Della

I am a fan of fresh herbs and rarely use dried. I don't like dried rosemary or sage and use them fresh or don't use them at all. As far as braising - I think the whole sage leaves, rosemary, winter savory, bay leaves and even parsely hold up well. Sometimes you have to add half in the beginning and half part way through the cooking process - but I am ok with that. We have a bay tree and I can honestly say that I haven't used a dried bay leave in over 3 years - the difference is amazing between fresh and dried. I do use dried Thyme once in a while - when frying up breaded pork cutlets I will often sprinkle some dried Thyme in the bread crumbs before coating the meat. And I do love a few of the Penzy's spice rubs (Bicentennial on chicken) and I know that there are dried herbs in those rubs. But on the whole - I like fresh over dried almost all the time. It takes some thinking about when to add them and how much to add to your dishes but I think it is worth the time and effort.

I made some potato pancakes a few months ago (for the first time) and I squeezed a lot of the water out of the potatoes as they seemed to give off a lot of moisture. (Russets) I used veg oil to fry them and I have to say that my house (not just kitchen) but house was all "oily" smelling for a couple days. I don't think I made too huge of a mess with the oil and I had the fan on. I have to say I vowed to never make them again but this topic is making my interest rear it's hungry head.

The Culinary Communion has great classes and some great instructors. You can go to their website ( i am lame and am not sure how to add the link ) but it is just their name (dot) com and get a listing of classes. They have a variety of single, series, tecnique and specialty classes. You can't go wrong with Chef Gabe!

I am probably going to get killed for this but I happen to really like the Uptown China on lower Queen Anne. We always sit in the bar and we always order the salt and pepper prawns and scallops. I don't think they are even on the menu but if you order them - they will make them. I know this isn't "spicy" which seems to be the direction of the topic, but it is a chinese place and those salt and pepper prawns and scallops are really really good! Oh - and I agreed - Seven Star Pepper rocks!

The article is hilarious! And it does sound as if the cookbook reads from the 50's. To each their own I guess but I wouldn't want to cook much less eat any of the receipes described in the article.

We had Martinelli's sparkling apple and sparkling apple/cranberry and sparkling apple/grape - all three were good (for sparking juice!)

Hmm, pretty difficult to imagine getting up to the 5:30 a.m. alarm! ← we got there when they opened at 5:30 pm and were seated immediately. we were there for 5 hours, and had a great time! the food was good, not outstanding...needed some seasoning, phred was entertaining. it was a very enjoyable dinner. ← I've also been several times and have always gone about 5:30 PM (after work) and been seated right away, had a great time, enjoyed the food, wine, space and Phred. There is a thread about elemental I think - I will try to hunt it up.

Thanks! I think I will give it a go and I will report back to say how it turns out. Happy T-Day to all. Della ← We made the Brisket with Rhubarb and Honey (with substitutions) the day after Thanksgiving. We rubbed the brisket with the spice rub on Wednesday afternoon and started cooking on Friday about 3:00 PM. We subbed out the Rhubarb for Granny Smith Apples and the wine for apple cider and one capful of cider vinegar. ( I couldn't find a measuring spoon and wanted to know how much I put in for adjustments another time). I had to braise on the stove top instead of the oven. I was making this at someone else's home rather than my own and due to pots/pans and available space I ended up on the stove top. I used the parchment paper and I think it made a difference as the pot I was using was a bit too tall for the meat. (think tall soup/stock pot). I made a point to turn the meat every 30 minutes for even cooking (as suggested in the book). The brisket turned out wonderful. Tender, flavorful and everyone raved. The sauce reduced nicely and it went well with the meat - (we just poured it over the meat and served). We also served the apples and onions that had cooked in the pot after we strained them out of the braising liquid. Served the meal with roasted red potatoes with rosemary along with roasted carrots and turnips. We would definately make this again.

Thanks! I think I will give it a go and I will report back to say how it turns out. Happy T-Day to all. Della

I am going to jump in and guess "cups" is the measurement.

Ok - I know you were making this back in May. And I might have missed the follow up report on how it turned out but I went thru the thread and didn't see it - so if you remember - will you please say what you thought? Or if anyone else has made this please give a report. I am spending Thanksgiving with my boyfriends family (for the 2nd time) and he and I are going to cook dinner the night after Turkey Day. I was thinking of making this - subbing granny smiths for the rhubarb as suggested in the cookbook. Also - we are going to sub plain apple cider for the alcohol (white wine or hard cider is recommended) as his family does not drink or cook with any alcohol. Does anyone have an opinion on subbing the apple cider for the wine/hard cider? Should I add some cider vinegar or is that going overboard? Any thoughts / tips would be appreciated. THANKS Della

Good to know! I am torn between making the souerbraten or the brisket with honey and rhubarb *sub granny smith for rhurbarb* for the day after Thanksgiving. What did you serve as a side dish? I haven't gone thru the whole thread so you might have already said. Anyway -nice to know it was yummy!

