Dr. J

rooftop, I believe that your husband is a genious, until he went and ruined it by telling you he cooked it. He should have just done it and said he had somebody do it for you. That way he doesnt blow his cover. Great looking dish though, definately going to try it out. Wisconole, I actually like the blurryness of the pics. Kind of Soap opera drama! Great dish too. Great looking soup Ce'nedra. Amazing spread KIm. Couple of new recipes that I tried out. Lemon Chicken from the chinese pictorial recipes in eGullet. I made a few changes. No lemonaid. I used meyer lemon instead and I Panko breaded a chicken thigh instead of using a breast. Came out very nice, the sauce is very powerful but went well with the breaded chicken. I also made a crab/pear/riccotta sauce that I served over pasta. It actually came out decent, I am certainly going to modify the recipe a bit more until I get it to come out with a bit more kick.

Good stuff texan, I am a huge tongue fan. I do mostly stews yet totally appreciate the variety of dishes....i will definately give the caper one a try.

Thanks HeidiH and intraining!!! The bun is a pork bun. It was steamed in the container you see way in the back of the pic. Super easy just steam for 15 min and comes out really good. On to this weekend's disaster. I normally dont have many disaster dishes and this is one of them. To the point where I took like 2 or 3 bites and threw it all away, along with the rest that wasnt cooked for that meal. So i went to my italian friend's restaurant and he said he has these really good Artichoke stuffed ravioli made with spinach. So I was like wow, ill give them a shot. They certainly looked nice. Well they were not nice, I didnt like the taste at all. I topped it with vodka sauce and parmegiano. The next part was the second attempt at the smelt. My first attempt came out great (Razor Clams/EVOO/Butter/Garlic mix). I went wrong in this dish because of shear stupidity. Instead of frying the smelt which was my original idea, I decided to bake it. MISTAKE. I ended up overcooking the fish and giving it this dry salty nasty taste. I think it would have been ok with a quick fry and then topped with marinara and Goat cheese and mozzarella with a quick melt in the over. The idea seemed interesting but ohh my god. this one was one bite and done. I ended up just eating the salad and throwing everything away. I call this a diet dish becuase I only ate that salad for dinner. Good for the diet. Here are the pics, dont be fooloed by the nice colors. Tasted like crap! This one is before going in the oven.

Thanks for the compliments. The smelts were seasoned and cooked in the olive oil/butter/garlic/wine mix before tossing in the linguini. The Razors were cooked in blush wine and xiao xing wine mix to give them different kick. The next bach will probably be done either tempura or katsu. Here is yesterdays meal. Most of the stuff was purchased on the trip to chinatown last week. The only thing I made was the ribs which were made the following way. Seared with duck fat, and cooked in the oven for 10 minutes. Then finished with chinese sausage, onions, mirin, blackbean sauce, wine, soy. Sorry to post this second pic ,I know that its crappy and blurry but somehow I like it. Kind of remind me of stepping stones. Maybe you feel the same way.

Thanks a lot D.Ross. Yes its kind of a guilt story. I went to chinatown in chicago on friday after a meeting in a hospital that went very well. So I went to get some Dim Sum for lunch and decided to stop by the market to see what they had. I only planned to buy some sauces and stuff that I had ran out. The thing was that they did have those live razor clams which I had never seen before and they looked great. My problem was that, that night I was supposed to go and meet some friends for a friends 30th birthday dinner. So the plan was to go and eat dinner with them and go out and have fun. However I had those live clams staring at me and I rarely get to go to chinatown. So I basically got the clams and ate what you saw in the first dish for dinner. I showed up to my friends party to just drink for a bit. The smelt was also picked up there and was frozen.

Weekend dinner, I stopped by Chinatown and got some good stuff. Lemmon Pepper linguini on a garlic/butter/basil sauce with razor clams. Next day it was made the same way except smelt was added and a salad with french dressing, gorgonzola, and walnuts.

Thanks a lot for the compliment david. I appreciate the imput. Kim I love the dish by your daughter. Totally got me in the mood for that pasta, ill make it this weekend. Can you share some info on the brocoli flan Ann? Been eating out a lot so no pics to post.

