ludja

So, is the assumption that your friend would be making one meal for one day at a time? Or is she making a couple meals to last the family a couple days, meaning that the uneaten meals would be left out? ← Good question! I guess I was thinking that what was meant was bringing over for the same day--i.e. to be eaten with a few hours.

Interesting spaetzle recipe Adam; different from most I've seen. The basic (no fail) spaetzle recipe I make and learned from my Austrian mom is similar to Behemoth's recipe but with a few differences: 2 eggs 1/2 cup water 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 cups flour (American, all purpose) 1/2 tsp salt Combine all ingredients; beat well. Make spaetzle... Interestingly, I sometimes find I need to add even a little more water. The dough should be pretty thin. Some people say to let the dough "rest" for ~ 20 min but I haven't found that necessary. Sometimes later in the batch of cooking them, I add a little more water to the dough to keep it thin. Most recipes I've seen are pretty similar to this--although they can vary in somewhat surprising amounts re: flour or water. Also have a recipe that uses milk as a small portion of the liquid. I haven't experimented w/different ones as the above works very well to make a 'light' and toothsome dumpling. People play around alot know in flavoring them in different ways---some of the more 'conservative' add ins to the dough are minced, cooked spinach or chopped parsely which I've added to the dough above with success. Prompted by your post though--I looked thru a few other books I have and did find a recipe that incorporates Quark (or Topfen) ie. Farmer's or Pot Cheese into the spaetzle dough in Bouley's Danube cookbook cowriteen with Melissa Clark and Thomas Schauer. In the "intro" to the dish they don't discuss the origin of this recipe--i.e. is it "traditional" or a Bouley invention. I don't have many German cookbooks, mainly Austrian/Hungarian, so I don't know if this is a common varient in Germany. (non of my Austrian books have it). Found an e-link to Danube Restaurant's (NYC) recipe here. Again, I haven't tried it yet but will probably do so at some point. As Boris menitoned these are great "convenience" food-- very easy to make and easy to make ahead. For leftovers or making in advance, I just toss the finished spatzle with a little butter and can then store for several days in fridge. To use-- toss with a little more butter (or browned butter) and warm. (They won't stick!). Besides baking or tossing buttered spaetzle with gruyere cheese --this dish is nice (and sometimes traditionally) topped with slowly cooked (and thinly sliced) browned onions. (or can use shallots). ...Kluempchen... (German and Austrian/German cracks me up sometime) edited to add: American all purpose flour is ~ 12% gluten; I think in England this is called "plain flour".

One place that advertises tours is the Marin French Cheese Company in Petaluma. They say they have tours each day but that it is good to check ahead for availability. Their "Rouge et Noir" Brie style cheese recently won a big international award. I think there's a thread on egullet somewhere. This website lists a whole lot of cheesemakers in CA; some large down to very small. Some of the smaller places don't have a retail/customer interface but you can buy their cheeses at Cowgirl Creamery (Tomales Bay Foods) in Pt. Reyes Station or at the SF Ferry Market. The Washington Post article has some pretty good ideas--if you wanted a whole cheese day it suggests doing some of this loop starting at The Ferry Market in SF, then continuing on to Tomales Bay Foods in Pt. Reyes Station, then Marin French Cheese (5 miles away), and finally ending up in the town of Sonoma to visit Vella Cheese and another good cheeseshop, The Cheesemaker's Daughter. (Daughter of Vella). On a completely different note, another fun food tour is to visit Scharffenberger Chocolate Factory in Oakland. More info in this thread.

fruit pies or pecan pie for something sturdy for travel and sweet...

If I espied some, I would buy a single one first and taste it. Never a bad idea re: apricots anyway as I've seemed to have gotton disappointing ones more often that I like, even in the midst of the season.

Thanks for all the great info folks--listing some of your favorite mags, how to order and some impressions on the differences. I love the idea of bolstering my rusty French skills while obtaining great recipes and ideas at the same time. And now I have a good reason to nonchalantly hang out in Cafe de la Presse in SF and peruse the French magazines! I forgot about this cafe until after the thread started but it should be a good starting point armed with the information here. Any other comments re:the points LindaK asked above would be great too if other people have opinions. Ultimately, choices like this come down to personal preferences, skill level, style, etc but any aids towards discerning this for us 'differently-abled' French speakers/readers is great! One way to discuss, I guess, is via comparisons to other mags that people might know about as Margaret mentioned. Saveurs is sounding pretty interesting based on some of the descriptions so far--re: relatively high sophistication and interesting recipes--including regional dishes.

Don't know how professional kitchens "deal" between the sweet and savory side--but the pastry chef may be able to use quite a bit in fillings for fruit tarts. I posted a recipe for a respberry creme fraiche tart on recipe gullet a while back.

This cakes sounds excellent. From what you're both mentioning, am I correct in thinking that the almond filling was not baked in the cake? (i.e. a 'raw' filling spooned into a split cake after it has been cooked? I did find a link which describes various almond and frangipane fillings... most contain eggs but there is one that is just almond paste and butter... here It seems like this might be pretty stiff--maybe it could be softened a bit more with heavy cream? Thanks for your personal Breton Cake recipe too bleudauvergne... Off topic somewhat, but I when googling I also found this recipe for Galette des rois aux Amandes (the Kings Almond Tart). Here, the dough is more a 'short' dough and the frangipane filling is cooked inside...

