Abra

No, Jason, don't waste tenderloin on this recipe. You want a really good chuck, that will pull into threads. Tenderloin doesn't shred well, and doesn't have either the marbling or the flavor to pull this one off. Plus, it's way too expensive for a braise. Just my opinion, of course.

Chufi's butter beef rocks. As she instructed me when I made it, be sure to really, really brown it slowly and well, like maybe for 20-25 minutes. And don't add anything besides what's in the recipe. And star anise is well worth seeking out, with its delicate and mysterious flavor that's unlike any other. Your local Asian store will have it for sure, and when you have some, you can make pho at home too. How's the quitting going today?

Gosh, this is really getting interesting. Thanks, Jack, for adding that perspective, and Megan, for sharing your interesting and unusual story. Tim, I'm so impressed by the integrity with which you appear to do your job. I know you'll do well in whatever you decide to do next.

Organizing my spices. I have two full drawers as well as a 24-rack of spices. It's a hopeless task to remember what I'm out of and need to put in my Penzey's order, plus there's no possible way to systematize it that lasts more than a week. Not to mention that I'm a seasoning addict, so whenever I read about an herb or spice that I haven't tried I have to get some just in case I need it. Exhaust fans are supposed to be cleaned?

Our power just came back on after being out all day (causing Seahawks fans to call their cardiologists) and right away I had to come see how you all are doing. It's so cool to watch you winning out, moment by moment. You each have so many victories every day, how awesome is that? Dave, that dinner looked seriously excellent!

Wow, Lorna, what a fabulous day you had! I'm guessing we're all about equally envious, especailly of that tutored oyster tasting. I'd love to do that! I really like the Stellar Bays, and heven't had any of the others you got to try.

Oh, good job, y'all! You're still on the ball, carrying on with life, eating well, surviving crankiness with at least a modicum of humor and enough grace to go around. Well done, and keep it up! Marlene, what do you think of that Alziari oil? I keep eyeing it in the Zingerman's catalogue, but cringing a bit at the price. Worth it?

Hurray for you guys for getting right back up after a hard time. As Weight Watchers tend to say "just because you fell half way down the stairs, are you going to throw yourself the rest of the way down?" Starting over is half the game.

Susan, the salted, fermented black beans I buy come in a small, clear plastic bag. Yum. Since you all seem to be craving spiciness, I vote for each of you to cook the absolutely spiciest, favoritest thing you know how to make. I need some great, incendiary new recipes and it sounds like all of your tastebuds could use a wake-up call.

I'm thrilled to see this thread. We had Neil's famously fabulous pudding on our recent trip to Vancouver, and I'm longing for more. I think I'd make ginger ice cream to serve with, or else just a soft cloud of very lightly sweetened cream. The pudding would also be nice made with sorghum, as an alternative to molasses.

This Flan Souffle al Miel is a fabulous recipe. It's make-ahead (the apples hold up because they're covered by the creme), it makes up into individual servings, it doesn't cost a lot to make, and the flavors are heavenly. Use the best-tasting honey you can find. Oh, and even though the word flan is in the name, it's definitely not a flan as we think of flan.

You guys are very brave to do this in public, and all deserve a gold star for today. The fact that you're inspiring others to join you is already such a cool thing. Hang in there!

Thanks, Darcie. It's been fun living in your corner of the world this week.

That's a gorgeous demo, Jack! I don't know why I never thought of the measuring jug trick. I always just eyeball it, and not always successfully. You've reformed me instantaneously.

Carrots have an affinity for star anise. A carrot pureed soup infused with star anise is a wonderful treat. Marc, would you post the proportions for that confit rub? That sounds great. And welcome to a fellow PNWer!

Ok, this page alone has convinced me. I've got to get this book and play with you guys. That bacon!

I just want to add my thanks to Canucklehead and Mooshmouse for organizing the New Year's extravaganza. I've put up a few pictures and comments about the Sea Harbour dinner and our whole trip here. It was an excellent time!

