techno foodie

We checked out Flora on the recommendation of a friend who used to live here and liked it enough. My husband's dish was especially yummy in a comfort food sort of way. My pizza (with figs, pine nuts and goat cheese) was certainly edible but definitely better in theory than in practice. (I'm no chef, but if I made it I'd use a crispy, thin crust and top it with carmelized onions, figs and blue cheese.) We may try Carmelita soon, so thanks for sharing your thoughts on that one! We've quickly found that most places have veggie offerings, which is great. The hubby likes to try veggie-specific places now and then, though, especially considering how few of them are to be found in the midwest. Thanks, too, for offering up chinese suggestions in the Seattle area! Anything outside of the city is likely to stay on our "must visit" list for some time, as we don't have a car, but we'll definitely be trying the local ones soon. For some reason, we're both craving pizza and have no idea where to find a good example of it around here. I know there have been posts on that here before, so I'm going to go check them out as soon as time allows

Hello! Oh, I knew after I sent the post that I should have either been more specific or looked over the past threads. Sorry about that - and thanks to those of you who still wrote I guess I'm just overwhelmed with the choices here and don't know where to start! (Which is a glorious problem to have!) We're from Wisconsin and in Madison there are only so many choices (and we've been to them over and over again). So, I'll be a good boy and read up on some of the past threads - esp. the one about the international district. We certainly love anything Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Lao, etc. Ling: I'm most definitely a fan of baked goodies and will check out Café Besalu. Thank you for the hint! As for vegetarian places, we've been to Tea Pot a few times already, and even though I've seen poor reviews for it we really like it. Last night we went to Cafe Flora and had a nice experience as well. I'll keep doing some digging, but if you can think of any places that really jump out at you that have veggie options beyond salads, please let me know

Hello everyone, I used to be a regular lurker to Egullet, then life took over and I went astray for a bit. I'm back now, though, and in a new location - the wonderful city of Seattle! Problem is, there are so many dining options that my husband and I don't know where to begin. Scratch that, we've already started (we spent the last 3 days testing many yummy restaurants of various ethnicities), but we'd also like to hear about the city's best known and most respected places, as well as those hidden gems that only locals really know about. One thing to note: My hubby is vegetarian. He'll eat cheese and other dairy and eggs, but no fish or chicken or beef, etc. We love food of pretty much every region and ethnicity. I'm especially looking for places to catch dinner, but brunch spots would be nice too. We're located between Capitol Hill and downtown, if that makes a difference (and we're not against walking or taking the bus). Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Bryan

Oh, Ann_T, those doughnuts look wonderful! I'm salivating just looking at them For the past few years, my husband and I have made a Christmas morning tradition out of pannetone french toast topped with homemade cinnamon syrup and mimosas. I don't have pics right now, but just know that it looks good but tastes even better!

Sorry to butt my nose in here and offer up a slightly off-topic response, but if you love pannetone, you MUST make some french toast out of it. It has become a Christmas morning tradition for me and my husband, topped with a homemade cinnamon syrup and served with mimosas (or some other fruity, bubbly drink). Oh, and I tend to buy the penntone wherever I can find it - Trader Joe's, as someone already mentioned, offers it up on the cheap, for instance.

The recipe at the end of this link - from Martha Stewart's website (http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe4814&search=true&resultNo=7) is for date-pecan bars, but I'm sure they'd be just as good with walnuts. I've made the bars many times and try to make them as infrequently as possible since I can't stop eating them (I'll try to rewrite and post the actual recipe soon!)

I've made Martha's recipe many times, and my husband and his sister loooooooooooove it every time it is made. I've always made cupcakes out of the recipe and topped with cream cheese frosting, but that buttercream sounds marvelous, too!

