scordelia

Another nice way to do this (courtesy of The Two Fat Ladies) is to make a regular tart shell out of pate brisee or cookie crumbs, blind bake and then brush the shell with melted chocolate.

Cream of Carmelized Onion Soup Serves 6 as Appetizeror 4 as Soupor 4 as Main Dish. Recently, my husband and I travled to San Francisco, and we went to the museum at the Legion of Honor and had a delicious onion soup for lunch. A couple of days ago, I got my lastest copy of Martha Stewart Living which had a recipe for a similar soup, so I used the MS recipe as a starting point and worked from there. I think I got it! 2 leeks sliced 2 shallots sliced 2 onions sliced 5 garlic cloved sliced 6 T butter 3/4 c vermouth 4 c chicken stock 1 c heavy cream 3 dashes of nutmeg 4 T snipped chives 4 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled salt and pepper to taste Melt butter in a skillet over meduim heat and add all onions and garlic. Cook until transluscent. Then lower heat and cook until nicely carmelized (20-30 min). In a stock pot, add vermouth and broth and heat. When onions are carmelized, add all (including butter) to stock mixture and bring to a boil. Lower heat. Puree with a stick blender or in batches in a seperate blender; add cream while pureeing. Add salt and pepper to taste and nutmeg. Garnish each portion with a crumbled piece of bacon and a tablespoon of snipped chive. Keywords: Soup, Main Dish, Easy, Vegetables, Appetizer ( RG1411 )

That looks amazing! We should all rush there before the City Council takes away our foie gras! PS If you are a Chicagoan and wish to express your opinion on the proposed foie gras ban, PM me and I will send the aldermen's e-mails.

Yeah, I agree. It will at least be (yet another) interesting test of copyright law. Google is indeed taking steps to protect the material from being easily copied/printed, and while any fairly savvy user will find ways to scrap it, it seems it does put it out of reach for a big chunk of the audience. ← Actually, I don't think that recipes can be copyrighted. In Martha Stewart's first book Entertaining, she ripped off a bunch of recipes from Julia Child and that Chinese lady (sorry, cannot remember her name) for the Chinese cocktail party. When confronted with this (I am paraphrasing Just Desserts and Martha Inc), she told her publisher that recipes cannot be copyrighted and that her husband, Andy (a lawyer), had double-checked that, but to be on the safe side, Martha changed some of the wording.

Terrific editorial! Well done!

During one of the many Napster hearings, a mother testified that her son downloaded a bunch of Beatles tunes, then asked for the complete CD collection for Christmas, and she fulfilled the request.

Everyone is taking sides in Chicago--the Tribune is against the new law, but they are taking heat: Duck Duck Goose! Since when did the UK ban foie gras?

Bon Appetit had a sweet potato and cranberry layer cake (similar to carrot) that was really good.

Naturally, the classic Nutella filled crepe!

Well, Gary Danko's 5 course menu is now $81--not a bad deal! Caviar service is extra, but the seared foie gras appetizer (which I highly recommend--it's orgasmic!) is not.

I went to Charlie Trotter's on 9/9 and had dinner in the studio with a large party and it SUCKED! Complaint #1--if you are going to amuse me with an amuse, then give us more than a little weird blob of essence on a demitasse spoon. Complaint #2--for the price that my host was paying for 14 dinners in the studio, can we have some FUCKING privacy! Every five minutes, some prospective client who wanted to book the studio was brought in and being shown around while we were eating at a private dinner. Not kosher! Complaint #3--the food was really mixed. Some courses were divine (oh, those sweetbreads and the raw tuna course), but some were just foul (that chocolate wasabi mousse). Didn't Charlie's mom tell him to not play with his food? The cheese course was a disaster--he took a very lovely, smelly raw sheep's milk cheese and cuts it so it looks like flower and then dumps cashew puree on it! Why? It was a lovely cheese all alone! Every plate was really pretty, but please sir, may I have some more? Basically every course was miniscule (about the size of a piece of nigri sushi), and some were gross, so I left pretty hungry. The service was perfect (except when they were showing off the room to future parties) and the wines (chosen by the sommelier) were amazing. But overall, I do not get it. Charlie is so overrated--the emperor has no oven. The following Friday, I ate at Gary Danko in SF--way better food (and enough food I might add), better service and less expensive.

