viva

I've been reading a lot, both on this site as well as a number of cookbooks about advance preparation for desserts. This is, of course, saving me for the 30++ Thanksgiving weekend with multiple nights of dinners and an unholy number of desserts that need to be made. My question is where do you draw the line of advance preparation? Are there rules that need to be adhered to (such as "never try to freeze anything with pineapple in it" or "don't pre-assemble a cake with a liqueur syrup soaked in the layers", etc.)? What I've got so far: - Premade all of my fruit pies/tarts (apple/prune, pear/cranberry, marionberry, shaker lemon, mincemeat, and fig), assembled & in the freezer - waiting to be baked from frozen (actually, I like doing this now as the fruit selection now is definitely better than it will be in late November) - Premade all of my cake liqueur syrups, buttercream frostings, fruit purees, (what I call cake "ancillary items") - ready to be defrosted (rebeaten if necessary) and used to assemble cakes - Premade cookie dough on the sheets and ready to be baked - Pierre Herme's Concorde cake and Pave cakes (both of which the cookbook indicated can/should be frozen) - Premade fruit cake (well, this one was obvious - it'll keep for years) - Premade and baked quick breads (cranberry, orange) that will just defrost and serve What I'm wondering: - Have I done anything wrong - am I in for any nasty surprises? - Can I take things a step further - e.g. bake the cakes, soak the cake layers in liqueur syrup, layer 'em with buttercream and top with rolled fondant - and then just stick the whole assembled thing in the freezer for a month? Some of the cakes I've chosen are a maple pear spice cake, an apricot pumpkin cake, and of course the e-gullet tweaked chocolate cake. One of the cakes has a whipped cream filling instead of buttercream - I'm thinking anything with whipped cream would not be a good advance prep candidate - but the rest are the neoclassic and silk meringue buttercreams, as well as chocolate ganache from RLB's Cake Bible. - Anything else? Many thanks for any help!!!

I'm thinking of making the Concorde in advance for Turkey Day... I was thinking of the Pave (which is clearly more popular in this thread), but I've already got a set of mini-chocolate cakes, with layers soaked liqueur syrups, filled with various types of buttercream and a chocolate glaze, so I'm afraid the Pave might be a bit repetitive - whereas the Concorde would offer a different texture. Anyway, I saw upthread that Patrick added a thin layer of ganache onto the Concorde's meringue disks, which I think is a great idea - just curious as to what ganache you used Patrick? One of the ones in CDBPH, or just a standard chocolate/cream ganache? Also thinking of doubling the amount of meringue, so I can just make a boatload of the little tubes. Maybe I'll do the Pave for one of the ancillary T-Day dinners, if I have time. I love that both of these cakes can be made and frozen.

I'm making andiesenji's MeeMaw's Pork Christmas Cake again this year... today. I already have the mincemeat made up, so today is the cake itself. And then I'm stuffing a chicken with the leftover pork mincemeat, so I can eat it immediately.

I want this. Right now. <sob...as I'm stuck in the office with no hope of a decent snack for hours...>

Interesting. Reminds me of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, with genetically engineering Chicken Nobbies - chickens grown with excessive numbers of body parts (like 12 drumsticks): Yum.

There is indeed. It's nice.

Anyone tried the new Berries and Cream variety of the Fountain Classics? Haven't seen it in the store, but my office cafeteria managed to snag some bottles. I've tried the diet version, which is pleasantly non-diety-tasting.

Ah, no - my tolerance for diet coke is well documented. And the smuggled Stoli is a privilege reserved only for obscenely bad movies, of the Adam Sandler ilk.

Er, does bringing in Vanilla Stoli to mix with the theater Diet Coke count? It was the only thing that made The Craft tolerable. I miss the Brew N' View in Chicago.

I had a "Pepsi Latte" in Thailand. Tasted like those clear coffee candies I always got stuck with in my Halloween candy bag.

Many. The slice of cheese *between* two patties is very important - it gets all gooey and mixed up with the meat juices Also a higher meat-to-bun ratio. At many burger joints I end up taking the top half of the bun off, because there's too much bread relative to the meat.

Nice pot roast! It's making me hungry for a beef dip sandwich. I made the (I forget the exact title) Red Pork Belly with Bok Choy this weekend. No pork belly at the local Safeway, had to use pork shoulder as a substitute, which worked out pretty well. The overall taste was very good and flavorful and the pork was very tender... *but* the dish is extremely salty... which comes from about 1/2 cup of regular and mushroom soy sauces. The recipe specifically states not to use "lite" soy sauce, but I'm thinking if I made it again I would try low sodium.

It depends <cough/shallowness ahead> on the attractiveness of the waiter. There was that really hot waiter on Mykonos... I didn't mind at all when he put his hand on my back. In fact, it's one of my favorite memories of my trip to Greece. A not-hot waiter? Hands off. Conversely, some young bimbo waitress better not touch me (and more importantly, hands off my date). However, a nice grandma-type in a diner serving me pie wouldn't bother me.

I noticed most folks here are using vinegar. A lot of recipes I have used call for lemon juice instead. Are there pros/cons to vinegar vs. lemon juice, or do they have the same effect?

Nice food and everything, but your lovely caipirinha photo is the best! It has me running off to make my own tonight...

I gotta make this again. I'm really hungry for pork mincemeat now. I am completely trying the stuffing variation too... as soon as the freaking weather here cools down and I can turn on the oven again.

Nancy, the pictures you posted of the raspberries really takes me back. My grandmother's brother & sister-in-law (so, I guess my grand-uncle/aunt) owned a raspberry farm in the UP in Michigan, and my grandma and I went to visit them one summer. I remember gorging myself on raspberries straight from the bushes, staining my face and hands bright red with the juice. I kept wandering through the fields for hours, taking breaks to lay in the sun and look at the sky. They've all passed away quite a while ago, but thanks for bringing back a wonderful memory.

And in Arizona... - peaches - poblano peppers - corn - sunburst yellow squash - scallions - lettuce - big ol' beefsteak tomatoes - basil - collard greens (me too!) - shiitake mushrooms ETA - I forgot the yellow watermelon that I already scarfed.

...and Jello chocolate pudding with a skin on top. These, hands down, were my favorite meal as a child. As I've said frequently on these boards - I grew up with my grandparents, and Grandma couldn't cook very well. Mac n' cheese, hot dogs (with French's mustard), and Jello chocolate pudding are virtually indestructible. I kind of miss them a lot, because they remind me of Grandma, who is gone now.

Beautiful cherries. Now I have a cherry craving. ETA... and it looks rather cold there in that fog. Brr. I'll keep my Arizona sunshine.

I've passed this place a few times on some Cave Creek shopping expeditions and have been curious. Thanks for posting the pics...will definitely have to give this a try. How is the atmosphere? Is it Cave Creek/laid back or more upscale?

Ahhh - Jackal and Jensen - thanks. Those chips.

So a chip butty is.... a chip sandwich? Potato chips? Cow chips? Eh?

Black Mission and Calimyrna figs from California are hitting the stores here now... Raspberries have been wonderful. Driscoll brand seems to be the most reliable for berries in your average grocery. Our local grocery is up to its eyeballs in stone fruits - peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots - you name it. Quinces don't hit until later in the fall (I made a Thanksgiving pie a couple of years ago with fresh quinces and watched obsessively that fall as I wanted to practice with them before T-Day hit).

Oh...yeah...wonder white bread, spread on Pizza Quick sauce (remember that stuff), and a slice of american cheese. Toasted.