Chris the presentation looks fine to me. The potato shape reminds me of Mochi. I would have kept it the same except put the potatoes and lamb in the center of the plate and moved the gratin to another plate. That egg foo young looks great! The recipe of the sausage rice is simple. Start with sofrito and olive oil. Add the sausages and cook for a bit. Add tomato sauce, and add rice, one tablepoon of salt per cup, a dash of veg oit and water to cook. The sofrito, tomato sauce and seasoning all depend on taste. I do one can of sausgages per cup of rice. Yesterdays dinner. The last part of the duck. This breast was pan seared and finished in the oven. The sauce is a duck glace reduction with creme fraishe. I then added a little tonkatsu sauce to sweeten and give an extra edge. Came out awsome. The salad is a cuke/tomato salad on tozasu with shiracha.

Great work nisha and tupac. Thanks for the compliment Ann. Kim here is a pic of what I use for the rice. For the ridges to come out you have to pack the rice a bit and slowly pull it out while pressing at the top. If you dont want ridges you use the other side. I bought a set which came with like 5 rings of different sizes and I use them depending on what I want to do. Tonights dinner was a bit of a funky mix. The rice is a canned vienna sausage rice which in spanish is called "Arroz con Salchicha" it is basically a typical Puerto Rican homestyle recipe. The sauce is a Mustard Creme fraishe made with reduced duck stock and wine. On top we have Duck Sous Vide. Definately felt really weird mixing the PR food with french techniques but came out pretty interesting the sausage, duck and mustard mix was really cool. Bottom of the plate are some seedless cukes and tomatoes.

Not too happy about the picture quality on these. The plan was to thinken the sauce with xantham gum and make a little better presentation, however as usual, i got hungry and impatient and took some quick pics and ate. Dinner was cornish hen wrapped in bacon, that is served with a redwine reduction/duck reduction with dried apricots, shitake mushrooms and a bit of balsamic. The second pic is served with a mixed green salad, walnuts, tomatos, and a mustard vinaigrette with honey and cocunut milk. The second pic is served with a mixed green salad, walnuts, tomatos, and a mustard vinaigrette with honey and cocunut milk.

Ann T love the pics.....really great work. Can you post the recipe of the shitake and onion cream.

Last night's dinner. Had a tough time plating and presentation, not very happy with it really. As usual I get too hungry and dont want to mess around too much so I dont feel too guilty. Chilean Sea bass and Crab with a Coconut milk, curry, and pineapple sauce.

Love the color contrast of the pics Amritabala, food looks great too! Here are meals from yesterday and today. Cheese ravioli with vodka sauce and pesto Rack of lamb topped with a balsamic reduction with onions and shitake mushrooms. Tonight was salad with mustard vinaigrette, the same cheese ravioli from yesterday and,Chilean Sea bass on a clam reduction with saffron, vanilla and butter. This is a recipe from french laundry, I made it before and posted, but this time I took out the truffle oil and reduced the amount of vanilla.

Awsome dinner Ann! Last night's dinner. Mixed green salad with House dressing from Le Bouchon + meyer lemon. Steak with [shitake and onion red wine reduction. (not pictured ran out of batteries)] and rice.

Very nice meals everybody. Thanks for the compliment AnnT, I love those chicken wings and chips my meal of choice for superbowl sunday. Also love the color of that NY strip roast. Very nice meal percyn, I made this meal with some beef bones and am now totally going to eat the marow with toast, great idea Yesterday was my rice ball described in my last post along with Spanish style Chicken Stew made with beef bones and veal stock. Very hearty flavor to go with the smooth taste of the chicken. Not my best picture but it was very tasty.

