little ms foodie

My outdoor rosemary plant has the same stuff. I always just wash it before using it. Have never had problems but now I'm wondering......

Rocky I think that number is wrong? I got Getty Images??

kiliki I just get the gyros at Med Mix, I had their falafel once but didn't really like it very much.

Dayne and I had a really nice dinner last night at Boat Street. At first the space seemed a bit stark but soon we felt very comfortable and our server, who worked at the old location, was great. The menu upon first read seemed basic but the prices were good. They brought hot bread out, sitting in olive oil with 2 large pats of good butter and some olives. OK, they got my attention! How can anyone not love butter AND olive oil!! We shared the house made chicken liver pate which was really good. Very mousse like with flavors of argmnac. Served with mustard, cornichons, prunes and crostini. It's a very good size plate, perfect for sharing. We had a nice bottle of Ch. du Pape and dayne had the pork chop with thyme, kale gratin and potatoes. I had the roasted poussin (which really was poussin instead of game hen like a lot of places would) in a cream sauce with apples and potatoes. Let me just tell all of you to go get that sauce. Holy crap that was awesome. And they plated baby chicky on top so the skin stayed all crispy. I said to Dayne "this chicken is awesome!" to which he replied "you rarely say that about chicken!" We shared the chocolate pot au creme for dessert and each had a glass of dessert wine. All of this for $120, dayne thought that was a great price. We'll be back there for sure. My only quibble was they use Riedle sauv blanc glasses for everything. I like my red in a bigger bowl. I just wouldn't order a very expensive red there for that reason, no biggie.

More ideas here Picnic, what's in your basket?

are you looking for lunch or dinner?? I work in PS and generally eat at Grand Central, Tat's, Trattoria Carmine, Med Mix and Salumi for lunch. For dinner I really like Trat Carmine

I really enjoyed my dinner here and wish our pictures were better. But this is a fantastic 2 star and the chicken and desserts were highlights of the evening!

I love the Tatstrami sandwich.....mmmm, I havn't been there for a while.....

The taco truck in Ballard on 15th by the bridge was gone today......

On Sat we started working on the Toulouse Cassoulet recipe. Dayne made me the sausages out of the book also. I did the traditional duck confit recipe. Last night we served it to friends and family with a starter of Celeric Roumalade. It was fantastic, better than the one I made last year by far! I made double the amount of duck confit that it called for so I have the rest in the fridge and will let it cure for at least a month. Even though the other duck was done right before making the cassoulet the flavor was really good- also much better than what I've made in the past.

Thanks Chris, we found the salt pork and Dayne made his first sausages. The recipe was from Wolfert's book- The cooking of southwest France and we used the sausages in my casoulet. They were fantastic

Happy Birthday John, I would have posted my wishes sooner however I've also been busy putting together cassoulet- you have inspired me! I've loved your blog- thank you for sharing!

Is Chefshop open on the weekends? I just realized I only have 1/2lb of tarbais beans and I'm doing cassoulet again. Has anyone found these beans any where else in town?

Dayne's making Toulouse sausages today from Wolfert's 'Cooking of Southwest France' and the recipe calls for 4 ounces very lean salt pork without rind, washed to remove surface salt, dried carefully and cubed by hand. 12 ounces pork tenderloin, trimmed of all fat 4 ounces pancetta, at room temperature My question is about the lean salt pork, we have pork back fat- can this be used in place of the salt pork? Can someone explain to me what salt pork is? Thanks!

Pesos serves brunch........

there is an excellent chocolate shop on the rue Temple I think, it's very bright yellow and blue and their truffles are fantastic. they have a bit of an aztec theme. Sorry I don't have more specific info, but if you happen upon it definately try the truffles!

Paula thanks for the info on the cassole, totally makes sense! Another dish from Wolfert's book, tonight we had pan sauteed duck breast with shallot vinaigrette served with roasted cauliflower and grilled leeks. Napa malbec in the glass. I'm afraid you will all get a bit tired of my posts for a while as I really see working thru this book for a while! this was very good, I followed the brining instructions for muscovy as that is what we get here. the shallot vinaigrette went great with the duck and the grilled leeks. One question, the recipe says "one hour before cooking score the breast" I then put the breast back in the fridge, should it be left out at room temp for the hour before? My husband who is neutral on duck really liked this!

