lexy

What are the criteria upon which you will be judged? Are they looking for novelty and innovation? Solid classical techniques? Might be strategic to try and gear your entry towards what the judges are looking for.

I assume this is high table ...?

Apple tart from this recipe. Lesson learned from this tart: don't add six times more water to the pastry than the recipe calls for, then add more flour to try and save it, and then over-knead it. Not good.

Carrot salad with parsley, olives, feta, and pine nuts. Apple and two clementines. Not pictured: mug of tea, square of Valrona Guanaja chocolate.

mmm, not really - it's essentially membrillo with almonds I suppose. You cook down quince pulp with sugar, water, and a splash of lemon.

Quince paste sweets from the recipe in Claudia Roden's New Book of Mediterranean Food, with toasted (er, burnt) almonds.

I've had one of those maple liquers before - I heartily unrecommend them, like drinking sickly-sweet sherry. Then again, it was a cheapo bottle someone gave me as a gag gift, so perhaps higher quality maple liquer would be more palatable.

Banana bread, with dark chocolate chunks and cinnamon: Recipe here.

gfron?

mmm, montreal bagels my little brother just started at McGill and I'm pretty sure one of the (unofficial) selling points of McGill for him was ready access to fresh St Viateur bagels and Schwartz's

Just what I was going to ask - I love pickles and I love mushrooms, and I'm anxious to try these Also, I love the Moomin kitchen-ware. That alone is enough to tempt me to make a trip to Estonia (also, some friends went last Christmas and loved it)

Those look like the kind of small plums that seem to be more common in England than they are in North America. Both look great GTO!

Haven't had time to give this thread a proper read, but an advance 'thank-you' for your reports: I'm planning a trip to Rome, Sicily, and Ravenna for September, and this thread looks like it'll be rather useful.

Hmm, I wonder if the Australian Nando's is any relation to the UK restaurant chain Nando's? (also portugeuse chicken)

Let me know when you open - I'll be there

I think for me, it depends to some degree on context: a smudgy, dirty glass or a hair in the food at somewhere like Per Se smacks of carelessness. A dirty napkin or grimy cutlery in a rickety little market café is a somewhat more acceptable to my mind.

I'm sure Shaya's right that 'liason' is the technically correct name, but it's not a word I've ever heard used in the context of sauces. I suppose if I were making the sort of sauce the Dutch call a ragout, I might call it a gravy in English.

They're a lot like american granola bars ... only a lot better

Oooh, those look nice. I have a serious weakness for flapjacks (hey, they have oats - they're practically a health food, right?)

From my Nana in Canada I think the way you make is just boil down maple sugar until it's lost enough liquid to become solid. The texture is almost exactly like fudge, but the only ingredient is maple syrup. So good - hence the eating it with a fork Edit: As usual, Wikipedia has a better answer

Finished off the remains of a block of maple cream - just ate it straight, with a fork (classy, I know - but, mmm, pure sugar)

Finally some properly nice weather, so lunch in the park around the corner from the library: peanut butter sandwich, dried figs, apple, orange, and a flask of tea

I don't have much to add, but I'm loving the blog - a good part of my family lives in Halifax and you're making me long for summer vacations in Halifax and down on the South Shore. Do you go in for maple products much? I was thrilled to check my post this morning and find a huge brick of maple cream from my grandmother. Aside from putting it in my porridge I'm not quite sure what to do with it (well, eat it straight-up obviously, but much as I love maple cream that tends to make me feel a bit ill after more than a little)

Hmm, I don't know if this answers your question, but I remember someone mentioning one brand of pasta that varies somewhat throughout the year (colour and taste) depending on local wheat production vs. another brand that imported wheat from all over the world in order to ensure that their product remained consistent year-round.

Why do the camels wear blindfolds? Do they suffer from claustrophobia in the olive presses?