Pierogi

I can *totally* see that ! Thanks for the idea, if another cherimoya or two cross my path. The texture is almost there, even without much blending.

I believe the initial thought that formed in my brain, once I *could* form thoughts after being exposed to this abomination of a TV show was... "Who is this dim-wit bimbo and WHY in the name of all that's good and right is anyone giving her air time on any television network, anywhere?" And that was after literally about 30 seconds of seeing the mess while channel surfing. I stand by my initial assessment.

Eric Ripert's "On The Line". It was a good read about the inside workings and history of Le Bernardin, and the photography and grapics are stunning. The food *sounds* delicious, but like the Keller books, it's full of multi-step preparations and uncommon ingredients that aren't doable for a home cook. I remember looking a a picture of one of the desserts, and thinking I'd make it for a friend's birthday. Then I read the 5 different sub-recipes (each of which took several hours) to get to the final assembly, and saw the list of ingredients that are probably only available through commercial sources and thought "hmmmmmm, brownies would be good !"

Call it whatever you like, but don't call me late to dinner when you serve it Or that amuse with the smoked tomato sorbet....

Oh. My. Goodness. I am seriously at a loss for words over the fabulous array of fish and seafood at DeCosti's. Wow. That is beyond incredible. The scallops in-shell are particularly drool inducing. What's even MORE incredible to me, is that, in all of the Megalopolis that is the LA Basin, there are, two, count 'em, TWO, fresh fish markets of any note. One in Santa Monica and one in Newport Beach. Both about 30-plus miles from my home. In LA traffic. I know some of the Asian markets have much more in the way of selection than the major chains, but still....we, as a state have a 700-plus mile coastline, and in roughly 200 miles of it (I'm thinking from Ventura to San Diego) we've got TWO freakin' fish markets? What up with that? It's, I suppose, part of the corporate-ization and dumbing down of American mass marketing. I can remember when I first started shopping for myself seriously, I could get local sand dabs, local snapper, local spiny lobster, local scallops, local halibut, etc. Now....you get farmed tilapia, farmed "swai" (whatever *that* is), farmed salmon, frozen/defrosted farmed shrimp and maybe some halibut or cod. Maybe. Usually frozen/defrosted. And catfish. Needless to say, I don't eat much fish any longer. *rant over*, we'll now return you to the utterly delightful foodblog of Nickrey. Suffice it to say, I'm absolutely flaming chartreuse with envy !

Oh, now that's just pretty. Cruel, because I don't have one, but pretty. Very, very pretty. ETA---why, oh why won't pictures come along with me when I reply...?

Slow oven braised, uncorned brisket is the most amazing beef flavor. I have a recipe where the brisket is rubbed with ground espresso beans and ancho chili powder, then slow braised, covered in aluminum foil, with espresso as the liquid. It is simply amazing. Brisket's not just for BBQ or corned beef, although those are certainly wonderful applications. Would very much like that recipe if possible. Et voila ! le link. Sorry, it's not ancho chile powder, its chipotle. The little brain is old & tired, and I was going from memory. I make this at least once per winter, and always, always love it. It's about time for me to make it again.

I had one for the first time last week. It was a little hard and green when I bought it at the farmers market. I let it ripen at room temperature for a few days until it was soft. It's pretty good as is, eaten with a spoon. Just make sure that you don't eat the seeds, which I was told were toxic if crushed. ... Ew, ew, ew !!! *Raising hand* I'm in on the newbie to cherimoya club too. Got one in my CSA share a couple of weeks ago, and it finally got ripe enough to eat last weekend. I LOVED it, although it is certainly very different than anything I've had before. I wouldn't think cooking it would be a good thing...the flavor on mine was so delicate, I think it would be lost if it were mixed with anything else. Plus, you'd loose that sensuous texture. I think its a fruit best eaten as is.

I'm a lightweight ! I make homemade pierogies on a fairly regular basis, so I guess that ranks up with the fresh pasta/ravioli. But I've been doing them so long, they don't seem challenging to me any longer. The last thing I was really intimidated by was brioche. And it turned out great, I was very proud of myself. Macarons are on the agenda....I'm worried

Blinded, I am quite sure I couldn't tell the difference between "commercial" organic and "commercial" non-organic. And by that I mean the stuff you get in the MegaMarts. I sincerely doubt anyone could, after they've come through the commercial food chain, and been in holding/storage for who-knows-how-long. Fresh from the farm, yeah, that's probably a no brainer, but grocery store organic versus non, not so much. They're still sitting in cold storage for way too long, and being force ripened by gas or other means, they're just not getting doused with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The produce is still not picked when it's ripe, it's held in storage and it's not as flavorful as farm-fresh. Think not, go to the MegaMart and find an "organic" tomato, even in the dead of summer, and cut into it. It's just organic styrofoam. Not so much here, either. While I don't think the taste of supermarket organics (and again, I'm talking about commercial, MegaMart, industrially farmed organics, not farmstand stuff) isn't any different from non-oraganic, at least in California, if produce is "certified" organic, I have a relatively high level of assurance I'm not getting nasty chemicals along with my lettuce. For certain products, especially those where I eat the peel, or that aren't peeled (i.e., salad greens, tomatoes, apples, carrots, radishes, scallions, herbs, etc.) it's worth the extra money to me to buy organic. Organic oranges and avocados, thanks, I'll pass on those. But again, it's not matter of taste, it's a matter of choosing what to ingest.

If I'm dicing, I go equatorially (across the "width" of the onion) and then turn it and pole to pole. If I want slices, I go pole to pole, and slightly angle the knife in towards the middle, so that I don't get any huge, klunky pieces that aren't sliced.

