Abra

I got it from chefshop.com for about $20 a kilo, so I'd say you were seriously ripped off. I keep it in the pantry and haven't noticed any problems whatsoever from doing that.

Pernigotti's been my house cocoa for the past year or so. I even prefer it to Scharffenberger, my former favorite.

I've missed fifi around the boards lately, and wondered where she'd gone. I'm so sorry to find out why. She was always helpful, fun, and knowledgeable, and I'll miss her.

On the Aussie cheese front, I've got to say that the Roaring 40s Blue is one of the best blue cheeses I've ever tasted. I'm quite addicted to it.

Remember how before you came to Seattle you were afraid that it would be a food wasteland? I'd be very interested to hear now that you've spent a semester here, and are back in your old stomping grounds, how you'd compare the food scenes. Restaurants, farmer's markets, grocery stores, what's striking you about the differences.

Dorie, those pictures were taken at my home on Bainbridge island, but in September we're moving to France for a year, so ca se pourrait!

What I want to know is: did you ever get off the plane, or just fly your way around the world eating airplane food? It looks amazingly good. Any idea what they serve in tourist class?

Wow, nice list, Sue. I hope to be able to eat my way through it sometime next year.

Here's my take on the French Yogurt Cake. I happened to have just the right amount of beautiful organic sour cream left over, so I subbed that for the yogurt. I used orange rind instead of lemon, and my husband loved it so much plain that I left it unglazed. he had it for breakfast this morning, one piece with marmalade, and one with Belgian chocolate spread. He pronounced it heavenly.

What's moutarde blanche? As a mustard devotee, I thought I'd heard it all.

As a person who's struggled with her weight all her life, let me add this. Get a prescription from your doctor for exercise! In my case, my doc wrote a script for a personal trainer, but a gym membership, a Weight Watchers membership, or whatever, is just as good. My CPA, a very conservative dude, was very happy to put the cost of my trainer down as a deductible health expense on my tax forms, just because I have a prescription from my doctor. And my doctor was very happy to give me the prescription, because she totally supports my desire to exercise. Even though I'm a lot overweight, my "numbers" on a recent physical were actually pretty near perfect, because I get my butt out the door to that trainer 3 times a week. I know, 5-6 times would be way better, and that's what my doctor said, but every bit counts when it comes to exercise. And the fact that we can count it as a legitimate health care expense makes it a whole lot easier to swallow. We're all foodies here. We can psychoanalyze ourselves to kingdom come, but while we're doing that, and eating well, let's move those bods. It offsets a multitude of sins.

I have a couple of huckleberries bushes in my back "yard" which is more of a mini-forest, but I get very little fruit. I think they need a lot more sun. I have to eat them almost one at a time, which is torture. So hail from the other side of the state, and I'll enjoy learning what I could do if I could gather more than 8 huckleberries at any given moment.

Ok, I'll start with my dinner last night. Garlic, olive oil, white wine, a few handfuls of baby spinach, and a couple pounds of Manila clams. Steam lightly and eat.

I've only used Rumsford for years now, so anything you've eaten that was baked by me without yeast was with Rumsford. As far as I know, the performance is comparable. But then, I always put stuff straight into the oven as a matter of course.

Yours are a lot prettier, and soon you'll be able to give me a demo in person!

Finally I got this book. I haven't been eating sweets for a while, and so have just read the book cover to cover and fallen in love with it without ever having baked from it. So yesterday I took the plunge with the Espresso Chocolate Brownies. And I made them wrong. Amazing to contemplate, but my only excuse is that I've been away from baking for a few weeks. Here they are So this is what happens when instead of 1 T flour you add 1/4 cup. I knew it within about 30 seconds of making the error, but by then it was too late and I thought I'd bake them up anyway to see what happened. Naturally, the cheesecake part was more cake than cheese, but they did have a nice soft bar cookie texture as a result. I wouldn't repeat this goof, and I could tell that the original would have been much better, but still, they were actually quite good. We both did think it needed more chocolate. I used Valrhona Amer, but would have like a more pronounced chocolate to contrast with the espresso cheese flavors. Dorie, forgive me. I promise to follow instructions next time!

I'd call it either a ragout, which is a word people do understand, or simply a stew. Technically, of course, it's not stewed, but as a practical matter it's stew-like. Or sometimes the word supreme means stuff in a creamy sauce, but that's not common these days. Those shells are gorgeous! Do you pull each of the corners where the cuts meet across to the opposite side, through the center? For some reason I can't quite see how they work.

Dude, that's a flourless cake recipe! You need to use one that's designed for flour, like this one. All that said, carrot cake will always be dense because of the carrots, oil, and any added fruit. It's not supposed to be light and fluffy.

That's fascinating, Pti. What's your favorite use of creme crue? It sounds like a bowl of fresh strawberries would be perfect with it, but how about its use in savory dishes?

I feel like a yo-yo! Now it turns out that we could also go to Lyon, Bordeaux, or Reims once a month. I need to decide in the next 10 days or so. Reims doesn't speak to me, but Lyon and Bordeaux sure do, although in different ways. The Morvan sounds wonderful to visit, but definitely not as a year-round place for us.

Shall we be like the Italy forum and do some cooking and picture-taking in these wonderful new regional threads? Or is more an intellectual exercise?

I eat a lot of shirataki noodles, but I never rinse or parboil them. I like the flavor just as they are, so I don't want to rinse it away, and then I'm usually dropping them into an Asian broth so I let them simmer in there to soak up some additional flavor. I've never eaten more than one bag at a time, and I've never had any digestive upsets as a result. If you're having problems with them being "tasteless" try no rinse, no parboil.

Can we work some recommendations on good brands of Calvados into this thread? We don't get many sorts here and I always feel it's hit or miss when I buy some. For example, here's what's supposed to be available in Washington BOULARD CALVADOS XO BUSNEL CALVADOS DU PAYS D'AGE CALVADOS BOULARD GRDE SOLAGE BRDY CALVADOS CARDINAL BRANDY CALVADOS POMME D'EVE APPLE BRDY COEUR DE LION CALVADOS VSOP DOM DUPONT CALVADOS D'AUGE HORS DOM DUPONT CALVADOS D'AUGE VIELLES Which should I buy? Prices range from about $30 for the Cardinal to $110 for the Boulard.

I vote for making it yourself, and since you're removing fat from bought confit, save that for when you make a batch. I don't can mine but I do leave it in the fridge for a long time and the flavor really does improve - I still have some from last November that I'll be using up soon. A good way to de-fat it before crisping the skin is to steam the leg for a few minutes to remove the fat (thanks, Paula Wolfert!) I love to use the jelly in a vegetable saute. What other great jelly uses are there?

Oxalic acid is what does the furry teeth thing with leafy greens. I guess I never ate enough star fruit to get that effect. I like your idea of a custard base. A coconut milk custard might be especially nice.