FoodMan

olive oil baked kibbeh with sliced radishes, tomatoes and radish greens drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Elie

Robb Walsh gives an excellent review for this new Houston eatery: T'afia I am not sure I agree with his complain about the meaning of the name. I mean the restaurant is supposed to be Mediterranean not Creole or African so taking the Mediterranean/European meaning of the word seems very appropriate. Any thoughts? Elie

bleudauvergne- These pics are fantastic, I've been staring at them for the last 20 minutes. Thanks Elie

Thanks everyone for the reply, my friend did have it at La mere Poulard and that is exactly how he described it . Then again he admits he is not an egg lover so there was no way he would enjoy this concoction. The only reason he wanted to try it was because he had read so much about it being part of the experience of this wonderful place. Elie

Was watching the very non-atkins-friendly "Unwrapped" the other night and they were showing a baker using "a special ingredient called Plugra, which is like butter, but has more fat." I live in Montreal and speak French, so some of these French names crack me up a bit... "plugra" is clearly a take on "plus gras", which means simply "more fat"! So of course it's going to be good!! :-) And "sour batard" gave me a chuckle too... how about "my sour batard needs plugra", which would translate as "my sour bastard needs more fat". Heh heh... Oh, and here are some of my own odes to carbs (down with Atkins! Oh wait, he already is...): http://www.AdventuresInBaking.com/pss Cheers, Paul Plugra, a special ingeredient "like" butter but with more fat? These Unwrapped producers are dumber than I thought. As if Plugra is some weird newly discovered ingredient rather than a better butter.

The top layer of the cake is covered with a crisp caramel--that one quickly cuts into the apportioned pieces with a buttered knife before it hardens. So, one can then just lay these separated pieces on top of the cake (i.e. reconstructing the orginal shape). The 'fan effect' is to just put a small something (eg. roasted hazelnut, knob of chocolate buttercream) underneath the end of each caramelized piece near the outside of the cake (i.e. at the outside of each caramel slice). You can arrange it so that the hazelnut support is not centered at the end of the wedge, but rather off-centered a bit so that that the slice tilts. If you go around and do this for each slice and tilt each piece the same way you get a 'fan effect' with each of the caramelized wedges. It is just a possible visual flourish. Other potential 'garnishes' are to also pipe a ring of buttercream around the top edge of the cake and as mentioned above, can decorate sides of cakes with chopped, roasted hazelnuts. Can also pipe a small rosette of buttercream at the center junction of the caramel slices. Hope this description is understandable In any case, the cake will still be delicious and beautiful if you just let the cut pieces lay on top of the cake! Makes perfect sense. Thanks Elie

An ode to carbs and specifically bread and pasta is certainly due. I am also appalled by all this advertising and labeling of everything Low-carb!! Even Pizza for heaven’s sake is be low-carbed by mega chains. My moto is everything in moderation, eat and enjoy, don’t pig out (although I do break the rule sometimes ). A diet that tells you to eat as much as you want of anything cannot have any good long term effects. These fats will eventually catch up with you (and your arteries) and those large proteins can really wreck havoc on your kidneys. I enjoy bread so much and baking bread. I bake at least on or two times per week. This week I made two wonderful rosemary potato loaves shaped into large boules. The smell wafting through the house alone is worth every ounce of carbs in them. We also baked a large wheat loaf to, my wife’s first baking experience and she was so happy that it actually “worked”. This weekend for my Father-in-law’s birthday I am planning on baking a sourdough boule and a couple of crusty Ciabattas.

I have been tempted to try this since I got my F&W issue with the recipe. I will defenitly try it now. Just curious, what is the FAN EFFECT?? Elie

I am a firm believer that there is a time, place and way to complain at a restaurant. First it depends on the place. If I am having lunch at a mom and pop place (such as a small Chinese restaurant) then I would not say a peep if the service is a little lacking or if my drinks are not filled up promptly, I would complain if the food is not what I expect though. On the other hand if I’m having dinner at a fine dining restaurant where expectations are high and the bill is high then you bet I will tactfully complain if anything is lacking. At such establishments I am paying a very high premium specifically to get pampered and receive the best of everything. I certainly do not spend the whole dinner bitching to my wife because we want to enjoy each other’s company and the food. If a restaurant of this caliber has enough respect for the clients’, it’s management should be more than happy to please us. A case in point was when we had dinner at a very nice Houston restaurant and I was convinced by my waitress to order the duck, when the dishes came I was served quail. I immediately pointed out that this was not what I ordered. Sure enough the chef came over and offered to re-do both of our plates which means we had to wait about 20 more minutes or I can try the quail. I decided to have my quail dish which was superb actually and which was comped off our meal. I do realize that it sometimes is a hassle to complain, after all we are out to enjoy ourselves not to bitch and feel miserable. So if it is something minor and it really does not ruin my meal I try to keep quiet and have a good time. I do know from my two years as a waiter in non-fine dining establishments that many people actually are complainers –probably by birth-, they love to complain and they think they should be the center of attention of the waiter who has five other tables to keep happy. I can list a lot of stories from those days!! Basically my point is, if a restaurant meal is really ruining your evening out then some tactful and constructive “complaining” will not hurt. Don't be an a-hole just tell them why you don't like your food or service this way you -usually- will be pleased and they get a chance to fix the problem and have a new repeat client.

