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ben - this should help mustard sauces i think something with heat and sweetness - like a honey mustard or a spicy bbq or a hot/sweet horseradish would all be good.

hi sam, i'm not really able to help on stretching the fish curry per se - but what if you also made a dal or vegetable dish? crisp okra might be good...i just made black-eyed peas last night from Suvir Saran's new book - in addition to being very tasty, the recipe was dead easy. good luck!

dinner at union on saturday. we ate at the bar (my preference. i think the bar is more intimate and romantic...maybe it's the red wall). i had wanted to try the tasting menu, but dishes from the main menu called to me. we had a bottle of the Peachy Canyon zin from Paso Robles. it's very good. (and you can buy get it at TJ's). firsts - duck egg yolk, frisee & lamb prosciutto. definitely the most luscious yolk i've ever eaten. the frisee was also very good and it all worked well with the lamb prosciutto. i'm new at all this meat stuff and lamb tastes very gamey to me. i remember when i loved that...and i still think i'd like roast lamb, but for now i think i'll stick to pork and beef. (oddly though - i'm not usually crazy about proscuitto - and i far preferred the slightly denser lamb texture to pork's.) so, in conclusion, i must be adopted by someone who will show me the ways of salumi. also first - crab salad with grapefruit wrapped in ahi. i've had this before...it's the essence of crab. absolutely outstanding. i asked the waitress if the salad had any crab consume or essence or something in it to make it taste so crabby but she seemed sure that there wasn't. the grapefruit was astonishingly sour. second - seared hamachi with avocado puree, bitter microgreens and passionfruit. more pared-down food prepared exquisitely. not much more to say - it was a damn fine piece of fish, and all the flavors harmonized beautifully. third - halibut wrapped in bacon with creamy farro and bruniose veg. bizarrely, at the moment i was about to toast my boyfriend - telling him how cool he is, how lucky i am etc...he referred to the farro as "like soup-mix." upon seeing my face he said, "no, good soup mix." i have no idea what he meant. there were tiny carrots - but otherwise i'm at a loss. the farro had that wonderful texture, and it was creamy and winey and rich - a perfect foil to the sharp salt and crisp exterior of the bacon hiding the tender juicy mild flesh beneath. mmmm dessert was vanilla pannacotta with huckleberries. and moscato d'asti. a truly wonderful meal.

after reading this thread i immediately went downstairs to our (private) coffee stand for a hot chocolate. i kind of hate you guys. it was decent, but pedestrian...like i would have made at home when i was a kid.

a friend is naming her retail store...it's really hard to find just the right name. that said - sugar (once)! is my favorite. if your brother joins you - you can be sugar and spice. i like FFR's toot sweet also - it's cute. more than picking something original or specifically cakey - i think you want a 2 -3 syllable name that people won't forget - and that isn't too hard to spell. more than 2 words and they'll never remember what about: ganache fondant buttercream/buttercream dreams sugar plum fun!!

last night I cooked from Suvir Saran's book Indian Home Cooking. I made Tandoori Prawns, Curried Black-eyed peas & green chutney. Served with steamed basmati and TJ's tortillas. and Peachy Canyon Zin. Oddly - a very good combo. Very well-received!! and i made turkey stock for the stuffing i'm bringing to TG dinner.

hi there, I just got the book on Friday, and last night I made tandoori prawns, curried black-eyed peas and green chutney. I'm wondering if Suvir or someone else can weigh in on the prawns. The recipe calls for 2 hours of marinating, then 10 minutes of roasting at 550 then 15 minutes of resting, then 10 more minutes at 550 after a brushing of butter. I've only had the massive (8-count) prawns a couple of times before ... I thought a total of 20 minutes of cooking time seemed very high...I cut it back a bit, but still thought the prawns were a bit dry, though I reduced the second cook by 3 minutes. I have a pizza stone in the bottom of my oven - might that have increased the temp? In general - why the roast/wait/baste/roast approach? The flavors were very good - and the prawns were excellent with the green chutney. I'm looking forward to having the black-eyed peas tonight...I'm sure they'll be even better the second night. The book, for those who are still on the fence, is great. I love the use of canned beans, the appropriate substitutions and shortcuts - it will definitley take Indian food into mid-week cooking.

