jumanggy

Red Velvet Cake for a friend's sister's birthday, who loves red and hearts. Used a lot of the eG forums for reference-- this is Jaymes' recipe for red velvet cake, and I looked up an old thread about putting flowers on wedding cakes.

RLB says not (with desirable results at least), but Stephanie's recipe above does look promising.

Rob, wouldn't that be like a frozen souffle/ parfait? It should work, then haven't ever made one though.

Yikes. I'm glad none of my friends are that severe; I'm glad too that none of my friends have any kids (though that of course will change in a few years). The pickiness is minor-- 1. One friend wouldn't eat yellow fruits (?). I think she eventually caved. 2. One friend of mine went through a low-carb phase (as they often do). Gave up eventually. 3. One won't eat raw coconut and lychees. That's ME! But I do eat around them without complaint. Some friends of mine who also hate coconut even give me their coconut-laced desserts to eat. By the end of the meal there are cupfuls of just coconut on the table. That was a catered meal. If the host is especially proud of what she prepared, I'd just hold my breath and gulp down the coconut. Yum! Among my friends I'm the only one who really cooks anything, so they're all just happy to eat whatever. I think somehow they don't want to appear declasse. I think if I prepared a special meal for someone problematic (or even someone's kid) and they barely touch it, I might cry (so sensitive!). In case I ever come across these problems (though I hope I never will), thanks for the ideas, everyone!

It's a soft g, accent on the 2nd syllable (dra-ZHEY) eskay, I would've thought the L of nonpareil was silent too, but the dictionary I looked at says non-puh-REL. Huh. No alternatives, either.

Nobody else at home dares to touch my pastry armament, so that avoids a host of problems I've already taught my family to cook pasta correctly (and to my preferred doneness, this brat), so that's one problem solved. One thing I wish they could really, really manage without me is to carve meat. When they tuck their quasimodo son away from the guests, I return after the party to find that the carving was done with the worst possible knife, with impossible thicknesses, and with only enough care to produce furry clumps of meat. Ew. And I always practice a few slices with them before the party!

I don't think I could. Then again, I haven't been subjected to a great number of fine dinners. (... I know this isn't the question, but I at least think there's no difference when it comes to pastry chefs.)

Maybe just applying the bananas on top pre-cooked (sauteed), or applying them uncooked and torching them would help!

Ling: I love the jeweled top of the tart, it's so Byzantine-esque.. (Beautiful ring, too!) Kim: Drooling over your pics, especially the brownies. I dream of smooshing them up in my hands and stuffing myself. Tri2Cook and Rob: Great-looking cakes, I love those mirror-y glazes (although I'm aware that it's not exactly a chocolate mirror glaze, you guys do it so well)! Mona: I am HYPNOTIZED by your fritter pic! The caramel looks like a cave's crystal formation. Gorgeous! Lemon Layer Cake from Cook's Illustrated Pineapple Upside-down cake, because you have to (at least) once in your life!

Thanks, Mei! (and thank you, camera of my brother! heh)

I can't seem to find dried red peppers anywhere here in Manila (but strangely and awesomely, there are Sichuan peppercorns). There could be in one area, though, but I've heard too many stories of pickpockets to go back there (repeatedly). Is it easy to make your own dried red peppers? Do I just take out the calyces and lay them out in the sun on a wooden board for n days? Or do I need special equipment? Thanks to anyone who can help!

Dimply Plum Cake, from Baking: MHTY

Dimply Plum Cake. I've been getting tired of chocolate everything, so I thought I might try fresh fruit (good for the soul, I guess..). I love the cakey brownieness of it.

Your friends are funny. How do you think quail eggs would fare? There's a variety of bibingka sold here that my grandmother boasts uses only goose eggs-- it has a very rich flavor, but I'm starting to think it's only because of the copious amounts of margarine in it.

I bought myself a dessert (cake) ring, and I don't want it to be a disaster on my first try: what's the best way to unmold a dessert? 1. should there always be an exactly sized carboard cake round under the cake? 2. should the finished cake be room temp, cold, or frozen? 3. should I always use a torch to heat up the outside? I don't have a torch, so can I use a hair dryer? (by the way, won't either way melt the sides and make it look ugly?) 4. if the ring offers resistance when I pull it down, should I continue or heat the sides a bit more? I realize if the sides of the ring were lined with acetate, I wouldn't have all these problems.. but I'm assuming I'm supposed to manage it without acetate. Thanks in advance!

Doddie: I had sinigang for lunch too, today! (of course, the chances of two separate Filipinos both eating sinigang are quite high...) I'm not sure I can have all my meals sitting on the floor. My legs die quite quickly (or maybe I'm just not in the right position). Dr. Tim: WOW on the BLT. There's something so comforting about your picture of Bolognese... Rona: does your mabo have minced pork in it? egg: check rice: check meat (or tofu, heh): check spicy sauce: check. Sounds like a perfect meal to me!

