NancyH

Happy New Year, all! Camera Number 2 to the rescue! What a delightful time the three of us had last night (together with a few hundred others who partook of the Iron Chef Dinner). Bob and I arrived early, about 5 before 6pm, for our 6:30-7pm reservation. Since Lola's doors were not yet opened, we stopped into the lovely Wonder Bar. Bob had a beer, and I enjoyed a Poire Martini, made with Grey Goose Poire, Amaretto, Simple Syrup and Fresh Lemon. As an aside - this place looks fabulous in its own right! We met up with Edsel and got our seats at Lola - front and center to the kitchen! They were just beginning to gear up with the Amuses and the kitchen began to hum. I hope Edsel got better kitchen photos than I did. We began with a wine that was so perfect for the both the nature of the evening, and all of the food we were served, that we ordered a second bottle when the first ran out without even looking again to the wine list. Black Bubbles Sparkling Shiraz Bread Service The butter was soft and creamy and delicious with fresh bread. I will confess right here that I did, indeed, play with my food and clean my plate with bread not once, but twice (the crab salad and the Grilled Halibut plates were too amazing to leave any over!). Lamb Tartare Amuse I could not imagine that raw lamb could melt in the mouth as this did - and the yogurt topping was perfect with it. Potato and Truffle Soup with Chives and Garlic Confit A word here about our server, Robert, who is a truly wonderful and professional server. We've enjoyed his service before, but he was really on his game last night - he picked up on our manic food energy and ran with it! As we started to discuss sharing tastes of the soup - there he was with extra spoons for us! He followed up with extra silver and small plates later in the meal, so we could each taste anything on the table that didn't belong to us! I enjoyed my taste of Edsel's soup - less of an "explosion" of truffle than I experienced at Alinea - a more gentle sensation. Since truffle often equals mushroom to me - I appreciated the gentle taste which was silky smooth. Lobster Bisque with Crispy Bacon and Poached Lobster Having eaten this bowl of soup - I now understand the Vita-Mix (which Michael Symon is a spokesman for, and which some of my food friends have sung praises for - heck, it got a write up in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer). I have never before experienced such a finely pureed soup - it was like eating liquid essence of lobster, with Michael's bacon and lobster pieces almost a bonus to the exquisite, rich broth. Grilled Quail with Salsa Verde and Blackberries Husband Bob and Edsel both enjoyed this course (though Bob gave me a drumstick and a berry) - succulent, tender and amazing, as was the sauce in was plated with. Sweet Potato and Crab Salad with Grilled Corn, Bacon and Aioli A perfect salad. Warm crab - with not a hint of off smell or flavor - just crabby sweetness caressed by sweet potato and corn that sang with flavor for this time of year in Cleveland, plated over an Aioli that offered a flavorful, yet mild range of spice - as noted, this plate was practically wiped clean with bread before I let Robert remove it. Lemon Creme Fraiche Sorbet This was our first taste of Pastry Chef (and EGulleteer) Cory Barrett's amazing talents this evening. I never think "creamy" when I hear "sorbet" - but this was so much more than sorbet, though not quite ice cream. And the fresh lemon resounded through and truly cleaned the palate for the amazing goodies to come. Swordfish Sous-Vide with Fennel, Dill, Mint and Cucumber I