claire797

Is 6:30 too early? I vote for 6:30 or 7:00. We'll get a final count by Tuesday and make the reservation then. So far: Fitz Luggage Phil Memesuze Elfworks Longhorngal Claire NYT Mrs. NYT Foodie52 (need confirmation) Kozysnack (need confirmation) Theabroma? Are you in town that day? Red Queen (need confirmation)

Cool! I'm really looking forward to it!

We dodged that issue. Our class wasn't ever asked to bring snacks. We did have a couple that scarfed down fast food during every class. They sat in the back by themselves with their sack of Taco Bell or whatever and tried to cram it all in before the class became interactive. I just remember feeling really sorry for them for not having enough time to slip in a quick snack or meal before class. JPW -- I'm right there with you on What To Expect When You're Expecting. I liked that book until I got to the food chapter, at which point I shoved it under the bed and moved into the world of Dr. Sears. Maybe they did me a favor.

Just bumping this up before it gets buried. Are we all still on for the 17th at Castle Hill? We might want to make a reservation for this one. Anyone else interested?

NYT, don't feel bad. Everyone else I talked to raved about Moonshine. My husband went back to work and told everyone about his experience and they were incredulous. So everyone loves it but us . Gosh, even the President ate there. I've been to the Roaring Fork and can't remember if I reviewed. Now THAT was an interesting experience. In fact, I think I didn't review it because I wasn't sure what to say. The atmosphere was outstanding -- comfortable booths, not too loud, excellent service. The only problem (again) was the food. My dish was tasty (I had chicken, so I'm not going to bother reviewing it. Cooked it right. 'nuf said), but my girlfriend ordered a beef filet. The first time they sent it out, it was well-done to the point of grist. The waiter asked why she was picking at it and she showed him (she's shy, and wouldn't automatically send something back). He promptly ordered her a new one. She cut into it (the waiter had left) and it was completely raw on the inside. Waiter came by to check, looked at the steak and was humiliated. He took it back to the kitchen. Finally, he brought back a new plate of food. The waiter and a manager came by, apologized profusely, COMPED her whole meat (a $30 entree) and all of our desserts and coffee. The comping was totally unexpected. We were enjoying ourselves immensely despite the fact that the grill cook was having an off-night. However, the waiter and the manager's attitude was exemplary and they handled the situation beautifully. My husband thinks I'm crazy for wanting to go back, but this is a situation where everything was excellent and someone (grill guy) just wasn't at his best. Moonshine, on the other hand, just failed on all accounts.

I don't know. There are too many other restaurants in Austin I want to try before returning to a place like that. One place I DO want to revisit is Crimson. I was slightly underwhelmed with that place too, but it's doing extremely well. Also, we'd gone right after they'd opened. That AND the service was very friendly despite the glitches. That's the kind of place you give a second chance. As for Moonshine, I think I'll pass.

Yup. We would have had better food at The Yellow Rose. The sad thing is, we passed Applebees on the way home and both of us were thinking we would have done better eating there! We definitely would have had a better meal at Houston's. And MOST definitely would have had better service.

