percyn

Eunny, If your cooking tastes half as good as the pictures look, I would seriously recommend going into a catering or personal chef business.

Little Ms Foodie, How did you prepare the onion confit? That looks great !!

how long do you leave it on the stove for? and at what heat? ← Yushoe, This would somewhat depend on the stove, pan, quantity of milk, etc, so let me try to answer this in another way... Using a small frying pan, I add approx 1/2 a cup of regular milk (or half and half, I would not use skimmed milk for this), along with 1/2 tsp of butter and bring it to a soft boil (this does not take long, maybe a minute or so). When the milk starts to bubble and foam, crack the egg in the frying pan. Using a spatula or spoon, flick or pour some of the hot milk on the egg yolk. As soon as the egg yolk is done to your liking, take it off the heat. If you find that the milk is evaporating too soon during the boil, add some more. The amount of milk your eggs finally end up in is a personal preference. I like the taste of it when dabbed with some bread, so I use a fair amount it. Hope this helps... Cheers P

Richard, How could I have missed Tex-Mex cuisine (must have been my haste in typing )? Of-course, I would welcome any Tex-Mex suggestions as well. I love spicy food and am up for anything that does not have more than a handful of habaneros . My intention is not to stereotype or exclude any culinary/gastronomic experience worth investigating, however, with limited time on my hands, I thought I would focus on restaurants offering regional cuisine rather than the typical 4 star restaurants, that serve the usual dishes, which I can indulge in closer to home or on trips to Europe. I am looking for those unique restaurants that provide an experience, or cuisine which I am unlikely to find outside of Dallas/Texas. I appreciate the info and please feel free to continue recommending restaurants serving regional cusine (4 star or not) which are within 30-40 min driving distance.

It was time to make something with the leftovers and create more room in my fridge , so here is what I made for dinner: Fresh Mozzarella, vine ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, blood-thick 25yr balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Lamb chops (left overs) topped with roasted vegetable tapenade (from Trader Joe's). (Vertical) Cheese tasting of Point Reyes Farmstead raw milk blue cheese (whiter color on left) and King Island Dairy's Roaring 40s blue cheese (off-white color cheese on right). I paired these with slices of Olympic Asian (Korean) pears. (The raw milk blue has a sharper flavor, while the Roaring 40s is smoother and rounder IMHO). Wine was a 1992 Burgess Cabernet Sauvignon (Library Release)

I guess I would like to focus my gastronomic experience during my trip for things Dallas (or Texas) is famous for...(to my Texas-naive mind, that would be chili, BBQ, good steak, etc). Not to say that I am against any other great cusine, but I can get in the NorthEast or trips abroad. I will be staying at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel, if that location has any good foodie spots nearby, that would be great. ladyyoung98, thanks for the info, I will try to make that trip to Rudy's. Thanks P

WOW, those biscuits look great...are you sure this was your first try ?

Mike, Try http://www.pawineandspirits.com/ (Diedre's link seems to have an extra "http://" by accident).

Last night was my first visit (hopefully the fist of many) to Django. Since this was not a dinner with the famous Carmen, I hope the post is not off-topic . (My wife had a girls night out, so I had to think of something fun to do ) My menu selection was as follows: Amuse: Cauliflower and Parmesan bread pudding. Butternut Squash-Scented Lobster Soup w/Polenta-Lobster Royale : This was a unique, delicious "soup" in that you could dissolve the polenta to achieve the thickness you desired (though I would have preferred a bit more polenta). Roasted Bison loin with caramelized onion gratin, brussel sprouts, cranberry chutney and potato cream.: The bison was cooked almost perfectly, to medium-rare. The brussel sprouts were firm and almost crunchy (much better than the way I usually obliterate them). I must admit that the onion gratin on my plate seemed to be replaced by what seemed like a bread pudding with a wedge of potato in the middle (I am not complaining, was just curious as to what happened to the onion gratin). Artisan Cheese Plate : Decent, but not the most memorable cheese plate I have had. Wine (with all courses): Bottle of Charles Krug 2000 Carneros Napa Valley Pinot Noir. The bread deserves a notable mention, as I have seen very few places serve bread of this caliber which has been baked on premises. It reminds me of bread that my family used to bake on a farm, when I was a child. Many items on the menu looked so delicious that I hadn't started dinner at 10pm, I would have come back for dinner twice in one night I did take some pictures, but alas, was too embarrassed to turn on the flash (didn't seem necessary at the time), which did not do the food any justice, so I decided not to post them here

I will be at a conference in Dallas in early November would appreciate some recommendations on "must visit" places and restaurants. I definately want to add some TX BBQ as well as fine dining to the list of places. Any recommendations?