well - i used the rest of the batch i made november 5th/6th last night in a dish for a party. the confit was fine. it had been in a bowl covered with press & seal (but not first-use. if you've used P&S you know what i mean) there was a little liquid in the bowl which i poured off, but it smelled fine and there was no trace of mold. leftover confit fondue thing: 1 cup of (aged) confit 1 pound (less would have been fine) grated cheese - i used raclette and gruyere 1 T thyme 1-2 T sherry milk - 1/2 - 3/4 c 1-2 T butter 1-2 T flour my roux making wasn't very exact, but it all thickened very nicely. i melted the butter, added and whisked the flour for a few minutes, added confit, milk and sherry and the the grated cheese. oh, and i sliced and added a jalepeno, and then some pepper, and a tablespoon of mustard. served with green apples and potato chips. it was good. fondue-y. would have been better with bread.

Al, I've made wonderfully smoky collard greens by using smoked leeks, shallots and onions. I think i used hickory, and a little stovetop smoker.

the wine shop at pike and western should have one.

I really don't know how long it will keep. I have a jar that got pushed to the back of the shelf in this fridge-from-hell for... oh, I don't know... two months? It still smells good. It still tastes good. I tasted it two days ago and I am not dead yet. ← thanks for being my guinea pig, fifi!

all of these ideas are great. i'm taking notes on both split and upside-down versions. but i get the sense that if you give this guy any advice at all - and he has any questions...he'll be knocking on your door for help. what if you fried his turkey first? you'd be done with him after 40 minutes...and it seems as though the oil should be fine for you when his is done.

yankee here - in the standard grandma issue cut glass dishes (2 - one partitioned in 2, one a single unit) celery (nude. my mom was a dieter) carrot sticks black olives - to sneak on my fingers when she wasn't watching green olives with pimentos - keep the artisanal olives for another occasion baby sweet gherkins whole sour spears hearts of palm - quartered. must find gherkins.

i made mine a little differently (since i don't have a crock pot) i used 5 massive yellow (spanish) onions, a good pinch of salt, a stick of butter, a splash of sherry and black pepper. cooked in my bit le creuset dutch oven for 14 hours at 275 (250 when i was asleep!) it could have gone longer, but was divine as is. i made "old fashioned" onion dip with it (celery salt, sour cream and chopped herbs) and served it with ruffles and veggies. amazingly good. any know how long (extra) confit keeps? assume it's covered - lightly in my fridge...for 2 weeks. is it time to toss it, or can i keep it to add to thanksgiving stuffing?

glad it worked! the main reason i cook my fish flesh side down first is that i'm not crazy about the flavor of the skin. if i cook it skin side down first, i'm paranoid that when i flip it, i'll end up with scales or the taste of the skin on my pristine fish. probably insane, i realize. i do think though that the fish is easier to flip when it's got a crust on the fleshy part. as far as oil goes - i use the dry fish, hot pan - bit of oil in pan method. and hot fish skin smokes. turn on that fan! if the fish is dry, it shouldn't really splatter.

last night was korean food. marinated beef with scallions & onions, spinach, cucumber & turnip kimchee, sticky rice, a delicious salad with creamy wasabi dressing and beef dumplings. it was my friend karen is leaving town for a couple of weeks and had too much food to just throw away. we were happy beneficiaries. i'm still full.

i need to eat out with you!

Right. Well, there are two things at play here: 1. the cucumber cup is not meant to be eaten, and 2. if the cucumber cups freeze well and they are sitting on a block of frozen slate, melting will hopefully not be an issue. But it's definitely something I should QA. ← sam, i have used english cucumber cups as vessels before - salting and then draining is exactly the way to go...i had mousse in mine for hours with no problems. frozen you'd have even less to worry about. by the way - get an extra chair...i'm coming over!!

