bleudauvergne

Clockwise from top left a kilo of peas, parsley, feves, lettuce, loaf o bread (my bakery's on vacation this weekend), strawberries, carrots, 3 octopus which I will cook a la greque again, very cheap fish fillets which we fried up immediately, scarfed down and promptly forgot the name of the fish, gambas, garlic, eggs, and radishes. And a rose. Oooh fennel gratin. Sounds good, I'll do it. Walt you're really lucky, our asapragus has gone down to 6 euros a kilo, about 3 euros a lb. Still much more expensive than what you're getting it for, enjoy!

Question for those who freeze their jiaozi - can you do guotie with them frozen - or only fresh?

Hest 88 - It seems like the cantonese word for noodles is not "mien", does your mother come from a mandarin speaking part of China? In Shanghai, won ton mien can be served without the broth, and I recall my Taiwanese friend also liked them plain, cooked in broth but eaten with sauce instead of the broth, which was served after. It seems that serving them steeped in broth only (never serving them alone) could be a Cantonese thing - I don't know, but maybe someone who knows this region better can explain? Your explanation of principally considering the wonton as the dish rather than the soup would certainly make sense. It would be interesting to know what part of China your mother's family comes from, which be a factor in explaining the history behind that. Mien - definition

We will sup on tortelli in brodo this evening.

OK it's done. I did tortelli instead of tortellini because we were in a hurry. The stuffing turned out really good, since the beans were cooked with the last hunk of smoked savoie ham. I made double stuffing with fresh ricotta from Italy, picorino and parmesean, and it's in the fridge awaiting the spoon.

I do know poulets de Bresse are a certain breed, but I don't know about what's required to be a certified farmer of this breed, i.e. in order to be selling certified poulets de bresse, do they have to be raised on a certain kind of feed and have open space to run in? Let me do some checking and get back to you. edit: I've checked. The birds must be: feed does not contain synthetic additives at least 4 months of age live in total liberty in grassy field. The only thing that might be suspect is "no synthetic additives", since it does not specifically say that their feed must contain strictly organic material, so even if they don't add "synthetic" stuff, there's nothing guaranteeing the feed is completely insecticide free etc. It's a toss up. You certainly could have arguments either way.

The problem with saying "won ton mien" is the word "mien", which means noodles. It's like saying hey mom, are noodles soup? The natural answer is, no, noodles are noodles. Won tons are noodles that you often find in broth, but they are also sometimes fried alone. The word for soup in mandarin is "tang". Try asking her about that, and she'll say it's soup. If the name of the dish has the word "tang" meaning soup in it, you can be assured it is soup. Another chinese word for soup is "geng" which means a thicker soup. Dumplings are often found in soup (tang), but they are also served in many forms and in many ways without the broth. edited to add I don't know the cantonese word for soup, sorry. Reading above posts the fact that in HK wontons come in soup, thus the assumption is that it's soup is because the name of the dish has been abbreviated, it probably once contained the word for soup but has been abbreviated since wontons in HK are served that way. In shanghai, though, if you ask for wonton, you're going to get a question - which way?

Wow that herb place looks amazing.

PBRs what we used to get when we couldn't afford anything else. Cheapest beer on earth. I think a 6 was something like $1.49. Ah. The memories.

That was one of the all time great amazing threads I ever read, the first time I read it was in the midst of the Vote for your favourite eGullet nickname, at the UK's Restaurant magazine. Thank you so much for reminding me about that.

Hi Moby. I am so sorry that you are in this predicament. I was recently on a similar regime, and it was in the salad department that I got creative. Lots and lots of fresh market produce. Bio shops here have whole grain pasta, maybe you can find some there. I don't know if Montignac products are available over there but they are in essence for the person on the low/slow carb diet. Best wishes for a positive result - I am hoping the best for you.

I am continuously amazed by the Self-Improvement Through Pastry & Baking thread. It's really interesting. I love it. I particularly love the part when people really got coordinated, baked the same things at the same time, and all posted pictures.

I've incorporated MKFradin's recipe in my list of favs. I'm doing it again today, with a mixture of type 55 and type 45 to see if I can improve the stability.

I would like to know what that spice mix was, too.

We do it, this year we're doing vin de noix. Here's the thread on vin d'orange.

Yes, my dear, you need to experience a new type. Order it from fromages.com. You won't be sorry.

