kitwilliams

I haven't been to Denver so I can't comment on the quality of your tea (or the water, undoubtedly much better than LA), but to a Southern Californian, British teabag tea is a tremendous improvement on that which most restaurants serve here. I have to say that the restaurants are trying, by providing better teas these days, however water quality has a LOT to do with it, as does water temperature, as well as the milk served with the tea....so many variables! I guess I'm saying that tea is my beverage of choice when in Britain and no matter where its origin, it is always head and shoulders above that which I can generally get in the States (of coure there are always exceptions!)! whoops -- guess I should at least mention Starbucks or this'll have to be moved to a tea thread!

A friend made this as part of my birthday dinner recently. Equal amounts of avocados and ruby red grapefruit. Cut the avocados in bite-sized chunks and supreme the grapefruit. Toss in a bowl with shaved fennel and a champagne vinaigrette. An old idea but with no bibb lettuce or bottled dressing to interfere (that's how my mom used to do it).

Thank goodness, kikujiro! Quality over quantity every time!

Here at home (Southern California), I wouldn't be caught dead in a Starbucks. Better coffee is to be had around every corner (literally). I lived in Kensington for six months in 1994. BS (Before Starbucks). I think it was on a return trip in December of 1998 ('97?) that a Starbucks appeared on Gloucester Road and there were three or four additional locations around London. Fine, no big deal. But when I returned exactly one year later, there were over 80 Starbucks around the city. THAT is what I dislike about them. They are the George W. Bush of the coffee world. They have to have a presence EVERYWHERE! The most blatant example is (perhaps was?) that little pedestrian street in Mayfair (I believe one end of it is at Berkeley Street) which runs for a very short block, and there is a Starbucks at either end. Disgusting display of capitalism run amok. I agree that Starbucks has enhanced the availability of, I hate to use the word, decent coffee in London. But personally, I will go out of my way to Monmouth Coffee Co. every time.

The Morris Cake is wonderful! Only thing I did differently was double the amount of nutmeg. I'm sitting down with another slice and a cuppa.

We are finally getting the rain we need here in southern California so today the kitchen will be smelling of "Morris Cake" on page 39 in Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes. A simple, sour cream pound cake dating from the 19th century, flavored with my favorite spice, nutmeg. I was just given this book as a gift and while it looks wonderful and I've heard great things about it, it drives me CRAZY that he measures ingredients ONLY in cups and does not include weights! Anyone else feel the same? And what are YOU baking on this day when it is raining from the Canadian border to the Mexican, from the Pacific to the Rockies (my apologies to the rest of the country -- I didn't see the rest of the weather report!)

I was just gifted with Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes and currently have his Chocolate Pound Cake in the oven. I knew just from looking at the recipe that it would not be the deep, dark chocolatey cake I am looking for (remembering one from La Farine in Oakland) as there are only 4 oz. semi-sweet to 3c. flour/2c. sugar/8oz. butter. Very milk-chocolatey looking. I baked a tad of the batter in a brioche mold so that I could taste it sooner (!) and it is very good but not what I dream of. Will try adding some cocoa powder next time. Any other recommendations will be appreciated. And regarding Nick's book, has anyone made the Capriccio Alle Nocciole (hazelnut cake from Ticino) on page 166? There is a bit of a discrepancy: in list of ingredients it calls for 1 cup sugar however he adds 6 Tbsp. of sugar to the butter and the "remaining" 6 Tbsp. to the egg whites. Can't find the other 4 Tbsp. Does he really mean only 12 Tbsp. of sugar or do you think it should be 8 Tbsp. each to the butter and egg white mixtures. I know it is not a large amount but I of course want it to be perfect, not too sweet or not sweet enough! Thanks! Sweets to the Sweet and the Not-So-Sweet!

Here's a terrific parsnip dish, especially for Belmont and Awbrig (adapted from Welsh cookbook writer Gilli Davies): Peel, seed and dice one pound tomatoes. Grate 6 oz. Teifi cheese (Welsh), if you can find it. If not, substitue Gouda. Scrape and thinly slice (1/8" thick) two pounds of parsnips. Fry them in canola oil until lightly browned. Butter a two-pint baking dish and put a layer of parsnips on bottom. Salt and pepper and drizzle with a little cream. Scatter a layer of tomatoes, a little more cream and some of the cheese. Keep layering, ending with cream and cheese. Top with about 1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs. Dot with butter. Bake at 400 F. for 1/2 an hour. We're having it tonight with roast leg of lamb.

Here's a little blurb from Darina Allen on boxty. Darina Allen's Boxty In her book, Traditional Irish Cooking, Darina says that the recipe might have originated in the late 18th or early 19th centuries when the potato harvests began to fail and boxty became a way of using poor quality potatoes. She says that the flesh of the potato, sometimes even rotting, was put into a cloth and the liquid squeezed out. The pulp in the cloth was then shaped into cakes and baked on a griddle. mmmmmmmmmm. boxty. I actually had a meal at Gallagher's Boxty House in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. I know, I know, boxty is for tourists. But it was a cold, wet, December day and the thin boxty pancakes, like a substantial crepe, were filled with a stew and were deliciously satisfying. But I'd prefer a big bowl of Champ any day...........!

thanks for correction, Lou, sorry for neglecting you Elyse! And yes, the mixture was heavy but, not expecting a meringue-like result, could the egg whites just give it a little more airiness so that it would bake up a little lighter than the gooey mass I had previously? I recall making a cake from "The Art of the Cake"...let me go get the book...okay. Oh my gosh, this is very funny. Now that I look at this recipe, Croix de Lorraine, it is very like the mistake I made with added stiffly beaten egg whites! If you have the book, check it out on page 54! It even has crushed praline added! Anyway, what I remembered about this cake was that the almond/sugar/egg white mixture was, indeed, very stiff and then had to fold the egg whites into it. Not easy to do without deflating the egg whites too much. And in reading the introduction to the cake it says, "The batter for this cake is almost like a macaroon batter..." too funny! I'll have to try this again!

