Schielke

They are white/golden because they are peeled I believe. Ben

So first off, I want to say that I had a blast at the cooking class and I want to thank William again for doing such a great job. Here is a run down of what we did (please chime in if I missed anything, there were so many topics covered!) Everybody arrived at Mistral, we discussed the game plan over coffee and then made our way to the Market. William showed us his favorite stalls and discussed his ingredient sources. We ended up buying a bunch of produce at Franks produce stall in the market. They had great stuff and were very friendly. We made our way back to the restaurant and started the kitchen portion of the class. First, Chef William demonstrated proper knife sharpening technique with his wetstone. He turned a few dull knives into lean mean bruinoiseing machines. We then got another demo on how to butcher a fish (Barry the Bass in this case) as well as an interesting discussion on kitchen waste philosophies. Col Klink stepped up to the plate when Chef William asked somebody to try their hand at butchering another fish. The Col did a great job with it too. After these demos, Chef William broke up the class into small groups to do some prep tasks for lunch. I was assigned to cut potatoes for the potato puree and then took the task of blanching grape tomatoes for peeling. The first time around on the grape peeling, I received a poor grade on my X cuts for being too heavy handed. I did them again and passed though! Other tasks people got: Trimming herbs, Trimming baby artichokes, dicing tomatoes, peeling fava beans, peeling baby carrots and searing a rack of lamb. We then all watched and helped at times as Chef William cooked the various dish components. He showed us how he makes his potato puree, which made everybody hungry and nearly made me jump into the bowl. Around this time, we retired to the dining room and had lunch. The dishes were: Striped Bass over Fava Beans, grape tomatoes, and baby artichokes sauteed in white wine topped with watercress salad Lamb chop over potato puree, roasted cipolini, and consumee glazed carrot with veal/red wine reduction Watermelon soup with Strawberry and Pineapple sorbets Two wines were available, I don't have my notes with me now to relate them, but somebody else can chime in or I can add them later. I had a glass of the red and loved it. To sum it up: The class was great, the meal was great, William and his staff were great, and the company was great. All of this adds up to more than the sum of its parts. We need to do it again. Ben p.s. please add anything I missed or relate your favorite part or most valuable lesson! p.p.s. there were two cameras present and lots of pics were taken, I hope to see them soon.

The first ribs from my new smoker!!! Way good. I also have some pork shoulder finishing up. ben

Tighe, Thanks for that great review! Katie and I were reading it last night and we really wanted to drive right over and have dinner at Mistral right then. It looks like you got a great sampling of what they can do at Mistral. His scallops are always amazing and that preperation sounds great! And you are correct about the warm chocolate cake. It is the definitive by which all others should be measured. Ben

I just confirmed with Chef William that we are on for 10:00 a.m. sharp! There should be street parking in the area and there is a pay lot right next to the building if you are so inclined. Everybody please be on time. Ben

I am sitting here on a friday afternoon gettin' all antsy in my pantsy to go cook!!! I think I will give the ol' knife a quick sharpening too! Ben

Yeah, and Mozilla is the bomb anyway. This is coming from somebody who doesnt hate Mr. Gates. Ben

Sweet.

The lil debbie coffee cakes are quite good, although I have not had drakes to compare. Ben

Hmmm, say 9:00 or so? I need to verify when the class starts again though. Ben

Seattle rent is not as bad as NY, but can raise some eyebrows. We are in a renter's market right now and Studios go for around 600-800 /mo, One BR for 700- 900/ mo, and Two BR for 900 - 1400. Of course they can go higher, but those are the general rates for a decent place you could take your mother to. Ben

It rarely rains buckets in either city. It rains a little a lot. Ben

Or Andy from Conan...good ol Andy

Hey, with the number of overcooked steaks and overdressed salads out there, I think they are fighting for a just cause.

Oh yeah? Well my dad can beat up your dad!

Katie and I hit Cafe Besalu on Saturday for the first time. We are now kicking ourselves for not knowing about it when Katie lived in Ballard. We had: Pan au Chocolat, Croissant, Ham and Cheese Croissant, and Brioche. The clear winners were the Plain Croissant and the Ham and Cheese Croissant. The Pan au Chocolat was very good too, but I think I just prefer plain. The brioche was pretty good, but not amazing. Anybody want to go this Saturday before the Mistral Cooking class? Ben

Kelt = Good The VSOP is really nice at $50/bottle Ben

Satsuma Rum Sorbet with Shaved Dark Chocolate 1 c cwater 1 c sugar 1 T corn syrup 3/4 c juice from satsuma oranges (6-8 satsumas) 2 strips of zest from oranges 1 jigger of dark rum 2 T shaved dark chocolate 1. Bring sugar, water, corn syrup and orange zest to light boil over medium heat. 2. Remove orange zest strips from syrup. 3. Cool syrup in ice bath. 4. Stir orange juice into syrup mixture. Make sure it is well combined. 5. Freeze in your Ice Cream machine as per manufacturer's directions. 6. When mixture is starting to get thick, add the jigger of dark rum slowly and then the shaved chocolate. 7. Let combine in the machine. 8. Pour out into airtight container and freeze to desired firmness. Keywords: Dessert, Ice Cream, Ice Cream Maker ( RG539 )

Try to find the Good Eats episode about Tuna, they showed an expert butcher up a tuna. Cool stuff. Ben

Da Bears!

The sensitive side of mamster

I leafed through a Cooks Illustrated at Nightscotsman's and was very impressed. Pure content. No Crap. Ben

Inventolux, you might want to consider putting a "skip intro" button onto your site. People tend to get frustrated with flash intros that they can't get past, and will click away rather than wait to get to the meat of the site. That is what I was thinking until I realized that it is just a placeholder for a future page. A 'skip intro' would go nowhere. But when there is content behind the page, 'skip intro' is very welcomed. Good luck with your new place inventolux!!!! Ben

Thanks for the recs so far. I think that part of the decision will hinge on where we go rafting with a friend at the beginning of the trip. It will determine how north or south we are in Oregon. I need to talk it over with our friend/guide. Funny you mentioned Manzanita, when my parents would take us on trips to the coast, we would always stay in that town. My favorite thing to do was ride the bannana bikes on the beach. Ben

If it gets a good wine spectator review, it will sell caseloads. Ben