nightscotsman

You will not find many major name brands at all - certainly no Coke products. Trader Joe's isn't really trying to compete with common grocery stores, so there is a very limited selection of many product categories. They've just recently started carrying some fresh meat and more fresh produce. Again, limited selection, but looks like good quality including Niman Ranch meats. All of the seafood is flash-frozen, but also very good quality. Large selection of extremely low-priced wines. Lots of organic options in dry goods. Excellent nuts, dried fruits and juices. Some good cheese, great price on Plugra butter, and be sure to pick up some Total greek yogurt.

I made the tomato pate de fruit from Michel Bras last Thanksgiving. Everyone who tried it liked it, but nobody guessed it was tomato. They all thought it was some kind of berry (which I guess it was, really). When I told them, some were quite disturbed (cough - mamster - cough) and had a hard time eating them after finding out it was tomato. Here is the recipe: 1 kg tomatoes 90 g pectin 750 g sugar pinch salt anise seed to chervil leaves peel, seed and chop tomatoes - you should have 750 g. In a pot combine pectin and 90 g sugar, then add tomatoes and salt. bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. add remaining sugar and boil for another 3 minutes. add anise or chervil to taste (a pinch or two of ground anise should be enough). pour into a roughly 9x9 inch non-reactive container and let set several hours or overnight. cut and dredge pieces in sugar.

I learned to add water, too - 1 Tbs for each egg. I also cook at a high temperature very quickly. When the eggs hit the pan the water boils instantly and causes the eggs to froth a bit so the end product is very light. And I think the added water keeps the eggs from overcooking in the high heat.

shabu-shabu, please!

They just don't name restaurants like they used to. I mean, if you go to a restaurant named Rickshaw Charlie's, everything is just automatically going to taste better. Memo to Jean-Georges Vongerichten: forget "66," go with Rickshaw Georges. Incidentally, my parents almost named me Rick but figured out the problem at the last minute. Now I assume the name would be considered racist or offensive. Unlike "Hung Far Low" which is till around, I think. It was actually a fancy, upscale place with booths partially surrounded and canopied by rickshaw-style roofs. And at the end of the meal instead of fortune cookies, they brought out a selection tiny ice cream cones served in a silver holder. I was maybe 10 or 12 years old our one and only time dining there, but it made a huge impression.

Love sweet and sour. I always feel guilty admitting it when I have Chinese food with friends since (as others have said) it has such a bad reputation as junk food. The best I ever had was a very long time ago at a restaurant that used to be in Portland called Rickshaw Charlie's. The dish was just called "Pineapple Duck", but the elaborate preparation actually consisted of roasted duck, shredded and mixed with water chestnut flour, pressed overnight, then cut into cubes, deep fried and served with a sweet and sour fresh pineapple sauce. I can still vividly remember the texture and flavor and I've never seen anything remotely similar to it on any menu.

And then there's Hattie's Hat in Ballard. Wonderfully divey and home of the best biscuits and gravy in town.

If you use the Google language tools, each link you click on in the traslated page will also be translated automatically.

You read them out loud at a high volume? That must get annoying.

Others may disagree, but I think it's fine as long as it didn't get too warm. The high sugar content should act as a preservative. Very nice added to champagne like a kir royale. Use it when making raspberry sorbet for flavor depth and to keep it from freezing solid. A little bit in hot chocolate is good.

I actually saw most of this last week. It's very weird/disturbing hearing those voices come out of real people who look nothing like the characters. Just the fact that Mr. Burns and Smithers are voiced by the same actor lends a whole other dimension to the characters. One frustrating thing about the show is that while they are interviewing individual cast members they mostly show clips from the Simpsons shows rather than the actors. I know what the characters look like - I wanted to see and meet the actors.

Haven't been to Rover's, but it's very high on my list - maybe even next. I went to the first production of Teatro Zinzanni a couple years ago and LOVED it. The food was better than expected, but not really memorable. The entertainment, on the other hand, was worth every penny of the admission fee. A completely unique experience. It has elements of Cirque de Soleil, but far more intimate and spontaneous.

