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DanM

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Everything posted by DanM

  1. Wife and I had brunch at Bouchon in Beverly Hills yesterday. We had Earl Grey tea from Rare Cargo. It was decent, but I have had better (Rishi being my preferred Early Grey). I was actually surprised to see them using tea bags instead of loose leaf at such a nice restaurant. Dan
  2. My inlaws like frozen veg and cooks the living daylight out of them... I am dying for a good plate properly cooked veg. Dan
  3. We dined at Tei-An tonight and understand why it got a 5 star review from Dallas Morning News. The food was great and the service was awesome. We started with three appetizers. First was the white seaweed salad. It was briny with a touch of acid and tasted of the sea. The cucumbers added a touch of freshness that was needed. I can understand why this is one their most popular dishes. The tempura vegetables were next with the enoki mushrooms and purple potatoes the star of the platter. The tempura shiso did not have much flavor. I was concerned that the mayo sauce would overpower the tempura, so I used it sparingly. Finally, we had pickled veg. This was a mix bag with decent cabbage and cucumbers. But the pickled daikon... I could eat a bowl of that stuff! For entrees we had daikon oroshi soba (cold) and fried tofu soba (hot). The cold soba really allowed us to appreciate the quality of the noodles. The pungency of the daikon and wasabi played nicely off the cool noodles. In traditional fashion, a pot of cooking broth was given to us and provided a nice palate cleanser before the hot noodles. The broth for the hot noodles was my favorite part of the meal... I could bathe in that stuff! The tofu was good, but I could just eat a bowl of the noodles and broth and be happy. For dessert we had the soba ice cream special. While nice, it swam in a plate full of buckwheat honey, which is pretty pungent stuff. Luckily, I like honey so it was not a big deal for me. Service was very attentive and made sure our sake and water glasses where full. She noticed that we ordered mostly vegetarian and asked about that before serving the hot soba. We shared everything so she brought out bowls or plates and divided the hot soba for us. Next time we are in Dallas, we are definitely going back.
  4. Chris. How is the kitchen working out for you? Have you figured out the oven? Dan
  5. There has been nothing new on soup books posted in 4 years. Anything new to consider?
  6. Some think that cars with automatic transmissions is heresy. But is gets the job done and serves most well. With a 9 month old terror, having the machine do 95% of the work has definite benefits. Dan
  7. I was wondering what machines I should look at for less than $500. I doubt that SWMBO will let me buy one, but it doesn't hurt to look. Dan
  8. Thanks again everyone! i am getting a little better at it, but milk is still my biggest weakness. I think I need a smaller container for the milk due to the small wand. Not that it would matter. I have been instructed not to use it because it makes too much noise and wakes up my brother in law... whatever. We have created a relatively new drink, AFIK. I have been adding a spoonful of cajeta, a Mexican goat milk caramel, to my cappuccinos and dusting it with a little cinnamon. My wife is now addicted. Dan
  9. Oh,yes! With glass doors! That would be wonderful. Hurry and die, clunky LG refrigerator, die, die! I don't know if I would want glass doors... People will see the experiments growing in there...
  10. Don't give up too easily! I think it could work if you do a small indirect fire and bake the wellington on a pizza stone in the center of the grill. The trick will be keeping the temp in the right zone. You can also play with the flavors a bit to make it work better with the grill flavors. Maybe serve it with barbecue sauce instead of gravy? Dan
  11. We tried Blue Ginger Garden today and were quite pleased with what we had. To start, we ordered the Roti. What we did not realize is that the curry sauce had a big chunk of beef in it. We ate the roti, which was quite good, but skipped the curry sauce. When we ordered the roti, the waiter smiled and said that everyone orders it. It appears to be a special of the house. The star of the meal was the Mixed Curry Vegetables with Tofu Puff. I cannot describe how awesome this was. The portion size is huge and is meant to be shared. We have about half of it in the fridge. We also had pan fried croaker in a curry sauce. This was not the most successful dish. First, there was no curry sauce, which confused me. Secondly, the fish were not cleaned or the fins removed. I am not sure if this is normal for this dish or in Malaysian cuisine, but it made for some messy eating. While delicious and well cooked, I don't know if I would order it again. Finally, I had a glass of Teh Tarik which was well made. According to Wikipedia next time Iwill have to say "Teh tarik satu, bageroh!" which translates as "One teh tarik, make it strong!" They also did a good job catering to my 9 month old. They brought her an orange plastic kiddie dish set from Ikea for her to play with. Dan
  12. Did anyone else see the Christmas special last night? It was cool to see many of his friends, both chef and otherwise, on the show cooking what they are known for. But the whole music video in the fridge? Is he back on drugs?? Dan
  13. I just want to bump this... we will be out there next week. Dan
  14. My wife and I are thinking about heading to Tei An in the coming week. Any further comments about the restaurants? We might be going with a friend who is a vegetarian. Is there anything she can eat? Thanks!
