little ms foodie

Daniel those potato cakes looks scrumpdillyishist! yum!! Back in town after 5 days in NY on business (excellent food but I didn't cook it!) Last night hubby picked up some gorgeously HUGE king crab legs served with a salad and fries. Tonight he made spicy orange chicken stir fry with rice and salad with oranges. I have pictures but am having trouble with image gullet, will try to upload them later...... edited to add pictures after hosting my images somewhere else

In this month's Food and Wine there is a nice section on Napa and Sonoma eateries

Got to have cocktails with some folks last Sunday at Pegu while I was in town for some business- what a beautiful place!! Great for groups with the nice round tables as well as by yourself. I started with the Pegu Club cocktail as I think you have to try a namesake- excellent cocktail, beautiful glasses! Next I had the gin gin mule which I really liked, this went down a bit too easy. Loved the candied ginger they served with it. I also would love to go and hang out at the bar- next time I'm in town!

John, Sorry about that, I actually posted some comments HERE. We thought the whole vibe of the restaurant was great and the food, service and presentation were excellent. I would compare it to my meals at a Taillevant or a French Laundry or Rovers here in Seattle.....excellent in season food, prepared with a more conservative/old world european style. Not as high end as the first 2 I mentioned but similar in style and feel. The only thing we really didn't care for were the desserts, none of us even had more than a bite, the flavors didn't seem to really go together and they were more show than go! I'd be very interested in your take on the old vs. the new, so get back up there!!

I had dinner at Mercadito last Saturday night with 2 others. The place is very small and seems a bit crazy but the people were very nice. We sat downstairs which is so less cramped than upstairs. Started by ordering a round a margarita's.....and waiting about 15 mins for them to arrive. We had the regular quacamole with chips which was quite good. Then shared the tacos de cameron, tacos de mole poblano and the tacos de carne. All were quite good but the service was REALLY slow. And the drinks were a bit weak. But it is a fun place and I'd go back with a group (if we had reservations downstairs!)

If you have ANY chance you must go to Noble Rot, I just went about a week ago and it was fantastic!!! They sell the wine by at retail and the food is amazing. Have fun at Mistral!

While in NYC earlier this week I had dinner at Babbo and just like the first dinner I had there it was extremely delish! I ended up at the bar on sunday night around 8:30 and the place was packed. Even if you are just wanting to hang at the bar you need to check with the maitre de and he'll put you on a list. I waited about 5 mins and then was seated at about the middle of the bar. I could not believe how crowded the place was!! The bartender ( forgetting his name, tall, very nice, has been there a long time) was very pleasant and I ended up next to a girl whose boyfriend is a waiter there so that was quite fun. The amuse was garbanzo beans done with an aged balsamic and herbs on crostini, delish! and I don't generally like garbanzo's. I started with the lambs tongue with a vinaigrette, 3 minute egg and rocket- truffles shaved on top. YUM!! this was really plate lickable. The egg and the lambs tongue are just such a perfect pair together. Then I had the beef cheek ravioli with squab liver sauce and truffles shaved on top. I didn't remember both these dishes being described with truffles but they must have been..... there were a lot of them! The ravioli is so perfect and light and beautiful, the beef cheek reminded me of a great fall stew. perfect and very filling. I had a selection of three cheeses, all perfectly ripe and well handled. One was a goat cheese from Coach Family Farms. After dinner the bartender introduced me to Amaro's which I hadn't had before, I tasted 3 different ones and decided on a nice (baby) version- Amaro Meletti. What a great way to end my meal. With my dinner I had a quartino of valpolicella which kept getting refilled magically Star sighting of the night was Luke Wilson (is there ever a night without a famous face in Babbo?) One of my best meals and experiences while in town!

That is very true for my husband and I, we held our wedding reception at a wonderful Italian restaurant that isn't right downtown and doesn't make the boards very often. It's a neighborhood place where when we walk in the hostess turns to the kitchen and yells "VIPs in the house!", the chef often comes out to chat with us and if we haven't made a reservation but have stopped in on a whim the manager will look down in the book and say "of course, I have you right here, table for 2!". We obviously have our best memories here and love that is is a place that is comfortable for us. And I love the food there!!