I am so disappointed this morning. Last night's Moonshine experience was dismal. It was a lesson in why it's better to save money and eat at home. We pulled up to the place around 7:20 and it was busy. I had a bad vibe that the reservation I'd made was going to be useless. I was right. The hostess, who was very friendly, informed us that "due to bad weather, the patio eaters had to move inside and there would be a wait". Fine. No biggie. But then a manager came over and asked us if we would like to be seated on the now rain-free patio. He and the hostess did a good job accommodating us in a tight situation. From there, it went downhill. Our waiter greeted us with a grunt and left. He came back to ask us if we needed a drink and seemed shocked that we didn't know right off the bat what we wanted. Gee. Some people actually read the wine list, dude! Usually, things like that don't bother me. But this guy just had a major chip on his shoulder from the get-go. Obviously, he was doing us a HUGE favor by waiting on us. We weren't asking him to pull up a chair and chat or tell us his name or any of that jazz, but maybe crack half a smile? *Pretend" not to be miserable? After taking our orders (which were straightforward and simple), he darted off and left us to soak in the fresh Austin patio air. It was a nice evening and people all around us were having fun. Lots of loud fun. Great people watching, save for our chairs being bumped repeatedly by one of the waiters trying to get to the party having so much fun. It wouldn't have been a big deal had he apologized. Gets worse from there. First class of wine was corked. Our waiter promptly took it back and returned with another. Fine. We've had corked wine at other place and it's no big deal. It happens. We still had lots of hope. The menu looks incredible. Check out the link above to see all the offerings, but I'm sad to say everything we ordered was terrible. My husband ordered a molasses-honey glazed chicken. He is not picky about chicken, but he said his was rubbery, tasteless and gamey. I ordered the chipotle orange pork tenderloin. The sauce tasted like Kraft mixed with Hunts, mixed with orange juice, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as I like Kraft, but I was hoping for something a little more special -- like maybe some chipotle flavor. But the worst of it was the pork. It was cooked perfectly, but the meat itself had a dirty socks taste. Gamey pretty much describes it too. The vegetables (Broccoli and carrots) tasted off too. I couldn't pinpoit what it was with the carrots, but maybe they'd soaked in some fish fumes? They were just off. And finally, the polenta was soggy. Red Velvet cake, my favorite silly dessert of all-time was on the menu, but by this point, I was so sure it would be terrible so I opted to just eat some ice cream later at home. The good points about Moonshine? It's relatively inexpensive and they had a terrific list of mixed drinks. It would be a fun place for a girls night or just a place to relax after work for drinks. Hopefully, they'll improve the food.

So what day does fallen chocolate souffle cake take place? I made one yesterday (an Epicurious recipe) that was pretty good, but suffice it to say, was not as satisfying as Alice Medrich's light one! The Epicurious cake uses about 14 tablespoons butter and 12 ounces of chocolate. That said, I think Medrich's lighter version is true culinary alchemy. Speaking of which, I'm making a "stirred over the stove" pecan pie recipe tomorrow. Mktye sent me a CI version which is similar to RLB's.

More attractive than The Yellow Rose? I thought Don King "laid down the gauntlet" on that one ;). Sounds great, save for the noise. I still have one bum ear, so hopefully that won't be an issue. That's one reason we opted not to go to Vespaio this evening -- noise level. At least I know not to order the pork chop. It was between that and the flat iron steak.

We're having a long awaited date-night this evening and I've chosen Moonshine. Any reviews? I haven't heard much buzz about it, save for the fact that the Bush's ate their for Jenna's graduation. The menu looks great. They even have Red Velvet Cake. Woo Hoo. http://www.diningoutwithrobbalon.com/revie...nshine/menu.pdf

Great! Hope you can make it. We won't be making any more date changes at this point.

Enzian, thanks for the pictures. You and Yorkshire are tempting me to break out the camera again. Seeing the step-by-step picture is extremely motivating. Did you all ever see "Cooking With Monkey"? If not, here it is. http://www.himonkey.net/cooking/ But back to the topic at hand. I read in The Food Lover's Tiptionary that adding a pinch of baking powder to meringue helps keep it from leaking. Has anyone ever tried this? If it's such a great tip, then why don't more cookbooks say to add baking powder to meringue? Also, have you all tried making your wonderful tart crusts with Plugra or European style butter? It makes a huge difference in texture and flavor. And with the price of butter being so high anyway, you might as well buy Plugra.

Ugh. If you knew how many sweets were in my kitchen right now you'd faint. It's on my to-do list. Unfortunately, a fallen chocolate souffle cake jumped ahead of it. I'm also knee-deep lurking in the chocolate cake thread.

Thanks for posting this thread! I finally broke down and ordered this book from The Good Cook (they sent me a renewal offer and enticed me with 4 free books!) and can't wait to take a crack at it.