What a great blog Abra! I sure had fun reading and seeing what you did this past week. THANKS! Della

I have to agree! Simple, fast, easy - yet DIVINE!!!

Oh yes- of course - dry not damp paper towel on the beans. I stand corrected! THANKS Della

I am not an expert but I would suggest blanching the green beans the morning of your dinner not the day before -just blanch them, shock them in cold/ice water and wrap in a damp paper towel and put in a zip lock bag and refridgerate till needed. Depending on what you are going to do with them - yes, just saute lightly in a pan with butter, panchetta, etc salt, pepper, almond slices etc etc - not sure how you want to serve the final dish. As for the mashed potatoes - I would peel and slice the potatoes in the morning and put in a bowl of cool water and they can sit on the counter until you are ready to boil and mash them. They don't take very long to mash so I personally wouldn't make the day ahead. How many people are coming? And I don't really have any thoughts about your wife's baked ziti - has she ever made it ahead of time before? Does it normally taste better the next day? Do you have fridge space to store it till you re-heat and serve? Again - not an expert - just thinking about how I would handle it myself. Good luck! Della

I just received Molly's book as a gift from my wonderful boyfriend today and we are excited to get started on some of the recipes. I have been reading through this thread and it is nice to get some tips on how some of the recipes have turned out. I'll probably get cooking out of it this week.

Ham sandwich with basil mustard on hard roll, leftover butternut squash/apple soup and a handful of tim's cascase jalapeno potato chips. Love those darn chips!

What a great rundown on rules and ettiquette. Thank you!

I might be wrong here but isn't a martini traditionally gin? So saying you want a vodka martini is correct - but asking for a martini should result in a gin "martini"?

I have to say I am not a doughnut fan but as I live 1/2 block from the Top Pots in Wedgwood I am sure I will wander in sometime in the next few days to check it out. It is what used to be (a long time ago) a gas station. It has been a couple of different things since. They have been working on the building and getting it ready since mid-summer (July I think) so it will be interesting to see how it turned out. Anyone been to this location yet?

I will jump in and admit the Poutine doesn't photograph all that well - it looks a bit odd but boy was it good! If I lived there I would have to save that little snack for those special occasions (you know, taking a break when shopping, lunch out with the girls, afterwork snack with the gang ~ oops! that sounds like I would eat it every day! haha) all I can say is - YUM!

Thanks for getting all the pictures and the post up about our trip LMF. I know Greg and I both appreciate it! We had a great time and would definately head back that way another time for more exploring, fun and food. As far as the service at Club Chasse et Peche - The waitress was spot on during the first part of the experience - the taking of the order Once we ordered the first course came out really really fast. I remember looking at my watch and from the time we arrived, ordered and received cocktails and ordered our meal and had our first course delivered it was 30 minutes total. And I thought - wow - we will be out of here in 1 hour! Our reservations were for 7:30 PM by the way. So after we got our first course the rest of the restaurant seemed to have filled up and I don't know if our waitress was just too busy or what but we really didn't see her much after that - someone else delivered our main course and cleared. Everything just really slowed down after that first half hour - and it wasn't slowed down to a nice pace, it was slowed down to the point where the four of us were like - where the heck is she? So - to sum it up - the food was great, I loved the decor, the prices were reasonable for the amount and quality of the food but the service was so off that I would be hard pressed to go there again. ?

I emailed using the address at the top of this thread as I wanted reservations near the end of September. I just wanted some additional menu information and Hubert emailed some menu items, prices and kindly confirmed reservations. While the menu will change all the time - here is what he is serving now. I have no doubt that when I go on the 24th it will be wonderful! atlantic oysters for 6 (18) for 12 (36) braised suckling pig risotto, foie gras slivers (15) kobe américain, shiitake, broth with white truffle oil (13) tuna tataki and organic tomato ‘pressé’ (12) single side roasted scallops, fennel purée (14) seared duck foie gras and fig ‘tatin’ (19) + vegetable antler (8) ? chasse et pêche – (new school surf and turf) (29) ocean delivery, truffle, mushroom, pak-choï (27) rack of lamb, festive tomato, black olive and basil (30) angus beef, cippollini, Yukon Gold and Baluchon cheese (29) roasted sea bass, asparagus, parmesan, sorrel (28) hot and solid meal

I emailed one of the founders of Club Chasse et Peche and he kindly emailed back with some current menu items (and it reads very yummy) and confirmed reservations for us. I just hope we can find it!