gfron1

One of the dishes at Alinea this weekend was a shot that included green apple juice or cider inside of a cocoa butter orb dusted with horseradish set in celery juice. The orb was crisp and thin. I've never worked with pure cocoa butter...can you temper it by itself? I didn't taste the sweetness of white chocolate, nor was it billed as white chocolate.

Like you Steven, we decided to let go to the moment, so we're very happy you took pics - our meals we're very similar. Not much more can be said about the food, but I'll tell you, our sommolier and the rest of the staff are what made the night for us. Every wine was perfectly paired (we did the upgraded wine list). The only not-perfect pairing was the pineapple and bacon lozenge (my term not there's) paired with Philippe Portier Quincy, Loire 2005...not so good together. And the staff's attention to detail! At one point a customer next to us had to shift a course that was placed in front of him. I heard the server say, "Oh, you're left handed. I'll remember that for the remainder of the evening." After that, no matter which server came out, if the meal had a handed-ness, it was placed appropriately. We were also taken by the realness and personableness of the staff - not snooty of aloof at all, which made the meal more accessible and fun for us.

Well tonight was our night. We're in town for the Fancy Food Show so we thought we would take advantage. We did the full tour with upgraded wine pairings. While there were maybe two so-so courses, it was absolutely amazing. I haven't had a chance to digest the meal (mentally and emotionally) yet, but I wanted to thank the previous posters. I would never had taken such a plunge without your comments. Its true! Its all true! Absolutely amazing. Enjoy!

This really is wonderful! I absolutely love the water lilly effect. On the other hand, that tomato boy is scary looking

Wow! The luster on the pyramids is fantastic. Is the ginger juice still liquid? What a great surprise for a ginger lover.

I really appreciate all of these suggestions. Vanille Patisserie sounds exactly like what I'm looking for but I'll stop at as many as I can and report back on my successes!

We're speaking on Monday morning about building community as a means to clientele development. I don't remember the time - I just remember it will be the morning after my Alinea experience with wine pairings

I'm going to Chicago to speak at the Fancy Food Show this weekend. First on my agenda is a dinner at Alinea on Sunday. I'm also taking in Soul Vegetarian East which I haven't had in over a decade - but have been thinking of it ever since. What I really want is a good pastry place. For anyone who has seen my posts, I love tackling more challenging and fun pastries, but I have no training, and living in the middle of the mountains - I have no reference point. For example, I've never had a French Macaroon other than my own. So, I'm hoping to find something in Chicago as a reference point (fun research!). Any suggestions. Thanks in advance...BTW, anyone else going to be at the show or Alinea that night?

Meredith and Anna, Thanks for the flowery compliments. M - I was hoping no one would notice the dixie plates since I take so much pride in my dessert dishes...I just didn't have enough of anything else The lavender was not too strong. I used a French lavender syrup for the mousse and I purposefully held back to make it less strong, and the dried lavender in the shortbread - same thing. Ever since my orange blossom water tiramisu disaster of 2005...I am very careful with essenceful additives

Wow...you're right, this is more complex than I suspected. So let me try a different way of asking it. I have bought jarred products from the Indian market that call themselves one of the 3 different things: chutney, relish and pickle. I've had people say one is sweet, one is savory, etc., but that hasn't held true. If I were to ask the meaning of the terms in Mumbai, could I get an answer? Thanks for the help - even if I'm not getting a direct answer, this is really interesting. Rob

I'm trying to get a definitive definition for chutney, pickle and relish - are they synonyms? Is there a difference? Thanks.

Lavender Mousse and Lavender Shortbread and 25 year Balsamic on pear

The party was Thursday and here's what we did: We started with Beef Carpaccio Crostini topped with fresh Horseradish Creme Then moved on to Oven-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Truffle Oil and Chive Potatoe Puree Followed with Mini Tamales stuffed with Hatch Green Chile, Chicken and Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue Cheese And Lemon Stilton And my personal favorite, Mini Pancetta Cups filled with Asparagus Mousse, topped with Asparagus Tips and Balinese Long Pepper For dessert, Lavender Mousse and Lavender Shortbread And finally, we cracked open the 25-year Balsamic with pear on a bamboo spork! ahhh...the joys of owning a specialty food store

I thought I would nudge this thread back up since my party is on Thursday. The last thing I'm working on is a lavender mousse for dessert. Anyone make this before - recipe? I'm also wanting to serve it on something and am leaning toward a lavender shortcake...other ideas?

I thought I would nudge this thread back up since my party is on Thursday. The last thing I'm working on is a lavender mousse for dessert. Anyone make this before - recipe? I'm also wanting to serve it on something and am leaning toward a lavender shortcake...other ideas?

I forgot - sugar work!

I use them more for cleanliness purposes. For example, I roll out my pastries on them. I line my oven often times with them...etc. When I do bake on them, its typically on my airbake sheet which seems to give better results. Last week I used my toaster oven-sized silpat to roll sushi.

This is kind of cheating, but Kinder Eggs - which have "good" chocolate, but really you buy them for the cheap toys. We had a customer over Christmas season buy 300+ eggs, and when we asked what they did with all of the chocolate, they said, "we have it in a bag for later - we're on a diet."

I don't know if its still there but we enjoyed the Striped Stocking, which with my quick search found it listed in Frommers (link).

I was lurking throughout your trip and just wanted to say thanks for a great report, and for sharing your vacation with us. It brought back great memories and reminded me how much I love Peru and its people.

I agree, Anna, that cake is really beautiful! Great job!

I avoid piping like the plague, but now I'll have to start playing - thanks all!

Logicalmind, the variation on your technique that I found helpful was that I rested my strainer in the CaChl bath, so after the SA caviar set up, I just lifted the strainer and the dipped it in my rinse. I did this to minimize the risk of damaging the caviar.

My piping deficiency is that 1) I can't seem to get the piping ingredient to stick to what I want and so it pulls off when I try to end the decoration (say writing on a cake), of 2) when I go to pull the tip away to end the decoration, the piping ingredient doesn't break or breaks too soon. These both seem like problems with the consistency of my piping ingredient, but they also seem like maybe it has to do with technique. This is why you'll rarely see piped decoration on my desserts.

I couldn't use a ribbed cutter because the dough would still flatten out. I creased parchment paper and then cut my dough as if it were a flat potato which then shaped with the paper. Viola!