Oh.. my... G* It... looks like a checkered monster is rising up from the bowels of hell..

Jmahl, the torta looks nice (it's even on a map!). I didn't know that almond flour figured in Spanish cuisine. Almonds are available everywhere here, but the price is prohibitive... I guess I will have to go to Galicia (or the Tex-Mex border) to taste it. My first attempt at cheesecake (another prohibitively expensive ingredient: cream cheese). No crust, and no real toppings, but real decadent. I'm glad Rob was asking about cheesecakes as I don't think I would have been able to tell that this was done.

Yeah, sorry to confuse people. I know this isn't a photography thread, my intent was just to figure out for myself what the line is between a picture here and a picture on the actual Dinner! thread. The line could maybe be crossed by extra turmeric, extra time on the pan, and sunlight? I couldn't help myself; your dish is something I think probably tasted good; I wanted to do it justice. kbjesq: I didn't even try to alter that... It has sort of a cadaverous appeal.. (I think it's safe to say that as you probably didn't attempt a taste. Damn meddlers of your oven!)

Wendy: Halibut is not my kind of fish but I think your method for cooking it may win me over! Bruce: Wha?! There's no head-on prawns where you are?! (some nerve I have, my country is pretty much more coast than mainland haha!) Char siu is one of my most favorite things, and I am craving your sandwich... Mona: the pork looks like it would be at home in a posh restaurant.. Awesome. I don't cook much but I recently tried to satisfy a few cravings of mine.. Stuffed Portobellos Imperial Shrimp from Ah Leung's recipe in the pictorials, and String Beans stir-fried with Sa-cha sauce from the same pictorials.

I've been thinking about what Kristin said about how a colorful plate is supposed to be a good thing and this post by Prawncrackers which was then deemed to appetizing by some posters to be on this thread. Actually food that looks like Robin's beans up there is standard fare here, so I'm trying to dissect what it is about the picture that freaks me out. Speaking of which, phatj-- I don't know what's creepier about the meat-- the pale color of the sides or the horrible disease the animal (? I can't even identify it) was suffering with at the time of its slaughtering... Anyway, I ended up getting the last 4 posts and trying to fix whatever I thought was wrong with them in Photoshop. It turns out I can only kind of fix Maggie's picture a little bit. I took out all the dark, shadowy parts, as well as the sheen of the chicken. I made the peas and the rice yellower and the chicken browner, and the apples (?) redder. I think the original "pose" of the chicken was like-- pardon for the image-- some gynecologist's nightmare. But Kristin made me think-- hey, this actually does look like real, palatable food! Why am I so creeped out? (In my opinion, it even looks like the photographs that graced the cookbooks of yesteryear-- the 60's and 70's, not that I was alive at the time, ha ha!) So I just tried to change the elements that seemed off, without removing a single component of the dish. Does it look a lot better now?

WOW... Just.. Wow.

Oh, Ce'nedra... I wish I could give you a pat on the back... The hot water in the custards was probably the killing stroke. Why are there so many? Did you serve a big batch to your family or friends? Do they at least taste good? Maybe they can still be unmolded, or scopped up and served as tiny bites. Edited to say: I missed the part where you said they never solidified. D'oh!!! Maybe they can be frozen? (I have a feeling this was made a long time ago, though..)

Ouch, Peter! And I wasted all this time waiting for the butter to warm up so I can pack it and level it 16 times into my handy tablespoon-on-a-ring! (Actually, I'm surprised Saveur didn't just go ahead and say 2 sticks of unsalted butter.) I just recently bought a beautiful but very cheap Japanese-made electric scale (GTO: you got the box of it, ha ha), which rendered my Chocolatier mags useless. (Well, not useless-useless.) I really appreciate cookbooks with both weight and volume measurements listed, for those of us in transition! A dessert book with weight measurements is a sign that you've stepped into seriousville, which, yeah, can really intimidate a lot of people.. But a serious dessert is what I want!

Hee! Thanks, but if you go to Flickr and search for "fondant," there's tens of thousands of really inspired cake art out there! This was for experimentation/ see if I could do it just in case a crazy friend ever asks for a special themed cake or whatever (I am still much cheaper than a bakeshop...). Just divide the sugarpaste into three, then color two of the balls of paste light blue and yellow. Divide each into smaller balls and roll them out into snakes, then place the snakes side by side, finally roll over all of them with a rolling pin to make a thin slab of striped sugarpaste. Kind of fun, brought me back to my childhood playing with Play-Doh! (but I was kind of an OCD kid, I would never mix different colors haphazardly.)