little ms foodie

the wine fridge is an excellent recommendation! The top shelf of mine is the warmest and I may move my hard cheeses in there. we just came back from italy and brought back cryovac'd salami and hard cheese without a problem ( for the products that is, customs is a different story!)

that's funny, we were just in Parma and while on a tour of the factory we were told that parmesean cheese is one of a baby's first foods as it digests in 40 minutes very easily. she said that parm and a little evoo was added to veggie broth. later they continued to add it to cereal and then pasta for babies.

For the soup I just melted some butter into 6 ears of corn (after i cut the corn off the cobb of course) then added chicken stock to just cover all the corn. Let it simmer for about 40 mins. Then hit it with the immersion blender. Then strained it. I think this would have been great as is, but I had some heavy cream laying around and I couldn't resist. I'm thinkng if i made the dish again. The only change I would make would be to omit the cream in the soup. Not because I didn't like the texture and the taste of the cream. But only becasue I think the soup is more "pure" with just corn, stock, and butter. Personally, I loved the ginger Altoids with the peach. I know Ferran Adria used peach flavored Smints for his dish. I couldn't find those. ← I follow Ethan Stowell's technique of using Pellegrino instead of stock in making vegetable puree soups. To my taste, the flavor ends up much clearer and purer. I also soften some diced onion in the butter before adding the main ingredient. ← I've also found that simmering the cobs in the cooking liquid for a bit gives extra corny taste, have you ever tried that?

This stand IS in the market, I do agree that their quality is great and the folks who work the stand are really nice- but it is a bit over priced on certain items. A lot of stands will round down though if you are buying quite a lot.

I also really love that so much of each person's personality is in each dish- how funny that it's easy to tell! I want to know why the tasty pork sandwich has a blurry picture, no fair!!

Was there a difference in flavor and/or texture when made with the lemon juice v. citric acid? I'm thinking about making ricotta for the first time to use in cannoli, but I don't know whether to go the citric acid or lemon juice route. I read that buttermilk and vinegar don't work as well. This ricotta mousse at Lucullian Delights looks really good. ← I really liked the texture of the one I made with lemon juice but I think it was more about the technique of scooping out the curds with a slotted spoon vs pouring the whole thing thru the colander

henry we are eating the rest of your blue cheese cheesecake right now, wow it gets a bit stronger with a day or two!

Rebecca I have to totally disagree....the smoked salmon that most of the world gets is FARMED salmon and not the same as ours at all. If they are from Seattle and I'm visiting I also bring copies of Seattle magazine which people like. ← ← Rebecca if I was going to be in your hood any time soon you can bet I would bring you a salami from Salumi!! the healing powers of pork....sending those thoughts your way!

I've recently made ricotta again with 2 quarts of whole milk and 3 TBS lemon juice. I don't pour it out into the colander anymore, it works much better if use a slotted spoon to transfer the curds to drain. slathered it on crostini and topped with some sliced radishes and some arugula that was tossed with lemon juice and EVOO, cracked pepper on top.

oh that is sad, he will be so disappointed! pocky is just a great snack of little bread sticks with sesame in them dipped in different candy flavorings. yum!

Funny you should ask--it was Henry's first time seeing the "Men's" Pocky, so he asked, "Where's the WOMEN'S Pocky?" And I said, "Everything else you see in the aisle is Women's Pocky!" ← Did you see the GIANT pocky?? I told Dayne I might buy it for his stocking at christmas if he is VERY good! haha!

You'll need to get something that is dry-smoked and vaccum-packed. The less heavily smoked stuff needs to be refrigerated. Look for someplace that sells the Portlock brand or you might check at Pure Food Fish in the Market to see if they sell the really dry-smoked stuff. ← I also bring Portlock salmon, the location in Ballard is great. Other things they have which are nice are canned dungie crab- it is quite good made into a little dip as an appetizer. the salmon and crab were big hits with my friends in Paris. I took a whole Salumi finochionnia (sp?) with me to Chicago as a gift to a friend but that was when you could bring stuff on the plane. It was fine without refrigeration but I don't know if I would want that in my suitcase! dogs would love you though...... Rebecca I have to totally disagree....the smoked salmon that most of the world gets is FARMED salmon and not the same as ours at all. If they are from Seattle and I'm visiting I also bring copies of Seattle magazine which people like.

