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Pierogi

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Everything posted by Pierogi

  1. Further to that....the suffix "tini" to indicate anything made with ANYTHING other than gin & dry vermouth.. E.G. "appletini", chocotini", "melontini", ad naseum. I could go on, but it would be painful. To all of us.
  2. Bummer that the food sucked, because the prices for the fresh seafood had this Left Coaster absolutely green with envy. I haven't seen lobster prices that low in, well, forever ! And I bet they're way better than what I can get out here.
  3. I'd say you more than deserve a long winter's nap ! And a medal of valor for blogging through that intense cooking extravaganza that was your Christmas ! Kudos, Chris, I have so thoroughly enjoyed this, and am waiting eagerly for the rest.
  4. I believe King Arthur flour carries malt syrup as well. For sure they have both diastatic and non-diastatic malt powders.
  5. That notebook rocks. Those flour dispensers are absolutely the coolest thing I have *ever* seen. I love them. Do they do a good job of keeping the little buggies out?
  6. Pierogi

    Christmas 2010 Menus

    The cookies and candies are all done and tucked away in their air-tight storage bins. The pierogies, after a MONUMENTAL battle with the dough yesterday due to the incredible amount of moisture in the air due to Soggy SoCal's historic rain event (the words of the TV weather weenies....), are stuffed, sealed, boiled and waiting for their date with the frying pan and butter. Final menu for Christmas Eve is: Brie & crackers for app Rosemary roasted salmon Yukon Gold & sweet potato gratin with gruyere Mushroom & sauerkraut pierogies Carrots & green beans with bread crumb topping Buttery dinner rolls Cookies, candies and Bishop's Bread for dessert *mental note* don't try to make a pasta-type dough for the pierogi wrappers in a monsoon ! It stuck, it tore, it wouldn't seal, it was a mess. I've been making these things for 30 years, and I don't think I had that much trouble when I was a neophyte. I hope they taste good, I fear I ended up overworking the dough because I had to handle it so much...ah well, they'll still be better than Mrs. T's !!!
  7. Holy Ka-moley (or should that be Ka-mole???), Chris. Talk about hitting the ground running. What a day, and what an adventure this will be. Way looking forward to the holiday dinners, and the cocktail extravaganzas. It was you & eje on these boards that got me interested in something more than a "Tanquery martini, up, with an olive, not too dry" (though there's not a thing wrong with that...) for my cocktail repetoire. I thank you, although my bank account isn't too happy with my new tastes for creme de violette, Cynar and Luxardo....
  8. I joined a local CSA (finally) about 2 months ago, and when I did, I vowed I would use everything I got in my bi-weekly share. No excuses, no qualms, just plunge in and USE the food. So far, I've been keeping my vow. Well, this week, I got a bunch of epazote....about 6 healthy sprigs, each about a foot long, and covered in leaves. There is no way I will use all this before it rots, and I'd like to dry it and have it around for future experiments. With Christmas coming this week, experimentation time is at a premium. No beans are on my horizon until after the first of the year (well, maybe black-eyed peas for New Years), but my epazote will be slime by then, I fear. I did throw a couple of leaaves into the pot of posole I made a couple of nights ago, and liked it. I'm intrigued by the taste/aroma, and want to keep it around. I see from searching the mighty Interwebs that I can dry the stuff....but... It's going to be raining here in Sunny SoCal for the next week. Literally non-stop. Normally, I'd just tie the sprigs up and hang them in the garage and forget about them for a while, but well, the garage is really damp right now. The whole house actually is. Can I freeze them to preserve them like bay leaves? Or should I hang them from one of my furnace vents that blows hot air? When I looked at them earlier today, I could see that they're already looking a bit peaked. Thanks in advance y'all !
  9. Pierogi

