Amuse Bouche

Frozen puff pastry wrapped around a toblerone bar (or even snickers bar) and baked, then sliced on the diagonal. Nigella Lawson has a recipe for Gooey Chocolate puddings that have saved my life in many a dinner party dessert emergency. It basically involves melting butter and chocolate together (I use chocolate chips and the microwave for melting) then mixing together eggs and sugar with a little bit of flour, and adding the chocolate. Pour into greased ramekins and bake for 10 minutes. The whole dessert takes maybe 15 minutes to prepare, and only 5 is active time. And it's HEAVEN -- like fallen chocolate souffles. http://www.nigella.com/forum/topic.asp?p_id=1023

Well, I may just skip the syrup part. I was hoping to get some streaks of pink, since the bride's colors are pink and brown. I have a wonderful cookbook for wedding cakes that I've made several recipes from, including my own cake, and I usually take the advice from that on whether syrup is useful or necessary.

I'm thinking of doing a white cake instead of a pound cake, with chambord syrup brushed on (the wedding "theme" is pink and brown), filled with a raspberry puree buttercream, and then frosted and glazed with ganache. I think the problem with my original recipe was too much richness, not sweetness. My own wedding cake was a chocolate almond cake with orange marmalade filling, grand marnier buttercream, and almond fondant. It was SOOO good. And I brushed the layers with grand marnier syrup, too.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking the buttercream would melt and the ganache would slide off. A question -- my usual ganache recipe is just chocolate and cream. Can I add a little bit of butter to this to make it more workable for the undercoat (allowing me to get it really smooth on my turntable) but still use the chocolate and cream as the poured overcoat?

I'm making a wedding cake that will be coated with chocolate ganache -- that's really the only "must have" but the bride also likes pound cake. I've never glazed a cake with ganache before, so I did a mini test run, coating the cake in buttercream first, then pouring ganache over the buttercream. It looked fabulous, but was rich to the point of being inedible, and I worry how will this will stand up for a June wedding in potential heat. I found this recipe on Epicurious: Chocolate Raspberry Torte Which suggests that you can make a glaze from strained raspberry jam as an underlayer for ganache. Does anyone have any experience with this? Does it work? Does it yield the same kind of beautiful smooth surface that buttercream does? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Am I missing something? Because I keep hearing that Japanese desserts are not as sweet as American desserts, but that hasn't been my experience at all. Maybe I just prefer less-sweet American desserts, but I think that a lot of common flavors in American desserts (chocolate, citrus, even cinnamon or nuts) serve to cut the potential sweetness a bit with other flavors, such as bitterness or sourness. Again, I'm not in the habit of buying Chips Ahoy (or Magnolia Cupcakes for that matter) but these Beard Papa cream puffs taste pretty darn sweet to me. And since the other flavors are so subtle, that's all I get, just sweet.

LOL. That's why I decided to veer away from truly authentic into the "cool and retro but still tastes good" category. Maybe I'll make mini meatloafs (I make a mean meatloaf). But I also need to do some stuff for vegetarians/fish eaters. Definitely rumaki, though I might switch them for bacon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds, because those are some of my favorites. Keep the ideas coming!

Having a housewarming party soon and I was thinking it would be fun to do a "retro" theme, since all that 50's stuff is so big right now. I don't bow to absolute authenticity, so my mom's suggestion of lime jello with cottage cheese is out, but I will make a jello mold (Gin and Tonic flavored -- I tried it last year for a housewarming party and it melted so I want to make another attempt with more gelatin). I'm also thinking -- pigs in a blanket, onion dip and veggies and chips, brownies, maybe some sort of teriyaki chicken pineapple skewers? What should we serve as a "theme" drink? Any other ideas for food or drinks?

Non professional here, but having some friends over for a late brunch. Thinking of making pistachio and chocolate macaroons, since one friend gave up chocolate for Lent and the pistachio is such a springlike color.

Another windowsill garden -- mint, rosemary, sage, chives, and basil, plus a small lychee tree my husband coaxed from a seed. We're moving to a place with a small terrace, and hoping to expand soon.

