helenas

i recognize the tree cake - this a wedding cake and we had one on ours.

damn it Adam, you should have told me you go there - after all i consider myself the expert in all things Vilnius and Lithuanian

you might want to change the link to US edition which is way cheaper and ships in 24 hours: ISBN 0756613027

am i the only one who finds acorn ones pretty tasteless? there are other nice baby squashes out there: delicata, carnival, baby pumpkins bursting with flavor!

breakfast from the fridge: crispin apple, forgotten piece of smoked tetilla cheese and stale country bread. decided not use butter: roasted apple slices in evoo with some sugar and they caramelized nicely; and put the grated cheese below and on top of apples: came out pretty nice - the smokiness of the cheese was not overwhelming, and apple got some flavor with caramelization.

Does anybody know what squash is this? The label said futsu but after extensive googling i'm not sure because of the color:

chanterelles/aged gruyere gratin - cheese, pan browned sliced onion and mushrooms sandwiched bw two layers of thin italian country bread slices: mixture of eggs/creme fraiche/milk pored over and baked in the oven - oh so good and oh so unbearably rich...

russian comfort food - vareniki with sour cream, approximated last night by using store-bought fresh pirogi and creme fraiche - 10mins stove to table:

oh no: i was meaning to make kabocha gnocchi tonight - i even googled out this lovely article: Masterful gnocchi: An Italian chef demonstrates the secrets of making those feather-light dumplings . (the recipe does call for an egg) and to adrress the comment by somebody on this thread that kabocha produces too much moisture, i thought that it's the driest squash, is this not true? anyway reading about your disaster made my thinking of switching to pumpkin spaetzle tonight

i keep dry Noilly Prat in my fridge and often make this substitution - but one should be carefull if the recipe calls for quite a bit of white wine - vermouth is strongly flavored!

i made some buttered twice-steamed couscous the night before and it was good to be literally eaten on its own, and i didn't even use a lot of butter, maybe just a tablespoon for two servings. Added a stick of cinnamon and several brunches of thyme to the steaming water. Incidentally there is a nice article on the subject in today's LAT: Marrakesh express

i think this might be an appropriate thread to pose this question: Antonio Carluccio's Italia was just published: has anybody seen it? i'm so tempted - Carluccio with Alastair Hendy as a photographer - what's not to love?

good question - i mentioned to my husband when we were enjoying the dish that lamb shoulder mightly be uniquely suited for tangia... and i like Adam's idea of using bean pot for making tangia - now i have more reason to get one

when i roast chicken vertically i always set it breast side down: the bird always comes out perfectly cooked. the recent one:

Cocorico is beautiful no? and i would think more convenient than wobbly Spanek/roasting pan combo ... oh and the breath of clay

Paula's book and description of tangia inspired Clarks to offer Tangia recipe in their excellent Casa Moro book: and both books inspired me to make this dish on Sat; used thick shoulder chops, the spicing was cumin, garlic, preserved lemon, cilantro, onion and butter, the cooking vessel was my favorite cazuela and the dish spent in oven 4 plus hours: enough to produce mind bogglingly silky meat...

i sort of forgot about the book but a recent issue of australian vogue had a recipe for apple cider braised pork belly adapted from Molly's, with couple of changes to the original - one cup of stock is substituted for one cup of semi-sweet applce cider, and mirin is used instead of dark? (mushroom? - i don't remember and don't have the book with me) soy sauce. I also compared the recipe to my favorite aromatic pork belly hot pot from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's MEAT book: Adding two easy steps that Stevens skips: 1. simmeering pork pieces for some 5mins to get rid of most scum (widely used technique) at the beginning; 2. straining the cooking liquid at the end (nothing unique here either); one gets such an esthetically pleasing sauce... anyway i really recommend trying the dish using an apple cider

thank you - this is parsley: the list of ingredients is very short - just pumpkin, garlic and parsley - everything is finely chopped, good splash of evoo and couple of hours in low oven; it's so good - i will try it soon with hubbard - Whole Foods carries many interesting baby winter squashes!

Susan, of course - Brent's description will keep me trying - i get the crispy part, it's the hop one that i'm missing in the meantime after numerous tastings i'm ready to add Three Floyds Pride & Joy Mild Ale to the hall of beer fame...

yet more adventures of squash - pumpkin gratin provencal: this is really a winner - simple and glorious... although coming from Olney, what else one would expect:

We had this thread sometime ago: Pork Belly, best ways to cook it (not makin' bacon). Niman Ranch sells it online as pork belly: fresh bacon maybe another name.

the initial idea of hubbard/chanterelles became a dinner tonight with buttercup/hen of the woods combo: so delicious!

ok i got the book couple of weeks ago: working the Pilsner section: among recommended we particularly liked Bitburger, oked Jever and disagreed on Grolsch. Still on the hunt for Christoffel Blond - anybody spotted it in NJ/NY/MA? speaking of pilsners and other lagers here is an article by Steve Beaumont - Don't Forget the Lager: "Among the community of American beer aficionados -- better known as "beer geeks" -- there exists certain pieces of wisdom broadly accepted as gospel. "Hops good, more hops better," is one such maxim. "Ales are always superior to lagers," is another." (says the author of "Premium Beer Drinker's Guide: The World's Strongest, Boldest and Most Unusual Beers", the book that doesn't mention any of those pilsners ) But i still don't get the appeal of Victory Prima Pils

Barilla Plus (besides multi-grains, fiber and omega-3s it tastes nice and has a decent texture, quite a surprise for commercial pasta) angel pasta with pan wilted/browned juliened baby zucchini , mussels, parsley and green yuzo kosho.

thanks Toliver, i would say this is too much blue - the truer color is below: but yes, i have photoshop, i just need to install it.