I've been making these marshies for a while now, ever since I first saw this thread. Until now, though, I've only tried "normal" flavors like vanilla, chocolate and peppermint. This weekend I tried pumpkin, based on someone's suggestion here (sorry - forgot the name!). Just replaced the strawberry puree with pumpkin pie filling (with spices incorporated). Oh, and I added a bit of color, making them a pretty pale orange after they were done. Everyone I've given them to seems to like them, though I don't think it's a flavor I will make for myself again. Eaten plain, they have a slightly "off" flavor - not sure if it's from the pumpkin or the spices. Anyway, I have been dreaming of making a peanut butter variety. Does anyone know if this would, in fact, work? I thought I could add the peanut butter to the sugar syrup and then pour the whole thing in with the gelatin mixture. Will this work, or would the oil in the PB create havoc with the final product? Regardless, this is such a great recipe. Thank you for sharing!

I'll second Alinka's thumbs up on the Epicurious coconut-oatmeal-raspberry bars. They're easy, elegant, and most importantly, scrumptious! I always get requests for the recipe when I make them!

I know you said you are hoping to get away from brownies, but I have a recipe from an old Martha Stewart Living for cream cheese blondies that looks amazing. I'll try to type it up in the next few days. Also, the newest issue of Bon Appetit features a recipe for brownies with caramel, fig and dried cherry jam that look really interesting, too. Doesn't appear that the recipe's on line yet, but maybe soon. Other than that, these oatmeal coconut raspberry bars (from Epicurious) are always a hit and are easy easy: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/106179 And these peanut butter and jelly bars are awesome too (my husband's favorite treat - no kidding): http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?ty...true&resultNo=9 Good luck! Bryan

Ah, yes, I think you did win the million bucks, chefpeon! After hearing your explanations, I'm tending to think that I just took the darn things out too early! I'll definitely check for "springy-ness" in the future, and not just rely on toothpicks. And I'll definitely use the rest of the batter, too. I just don't always want to deal with the extra stuff sometimes - or eat it! Thanks for the help!! Bryan

Crap! Just noticed one more thing: I used large eggs. I never buy extra-large eggs :( So, that could have affected things, too. Oh, I think I at least partially answered my own questions. That's what I get for not carefully reading through the recipe before I started! BTW, the cake was wonderful, fallen center and all. Somewhat dense, but very buttery and flavorful. I sliced off the bad, sunken tops, brushed on a little Chambord and then raspberry preserves, and then frosted with buttercream. It tasted kind of like a frosted jelly doughnut - in a good way :) Bryan

chefpeon: Thanks for responding (you, too, Wendy!). Here is the recipe (from Ina Garten) and original directions. Afterwards I'll include any changes I made: Cake: 18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 3 cups sugar 6 extra-large eggs, at room temperature 8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream, at room temperature 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 lemon, zested 3 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup cornstarch 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon baking soda Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan, a 6-inch cake pan, and a 3-inch cake pan. To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until smooth. Finish mixing by hand to be sure the batter is well mixed. Proportionately divide the batter between the 3 cake pans. Smooth the tops with a spatula, and bake as follows: the 9-inch pan for 45 minutes, the 6-inch pan for 35 to 40 minutes and the 3-inch pan for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean in each cake. Cool in the pans to room temperature. ------ My notes/comments: 1. Now that I think of it, the eggs and sour cream may not have been at room temperature. They definitely had been sitting out a bit, but maybe not long enough. From what I've read, that could affect things, I think. 2. Since I was just making a regular-old 2-layer cake, and not some monstrous 3-tiered cake, I poured batter into two 8-inch cake pans (light, not dark, with straight sides) that had been greased and floured (and had greased and floured parchment on the bottoms, too). Filled a little over half way and then discarded the rest of the batter. Maybe this caused problems, too? For future reference, maybe I should have scaled back the recipe instead? 3. Both pans were in the oven at the same time, on the middle rack. I think I set the timer for 40 minutes, but they weren't done at that point. They were golden, but somewhat "jiggly" in the center. Left in for 5 minutes more, and when I checked them with toothpicks they seemed OK. They felt heavy, though, like they may not have been done. I was worried about overbaking, though, so I took them out. So, reading over my own comments, it seems any or all of these 3 things may have screwed up the cake. If any of you can let me know whether these things usually cause such problems, I'd appreciate it! Bryan (aka techno foodie) :)

