Kouign Aman

here's one - SD & OC another and another In La Jolla, a stiff cab fare Looking for Fine Dining and yet another.... And I'm sure that in addition to the reading list above, there will be other suggestions. The more specific you can be regarding what you want to experience, the better the suggestions will be. I hope you find something you really like, and that you tell us all about it!

Close- Gas Lamp. San Diego restaurant thread There's one link for starters. Also look in RJ Wong's compilationclickie If I have time, I'll post links to the more-than-several threads for San Diego, asking much the same question, and all getting pretty much the same responses! (we are a consistent bunch, apparently). I'm all for Bertram's at Mr A's if its a full on blow out. Hard to beat the view.

Dear Santa, vertical storage for the platters and baking sheets. Shuffle the entire kitchen, starting at the fridge, 8" west to make space for the above. Expand that little counter bit 8" while you are at it. Move the counter/bar out 18" (and make all appropriate adjustments to the rest of the house to accommodate this). Replace micro-hood with a real hood. Insert counter-top nukular oven on the expanded counter-fragment. Replace light-rings with royal or cobalt blue glass version (see Varmint's kitchen remodel for reference) Replace pendant lights with candy apple red, marigold or other color shades, consistent with decoratingscheme "baby toy primary". Replace hard-to-clean stove with almost any stove. Gas would be nice for the Tenor's sake, but I'm not picky. Magically create space for a second oven, just for grins. Find me a babysitter for every single night of Restaurant Week. Ones that will come to the house, and can get themselves safely home after. Evaporate the mixed collection of 'extra' glasses collected by the Tenor. Elegant extendable dining table in 'espresso'. Hay for the reindeer is on the back lawn, along with water and oats. Freshly baked cookies are on the hearth, with extras packed up for nibbles along the way, and enough to share with Mrs Claus and the elves if you care to. Thanks, Santa! Oh yeah, one more thing... can you do all this without waking the munchkin, please? Ta everso!

I should have stayed awake a few minutes longer! :boo hoo: Its good to see a recipe for celeriac. I have often wondered idly, whilst hunting more familiar produce, how it is used.

I'd have guessed kohlrabi, but the bulb isnt below ground. Then there's celeriac or rutabagas and with them, I've run out of memory for the produce dept.

red pepper subterranean leek (a different allium and the white part is technically underground) carrots parsnip or jicama

red pepper subterranean garlic (or other allium, but lets go with garlic here) carrots parsnip or jicama

So glad to hear a good report on your first lesson! When you are done teaching your friend, want to take me under your wing?

carrots, onions, potato & red pepper ?

Nachos with extra sharp cheddar cheese and Spike seasoned salt, sour cream on the side. Followed by (an hour or two later), a vast bowl of potstickers with soy sauce/rice vinegar bath. I did not dip the gyoza, I soaked them in the salty tangy goodness. The gyoza were merely a conveyer. After I ate them all, I drank the rest of the sauce. Today will be an indescriminate stuffing of the face as my brain remains convinced that the ache is hunger. There is nothing good to eat here. That will not stop me.

Unless it's fed to them. ← As BSE brought to our attention, cows do eat beef, and mutton.

,including, IMO, the best pralines in the French Quarter.

