little ms foodie

I made a beautiful tomato cream soup today with fresh tomatoes, milk, homemade chicken stock and a bit of dried basil. mmmm.... it is quite rich and tasty!

Hi Shal!! Newport is really beautiful- we had a great time there in June. I got some recommendations here and also posted a bit about it here Have a great time!

we were hooked at first bite of the bacon bar!!! as far as gourmet bacon I think GR is just referring to the fact that the bacon is very thick and smokey!

I just got some very nice end of the season tomatoes and basil from my CSA delivery and I want to make a nice pistou for soup but I can't make the soup until late next week and by then my tomatoes and basil will be dreary to say the least. I freeze regular basil pesto all the time but will pistou with tomatoes freeze well? Or how long will it keep in the fridge? thanks!

Wendy, which cheese did you use for this? I'm in the middle of the lengthy process of carmelizing the onions for this soup! ← I used Comte

i threw one in my bolognese sauce while it simmered this weekend, we always have a bag in the freezer. I'm going to try the stock and the oil ideas too!

yum!! that looks like a wonderful meal!

OMG I love banh xeo!! I would love your recipe if you could PM me or post it in recipe gullet??? percyn- i actually said when I served it to dayne that I hadn't made anything really pretty for a while i felt! thanks!

I have been cooking with Sweet Earth chocolate (http://www.sweetearthchocolates.com/) They are based in the U.S., free trade and add no lecithin so you can make chocolate for your vegan friends. Just wanted to let you know there are others out there fighting the good fight for free trade chocolate. ← good to know sanantone!! I actually meant that Theo is the only one in the US that is taking the beans from roasting to finished product while being organic and free trade. Theo Chocolate

Last night I made seared duck breast with port wine sauce, plums, scallions & cucumber. It could have been more pink for my taste but still juicy and tender

Thanks Shelby, Ce'nedra, monavano & lucylou for all your inspiring comments! I also think this is a bit pornographic!!! the other night I sauteed some pretty little chanterelles from our local forager in butter, shallots, garlic, thyme and then deglazed with vermouth. also roasted some fresh halibut with breadcrumbs and drizzled a parsley buerre blanc over. spinach salad with red onion and nectarine rounded it out

I loved it when they were all moaning about having to cook cowboy food and Dale said he didn't know what cowboys ate- he's just slept with a few of them! LOL! I was surprised Bravo left that in!!!

I like Steelhead but the last time I went with 4 business associates we had painfully slow service and our dinner took 4 hours!!!! yikes! I've always sat upstairs at Crush.... I thought noise was normal- is this where you sat? was I there and talking incredibly loud again??

I would say Union for sure, I don't find the interior romantic- Tavolata is very loud and the dishes are meant to be shared- not my idea of a business dinner. Crush is also a good place for business associates. Dahlia Lounge is usually another well received, as is Matt's in the Market, Cafe Campagne, Palace Kitchen and even Crow. These are just MHO as someone who has done a lot of those business events.

or reconsitute them and add them to a cream brandy sauce to put over steaks! yum!

made the French Onion Soup (over the last 2 days of course!) really fantastic although incredibly rich! I think I had a bit under the 3.5 qts of beef stock and I should have added some water to bring it up. but the onions just melted in your mouth!

Last night was "Bouchon" cookbooks French Onion Soup

Thanks Brenda! mmmm....crab!! Last night we started with skordalia with spinach added then we made turkish spiced lamb "pizzas" and caprese. the caprese used on of the largest heirloom tomatoes I have ever seen!

those look delish! I totally want to try that. Moby those cepes also have me excited! I'm heading to the farmers market in the morning and will watch for them Last night we made Thomas Keller's "My Favorite Roast Chicken" which is our favorite too! we buy our chickens from our farmers so they are a perfect 3 lbs! Served with a green salad and my white mac n cheese

Theo chocolate is the only organic free trade maker of chocolate in the states and their cocoa nibs are great, very bitter and toasty.

I just ran across a crock of duck confit in the back of my fridge that I put up last Dec- it looks fine and has always been refrigerated, should I worry it's too old?

In honor of National Talk Like a Pirate Day yesterday we started with The Pirate Cocktail then seared Ahi tuna with fried manchengo Italian rosato in the glass

Just like the first one on Capitol Hill. Great pizza, good people. What more do you need to know? ← That they are only open 4 days a week? ← which days?

no we eat at Serafina quite often but mainly dinner and we really need to get back for brunch! Also has anyone mentioned Crush? I have had some very nice meals there.

oh I love that Tyler meatball recipe! It's so decadent and yours looks fab- well done! mmmmm...lots of bowls of comfort going on here!