Hmm... cajeta. I found a link for a recipe I've been wanting to try for awhile; it's a Mexican Tres Leches (Three Milks) Cake by Bayless! The cajeta is mixed with cream and evaporated milk; then poured over the warm cake to soak in. The cake is iced with whipped cream spiked or not with orang liqueur. Other ideas: over poached pears over apple fritters (sliced rings, +/- ice cream) over warm gingerbread a dip for raw apples over roasted or sauteed bananas or pineapples (+/- ice cream) Thanks for blogging; it's been fun so far!

Sounds like a good plan! It is an Edelweiss... My mom is from Austria and so are and were both sets of grandparents.

other base ingredients for late spring/early summer soups: fennel aspargus and crab fresh fava beans peas green garlic/garlic carrot (as mentioned) artichoke spinach leek salmon

Cowgirl Creamery also has some demos but you'll have to check it out further to find out times, etc. It's at their shop in Pt. Reyes Station in which you can also buy lots of wonderful cheeses--and sandwiches, wines, etc. (Nice to take on a hike or to a lookout point in Pt.Reyes National Park right near by). If you contact them, they might also be able to suggest other tours, etc. The Strauss Family Creamery also has tours to see their organic milk and cream production. I think the tours may be just once a month though so you would also need to check their website. Do you get Saveur Magazine? The April issue from this year had a great feature on American artisanal cheesemakers, of which a fair number are in Sonoma. If you're interested, I could list some of the producers they featured so that you could then research from there... Hope to hear back here regarding what you find out and/or do. Sounds like a fun adventure.

Lots of good ideas for future cookoffs... Personally I think gnocchi (potato-based) would be great for a next topic. I've always wanted to try them but have been lazy. They are famously simple, but not so simple. With our combned talents and experimentation I think we could launch a fleet of new gnocchi makers! Maybe could include choux and cheese based recipes as well... Also like the mole idea (pipian or sunflower seed versions would be very interesting).

Two new books for my birthday: Healy and Bugat's The Art of Cake ($ commission for egullet if you order thru this link) I'm pretty excited about this as I really love their book on French Cookies. An older book on regional American Cooking by Jean Anderson, The Grass Roots Cookbook.

Thanks for all the info everyone. So, Saveurs focuses on French recipes only? From the recipe bleudauvergne posted, I guess it might be a blend of classical and updated dishes? If you read food French mags, is this your favorite?

Bleu D'auvergne just mentioned a recipe from the French language Saveur Magazine (and nicely logged the recipe for Clafourtis de Fevettes au Parmesean et Basilic into recipe gullet. My curiosity re: the French Edition was piqued when I noticed that this recipe was not in the US version's current edition, so it seems that they have different content. Can anyone compare and contrast the french vs english language version of the magazines? Does the french version emphasize French food more (or less!) ? Is it possible to subscribe to this in the US? Is is a popular magazine in France? What are other good cooking, wine, dining magazines in French?

Thanks for pointing this out! I was assuming they were Portuguese as those are what I am familiar with. What type do you have rabidscottsman?

Portuguese Caldo Verde Soup. I found a recipe online that looks close to what I use: click (Can also throw a beef soup bone in there, and/or some beans; tastes better after reheating the next day...) edited to add: looks like Chris was thinking along the same lines...

Hmmm, this looks and sounds delicous. Are the asparagus cooked at all before roasting in the oven? Do you add the cheese at the end?

Found some other info on stacked pies here on the website "pie of the month club". As some mentioned above, the pies have a custard/chess pie type filling (here, flavored with orange). The pies are covered with a caramel/butterscotch poured frosting. Also ran across some info when looking up Kentucky Derby food recently. As andiesenii mentioned above, sometimes other dried fruits are used besides apples--like dried peaches for instance. Thanks for your great post and reminiscences also racheld--interesting that different fillings were used in the layers. Re: getting the pies out of the pans--the stacked pie recipe I linked to above said to make sure the pies were completely chilled first. (Still seems like it would be tricky though... )

Here's the link to the post on the dinner thread. Sounds and looks great; I'm especially in awe of the homemade hoagie rolls!

Thanks zilla369 for the charming post and recipe for mint juleps. I hope that when you're reading this post at the end of the day you are sipping a cool, frosty one as you kick up your feet and recount your last few busy days!

Offtopic: Any chance she would be interested in joining e-gullet? It would be great to have some more commentary on egullet re: Austrian wine, food and Vienna...

One of the best "new" (for me) restaurants I went to this year is Quince--it's been open for ~ 3 years. If you didn't catch it on your last visit you may want to check it out. Italian-California with a heavy emphasis on Italian. The chef has had training at Chez Panisse and w/Bertolli at Olivetos. They have excellent homemade past dishes and two of us had the best halibut dish I've ever had. Typical meal is: appetizer, pasta, main dish, dessert. It's in the same location in Pacific Heights where The Meetinghouse used to be. A fun lunch or small dinner place is Hirogoyen's newest venture Bocadillos; this place has received a lot of buzz and in my opinin is worthy of it. It 's in North Beach (very close to the pyramid) and is really a great tapas type place--make sure to try the expertly fried squid which are coated with rice flour and served with aoili. Check back in at the Ferry Building to see what new places have opened up inside. Can't recommend for dinner (haven't been and have heard mixed things about it) but if you time before dinner or at other times they are open you might be interested in Bacar for great selections of wine by the glass. For instance, they have about 30 Austrian wines open at a time and lots of good German Rieslings as well. (They have a system to preserve open wines). Maybe these are also very available in NYC and not such a novelty... just an idea. Based on friend's and egullet reviews the high end places I want to try right now are Manresa, Michael Mina's (mixed but some good reviews) and Campton Place (new chef). For Napa recs it may be helpful to know where you've been before and what types of wines and/or wineries you are most excited about...

rhubarb fool rhubarb mousse