My husband is a lot closer than he was! I think it helped that it was 80 degrees and gorgeous while we were there, but it was snowing when we got back to New York. Brunch at Shutters was very good, though overpriced (as always). I had the Tasso ham hash which was very spicy, and a terrific mai tai, but there's really a limit to how creative you can get with brunch dishes. To some extent, people really want comfort food at brunch. Still, the setting on the patio at One Pico can't be beat. We also had a terrific lunch at Nonya in Pasadena -- they have an amazing lunch special, with and appetizer and main course for something like $7. I had a crispy duck salad which was really excellent.

Realized I never updated this. We ended up going to Joe's in Venice, which was lovely. Sat out on the patio, had the game menu, which was phenomenal (some of the best venison I've had) and enjoyed a few glasses of wine. I would definitely go back to Joe's, and it was very reasonable.

I've had problems working with white chocolate -- it's harder to stay smooth than dark. The one time I tried to frost a cake with a white chocolate ganache (Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe which was basically just white chocolate and mineral oil) it hardened freakishly fast. But I might have been trying in a too cold room and I was frosting, rather than glazing. Practice with the white chocolate before attempting the cake. If it doesn't work, I think just the buttercream would be more than fine, and beautiful, to boot. Or if you wanted to do a square cake I've seen ones where a thin sheet of white chocolate was basically stuck to the side of the cake. It looked beautiful

My husband and I are combining duty and pleasure and celebrating our anniversary by visiting my relatives in L.A. We decided to make it more anniversaryish by staying in Santa Monica one night (staying at the Loew's, though I'm eyeing the rates at the Fairmont Miramar), and we want to have a nice dinner. Don't want to break the bank (Melisse is a little more than we really want to spend, especially since we can get great formal French meals in New York). I'd love something that's very California, since I'm trying to get my husband to move back there. Of these restaurants, which is better for us? Are there other suggestions within not too long a drive? (We're Manhattanites -- 20 blocks is a long way to go for dinner, plus I don't want to scare the husband away with L.A. Traffic). I think we're meeting my parents for brunch at Shutters the next day. Wine list is less important, though a decent selection of wines by the glass would be nice. (We're also used to cabs, so we probably won't be ordering a bottle).

What are the prices? I know the 9 course is $150 -- what about the 5 course? Is there also a vegetarian tasting menu?

I just noticed it's actually '93 -- does that change anything?

Well, I guess it will be the one year wedding anniversary beverage!

I have a bottle of 1992 Dom Perignon, and I'm wondering when I need to/should drink it. It was given to me a couple of years ago, and I've been saving it for a special occasion, but most special occasions don't lend themselves to drinking an entire bottle of champagne and really enjoying it. Should I drink it right away or would it be better in a few years? When's the optimum time to drink it?

My most favorite is Fortnum and Mason Queen Anne. I'm very upset they've stopped distributing it in the U.S. Also like Earl Grey, Darjeeling, P.G. Tips (A British tea bag), Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Something.

In elementary school, I distinctly remember taking sandwiches made of sliced uncooked hot dogs and sliced dill pickles with mayonnaise to school. Now one of my favorites is mustard sandwich -- Colman's mustard, bread, butter.

Bread.

Some of your hates I love -- Christmas pudding, parsnips (one of my all time favorite vegetables), brussels sprouts (though I know this is weird). I hate cucumbers. When I was very young, I had a list of things I hate -- mustard, onions and cucumbers topping the list. Now I eat mustard sandwiches for breakfast, fry onions for lunch, but cucumbers? Blech. Slimy, nasty, everything bad about a food. I also don't like fakey stuff, like waxy chocolate, eggbeaters (ugh), Cheez Wiz.

This is going to sound odd, but maybe Babbo? While it's not abounding with vegetarian options, there are some really lovely pastas, salads and cheese dishes, and the cuisine is worthy of a special occasion.

You mentioned in your review of Casa Mono that you couldn't review anonymously because you knew the owners and yada yada yada. This got me thinking about how much your personal biases and expectations figure into reviewing -- if you know (or know of the chef), if a restaurant's reputation precedes it, if you're aware of and approve of the philosophy. How much do these "outside" factors play into both your appreciation of the food and your ability to review it objectively? This is something I've struggled with when dining out -- the ability to keep expectations in check. I very much enjoy your regular writing for the NYT as well as your current reviewing gig.

I know Babbo has already been mentioned, but I have to give a special shout out to the lamb tongue vinaigrette. And does anyone know why the formerly beef cheek ravioli is now pig cheek ravioli?