Does the law impose a minimum tip? ← No, but the IRS (our income tax collecting agency) requires restaurants to report gross figures and expects tips to be reported as at least a certain percentage of that. Theoretically, as I understand it, a waiter could actually be expected to pay taxes on a greater figure than he actually collects. Of course most diners in the US who pay by credit card, also tip by credit card, so there's a paper trail that exerts its own force these days. ← Actually, it was recently changed to 17% of gross receipts by the IRS. So keep that in mind when you are tipping. Your server will pay income tax on 17% of your bill no matter what you tip. Honestly, the European system is better. I like having the service built in with the option of leaving a discretionary tip for excellent service. Also, waiters get a good wage--it is a profession and an honest one.

My brother wanted to weigh in here: Why to hate Rachel Ray. The $40.00 a day show is a good idea for a show. But one reason she keeps to under $40.00 a day is, she leaves the absolute LOUSIEST tips! Her average tip on the show is hovering around 10%. And one can fault the Fine Living Channel (run by Food Network as well). There is some fatuous asshole on there, who has a brief little blurb on the network, who tells you how to tip around the country. L. A. and NYC, 25%. Chicago, 15%?!?!?! What the hell? So, down in Kentucky, it's ok to tip 8%? But, we're all expected to blow our wad in LA and NYC? Last time I checked, tipping customs isn't beholden to a particular region but on the performance of your waiter, the surrounding staff and the general enjoyment of your experience. Personally, I pretty much can't stand the Food Network anymore. There are very few people worth the time to watch. God I miss The Two Fat Ladies! _______ I miss the Two Fat Ladies too! I know Jennifer died, but just show re-runs!

I love mooncakes--lotus seed paste is my fave so far. I am not Chinese and first tried them when I got a cheap apartment in Chinatown, because my favorite bakery made them and I'll try anything once, but they only have lotus, black bean, red bean and green bean. I will be SF this year for the moon festival--so who has the best mooncakes in SF?

I do not know if you have a garden, but you can grow them. You need the roman zucchini. You can get seeds from Burpee, Martha Stewart, etc. Plant in spring with a squash ladder (or it will take over) and enjoy the blossoms all summer. Actually, we had a squash blossom souffle just the other night!

Chicago, on the whole, is a mediocre steak town at best. Morton's, Gibson's... Keefer's... Ruth's Chris... these are ALL wet aged and radiant broiled steaks. As are 437 Rush. It's jammed into a broiler that heats up at 1800f and is no good beyond Black and Blue. Smith and Wolensky's offers Dry aging and grilled, but they can't seem to temp a steak much less get it to you hot. Last time I was there, I ordered a Steak au Poive, temped blue (filet mignon cut). The plate, sauce... EVERYTHING was cold! I expect the meat to be cool, but not served with congealed sauce. When I sent it back, I was given a nuclear plate with broken sauce and a medium steak. So, sent that back, demanded that it be taken off the bill, paid for the wine and left. Best bet are cocktails downstairs with the chilled lobster cocktail. Or, forgo the NY attitude and not go at all. Honestly, one of the better steaks that I've had from all of the Steak Houses was at Harry Carry's. Properly temped, served hot and beautify marbled bone in rib eye. I believe it is dry aged, it is wood grilled. Chicago Chop House is good. Nice wine list with a bit of depth, meaning that there are good bottles under $60.00 and fantastic bottles in the stratosphere. A bit more old fashioned with Bernaise sauce, etc. Gene and Georgettti's is excellent, wood grilled steaks. Very old school. Chicago seems to be finally embracing the Hanger Steak, being able to find one at N9NE, J.P. American, le Sardine and le Bouchon. The one at J.P. is very tasty, good frites. Ask for the Black Truffle Aioli with your frites. Lousy wine list though. Tango Sur is VERY over rated. Been twice and felt that it was not worth the dime. Do not ever go to Bijan on State. One of the worst restaurant experiences EVER! Ask for a rare temp and it will come out Med Well. Complain about it and you will be told that you do not know what you are talking about. I've been in the restaurant business for most of my adult life, I think I might know something about how to temp a steak. And, I've worked in two steak houses. Capital Grille is pretty good, but they have lousy labor practices. Then again, so do most restaurants here in Chicago. But, on the whole... I generally choose to NOT to go to a steak house. I've dry aged my own primal cuts at home and I can produce far better results than most of these places. They usually operate the wine list with an over three time mark-up and I'm rarely blown away by the piece of cow on my plate. As a steak town, NYC has it all over us. Hell, you can get dry aged steaks from local shops in NY far more often than here. Fox and Obel and Whole Foods are now offering them, but you REALLY pay for the dry aged stuff. Not that it's an inexpensive option in NY, but it is priced better.

