TicTac

Funny stuff - thanks Anna. I will say, there are sometimes deals to be had at WS - I recently bought my good friend one of the upper end Shun knives. Regular price was $450 on sale for $210.

With pleasure.

A recent find - If you are ever in the Hwy 7 & Leslie area - Adrak A fine example of Indian cuisine. Their madras is very good - I have not braved their vindaloo. Lots of layers of spices going on.

My latest riff on Chicken & Dumplings: - Dumplings made with a warm milk/butter/garlic/onion powder/bay leaf/flour & subsequent eggs blended in - boiled then seared. - Veggies - Shredded chicken - 3 x Chicken Stock (rather than a mass reduction, using the same liquid 3x to make stock - in this case wings) reduction - Romano Cream w/ Clove & garlic - Dash of bourbon to deglaze It all came together quite nice, but a lot of work in 2 hours*! *full disclosure; the 3x stock was not done in the 2 hours time frame

At an insane price no less.

My grandfather was raised after being born in England, in Burma. Would love to hear more about the curry.

Apologies for the lack of visuals - Oven roasted wings (v crispy!) Greek Yogurt Dill dipping sauce Roasted Spuds in chicken wing fat Sauteed Zucchini & Peas tossed in at the end for good measure (and because the little rugrat loves 'em).

Smoked tomato vinaigrette.

I can offer a number of ideas in the GTA and Northern reaches (I am in Old Thornhill) - the churrasco sort would be perhaps out of your typical range, at Eglinton and Mt Pleasant - Churrasco Villa - is excellent. In the same area (S/E corner of said intersection) is a great pub that brews their own beer and often has cask ale. Next door is a Cheese Emporium.

And if you enjoyed Nando's, I can offer another suggestion of even greater taste and quality!; if so desired.

Anna - were you aware Nando's also serves chicken liver?

The pork belly and Matsu's look esp. interesting. What City/restaurant - nonkeyman?

Oh come on now, that wee bit of snow stopped ya!? Up in the Great White North we had freezing rain last night, I had chicken marinading in Greek spices - my wife asked if I was still going to BBQ - 'If you want real Greek food' I replied, as I headed out to the deck. Then again, I did have a freshly carved path through the snow courtesy of my 3 year old taking advantage of the first years snow and erecting the inaugural snowbeast (I hesitate to call it snowman due to its rather odd characteristics)

All great ideas - thanks folks! Now to locate some raw stainless steel!

Toda - Shai. Mostly curious in the actual baking methods. I have for some time now been interested in getting a piece of steel for my oven (I have a gas wolf range) as currently I just bake my pies on a baking tray (not pre-heated) which is not ideal. Do you put the steel under the broiler to heat, or full blast, heat - then turn to broil and bake under the broiler? Very interesting technique if that is the case, as I would think the top would burn before the rest cooked... What type of steel specifically should I be getting were I to purchase one? How did you season it so it doesnt rust?

Not sure if you have tried this combination (or even like these ingredients for that matter...though I recall you enjoying a nice blue) - Once done caramelization, de-glaze with some decent balsamic - Blue cheese goes great if added both as a pizza topping, as does a bit of rosemary.

Curious to hear more about your pizza cooking technique, Shai.

Could very well be - no debate that I am of an eccentric breed

I love bread too. I just had the most amazing (outside of France) french baguette (Rahier, for anyone from Toronto) for lunch, and could eat it just with churned butter. But I wouldn't think to eat that with a big plate of say, Carbonara for example. I wonder where that (the metaballs/garlic bread) phenomenon started...

If a sauce/gravy is present, you don't have to convince me. But in my examples, both of the carbs (pasta and rice) are there to do that very job, take on the sauce. I have nothing against carbs in any way shape or form - I simply don't understand the phenomenon (specifically bread with pasta, but the post above with risotto reminded me of my perceived conundrum)!

No disrespect - but could someone explain the following... I never did quite get the whole 'bread with dinner' concept. I understand (and love) the traditional bread course, but please explain: - Bread with pasta - Bread with risotto Sorry, maybe it's just me!

You can never have too many Canucks in a room! Welcome! My folks just got back from a trip to NB and raved. I have been to NS and PEI but not yet NB. On the list, heard the red sand beaches are amazing. Would love to see some shots of your place and property, R&T.

At least one good thing came of last night (rotut's legal herbs, of course).

It might come from both the stem and via the cap - I have noted soaked stems as well in the past. But I have also noted mushrooms growing seemingly hanging under (attached to) a fallen tree totally protected by the rain, and dry when other exposed ones are soaked.

I have found (and it may be unique to this variety which is extremely thick fleshed for an oyster) that even one good rainfall will saturate the exposed ones. The nice thing is with the Elm Oysters is they only grow on trees, which makes drying time that much faster. At the end of the day, 9/10 times my desired preparation of a mushroom will entail high heat searing with salt to remove water content and concentrate flavours. Thus I choose to introduce as little water to the beasts as possible. Every chef I have worked with and known would never expose their prized fungi to water. Any tiny bit of dirt that my brush might miss gets incinerated by the heat and turns into roughage, and who cant use more roughage...!