Oh I forgot to vote!! I would like to write in corn or figs! but if I have to go off the list I'd vote for mushrooms or bacon (I had bacon as a dessert before and it was GOOD!)

One of my fondest childhood food memories was eating my mom's cream horns (puff pastry she made from scratch, then rolled, baked, and filled with slightly sweetened whipped cream.) My mom baked quite often when I was younger, but when my two other siblings came along, she was too busy balancing her career and feeding our family three meals a day to bother much with baking. So I started baking when I was about 11 or so, using her dog-eared, stained copy of The Five Roses cookbook. My first cake was the mocha chiffon cake that I've since adapted as a coffee chiffon cake, b/c my parents didn't buy much chocolate when I was a kid. So after the baking bug bit, my goal as a kid was to make a new cake (or cookie, or pie) each weekend from the cookbook. I went through a period where I became really discouraged as a child because my aunt gave me a fancy cookie cookbook from Australia and I didn't realize that the measurements were different from N. American ones. I also had some pretty remarkable failures--in particular, I remember one of the first cakes I made at 11 was for my little brother's birthday. I always wanted to "experiment", so I made two banana cakes, stacked them, and filled and frosted them with a "banana" icing (which I believe was just mashed banana mixed with a 7-minute boiled frosting...I know! ) Of course, the banana in the icing started turning brown before we were finished with dinner, so I coloured it with yellow food colouring. The result was an unappetizing, mottled yellow-brown, lumpy cake. I haven't been to culinary school and I haven't had any experience in professional kitchens, except for the odd stage. ← Wonderful story Ling, thank you. Just picked up that melon Pocky last week...it may be my second favorite after the coconut chocolate. and also got the 'new' carmel flavor which we are eating right now!

Wow! that was fun! I've never been to the Cape and thought everything was very interesting. Love the family interactions and photos- well done!! thank you!

great info all! thank you for all the info!! can't use Peanut oil in this house as hubby is deathly alergic to peanuts and we don't take a chance on the oil. I use EVOO a lot but actually don't like the flavor of fried chicken in it. perfect! thanks mamster, I already render my own duck fat so will most likely look to buy lard when I need it as the freezer is small and already full. But I assume that pure lard can be kept in the freezer also?

Daniel, is this place called Pan Quotian or something?? from what I can see it looks like this place I went to in Paris and I know they have locations in NYC

I have Lard in my pantry, it says it is partially hydrogenated lard and doesn't need to be refrigerated. I also have Crisco, it says partially hydrogenated. If I'm making fried chicken or the like, are either of these "healthier" than the other? We love to fry so I want to make sure we are making good FAT choices

Yeahhh! come to Seattle!! everyone's doing it....right Klary??

Michelle, not knowing anything about Israel I want to thank you as your blog is certainly an eye opener! What a beautiful place with such gorgeous fresh looking food! now as for the turkey testicals I can probably do without! fantastic pictures of both the food and the cities!

We've decided to give Petrus a try, thanks for the help!

Following Abra's advice (thank you!) we had grilled pizza's last night! The first was a bit of red sauce, fontina cheese, fresh chorizo, paprika sautted red onions and an egg! The second was a white pizza- evoo, garlic, rosemary and white chedder We finished the chorizo pizza with some manchego and the white pizza got arugula

with some nice ciabatta I made these little egg in the hole, parm and parsley on top

Oh my gosh you have a Hediard!!! Now I know I must go to Moscow! One of my favorite stores when I'm in Paris- their food stuffs, pastries and chocolates are fantastic! As you said- it's truely eastern Europe!

I love tartines. Anyone been? ← We took some friends there for lunch yesterday, it is fantastic! wonderful tartines all about $6.50. beautiful tiny little room and Jean-Michel is the best host! They have some nice soups and desserts also. Wines by the glass, half and bottle as well as a good selection of nice liquor. Go go and have a tartine, i don't know anyone else doing them like this in seattle! ← Went again today! tartine with butter, ham and cantel soooooo delish! Dayne had the duck with crottin! 1/2 bottle of viogne (sp) . they have lots of half bottles. 11am to midnight (weekends until 2am)