    Dinner! 2010

    ScottyBoy - OMG, I so TOTALLY LOVE those little piggie bowls for your "Foie Gras Amuse". They are absolutely fabulous !
  10. My favorite is a mixture of orange marmalade and horseradish. I think there may be some brown sugar in there as well. The ham is also basted with orange juice before the glaze is applied. If you're interested, let me know and I'll dig out the actual propotions. It's really a great mix of flavors !
  11. Ummmmm, so the whole egg contamination from the one mega-purveyor this last summer, and the summer of 2009's country-wide peanut problems, again due to ONE mega-purveyor, were because people and restaurants don't know how to handle their raw food supplies? Yeah. Don't think so. The tomato issue you cite is small potatoes compared to the peanut and egg contaminations, which are STILL causing finished product recalls, even more than a year after the discovery of the initial problem. The food supply system in this country is out of control, and needs to be reigned in, and reingned in now. No doubt basic food safety in both the home and industry is also required, but the food supply system is broken. And is putting us all at risk.
  12. That Pepin recipe is one of my absolute favorites. I could drink the pan juices.....
  13. I'm sure it's been mentioned somewhere in the previous 8 pages (which, admitedly, I did not re-read tonight *hanging head*), but posole sure warms not only the body but the soul and the spirit when it's nasty out there. Warm, spicy red chili broth, tender, shredded, meltingly toothsome pork shards, creamy hominy, garnishes of shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, cilantro and lime juice, what's not to like? It restoreth the soul as they say.....and the batch I made tonight was about the best I've ever tasted. So much so, that I am looking FORWARD to leftovers again over the weekend, and I *HATE* leftovers.
  14. Well, but you said they TASTED great ! Isn't that the most important thing ?
  15. Making posole for dinner tonight reminded me of one of the absolute worst in my life. I have a dear friend who is...a "struggling" cook. For many years, she didn't cook. It took too long, it was too much trouble, etc., etc., etc. But she loved my cooking, and did appreciate good stuff. She just didn't want to put the effort into it. She's the type of person who will (still !) make a crockpot of beans or BBQ-sauced pork and eat it all week, with no break. Anyway, she has tried to come out of that rut, and sometimes she succeeds. Sometimes, not quite so much. She's VERY proud of her posole. VERY. And it's....well, it's not good. She doesn't like the cheaper cuts of meat that are good for braises/stews/soups like this. She thinks they're too fatty and too chewy and have too many "nasty" parts. So for her posole, she uses pork loin. She doesn't brown it. She cuts it into about 1&1/2-inch squares. And then she dumps it into her broth, which is under-seasoned (no salt allowed), and cooks it to near death. The result is a bland broth and dry, chewy, tasteless meat. And blown-out, mushy hominy. I went to her partner's mother's home for Christmas Eve several years ago, and her contribution was this horrid posole. Luckily, there was plenty of other things to eat (most of them quite good), but I did have to choke down a bowl of this stuff. And chew and chew and chew on the cubes of meat. She always wants to invite me over when she makes it. I *always* have an excuse/headache/hang nail/bad karma/whatever when she does. It's truly an abomination compared to what GOOD posole can be.
  16. Right, they wouldn't have. They had to use only what they found in the Museum's kitchen.
  17. Thanks for the great ride, Lisa. I'd say you're fully invested as a "first line" player after this week ! Loved reading about your week.
  18. Pierogi

    Christmas 2010 Menus

    I am doing the Christmas Eve dinner for friends, and going to their house for Christmas Brunch. Christmas Eve for the Poles is the big holiday, called Wiglia, and I will be doing a semi-traditional meal. Pierogies, of course, but only the ones stuffed with mushrooms and sauerkraut. I'll make some stuffed with hamburger and 'kraut and potatoes and bacon, but they won't get eaten until after Wiglia, which for the Catholic Poles is a meat-free fast day. So..... Appetizers, probably crostini with sundried tomato jam and goat cheese and maybe a baked brie or something else meat-free... Roast salmon with herbs Potato gratin of some sort (possibly Bourdain's Gratin a'la Dauphenoise) Pierogies (meat free), with caramelized onions and toasted bread crumbs Vegetables of some ilk (maybe roasted asparagus or roasted Brussels sprouts) Cranberries Christmas cookies for dessert. For the brunch, I am thinking of bringing either homemade cinnamon rolls or a Swedish Twist. For my own Christmas dinner, after the big brunch, I'll probably just do apps and bubbly. At some point during the holiday week, I'll bake a small, 1/4-ham for me, maybe with roasted potatoes or sweets. And I have a lovely beef rib roast tucked away in the freezer for maybe NY Eve. It was on sale locally a couple of weeks ago, and I snapped one up.
  19. Funny you should mention that, I was just getting ready to reply that our Trader Joe's chain is now owned by one of the brothers that started the European Aldi chain. See Wikipedia link here TJ link. From what Snadra and the rest of you are saying, the business model sounds similar. Although in over 30 years of shopping at TJ's I've never experienced a problem with their produce, or with out of date products. And I can vouch for the fact that the Trader Joe's version of Tater Tots is *far* superior to the branded ones. Hopefully they'll continue to carry them !
  20. If you stil need ideas for the Ibarra, I just recently found a recipe on the Webs for Kahlua and Ibarra truffles. I'm going to make them for Christmas, so I, at this point, don't have a 1st hand review. It sounds wonderful, though. If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you the recipe. I didn't copy the source when I cherry-picked it (BAD Pierogi), so I can't give credit where credit is due.
  21. So, what was the final solution? I'm thinking seriously about dipping my toe into the pool of candy making by starting with making toffee. I'd flat freak-out and quit candy forever if I had an oil slick on my first batch...
  22. Yes, I agree the filling looks fabulous. Just like what I'd want in a pot pie.....I can feel the creamy warmth from it.
  23. LOL, no, no way dissapointed !! *MY* contemporary pieces came from Pier One and Cost Plus !!! Gotta snap up the cobalt glass where you can find it !
  24. Pierogi

    Dinner! 2010

    OK, as good as that steak looks, and it looks fabulous.....those potatoes and mushrooms are making me want to lick my monitor, and I have a huge hunk of deep-dish pizza sitting in my tummy right now, so I am most certainly NOT hungry. But I could STILL hoover that whole plate of veg.....wow.
  25. Well, we've certainly seen an impressive amount of food porn already ! And as I said, in the "coming attractions" promo, I am in serious, serious lust over your cobalt glassware in the Rosh Hashana dinner pic. Especialy the square serving dishes, the large platter that the brisket is on, the wavy plate under the pineapple, the square plates with the rounded corners....wait. I guess that's all of them in that photo. Where on Earth did you find all those lovely pieces? I have a few contemporary pieces, and a set of stemware that was my grandmother's that are clear with cobalt bases, but I would sure love to add some additional pieces. And *my* curiosity is certainly piqued. How can "ACME" have 3 syllables? Looking forward to the rest of the ride.
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