gfron1

She's doing great, and that will probably bring us to the next Culinary Extravaganza...stay tuned!

It took a month of pestering, but I finally got the Thai Lime Shrimp recipe from Chef Mel. Thai Lime Butter 8 oz butter 2 t. Lime zest 1/4 C. Lime juice 1 T. Minced lemongrass 2 T. Minced fresh mint 2 T. Minced cilantro 1/4 t. Red pepper flakes 2 T. Minced fresh ginger 1/4 t. Curry Powder 2 t. Minced garlic 1 T. Fish sauce Combine everything and store in airtight container in the fridge until firm. Oven to 475 F Split shrimp down middle of back but not all the way through, open them Salt and pepper Cover with Thai Lime butter Roast 6 minutes or until just done

I'm in the midst of Greek and Palestinian Easter cookies and both start with a very, very dry crumb that I'm supposed to work into a malleable dough. Has anyone made anything like this - anyone up for a demo (in the next few hours )

New chocolate - Don Puglisi. I had the cinnamon and the pistachio. Both are 45%. The cinnamon has a sandy texture and is great as a drink. Has anyone else seen these - beautiful packaging.

I forgot to mention that I did the high altitude adjustments since I live at 6000 feet. I did 75% of Paul's recommendations and it worked very well.

yes - they're very addictive graham crackery things common in Britain.

My guess is overwhipped.

A Brit friend's birthday is Sunday and I want to make him a McV's milk chocolate cake. I could just crush McV's in between layers, but what fun is that. Does anyone have a graham based cake recipe?

Here's my report. They went straight from my oven to the serving area - no time for that day of aging! Let's just say that of all of the desserts, it was the first and only to sell out. I came back to my store later in the day and ran into a customer that I knew his wife took one home to him. He said that his first bite tasted like any other cookie, but then after his second bite he started to get the complexity of the cookie. That was my impression as well. We're not conditioned to really taste CCCs, rather we scarf, and so complexity is missed in many instances. Paul - thanks for a good recipe.

Leaving the failure section of the cookbook... Shnecken - Brioche filled with raisins, pecan meal and muscovado/butter. These didn't sell well at all at my store, but the eight that I enjoyed were super.

I've got a batch in the cooler right now waiting to bake. I subbed dark muscovado for light since its all I had, but all else was as per instructions. I'm baking to sell, so we'll see what the customers think.

Tri2Cook - I knew I was genius when I used celery! So how did the flavors do together? I had a dessert with edemame when I was in LA last week, and it makes sense to me as a component in a dessert. Plafield - lot's of love went into that cake with your decorating - good job!

You guys are doing such cool stuff. I wish you were around the corner from me.

Thanks May. I thought eGullet was going to let me down on this one! That was the lead I needed. The Chinese version are called "bee hives" (sarang tebuan). Apparently the specific type that I found was a "kuih rose." Now google is showing me all sorts of stuff: Someone's web blog about the sweet Another with recipe Does anyone have a source for one of the irons/molds?

Thanks Alana. Is it wrong for me to want to slurp up every bit of Italian meringue? (rhetoric question)

Most people are unaware that the famous singer Bob Dylan changed his name due to his psychoeffective disorder that caused a disdain for the letter "e". (Geez - I'm young, but not that young. What a mistake!)

For a Bob Dillon themed dinner I made "Hey Mr. Tangerine Flan." I had issues with my sauce being too thick so I cropped the picture to make it look prettier than it was. Tangerine flan disc filled with Grand Marnier simple syrup, sprinkled with demerera for texture, set atop an orange tuile (PH's) and Italian meringue.

Thanks - I made this tonight and it held up 3 hours. I left it uncovered so there was a slight toughness to the outside, but I just scooped in and it was soft and yummy.

My recent trip to LA - and really great timing to enjoy Adrian's dessert tasting menu followed by the chocolates.

Looking back I seem to be asking all of the meringue questions. Here's a basic one that I haven't found the answer to yet - how long will an Italian meringue last? I want to make it and not use it for a few hours - will that be okay? Should I refrigerate or not? I'm going to be serving it unbaked as part of a dessert.

