Nina C.

(It won't let me edit the above post again) Duh! Of course you are in NC right now, not NYC area, so hoping over to Union Square probably won't work so well. There's also this recipe from Gourmet http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/14415

I know you probably want to make it yourself, but Beth's Farm Kitchen at the Union Square Farmers market makes a Garlic Rosemary Jelly that is SO good - impossibly good. Beth's Farm Scroll down, on the left side. Edited to use non-html coding

I imagine you are in your bed, full and happy now, but I can't wait to hear the full report tomorrow! You are a lucky girl indeed to be having dinner with Daniel and Alicia.

Megan! So glad to see you blogging again. Your itinerary sounds awesome, although I wonder what Valentine's Day means. After a few years of going out in the city and dealing with crowds, poor service, limited tasting menus, and an irritating NYTimes photog at Room4Dessert (really? Did he have to be leaning over us the whole time on Valentine's Day?), I've settled on making a delicious meal together at home, and choosing a different day to go out. If you need company for Death & Co or Momofuku, let us know! And don't deprive us too much of your cooking - you always seem to take such care with what you make, whether it's indulgent or healthy.

I've had this blogpost bookmarked for ages, meaning to make it but haven't got around to it: http://blog.foodienyc.com/2006/12/cocoa_pasta_bra.html This is along the lines of what others have suggested- cocoa pasta with braised short ribs, but it sounds damn good to me! Also, I don't know if you've seen this Art Culinaire article on chocolate in savory dishes: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_..._74/ai_n6227906 I think cocoa powder can be used sparingly in the batter/breading for a variety of fish courses, and chocolate pairs with those vegetables that have a sweeter side to them - squash, cauliflower, etc. The trick is in balancing the flavors....

I assume you are talking about this? http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/food/arc...terday_grub.php Sounds like a disgruntled employee spreading gossip....

Could you do a "decorate your own cupcake bar"? That way you could serve bowls of icing, the cupcakes, and bowls of the candy you bought, saving you and the volunteers time and providing a fun activity. Or do the seniors not have that dexterity? I don't remember how old/able your crowd is.

Thought those of you who weren't familiar with Eater might like to read this AP story Interesting to note that NYTimes/Pete Wells and Food&Wine respect Eater, while publicists can't stand them.

Eater has mostly NY and LA content, true, but they also follow great chefs and food personalities. I'm guessing that the placement on Deathwatch has less to do with the influence/lack of influence of eGullet in NYC and more to do with what celebrated food people have said about eG lately. Meaning that eG will continue to be a great resource especially for home cooks, but perhaps not have the impact or number of food celebs posting that it once had. The Eater guys are always at media parties here in NY - young, energetic, good looking. And they often have the scoop immediately. But they do care a lot about hype and what's hot.

What a great image.

Mark Wahlberg's band was called "The Funky Bunch" Funky is another word for stinky Onions are stinky Shallots are often thought to be another variety of onion, but they are actually a species of their own Petula Clark and Truffles

I had brunch here on Saturday and it was so bad it was funny. The waiter seemed stoned - for example we had to ask for water twice. The second time he plopped down two big bottles of water for the table but neglected to bring any glasses. It took twenty more minutes and flagging down a different waiter to get some. Half of our food was brought out a full 20 -40 minutes before the rest. The craziest part is that even though two of us had ordered salads, and three of us had ordered a pancake, we got each of them at different times. No apology was offered until we asked again about the last of the food. There were other service problems here, like the waiter scratching his head OVER our plates of food, but the biggest sin is that the food wasn't that interesting. It was fine, but nothing more. The grits were TERRIBLE - flavorless and not smooth enough. One of my companions noted that they tasted like american cheese had been used in them. Anyway, I don't know that the egullet crowd is rushing to eat here, but since this place got some buzz recently with Eric Lind taking over, I thought I'd take the opportunity to vent.

How fun! I'll take the easy one and say Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia Australia is one of only two continents without Nutria. (The other being Antartica) Wait - do all connections have to be food or people related? In that case I'll need to try again.

I usually tip 20% except between Thanksgiving and New Year's when I try to tip 25% to 30%. On the meals I buy, the difference is usually not that much, and I figure it's worth the karma. And of course, as noted above, the possibility of better service on return. Of course the other debate is how much you tip at the bar, with bartenders arguing that in Manhattan with the cost of cocktails ever rising, a $1 tip is no longer sufficient.