Friday night is when we had Canucklehead's fabulous Chinese New Year's dinner with about 20 of you. It's well-documented starting here, so let me just say, that was some special dinner. The delicious cold platter, with the infamous goose feet The roe of the luscious crab in pumpkin sauce - I wanted to just wash my face with this stuff The super-delicate dried scallop fried rice, with the sweetest and gooiest, almost dessertlike char siu bao I've ever had. It was a thrill to meet so many of you, and put faces and voices with what I knew about you in cyber-life. You are all much skinnier than I expected! The next morning Jamie Maw collected us at the hotel and took us for a gentle and leisurely drive in some of the prettiest parts of town, before we met Moosh at Phnom Penh for a Cambodian lunch. We were the only non-Asians in there and I didn't feel comfortable whipping out the camera, plus since the owners clearly adored Jamie, I didn't want to ruin his reputation by making a spectacle of myself. I think Jamie has photos of their incredible garlic squid in his blog, and you should probably be gladd not to have to see a picture of the congee with pig blood that Moosh and I shared. A highlight for me was getting the recipe, detailed instructions, and some special yeast balls to make their fermented black rice dessert. We all swore there was some sort of cherry syrup, but it turned out to be two weeks of fermentation that created the flavor. I am so making this, as soon as I get the right black rice. That night, our last eG dinner, we dined at Hapa Izakaya with Moosh and *Deborah*. For some reason, there's no izakaya at all in Seattle, so far as I know, so now I'm thinking of going into the izakaya biz. You could make a fortune with Hapa in Seattle. It was super dark in there, so all I can show you is their amazing mackarel. This wins for presentation alone. They bring it to the table raw and flame blast it with a torch until it's just done. Quite sensational, and it even tastes good. Canucklehead blew me away by dropping in to our dinner, not to eat, but to leave me a gift. He'd gone and hunted down the sand ginger and chicken spices, and the fermented tofu for the lamb sauce from our Sea harbour dinner, and brought me a little take-home care package. And I made the stuff at home, and it was good. Not as good as Sea Harbour's, but good. I love that sand ginger. In fact, I'm using it in our Seattle avant-garde dinner tomorrow. It's such an arresting flavor. That Canucklehead, what a sweetie pie. Oh wait, somewhere in there we went out to Thomas Haas. How could I forget? Moosh, Ling and a friend, peppyre, and we went over to the Haas fab to sample his wares. My secret agenda was to go to some pastry place with Ling, so I could have lots of tastes and she would finish everything up. In that regard, she upheld her reputation fully. They have a really sexy pastry case. Sometime I'd like to go there when it's not right in between two huge meals. the 20 pieces of chocolate my husband brought home. Oh wait again, I'm forgetting the funniest part. Ling, bless her little pastry-fiend self, decided to bake something for us. So before going to Thomas Haas we had a coffee, then went out to the cars. She had a plate of her famous peanut butter-ganache sandwich cookies in the car, and she brought them out to hand around. We were standing right on the sidewalk outside the coffee place, and a total stranger guy, not to mention a totally strange guy, just walked up and took a cookie off the plate. We were all so polite we didn't know what to do, and didn't really want to ask for it back, especially since he wasted no time biting off a large piece. He claimed to have thought it was a promo for the coffee shop, but I think he just knew a good thing when he saw one. But now that I remember that cookie, I see why we weren't hungry when we got to the chocolate factory! In case you guys haven't noticed, you live in Foodie Nirvana. Vancouver is one of the best eating cities I know, and of course we didn't even give the surface a good scratch. I guess that means we'll have to come again, eat more, hang out with you guys some, bliss out. Drat! And Moosh, you're IT!