Here was last nights dinner. Steak with bernaise sause. Bread with a olive oil and olive tapenade. The ball in the background is courtesy of my italian friend who made it which is a veal, mozzarela mix with rice. The ball is baked for 30 min and ready to go. Very nice, kind of like a italian version of Papa Rellena. Not sure if this has happened to anybody before. When I made the bernaise sause it separated on me. I decided to try to bring it back and re-emulsify it and first used a little mustard. Helped a little but didn't do the job. Then I took out the immersion blender and added some glutamate and worked perfectly. Anybody have any other tips they are more than welcome. Here is the recipe for the sauce: (sans experiments) http://www.recipezaar.com/104597

dochl i cant take much credit for this recipe. The stuffed gnocci i purchased from this sicilian guy who handmakes it. He also hooked me up with his arrabiata sauce. So basically I got some veal, seasoned it and got it going in the pan with some EVOO. I added onions, green peppers, ground pepper, tomato sauce, basil, oregano and a little bit of tomato paste. I then added a mild italian sausage cut in pieces and let it cook for a bit. After I felt everything was done, I added some arrabiata sauce and cooked everything together for another 15 minutes for the flavors to mix. Sauce being done, I just boiled the gnocci and placed the sauce on top. Came out very nice because of the delicacy of the gnocci and the spicy, flavor of the veal and sausage. Hope that helps. If I skipped any steps or have any questions feel free to ask. Dr. J

Thanks for the compliment tlm5150. Prawn beautiful duck. Here is yesterday's dinner. Red pepper stuffed Gnocchi topped with a ground veal and sausage sauce.

Haven't posted in a while, been super busy. Here are some of the dishes I have recently cooked. Some are the same dishes with different presentations. The ravioli are all pumpkin ravioli with a vodka sauce. Came out so great I had it 3 times. I broke about 11 plates on my way back from miami over the holidays so sorry for the repeats Potato salad is the near blur and on the far side is a pork chop that was just seasone and grilled. Here is the attempt with the pork chop done differently. Seasoned, then brushed with mustard, wrapped in bacon, brushed with olive oil and covered in panko. Then baked. Next one is the third attempt. Pork is slow cooked in soy, miso, garlic and ginger with onions. Very nice but not perfect mix with the italian food. The next dish is a lemon pepper linguini in an alfredo/pesto mix augmented with some spicy peppers. The dish is topped with a salmon steak.

Very nice prawn, very nice.....i have never seen the proscuitto wrapped in monkfish recipe before....very interesting. I am also interested in your lighting for your photos because it always seems perfect, it always feels like you take your pictures on a perfect sunday day. Is it natural light? or artififical?

Very nice DRoss. I was in Puerto Rico last weekend, and cooked for my brother and wife. My brother was on call so his wife took him the togo version of this dish we ate. Came out pretty good. First dish is pork ribs topped with squash and the best avocado in the world. (I still dont know why they dont grow this variety of avocado in the states) Avocado was dressed with ground rock salt and olive oil. Next dish I have made before but they requested I make it for them. Potato, Sweet potato, carrots, Pearl onions made in my creme fraishe-cheese sauce. Next dish was made by my brothers wife. It is stuffed Bread fruit (Panna) with ground beef/veggies and spices. Came out great

Been away for a bit. Away for thanksgiving and then computer out of comission for a bit. Then had a great big dinner party where I cooked and was so busy I didnt even take one picture. I will post some if they took any. Missed out on a lot of dishes. Prawn as usual great stuff. David great proffesional work. The squab looked awsome. Suzi that pork looked like it was 3D. Nice stuff Daniel M. Somebody asked me if I worked at a restaurant. I worked at various restaurants through high school and college. Sizzler, P.F. Changs, Sushi Restaurant, Crepe place, Donut shop, etc. Did pretty much everything there is to do in them. My real food background is from my family where everybody is into great quality food. My background is Spanish/Cuban/Puerto Rican and I use those style/skills in my cooking. My posts dont really show those traditional meals but I use those principles and mix them in in whatever I cook. Here is one pic of a dish my friend made from me at the sushi restaurant I used to work at. This is another attempt at presentation of my steak which I overcooked because I got a call on the phone and forgot it was on the oven. Doh!

