Mooshmouse

Even with my limited food-based knowledge of Cantonese, I know that Ho Sic lah means that you done good! That's some heavy-duty baking you've been doing... hopefully, it pays off in good grades! I'll report back once I get around to trying the recipe. Like you said, I'll be hard-pressed to wait until it cools before taking my first bite. A million thank-yous! Edited because I was so excited that I forgot to be polite.

Dear Miss Rachel, it's so typically gracious to think of us but, please, fret not. You've given us more than enough food for thought to sustain us in your absence. Having had someone very close to me go through exactly the same thing, I know just what kind of pain Chris must be experiencing. Rest well, both of you.

Dejah, this is one of my favourite Chinese cakes EVER. Would you be willing to post your recipe for it, either in this thread or in one dedicated to it? The smell of it while baking must be insanely delicious!

To top that pumpkin pie, how about some whipped cream with a little maple syrup in it!

The holidays are almost upon us... time for molasses gingersnaps.

Over-the-top decadent... risotto with lobster.

Finger food at its best: asparagus wrapped with prosciutto.

Ah, poached eggs... those babies are crying out for some bearnaise sauce!

I use sesame oil in a stirfry with garlic, sliced red chili peppers, sesame seeds and... long beans.

Crab. Okay. Some Sri Lankan friends of ours regularly made us a heavenly crab curry when they invited us over for dinner, a main ingredient of which is coconut cream. Note: Differentiated from coconut milk which is already on the list.

Going by jackal's list, condensed milk is a double. So we're still at cardamom... which is one of the spices in chai.

My maternal grandmother, an extraordinary lady, is a cancer-sufferer but is still going strong as she approaches her 91st birthday in January. I call her Lola, Filipino for grandmother, and miss her terribly. She was a school teacher, classical pianist and preacher's wife (my Lolo, 15 years her senior, passed away some 17 years ago), creative enough in the kitchen to feed the inevitable crowd gathered in her dining room on a shoestring budget even during the leanest of times. For a couple of years, my Mom and I lived with my grandparents before we emigrated to Canada, and I'm certain that my love for food was born in her kitchen. One of my earliest memories is the sweet, musky smell of a batch of Lola's guava jam simmering on the stove and her arms around me as I helped her stir the pot... or scattering grain across the back yard and watching the chickens come running... or standing in her kitchen doorway, clutching a mango pit in my little four-year-old hands and grinning with delight as the juice ran down my chin and my elbows. On special days, the two of us would bundle into a pedicab and take a ride to the Magnolia House ice-cream parlour. I'd chatter all the way there with giddy excitement, and our exchange would invariably go something like this. "What kind of ice cream are we going to have, Ying (a childhood nickname)?" "Any kind you like, Lola... but Super Mocha only, okay!" I'd slide into the booth beside her and we'd spoon into the pint of ice cream together... my mind's palate can still taste that creamy coffeed goodness. Recently, while hunting through family archives to dig up photographs for my son's school project, I came across the travel journal I kept during my last visit to the Philippines eight years ago. In one entry, I reflected about comparing hands with my Mom and my Lola one afternoon, three generations of hands with the same slightly crooked pinky finger. I held up my hand against my Lola's to measure and was astonished to find that our hands are virtually identical. Small, strong hands, hers worn from years of caring for others. That afternoon, I remember wishing that my hands would be as capable as hers and my Mom's had been in motherhood... comforing, nurturing and sure. My Lola is very special to me and I do miss her so. Thank you, Rachel, for opening the floodgates of memory for so many of us.

And a damn good breakfast staple at that! Call me old school, but I'm terribly fond of roasted garlic smooshed onto a piece torn from a crusty baguette and eaten with strawberries and melted... brie BTW, thanks for the list, jackal!

Bananas flambéed with butter, brown sugar and... ...rum.

I concede. The Englishman catches the English Honours grad in a grammatical faux pas. As you were.

Whoa... one of my favourite things from childhood (and still to this day... who am I kidding?) is using sweetened condensed milk as a dip for freshly baked bread slathered in butter. So, take your pick: freshly baked bread or butter.

Mmmm... eggplant is one of the main ingredients in ratatouille which gives you a whole host of choices for the next ingredient. Zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms: take your pick!

That's exactly why I liked your blog so much, Erik: because it was a regular week in your San Francisco life with some of your favourite places and some of your favourite foods. Fancy-schmancy isn't needed for a blog to be good... some of the foodblogs I like the most are those that feel "homey" to me, and yours is no exception. From one former English student to another, a blog well done!

Oooh, mizducky, please be sure to report back if you do any reconnaissance!

Nobody EVER posts the same time as me! Early morning Monday for you? ← Aye, it certainly is EARLY morning Monday for me (and a fair shake colder here than it is where you live!). Chalk it up to insomnia.

Without question, I'd have to say the Tim Tam Slam!

If I can be so bold to cheat a bit on the beets, one of my favourite menu items at Cru Restaurant here in Vancouver dresses beets with truffle vinaigrette, then pairs them and crispy shallots with... ...smoked albacore tuna. Edited to say that by "cheat" I mean that the beets aren't pickled.

This thread reminds me of the morels with sauce Colbert that I swooned over at Parkside Restaurant late last summer. Forget sopping... had no one been looking, I would've picked up the plate and licked it clean!

That sounds like the best damn thing I've heard of in ages... I've only ever used Bearnaise with steaks, but damn... I feel like Jules in Pulp Fiction now, 'cept nevermind the mayo. I'm doing it, fries with Bearnaise damnit, I'm doing that one -- that's all there's to it. ← At a potluck barbecue this past summer, one of our friends whipped up a batch of bearnaise into which we were to dip quickly blanched asparagus spears. Lemme tell you, the bearnaise barely made it to the table. We started dipping chunks of a rustic peasant baguette into it when someone reached into the bowl of Kettle Chips on the counter and took a scoop of the sauce. Trashy decadence at its best... or worst!

Sweet Miss Rachel, this will be one blog where the wondrous writing may well challenge if not supercede the beautiful photos. How privileged are we all to be guests at your family table for the coming week... I can hardly wait!