I'm not a frequent bread baker, and certainly not as talented as many of you. But I thought I'd share my Thanksgiving challah. It's a stuffed challah, filled with shallots, garlic, rosemary, and parmesan. I use my regular challah recipe, but before I braid it, I flatten out the ropes and stuff them with the sauteed shallot mixture. It's a show-stopper and one that the family has come to beg for. This year, my yeast wasn't very active, and the dough took about twice as long to rise as normal. It gave me headaches in the moment, but the flavor was fantastic.

I went to EMP for Brunch today for the express purpose of tasting Nicole Kaplan's desserts again before she moves on. I have a huge sweet tooth, so I decided to be a rebel and bookend my meal with sugar. No salad for me to start, instead I had the rich hot chocolate, served with a quenelle of vanilla bean whipped cream, a small homemade marshmellow and a chocolate macaroon. Although the macaroon was just slightly on the dry side, it worked with the salted caramel filling. They brought around a "bread basket" which we agreed was a surprise highlight of the meal. Flaky tender croissants, deeply caramelized canneles, and small strawberry and almond croissants. There was also a bread of some sort. Next, I had the "slow cooked dayboat Chatham Cod with violet artichokes and pancetta." This was a dream - the fish was cooked perfectly, delicate and fresh, and far more flavorful than cod usually is. While the crispy artichokes on top, and sauteed artichokes underneath were nice, it was the deeply-flavored and well-salted artichoke foam that made the dish so memorable. The sprinkle of diced pancetta was more of seasoning than ingredient, which allowed the fish to shine. My sweetie had the eggs benedict with buttermilk biscuits and pancetta. This was perfectly cooked, quality ingredients and the pancetta/biscuit combo was a nice twist on the usual, but at the end of the day it was still eggs benedict - not so much to say. Then for dessert we had the "honey crisp apple french toast with bacon streusel and maple pecan ice cream" and "araguani chocolate souffle with caramel popcorn and salted caramel ice cream." The french toast was more like toastlets - little postage-stamps of almond topped brioche with caramelized coins of apple, a quenelle of the icecream, and a warm bourbon sauce along side. There was just a tiny sprinkle of the "bacon streusel" and it was a little weak for my taste. On it's own you could taste the bacon, but it didn't seem to add anything when paired with the other components. Certainly a pleasant dessert - the unadvertised bourbon sauce added a good bit of depth and interest to it. But the souffle was the more overly successful dessert. The star of the show was the salted caramel ice cream with beautiful nuggets of salt throughout it. The souffle was lovely - the waiter instructed us to poke a hole in it and then pour the accompanying dark caramel sauce over it. I was pleased to see the contrast of caramels - the ice cream was light and sweet, the sauce was dark, slightly bitter, and a good match to the intensity of the chocolate. Interesting to note: the hostess told me that Nicole Kaplan's successor will be her second-in-command, a woman whose name is escaping me at the moment. I'm wondering if this is a permanent replacement, or a stopgap measure until they find a bigger name.

I've never heard of Sweetest day, so I just looked it up: from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetest_Day Sweetest Day is an observance celebrated primarily in the Great Lakes region and parts of the Northeast United States on the third Saturday in October[1]. It is described by Retail Confectioners International, as "much more important for candymakers in some regions than in others (Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo being the biggest Sweetest Day cities)" and an "occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed."[2] Sweetest Day has also been referred to as a "concocted promotion"[3] created by the candy industry solely to increase sales of candy. Persistent claims have also been made that Sweetest Day was manufactured by the American Greetings Company or Hallmark Cards in order to boost sales. http://www.theromantic.com/sweetestday.htm

This book has been hitting a thousand for me lately. On Monday night, when it wasn't quite time to start baking for Thanksgiving, but I was just itching to get started. So I pulled out this book and made the applesauce bars. If you haven't already heard enough praise for these, they were moist and light, sweet but complex in flavor, and just dog-garn good. They were a huge hit with the family and were gone long before Thursday. I overcooked the glaze a little and it became more like a frosting than a glaze but it still worked. Interestingly, though I have the far bigger sweet tooth, I thought the glaze was a little too sweet and would leave it off next time, while my boyfriend said "no! don't leave off the glaze!" Then on Wednesday night I made the sweet potato biscuits. When they first came out of the oven, I was worried that they weren't the most attractive biscuits I've ever made (the book tells you not to be too worried about getting the tops even, and has you use a rather small cutter) and even after waiting 10 minutes, the flavor was good but not great. So I went to plan B and made my standard cream biscuits with cheddar cheese. By the time Thanksgiving dinner rolled around, the sweet potato biscuits had developed the best flavor - full of warm sweet potato and spices, and the essence of the holiday. So they went like hotcakes while the cream biscuits languished in the bowl. (We took leftovers to a small get together yesterday, and when all the biscuits were gone I said good! Now I have an excuse to bake more from Dorie's book!)