I appreciate it Prawn....I personally was not very happy with the presentation myself and it certainly did feel forced to me. Love that fish by the way prawn...very nice. Thanks for the idea nakji...I have not worked korean pepper sauce much but ill certainly look for it when I get to miami this week. I am trying to do something different but as you mentioned anything to the dish that is not part of the dish should not be there. I figure I have to keep on practicing until I get it down and become better at it. I used not to work on presentation that much and only do it for special ocasions, however I found that when those occasions came I sometimes got stuck and things didn't come out well. So, I figured I practiced the same way I have done with my cooking until I get experienced with it. The way I see it is that there are two kinds of presentation. First is the presentation where you see whats on the plate and your mouth just waters, you just have to eat it. And an artsy presentation which is more concentrated on asthetics and architecture. I would love to be able to create a mix of those styles. But well see.

Thank you very much Daniel and David for your information. I agree that only through citizism we learn to get better and can better share our ideas. Thanks a million guys, and keep it comming. Ok, the creme sauce is basically a sauce that I came up is made the following way. 2 tablespoon of butter and add some starch and disolve. Then add heavy creme, around 1.5 cups. (i do this by eye) and add some sort of cheese. Depends on what you want to do. This time i went with a Cheddar/Monterrey Jack mixture. Maybe about 1 tablespoon. This makes it subtle and tastes buttery creamy with a hint of the cheese. Its quick easy and adds tons of flavor to veggies. Another way to present is to do the same sauce but instead add gorgonzola or blue cheese and pair that with Vegetable tempura. Sounds weird, but goes really well. For the vegetables, I cut the vegetables and put them in a large pot. I added about half a cup of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of butter. I added a twig a dill just to give it a different dimmension. You can add any veg you like even fish sauce and you will give you veggies a different dimmension everytime you serve them. I covered the veggies in water and boiled until the water went halfway down. I dont cook them down on purpuse because I want to preserve the color and only give them a hint of sweet/flavor to them. Make them very light and tasty. Season with salt and done. For the ring mold you are 100% right. I have a few different sizes and should have gone smaller but alas my achilles heal is revealed. I only start cooking when I am hungry and by the time I am finishing up and working on presentation I am freaking starving. It is then I start hurring up and mess things up. Probably a smaller ring mold and double layer of meat would have worked better? mmm still thinking about it. definately will be using a smaller mold, never realized how big that rice looked until you mentioned it. The rice is a Japanese premium rice. Very good stuff and the only rice I use. I cook it in my brought from japan rice cooker and normally cook rice Latin style. Rice, Salt, Oil. Very tasty and people never expect its flavor. The radish and capers were desperate garnishes to add color to the dish, I just kind of threw it out and put it out there. I could not agree more that dots of sweet puree would look awsome. Thanks again for that. I am also working on polenta, the times I have made it I have not been very happy with its flavor. DRoss thanks for the comments. the pickled radish idea is awsome and something that i WILL do. Very nice and i really see it working with the flavors. Also thanks for the take on ading sprigs to the presentation, have used it in the past but always a great idea. So David for the rice you suggest half rice/half kimchee and then the beef? Conceptually I like it. Thanks again for the imput guys I really do hope that other people tell me what they dont like about my dishes becuase sometimes you kind of get stuck doing the same stuff and its good to learn great new techniques and points of view from other people. sorry for the long post.

Ok here is my second shot at replating and remaking yesterdays food with a different presentation and hopeful taste. All the techniques used came out great. Only the foam wasnt as "fluffy" as I'd like, but the taste was great and I put it on the iSi only when the taste was right not the consistency. Perhaps a little lecithin may have helped.... The steak was prepared korean style as before I made some garlic chips from the french laundry to give them some taste. Here is my take on garlic chips. They are time consuming but good. However they didnt accent specifically korean style marinade of the beef since it is strong. The chips were tasty though and I certain see me using them with other meat preparations or perhaps a subtle fish. I decided to make a second type of chip, also from the french laundry is the pototao chive bandaid chip. Came out really good and was relatively simple to make. The foam is i guess a "constructed" foam made of carrot, potato and sweet potato. I wasnt sure what to expect out of it since I just made it up but it was really good. The veggies were prepared from sundays meal. I was also very unhappy with the plating. A friend of mine saw one of my pics of the ribs and said that the presentation was too cluttered, I had actually thought that it was good, but in her view it was too cluttered. So this time i tried to go with simpler plating but I certainly was not happy with it. Perhaps you guys think differently. My favorite pic of the plate