Molly's Restaurant We ate at Molly's in the Marriott Marina last night. A very pleasant meal, and accidentally a vegetarian one. Stuffed squash blossoms, with micro greens Chestnut-mushroom soup - More please. I'd be happy to have this for breakfast too. A celebration of Autumn vegetables which included: farro with black kale - lovely and chewy tricolor cauliflower in something a bit peppery (the weakest part of the meal) cheesy agnolotti - very good, my companion's favorite of the evening butternut squash - simply roasted and very good. This was very good. It didnt feel like "eating a meal" tho. We were full b agreed that some folks wouldnt be satisfied because there was no 'main course' in this main course. Those folks could order steak, pork, lamb or seafood instead. Sides were: polenta with mushrooms - excellent, creamy, (filling). I ate too much of this. I'd like some now, for lunch, please. baby brussels sprouts - browned, crisp and tender. Very good. somehow we forgot to order the chanterelles. Dessert for us was the cheese plate, which came with a peppery quince paste, a fig/almond slice, semi-raisined grapes. the bleu was served with honeycomb and was our favorite of the selection, tho we very much enjoyed most of the cheeses, in particular one which was layered with the top portion tasting similar to chevre and the top reminiscent of camembert. I wish I could remember the names. I had a glass of Viogner, and my friend had Pinot Gris. Both went well with the food. By the glass was offered in both a 3 and a 6 oz pour, which is a nice option for a lightweight like me who might want to try more than one. The waiter was kind enough to teach me the correct pronunciation for the wine varietal, patiently repeating it for me until I was satisfied I'd heard it properly and would remember it. Service was very good. We split everything, in order to try more, and this was managed graciously. The main meal was served on a series of four small square plates. Cleverly, our individual plates matched them. Its a small thing, but it was fun and made us smile. Tableware is interesting and functional. Sleek slender silverware, bright white china with interesting shapes. Coffee came with a small tray containing packets, loose sugar in the raw, sugar crystal stir-sticks, whipped cream, pouring half-half, and chocolate shavings: an unexpected build-your-own-dessert coffee. If I were to nitpick - the conceit of running words together in the menu section titles was annoying. We didnt expect such a meal from a hotel restaurant, so took no notes, no pictures, and cannot report with great detail. But we'd be happy to go back and try Chef Brian Sinnott's work again. Molly's link

I am enjoying this blog very much! Thank you! Liberty Orchards (Aplets & Cotlets) also sell this: Old-Fashioned Locoum® Gift Boxes Our fresh-tasting version of a Near-East delicacy with flavors right out of the Arabian Nights! Includes Cinnamon & Walnut, Orange Blossom & Almond, Rose & Pistachio, and Lemon. The texture is much the same as their better known product; the flavors are very mild but distinct.

I will make... a family dinner (simple weeknight meals) at least 3 nights a week, including dishes other than spaghetti, roasts or fried rice as the main courses. Barely... but I made it. Whew! Raise the bar for 2007 I will find... a good & accessible source of interesting produce Found it, not using it. Bump to '07 and keep trying. I will learn... something about using herbs and spices for other than baking. I didnt. My food is still bland. Sigh. I will teach... the angelmonster to wait calmly while mama cooks, and to “steal” food from the garden. She rocks. The calmly part is good for 15-20 and I can get 10 more by having her help. I will read.... the Time-Life cookbook Foods of the World series again (after I unearth them from the moving boxes from lo those many years ago….) Found em, started on Italy, got too hungry to keep reading This is the year I will try... pan-frying meats 20 days to go I will taste.... at least one new type of ethnic food Vietnamese wasnt brand new but it was fairly new to me. Totally new to the Tenor I will use... my wok again. Its been years. accomplished I will give... more parties, especially dinner parties Couple barbecues over the summer, no sit-downs. I... will continue to rejoice in the wonder of life, and share as many adventures with friend and family as I can. I will also eat more veggies (this is a perennial. Slowly, slowly, it works), and I will plant herbs. Got better at it, then reverted. The cilantro, basil & thyme are looking good. We... will eat at at least one fine restaurant this year (sans HRH) Yup, it was in April. And then again in May (not quite as fine) My kids... is singular, and will (continue to) be exposed to as wide a variety of foods as I can manage / stomach Yes. She likes salsa, palak paneer, miso soup, maduros, etc.

Fuyu persimmons? Plums on almond pastry?

I think DdeL might be hard to make work for baking because it gets too thick. Every recipe I've seen that calls for scm is using it as liquid and binder. Perhaps if the DdeL can be thinned.... Magnolia brand is very pourable scm.After 4 hours of boiling, its a little..waxy? textured and very stiff. Borden's response is incomplete. Eagle is also thicker than Magnolia. Interesting that M is sweeter, I didnt pick that up. The caramelization & sweetness is more of the abundantly added sugar in scm than the milk sugars which are a small % of the total. The protein crosslinking serves for the texture change it seems. The really dark ones are 24 hours & are probably pretty nasty with the carbon flavor, the really light ones are barely processed. Is there an uncooked control in there? (dont remember number). It would be interesting to process the canned heavy cream. It wont be sweet, has a much higher fat content. I cant begin to guess how it would come out. I am dying of curiosity for the results. I wanted to make several cans of DdeL for a friend's gift today, but am holding off til I read the results and then I'll go shopping. I never wanted to leave the oven on for 24 hours, but 4 hours of boiling is piece of cake. Thanks for blogging! Most very fun to follow and to learn.

