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pansophia

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Everything posted by pansophia

  1. I was there about a year ago and fell in love. My parents were back again last weekend and got in on short notice thanks to the blizzard. Apparently the stringozzi is still fabulous but my mom and her friend shared the stracci with braised pork and found it overwhelmingly salty. Also, I seem to recall they aren't doing the pressed chicken (for which they were somewhat known) every night anymore, so ask ahead if you're hoping for that. The second level is open and my folks said it was fun to sit and look out on the snow covered city! A second hand report, but hope that helps.
  2. Anywho, I wanted to recreate a childhood favorite of mine, a mint meringue kiss with chocolate chips. My cousin made them every holiday. Last year I attempted Martha's meringue kisses and had total failure (just 3 egg whites, 2 TB sugar, and food coloring). Last night I tried this recipe. I ended up with tasty meringues of the perfect texture, but they were all cracked and bubbly, like so: Could timing be an issue? My husband needed me to find a print cartridge just as I was ready to pipe, so they waited a minute or two. My first piping tip was a mess so I also had to squeeze the mixture into a new piping bag and try again. I would really like to make these for a cookie exchange but want prettier meringues. Can anyone help?
  3. Oh what shame fell upon my head this Thanksgiving eve. My family had a small celebration this year. There were two babies born this year so in-laws that had previously been silent came out of the shadows to glom on to the new families. That left my parents, my grandma, and me and my husband. (We being babyless and his parents being in England, no one fought to steal us away.) I begged for pie duty, baking being my pride and joy. No, again no this year. Grandma buys the pie as that's how she feels involved. And no I couldn't bake a pie and lie to Grandma, not even if I let Mom keep the pie money. My task instead, so basic and simple, was mashed potatoes. I am particular about my mash, preferring a smooth puree to lumps, a fact my mother feels she must bring up each year. If I am so picky, let me make them! (Forgetting that my husband makes the best mashed, but he had to work that morning.) I thought I would try the method in the eGullet Potato Primer, after all it had fancy words like "retrograde the starches" and I excel at fanciness. I am smart enough to know not to try new techniques the day of the occasion but a migraine got in the way of my test, and perhaps got in the way of my common sense as well. I have some theories as to what went wrong, for my own sake most of them hinge on the fact that my mother doesn't own a digital thermometer and I had to use an ancient candy thermometer for the second cooking cycle. I will blame that thermometer to my dying day. We ended up with bits of par-boiled potato surrounded by lovely mashed potato. Oh yes, and it was cold by the time it got to the table. I screwed up mashed potatoes. *sighs* But! On the bright side, my mom panicked when she realized that her turkey didn't have a pop-up timer (ignoring my plea that they were worthless anyway) so I did manage to save the turkey from destruction by finding a lost and forgotten meat thermometer. It was 176 when I pulled it from the oven. A bit high and yet Mom still fretted about it being underdone while I explained carry over. I may have saved the turkey, but I don't think I'll ever live down those semi-mashed potatoes.
  4. What's with the snub of Batali from the "Iron Chef Sky Box?" For a network that continues to claim he's not leaving the show, that seems a bit rude.
  5. Okay, I had an odd one the other night and woke up thinking "Thank goodness eGullet has a Food Dreams thread to post this on!" For some reason Anthony Bourdain, Rocco Dispirito, and Bobby Flay were coming for dinner, but I hosted them at my parent's house as we don't really have a dining room. I was so scared they wouldn't like the homemade pasta e fagioli soup I'd made that I ate that and served them Campbell's Chicken Noodle. Bourdain reamed me out while Rocco tried to convince me it tasted just like homemade. Bobby just sat there. Weirdness.
  6. pansophia

    Pancakes!

