pastameshugana

That is amazing. And I'm glad to hear your pork fat levels are back up to normal. Wouldn't want you wasting away...

For a 'non-local' - just one who loves Melbourne, I say congrats! The patisserie on Lygon street is an excellent recommendation, and the only thing I'll add is that the Brats at the Bratwurst shop in Vic market are the best I've ever had, anywhere. Have fun!

Oi - I can't believe Rosemary's closed. And I forgot about TOPH. They have/had some pretty amazing crepes and monster 'omelettes'.

From a former Vegas local, I'd heartily recommend Rosemary's on Sahara. We had a fantastic tasting menu there, 5 or 6 courses for around $100. Great atmosphere & service. Also, over on the east side, we had great experiences at Lindo Michoacan. The custard shop (can't remember the name!) just off-strip near the stratosphere was out of sight, always a line into the parking lot, and lots of entertaining 'local' scenery passing by. If you hit 'china town' west of the strip on (I believe) Spring Mountain you'll find an endless variety of all things Asian. Had a stellar Malaysian meal at a little store front there once. $.02, exchange rates may vary.

DW got me "Fois Gras Wars" by Mark Caro. It looks interesting, but I've got a half-dozen books ahead of it in the lineup this month, so it'll be a bit till I get to it. My 'big' present was a Saeco super-auto espresso machine I bought for myself a couple of months ago - so no surprise there!

Last night was a feast! My real (full-time) job is as a pastor, so last night we hosted an 'Appreciation Dinner' for a number of the people in our congregation that are a big help (leaders, close supporters, behind the scenes, etc). We were planning for 25 adults. We decided to do Italian, because I love it and there's not one (!!!) Italian restaurant in our city, not even a bad one. Planned Menu: Crostini (3 types): -Roasted Veg (an Idea I got from a recent trip to Brasov, Romania where several restaurants served a room-temp roasted veg paste you smeared on your bread instead of butter) -Tomato Basil (Because that's what you'd expect) -Mozzarella & Chili (an Idea ripped from Jamie O) Bacon Wrapped Asparagus (Because who can resist that? And a 'thank-God-my-Jewish-blood-doesn't-mean-I-eat-kosher' dish!) Salad (Made by Mrs. Meshugana). Two pastas (Penne & Spaghetti) Two sauces (Alfredo & a Meat Sauce) Lemon Ricotta Cheese Cake Cheese Cake Brownies - Mrs. Meshugana is responsible for all the desserts! I started my (cooking) day at 9am, chopping veggies to roast, and roasting garlic for my sauces: Then wrapping the asparagus with bacon for frying: All fried up (in olive oil): What's nice is that as you go, the bacon fat adds to the olive oil, so the end of it gets MUCH more bacon-ey and artery clogging! Then I roasted all the veg in the broiler, as well as a few heads of garlic to use later. The garlic was heavenly! Here it is just about to be mashed up: Diced serrano and some red sweet peppers (for Christmasy colors) for the Mozz crostini: Which turned out looking like this, with a little olive oil splashed on: And the tomato basil crostini: Two sauces and two pastas going on my way-too-small stove: And here's where it almost got all stuffed up. The breaker kept tripping on my stove (ridiculous! You didn't expect me to be using all four burners and the oven at once?), so my roux for the alfredo kept getting interrupted, so I ended up turning up the heat on the roux, then the doorbell rang and..... badly burnt roux and no alfredo. That also means we'd have 1/2 the food we were planning on. I made a last minute decision to toss the penne with melted butter, garlic, a little oil, pepper, and micro-planed parmesan. It was fantastic! Far better than the four hour meat sauce in my opinion... It all ended up great - had a good time, and my feet are reminding me why I don't cook for a living! The aftermath (we used holiday paper plates for serving!)

Who has picked this up yet? I've just started it, and it's a great read so far. Talking about olive oil culture, with a historical perspective, while highlighting the struggles facing the industry today. It makes me want to do an olive oil tasting! If you haven't gotten it yet (it's brand new) go out and get it!

Lordie - anything that has foie/truffle mousse 'melted in' as a flavoring gets a hearty vote of approval from me. That soups sounds fantastic - and thanks for the (inadvertent) D'Artagnan reminder. I'd forgotten all about that place, and am eyeing some foie & truffle goodies for a Christmas feast.

French press is simple, but it is a different cup than a filtered cup - generally more acidic (which is good if you like it). I have a nice hand burr grinder I got from amazon for ~$20. I have absolutely fallen in love with the coffee from red bird coffee (redbirdcoffee.com). They only roast and ship WHEN you order, you'll get an email telling you which day it roasts/ships - and the price is killer: at 5lbs it's $10/lb - and superiorly tasty!