My favorite: Bart and Homer race wildly after Lisa until she pushes the pig grill off the top of a slope. The pig passes through a hedge: Homer: It's just a little dirty. It's still good, it's still good! [Passes traffic, jumps a bridge and lands in the water.] It's just a little slimy, it's still good, it's still good! [it gets caught in a dam spillway, and when the pressure builds, it shoots into the sky.] It's just a little airborne, it's still good, it's still good! Bart: [Crestfallen.] It's gone. Homer: I know.

I think the convection oven is too harsh of a heat to properly cook the creme brulee custard (as opposed to caramelizing the top). I use a conventional oven at 300-325 F and bake in a water bath until just barely set in the middle, or even still a little jiggly. You may have to lay a sheet of foil over the pan so the tops don't overcook and curdle - that's probably what happened to the ones you did in the convection oven.

I posted a recipe for strawberry marshmallows on this thread (scroll down about half way). It's very easy and uses no egg whites. If you want to make a plain marshmallow just replace the fruit puree with 1/4 cup water and add some vanilla.

Great to see everyone yet again for lunch today. The Classic French menu at One World continues through next week, but here is a new menu for Square One that runs February 18th - 27th: Grilled Lamb and Brie Sandwich Sweet Red Pepper Jelly - $5.25 Turkey Breast Piccata Capers, Parsley and Fresh Lemon - $5.50 Nicoise Salad Seared Ahi, Seasonal Greens and Vegetables Tossed with a Light Vinaigrette - $5.75 Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi Duck Confit and Swiss Chard - $5.50 Grilled Monkfish in Lemon-Vanilla Bean Beurre Blanc Mashed Yukon Golds and Arugula Pistou - $5.95 Buttermilk Fried Chicken Fennel, Olive, and Orange Salad - $5.25

PeepWar is hell. Or so I hear.

Not to worry - from the Marshmallow Fluff web site: What is Fluff made from? Corn syrup, sugar syrup, vanilla flavor, and egg white. There are no artificial preservatives, stabilizers, emulsifiers, or colorings in Marshmallow Fluff.

I think there was a Cook's Illustrated article on the "perfect" burger. The only thing I remember is that they determined the best shape to make your patty was quite thin, but thinner in the middle and thicker toward the edge - like the shape of a red blood cell, if you remember any biology. Since the patty tends to plump in the middle as it's cooked, and the outside edge cooks faster than the center, this shape ensured an even thickness and doneness in the finished product. I'll try to find the article and see if there were any other tips.

You could use an italian meringue, but I personally don't think it would give you the same rich and creamy mouth-feel as marshmallow made without egg whites. It would be more like a "Baked Alaska" type dessert.

Well, first you get a cow...

What is your recipe like? does it use egg whites or just corn syrup, sugar and gelatine? If the latter, I would make sure not to overcook the syrup and then don't overbeat the mixture if you want to spread it out thinly. That way the marshmallow will stay soft and creamy rather than rubbery. Another option would be to make a light marshmallow cream and spread it on the items - or just dip them if they will hold together. Much easier and faster than wrapping, I would think. Also, with wrapping you might have difficulty getting the marshmallow to stick to the chocolate since you will have to dust the marshmallow with powdered sugar or starch to be able to handle it at all. Sounds like a great idea in any case. Do let us know how they turn out - with photos if possible.

Excellent! Thanks so much for finding this site. For some rudimentary translation you can try Google's Language Tools here. Just paste the URL into the field labeled "Translate web page" and choose "Spanish to English". It will also translate any pages you click to from the originally translated page. It won't get every word, but it will at least give you some idea of what their talking about.

I haven't done molded chocolates myself (yet), but a chef instructor I met once gave me a tip that seems to help give the finished chocolates a good shine and makes them easier to unmold: never wash the molds with soap and water. Just rinse them with hot water to wash away the visible chocolate left behind. I think this is sort of like seasoning a pan for non-stick-ness. Can anyone else confirm or deny that this is a good strategy?

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