    Mmmm...grandma's buttermilk pancakes up at the cabin. Nothing like it! She also always used a big old electric griddle. I knew there was some other "secret so I dug out the recipe and it says "Add sugar and baking powder right before cooking (when griddle is hot)." This was always key. Everything else could sit on the counter for a while but those two ingredients didn't go in until the griddle was hot and ready. Buttermilk Pancakes 1 cup flour 1 1/4 cups buttermilk 1 tsp soda 1 egg 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup canola oil 1 Tbs sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1 Mix flour, buttermilk, soda, egg, salt, and oil 2 Add sugar and baking powder right before cooking (when griddle is hot) 3 Drop ladleful onto hot griddle, I haven't tried her recipe yet. I'm scared I'll screw it up even though it looks so simple.
  7. Hubby and I just spent $375 on our anniversary dinner at La Belle Vie here in Minneapolis. Eight course tasting menu, wine flight, tax, tip, and valet. L'Atelier in Vegas still wins though, I think we were around $450 there.
  8. Alton Brown did a show on "power bars" a while back
  9. This might not do it all yet, but it is a handy, small home scanner. I bought one after watching the insurance nightmare my parents dealt with after a house robbery. The software will track everything from groceries to wine to comic collections.
  10. This is departing from the sandwich world though I'm sure it could be adapted. There is a pizza place in Northern Minnesota that makes a Peanut Butter, Jalepeno, and Pepperoni pizza. I resisted trying it for YEARS though a cousin loved it. When I finally gave it a chance I was addicted. Same for those to whom I've now introduced it. We make a version at home now with a light spreading of PB on the crust, then tomato sauce of choice, then pepperoni, then sliced jalepenos. I tend to pick the peppers off so sometimes I just use a few dashes of the jalepeno tabasco instead of peppers. Seriously, try it.
  11. pansophia