Likes: AB- Both of them Emeril- Yes he can be annoying but he is turning thousands of people into cooking and he is a good chef Jamie Oliver- I have tried many of his recipes both from the shows and the books and they are very good. Fish cheese casseroles?!!! I’ve only seen him do this once and it did look good Sara is nice Tyler knows his stuff and has a good show St. Mario is always a pleasure to watch and he sure knows his stuff Jacque Torres- He does awesome work that one can never do at home but I love to watch him work Dislikes: Paula Dean Rachel “hyper-giggely-always-chipper” Ray- Very annoying Bobby Rivers Many others…. Hate: Sandra Lee- I think she really is the only one I ever put in this category

my marinade is usually made of lots of mashed garlic, lemon juice, a little red wine vinegar, dry oregano, paprika and olive oil

Whole cut up chicken flavored with ground ginger and cinnamon, browned in Samen, then oven braised atop a layer of bulghur, onions and bell peppers. When done the whole thing was topped with chopped parsley and preserved lemon. It came out very good. Elie

I have my heart set on the Bar-B-Chef Texas Charcoal Grill mentioned above unless I can be convinced diferently. The Char-Grill ones also look very good especially for smoking. Elie

A friend of mine claims that one of his worst meals ever was the “Puffy Omelette” at Mont St. Michel, which he said was nothing but foam!! I asked what exactly was it, just a flavorless soufflé? So he tried to do a search to get a picture or a recipe and came out with nothing. Can anyone here shed some light on this? Thanks Elie

yeah that's the one, form his Jamie's Kitchen book. Very tasty. Last night: I had made a new batch of stock the day before, had a butternut squash that needed to be used up and some creme fraiche in the fridge... So I made a risotto with roasted butternut squash, crispy thick slab bacon, lots of parmesan and topped with a generous spoon of creme fraiche after plating. Dessert: Homemade rum raisin ice cream Elie

Thanks, now I know what to look for in a Macron . I am planning on trying a different recipe next time around. Elie

Here dinners for pretty much a whole week, last one being yesterday Sunday. Lazinness prevented me from posting images sooner Ham Hock and split pea soup Corn Bread with cheddar cheese layer Homemade Dosas stuffed with potato/mushroom/green pepper mixture Tomato/cilantro raita Tomato Chutney Smoked brisket A crunchy salad made with radishes, apples, carrots, mint, celery in a creamy tahine dressing (from one of Jamie Oliver’s books). It was very tasty. Baked beans. From a can since they were a last minute request.

I’ve never had let alone make a French Macaroon, but this thread really made me want to try to make some. The Nigella Lawson recipe for Pistachio Macroons sounded simple enough and delicious. It took me two tries to make something resembling my idea of what they should be. The first batch was pretty horrible, they were soft all over and stuck to the paper like crazy…down the trash they went. The second batch came out decent, I think. For the second one I aged the whites for 24 hrs. and made sure the pistachio is very fine (no easy task using a food processor and a sifter). The result was good albeit a little flatter than expected and the crust was not as crunchy as I expected it to be. They did come off easily after a few minutes in the freezer. My other criticism with those is that they were very sweet especially with the buttercream. For the next time I am thinking about trying one of the advices on this thread and make an Italian meringue. Anyways here is a picture of my result. What do you think?

I think you mean Mark Dacascos, the martial arts guy. He certainly is the last person I would see as the chairman. This is shaping up to be the strangest FTV show. EDIT: and Mathew the show was called The crow not The Raven Elie

Kevin- Where do u live? Maybe you were looking in the wrong stores for the stuff. It should be available in any middle eastern (Lebanese/Syrian) or Indian grocery store. A good brand to look for is CORTAS. Like Carolyn and Aidan both said Orange Blossom water has a very distinctive taste/flavor that you cannot duplicate. However out of the three options you provided I would try the first one maybe 1/2 cup sweet wine to the zest of one orange. I would also heat the wine up a little to extract more of the orange oil. It would never be the same but it should taste good. Good luck Elie

hmmm (Batali/Brown)...this might actually be better than the first IC USA piece of crap. Elie

Nothing beats homemade yogurt for taste, shelf life, and use for anything. It is also very cheap to make. No need for any fancy gadgets or special equipment. If you also freeze a few Tbsps of the new yogurt you make you can have starter for the next batch...no need to buy any starter. Here is my class for Lebanese cuisine in which I have the recipe and pics to make yogurt as well as Labne (Labni/Labneh): Lebanese Cuisine Elie

I believe itch22 is looking for a Tahini recipe not "Hummus" or "Tahini sauce". Unfortunatly I do not have one as I do not see the need to make my own. But the ingredients as I understand it are just oil and sesame seeds. Please do let us know if you find a recipe you like...I might just try it and see if it is better than the one I buy. Elie

Last night: Pork stew with prunes served with oven baked polenta. Both from Paula Wolfert's latest book "Slow Mediteranean Kitchen". Dessert: Banana's Foster Elie

hmmm...makes sense. I guess we'll wait and see (I'm still not too crazy about paperback being the only edition though ) . Thanks Andy Elie