Bond Girl

Suzanne, How do you make swiss chard? I often see it at the green market in Union Square, but never figured out what to do with it.

Here is a try and tested one from Patricia Well's cook book: 13 Tbs of unsalted butter 1 2/3 cups of confectioners sugar 1/2 cup + 1 Tbs of flour 1/2 cup of finely ground unblanched almond 6 large egg whites 1 Tbs of honey -Butter a madeleine tin and dust with flour -Brown butter and set aside to cool -sift sugar and flour and stir in ground almond -Beat egg whites until frothy and stir in sugar flour almond mix -stir in brown butter and honey -spoon batter into t he molds (I prefer to use a pastry bag for this.) -refrigerate the batter for about an hour -bake in 375 oven for 10-15 minutes Makes 24 Madeleines.

I once had the spring tasting menu at Alain Ducasse, and found that was too much by New York Standards. I lost count of the courses after seven different dishes were placed in front of me. I stopped tasting the difference in food soon after that because I was simply too tired and too full to pay attention. The whole experience was over four hours long. At the end of the evening my back hurt from sitting too long, my foot felt asleep, and my other three dinner companions were drunk as skunks.

It's still the best dim sum place for us chinese in chinatown.

There is one interesting Abalone recipe in the Nobu cookbook. But, I can't seemed to find fresh abalone in my east village neighborhood. Does anyone know where to find the stuff?

The Taiwanese tradition for a Chinese New Year feast must include: Dumplings (for wealth) Celery (for work) Oranges or Kimquat (also for wealth) Noodles (Sang Mein for longevity) A big fish steamed in ginger, rice wine and scallions. You can eat one side, but you can't flip it over. This way you will always have food in your house. Sweet Rice Cakes (nien gao) Sesame or peanut crunch candy. and a house decorated with plum blossoms for good luck. Have fun!

These are Korean rice cakes. The chinese version of Nien Gao typically comes in a block that you slice. It can be sweet with toasted coconuts and ground peanuts. Some even comes wrapped arounf red bean paste. Or, it can be bought plain, which you pan fry and dip in soy sauce with chilli oil.

Snowangel, Just made your burnt sugar cupcake. I am now in cake bliss. Thanks again for the recipe.

Here is a thought, though I haven't try it myself.... Heat up some chopped garlic, orange zest and dried red peper flakes in a bit of olive oil. Add a pinch of cumin Add orange juice with a bit of sugar and cook it down. Lightly pat the fish with some flour, salt and pepper and pan sear it. Pour the sauce over the fish and garnish with some cilantro. I debated over adding some minced ginger to this, but decided against it.

Suvir, Would you be willing to share tips on preparing Daal. I love experiementing with daal, but only knows how to make two versions of it. The lemon daal and a spicier tomato daal , both of which are not very authentic Indian. I would love to know how daal is prepared in an Indian home.

Sandra, if you are in NYC, there is a little place on East 9 street next to the Cloister cafe that serves grill Mochi for $1 a piece. Red bean center though.

Thanks, Suvir. I tried it with Thai Basil once, but found that it didn't do very much. But I do think some sort of citrus flavor will bring a good twist to what is a very dense soup.

Since my version of Laksa Lemak was taught to me inofrmally, I don't have an exact recipe. But, the main thing is to make a paste out of 1 stalk of lemongrass, half an inch length of galangal roots, a clove of minced garlic, a pinch each of tumeric and coriander seeds with a heaping tablespoon of shrimp paste. I like to add a dash of fish sauce and a bit of palm sugar as well. Once you get that into paste, fry it over some canola oil to release the aroma. Whenever it's ready, you will start to sneeze. Then just throw in some chicken stock (I find veggie stock or water will work too since I hate chicken with a passion) and coconut milk. For every cup of stock I put in about 1/2 cup of coconut milk, but I've seen people make it with more coconut milk than stock. I'd make it with Udon noodles sometimes, and some bean sprouts and chinese fry tofu puffs so all those goes in at the end. I've never try it with Kafir lime juice in it, but if I can find it in Chinatown, I will experiement with it sometimes this weekend.

Just recalled that I had a creamy laksa flavored curry soup at some Charity benefit two months ago, and I believe, it is from the TanDa table. This one is a lot richer than then on the Singapore/Nyonya version, less spicy and definitely contain some sort of heavy cream or coconut cream. I don't know if it's even on the menu, but if you get a chance to eat there, definitly give it try!