  15. I agree with flat parchment, cambros, sheet pans, hotel pans, speed racks, and prep bowls. I have a bunch of these in my kitchen. It is quite often cheaper than consumer versions. The one thing I would love to have is a true deck oven for breads and pizzas. Our screen porch needs to be be rebuilt, so I might look into the cost of building a small wood fired oven that can be accessed from inside the deck. Dan
  16. I found Buddha's hand at Central Market in Plano, TX while visiting my in-laws. I am not familiar with this citrus or what dishes are traditional with it. Does anyone have suggestions on uses? Thanks!
  17. Many good points. But again, this would be a friendly competition that would hopefully end with a few laughs and a bottle of wine, provided by the loser, of course. Thomas Keller vs. ??? Julia Child vs. ??
  18. I love pick your own farms and farmers market. I am blessed to have an abundance of both near me. I gladly can anything I am able during the summer. This includes making sauces and preserves. I also make my own bread, beer, any many many other products? Why? When you get it fresh from the farm, it just tastes better. Secondly, I can play and tweak the recipes to meet my tastes or to experiment. Finally, it is a great way to enrich myself and develop new skills. My wife jokes that in the case of nuclear war, I will be quite useful once the dust settles. The only thing I will lack is the meds I need to keep kicking. Dan
  19. Thanks for the advice, everyone! I made my first batch this morning. I think it was a little weak, so I will try to tamp it down a little more firmly tomorrow. My in-laws were holding out on me. I found two books in their collection about coffee and espresso recipes. The coffee book is from the late 70's but had some useful information about how an espresso machine basically works. The book also says that froth should be made before heating the milk because it is easier to make froth in cold milk. Is this true? I would grind my own beans, but my goal for right now is to understand and learn the process. I bought a 1/4 lbs of Allegro Espresso blend at Whole Paycheck and ground it fine there. Even if I wanted to, my in-laws do not have a grinder and I am not that generous. Once we go back home, I will add it to the long term list of things to buy when money is available. Dan
  20. Let me preface this by saying that I am severely sleep deprived and strange things come into my head... I was watching a rerun of No Reservations in Paris where Anthony Bordain goes on a love story about Joël Robuchon and his accomplishments. The only other chef I can think of that is as accomplished today is Alain Ducasse. So here is the mental exercise of the day... If Chefs Robuchon and Ducasse got into a friendly cooking competition, what would go down and who would win? Any other chefs you would love to see compete? Dan
  21. Gee... you might correct. This is a good lesson to myself why I should not post when my daughter wakes up at 4am and I am mentally dead to the world. I think my thought process (or lack there of) was that pepper grinders are burr mills that could theoretically grind coffee and that they were trying to re-purpose them. Dan Why a salt grinder? Why not?? Its a good way to make consumers buy two when they only need one.
  22. I was looking at Sur La Table's website for a tamper and came across this set of "Espresso Mills"... can anyone see something wrong with this picture? http://www.surlatable.com/product/bishop+espresso+dual+mill+set.do?keyword=espresso&sortby=ourPicks Dan
  23. Okay... My mother-in-law found a box with additional filters and a filter holder for a double shot. Can someone please explain the difference between the filters?
  24. I am visiting my in-laws who have a Francis Francis X1 espresso machine solely for the purpose of countertop art. To the annoyance of my FIL, I plan to make use of it while I am here and teach myself how to make espresso. I have found 95% of the parts for the machine and have purchased 1/4 lbs of espresso beans had them ground fine. I think the only thing I am missing is the tamper. As I understand it, here is the process for making a cup of espresso with a few questions. 1. Remove the filter holder which has the 1 cup filter disc inside and fill with ground beans... How much do I add for 1 cup? 2. Tamp down the grounds with firm pressure. How much pressure? Any tricks here? 3. Put the filter holder back into the machine and turn the handle until snug. 4. Turn on the power switch and wait until the temperature ready light turns off. What temperature should it reach? 5. Place a cup under the filter holder and turn on the coffee switch. Turn off the switch when the cup is almost full? How much espresso should I get per shot? 1 oz? When it comes to steaming milk... 1. Turn on the steam wand switch. 2. Fill the pitcher 1/3 with milk. 3. Open the team valve and purge it for a second. 4. Insert wand into milk and turn the steam valve to heat the milk, but not boil it... What temp should I aim for? 5. Wipe off the wand. Did I miss anything?? Any sage advice or smart ass comments? Thanks! Dan
  25. I made the tamales last Friday to great success. I roasted the butternut squash and then mixed 1/3 in with the masa and the remainder with the chipotle and shredded turkey leftovers. There were no problems at all with moisture. Dan
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