FoodMan

This past Xmas issue of Food and Wine had a Pistachio-Cranberry biscotti that was nothing short of amazing (just chop the pistachios instead of leaving them whole though). The cookies with their green/red colros made excellent Xmas gifts. Wendy- it's probably too late, but try roasting and grinding fennel seeds and add to the batter. They add a wonderful taste and aroma. Elie

Bux- I'm a little confused. Can you please elaborate on your comments? I was thinking about tstaying there for the very reason that the train station is close by. Is destination train station not that close to Placa De Catalonya or town center? Thanks, Elie

Note: two threads about Cape Town dining are merged.

That is a fine looking marbled loaf, glossyp. I made this once a while back and baked in a loaf pan. I am not sure why I never made it again, it was very good. I need to try it again soon. How did you get the dark rye so dark? did you use cacao powder like I remember him recommending? Elie

For some reason, I see the full fat milk powder a lot in stores that sell Mexican products. Nestle makes one, I know. I need to get back to Pierre. I've been lax. ← Ah, you are right! Also middle eastern stores sell it. I cannot believe I forgot that. I think the brand is called Nido or Nedo. Thanks Elie

I really want to try the chocolate ice cream recipe, however it seems that all stores only carry non-fat dry milk (why is that BTW?). I cannot for the life of me find full fat versions. Has anyone who tried this recipe used the fat free dry milk or did you find the full fat version somehow? Thanks Elie

Yeap, chard is my standard as well. I never tried it with spinach but I am sure it is good as well. Basically, the lentil soup with lots of lemon and chard is usually called "Addas Bil Hammud" or 'Lentils in Lemon'. This gives you an idea how lemony the soup should be . My favorite is "Kibbet Raheb" though. This is basically the same soup but it has dumplings poached in it. Those are made from bulghur, onions, parsley and a touch of flour and are about the size of a large marble each. Elie

The wok is carbon steel from my local Asian shop. I think I paid $18 for it. It is the Chinese style with one long metal handle that never seems to get hot. As for size, I think it is maybe 20 inches in diameter and very nicely seasoned . As for rice noodles I can get them pretty easily as well. The dried ones I buy form any Mega store. the fresh ones in all sizes I get from one of several Asian stores (they never carry Keffir lime leaves though ). For the dried ones I use Thopmson's method of soaking in cold water for a long time and they come out perfect for stuff like pad thai. If I am in a hurry I use the boiling water but they always come out inferior to the cold water version. Snowangel- I cannot remember what he flavors it with right now. I'll check. I also like your microwave idea, which could even save time. But are you talking about dried or fresh noodles here? Sorry, I don't mean to be nit picky, just want to be sure. Elie edit: typos

Here is the restaurant's website as well. It seems brand new too, it opened this wednesday the 23rd, according to B4-U-Eat. Click Here Elie

I've never even heard of this place, so thanks for bringing it to our attention! I am also glad that you even gave us instructions how to order, we don't normally recieve such detailed inctruction on the forums in that department. Must be the Technical side coming out . Sriously though, I am not a big fan of Cafe Express and definitly not Pei Wei but this place sounds like a must-try. Hmm...a place that serves decent frito misto and Caprese with good tomatoes cannot be bad. Thanks again, Elie

I don't know -- interesting question. I've only ever used leg of lamb, which I love to cut up. I also have few other options. ← I think I have seen lamb "shoulder" mentioned. Maybe it was in one of those shows with Jaffrey on FTV. I think that would be comparable to beef chuck or pork butt. I will ask around and maybe call a couple of specialty butcher shops. (Although, that will require an in-town trek.) If most of our choices of cut are so limited, what do they do with the other parts of the lamb? ← Fifi- My local HEB carries several different cuts of lamb. This includes shoulder cuts, breast (with ribs), as well as the more common legs and chops. Try the HEB you go to, they might have it as well. The shoulder and breast are not expensive and they are very tasty. I actually have a large breat cut in the freezer that I might use to join this interesting thread. I will either use one of Monica's recipes or an interesting one by Jamie Oliver!! We shall see... Elie

I know exactly what you are talking about. Thompson has a similar dish he calls "Rice noodles with Chinese broccoli" and it has a "gravy". I think he uses fresh rice noodles though not dried, but I could be wrong. Thanks, Elie

Snowangel- That looks so good. Is that a noodle dish? Sorry, but my Thai is not very good (ie non-existant ). Do you mind posting the English name for it? Thanks for this tip Trillium, my wife and I like coconut, but sometimes it is just so rich and heavy, both on the stomach and the wasteline. I will try what u suggest in the future. Elie

Houston Chronicle's Dining Guide: Taquenos On Tap Alison Cook reviews Miguelito’s Venezuelan restaurant. The homey little joint has some winner items, especially the Taquenos (the place is right across the street from Pete’s Fine Meats). A bouquet of flavors Kumquats, some chefs love them some are not too fond of them. Dai Huynh checks out whose using them and how among Houston’s restaurants. Hosuton Press' Dining section: It's Le Bombe Robb Walsh continues his Houston Franco tour and reviews Bistro Moderne at the hotel Derek. It seems like the boutique hotel finally cast off it’s bad restaurants’ curse. Check out this excerpt: “The sauce is cooked with spicy sausage, which is then strained out. When we finished the mussels, the bottom of the bowl contained so much chorizo-and-mussel-flavored cream, we couldn't possibly get it all by dunking bread into it. I actually contemplated getting the rest of the cream sauce packaged to go, but then I envisioned myself drinking it in the parking lot. So I sadly let it go to waste.” Hungry for some French food yet? Wine Geek Chic The movie “Sideways” is causing quiet a stir in the wine world. Robb Walsh reports its effects on the Houston wine scene.