I was a vegetarian for many many years, and still frequently cook vegetarian. Since many of my friends are vegetarian or don't eat non-kosher meat or meat & dairy together, much of my entertaining is vegetarian as well. Last night was a meal for one - I sauteed shitake and chanterelle mushrooms in butter and rosemary, and quickly wilted some arugula. Meanwhile, I toasted some rosemary bread, then spread goat cheese on top and added bunches of the arugula and the mushrooms. So good and so easy. I wish I had chopped the arugula a little more first, at least no one was watching!

Yankee-raised girl here with a completely Southern family. I claim both heritages as it suits me, thank you very much. Although I must confess I am much more like a northerner when it comes to writing thank you notes, fortunately those who taught me how to cook knew the southern secrets. My father's mother is a bit of a cold woman and has always been called Grandmother. But my cousins who grew up in Texas and had ten years of knowing her before she got too lost in the bottle, call her Granny Goose. My father learned to cook from her, and Thanksgiving was something she excelled at. So now I have the family recipes for cornbread stuffing rich with bits of celery and egg, and good gravy, and smothered pork chops. My mother's mother didn't think she was old enough to be a grandmother, and always insisted we call her by her first name, Peggy. She had a maid for most of her married life named Crezette (apparently a cousin of Lightning Hopkins, for those of you who know the name), and thus never became much of a cook. Crezette was famous for her biscuits, and big breakfast spreads, and taught my mother many recipes. Peggy only knew how to cook tuna fish cassarole with potato chips on top, or meatloaf with "fancy" green peas from the can along side. And though I've become a snob about lots of things, I still get big eyes at the very idea of that creamy casserole with the salty crunch on top. I also have the gift of my great grandmother's recipes. She was named Granny and I'm told that she was a fantastic cook. My mother had many fond memories of learning to cook at her knee. Her family was from Alsace Lorraine, and had come to New Orleans when she was just a small girl. Her handwritten recipe book, titled "All the Good Things", occupies a place of honor on my bookshelf. Thanks for the trip of memories - so appropriate on this nostalgia filled week!

Thanks so much for your reply Dorine. I ended up using Anya Von Bremzen's recipe to make it - here are the results: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...74entry130797 I think it could have been done without the morcilla as it was a little intense for some of my guests. But I enjoyed the contrasts in the meats. I might put less morcilla in next time.

I recently had an indulgent trip to Despana where I bought whimsically, figuring I'd snack on things, or find/invent recipes when I got home. I discovered I had many of the ingredients for Fabada, just needed to go back to get the beans, and buy some ham and pancetta. I used Anya Von Bremzen's book From the Spanish Table, which I checked out of the library. This and several other recipes were successes so it may have to become a permanent part of my collection. Problems: My beans (so expensive!) were delicious but didn't stay quite as whole as I would have liked. I probably stirred more than I should have. I didn't find the right kind of ham, so I substituted. In spite of this, the stew was SO GOOD and not hard to make at at all. The combination of meats, pimenton, and amazingly creamy beans was so satisfying but much more than a comfort food. It's so heavy and rich that you won't want to eat very much of it in one sitting- I currently have vats in my freezer. I saved some of the broth separately, to make an amazingly flavorful base for a lighter kind of soup. Here's the meat ready to go into the stew And here it is after being stewed for a few hours, and then cut up. Everything all together

Perhaps themed classes would help people understand what they don't know. Perhaps you could offer a class about this time that was An American Thanksgiving in Holland - showing them where to find all of the things they'll want for a proper Thanksgiving, what substitutions can be made, and maybe teaching one or two dutch dishes that would fit well with the theme. Or, also, Throwing a Dutch cocktail party/ Entertaining the Dutch way. This would not only be a cooking class, but might include etiquette or other customs if expats need to entertain Dutch clients or bosses.

Here's the article online: Richman I often like Richman's writing, but it seemed like he was going out of his way to be an ass. He even says at one point "I’m trying to be unstintingly hard-bitten here, but that kind of broke my heart." A shame really, because putting aside his questioning the existance of Creoles, and insulting New Orleanians ("I believe their morning exercise regimen consists of stumbling out of bars"), he actually has some points to make about where is interesting to eat now.

An indulgent trip to Despana means I have the ingredients for Fabada. When I did a search for a recipe, this article on Tapas by Jose Andres came up. Can someone who has the book take a look and see how Food & Wine modified it? Or if anyone is familiar with Fabada, I'd appreciate suggestions! Thanks.