FrogPrincesse

Thanks Steve.And I assure you, this is a normal European-size fork! :-)

PumpkinStalker, North of Solana Beach in Encinitas you have Blue Ribbon Artisan Pizza which is a local spot that is very good. It is tiny so you will end up chatting with your neighbors for sure. NINE-TEN in La Jolla is good, especially the tasting menu. It could be considered "frou-frou" based on your definition (the portions are not huge but if you get a full menu you should be ok), although it has a fairly casual vibe (they call it "casual elegant"). Also in La Jolla, Whisknladle is very good and more casual. They make everything from scratch including their charcuterie selection. Based on your description (where the locals go + like to be full + good desserts + craft beers and cocktails), I think that Cuccina Urbana would also be a good fit, although I have had mixed experiences with the cocktails on busy nights - it's usually safer to get wine or beer there. There are a bunch of other ideas in this thread and in this other one too. I agree with Honkman's suggestions too (except for his comment about NINE-TEN !)

Regarding Easter 2012, here was the menu for our family meal, mostly from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Mother's ruin punch (Phil Ward) Curried English pea soup with crème fraîche (Lucques) Blood oranges, dates, Parmesan and almonds (Lucques) Herb roasted rack of lamb with flageolet gratin, roasted radicchio and tapenade (Lucques) Crème fraîche panna cotta with strawberries (Lucques) Chocolate pots de crème (David Lebovitz) After a glass of punch, we started with the curried English pea soup with crème fraîche. It's a pea, lettuce and mint soup. The pea and lettuce combination reminds me of a traditional French dish, braised peas with carrots and lettuce. The curry brightens the flavor of the soup and the mint adds a touch of freshness. It's comforting and evocative of spring. I have to say that I have been impressed with the soup recipes in the book, they are all very good. The recipe is available here.

This is easier to answer for Alaskan scallops than for east coast scallops. It would be extremely difficult and expensive to keep scallops alive on the boat, at the plant, on the airplane, and at the market. It's a very long chain. I don't know if any of the east coast boats do any live deliveries. I suspect the reason why live scallops aren't more common in the States is related to the reasons why pork chops outsell offal here by a large margin. I don't know how large French scallops are, but the size of these means there's an intimidating amount of guts you'd have to swallow. Thanks for the answer, that makes sense. French scallops (coquilles Saint Jacques aka Pecten maximus) are about 4 to 5 inches in diameter (for the shell). What is the typical shell size for Alaskan scallops?

It looks like the Goddess herself had already posted the recipe for the Punt e Mes Fizz a while back. It looks identical to the JoM version except that the Punt e Mes and sweet vermouth are stirred in JoM and that she is a little more generous with the Champagne (3 oz vs. 1.5 to 2 oz).

A very naive question about scallops - what happens to the roe/coral and why are they only rarely sold in the shell? In France they are always alive when you buy them. I don't understand why this is not the norm in the US.

A Punt e Mes Fizz last night for me with Punt e Mes, sweet vermouth, and Champagne. I got the recipe in the Joy of Mixology and it says that it is "adapated on a recipe by Audrey Saunders". I could not find the original recipe online but I like this one as is.

Kim - thanks. I love the pine nuts in these meatballs and the liberal amount of parsley. Nice-looking salmon liuzhou, and I like the idea of a chickpea puree. Is it made from fresh or canned chickpeas? Last night I had fish as well. I got a few beautiful local rock cod fillets with my CSA, so I made rock cod and pencil asparagus with "the crispiest batter" from Jamie's Italy. The batter recipe is tempura-like; it was very light and crispy indeed. Walnut-scallion bread from Bread & Cie (my favorite local bakery) on the side.

Easter is around the corner. I will be hosting a family meal as I do every year (it's my favorite holiday - no turkey and no presents!). What is on everyone's menu?

Thanks Plantes Vertes! This reminds me that I have forgotten to post my 2012 Easter meal that was cooked mostly from the book. Better post it before Easter 2013!

Gorgeous. You should consider opening a little taco shop there - you would make a killing with this thing you call flavor!

Beautiful and inspiring plates as usual, SobaAddict70. More recent (March) meals from my backlog. Butternut squash ravioli with food-processor pesto. The ravioli were purchased, the pesto is Marcella Hazan's recipe. Braised Italian sausages (pork and veal) in tomato and red wine sauce. This is an adaptation of a recipe in All About Braising by Molly Stevens, with the tomato sauce from Babbo. This is one my husband's favorite meals so I make it regularly. Marcella Hazan's fricasseed chicken with rosemary and lemon juice. Excellent and easy to make. Suzanne Goin's lamb shanks from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. These are incredible (think umami bomb). This may be my choice for Easter this year. A very rare (bleu) rib eye steak that was 75% cap - just spectacular, with a frisee salad. Salmon fillet wrapped in prosciutto with herby lentils, spinach and yogurt (Naked Chef). Another recipe that I make regularly. Fresh herb rigatoni with Parma ham and Babbo's basic tomato sauce. Mario Batali's Neopolitan meatballs.

