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As in the guy from Brotherhood of the Wolf? Hotter than Kaga although somewhat similar features. Plus he can go all kung fu on the iron chefs and competitors who get out of hand :D

I've only tried the brioche because I've been into baking bread rather than sweets lately. The brioche was excellent and the recipe was easy to follow. Even though I haven't tried any other recipes, I definitely believe this book was worth buying. Did any of you notice the discrepancies between the picture and the recipe for the Halsey Tart? I'm fairly certain that the recipe will not produce something that looks like the picture.

Sorry to be late in responding. I stupidly lost my temper on this site yesterday and I gave myself a time out. It's bad when one gets stressed doing something that is supposed to be relaxing. I'm in for the mixed starter bread. The Walnut Bread I tried was a Silverton recipe and I had some trouble with that one. I'd like to give another recipe a try. Here's a pic of my x-cookies. I made the full batch. I have a 12-in dumpling roller/dowel that worked perfectly for this recipe. It was a bit messy to work with the filling. These cookies taste much better on the 2nd and 3rd days.

Hi Meryl! The recipes in A Piece of Cake are tasty and reliable. They're more homey, American cakes rather than fancy restaurant-type cakes. I've borrowed the other two from the library, but I can't get myself to try any of the recipes. They don't seem as interesting as Medrich's Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts.

I know what exactly is in my food. It's relaxing or thrilling depending on what I'm cooking. I eat well for much less money. I get to try dishes unavailable locally.

Ben Hong, Perhaps you should read the other threads before you jump in and let loose an ignorant diatribe. If you had read Keith's other postings, you would have known that he, like other eGulleters, appears to be open to many cuisines and has some dining out savvy. That includes Chinese cuisine. Do normal traditional Chinese families eat greasy dishes with overcooked vegetables at home? Not the ones I know. We would have all been better served if you had suggested which food stall and which dishes Keith should try next time (refer to Jeffy Boy post on Curry House and laksa). Keith: I enjoy all the cold salad dishes in Osaka Supermarket. The seaweed salad and the cold beef with cilantro are addictive. I pick some up to eat on the plane if I get a chance before a flight.

Those look great on the blue plate. I still haven't made mine because I couldn't find candied orange peel anywhere and I really wanted that slight citrus hit. I am currently at the final stages of candying some ortanique peels. My first time candying citrus peels; it takes a long time.

Probably all of the above; however, didn't you think the crumb had a nice creamy, potato flavour? That's what I like about the BWJ recipe. I can really taste the potato and, if you don't peel the potatoes, there's also a nutty flavour. I think I've always made that recipe using yukon golds, so that may also make a difference.

That's why I've never tried these cookies. I like fiddly pastries(decorated cakes, marzipan flowers, etc.), but I rarely have patience for fancy cookies. The end products don't often seem to justify all the work. I'm just as happy with drop and bar cookies. I even have problems with icebox cookies. I can't get the darned tube of cookies to be round, or stay round or together when I slice. Any tips in that area are greatly appreciated. I made Herme's korova cookies the other night and was cursing the whole time, but they were yummy. Then, there's sugar cookies. Rolling out, cutting out, repeat, yuck! Oddly enough, I don't mind when I cut out leaves, fruit and other shapes to decorate pies. Anyway, I'll give the x cookies a try, but I'll probably do exactly what you did, Seth. Yours look very good. P.S. I'm attaching a photo of my walnut bread from last weekend.

I now know what I'm making this weekend: mnebergall's goulash and spaetzle. I just happened to buy a spaetzle maker yesterday because it's a kitchen gadget and on sale, an irresistible combination. One of my favourite dishes that has paprika is very similar to the cusina's paprika beef stew except bone-in chicken pieces instead of beef and potato gnocchi. It's a regular on my mom's dinner table and comfort food for me.

Last week's strange craving was braunschweiger. I don't have an aversion to liver, but I've never ever bought liver sausage. I was trying to decide what kind of olives to buy when I suddenly wanted some braunschweiger. Fortunately, the grocery store had Usinger's. I ate some completely on its own as soon as I got home.