Suvir, I will check out the Chinese board ASAP. Laksa leaves gives the Laksa Lemak that slightly soapy taste. I believe it's in the mint family because it's also called Hot Mint. Vietnamese food use it as well, and they look like little basils. If you find it, please let me know.

Suvir, Are you talking about the Laksa Noodle soup? I have a super spicy recipe taught to me by a singapore lady but I can't seemed to find fresh laksa leaves anywhere in NYC. The chef at TanDa (I think his name is Stanley Wong?) once told me that you can only get Laksa leaves at certain times in New York, and then you have to go to Chinatown. Being Taiwanese, I have being rummaging through Chinatown these past months looking for it. Do you know where to find it?

Snowangel, The idea of a burnt sugar cupcake sounds delicious. I don't have a muffin or a cup cake pan. Do you think it will work in a brioche mold? (Got them for Christmas) It's a good project for this weekend. Thanks for sharing the receipe.

Robert, I never said I am a spring chicken. Far from it, I would be considered approaching middle age. The thing is I always felt left out of the conversation because I simply can't relate to them right now (ie. Cardiologists,Hormone Replacement Therapy, Oncologist, Dentures etc.) Even if I may face those same issues sometimes down the road. Also, the whole experience just end depressing me for days because they remind me of my own mortality. May be. it's the general escapism mentality, but I like to have fun when I go out to dinner, especially when dinner is going cost $175.00. I don't want to hear about making funeral arrangements in advance just in case anything happens to me (An actual conversation I had with a sweet old lady at dinner once) If I want to be depressed for days, I'd go see a Ingmar Bergman movie.

Okay....I guess I can always take my friend "the Viagara sales woman" with me to spice up the conversation.

Tommy, you must not have been at the same events I've been to. If I have to hear one more talk about dentures and cardiologist, I will positively scream.

Can't seemed to make up my mind about going to this James Beard Out of Town Event at the Ritz Carlton in Philly. The line up is impressive enough: Phillippe Reninger, Rocco DiSpirito, Michael Ginor, Douglas Rodriguez, Nancy Silverton et al. I get to try out food that I would otherwise not experience as a New Yorker. It's for a good cause. Plus, I may get a chance to see for myself what the fuss is over Rocco as the sexiest chef of the year. Having said that, James Beard House crowd tend to be a bit stodgy, with average age bordering on the nursing home range. Meal served at any of the event is usually not representative of the Chef at his/her best. Lastly, to be a totally self indulgent brat, I should just get myself down to South Beach, FL instead for the AIWF event. This is kind of trivial but since this thread is going down, I figure what the hell!

I agree with Yvonne that a tasting Menu may be a bit rushed. I've dined at both JG and Nougatine quite often, and got wonderful service there. But, some out of town friends have recently complained about the service at Nougatines, which can be somewhat slack at times. So, I suggest that you inform the server up front that you are on a schedule and need prompt service.

Can't tell you if this is the best, but the bottle the ex-boy friend got me had a label of "Gocce di Tartufo Bianco" on it and comes in a squarish bottle. It's what they use at Nobu and I seen it used by the kitchen staff of Le Cirque as well. Hmmmm..... come to think of it, must find new boyfriend with similar connections

Wait, so how does Martha Stewart come up her gorgeous looking batch with patterns and designs on micro-sized cookies? I can tackle complex desserts such as opera cakes and burnt sugar floss, but this sugar cookie thing has got me....Are there any tricks to them. Thanks for the cleaning tip Snowangel, currently the apartment is till in post-war assessment stage.

While watching my friend's six and eight year old today, I had the bright idea to make sugar cookies. Hey, it's christmas, and I've got plenty of color sugar on hand. The fact that I've never made them myself was a minor point. I had a vision of beautifully decorated cookies for the girls to take home. Anyway, six hours later, my entire apartment is now coated with color sugar, flour and butter bits. While the cookies taste delicious, they look like it has war paint on it. Can anyone offer me some tricks or advice for the future as to how those things are decorated? I've seen eight year olds being able to turn out beautifully decorated santas, while I can fill in the green for a christmas tree.