little ms foodie

CUTE!

Lunch today... Fast food Seattle style, fried clams and chips This Ivars is down on the pier which is just a few blocks from my office. In the summer it is tourist central! In the winter there is no line It is an outdoor stand but there is a covered picnic area with heat lights for those who like to sit outside and watch the ferries. There is also a nice Ivars restaurant attached. Lunch was good but they only gave me 1 ketchup for my fries! I ran out half way thru and had to ration my tarter. I don't like the cocktail sauce I decided today!

My husband and I eat at the Brooklyn often. We love sitting at the bar and making a meal out of platters of fresh shucked oysters. I've also eaten in the restaurant a few times. The food is always great. I think the restaurant has a bit of an outdated feel but food and service is always good. Too bad about Waterfront. They get such mixed reviews. might be worth it to let the manager know about the crappy service!

I had Kitchen Song do two knives a couple days ago, but will be sticking with Bob Kramer from here on out. I've been hesitant about saying anything for a variety of reasons, and Bob has done my knives before so I knew his work, but I was curious about KS, so... My knives are sharp enough, but unevenly so. In the case of my paring knife, the grinded edge doesn't follow the curve of the blade. Granted, part of the belly on this paring knife had been worn away long ago so it is never going to look pretty, but the edge was turned into a wide angled uneven V. The grind on my chef's knife is also uneven, between the both sides, and just going along one side it changes too. Basically the difference between KS and Bob Kramer (or Daniel O'Malley at Epicurean Edge) is that with the latter two's work, you don't see a grind. The entire edge is polished down into a mirror tapered curve, no corners anywhere, and the belly of the knife literally melts into the edge. KS is probably fine for home cooks, and they are by far the least expensive option (my cost was 6$ total for my paring knife and 8" chef's knife, whereas Daniel or Bob would charge more than that for one knife alone) as well as most convenient (45 minute wait while you shop at the market, as opposed to mailing knives to Ferndale or going to Kirkland and waiting 24 hours), but I'm in culinary school and it's important for me to be able to do cuts that are perfectly smooth, ie. slice a potato and the surface should feel like glass. Bob and Daniel's sharpening technique not only allows for this, but IMO their edges will last a lot longer too. No corners = no friction, and more support for the edge of the blade over time. As with most things, it comes down to cost, convenience, what people want to do in the kitchen, and how often they will do it. Routine for me is dicing a 200 lbs. box of raw sweet potatoes, so a long lasting edge with minimal friction matters a lot. Pat ← this is great information and I appreciate it! We are home cooks but I'd still like to have a better understanding of what a good sharpened knife should entail. Thank you so much for posting this!

s'kat, this was also the first mac n cheese I made since a childhood run in also! Martha to the resue! haha! Glad it turned out so well

Thanks all for the ongoing words of encouragement! It makes it quite easy to take the time when people are so responsive. Tonight is another Cooks and Books event that Dayne and I will be attending with some other eG folks from the PNW. I'm very excited for tonights dinner because #1 it's Andrea Immer <<James Beard award winner and one of only eleven women in the world to qualify as a Master Sommelier, Andrea Immer is known for having one of the world's best wine palates. In her new book she proves that her taste for food is just as true, and she will join us for a dinner of truly memorable pairings of food and wine, and offer advice for making these choices easily and "every day".>> #2 it's at a restaurant called Serafina. Dayne and I rented this out and had our wedding reception there just over a year ago. The people are so nice and the chef is awesome!!! Serafina Website

I'm having some tea with milk in my office as I read thru the internet. Today is my last day blogging and I just want to say how fun it's been. I hope some of you reading have signed up to do a future blog! This is the espresso maker that we have. We have only had it since August but like it pretty well. As I mentioned before Dayne is the main person who uses it and has tried all types of coffees, grinds, etc. We did not like those pods! They didn't make any crema. We have found it best to grind our own. When we buy an espresso ground it is too fine, our machine doesn't have enough power to get the water forced through so it tastes really week. On top is a cup warmer but unfortunately our cupboards are too low for the machine so we can't put the cups up on top or they would get knocked over when you opened the cupboard!

mmmm! I love toast!! When I was in grade school it was my favorite after school treat! I would put 2 pieces of white bread in the toaster but just toast until just starting to crisp the bread. Take the barely toasted bread out and slather with butter. Pop it back in the toaster and toast until golden. Repeat with entire package. Little did I know that this would fry my mom's toaster. I like it with a spread of butter and a slice of cheddar so the cheese gets warm but doesn't really melt. avocado slices on toast with s&p chunky peanutbutter!!! mmmmmm! I love toast!

that is a very high compliment IMO, thank you! The idea for the toast under the stew is actually from the barefoot contessa. I saw Ida do that, she rubbed the bread with a clove of garlic but since I had yummy roasted garlic butter on hand...... I definately am going to make the amuse again. I'm actually going to use larger pototoes to get more space but I think the flavors were really good! We tried lots of savory vanilla items in Tahiti and some work really well! Wendy

Good morning!

hmmm, I haven't tried the jerky! Next week! One time I bought a mushroom brioch from the new Bella's Buns and I felt so guilty about not buying strudel that I couldn't stand it!!