But even with teamwork, some individuals are just better at a job than others. And in my opinion those individuals should be compensated accordingly. When that "15% must" system was put in place, some waiters made significantly more than others - and that wasn't by accident. ← Sometimes it is by accident. When I worked at a certain upscale Chicago establishment, a certain player from the Bulls (not MJ) liked to frequent this place, and we drew straws to see who had to serve him. This player was very demanding, wanted special things, sauce on the side, etc and never tipped. Lots of people tip badly (the 6% lawyer in a previous post). My husband for one (well, not anymore, but I was appalled on our first dinner date and gave him a big lecture about the lives of waiters and how the tax law works--surprising he married bossy me anyway).

But some of them are genuine. That's the pathetic thing--they are so fun to tease.

You can also fill madelines (make the small ones). I recently stumbled on this when I had a bunch of lemon curd leftover and was trying to figure out what to do with it before it went bad. Delicious little cookie/cake treat.

Have to second the Lutz's recommendation--it is also a good place to go for brunch! Also Selmarie in Lincoln Square is very good, and Levinson's on Devon near Sacramento Ave--a good Jewish bakery with an amazing strawberry marzipan cake for $7.50, great bialys and Jewish rye, and next door, you can pick up all the smoked fish you wish at Three Sisters Deli (can't just have pastries for brunch).

I love Legal's and wish one would open in Chicago. There are not any decent middle of the road fish places here, and the selections are uninspiring (no blue fish!). And the kid's menu is great because it is not the usual mac 'n cheese, but a nice little piece of grilled fish (or half a lobster) with real veggies.

But you have to check this out! Someone else posted this link and I had to follow: Fans of Sandra It's this creepy, sycophanty message board full of illiterates who talk about the dangers of fresh food, and how Sandra understands this and protects us from them. There is one poster who said she had not tried the Salad Chinois (made with La Choy canned veggies) because she does not like Japanese things. There are also a great number of posters who talk about being in the habit of eating canned food because it would survive a terrorist attack or nuclear fallout, and now they are so happy because they have great recipes for canned food.

If she has a cooking show, then why can't I have one? I can actually cook something from scratch! I cannot believe she got renewed! She makes Rachel Ray seem like a culinary genius. Although I have to admit to tuning in for the unintentional humor!

busboy, is this the dual canister cuisinart that you later referred to, or a single canister model that they included a spare. if so, where did you get it? i'm on deadline and that sounds like jsut the thing. ← It's the single canister with an extra bowl thrown in (busbay and I have had this discussion as we have the same machine). That's what I have--the Ice 120 with an extra bowl. It works great! Very easy clean up and very good good textured ice cream. Also, is not much bigger than a blender. Lots of people sell them. I got mine on sale from Neiman Marcus. Cook's Cupboard carries it. I am sure that Wiiliams Sonoma has it. I would go one of those web sites that does price comparisons like bizrate and see who has the cheapest.

Rose Petal Ice Cream Serves 6 as Dessert. I love things flavored with rose and am lucky to have a large rosa rogosa in my backyard, so I decided to try a rose petal ice cream. 2 c whole milk 1 c heavy whipping cream 1 c sugar 2 T rose syrup* 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp grated lemon zest 2 old fashioned roses 1. Combine the milk, cream, salt, sugar and rose syrup (*available at Indian grocery stores) in a saucepan and bring to a low simmer, making sure all the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool for 20 min. 2. Add vanilla and transfer to a container and chill overnight. 3. Pour ice cream base into your maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. 4. About 5 min before ice cream is finished freezing, add the lemon zest and the petals from 2-3 old fashioned roses and allow to thoroughly combine for 5 min. 5. Transfer soft ice cream to a freezer safe container, cover surface with plastic wrap and freeze until hardened (at least 3 hours). Makes about 1 quart. Very elegant served in a tuile with crystallised rose petals or fresh rose petals or fresh pansies for a garnish. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Ice Cream, Ice Cream Maker ( RG1380 )