i just did this sunday night with salmon. not sure why your piece fell apart...here's what i did - maybe it will help! salmon was skin-on filet - wild king (i mention this because the water content of farmed or other wild salmon might differ). i salted and peppered the flesh part of the fish liberally. heated my pan (a crappy teflon with a heat safe handle.) once the pan was hot (was only able to hold my hand an inch or so from the bottom for a few seconds before i felt lots o heat) added about 2 tsp of grapeseed oil and swirled the pan. the oil gets kind of thin and wavy when it's hot. i placed the salmon in the pan on the oil flesh side down. and turned on the exhaust fan. my fish was very thick (nearly 2 inches) so i had my oven on at 350. after about 2 minutes - i flipped the fish (had not touched it at all until then) the "crust" has well formed after a couple of minutes - leaving a slightly brown crisp top. after about a minute skin-side down, i put it into the oven for another few minutes until it was done. i'm not crazy for salmon skin, and what i love about this recipe is that when done, the fish slides right off the skin. (but the skin releases easily as well) in short - lots of heat to sear - cook flesh side first. edited to add: i love to serve seared salmon over cabbage slaws...toss shredded cabbage with fennel, rice vinegar, olive oil, cilantro, scallions and roasted sesame seeds.

wennnnndyyy, what're you eating? i miss your blog!

i agree on both points - they would not have cared at waterfront - it was obvious...and the last time my mom was here, we went to Elliott's and i also was unimpressed with the non-raw bar food. glad to know i'm not alone about the brooklyn!

dinner last night (for my mom ) to munch with vodka - local, perfect massive red bartlett pear with aged herb gouda, marcona almonds and carr's water crackers. seared then roasted king salmon with tarragon hollandaise roasted carrots, onions & fingerlings from the farmer's market "english" style (heat sheet pan in oven until hot - add oil to pan, reheat - toss veg into hot oil. makes veg super crisp. thanks to carol!) sauteed chard from the market with a bit of old balsamic. estate bottled shiraz from mclaren vale in australia (i'm obsessed) a cube of comte for dessert.

my mom loves McCormicks...but i wanted to take her somewhere new to her (encouraging whorish behavior? ) it is a little old fashioned looking - but i think that adds to the appeal...we were in the bar after dinner for quite a while and i noticed rob looking over my mom's shoulder and looking...touched. it seems he was taken with the older couple who came in for dessert after the symphony. they talking the waiter about the fact that they come in to the brooklyn too often...and it was clear that they liked the atmosphere there. i love new and hip - but nothing beats watching fritz order natalie her split of champagne. they've been married for 35 years.

friday night we took my mom (who was visiting for the weekend) to Waterfront. she lives in Central FL and is desperate for fish when she comes. Her birthday is coming up, so I wanted to take her somewhere pretty with a reputation for good fish. I've eaten at Waterfront before - but only for catered parties. the room was still very pretty, but that was about it. the waiter was weird when he was around (called my boyfriend "captain," didn't ask if we wanted another bottle of wine,) and was totally MIA for most of the meal. The food was average. It irriates me that the salad portions are so enormous - and then the mains are pretty skimpy - mainly because of the lack of accompaniment. my mom literally got a piece of fish on a plate. Hers, at least, was hot and she enjoyed it. My scallops were cool and drowning in lukewarm (thin!) buerre blanc. i would have told the waiter - but he declined to check back until midway through the meal. I was happy my mom had enjoyed her fish, but I left with a bad taste in my mouth. Bill for 3...2 oysters, 2 salads, 3 entrees, 1 side dish and one bottle of decent Vigonier was $210 (pre-service). It felt expensive but I wasn't sure why...until the next night. The next night we went to The Brooklyn - Our service (from Linda) was wonderful from the start. The dozen oysters were divine and I spotted Sonoma-Cutrer for $28 - a total steal. The caesar salad was well executed, mom liked her baked oysters and all 3 entrees were excellent. My mom had alder planked king salmon, i had monkfish with crab & bernaise and rob had blue marlin (the best of the three). The bill for 2 bottles of wine, 3 apps and 3 entrees was about the same as at Waterfront - and it felt like a bargain. as rob put it - "i'm happy to pay that much for dinner, but the first bite should make me go, 'wow, that is so good.'" the snoqualmie ice cream we had in the bar after with the rest of our wine, espresso and a creme brulee was so good. the best was the vanilla (in an almond-toffee tuile). the chocolate stout was too alcoholic tasting to me, but the banana toffee was also very good...tasted like the holidays. brulee was also good - right ratio (IMO) of crunch to cream. i do love it when the brulee is torched just before service - this wasn't, but it was still very good. do you like the Brooklyn? It's rarely written about here, and I wonder why.

sriracha mayo yellow mustard chipotle mayo barbecue sauce with mcdonalds fries russian dressing with chopped jalepenos horseradish mayo all on the side. pre-dampened fries are a travesty.