So how was the texture of the filling? Was it velvety smooth or was it somewhat custardy? I've been trying to figure out the secret to velvety smooth pecan pies and am wondering if cooking the egg yolks the way RLB does is the key. Obviously, I haven't made the pie yet!

Over the past year, I've really started to like both Bourbon and pecans. This is a good excuse to put the two together, so I think I'll make RLB's pie but add a litte bourbon. YP, I have a tried and true crust recipe that I always use. It's based on a book you would love called Once Upon A Tart, which is named after the bakery in New York. I use Once Upon A Tart's basic tart crust recipe for all of my pies and tarts.

Great! We'll meet on the 17th. I'll alert Longhorn Gal (who happens to be in Hawaii). The Shorters and I will be meeting for lunch at Central Market on Saturday the 12 around noon. If anyone wants to join us, shoot me a PM.

Here's a link to one of RLB's pecan pies. Adele, is this the recipe you are using? http://www.baking911recipes.com/pies_tart_pecan.htm

Adele, now I'm going to have to check out that book. I've made pecan pies in all different shapes, sizes and colors but never have I seen a recipe that involves cooking the egg yolks over the stove. I'll bet the filling is very smooth. Yum. I don't know if the recipe says to do this, but one thing you might consider doing is sauteeing the pecans in a bit of the butter. The pecans soak up some of the butter flavor and the butter browns -- which adds more flavor to the pie. Of course I haven't seen the RLB recipe you're using, so maybe it already says to do this. And I am in total agreement that pecan pie would best be served with vanilla ice cream.

That's too bad, but I know how tough it is to get a babysitter while traveling. As for Castle Hill. Since NYT and Longhorn Gal aren't available on the 10th and Fitz and Luggage aren't sure, why don't we push it back to June 17 .......which was the original date. Who's in?

Jayme's red velvet cake is very moist. Definitely worth a try. However, if you want to try the classic Waldorf Astoria version, here's the recipe below. A friend of mine did a red velvet bake-off of her own and declared this one a winner. I was suprised since it contains less fat, but she declared it the moistest of them all (red velvets tend to be dry). Here's the recipe. I suppose technique is extremely important in keeping this one moist. I didn't bother including the Waldorf's icing recipe because I always use a cream cheese/sour cream icing on red velvet. Note: The recipe said to bake at 300 for 30 minutes. It will probably take more like 40-45 minutes. Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake 1/2 c. Crisco (Butter Flavor) 1 1/2 c. sugar 2 eggs 2 oz. red food coloring 1 tsp. vanilla 2 c. flour 2 T. cocoa 1 tsp. salt 1 c. buttermilk 1 tsp. soda 1 tsp. white vinegar Preheat oven to 300F. Grease and flour a 13x9 inch or 2 8 inch round cake pans. Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg, food coloring, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together. (sift a few times w/ a wire strainer or sifter) Alternately, add some of dry ingredients and some of buttermilk to red bater. Start and end w/ dry ingredients. In a separate container, mix soda and vinegar (this will bubble up really high) After it bubbles, add mixture to rest of cake mixture. Pour into greased and floured pans. 1 13x9 or two 8" pans. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Depending on your oven it may take up to 10 minutes longer. Cool for about 20 minutes. Turn out of cake pan to finish cooling.

Ha Ha! As a matter of fact, that was my Bake Off entry!

Wow! Love your site! I just sent it to my cranky Connecticut husband. One thing we've noticed about Texas is the lack of good prime rib. You can find it just about everywhere in New England, but it's rather scarce here. I don't want to undermine the glory of a mesquite grilled prime angus steak, but prime rib is pretty good too.

Does June 10 work with everyone or is there an overwhelming need to stick with the 16th and 17th? I'm open to all dates, but leaning towards the 10th so that the Shorters can join us if they can get a sitter. Besides, June 10th is sooner and I miss you all so desperately ;).