Dessert....my husband rocks!!!! James McNair recipe- Wine Poached Pears Filled with Mascarpone in Caramel Sauce Damn I'm full!!!

Hi Rockdoggydog, we will be there with Mr. Toast and Really Nice! ← Great we'll see you there! What time are your reservations? Rocky ← 6:30, Rachel at Serafina told me there is only one seating at 6:30 for the event???

I like the dinner rolls from Dahlia Bakery. Macrina has good rolls too.

wine for the night (cooked with and served with dinner) Candlelight for the night provided by the Bellagio Hotel and Casino Las Vegas

Since I totally consider you all guests in my house this week, dinner tonight is being served on the china. We actually use it a few times each month. The dinner menu is...... amuse (you saw it earlier) salad frisee with lardon and quail egg (thanks to Susan, Russ and Anthony Bourdain for the inspiration!) beef bourguignon poached pears with marscapone and carmel (my husband the dessert guy! ) I started the beef bourguignon early in the day, it takes about 5 to 6 hours with marinating time (this is best done overnight but I forgot. ) saute veggies with bouquet garni. this bouquet garni I bought in the big farmers market in Barcelona this summer! Once the veggies were soft I drained and browned the meat really well to get lots of crispy carmelation. then the pan got deglazed with the reserved marinade and boiled for a few minutes. everything else was in the pot waiting.....everything combined ready to go in the oven for a few hours. Once it was just about done the mushrooms, bacon and shallots got sauted and added to the caserole back in the oven to finish while I make some salad. The salad consists of frisee with a bacon, onion, mustard, red wine vinegar dressing. Here is everything in the pan getting cooked up. then I toss the warm vinegraitte with the frisee and get ready to lightly fry the quail eggs. Holy crap these little guys are soooooo cute!!!! this pan is a small omelet pan to give you an idea of the size. First course served! I broiled some baguette with a bit of really good roasted garlic butter that fellow eGullet member Della made and brought me. This went into the bottom of the bowls and we spooned the beef over it. mmmmmmmmm.........................

Yeahhh!! The foam worked! I'm trying a recipe out of my Amuse Bouche book for vanilla foam with fingerling potato chips. The foam is made up of potato and vanilla. These vanilla beans I brought back from the island of Moorea while we were honeymooning. Tahitian vanilla right from the source! I used the new food mill I picked up at Crate & Barrel this week- only $10! Sliced the fingerling potato to make teeny weeny chips! After frying....they are so cute!! I need some practice foaming but arn't they sweet? Garnished with mint and sea salt! They are sitting on a teacup saucer so you can get an idea of how little they are!! I also got the foamer at C&B. Having a kir while I finish off the main course!

YES!!!! btw, happy birthday jsolomon!

I've got dinner in the oven. It takes a while so I've started it early! Full menu later but here is my meez (as Bourdain puts it!) I know you are all VERY smart so I'm sure you can guess at what I'm cooking up tonight!

So I'm prepping dinner for tonight and since I'm just working around the house all day I have my glasses on vs. my contacts. YEOWWWW! How can all of you non contact lense wearers stand to chop onions and peel shallots??? That stings!! gotta go throw my contacts in!

LOL!!! Too funny eunny!! The apple slices are just dipped in the batter, then tossed in the fryer. Ok, I guess tossing things in a large pot of boiling oil isn't the best idea, lets say they are placed in the fryer.

hmmm...that foam isn't looking quite right to me but it's suppose to chill for a few hours so I will wait and see! Lunch, quesodillas and Pacifico's. Dayne whipped this up while I was finishing the foam. Pepper jack cheese, extra sharp white cheddar, black olives and sour cream.

Thanks all for the gelatin info! The experiment is under way......

No, I don't... It's in the local Tar-jais store and I've thumbed through it there, but so far have opted not to buy it. Do you have it? The recipe was supplied as a testing assignment from Leite's Culinaria. It was good... delicious, easy, and very inviting of wine! ← We will get a signed copy on Monday as part of our dinner!

Susan we were at Troiani on Fri as well!! My Report Wendy