I had the pleasure of tasting a number of Adrian's chocolates last Friday and they were all amazing - the flavor, the texture, and most impressive was the thinness of the shell and the gloss. Beautiful tempering job!

Here are a few topics about orange blossom/flower water #1 #2 #3

Last night was Providence. RJWong and I enjoyed the Chef's tasting menu with the full dessert tasting menu. What I lack in details I'll make up by saying that this was the best meal I've had since Alinea. Frankly I'm too tired to remember most of the specific dishes, but there were a few that linger this morning. An amuse that included a miniature mug of cold potato leek soup/foam atop a warm saffron broth - my favorite savory experience. The veal was so incredibly tender and well flavored - possibly the only savory that I wanted a slightly bigger bite. My favorite dessert was the opening dish - a Thai-inspired soup with sweet pink grapefruit. I can't wait to try and re-create. Michael Cimarusti and Donato Poto were such gracious and caring hosts. The service staff was perfectly attentive without the pretention that could exist in a restaurant of this quality. The sommalier (Gino?) did a nice job with his pairings - not on par with Alinea's pairings, but every match was excellent. But for me the star of the night was Adrian Vasquez (xdrixn). Adrian not only dazzled me with the dessert tasting menu, but also shared some of his chocolates from his newly developed chocolate lab reported here. His thematic continuations from the plated desserts shone in these truffles, in particular the mushroom chocolate - not only a perfect flavor, but incredible texture (loose ganache I think). Thanks to Russell for an incredible week of food. His mantra for the week was that LA was a major food city (my interpretation of his words) and he definitely made the case. (post note: I never made it to a few of the recommendations above - Darya, etc., just too much to do and too little time. Thanks to everyone who offered their suggestions.)

Here are some more of our visits during the week. Guelaguetza A small LA chain of Oaxacan restaurants with a fun atmosphere, live music (at least on our Monday night visit), and plenty of food at a good price. We were intrigued by the crickets that they serve, but I bowed because of the price on the crickets - as the kids say, "Hell I can capture crickets in my basement for free!" I enjoyed the mole verde with chicken which turned out to be a soup. Nice flavor. The shortribs were very tender and juicy. We also started with the appetizer platter - that did us in and could have easily been a light meal for the three of us. The mole negro was on the platter, and comes with a couple of the entrees, and tasted very nice - one of the better moles I have had. Last night RJWong took me on a dessert tour. First was Spago, Beverly Hills. We had our star siting with Randy Jackson from American Idol. A very attentive staff and reasonable prices highlighted the meal in the courtyard. I had the 5-Spice duck breast for entree which was well prepared. For dessert I had Sherry Yard's toffee cake which was very decadent and just to my liking. Next we headed to Citrus @ Social Hollywood, the creation of Michel Richard. Being already slightly full from Spago, I had the lobster, "begula" pearls - lobster meat topped with poached egg and covered by what I assumed to be Israeli cous cous cooked with squid ink - but don't quote me on that - and served in a caviar tin. Dessert was a light citrus souffle, ice cream with chocolate pearls, and fresh grapefruit. Perfect for dessert #2. Our last stop was Hatfield's where we had our final desserts. I had a Fresh citrus napoleon: crispy phyllo, almond cake, mascarpone, and tangerine sorbet . This truly was the best dessert of the night - not only because I was so full of sugar, but the balance of textures, tastes, temperatures...the whole package made it a perfect dessert - and the type I aspire to make. The house then shared with us a Chocolate mousse tartlet: chewy caramel, chocolate coffee crumble, and espresso ice cream. That was simply too much for me at that point in the evening, but the texture and taste was very nice and certainly one I would choose had it not been my fourth full dessert in four hours. Prior to that, for lunch, I went to Langer's. And I ordered the #19 - hot pastrami with slaw. Worth every penny! I'm not a huge meat eater and I wanted to go back every day for another - great stuff.

Here it is. It looks like a three dimensional pizzelle that has been turned outward to give it its unique shape. Does anyone know what these are called, recipes, or how I can make them? I bought this in Thai Town - Los Angeles. Thanks. [Edited to add: I have changed the title to include the proper name following the responses below for future searching.]