I love carmel ice cream, yum!!! what kind of ice cream maker do you have daniel?? and jack, I now have to serve soup out of a pumpkin!!! We had carbanara with bucattini noodles, side salad capresse like the other night

fantastic pictures, thank you!! they brought back great memories of those pinxos bars. I miss them! We also had a fabulous meal at Arzak and became fans of MB at his Kursaal restaurant. Not to be missed IMHO, we find ourselves talking about those meal frequently.

I didn't have any kale in the house but I had chorizo and chicken thighs so we used them together with some lemon in honor of your blog! I have to say, I was looking forward to tuning in this morning until I saw the tongue! yikes, not what I want as I'm sipping my morning tea! haha!

has anyone been to the barocho (sp?) on western in belltown? drove by last night and they seemed tohave a pretty decent crowd inside.

tonight we had lemon chicken with chorizo and the left over haricot verts steamed and tossed in garlic EVOO and a pinch of lemon salt served with a 1999 rioja reserve we brought back last year from Ysios winery

dang! I wish you would have been there a few weeks ago!!

what brand is that teapot Chris? that is exactly what I need in my office!

Happy Anniversary!!! How cute is Andrea?? and FUNNY!! question on the chorizo, so is Portugese chorizo raw where as the Spainsh is ready to eat (dry cured??)

I've made the salmon rillettes numerous times now, they are excellent! and the perfect thing to bring to parties! I like them best made a few days inadvace, it gives the flavors more time to meld Last night we made the trout with haricot verts, almonds and brown butter. Excellent, quick and easy

while I was out of town this weekend I told the man to go to the farmers market and buy what he thought looked good and I would cook around it, he bought the cutest haricots verts!! So out of the Bouchon cookbook I made the trout with haricots vert, almonds and brown butter. made some Israeli cous cous for a side A salad of mixed greens, bacon and roasted hazlenuts (from my trip) went with Dayne took the pictures tonight, I think they turned out great!! oh and a pinot noir rose called Glass by JK Carriere in the glass......

percy they cut out pieces of cabbage to cover the marrow bones!!! Like a little lid Regarding the smoked meat, I'm not entirely clear on all the differences between this and the pastrami I've had in NYC but it was excellent!! Who do you mail order it from?

dumb question alert!!! so do you mix it all up right before you eat it? So after you took the picture?

lentil soup with roasted garlic, green olive paste and arugula

tonight I made lentil soup with roasted garlic, arugula and green olive paste. This was from a 'healthy' recipe but I fixed that by adding a parm rind, some additional parm shavings, croutons and a nice drizzle of excellent EVOO Dayne made an excellent capresse salad with green striped and black heirloom tomatoes and a 5 year old balsamic We chose a bordeaux style WA red, TreFanciuilli from JM Cellars to go with it which was excellent.

I use pumpkin to make a sauce with sage, cream and sausage and I toss it with pasta (rigatoni usually) and lots of parm. I would puree it and freeze it.

I was away for a girls weekend and when I came home hubby had made Guiness stew and soda bread with raisons. YUM! Susan I am not familar with either of your PN's and would love to hear about the differences. I was actually in north willamette tasting some new OR pinots.

Damn Daniel........ I want that cake!! We started tonight with a kir and some carmelized onion dip I made a few days ago served with salt and pepper potato chips Then a clean out the fridge and pantry evening..... thick cut pork seared in butter and EVOO, then put in the oven to finish with sliced shallots, a few crimini mushrooms I found, and a few quartered figs....when they were done I made a sauce with the bits deglazed with port. Added some fig jam to the slur and then a bunch of thyme. Let it reduce and finished with a bit of butter. Served it with basamati rice cooked in homemade veggie stock and fluffed with parsley. A can of corn drained and cooked with some heavy cream, s & p finished the 'pantry diving' evening. Oh and a bottle of DiStephanio 2002 sogno (cab franc) was yummy with it all