Just yesterday I saw a bowl of strawberries in the dessert menu at the restaurant where I ate lunch. I ordered the profiteroles with chocolate sauce, basically for the reasons you noted in your piece, I tend to order things that normally don't come out of my own kitchen at home. We have strawberries for dessert all the time! But as I overheard the discussion at the next table I wondered if I should have ordered the strawberries. They were really enjoying them. Nice piece, I hope to see more.

30 people is not a lot to cook for, but the stress of the wedding itself will compound the pressure and be a heavy burden on wedding day. If you don't feel that it's a good idea to put this task into the hands of a local reastaurant, deli, or caterer, a few things: 1) I will repeat Malawry's words of wisdom: Delegate, Delegate, Delegate. If you're doing the food this does not mean that you have to do all of the actual cooking. Enlist the help of the people that you already know are going to ask if there's something they can do. Make a detailed shopping list and ask for help. Delegating side dishes among a series of friends and family is a good idea. 2) Add some green things to your list, salads, etc. to add some healthy color to the wedding feast table, and as Pan points out to accomodate any non meat eaters. 3) You could ask 3 or 4 different people each to do a platter of finger food - and another person to be in charge of arranging this into decorative hors d'oeurve platters to pass at the beginning stages of the meal. 4) The good thing about marinades is that you can put the meat in the marinade now, freeze it in it's marinade, and transfer to a fridge a couple of days in advance. It's not impossible to do! It really depends on the nature of the reception. You're talking about 30 people here, which is going to be a more intimate and family style type of event, right? If you want something informal and to have people involved and having fun doing it, a barbeque is a good way to do it. But if you are going to have guests you want to wow, if people are going to be dressed in formal attire, etc. I suggest putting it into the hands of people who do this every day and can concentrate on the fine details that you won't have time or capacity to handle on that day. Only you know your own limits.

Wow that chicken looks excellent. Your roti rod looks exactly like the one we have that fits our oven! Did you have that hooked up to something that turned it automatically? Blue's story is amazing. Yes, a perfect graphic for the wine bottle. Love the blog - Edit - Did you ever worry about your cats getting snatched for a snack with the bobcat around?

Maybe William can tell us. Hey William, can you tell us something about Shandong jiaozi?

I'm so sorry to hear that you're always drinking vinegar. Hmm it does taste really good. I ADD fat if the pork I've got is too lean! Call me crazy but let me tell you, they keep coming back for them. I've added duck fat (it was the only thing I had on hand) and that takes them to a whole new level of juicy deliciousness.

Hilarious.

I had this kind of tea recently at a friend's house. She says it's sold in a park in Shanghai. Inside is an actual flower. It was wonderful. I've forgotten the name of it. Can anyone tell me the Chinese name for this so that I can put it on my wish list for friends going to China? Thanks!

Just wonderful, both articles!!

One thing that I would be rather concerned about is getting reservations. This might be difficult if you don't speak a word of French. The best thing to do in your case would be to enlist the aid of your hotel concierge, who's job it is to do things like make reservations, or, if you are on a budget and staying in a hotel that does not have a concierge, to make friends with the guy at the front desk and ask him to call for you. That might be a much better way of getting your reservations than to call and hope that they do speak English. A good couple of words to know are: "Je voudrais...", meaning "I would like...". If you start with those two words and then completely mangle the rest, or even point, you'll still be alright because they will respect that you're giving it a good try. About people not thinking you're American because you're speaking French - I get asked almost every time I discuss something with a stranger what my nationality is. People used to come out and ask if I am British, but after a few years, now they say, "I detect an accent, may I ask where you come from?" This I find is a much more polite way of asking, than "Are you English?" (which I am not.). My accent is not strongly American because I had to learn a whole new system for making sounds when I learned to speak Chinese, so when I speak now it's close to French, but not quite. I got tired of announcing my nationality to complete strangers who really don't give a damn one way or another where I'm from, they're just making small talk. I began giving strange answers like no, actually I was raised in Thailand. No, I'm from the Island Nation of Madagascar, (that made them look at me like a freak, for sure!) etc. Once I said I was Canadian but that didn't work very well, because the two women behind the counter didn't believe me because I didn't have a "Canadian Accent." I forgot about that! But really you'll do just fine if you don't speak the language, just try. They won't be hard on you for trying. It's when people make the assumption that everyone speaks English that can rub people the wrong way.