Hello! Sorry to bother all of you with what I'm guessing is a dumb question, but do you know why a cake would fall/sink signifcantly after it cools? Would it be that I didn't bake it long enough, or would it be the temperature being too cool? I'm pretty sure my oven temp. is fine (I have a thermometer), but I may have pulled the cake out too soon. I tested it with a toothpick, and it came out clean, but I had a feeling it wasn't actually done. BTW, the cake was a regular old "from scratch" butter cake, baked in 2 8-inch cake pans. Both cakes were baked at the same time, in the middle of the oven, at 350 and for about 40-45 minutes. I've never had this problem before, and I want to make sure it doesn't happen again! Thank you for your help!

Here's another of our favorite dishes (concocted by my husband) - again, it's cheap and easy and uses regular 'ol ingredients. I know people may be aghast at the use of parsley and dried basil in place of the fresh, but I swear you won't be complaining once you taste it. We like to have it with sauteed mushrooms and cubed tofu, but obviously you can pair it with whatever you prefer. David's Poor Man's Pesto ½ cup olive oil 2 cups (half of a large bunch) fresh parsley, stems removed 1 teaspoon dried basil 5 cloves of garlic, minced 1/3 cup ground almonds 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 pound pasta, cooked (reserve a few tablespoons of water) Toss all of the ingredients (except the pasta, of course) into a blender or food processor and pulse until fully combined. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Toss with cooked pasta. If it seems dry, stir in a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water until it reaches your desired consistency. Serve topped with more Parmesan and whatever other toppings (mushrooms, tofu, etc.) you prefer. Sun-Dried Tomato Variation: Reduce fresh parsley to one cup and replace with about 30 sun-dried tomatoes that have been reconstituted in hot water for about 20 minutes (use the freeze-dried variety, not the ones packed in oil). Continue as above, using the same ingredients and following the same instructions.

Here's a recipe I whipped up the other night. If you and/or your family aren't fans of spicy foods, you can reduce the amount of cayenne and/or five-spice powder. Also, you can use chicken or tofu in place of the chickpeas, and rice in place of the couscous. Five-Spice Glazed Chick Peas and Apples 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 red onion, chopped into biggish pieces 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, and cut into chunks 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder salt to taste 1/2-1 cup apricot preserves 2 cups couscous 2 cups vegetable broth or water Pour oil into medium skillet and heat over medium heat. Add onion and apple chunks and cook until softened slightly. Add chickpeas and then cayenne pepper, five-spice powder and salt to taste. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add apricot preserves to skillet and stir until preserves melt and coat vegetables. Taste and add spices and/or salt if desired. Add more preserves or a little broth if you'd like more of a sauce. Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil in a smallish saucepan. Remove from heat, add couscous and cover. Let sit for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff couscous grains with a fork, and serve topped with chick-pea mixture.

Here's a bit of a strange question: Is there any way to make this recipe not set up so much, i.e., make marshmallow cream instead of marshmallows? I love making these marshmallows - just made a batch of the chocolate variety this weekend - but as much as I love the finished product, I love it best just after it's been whipped in the mixer. How can you keep it from solidfying so much? Use less gelatin? Don't cook the sugar mixture so high? Or do you have to use a different recipe completely? Thanks for any help!