    Duck Eggs

    I asked a similar question about eggs recently, and even though mine discusses chicken eggs, I'm guessing you can find some crossover ideas! Showcasing Super Fresh Eggs
  12. I have the same pouring problem with the Pyrex measuring cups. If I don't get the pouring angle JUST RIGHT, it flows back down the jug and in the most recent incident, all over my feet. The OXO SoftWorks ones work better with a much more angled spout, but they only come in plastic that isn't microwave safe, which is often a pain.
  13. I just want to add one more link : Backyard Chickens My husband and I have a flock (err...two) of laying hens in our urban backyard and that site was priceless for information from others who have "been there, done that." They have a forum dedicated to meat birds and a lot of good advice about small scale butchering. Hopefully I'm a few years away from thinking about it yet, we're getting 10-12 eggs a week from our two!
  14. Rather than stray too far off topic and use up resources here, I'll try to post some photos on my blog tonight. Honestly we were told it's easier than having cats and so far it's been true. Oh, and we have a 75-lb golden retriever who went a bit nuts at first but has calmed down considerably. They've even learned how to share the yard (under strict supervision) from time to time.
  15. A bit random but I thought I'd post here instead of starting something new. A little birdy just told me that Starbucks is getting rid of or discontinuing their Barista Espresso machines, and the remaining ones are likely to get marked down to about $99. We think ours is a pretty good basic machine and I just thought I'd let y'all know to be on the lookout.
  16. This all just makes me glad that we took the plunge and have a coop with two hens in our urban backyard. Yay for truly fresh and local eggs!! It's been several weeks now and it still feels like magic to come home and pick up two freshly laid eggs. Plus they are easier than cats in terms of care and maintenance.
  17. here it is! ← That's actually not it -- the scoop was long like that, but had a spoon at the bottom, for scooping. I really need to find this... ← It wasn't this one was it? I just saw it and was slightly shocked by it. I may have nightmares now - it looks like one of Uri Geller's spoons!
  18. Thanks Sam! The coffee corner has been pared back a bit since that photo but we still have more than any human should!
  19. Alas, the chicken was a complete disaster. Firstly, it was not nearly as disassembled as I thought. The legs and thighs were off, as were the wings. Most everything else was intact (though most of the gizzard bits were removed). This also meant that when my husband assured me it was thawed, he was wrong. There were massively frozen bits. Secondly, it was not the chicken hubby thought it was. This was an older bird that the farmer had recommended steaming and then using the meat in salads, pot pies, etc. The bits that got done were overdone and leathery. But I am proud of myself for getting in there, digging under the skin, and getting over at least some of my ick factor. (Perhaps cleaning up after the two laying hens in the backyard has given me more of a livestock view.) I will say, it smelled great! We can't wait to try the method suggested by David again...but on a younger and less frozen bird. Apparently I looked so devastated that my hubby went out and bought me pie, so the evening wasn't a total loss.
  20. This is my usual operating procedure but I get home first tonight, and I have to learn somehow! And yes, I mean disassembled - I thought my hubby called it quartered but he's British so it's not his fault he doesn't speak English. This sounds great, and much faster than the methods I was looking at. I'll report back later tonight!
  21. This is probably a dumb question but I admit, I hate the feeling of raw chicken and so have avoided cooking it. We have a lovely chicken thawing in the fridge that was given to us by a local organic farmer. If I recall, it's a smaller bantam bird and most definitely free range (we were chased by a herd of them at feeding time!) Here's the stupid question. If I want to roast it (in the beautiful Le Creuset oval dish I just got for my birthday, yay!) most of the recipes I'm finding are for whole birds. Can I use the same thing for a quartered bird and just assume it will take less time? --- An aside, it feels ridiculous that I am more comfortable following a fancy recipe to the letter to put out a gourmet meal than I am just figuring out the basics like "how to cook a chicken." Surely at nearly 28 I should know how to throw some seasoning on some chicken bits and cook them!
  22. We followed the advice above and did L'Atelier for dinner with Bouchon for breakfast. L'atelier was amazing and eye opening we budding young foodies. Easily the most memorable meal of my life so far.
  23. So I poached my first eggs yesterday and holy cow - am I hooked. In fact, I'm having it for a late lunch again today. Both chickens are laying as off two days ago so we will really start using the eggs. How amazing to get home from errands, pop into the coop, grab the two eggs, and then head into the kitchen to make lunch. It's really amazing and I'm so glad we decided to do this!
  24. I think there are three now. St. Louis Park was first, at Excelsior & Grand. Second came Maple Grove in the big Arbor Lakes shopping development. And I think there is (or will be) one in Woodbury. We saw coming soon signs back a while back.
  25. You've made me miss our cabin, I won't get up again until Labor Day. Being married to a foreigner has given me an interesting perspective on how lucky so many of us are to be able to go "up nort'" for a weekend, whether to our own cabin or a rental. It's been four years since my Grandma passed away and after a bit of an estate dispute, the cabin went to my Dad. His Dad built the place in 1952ish. With the arrival of my nephew, now my Mom is "Grandma H" and she's been the victim of many comparisons to her predecessor. The memories go back as far as any I have - my Grandma was an amazing hostess and she spoiled us kids rotten. Ten people in a small three-bedroom cottage and because of the galley kitchen, we just HAD to pass by the fresh gingerbread cookies or the blueberry muffins everytime we wanted to go from family room to bathroom. They rarely lasted long. She must have made hundreds of jars of TV mix in her years. We use the same recipe and the same jar, but it hasn't tasted the same in years. Good, but not the same. She spoiled us and yet she was strict when necessary. One of my big brother's friends still remembers being told that if he didn't eat his peas, he couldn't come back next summer. She would never have followed through, but he ate his peas. Even though I was the chubby kid and under constant pressure to lose weight, Grandpa always let me get ice cream at the little general store. I usually had bubble gum. He always had butter pecan. It was always gone before we got back home. I had never realized until now that the bubble gum ice cream was the same shade of pink as our cabin. Yes. Pink. My friends never believed me until they got up there. Pink like a pink geranium, my Grandma's favorite flower. The flower we now bring to her grave every summer. The new Grandma H has a new style. But it's a new era. Perhaps my little baby nephew will grow up with fond memories of caprese salad and homemade salsa instead of rice pudding and gingerbread. Just so long as he has the memories. My parents painted the cabin tan a few years ago, it was their way of starting a new era. But even when I'm standing on the dock looking back up at it, it's still pink to me. And I can't wait to get back to the pink cabin. --- Didn't mean to write a novel - just been in a reflection sort of mood
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