have their own retail outlet. I had a great new cheese! A soft triple creme called Piccolo from Soyoung Scanlan at Andante Dairy. It was absolutely magnificent--unctious texture and great complex flavor. Here is a link to Andante Dairy. Her cheeses are also available each Saturday at the SF Ferry Market. So far, I haven't taken enough advantage of all the great California cheese we have available here but am determined to correct that deficiency... Help spread the word and share your experiences here with CA cheeses. For people outside of CA, it would be interesting to hear what cheeses are making it out of the state. For instance, I heard that the good folks of Philly have CowGirl's RedHawk available at Di Bruno Brothers... edited to add: For those local or visiting California, here's a recent thread re: visiting small cheese producers in California.

Hope it comes out well; I made it about a year ago and can't recall all the details regarding the making of the crust. (Now that I have my own copy I can write my notes right in the book...) Looking back over the recipe, I believe I did use a springform pan (rather than a tart pan) as recommended in the recipe. The sides of the tart are ~ 2 inches high. I also think that in hindsight, I would have liked a stronger rhubarb flavor. For the next time I thought of poaching the rhubarb for less time or else adding more rhubarb to the recipe. I used creme fraiche for the fillilng b/c I love the flavor it adds. I must get "Paris Sweets" as well; I've also taken that out of the library numerous times...

This has to rank right up there with the most informative and charming blogs; thank you very much! I need to scout out if there is any samphire up here in No. California; I"m intriqued!

gotta love radishes and butter... Here' another thread re: ideas for radishes from earlier this spring: click

Mission to discover the best macarons, and in the meantime sample other wonderful breads, cakes, cookies and pastries among Parisian boulangerie and patisserie... Here's a thread on some egulleteer's favorite places for macarons in Paris: click Good thread idea!