gus_tatory

prediction: you'll get really good at thickening sauces in other ways, and then discover that 6 sticks of butter *still* makes a better sauce...

on Fear Factor they're paying people $$$ to do that! i am a featherweight in this discussion, because the most "bizarre" thing i ate was calves' brains in brown butter.

i have had a cake that is delicious--perhaps not surprisingly called "satsuma" (sweet potato)--that is a simple sweet potato sponge cake jelly-rolled with red-bean (adzuki puree) paste. sorry i can't offer recipes, but let us know how it goes!~

that's one of the things i admire especially about Japanese food. there is just no way that you could take a plate of Kraft Dinner <tm> and slip a shiso leaf on it and have it look like that.

Torakris-- thanks for your osechi ryouri (new year's cooking) food-blog. i feel like i'm opening my last holiday gift as i look at the beautiful food you all obviously enjoyed. thanks again! gus

i realize that if you are reading this, it's probably too late for my suggestion. sorry... but there's something called the KGB pill, invented reputedly to allow Soviet spies to drink foolish amounts of alcohol and yet wake up unafflicted. but otherwise yeah, i make bacon, eggs, lime-hollandaise, and roll it in whole-wheat pita.

i use pickled ginger in the following "untraditional" ways: --a bit chopped up in a squash, pumpkin, or carrot soup at the end. --simmer some with water for a throat/head-cold treatment. --mince some to go with tangerines, mangoes, or grapefruit. --if i'm making ribs, i use some of the juice from the jar in the marinade. but for some/all of these ideas, the fresh, young gingerroot would almost certainly be better--a matter of convenience.

totally off-topic: popped in to wish elyse and Burger Club members a happy new year!

it doesn't have to anywhere _near_ that expensive. i have a "Porkert" (i'm not joking) model from Czechoslovakia with a sausage attachment. you buy the casings, soak them, and it's perfect. but as you say, clean, clean, clean. every time i use it, i boil the whole apparatus for 30 mins, and clean it with mineral oil and q-tips. but it only set me back about 40 bucks, and it makes great "paysanne' sausages. (rustic, i mean.)

wow~! thanks, carswell! i'm saving this list of ALT sequences. happy new year~!

it's an informal (from what i gather ) Happy New Year!

ditto what Anna N said! Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu, Kristin & family, Helenjp and all!

a few things: --YOSHI sushi _seems_ to be affiliated with med next door--or at least let's say i saw several personnel filing back and forth between the two before dinner service yesterday around 1700h. caveat: i could be wrong. --Rex: how did you get the grave and circonflexe accents on creme brulee? i mean: what is the keyboard trick? much grateful for answer in advance...

i also am looking forward to the "osechi ryouri" (new year's cuisine) posts! happy new year's in advance!

interesting~! and tasty looking... thanks skchai...

there are two new restaurants on the upper part of saint-laurent--this is my neighbourhood and i walk through frequently: --there's one on the east side, just above laurier, called "A L'os", where they don't seem to have a menu posted outside yet, and --another on the west side, a bit further up, called "Chi" that is to be purportedly vietnamese cuisine and sushi. anyone know anything (menus, opening dates, prices, buzz, etc.) about these two new places? thanks, gus

buckwheat flour is delicious instead of all-purpose flour in latkes. i also add green onions, and a suspicion of garam masala. mmm...

blh-- see jackal 10's *excellent* course on sourdough breads for the eGCI. sourdough bread course here

18 malpeque oysters, 18 caraquets, lemons, grey shallots, creamed horseradish, green onions, tabasco, grey goose vodka.

perhaps more annoying or weird is getting the craving, eating whatever it is, and having it be really disappointing. i was craving BBQ pork buns (char siu bao) for two weeks, and when i had one it was gummy and bland. it was like i had built up some image of the perfect bbq pork bun, and it was all downhill from there. this also happened to me with pho (viet tonkinese soup).

two things come to mind: --i can't do all that math (the formula) every morning before making toast, and --those who i know who hate cooking (their words) always use toast as the yardstick: if it takes longer to make than toast, they're not interested.

a smoked meat sandwich, on rye bread with dijon. a pickle.

thanks for the report, identifiler-- has anyone eaten at 'au pied du cochon' recently? i am supposed to be there on december 4th and wonder what the current menu is like--they have not posted the current menu on the website. thanks

i make a korokke that is spinach and parmesan, potato-based of course, and if i have it, i add tiny chopped up pieces of prosciutto to the mix before chilling and shaping. mmm...

i've seen "human cuisine" (instead of hunan) on quite a few signs...