Got my edition in the mail today. I always enjoy the Top 100 issue. I flipped through the pages, and am way, way looking forward to reading it thoroughly. I'm particularly intrigued by the housemade kielbasa and copycat Tater Tots recipes...

I *just* (finally) found cocoa nibs at a farmers' market about a month ago. Unfortunately it was in the midst of the Christmas baking/sweet frenzy, so they got put away for a more determined use in the future. Since I'm now going through sweet baked goods withdrawal after the holidays, these are in the near future. I have also been hit with a glut of guavas in my CSA shares for the past 3 times. The first round, I'm sorry to say, was enjoyed solely for the fragrance. Again, it was the height of the holiday frenzy, and using new things was not on the radar. The last batch got made into syrup, with the flesh sort of candied (not hard candied, but very sweet). The new batch, I'm open to suggestion. I'm thinking of infusing some vodka with them. Also as a result of the CSA, have been learning to cook (and love), collards and chard. Never crossed my radar until now. Winter squash (other than butternut)...ehhhh, not lovin' so much. I think that, like eggplant, I just have to plant the flag and declare I don't like them.

Slow oven braised, uncorned brisket is the most amazing beef flavor. I have a recipe where the brisket is rubbed with ground espresso beans and ancho chili powder, then slow braised, covered in aluminum foil, with espresso as the liquid. It is simply amazing. Brisket's not just for BBQ or corned beef, although those are certainly wonderful applications.

I too, thought Jamie had been saved when Tiffani's name was announced first, and was not happy. That said..... I think Tiffani should have stayed while Wolverine Boy (Marcel) packed his knives. He was very, very lucky that Tiffani made the boneheaded mistake to not take out that bloodline. I am totally surprised at how poorly Richard Blais is doing. He's not impressing me at all this round, unlike how he blew me out of the water the first time. And I am thrilled for Carla, I loved her in her first round and I still love her now. I would LOVE to see her win it, or Antonia, who I also think is under-rated and under-respected, and who I wasn't tremendously impressed by the first time, and now just kicks butt.

I am interested in the answers too, although I rarely use a cartouche. When I have, it's at the instruction of a specific recipe, and not as result of a hard and fast adherance to a vaunted technique. And, when I have used them, I haven't a) wet them down before placing them, or b) cut a hole in the middle. I also can't say I've noticed any appreciable difference in braises where I've used them. The dishes have turned out just fine....perhaps they would've even without the cartouche?

Don't think cheese is a requirement. I think "gratin" is defined by the browned crust, be it cheese, or bread crumbs, or flour and cream run under a broiler. By that definition, then, yes, Jannson's Temptation is a gratin.

Like others, I've had more than one potato explode in the oven when I haven't stabbed them. I don't cook them in the microwave, ever, so I can't speak to that. And I can't say the percentage that wouldn't have exploded without stabbing, since I always do. The first couple that slimed our oven when I was a snot-nosed, know-it-all, novice teen-age cook cured me of ever trying non-stabbed again. Especially when *I* had to clean up the potato guts out of the (non-self cleaning) oven.

*That* meal looks absolutely, incredibly amazing. Wow. What I wouldn't give to experience that. Thanks for sharing.

Ahhhhhhh...the difference is the unit of measure.....gotcha. Yes, I was absolutely thinking, OMG, those prices are out of control. I see now the produce prices are pretty much in line with ours, and the if, as you say, the meat and fish markets are high-end, that too, correlates with our Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) or Bristol Farms. Much less scary. Maybe we need to arrange an intercontinental canine "meet 'n' greet"....? LOL

I dare you to try Hunts side-by-side, blindfolded... Trader Joe's Organic Ketchup got me off the Heinz' train the first time I tried it. The stuff is awesome enough to eat with a spoon. Never like Hunt's, although their canned tomatoes are fine. But TJ's Organic goes with me to the desert island.

OK, I'm going to show my complete and total ignorance here. In the context of the food prices, what is the current exchange rate between the Australian dollar (I'm assuming it's a dollar since the prices are marked with a "$")? For comparison, in the last set of photos you posted, the asparagus is $5.50 per "something" (couldn't read what the unit is). Here, in suburban Los Angeles, it is literally *just* starting to come into season, and most of the super-mega-marts have it in their ads this week for around $2.00 a pound. Since I was absolutely floored by the meat and seafood prices, even at the high end, I'd love to have this sort of apples-to-apples comparison....or asparagus-to-asparagus as it were. Loving the blog, it is amazing, and inspiring, to see how much you get done in your kitchen. Mine is about equally tiny, and I've given up kvetching about it, seeing how much more compact kitchens overseas are. And I love, love, love Ollie. My girls (Rosie in *my* avatar, and Lulu) would love to meet him ! They get the trimmings, too....

Just thought of a couple of new ones, although I will stand firmly in the camp of S&W canned tomatoes (as well as Hunt's and Muir Glen when I can find them), any Herdez product, Swanson low sodium broths and of course Ortegas.... Jolly Green Giant Mexicorn. Sometimes you just need it for a recipe, and I usually have a can of it around. S&W creamed corn. Yeah, it's pasty, but it's comfort food. One I'm *not* ashamed of is Ro-Tel tomatoes & chiles. Don't remember if anyone mentioned that before, but the 2 corn products are serious head-hanging-in-shame purchases.....

Cool, robirdstx, thank you so much for posting that. Looks fairly straight forward, and definately looks like something on my menu in the near future.

The pan con tomate is certainly a favorite, as is garlic bread made just with toasted, day old bread, drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with a cut garlic clove. Panzanella is probably my top choice, though. Especially in summer, with good, juicy, dead-ripe tomatoes.