I make something similar. I posted the details in the Daily Sweets thread a while back - I am copying my original post below. I hope that you will find a recipe that works for you!

A few recent cocktails with Champagne. I made these two for a cocktail party last week: Seelbach on the left (using the ratios from Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails) and an Old Cuban on the right. For the Old Cuban, I like the ratios from the Bartender's Choice app which are slightly tweaked to produce a cocktail that is less sweet. Last night was this mini-punch affair, Crimean Cup à la Marmora. Originally from Jerry Thomas and re-discovered by Ted Haigh. It starts with an oleo-saccharum. I changed the prep a bit, adding the lemon juice before the spirits to help dissolve the sugar. I did not add soda water; instead I decided to shake with ice for dilution before pouring into the flutes and topping with Champagne. I reduced the amount of orgeat from 2 to 1.5 oz. I don't have white Jamaican rum in my arsenal so I just used Flor de Cana. It's a delicious cocktail that goes down too easily... It's practically a tiki drink with the orgeat, rum and brandy combination.

Last night I was looking for a recipe for duck breasts, and found this recipe for Duck Scaloppine with Dried Cherries and Grappa in Molto Italiano (I don't have the book but the recipe was available online). The breasts are separated and cut into pieces. They are pounded until thin, dredged in flour, and cooked in olive oil (the recipe called for 1/4 cup but I used a couple of tablespoons). He uses dried cherries, red wine, grappa, chicken stock and butter for the sauce. I did not have any stock on hand so I just used water. As for the grappa, I decided to substitute armagnac and reduce the amount from 1/2 cup (!) to a more reasonable ~ 3 tablespoons. It's a great dish because it takes very little effort and only uses one pan. The sauce is a tad oily (it's not degreased) but it's very flavorful and has a luscious texture. I found the recipe here.

An assortment of little snacks to accompany pre-dinner cocktails. Marcona almonds (I am completely addicted after discovering them last year at Manfred's in Copenhagen), home-cured duck prosciutto, homemade saucisson sec, Cypress Grove's "PsycheDillic" fresh goat cheese with dill pollen, sourdough baguette from Bread and Cie.

Here are the Beets and tangerines with mint and orange flower water again from a recent dinner party. This time I used assorted beets from my CSA (golden, pink and red) together with tangerines (Sumo citrus) and moro blood oranges. It was fantastic.

I finally made Alain Passard's Pumpkin Soup with Basil and a Cappuccino Topping (inspired by mm84321's post here) for a dinner party a couple of weeks ago. I used a butternut squash. It is similar to a traditional French recipe where you cook the squash slowly in milk. Basil and olive oil are added at the end when the soup is blended. I loved it. There was a vegetal flavor imparted by the fresh basil and the olive oil that was unexpected for a squash soup but quite delicious. The cappuccino foam was fun as well.

Here is the Bobby Burns mentioned upthread, which is a Rob Roy with Benedictine replacing part of the sweet vermouth. I used the ratios from the Bartender's Choice app (which differ from the recipe published in the Savoy Cocktail Book and that Erik discussed here). The Benedictine smoothes the edges of the Rob Roy so it worked very well.

Here is EvergreenDan/Dan Chadwick's twist on the Last Word, the Bad Word, created for MxMo LXVI: Bein' Green. It substitutes Gran Classico bitter for the maraschino liqueur. I liked it a lot. It has some bitterness but this was not the dominating characteristic for me. I tasted juicy stone fruit which was unexpected, grapefruit, and a black pepper finish. The interaction between the Gran Classico and the Chartreuse was quite fun!

Thanks for the link Rafa, I remember reading about this "Do Not Resuscitate" seminar at the time.

OK it's time for confessions. There are a lot of revered classic or new classic cocktails out there which are known for the right reason - they are delicious and memorable. However every once in a while you cannot help but wonder what the big deal is about - all your cocktailian friends rave about them, but they just don't work for you... This thread was inspired by Jeff Morgenthaler's confession on twitter a few days ago: To which Dale DeGroff responded: Erick Castro from Polite Provisions in San Diego offered his two bêtes noires: And these two happen to be on my list too... I remember reading about people's dislike for the Vesper as well. What's on your list?

Saturday night was local pink baquetta grouper with vegetable bagna cauda and toasted breadcrumbs (based on a recipe by Suzanne Goin - details here).

I made this ice cream a while ago but forgot to post about it: the Chartreuse ice cream. I've had good luck with ice creams containing spirits in general, they help a lot with the texture. The Chartreuse ice cream has a super funky/herbal flavor as expected. It goes well with chocolate, or more precisely in this case dark chocolate-covered speculoos.

Instead of focusing on my giant backlog on this thread, I thought I should just post my recent meals and take it from there. Monday's dinner - nothng much left in the house and no energy to go grocery shopping. Vialone nano risotto with spinach, basil, Meyer lemon and Parma ham + toasted breadcrumbs. I used the pressure cooker.