Alinka

Cool! Maybe I should post my hotel breakfast in Alabama tomorrow . Let's see... "Two Grade A eggs, two strips of Hormel bacon and a choice of breakfast bread served with Skillet Browns"... Nah, don't think so . Percyn, make sure you take lots of pictures for us!

Do you think you could share the recipe? Yes, I'll just need to translate it. curlywurlyfi, so funny to read your description of dinner. Too bad there are no pictures of the peas

If it's not too late, here are my absolute favorite raspberry bars: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/106179 Sometimes I also dust them with powdered sugar. Very simple, always popular.

Yeah, the chicken looks nice, but the ribs! The ribs!!! Definitely no vegetarian dinner for me tonight. But this one is - A friend of mine, Russian, is married to an Indian and lives in India. She shared this recipe with me. She calls it rajma (basically it is kidney beans curry) and says it is very poplular in Punjab. Lots of spices there! I served it over brown rice and with a dollop of sour cream on top (raita would've probably been better).

Those look good! Tomatoes are my favorite vegetable (well, along with eggplant). When they are juicy, flavorful, ripe and not mealy - what can be better? I have a panini press (although a different brand), and I use it all the time, especially in summer. Granted, I'm somewhat of a sandwich junkie... But there are so many things you can use to make delicious paninis - and it's quick, fresh, and healthy. As simple or as elaborate as you want.

Susan, Ann_T, percyn - thank you, guys! I wish I could share the turnovers with you. I believe Rose Levy Beranbaum came up with THE best pastry dough recipe, albeit more time consuming than most. percyn, that is an interesting web-site about the $100 burger run; I've never heard of this before. And of course, I've checked if there are burger joints that are close to where I live there .

Glad you liked it! I like your solution: if you don't like the picture, make it smaaall . From now on, a good indicator for me whether you liked your dinner or not will be the size of the posted photo . Great dinners, everyone! I don't even have to cook: I get to enjoy a variety of dinners by just looking at yours!

Ooooh yeah... Both the egg and the potatoes are just I like them. Thanks for the wonderful view .

Hey, I'm waiting for those potatoes! And yes, Susan, come on over to Houston: I bake all the time (sometimes get up at 4 so that I can start on the dough), and my co-workers can only eat so much! On the second thought... I guess I could come bake for you - my work takes me to Florida sometimes .

Peach Turnovers from the Pie and Pastry Bible -

I already look forward to the picture of your breakfast. Potatoes! The problem with photographing breakfast is that I usually leave for work when it's still dark, even in summer. I guess, weekend brunches will have to do .

Su-san, you're so funny . Actually, I've been giving my camera a rest recently... mostly because I haven't been cooking much . Also, as days are becoming shorter, the lighting in the kitchen is not as nice - so it's not as much fun to photograph. Thanks. The butter is organic European style. I figure, if I'm going to eat butter (which I love - my grandma told me that as a child, I would just eat chunks of it plain), it better taste like BUTTER: flavorful, deliciously fatty, yellow...

Why is it a strange name? "Schwarzen Schokolade" means "dark (black?) chocolate", right? Now I'll have to add another brand to my (already long) list of chocolates to try out .

Thank you for the information, Terrasanct. I'll check Cost Plus out. I was at the L'Occitane store today, and lo and behold, they had small individually wrapped pieces of Varlhona. I bought a couple. Taste test tomorrow . By the way, how is "Varlhona" pronounced?

Thanks, Ling. Photographing food turned out to be so much fun. I could've microwaved mine, too, it's true. But the figs were sweet enough on their own anyway. I liked the subtlety of flavors, honey would have probably been too assertive. Only it was a bit dry - I wonder if it would have been better if I'd mixed the goat cheese with heavy cream (and I do have some in the fridge!). I keep dreaming about those Korova cookies ever since you gave the link. I need to finally bake them already!

What do you know: I had figs today, too! Only I topped them with goat cheese. I thought about drizzling honey on top, but discovered that it crystallized, and I was to impatient to melt it.

It's interesting to read this thread: I've never heard of "composed salad", so I'm learning something new. I made this before, though - does it qualify? Layers of Parma ham, mozzarella, tomatoes, boiled eggs, roasted bell peppers. All the ingredients are so simple that they must be freshest, preferably organic. Including fresh herb, extra virgin olive oil vinaigrette.

Very simple tomato-mozzarella-basil-prosciutto sandwich:

Ling, Ann_T, thank you! The recipe is from The Cake Bible. I followed the recipe precisely (as I almost always do), complete with soaking the cake with coffee syrup. Ann, I'll take one of your muffins, thank you. I'd like the one on the right: it seems to have more blueberries than others . I wonder if I'm getting too preoccupied with photographing my food. I've always thought food is beautiful; but now I can't just look at something delicious without documenting it on film, however trivial it is . For example, I had a very simple sandwich of bread-butter-salmon roe for breakfast (I like it because it's a perfect combination of whole grain, fat and protein), but I couldn't help snapping a picture:

Salad of mixed greens, parsley and mint with paparika-garlic broiled shrimp: (Note to self: do not broil shrimp until it curls next time.)

To me, the best part is discovering on my own . Just walking on the street, looking at all those gorgeous window displays, then walking in, buying something, tasting... I have to confess, I'm a little of a pig: to be able to try as many yummy things as possible I just take a couple of bites and then move on. Sorry to hear about you disappointment though, Thornado.

Ok, so I haven't had the healthiest breakfast today... But I enjoyed every crumb of it - Chocolate pound cake which I baked a while ago and defrosted a small piece of for breakfast. Good with coffee.

I can see why - the Russian word for sorrel is "schavel". It's interesting to see how many regional versions of the soup there are, and especially how the recipe was transformed after being brought to the New World.

Jason, I'm impressed by your photography skills: grits must be THE most un-photogenic food there is, yet you managed to make it look so tempting! Ann_T, the pork chop plate looks so colorful!

Being Russian, I was almost afraid to read this thread. Problem is, there are as many versions of this dish as there are cooks, and everybody feels theirs is the only correct one. What can I say, we Russians feel strongly about our most common dish . So inevitably, in each Russian culinary forum I've been to, these discussions quickly turn ugly... But you guys are a friendly bunch . I can say, though, that everyone agrees on the list of the basic ingredients: beets, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions. It can be made with or without meat. Carrots, garlic, and dill are often added. The red borsch is always served hot (there is also "green borsch" made with sorrel or spinach - this one can be eaten cold) with a dollop of sour cream (or mayo in my weird family ). More often than not it's thick and very filling, especially when accompanied by rye bread and "salo" - salted pork fat. When I first came to the States, I was very surprised to see jars with cranberry juice-looking substance on the supermarket shelf. Then again, Russia is not the only country claiming borsch as its national dish .