SylviaLovegren

We finally tried Scaramouche. Wow. One of the best meals ever, in a beautiful setting. Really special.

Sad Hairy Carrot sounds like a garage band.

Haven't heard of these. Here's a link to Amazon reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Set-Abeego-Food-Storage-Flats/dp/B00F67QS7Q#customerReviews

Europeans were fascinated by the slow heat the indigenous Americans used to cook their foods on raised grills. One marveled that they would put the food on in the morning, go away for the whole day and then come back to have the food finally cooked. Low and slow is real BBQ. Cooking over hot coals is grilling or broiling. I know the word "BBQ" has been used and will be used to indicate the "shrimp on the barbie" kind of cooking. But anyone who has tasted honest to God low and slow BBQ honors that ancient technique and shrinks to hear that marvelous term used for possibly delicious but not heavenly foods and cooking styles.

Now that I think about, it was the GROOM'S cake that was the fruitcake. And no one ate it, we took a small piece home -- wrapped in foil and then in white net tied with ribbon -- to put under our pillows. The man we dreamed of while the cake was under the pillow would be our future husband.

When I was little, in the Pac NW, the wedding cakes were always fruitcakes -- which was why you could put a piece under your pillow after the wedding to dream about your own future bridegroom, wouldn't work too well with a fluffy frosted cake. I don't know exactly when wedding cakes changed from fruitcakes to baking powder cakes. But perhaps I should use your British idea of having fruitcakes year round and make that cake with the Brazil nuts. Would be good with tea all through the cold Toronto winter! Yum.

LOVE fruitcake. Every year, I make a white one -- really a luscious pound cake stuffed with candied lemon, orange and grapefruit peels, and almonds. Even for people who don't like fruitcake, it's really good. Especially nice with afternoon tea. Or breakfast. My aunt used to make a fantastic dark fruitcake, really just a pile of glazed fruit and brazil nuts held together by a bit of dough. Every year I swear I'll make it and so far, I've failed. Got so far as to buy the brazil nuts this year. Oh well. But I dream about it.

What is Befanini?

We were going to have leftover baked ziti (my idea!) for dinner, but a stop at the St. Lawrence Market for something completely different brought a gorgeous heritage pig loin roast into my shopping basket. It was small and it IS NYE and the budget had just enough stretch in it... Will roast him with some carrots, onions and potatoes, then have a mixed green salad and some red wine. Plenty of leftover chocolates, cookies, fruitcakes, etc. for dessert. That should get us to 2015 intact and happy.

Oooh, tourtiere. Only learned about that good thing a few years ago and have made a couple of different versions, all of them pretty dang good, I thought. Yum. Now, those shortbread cookies, the best you've ever eaten. Feel like sharing the recipe?

Would you have a recipe for pistachio souffle? Is this a sweet or a savoury?

The NJ ones were from Italy, but i don't remember from where in Italy. The salumerias were Calabrian, Sicilian and Apulian.

Turron is also very Italian, at least Sicilian/Naples, etc. The Italian salumerias in Hoboken, NJ always had it and I just LOVE it. My mouth is watering looking at that picture. ETA, when I think about it, it's probably wherever there was an Arab/Moorish influence. Whatever, yumminess.

Yup, very much so. I also remember living in a family that didn't have a whole lot of money when I was little, and mom used to whip evap milk because we couldn't afford cream. Not sure I'd do it now but then we live in much more luxurious times.

Thank you for a fascinating trip. I did notice a great similarity of ingredients in the different restaurants, which is not unexpected because they are all in Finland in the winter. Were the preparations of the similar ingredients different, or was everyone kind of doing the same thing with those ingredients. Toffee pudding with licorice! Wonderful blog.

Oh, jeez, I forgot that right before you stir in the pasta and the final walnuts, you add some dry white wine -- about 1/3 cup -- boil it down, then add about 3/4 cup water (I use the pasta water), enough to make the onions a little soupy. Bring to a boil, then add the pasta and final walnuts. Sorry!

Make ahead is tough with pasta, although I make the Greens Cookbook recipe slightly modified, for pasta with onions and walnuts and find it pretty tasty heated up the next day. 1/2 cup mixed butter/olive oil melted in large saute pan sprig of fresh rosemary or crumbled dry, a bay leaf 4-5 large sweet onions, sliced thin 3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped pasta -- 1 pound, I usually use fettucine but farfale would be easier for a buffet Grated gruyere -- about 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped Grated parmesan -- as much as you want Warm the herbs in the butter/oil until fragrant, then stir in the sliced onions, coating them with the oil. Over low heat, cook the onions until soft and starting to carmelize, stirring regularly -- should take about 20-30 minutes. Stir in half the walnuts and warm them with the onions until they are fragrant. When you are ready to serve, reheat the onion/walnut mixture, stir in the rest of the walnuts, then the pasta. Mix all together, taste for seasoning and correct. If wanted, stir in the grated gruyere. Put in a serving dish and sprinkle top with parsley. Serve with parmesan on the side for those who want it. You could keep the gruyer on the side, too, in case you have vegans. It's a very simple recipe and unusual, also quite delicious. But it might be easier to do a couple of bean dishes -- say a big bean salad as well as some hummous and dippers (pitas, crackers, raw veg, etc.). That way, no last minute heating up, plating, etc.

Very true. Part of the problem is that my hands are always hot, real radiators. My mom was an ace pastry maker and she had cool fingers -- we'd work alongside each other and she could never understand why my pastry was always a sticky mess while hers looked like it was done by a food stylist. Ah well, miss her for many reasons, including that incredible flaky tender pastry she could make.

That's what I do with pie dough, which I am not capable of rolling out without sticky disaster. The dough usually sticks to the paper in spots, but I'm able to scrunch enough off and reshape in the pie plate so it's not terrible. Not pretty but at least looks like food instead of.... Well, I won't go on.

I'd add the veg pasta, as well, just in case. Your menu sounds fantastic (can I come?) but I was just at a lavish holiday buffet and there was a small bean salad, while everything else was heavily meat/fish and the two vegetarians who attended were very sad, which made the rest of us feel guilty and a little sad, too.

I have never in my life been able to roll out cookie dough. It always sticks to the rolling pin, sticks to the board, sticks to my fingers, ends up in unattractive misshapen globs on the cookie sheets while I'm red faced and cranky. If I use enough flour to keep this from happening, my shapely cookies taste like cardboard. It's a curse.

Well, I've been reading cookie recipes and thinking about getting some ingredients. Does that count?

My aunt used to make hot crab dip every year. So delicious. Haven't had it in 20 years, sob.

How about rosewater ice cream and orange flower water creme anglaise. I like the mild creaminess with all that rich pudding complexity. Although a bitter orange component could work.