It's taken me almost a week to recover from 5 days in Vancouver. Thank you dear Vancouver people for making our visit so fun. Cosmic thanks to Mooshmouse the Inimitable for being Mistress of Ceremonies, with additional and copious special thanks to Canucklehead, Daddy-A, Jamie Maw, Ling, peppyre, *Deborah*, and the fabulous Jeff and Kurtis from Aurora, NWyles from the Hammy, and Alistair and Drew from the aptly-named Elysian. You all are an awesome bunch, and I only hope I can return the favor down here someday. The only disappointing thing was my pictures. I don't have many that are at all nice, and none that do justice to the food. Fortunately, Canucklehead took pictures at Aurora and Sea Harbour, and I hope he'll link to them below, so you can get some better food porn. Ling also took pictures at Thomas Haas, and I'm sure she'd share. Today, we read our camera manual, 2-3 years after we got the thing, and I think my pictures are going to be better from now on. RTFM, moron! We came up by train, a fun way to travel. The trip up is really beautiful and it's a luxury to be able to watch the scenery. And it's cheap. I recommend the train. We stayed on Granville Island, at the hotel. As a treat for my husband's birthday they gave us a beautiful room on the top floor with two walls of windows and three balconies of its own, all over the marina. We unpacked and went out into the Market for lunch, wanting to keep it light before our special dinner. I had some unexpectedly decent Indian comfort food from Rubina's. That evening we were off to Aurora, to meet Daddy and Mrs.-A, and Canucklehead. On the absolute spur of the moment, Chef Jeff and Sommelier Kurtis agreed to whip out a 7 course tasting menu for us, with wine pairings, and it was instantly clear that we were in for a wonderful evening. Here's the menu they created for us. For the 5 of us, Jeff usually sent out two different dishes per course, and for the main, 5 different dishes. He rocks. Hazelmere Farms Beet Salad with Okanagan goat cheese and Orange Chive Blossom Vinaigrette Warm Spinach Salad with a Poached Egg, Crisp Bacon, and Hazelnut Vinaigrette Township 7 2004 Sauvignon Blanc 5 Spice Organic Chicken Consomme with House-Smoked Duck Bacon or Smoked Sablefish Golden Mile Cellars 2004 Road 13 Pine Mushroom Risotto, Root Vegetable Tempure, and Ginger Sabayon Nichol Vineyard 2004 Capriccio Organic Cranberry and Ginger Sorbet with Sparkling Sumac Ridge Brut Seared Mushroom Crusted Albacore Tuna, Rye Berry Pilaf, Sugar Pumpkin Bisque, and Scallion Soubise Potato-Wrapped Smoked Sablefish with local mussel, Autumn Vegetable Chowder Pork Tenderloin with Maple Mustard Seed Glaze, Okanagan goat cheese, and Apple Crumble Smoked Lamb Cheeks with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes and braising juices Duck Confit Croquettes and foie gras Dijon sauce Winchester 2003 Sharp Rock Vineyard Pinot Noir Black Hills 2003 Nota Bene BC artisan cheese plate Sumac Ridge 2000 Vintage Pipe Creme Fraiche Cheesecake with Walnut Crust and cranberry ginger compote Sugar Pumpkin Tarte Tatin with Pine Mushroom Ice Cream and Smoked Pumpkin Seed Brittle Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Caramelized Roasted Pineapple and Chocolate Salad Heritage Apple Upsidedown Cake with Burnt Caramel and Whipped Creme Fraiche See Ya Later Ranch 2003 Ehrenfelser Icewine The duck croquettes, lamb cheeks, sugar pumpkin tarte, apple upsidedown cake, I could eat those all day long. Canucklehead took pictures of it all, ingeniously lit with his cell phone and kindly offered his pictures, which I'm hoping he'll link to below. Actually, you'd think we'd have never eaten again, but there we were the very next day, having lunch with Mooshmouse, peppyre, and Ling at Josephine's. Moosh's ordering strategy is probably familiar to you all: one of each, please. It's a great way to really dig into a restaurant, and there was shockingly little left over after we descended like the proverbial locusts on an array of about 12 dishes. Here are a few. Hopefully Moosh will supply the names of the dishes, as I was too busy eating to write anything down. I loved the crispy dried fish and the long beans with dried shrimp. This is what you really want. You know you do. Deep fried pork hock. Speaks for itself, eh? I loved these desserts! Cassava cake, sticky black rice, and a taro pudding. Delicious. We couldn't forget that we had reservations that night at Le Crocodile, where we'd heard that portions were large. To atone for lunch, we took the bus over there in order to get in a bit of walking. The menu was one of those where all the starters look more enticing than the mains, so we just had small plates. We ordered a cool course, followed by a warm course. Cool was a foie terrine, a salad with a seared scallop, and a beef tartare. Warm was a seared foie, a stuffed quail, and onion tart. Our waiter was inexperienced and told us that wouldn't be too much food, so sadly we didn't have room for dessert. Oh wait! We already had three desserts for lunch. The foie terrine. The tartare. Horrors! See that bit of shell on the quail's egg? The scallop salad. The warm courses all look terrible. I think they dimmed the lights or something. Le Croc was my husband's choice for his birthday dinner, but I wouldn't go there again. I like more thrilling food, but this was solid and very well-executed. Tasted good, too. The next day we lunched at The Hamilton Street Grill, with Daddy-A and Chef NWyles in attendance. Despite a group of 40 and hangar steak not being on the lunch menu, we did indeed have it, with terrific yam fries, and the iconic Gingerbread Pudding with Pumpkin and Ginger Sorbet. So good! Wow, that's only half of what we ate. Not even. I'd better do the rest in another post, but before I go, I want to mention the Elysian. We managed to get there three times on this trip, wooed by the excellent cappucinos. My husband might move to Vancouver just for that cappucino.