think that Edsel got the better photo here, but I have to show it again - it was fantastic! Though the fish certainly tasted like the bold fish Swordfish is, the Fennel, Dill and Mint were perfect foils, and the sous vide preparation left the fish mellower than you might expect. Oh - and I'm sure that if you liked cucumber, you'd find that a perfect touch also. I was amazed at the beauty (if not the taste) of the perfect tiny squares of cucumber - what poor soul was assigned to cut these all day? Roasted Venison with Parsnip Puree and Roasted Carrots Again, Bob favored meat over fish, to our advantage since we all got to taste it. The venison was buttery tender and cooked perfectly medium-rare. But the item we raved about the most was the pureed parsnips - what an amazing preparation of a mundane winter vegetable! It had the texture of perfect mashed potato, without the starchiness and with more flavor. Grilled Swordfish with Chorizo This dish was simply perfect. The Vita-Mix was evidenced by the creamy smoothness of the tomato-based sauce, which picked up amazing smoky flavors from both the house-made Chorizo and the Grilled Swordfish itself. I tried to clean this plate, but simply ran out of room. The disappointment for me in this dish is that it was originally supposed to include swordfish collar - which was raved over by the judges on Iron Chef America, and is not a delicacy one encounters often. While dessert was being served, Michael Symon stopped by our table, and explained that the swordfish collar he received was not up to his standards - so he refused to serve it and indeed pitched it. I've had a lot of sub-standard fish and seafood products in my life, so I truly admire any chef who does this. I hate being told "but it's supposed to taste like that." The desserts were served with a complimentary glass of bubbles. "6 a.m. Special" with Bacon Ice Cream and Brioche French Toast This dish just keeps getting better. I didn't remember that it had slices of fresh apple between the French toast and the ice cream, but it was perfect. Cory also stopped by our table, and mentioned that he made the ice cream with bigger chunks of bacon for this special night, and adjusted the toast to accommodate for the evening's mass production. Warm Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Ice Cream What can I say besides "yum"? As Edsel said, the artisan salt together with the ice cream and warm chocolate cake were a delectable combination. I'm sorry - I can't even consider a cheese plate when Cory is in the house! Freshly Baked Raspberry Filled Macaroon As if we were not already stuffed - each table received a plate of these warm little gems to complete the repast. The nuttiness resounded through my palate and the fruit filling was a most excellent addition to these cookies, which were light but rich at the same time. There's not much more that I can say about this meal, except thank you to Edsel for joining us. It was a truly fabulous culinary experience. And the jazzy-contemporary band, which started playing after we finished our entree course, was a delightful and festive counterpoint for the evening. It got us in the mood to party! We parted ways with Edsel after dinner (he lives Westside and we live Eastside), but decided it was too early to call it a night. So we rang in the new year with about 100 people packed into the Tavern at Blue Canyon in Twinsburg. We danced to the music of Jack in the Charlie (yes - THAT Jack in the Charlie) and had a furious balloon fight/volleyball game as a huge net of balloons was loosed at the appropriate moment. Happy 2008 to all!