As far as trying to resurrect my mistake, all I invested in it was a little oven heat. It didn't work, so out it went anyway, although I nibbled on the exterior which got nice and crunchy! But next time I try macarons, if I go to far with the egg whites I just may try your idea, lou, of folding the batter into some beaten egg whites. Might be worth experimenting! And as far as coconut macaroons go, well, I need absolutely no practice with those! And dip the bottoms in bittersweet chocolate!

What's brulee-ing? As in creme brulee -- caramelizing a layer of sugar on top of the pudding. mmmm. crunchy and creamy.

I've always been a fan of rice pudding but never made it myself before last year as my family are not fans. I used a recipe from one of Gilli Davies' books (she's a cook/writer of Welsh cookbooks) and she suggested brulee-ing the rice pudding. Needless to say, it was fabulous! Is that a common technique for rice pudding or am I just behind the times?

Bux, my understanding of praline (as far as pastry is concerned, not confectionery) is caramelized, toasted almonds and/or hazelnuts which are often used as pieces of brittle for decoration in desserts or, more commonly, ground to a powder for use in buttercream, decorating the exterior of cakes, etc. Or if you continue to grind them further, the powder becomes a paste and that paste is used somewhat like almond paste, for flavoring cakes and pastries and for making macarons, no?!

So can anyone advise of anything that would compare with Delight's macarons? And yes, Lou, I'd love your Laduree-like recipe! Thanks!

Unfortunately nothing - throw it out and start again. I'm curious as to how this recipe will turn out because I can't see how the cracked praline will work with such a delicate batter. Please let me know. I couldn't bear to throw that batter out and thought that perhaps I could bake it off in a cake pan and could have a chewy macaron layer in a cake, like a meringue layer. It didn't work for me this time but might it have worked if I had baked it for a longer time at a lower temp? With the translation of the original recipe, I believe Delights meant for the praline to be ground to a paste for use, don't you Lou? That is what I did, anyway. (Is that correct, Delights? I wish I were in Paris so I could visit your shop for a demonstration!)

Correct. I had him "disappear". Too bad. Nice man. Real shame.

So I was making a big pot of Marcella Hazan's ragu. I always quadruple the recipe which calls for three pounds of ground beef. As you probably know, this is a long, slow cook, the beef simmering in white wine until all the liquid is absorbed, and then in milk until it is absorbed. I had asked my dad, a competent but cholesterol minded man, to add the tomatoes once the milk had absorbed as I had an appointment to keep. Prior to doing this, he decided that there was a bit too much fat in the pot so he poured everything into a strainer and rinsed it with water. All that lovely flavor, down the drain! Any similar stories?

Mushroom Barley Soup.

Thank you for sharing your recipe, Delights. I made my praline yesterday afternoon, using both hazelnuts and almonds. You stated "5 oz. broken praline" which, I assumed, should be ground to a paste, no? And then mixed in the sugar and slowly added the egg whites. I had a nearly perfect, stiff, macaron dough but thought it a little too stiff and added a tad more egg white which ended up being a tad too much and my dough was now a batter and far too loose. Obviously I know my error. Question is (to all of you), what can be done with a too loose macaron batter?

I'm feeling horribly guilty but I too am going to have to apologize for not sending something as promised. I'd have to send it today (Friday) so the product would be two days old and I am just too vain to send something that would not be at its best. I doubt you all will leave hungry so I guess there is no need to feel TOO guilty! Have a great party...I'm looking forward to the photo album! And I sure hope you all get a break in the cold weather soon. I won't tell you what the temperature is here in southern California right now

Could be, could be!

When I started this thread I was thinking back to a cold, wet day in Wales last year. And nothing had ever tasted so good as those fresh Welsh cakes and a pot of tea after a wet day on the Pembrokeshire coast. But damn, why don't my Welsh cakes taste as I remember them? Could be the flour, could be the butter, could be the lard. Could be the baker! Disappointment, to say the least. So now I'm going to go along with Maggie and Suzanne's suggestion and make gingerbread! Only I think I'll have it with a chilled cider sabayon instead of the whipped cream.

So when it is cold and drizzly outside and you have nothing but time on your hands what would you whip up and have baking in the oven to warm up the house, scent the air and treat yourself to an afternnoon of coffee or tea and comforting goodies? I'm making Welsh Cakes. Lightly sweet and chewy with currants. But I'll have to change my criteria above as they are baked on a griddle.

snowangel: made 20 cupcakes for me just now....whoops -- I mean 21. I conveniently forgot about the one I just ate warm from the oven -- couldn't wait! And another note: it took exactly 20 minutes for them to bake in my oven (non-convection) at 350. thanks for this yummy, homey, comforting recipe! mmmmmmm. cupcakes.