Didn't bake the potato bread this weekend, but I've made them before. Your efforts are all much better than my first time making the potato bread. I had underproofed the loaves then placed them too close together in the oven. Each loaf opened up and stuck to each other. I ate some and made the rest into delicious bread crumbs and croutons. This past week, I baked a loaf of Nancy Silverton's walnut bread and the carrot cake from the last issue of Fine Cooking magazine. I overproofed the Walnut Bread, so it was a bit flat and the crumb ended up too tight and dense. It had great flavour though, so I may try again this weekend. The carrot cake was excellent: very light, not too sweet, satiny cream cheese frosting. Brownies and X cookies sound good for this weekend.

Mmmmm.. butter tarts. I'm salivating even though I wouldn't eat them when I was a young girl in northern BC. I used to have a problem with raisins. Thanks for the tour of your home and all the Canadian references that made me miss my own home.

Braised pork loin with cabbage, apples and fennel Roasted mustard-spiced sweet potatoes Chocolate mascarpone cheesecake Licorice-spice tea

Embarrassing "dinner" tonight, but this was what I was craving: Bacon, fried egg and leftover brown rice fried in some bacon fat Dessert was a small handful of red hots

Here's a link to Marcy Goldman's recipe from A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking as adapted by David Lebovitz: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/recipes/matzoh_crunch.html

Grilled Miso-Marinated Tofu with Shiitake Mushrooms and Cabbage Brown Rice Dessert belongs in the weird cravings thread: dried tart cherry brownies, slathered with vanilla-cranberry Peanut Better and a dollop of thick Persian yogurt

Boiled peanuts = brain food according to my mom. She used to cook them for me whenever I had cram study sessions. They were the best part about studying and I couldn't study without them. Then, in my second year of university, we found out that my cholesterol was too high and a dietitician said peanuts were out. No more boiled peanuts and I almost failed 2nd year organic chemistry.

Welcome Arbuclo! I made the tomato galette last summer and like it lots. I've never tried the others. Your x-cookies look perfect.

I almost always make something I've never tried before to serve to guests. I rarely make the same thing twice because I'm always trying to justify all my magazines, cookbooks and the time I spend on cooking sites.

Steamed chicken breast stuffed with ricotta, roaring 40s blue cheese and scallions Angel hair pasta tossed with a bit of lemon-butter sauce Steamed rapini (The lemon-butter sauce was originally for the chicken according to the recipe, but it was better on the pasta. Also, I was supposed to use parmensan instead of the blue cheese, but I didn't have any.)

Not Jewish and I don't think I've ever had hamentashen although I made tri-corner hat cookies with almond filling for Christmas this year. Anyway, all of the wonderful posts have made me want to try making some real hamentashen. I know I read somewhere on here about the shape when using a yeasted dough, but I can't seem to find that part now. Are the yeast ones still triangular with an open bit in the middle?

The Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake was a major disaster for me. I got way too much air into the mixture even though I used setting 2 (out of 6) on my mixer. I had more batter than would fit in the pan and, even though I didn't pour all the batter into the 8-in springform, it still mushroomed over the top of the pan. It would have been a decent souffle if I had wrapped a collar around my pan. Also, water got inside the pan. The cheesecake that initially came out of the oven definitely belongs in the ugly dessert thread. I trimmed off the 'mushroom' top, let the cheesecake cool, then flipped it over and baked it in a 300F oven without the water bath. The cleaned up version is the pic I'm posting and it's still ugly. The mushroom top was still pretty gooey when I cut if off the rest of the cheesecake, so I mixed it into the leftover batter, added some Grand Marnier and dried tart cherries and baked it into a delicious, moist brownie. I've been eating the brownie. I discovered that I don't much like chocolate cheesecake. So what's the project for next week? (BTW, the rustic potato bread is one of my favourite recipes from the book)

Congratulations!I think an eGullet gathering in Vegas would be fun. Anyone up for a road/plane trip somewhere down the line?

It's not so bad now that I've calmed down. At the very least, it's a fairly stable job and I only have a 5 minute commute. I work for a state agency and my official title is Assistant Director of Information Systems. Doesn't that sound important? We didn't have such rigid requirements until the newish governor passed his new ethics act regarding state employees. Anyway, I've been planning a major career change for quite some time now; I just have to attend to a few more details.