Chufi

Thanks, for all your suggestions. I'm passing them on to my good friends who are staying in Oxford right now, and I hope to report back in a couple of weeks.

amapola, how wonderful to see your food! The chicken looks a little bit scary though Glad you decided to join us here. I haven't posted much lately, I hope to contribute again soon...

Abra have you seen this thread? That got me interested in Korean food , which is hard to find in Amsterdam. Lots of recipes on that thread. Sheena, this is so interesting. Keep the pics coming and the descriptions of all the different smells, too

That´s a really cute picture of the 2 of you. I enjoyed this blog very much, thanks for doing it and fitting it into your busy schedule. I hope to make it back to New York sometime in the near future and I´ll be sure to pay you a visit! Good luck with the store, and everything else. I was browsing through Marcella Says this morning, looking for an easy dish for a dinner party, and the recipe that caught my eye was the peppers with veal sauce! Now I never would have thought of making it if I hadn´t seen your version on this blog. I think it´s on the menu for this weekend.

Hi Kent, Austin is high on my destination wishlist (mostly for a non-foodrelated reason - because my favorite artist in the whole wide world (Patty Griffin ) lives there... ), but also because I´ve heard the food is so good! I´m looking forward to sharing your week with you. Your kitchen looks extremely neat and tidy!

Pille, that beetroot pie looks amazingly beautiful, and delicious!

So, I´ve searched the forum for recommendations for Oxford dining. There are a couple of threads but there does not seem to be much to recommend! So, what if you´re staying in Oxford for a couple of weeks, and have a car, and don´t mind a little drive to get some place wonderful? Thanks in advance

we were in the small shop on Sunday afternoon, and there wasn't much left! But we did buy a huge box of macarons and some chocolate sablés. When I was in Paris in March I bought a "tarte infinitement vanille" and had that on the train. Oh so good.

We were in Paris last weekend, to see Keith Jarrett. Because as usual, eGullet was a great help in finding places to eat, I thought I'd report back John Talbott recommended Brasserie la Lorraine for a meal near Salle Pleyel where the concert was. The weather was nice enough to eat outside, and we really enjoyed the food. We payed a visit to Dehillerin, which, I have to say, i was a bit disappointed in. I guess I am very lucky to live in a city with a fantastic kitchen supply store, Duikelman! Still Dehillerin was a fascinating shop to browse for a bit, I just did not see anything I wanted to buy (not necessarily a bad thing ) We also visited 2 teashops where my husband went mad with excitement about the rare Chinese teas he could buy, Maison des Trois Thés on Rue St. Médard and Thés de Chine on Boulevard St. Germain. On Sunday we had lunch at the Louvre, what can I say we were there and we were hungry, but definitely not the gourmet highlight of the weekend In the afternoon we payed Pierre Hermé a visit, wandered around St. Germain, and had dinner at Fish La Boisonnerie. We loved Fish: great atmosphere, busy but still relaxed, nice staff, great food and winelist (with many wines available in 50 cl. caraffes which I think is very nice). On the train back to Amsterdam next morning, we feasted on Pierre Hermé's macarons! Some pictures here on my (Dutch) blog. Thanks again eGullet, I just love how the enormous amount of info you can find on this site, helps with trip planning and makes travel so much more relaxed and agreeable!

The veal sauce looks so good. Oh and I love Campari, too. I really admire you for cooking such great meals with your schedule. Oh and I REALLY admire you for going kickboxing 4 times a week after working in the store all day! You're superwoman!

but why grill more protein than you can eat in one meal in the first place? When you have to buy 4 pork chops, because they come packaged that way, why not cook only one or two as needed for 1 dinner, and freeze the rest? I´m just really curious why I don't have the leftover problem.. and it´s not that we eat that much and just keep eating till there are no leftovers

Soba!! How wonderful to see you here. Your dinner sounds delicious!

