little ms foodie

thanks Ronnie, NAHA is on my list but over the budget for this dinner.

helping a friend plan a party for 12- hip, loud, party crowd......they aren't a foodie group. Ibiza? any place new for a crowd??

Custom House looks great, I will check into this more for their semi private room! thanks!!

Some VPs and my team will be in Chicago next week for a conference and I've been asked to find possible places for a dinner on Monday night near the McCormick Center as we are staying at the Hyatt. There will be 8 of us and if we could find somewhere with a small private room that would be the best. Not looking for a super high end molecular experience but more of your tried and true, business dinner place with good food. Open Monday? Private Room? Near McCormick? anyone????? Thanks so much if you have a recommendation!

Rocky now that is what my lunch should have looked like and tasted like! Bether good info- thank you. sounds a bit like arctic char too. Wendy, What did you think of the Smart chicken? My mom and aunt swear by them but I can't find them sold anywhere near me. Did you taste a difference in the quality? ← LOL!! the smart chicken definately tastes better to me, I will not buy other chicken unless it's from my farmers market but noone has chickens yet- probably next week. but the smart chicken skin doesn't get as brown and crispy as my organic farmers chickens.

my go to is pan fried garbonzo beans with garlic and rosemary. can of drained beans- pat dry. bottom of large skillet covered with evoo and moderately high heat. add beans and make sure they are in one layer and let them get a bit crispy before shaking them and letting the crisp up on all sides. minced garlic and rosemary need the end of cooking, s&p also truffle popcorn is a winner around here as are pistachios & salumi

Blether what is cherry salmon? never heard of it!

Yes, Deep Dark Chocolate Pudding from Food& Wine

Went with some other eG'ers today- it is AWFUL!! Horrible bumbling service, food was either bland and tasteless or over spiced but single note spices vs good blends. shrimp ceviche looked old (I didn't taste it) and when we mentioned as such to a waitstaff she said "oh they make every day or so" WTF?? It was obvious to any seeing person that we did not like our food but they didn't try to take care of that (or even one of the diners parking which I really thought they should have) We didn't try the Rhum bar as it was lunch but I'd say if I ever had to go here again I would partake in many cocktails before eating the food again. Oh, that's just my 2 cents of course! ugh.

Happy birthday marlene! last night we had some fellow eG'ers over for a casual dinner- LEdlund was the one who saved our oven!! started with various cocktails and truffled popcorn, aged cheddar from CA and pistachios (not pictured) roasted asparagus and tomato salad with truffle and balsamic glaze roasted Smart chicken with spring onion and chevre bread pudding deep dark chocolate pudding 99 JKCarriere Pinot Noir, 04 Anne Amie Belle Rouge and Anne Amie Syrah Port in the glass(es)

Looks like Klary is up again!

Dayne loves the U Red Robin

I have been schooled on this from my friend who is from Seville so we always cook paella outside on our backyard firepit or when we go camping (it is fantastic for camping!) I like paella with chicken (hubby doesn't do bunny) prawns, chorizo, and clams.

I agree about both those meals too!! yes Rocky we use Palacios Chorizo from Spain (Hot) which Ballard Market now carries but we use to buy it at the Spanish Table. it has smoked paprika in it!

soooooo easy!!! just slice up a bit of chorizo - I did just under 1 oz for 2 fillets. grind it up in the food processor, add 1/2 c or so bread crumbs, s & P and whir it all up together. I just put the topping on one side. the recipe was originally from F&W but I can't remember what month. so quick and easy though.

Holly I had dinner at Le Bristol 2 years ago and it was very nice. the room is beautiful and the dinner was excellent. Be warned that cocktails in the lounge before dinner ran us about $30 per drink! ouch. My dinner at Taillevant was alsmost five years ago now and I know different chefs are in the kitchen but it is still one of my fondest memories. granted it was my first 3 star (at the time) visiti but the service was OTT wonderful and the food was gorgeous, haute cuisine- not earth shattering but perfectly prepared. Paris is my favorite city and I generally go once a year. To be able to stay for the length of time that you are will be awesome!! You are in for quite a treat!

little ms foodie - I am inspired! I am making those on Sunday for company. Do you think that they would hold together enough to serve them as a pre-meal snack - finger food like onion rings? Or should I serve them with the meal? Also - how would you feel about a dipping sauce of some sort? Any ideas? Thanks for posting! Kim ← Kim, we serve them as a snack. I picked up some cute little bamboo cocktail forks but you could even do picks or seafood forks if you have them. We like to stab them and smoosh them around in the cheese/oil/s&p. you can prep them quite a bit in advance and hold them in acidulated water until ready to fry- drain, pat dry and go at it tonight we had an easy frittat with italian sausage and kale

no in fact our meal was so bad at XO that on our way out to our cars we spotted Cellar and went in and had a few glasses of wine to shake the bad experience!

ugh- I also ate their only once and really wish I hadn't, horrible!

OMG! buttermilk fried everything!!! yum! last night we had baby artichokes one more way- deep fried with parm on top then we had papperdelle with zucchini and mint parsley pesto and focaccia with red grapes and gorgonzo (which I don't think turned out very well) tonight was chorizo crusted cod on saffron rice with snap peas and vanilla roasted strawberries for dessert

this morning we had sausages and fried eggs both from our local farmers market

it was very good- this is the best salmon you can get around seattle IMO. and the broth was very spicy and we served a riesling which really went well with that. Klary that whole meal looks just gorgeous!

wow those egg pictures are just beautiful! and the croque madame..ahh one of my favorites! yesterday I tried making a Dutch Baby pancake, it was pretty good but felt a little tough in the mouth, any tips for that? I whirred everything together in the blender.

that is a beautiful picture!!!!! tonight we started with pan fried baby artichokes and Montematre cocktails ( Vespers w/o the gin) Then we tried a new recipe for olive oil poached salmon (which we bought off the fisherman's boat today) with leeks, fennel and carrot in horshradish broth

on the corner of 4th and University I see that the Capitol Grill. I really hate to see our downtown get this chain steak house that I see in every big US city that I travel to. I also wonder how Seattle can support another steak house- Met, El Gaucho, Ruth Chris', Mortons..... Anyway that corner seemes very sad to me with it's big Purple Cafe on one corner and now Capitol Grill going in across the street.........