Check out this thread for more discussion about Houston farmer's markets. Do you have any more details about the Market Square Market in specific? Like where will it be located at? Who is it sposored by? I have not heard anyhting about it so I cannot help, but would like to get more information as well. Elie

last night we had ham and cheddar sandwiches on homemade wheat bread. Frito's on the side along with a tall glass of passion fruit juice. Elie

In today’s W&D: Mr. Scott concludes after making a dinner reservation on Valentines day of all nights and being surprised that there was a set menu, that "The next time I make a reservation at a top-rated restaurant, I will ask about the menu for the evening in question." Well, of course you should. It’s valentine’s day dinner, one of the busiest nights of the year and most restaurants have set menus!! Another reason why I stay home on Valentine’s. Elie

Since guppymo says this dish is French influenced and apparently it is cooked real fast. Could the name "Shaking Beef" be a rough translation of "beef saute"? Since the beef is shaken while being quickly cooked ie sauteed. Just curious.... I've never had it but it does sound delicious and looks excellent as well. I have to try it some time.

I made some cannelle's this past weekend. I baked one batch on Saturday and another on Sunday. The one from sunday rested longer and had a better texture. here is a pic of the canneles...I know I posted a picture of some other ones before but darn it I love those little things and how they look. BTW, the canelles look much darker in the picture than they actually are, I think it is the lighting. The best thing about these 2 batches is that they did not stick at all! One or two taps and they were pretty much out of the mold. Also I followed Paula's advice -Thanks again Paula!- and left them alone when they started rising out of the molds. Sure enough they sat back down and kept on cooking till done, no white butts here. Come to think of it I think sticking in previous times might have been caused by fiddling with them too much in an attempt to sit them down. I do not have beeswax (relax! it is on my to buy list..at some point). I use instead equal amounts of butter, shortning and vegetable oil. I melt all three together and brush the interior of the molds with the mixture. Seth- I also think your oven must be too hot. I use the same molds and coom the cannele's for exactly two hours like the recipe specifies. Actually I took one out 10 minutes earlier and had to put it back in since it had a "white butt". Elie

Glad it worked out for you dls, and thanks for the report. I will add Noe to my dining destinations. Elie

Here is last night's Pannang Curry with beef. It came out excellent, I would've liked much more heat but my wife would not have eaten it. Usually I add more chillies to my portion but it just is not the same. Elie

ejebud, I am sure that tasted and smelled as good as it looks, great job! Last night we had pannang curry with beef served with steamed rice. For dessert, Homemade lichee(sp?) ice cream. This really was supposed to be served with shortcakes but I did not get to making those so we ended up just having a large scoop of the wonderful fragrant stuff in a bowl. Elie edit to add, this is a picture of the curry not the ice cream

I was craving this salad a while back and since I live about 40 miles away from Nielsen’s I decided to give it a try and see what I come up with. I made my mayonnaise with one egg, red wine vinegar and Vegetable oil. I made sure to blend it well to get it nice an fluffy. I have to say the mayo was excellent. For the potatoes, I just cubed them and to get a subtle oniony taste in them that I noticed in the Nielsen’s version, I boiled them till they were done along with a quartered raw onion. I figured the potatoes will absorb some of the oniony taste without adding onions to the salad since the one at Nielsen’s doesn’t seem to have it. I also added very finely chopped celery and hard cooked eggs and mixed the whole thing up. The result: Very Good. The same as Nielsen’s: NO Analysis: The salad did have a subtle oniony taste, but it was too subtle. In my next try I want to grate the onion (maybe half an onion) into the salad and see how it will work out. I also used Yukon Gold potatoes and I am pretty sure that is wrong. They seem to use a white potato, probably a russet. I did like the mayo I made in the salad, it was nice and creamy. Here is a pic of the salad :

You can certainly combine them again. The only problem is that you might end up with a dough that it too deflated, but you should still get a good result. Another tip is to cut the dough into 4 not six pieces, gently flatten each one without deflating the air bubbles too much and roll up like a traditional baguette. I do this all the time. Elie

Susan- You food looks mouthwatering. We will be having Thai tonight, specifically Pannang Curry from David Thopmson's book. I already stewed the meat in coconut milk. So tonight I'll pound the paste and finish the dish. I should post a couple of pics for your opinions as well. I love the pad Thai recipe, actually it has become a staple in our home since my 1.5 year old son loves it! I still need to try some of his other noodles and soups though. A question about Kefir lime leaves, since I have a hard time finding them even at the Asian markets. Funny enough Wole Foods and Central Market seem to have them more often. So can they be frozen? Thai Gourmet's website claims so. I want to buy a good quantity and freeze if possible, but Mr. Thompson clearly says this is not a good idea in his book. What do you folks think? Elie