I'm almost wondering if the C&Y Dim Sum thread should be merged into this thread. I'm going to post about C&Y Dim Sum here for that reason. Last weekend, Bob and I just had a Dim Sum craving and went to C&Y all by ourselves. Although the fried items could have been hotter - everything we tasted was great! Jook Bits of meat and tea-smoked eggs made this Jook quite tasty. Beef Ribs w/Black Pepper Sauce Spicy and delicious! "Turtles" Filled with Chive & Shrimp Pork Fun Gwoh Stuffed Eggplant Bean Curd Wrapper stuffed with Mushrooms and Shrimp My favorite! Chiu Chow Fun Gwoh Xiao Long Bao Inside the Xiao Long Bao We're planning to return to C&Y soon - with more company, so hopefully more dishes! There are also more photos on my blog, and they seem to post with better quality there. Glad to see C&Y is keeping Cleveland in quality Dim Sum!

Jan - you want to get your chili through the "danger zone" - under 140 degrees and above 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) as quickly as possible. However, it does not make sense to put a steaming hot pot of chili into a home fridge, because the fridge can't chill it down fast enough. There are several ways to proceed. I use my infared thermometer to check periodically, and wait until a pot of a viscous product like chili is down to 140* before putting it into the fridge. I also use an ice paddle (from the restaurant supply store) to speed the chilling process from the inside of the pot. If you don't have either of these toys, you can ladle the chili out into smaller containers, and let it cool on the counter for a while, then refrigerate, stirring periodically. Even better would be a brief trip to the freezer, to be followed by a move to the fridge once it seems cold. There is another technique you can use if you have a lot of ice - put the hot pot in your sink and load the sink up with ice, and keep stirring the chili until it cools, then separate into smaller pans and refrigerate. Mind you, if this is just for you - a lot of people will say the heck with all the safety rules; let it cool on the counter then refrigerate. All I know is that when I took my food safety course, the instructor told us how they played with a big (industrial size) pot of chili for fun, resting it on the counter, then in a regular fridge in its pot, and measuring the temperature. It took 3 days to get below 40*.

We are planning to put Tino's post, above, into action. So, if anyone reading this is interested in joining us, please PM one of us. Happy New Year, all!

I've snagged some bargain plane tix and planning to surprise my mom for her birthday. We'll be in the Delray Beach area for 3 nights/4days - what are the "must eats"??

The timing of this thread was most fortuitous! I have been itching to try Iron Chef Michael Symon's recipe (as posted on his blog, Symon Says) for Brussels Sprouts. As I documented more fully on my blog today, we lucked into on-the-stalk sprouts on Saturday at the local supermarket: The recipe is as follows (cut and pasted from the above linked blog): Brussels Sprouts * 1# brussel sprouts quartered and blanched * 1/4 # lg dice smoked bacon * 1 clove garlic minced * 1 shallot minced * 1/2 cup pecans chopped * 2 tbl grain mustard * 4 oz chicken stock * 1 lemon juiced * 2 tbl butter * 1 tbl chopped flatleaf parsley heat half butter over medium heat and caramelize sprouts for 3 minutes and set aside..in separate pan crisp bacon for 3 minutes and add pecans, garlic and shallots and continue to cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Deglaze pan with stock and lemon juice and whisk in butter, mustard and parsley. Toss in cooked sprouts and serve. Our monster yielded 3# of sprouts; fortunately, we had purchased a pound of bacon. I also added some salt & pepper to each phase of the recipe, as well as a ripe Jalapeno pepper (which wasn't really enough for 3#). We substituted onion for shallot, and curly parsley from the garden for flat. Here is how it came out: We served it with a beautiful Chili-Paste Rubbed leg of lamb: I have additional photos and story on my blog!

I have been to Hong Kong - but only once and almost 10 years ago, so I am way overdue for another trip - especially after seeing all of these wonderful pictures from ahuacatl and you, Ah Leung! Cleveland Dim Sum is actually not bad at all - it is freshly made by skilled hands - but no where near the creativity and variety to be found in Hong Kong.

Uncle! Between this thread and Ah Leung's - my husband and I went out and had dim sum this morning - we just HAD to!! Just the two of us. I'll get some photos up shortly.

Wonderful photos and descriptions - I too am hungry now!

Our local Slow Food Convivium enjoyed a holiday cheese tasting at the The Baricelli Cheese Companyon Saturday, December 15. Cleveland is very lucky to have this treasure - Chef Paul Minillo searches the world for unique cheeses and offers them at retail from his climate and humidy controlled Cheese Vault: Our first plate was warm, to feature the Bellwether Farms Sheep Ricotta. Stuffed Shell - ricotta, salt, pepper, Italian parsley & lemon zest; tomato sauce First Room Temp Cheese Plate Starting at 9 o'clock is the Lake Erie Fresh Goat Cheese, which offered a fluffy cloudlike goodness. At 12 o'clock is the Oakvale Farmstead Habanero Raw Milk Gouda, followed clockwise by Fiscalini Farmstead Lionza Raw Milk Cheddar, Bellwether Farms Carmody, and finally, the Lake Erie Blooming Rind Goat Cheese, which was quite young. Chef Paul described these as the milder cheeses. Second Room Temp Cheese Plate Starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise, we enjoyed the Cowgirl Creamery Pierce Point, Uplands Cheese Company's Pleasant Ridge Raw Milk Reserve, Meadow Creak Dairy's Raw Milk Greyson, Roth Kase's Gruyere Surchoix and Roth Kase's Buttermilk Bleu. These stronger cheeses surprised me a little bit - I usually find Gruyere too strong for my palate, but I really enjoyed this one. In fact, I liked all of them very much - except the rind of the Cowgirl (but I again polished off the creamy inside - yum!) and, try as I did to like it, the Bleu. And the two Bleu lovers at the table said it was a very mild Bleu. Oh well, I did my best before gifting it to my tablemates! I have a more complete report with more photos on my blog: Fun Playing With Food. Also, Edsel has more photos from the afternoon here. I was grateful to have the oppportunity to sample real, quality cheese that is also handled properly. Of course, Baricelli's restaurant menu features the Cheese Company Cheese, but it is also fun to play with them yourself (and they are darned good eaten straight).