Hrm... yogurt you say... Have you ever tried Geitost? It's a Norwegian goats milk cheese that's caramelized. ← When I was a teenager. I didnt like it. If I remember correctly, it had a chalky texture that was (forgive me) udderly unappealing. Its not high on my list of things to try again. What's your take on it?

Aint that a confusing "it aint so" (the Snopes article, which I've read before, and which is why I went to FDA website). 1) no impact on personal travel and bringing souvenirs 2) Kraft says they cant wholesale, the FDA says "we didnt tell em that"! 3) Kraft says its because of folate, FDA says if the folate is naturally occuring its not a problem..... Wonder if Kraft is trying to drive up sales here by starting a rumor of shortage?

I'm curious. Is the gaminess truely inherent to the meat of wild-living animals, or is it a by-product of the extra hanging/aging used to make the meat tender?

The putative Vegamite ban: FDA requires manufacturers to provide their processes. Apparently since 9/11 they've been cracking down, and there is no process on file for vegemite (source www.fda.gov). There may be more involved but I could not find it on their website or via Google. They have stated that its not something that would be stopped by customs if brought in for personal use. So if you have friends and family a'traveling, ask em to stock up for you. My transatlantic trips always involve taking See's Candy east and Marmite west. Its not a concern about added folate so far as i can tell 1) the folate is naturally occurring in both Vegemite and Marmite, as well as a number of fruits and veggies. 2) the FDA made a statement its not about naturally occurring folate. 3) Dosage: I cant imagine eating enough Marmite to hide the symptoms of pernicious anemia. Plus, a person can buy folate supplements as tablets. But the FDA is not always commonsensical.

Blessings upon your head, donbert. 4 hours of hot water, ~ 2 hours of cooling and voila, I have successfully dulced the leche, and humidified the crackling-dry house. I opened the can to beautiful color, texture and thickness everything it should be. There is a faint slight hint of a metallic taste, most noticeable as aftertaste. It bothers me so greatly that I'm on my 5th large spoonful of quality control. (Its important to have sufficient sample size after all). I think I shall have to try again soon, solely to determine process repeatability of course.

I am glad you enjoyed the Fruit and Spice Park, I did too. Ate my way around it. And I think those who actively enjoy get offered more samples. My friend and I ate an entire pomelo in between other treats. What did you think of the gloriously large spiders? I wish I'd seen thread in time to recommend getting a Key Lime Milkshake at Robert is Here. I never went that far west just for a shake, but it was a 'must stop' on the way to and from the Keys.

More happy laughter. I think you are doing well to start with a factorial experiement, simultaneously testing two variables. Perhaps one brand is better at 4 hours, but by 8 hours a different brand comes out the winner. I didnt read the cajeta recipe, so I dont know the reduction/concentration process for the goats milk (at a guess, slow cooking). The scm is from cow's milk and comes from the can already concentrated and sweetened. The additional cooking is for caramelization. If this stuff comes out like that I;ve been served in restaurants, it will undergo a slight texture change too. Not sure how/why that happens. Im also curious if the closed system will result in thickening or keeping the Magnolia brand from thickening (90 min down, 150 to go). It will be very interesting to see what is spooned / poured out of each can of Donbert's on Friday. Isnt there a fairly new thread about making dulce de leche cocktails?

You just made me laugh out loud with joy! Oh very much Thank You! I was checking just-one-more-post, before heading to the kitchen to put a pot of water on the boil, with a can of the Borden's Magnolia brand scm in it. What a glorious experiment. I am so sorry to be too far away to help judge the results, but I await them eagerly. I bought Magnolia for the first time the other day and its much thinner than Borden's Eagle Brand. Black and White is almost as thick as Eagle. Magnolia also has cheap looking can seals with small rust spots visible, which is a bit frightening. Taste: how caramelly rich is it? How sweet? Any nasty flavors / undertones? (these would probably come from the tin) How easy is it in the mouth ? (too thick which makes it hard to swallow like pnut butter, too thin to use as a spread, etc) As for what to taste on, spoons. The first time I was served it, it was a glop in a bowl. Oh, what a glop! Thanks for the total-coverage info. Will now go add a kettle to the stove to keep the top-up water handy.