Agreed! This thread got me thinking.. I´ve been cooking for 2 on a daily basis (and often for 3 on the weekends when my stepdaughter is here, and for 4 or more when we have dinner guests) for 13 years now. I almost NEVER have leftovers, except when I intend to (for instance when I cook a big pot of Bolognese or beansoup or stew). All other meals have the portions we eat and nothing more. I don't like leftovers, in my experience they often become things that live for a while and then die in my fridge. I have no difficulties scaling down recipes. Savoury dishes are usually very forgiving that way, but I also scale down sweets and baked goods - I don't want to bake 50 cookies for just the 2 of us! Scaling down, for me, starts at the market and grocery store. I shop often and buy small quantities of everything, especially of stuff that is likely to spoil quickly.

Judith, the space looks beautiful. I can't wait to see it. Good luck on this marvelous adventure. And remember.. , in between chasing the hedgehogs, tiling the walls, cleaning the kitchen, making the menus, and cooking...don't forget to breathe! lots of positive energy coming your way! I think you should have a special trainee- opening for eGulleters, we could all come and take turns in working for you in the kitchen

rocky, that morel cream sauce looks heavenly. wendy, I LOVE the way the shrimp are hugging the chorizo slices! what a cute idea. Now if only I could get my hands on some decent chorizo...

isn't it wonderful, sometimes, to be able to disagree with the Big Guys? Especially when the reward is a basket full of wild strawberries... Such a beautiful picture!

yes, but how can boiling water be at higher temperature with the pot covered? Are there variables in boiling point? Or is that a myth? That´s what I´d like to know... Unless, ofcourse, you mean that covering the pot after putting the pasta in will help the water to come back to the boil quicker. That I understand. But once it´s boiling - what´s the difference?

warning, stupid questions coming up. I had a discussion with some friends recently who were boiling a pot of pasta at a very slow boil (the water was bubbling, very calmly) with the lid on the pan. I have always believed (although I do not remember where I got my info from) that you should cook pasta uncovered, at what I believe is called in English a 'rolling boil'. We then got on to discussing the principles of boiling. My friend said, when the water is bubbling, it´s boiling, and it makes no difference if it´s bubbling hard or slow. While I could not really argue with that, it got me thinking about the difference between boiling and simmering. Is a simmer a boil? If the temperature is the same in both cases, why are we instructed to keep a Bolognese sauce at a very lazy simmer, and should stock never reach a rolling boil? In the case of the pasta, I could make one good point for the rolling boil: the rapid movement of the water keeps the pasta moving which makes it harder for it to stick together. But this does not answer my basic boiling questions. Someone less scientifically challenged, please enlighten me...

and I guess we both love Nigella, eh? I love those green pistachioslivers you put on your dessert. I´ve never seen them in the shops here, I can only buy whole shelleed pistachios.

fifi was one of those people who gave eGullet a face and a voice when I first joined. A friendly face and an encouraging voice. I loved her posts, her enthousiasme, her passion. I had noticed she was gone from the baords lately and I wondered about her, the way we wonder about our friends from online, people we´ve never actually met (and I never exchanged pm´s with fifi or got to know her personally), but who become familiar to us and part of our daily life. I think I´ll go and re-read the confit thread now.

2 things I made for my friend´s birthday-teaparty this weekend: chocolate cherry cupcakes (Nigella Lawson recipe) and meringues with cream and berries. The cupcakes did not turn out as pretty as usual (it´s a very simple and delicious recipe where you just add a jar of cherry preserves to a very chocolaty cake batter) because my 12 hole muffin pan did not fit into my friends oven So I had to place the paper cases on a baking sheet, which ofcourse caused some of the batter to run over and the cakes came out sort of flat. But with the ganache on top, nobody seemed to care

eskay, welcome! your dinners look great (i love cilantro, too ) 2 recent dinners: Giant fusilli with zucchini and creamt bleu d'auvergne sauce, topped with bits of crispy pancetta meatballs stuffed with egg in chipotle chile sauce, mexican rice with fried plantains I think there´s a bit of a mexico-bug going around

Thanks pennylane! I'm pretty sure you'll be the first person to try the buttermilkpap I actually have a bit of a craving for some right now! Wit lots of syrup, ofcourse

Lois, I hope you have a great time! markemorses suggestions are spot on. The Haarlemmerstraat is a really nice street for foodies these days.. lots of fun little shops to browse and buy stuff. Post again if you need additional recs for your stay towards the end of July!

me too Dave, this is wonderful. I need a checkered tablecloth! How lovely that table looks with the croissants and all the homemade jams!