We had a wonderfully fun time at Vegi Terranean! Here are a few photos - the rest are posted on my blog: Fun Playing With Food Bread with that marvelous Tomato Relish Hot Peppers Stuffed with Risotto and Soy Mozzerella I loved these, but they were fiery! The Loser - Linguini with Mushroom Ragu Actually, the fresh linguini itself was delicious, but the ragu just didn't work well for us. The Winner - Penne with Cashew Cream As I say on the blog - I definitely recommend this place to vegetarians, and I wouldn't turn down an invitation to eat there again. On the other hand, there are so many great restaurants and so little time in the Cleveland area . . . 'nuff said.

Another fabulous meal at Carrie Cerino's last Friday! Since it was not the first Friday of the month, it was not a Blue Egg Ravioli day. So, our group of 7 adults and 2 infants sampled a couple of the other appetizers, as well as salumi boards. (I'm kidding about the infants eating the appetizers and salumi - though they did get their first taste of bread and butter!) We had Artichoke Hearts, which I neglected to photograph, but which I did photograph at the Heartland Gathering Food Tsunami: What an awesome way to use an Escargot pan! We also sampled the Sauerkraut balls: Most restaurants that serve sauerkraut balls use food service-frozen. Not Carrie Cerino's! beef, ham, bread, eggs, onions, garlic, parsely, Colemans dry mustard, salt, white pepper. The appetizers were almost a meal in themselves! And of course, each dinner is accompanied by soup or salad and a side. I love Dominic's fish chowder; it always gets me singing! "Fills you up from your top to your toenails" After the soup/salad course - the entrees came out: Braised Short Ribs Osso Bucco with Risotto Berkshire Pork Chops Norcian Lentils with House Cured Red Pepper Guanciale, House Made Sausage, House Made Focaccia Bread and Red Peppers And last but not least - since I didn't have a BER - I had to have this: Blue Egg Spaghetti Carbonara This dish is pure bliss on a plate - generously topped with the house-made Red Pepper Guanciale and coarse black pepper. Oh, and speaking of the guanciale - here's a great photo that I underexposed when I first took it, but I was able to manipulate it into post-ability: Dominic Shows Us His Pride and Joy For more details on our latest food adventures - look up my blog!

I am busily planning this year's trip to Destin and hope for some help from all of you! My reports from the past two years are here and here (with photos). We're looking for all types of recomendations, with an emphasis on fish and seafood. We'd also like updates on our favorites (or those who seemed to have lost something last year, like Seagrove Village Market and Smiling Fish Cafe). Does anyone know if Sandor is cooking anywhere? I'd heard he was at Cafe Provence, but left shortly after he started. Thanks in advance!

Braised "Fa Gau" (fish bubble) with shittake mushrooms over lettuce. Ah Leung - what exactly is the fish bubble? You photos have made me hungry for China!