Scoop - as a former resident of Vegas - I'm loving this! Great writing, and love the insight into the casino food biz. When living there I was friends with the managing chef (proper title??) of one of the 'nice' casinos. Every couple of months he'd invite a few friends for breakfast in a private room where he'd cook just for us. I took one tour of a few of the kitchens (buffet, staff kitchen, etc) and was monstrously impressed with the scale at which they produced food - astonishing, really. We were really impressed the week that the 'W' family spent wining/dining him trying to hire him for the (then new) property being built. Keep it up, loving it! This would make a great book some day. (and I get a cut of the royalties for the suggestion, right?)

...showoff! Beautiful work, ScottyBoy

Country - Chicken ham is a 'ham like' product that is made from chicken, thus it is Halal (an approximate equivalent to Kosher, but for Muslims). In India you'll find all sorts of things like that: Chicken ham, chicken pepperoni, salami (the Subway's have a wide variety). There are similar products in Israel, as well. Also in Israel I found bacon vacu-sealed at the hotels (so Kosher kitchens wouldn't be corrupted) and re-heated. (Sorry Percyn!) NOTE: It's interesting that the words Halal and Kosher both mean approximately the same thing (legal, prepared according to religious law) but in their respective languages.

Amazon Prime is a huge deal - I love it and recommend it to anyone I run across. I'll order silly things (like screen protectors for my phone) and have them shipped free rather than go to the mall and deal with the snotty kid at the kiosk any day! If you're a big movie/TV fan (I'm not) it also includes thousands of free on demand movies/videos/tv shows. I just ordered a whole grip of espresso parts (steamer jug, thermometer, syrups, etc) and I always sort my searches by which are 'prime eligible' - it's certainly worth it.

Goodness - I could cry! That's it exactly - thank you so much! This is one of those 'memory' dishes for our family. I can't count the number of times one of the kids has mentioned it, wishing we could have it. Thanks again - I owe you one!

Loving the blog - having serious flashbacks. I took my family there for a 2.5 year expedition and it's been over a year since we left, so we've been really missing India as of late! Keep it up, great pictures!

I, for one, think this is an absolutely brilliant idea and it must be pursued! These would make it fairly trivial, no? Uh oh, I think I've stumbled across a foolish new obsession. Thanks...

I, for one, think this is an absolutely brilliant idea and it must be pursued!

Does anyone serve their TG meal as separate courses, as opposed to the 'mountain of food on the table smorgasbord'? Just thinking about something different, we've had lots of 'functional' thanksgiving dinners in the last several years (been traveling quite a bit) and might have some old friends visiting. I'm not a big sweet potato fan (wife is), so I was thinking a sweet potato soup (or sweet potato and parsnip) as a starter, then some sort of cold green bean salad, then the 'main' with turkey, potatoes, and dual 'gravies' with one traditional and one cranberry. (I can think of artistic designs to plate with those!) Desserts I'll probably leave to the in-laws (they'll already be offended that I'm cooking, but then they'd complain if we asked them to cook, so lose-lose!) There's lots of options for roasted veggies along the way, depending on what we can find that looks good around here.

I looked and couldn't find a thread yet, sorry if I'm duplicating! I'm looking for inspiration, what are your plans this year?

dCarch - I love it! While not practicing, we've got Jewish heritage and I love your take on the meal. ScottyBoy - the Salad 'garden' is a brilliant idea, now you've got me thinking about new presentations for thanksgiving dinner!

KayB - This is the 2nd time I've seen this idea here on EG - and both times it's made my heart stop. I owe Mrs. Meshugana big time (leaving to Romania next week after just being in Russia), so I think this'll make it on the menu this week to help 'pay' for my absence...

Weird. Where I'm at (New Mexico - faaaar from the coast) I've never seen any decent scallops (let alone w/roe), but I am able to get shrimp & prawns with heads on at the grocery. I know it doesn't apply, but we just were giving our 2nd son crawfish eating lessons on sunday at the chinese buffet (barf) that has (surprisingly) a well stocked vat of boiled craws. Heads and everything.

Amen! I can't stand the cadbury chocolate. We lived in India for a few years, so naturally Cadbury was the only stuff regularly available. You could get some imported Hershey's or Godiva or Lindt on occasion, but it was rare and expensive. Not to mention that many of our close friends are Aussies so they think I'm blaspheming all things good and holy when I talk bad about Cadbury...

Holy crow that sounds amazing! Guess what I'm making next?

Judiu, gloves are the best bet. I was sore for hours afterward! Except plastic gloves make it difficult to peel and seed the roasted chiles. --- - From iPhone using Tapatalk