Placebo, Did you make the vadas from scratch, buy them or make them from a store bought mix? There is a new Indian restaurant that opened near my house and specializes in South Indian dishes (dosas, idlis, vada, etc) so I might have some vadas for lunch today.

Deidre, Welcome to the forum and as a member of the wine of the month club, I look forward to your insight . For what it is worth, I moved to PA about 3 years ago (to the week) after having lived in many "wine friendly" states (and countries) and have seen the PLCB evolve (for the better), keep up the good work !! Katie and Deidre, thanks for the info on the "wine diamonds". I did not decant the '92 Burgees as there was no visible sediment. Aeration took place in an oversized Cab/Bordeaux wine glass

Braised (Chicken) Hunter's Stew - Onions, shallots, tomato, basil, garlic, chicken thighs (would have preferred free range if I had it), vegetable stock, wine (same as below). Slice of day old sourdough bread. Wine - SimonSig (South African) Cab/Shiraz (Cabernet Sauvignon 53% Shiraz 47%), which was a perfect match for this slow cooked hearty meal. Music - Duke Ellington, Digital Duke (Jazz) Company- My lovely wife. Cheers Percy

Farm fresh egg poached in milk (1/2 and 1/2 actually), with Saucisse de Canard A L'Armagnac (Sausage of duck liver, pork and armagnac - if you like foie gras, this is like having it for breakfast). As a child growning up a many continents, I used to frequently have eggs poached in milk or cream, but I have never seen it done in the US. The cream infuses a delicate sweet taste to the egg and is simply delicious when dabbed with a slice of bread. The suasages are from one of my favorite stores, D'Artagnan

Sorry if this seems a bit off-topic, but when I opend the 1992 Burgees (Library Selection), the cork seemed to have some (shiny crystal-like) mineral sediments on the cork. I have seen this a few times before on some bottles of wine. Can somone please educate me (us) on what these might be? The picture does not depict this perfectly, but you can somewhat see what I was referring to. Thanks Percy

Looks like the 1992 Burgees Cab went quick...my local premium store said that they *might* get some in a few weeks. Picked up some Burgees 2000 Syrah and Zin, anyone try those yet? BTW, I think there is 1 bottle of Trilogy 2000 left in the Collegeville store. Sorry, I picked up the last case from there yesterday.

Since I was at a seminar, I had to settle for some coffee and croissant at a local Sheraton

This is how recipes are passed from generation to generation in most other countries. I have my mother's and some of my grandmother's notes (in her native tongue) in their respective hand-written notebooks with their "recipes" (more like list of ingredients and commentary on how to prepare it, what ingredients can be substituted, etc). I do cherish those and wish to keep the tradition alive.

Has anyone tried poaching eggs in milk/cream? The texture of the egg is like a normal poached egg, but picks up a bit of the sweet taste from the milk. I will make it this weekend and post the pics.

WOW !! I am not sure I will be able to cook duck again What a coincidence, I was about to buy some Roaring 40's myself this weekend, but ended up buying a raw milk blue, which was delicious with a sourdough baguette and a 1992 Burgees Library Edition Cab.

Katie, I agree and think that the "musical chefs" routine has probably kept some of the clientle away. Im my case, I used to visit when I frequented the area more often, but I don't recall the cuisine being worth an extra special drive in.

I have been to Roux 3 a few times. I go there when I am in the mood for a quick foie gras salad. So far, I have enjoyed whatever I have ordered from there and I think it is very reasonably priced. For those who have not been, you can view a sample of their cusine (3 day braised pork and crispy calamari) from my post in the Chester County Restaurant Festival thread. Cheers Percy

Behemoth, Everything looks great (I can almost taste it in my mind and it is gooood) !! A vintage port might be a fine accompaniment with that expresso/fig cake. I'll make you a deal...you bring the cake, I will bring a '85 Dow.

I lucked out on Thursday and bought a bottle of the 1992 Burgess Cab, to see if I liked it, before I bought more. Opend and enjoyed it last night and when I went back this morning to buy more, the 1992 was replaced with a 2000 BTW, I was there Thursday to buy a case of Trilogy 2000, but they were all sold out and as of Thursday there were only 4 cases of the Trilogy in PA (1 is being held for me, so it is down to 3).

What's usually on my mind on a brisk fall afternoon, once it just begins to drizzle? Why, Guinness Turkey Chili, of-course !! One could consider this a bit of a preemptive post, as the chili is still in the crock pot, slowly infusing all the dozen or so ingredients, but a quick taste-test seems to hold good promise that it will be a fine, hearty meal with some sourdough bread I picked up from the baker at the farmers market this morning. However, if plans fall apart, I will report back