Just this weekend, I did a variation on something my mom used to make for my dad - a chopped liver filled "french toast" type sandwich. I used homemade Mozzerella-Tomato bread my husband had made for a big dinner we had catered the week before - add eggs, seasonings, and of course Onion Nyafat for frying, and we were in business: Please check out my blog, http://funplayingwithfood.blogspot.com, to see more photos and more in-depth on the story!

Prawn - are there any Kosher butchers near you? They should still sell schmaltz (rendered chicken fat).

Randi - your latkes look great! But it looks to me like you shredded the potatoes using the large hole on the grater or food processor. I'm pretty sure that somewhere back in this thread, I posted about how my mother said you have to use the small holes. She said it has to have a little knuckle in it - while I won't go that far - I've become very fond of the "small hole" style of Latke making! Well, thanks to the magic of digital photography and blogging - I have the entire photostory on my blog. But here is the secret weapon: The Cuisinart's equivalent to the smallest holes on a box grater is the cheese grating wheel. It makes latkes that are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside! Peeled Potatoes are Loaded Grated Potatoes Finished Batter Fry in Peanut Oil Only Turn Them Once Top with Apple Sauce (or Sour Cream) Stuff face, reload plate and repeat!! The full pictorial on making these babies is on my blog.

Prawncrackers - what are the trimmings? All of your food looks wonderful!!

Lunched at Bangkok Thai again today. Since it was a "soup" kinda day, that's how we started. Tom Yum Kai Zap Beef The Zap Beef was simply amazing. The fish-sauce infused broth was redolent with chili, bits of ginger and lemongrass, herbs, lime juice topped with rice powder, scallions and cilantro - a symphony of flavors and textures. For our mains, we ordered as follows: Thai Gra Pao Bob chose pork (chicken and beef are also available) for this "Hot Basil" infused dish. Choo Chee Curry with Tofu Again, I had my choice of protein and opted for Tofu. The curry sauce was plate-licking good, and at the heat level requested. The chunks of fresh pineapple were especially noteworthy with the gravy; Bangkok Thai is very consistent about the freshness of the vegetables (and fruits) in their dishes - crisp and tasty.

In our house, the phrase "Cranberry Sauce" means "Sh*t - I forgot to serve the ________". The reason for this is that my mother routinely would leave the can of cranberry sauce in the fridge on Thanksgiving and forget to serve it.

Well, we just did it again, but we only were responsible for one meal. Bob and I "guest cheffed" Friday Dinner for the Cincinnati group's Regional Gathering - "Revolutions". As always, we had some fun playing with the theme. A complete report and all the photos is posted on my blog (http://funplayingwithfood.blogspot.com), but here's a sampling! Since we were traveling over 200 miles, we didn't really bring much equipment - we relied on the local group's stuff, which worked out rather well. First - the Prep Room setup: One wall of the Prep Room ready for business Our 5 Burner "Kitchen" Blessed are those who washeth the dishes Two Full Sized, Fully Stuffed Fridges and Freezers, from RentACenter Of course, all of the food was round, or rolled, or otherwise somehow connected (however tenuously) to the theme. We started with three soups: Turkey Soup with Wagon Wheel Pasta Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Turkey Roulades with Almond, Apricot and Cranberry Stuffing Turkey Gravy Breads Rolled Around Stuffings Bob made several varieties, with meats or cheeses and seasonings. They were fabulous! Everything came out exactly as planned! And, our duties were finished after Friday dinner, so we were actually able to enjoy the party for the rest of the weekend.

Karen - thank you for the info! One last question - what type of rice do you use? I haven't had good jook since I was in China almost 10 years ago and I'm looking forward to making this!

I've already made 11 quarts of turkey soup and 10 quarts of stock (for an event I'm catering this weekend - don't ask) - but I still have 1 turkey carcass in the freezer. Please tell me how you make turkey congee with it!! Thanks, Duck!

I would avoid non-stick for any slow braises - in my experience, the non-stick surfaces tend to soak up liquid, which can leave your braise dried out.