That coconut cake looks yummy, and not over-toasted at all, to my eye. How come you put it in that deep dish? I am thrilled that you're going to demo your fryer! I have Fear of Frying, but we love tempura, and I would like to be able to do it really well, not to mention wanting to make Chufi's olieballen and bitterballen. I'm always wondering about getting a fryer, something I don't have any room on the counter for, and will be hanging on your every word and picture. Wait, I forgot. You galloped around the house making horsey noises with your coconut shells??? Would you please upload that photo!

I aim for halfway between well-mannered and heathen. I don't eat Continental-style because I am the most monodextrous person I know. I really can't do anything precise with my left hand, so I like the knife in my right. But switching both all the time would drive me mad, hence my compromise. American gripped, I cut 3-4 bites, set my knife down on the edge of my plate, and switch my fork. It's undoubtedly childish, inconvenient, and ill-mannered, but it works fine for me. Bottom line: I don't give a big rat sandwich about sniggering furriners. I just want to eat comfortably, without making too much mess, and not offend anyone who is actually at the table with me.

First cats, then cakes. You have your priorities straight!

This is sounding excellent. I'm looking forward to trying it soon. Is there any sort of tasting menu option?

Happy Birthday To You! Nice bagels, too. I've never seen the "float test" method, nor the baking soda in the water, but I only got that particular book recently. Now I've got to try that recipe. Were the bagels pretty crowded in the pan, or is that a photo-illusion? I happen to love Texas sheet cake, myself. It's so lowbrow, and so delicious and easy. What birthday cake have you decided on? And what the heck is cappucino punch?

It's so nice to see a baking blog, and a bacon baking blog is extra fun. And you have the most amazingly clean kitchen! Is it always like that, or did blogging inspire a major clean-up? I suggest you make Daniel's bacon toffee cake. I'm dying to make that one myself, and would love to do so vicariously. If I bake it myself I'm afraid I'll have to eat much more than my fair share of it. Oh dear, NO! Not to be unnecessarily picky, but for those not in the US who might be struggling with weird US measurements: a stick/cube is 1/2 cup. One pound of butter (4 cubes/sticks) is equal to 2 cups.