Thanks Paula, we did that as soon as we got the shells off but they seemed to have already cooled a bit. I think next time we will put half in a dish covered with foil in the oven while working on the others shells, cover those and then swap. Maybe that's what you meant all along? Anyway I am just in love with your book, Judy Amster here in Seattle was kind enough to give it to me as a housewarming gift. A question on the Cassole that Coyote does, and others for that matter- should they have a lid of some sort? I'm thinking since it's cooked a day in advance then kept in the fridge and reheated the next day?

Dayne and I had dinner at Moxie last night and really enjoyed our meal and the service. We started with a kir and a sidecar, both ok but nothing to write home about (and they use the same Crate & Barrel glasses that we use for parties). Then we shared the leek tart for a starter. Seriously the most creamy and flavorful I've had. The tart crust was excellent and I just couldn't get over how creamy this was. Served with a little salad that had some truffle vinaigrette. I had the pork loin with sweet onion bread pudding, it was incredibly juicy and tasty- the crust having something like star anise or 5 spice?? Dayne had the lamb burger which he really liked also. REgular fries came with which he thought were excellent! We also tried the half baked chocolate cake for dessert and both agreed that the pistacio bits on top got in the way. One glass of wine each with dinner, our tab was $90. The only thing I might say was that the space seems a bit cold. Bare concrete floor coupled with bare long bench and wood tables. It was a bit drafty but I hate to be cold so am sensitive to that. Our server was excellent and very upfront about what she thought of different dishes. When she checked on us she asked questions like, how is the temperature, how is the seasoning? I like that.

I just got the book for christmas also and have been digging into this week. The first dish we made was the mussels with ham. Very nice dish but we had a hard time getting all the shells off before the mussels got cold. It's a tasty first course though that we will experiment with again (no photo, sorry) 2 nights ago we used the recipe for the lamb chops with tarragon sauce. I served this on a bed of crispy roasted potatoes but the the potato with leek dish is in our future..... last night we made the white bean, leek and potato soup with the olive puree....this was very good! pan sauteed duck is on the menu for tomorrow!

sorry also for the dark photos, we didn't have the flash on of course.... now this is what I call a cheese tray! I'm not joking when I say we tried all but maybe 4 of them! we each had 3 to 4 different ones on our plate then they started to bring us desserts, we didn't really order any of this, it just showed up! macroons in the best presentation! sorbet then the desserts we ordered showed up candles for the birthday girl... molton chocolate cake blurry picture (sugar coma) of chocolate panna cotta we were so full that when they came around with the mignardes we just couldn't....so we asked for them to go!!

John how wonderful to read the beginings of your blog. I have a day off coming this monday and was thinking of what I could do, now I know....I'll be making cassoulet all weekend long!

courses John, courses...... first courses for everyone..... Dayne had the sea urchin I had the stuffed macaroni my friends first course was a crab cake soup type dish (so sorry I can't remember!) bring on the mains!!!! the best damn chicken ever!!! of course they provide quite the fanfare with the carving of the Bresse hen and plating with the vin jaune and ravioli stuffed with truffles. YUM! Also on the table the John Dory (more uploading)

We had a wonderful meal at Le Bristol on Dec 22nd for my birthday.... started with cocktails in the beautiful bar, completely overpriced but the bar was so pretty, but 20 E for a pimms champagne is crazy. They sent some amuse to us from the restaurant, they are on slate slabs We moved into the restaurant, very beautiful with it's round paneled room and tapestries the breads they brought were amazing, the twist had shallots and bacon it it! then another amuse, this one was sorrel foam on top with foie gras (possibly cooked sous vide?) on the bottom (must upload more photos....more later)

I think I heard somewhere they are going into Pike Place?