riboflavinjoe

I think we need some group therapy or something. Can we have a big group hug? I love you all.

The best dulce de leche I have seen, which is very thick but spreadable, and won't soak into cake, is CONAPROLE brand, out of Uruguay. I can pick it up here in Montreal at Latin American markets, so you could probably get it at any other relatively cosmopolitain city. I think the very very best dulce de leche I have ever eaten, though, was made with raw milk (2L), and white sugar (500g), and a teaspoon of baking soda, by a Uruguayan dude, when I was living with a Swiss dairy farming family in Alberta. The raw milk made all the difference, because I tried to make it at home with Quebon Homo milk, and it sucked bummy. Conaprole, I find is the next best thing to fresh raw milk dulce de leche. joe

Last night I checked out ""Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers"" from the McGill library, it's a blast. Made in 1980 by FLOWER FILMS (I personally love a name like that), it features Alice Waters and her Garlic celebration menu, and has a bunch of other cooks from around San Francisco and so on, making food with garlic. It's really quite funny, a big pro-garlic propaganda film. They have some funny songs about garlic in the film, too. I like IMDB.com's entry, the cast reads things like "Harrod Blank .... Youth Saved from Dysentary" and "Mary T. Brown .... Cook Who Uses Garlic Salt"

The guy on Bleury just south Ste Catherine, on the east side (next to the sex shop) mangled my Global knives. My couteau d'office was burnt and nowhere near straight edged when he was done "sharpening" them. Even though many people have recommended this guy to me, I would say don't go there, that's for sure. I think the best would be to get your own stone and take the time to properly do them yourself. Hard lesson! sigh.

I went by the place on Friday. It's called Boulangerie Cheskie(359 Bernard West). -Steve ← well, there's cheskie's and there is milk and honey on the other corner.

This is neat. Today in the McGill Daily, My sweetie pie and I published our first baby: On Braising. Check it out! It was hard to write an article that stayed within the word limit, and kept the most relavent information there, but I think we did a good job to get some students trying this at home. -jf

Beautiful Souffle! My own supper was a cream of carrott soup, with enough ginger to give it a little kick, and risotto with asperges, red onion, red pepper (all grilled), with italian sausage, feta cheese. for dessert, we made my sugar-pie's mom's carrott cake recipe, with decadent cream cheese icing. I had a ton of carrots we had to use.

... and then there's the sad moroccan place right next door. i always feel sorry for them, too. the moroccan guy is always sitting at the table next to their section, looking bored. but the thing is, bankok is so so so good. sigh. no sfemj for me, thanks; gimme the cashew chicken!

... and then there's the sad moroccan place right next door. i always feel sorry for them, too. the moroccan guy is always sitting at the table next to their section, looking bored. but the thing is, bankok is so so so good. sigh. no sfemj for me, thanks; gimme the cashew chicken!

i have been on a short rib addiction of late, and this totally wins for the cold weather!

this morning i had a big pile of sauteed spinach with an embeurre de chou (actually, stewed cabbage with bacon in duck fat), and two eggs, over easy. had the cabbage left over from the other night when i roasted some chicken legs.

penne with tomato sauce (onion and garlic much), including zucchini, chorizo, button mushrooms, jalapeno, a bit of cheddar. wow, tasty stuff, really really tasty. nothing like good home cooking.

pork tenderloin on mushroom-bacon risotto, wilted spinach, oniony-mushroomy-balsamicky veal-stock-based sauce. tons of parsley.

Well?

just to say that cocagne, i tried about a month or so ago, and i loved my first two plates, one was braised pork belly on marinated red pepper and onion, which was just perfect. texture of the belly was out of this world, and flavorful, oh my god. the ravioli of deer with thym jus was also wonderful, strong flavors, hearty dish. the half crottin for after meal pleasure was quite disappointing. it was a half crottin on one side of the plate, with a toast on the other end. THATS IT. i know its a cheese course, but still, cant we work it a bit more? as for ambiance, i found it was really missing soul. while the food was really well prepared, the room was quite depressing. i remember one summer about 4 years ago, i walked into a chinese restaurant on st zotique and christope colomb at lunch and it seemed like it was closed, since you could hear a pin drop and there was no music, no light, no nothing. even though cocagne does have some music and lighting and so on, it was by far the coldest and most depressing dining room i have ever dined in since that gloomy lunch 4 years ago.

oh come off it. do you complain when you go to schwartz and they throw your liver steak on the cutting board full of blood which has been sitting out on the counter since 11am? a little finger in the sauce never killed anyone (or has it?!). if you dont want the cooks hands in your mouth, don't eat at the restaurant. open kitchen or not, it's still gonna happen.

oceanfish, do you work on the line at cocagne or are you on the cold side?

yeah, the tokyo fusion (whatever that means) place across the street from the now defunct and ultra short lived yoshi, already looks like its doomed. their sad tarpaulin of an opening soon sign was hanging by a pathetic thread when i walked by this morning. they might fare better if they opened up in that hole between the new club soda and the porn shop... its saddening to see these places open and close so quickly...

speaking of colorful names, you might want to drop by dildo or come by chance. btw, dildo is in the same neighborhood as spread eagle and backside pond.

Whenever I hear of anyone going to st. john's, i am always eager to suggest going to moo moos ice cream shop, on kings road, just below rawlins cross, and eat the turtle cheesecake icecream. the ultimate in rich and creamy decadence. i make it a point to go to st johns whenever in the atlantic region just to eat the turtle cheesecake. and then theres zapata's mexican restaurant, in st johns, which makes the best chili i have ever eaten. and ches's for fish and chips. if you make it up to labrador, my auntie makes some wicked smoked char and salmon, but sorry, you gotta be family or friends to get that!

Geez, havent you heard, guys? Old is the new new.

oh yeah, skunkbunny, which pho bac are you talking about. there is pho bac 97 in china town, but there is also pho bac on jean talon near christophe colomb. my fave of these two is definitely the latter. the service there has a genuine warmth to it, too. and the food is great.

The line up at Pho Bang New York was quite extensive yesterday. So I decided to pass on Pho Bac 97, which has disappointed me several times, so sister and I went to Cristal #1. Bad choice. the soup was small and the broth tasted somewhat musty, and the imperial rolls were greasy, gummy, and the dipping sauce was of the hoisin variety rather than nuoc mam. my favorite pho in montreal is at cote des neiges and cote st catherine, pho lien, i think its called. also, pho chieu tien on (st zotique or belanger, near chateaubriand?) was great when i was frequenting the place a few years back.

slovenia? st laurent near prince arthur.

"truth suffers from too much analysis" - frank herbert