Success!!! :) Thanks to the suggestions made here, I FINALLY hit the mark with the caramel sauce today. I made a smaller amount of the sauce today, so I only used 1/2 cup, but then put about 1/4 cup water with it in the saucepan. Heated that until it came to a boil (stirring on and off until then) and then reduced the temp a bit and let it simmer until it was a light amber. Heated the soy sauce before I added it to the caramel, and it was perfect! No seizing, even. I'll keep at this method, but eventually will try to go it 'dry' :) Thanks for all of your help! Bryan

I tried Kew's recipe last night with a few minor changes. Used just 1 tsp. of cinnamon (instead of 2) and used 3/4 cup of oil and 3/4 of applesauce instead of 1.5 cups of oil. Oh, and I folded the strawberries in at the end instead of mixing them in early on. Regardless, the bread is wonderful! I'm glad it made 2 loaves - one for work, and one for me :) Thanks for the recipe, Kew! Bryan

My husband is practically vegan (I know, not a real definition, but it's as close as I can get), and his sister is a hard-core, strict vegan, so I have some experience here. First of all, there are plenty of sweeteners for vegans. Vegans that aren't too strict will use granulated sugar and honey - though some won't. As someone else already posted, sugar oftentimes is processed with (animal) bone char, which is a no-no for many vegans. And honey, well, it comes from bees, so some vegans won't touch it. Strict vegans still use maple syrup and turbinado sugar, though - both of which are readily available in super markets. Actually, I would say - when it comes to baking - finding an acceptable sweetener isn't a problem. It's finding a replacement for the eggs that is the main problem. Powdered egg replacer works well in many instances, but not so well in others. That said, I've tried my hand at making MANY vegan baked goods for my husband and his sister, and many of them are excellent. It's all about finding out which ingredients work as substitutions in various circumstances. Many cookies, muffins and cakes can be made vegan with alterations. Some of them hold up to their dairy-filled counterparts, others don't. Anyway, all this and I don't have a recipe to share. I remember making one from the Compassionat Cookbook (put out by PETA) that was good. I'll hunt it down this weekend and post it next week. Bryan

Thank you all for taking the time to help me out with my question. I've read - and re-read - all of your comments, and I *think* I know how I will try the recipe again tomorrow. Tomorrow I won't be making it for an actual meal, so I won't be under the same pressure I was the other day and I can just keep at it until I get it. I'll report back whether it goes well or not :) In the meantime, if anyone else has any tips or tricks for caramelizing sugar, please feel free to share! Bryan

Hello again! Well, I had bad news from my carmelization effort last night. First, let me give a bit of background on the recipe. It's not a baked item, but a main course meal. The sauce is just sugar (and a little water, according to the original recipe), soy sauce, and ground black pepper. You're supposed to melt the sugar until it's a bit brown, add the soy sauce and then the pepper - and voila! it's supposed to be ready for the rest of the ingredients (tofu and sliced onions). Simple, no? Well, last night, after reading the first few pieces of advice from this thread, I tried caramelizing the sugar "dry." Started with just a few tablespoons, which melted and started to brown. Yay! I was excited :) Then, as I continued to add small amounts of sugar, it melted, but also rapidly browned. By the time the whole cup of sugar was melted and I added the soy sauce - well, it was a mess (that's an understatement). A second attempt was marginally better, but still horrible, and by that time I was frazzled. I'm guessing that I was cooking the sugar over too high of a flame. Since it seemed last time that I wasn't cooking it hot enough (at medium temp), I upped it passed medium - to about "6" on our electric stove (nearly med-high?). Did I misunderstand the advice - should I have cooked it at a lower heat for a longer amount of time? Also, when I added the soy sauce the mixture seized up horribly. I'm guessing next time I should take someone else's advice and heat it a bit to keep this from happening? Sorry if this seems like it should be in the "Cooking" forum on this site. When I first started the thread I thought I would just get pointers on the caramel part and then figure out the rest myself. Thank you to all of you who have offered advice so far! Bryan

More great advice - thank you, JSkilling! I'll try this tonight - here's to some carmelized sugar!

Ah! Now this is the kind of help I was looking for! Sounds like I might not have heated it high enough. I have to admit I was a bit "shy" about it - worrying that I would burn it - so I probably just didn't heat it high enough. I'll try again tonight and see what happens. Thank you!