Ling

I use Valrhona cocoa powder. I think I was considering Scharffen Berger, but I read a comment on Egullet (I think from PatrickS) who said the SB cocoa is worse than Hershey's! (Hey, you know I've never even checked to see whether it is natural or dutch-processed. Anyone know?)

Hmm...my friend just dropped $200 on dinner at Tojo's, and he didn't find the experience worth the price. In fact, he was still hungry and had to hit McDonald's on the drive home. I think Ajisai is better priced, and the fish is quite fresh. It's not "fine dining" though--I don't know how important ambience is to you. I haven't been to Wabi Sabi in awhile, but I do love the room there and I enjoyed dinner there very much. After reading all the great reviews on Nu, I would put that on my list for sure! I'm sure canucklehead will give you more details on the Chinese restaurants, but if you look through the Chinese Restaurant thread in this forum, he has lots of pictures to help you choose. He likes Sea Harbour in Richmond, and Shanghai River, among others. There's also Le Crocodile, if you're in need for more French. (This is not exactly on topic, but how do you feel about dessert? I was looking at the C Restaurant menu today and saw this thing of beauty: Valrhona Guanaja Chocolate Paté, caramel glaze, white chocolate fleur de sel gelato, apple berry cider. That, my friend, sounds like a mouthgasm to me. Valrhona Guanaja is one of my favourite chocolates, and I love chocolate paired with fleur de sel and caramel. In fact, I'm thinking of a dessert incorporating these flavours for a party this weekend. )

Yeah I love gremolata! It makes osso buco so much more interesting!

I don't think I'm a lazy butt. I bake almost everyday, and I probably spend more than 10 hours a week leafing through pastry books and surfing online, trying to learn as much as I can by reading recipes and techniques. (Actually, I bet it's more like 20 hours a week...I'm always on the computer scrolling through recipes and looking at plated desserts.) So I guess I'm putting in at least 20 hours of my own time a week (including the time I use to bake). Outside of school, work, and baking, I have, like, no life. I would love to be able to learn how to do the plated desserts that Chef Marco has on his website, but I'm pretty sure that's professional-level stuff and I guess we won't be covering that in the classes. Would still love to hear from anyone who has taken the 2 day Pastry courses!

Aww...wow, what a lady. Just wanted to add that I prefer the recipe I posted to the Wooley cake, and I also prefer the Martha recipe to the Wooley cake.

Oh my! Unless she is a culinary professional who makes a living based on her own recipes (which apparently she is not, since she's calling you a hot shot pastry chef), I really don't see the point in withholding recipes. Good food should be shared!

Here's my favourite chocolate cake. (It's CanadianBakin's favourite recipe too! ) I don't use the frosting recipe, though. My old favourite recipe was a dark chocolate one by Martha Stewart. (From Epicurious) Ingredients: 3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee 3 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process) 2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 3 large eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk 3/4 teaspoon vanilla Method Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper. Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature. Here's what the cake looks like out of the oven, cooling. I like how the cake bakes up evenly, and it is rich and moist with a tender crumb. It is not too sweet, and goes nicely with Italian buttercreams.

What I really like about this class is how Chef Tony is letting everyone decide on which spices and vegetables to include in a dish, and how the main is served (i.e. in a sandwich, or stew, for example). I'm interested in the Fine Pastries with Chocolate class, so I went to the website and this is what the program is offering: • pecan crusted molten chocolate cake, truffle honey • chocolate espresso tart • chocolate bourbon souffle • chocolate raspberry mousse cake • chocolate creme caramel & poached fruits • French chocolate ice cream I really hope I don't come across as being dismissive of the course (or overly confident in my abilities) but with the exception of ice-cream, I've done all of these desserts on my own over the years, and I wouldn't consider any of them to particularly unique or difficult. I'm quite sure that anyone with a bit of baking experience, the proper equipment and a good recipe can turn out a good chocolate espresso tart, a souffle, or a mousse cake. So my question is does the instructor for these Serious Foodie baking classes teach a lot of professional secrets that I might not know, to justify the expense of the course? (I don't make a great deal of money.) I would like to learn how to plate my desserts nicely. Perhaps someone who's taken the Serious Foodie pastry program can chime in on this...?

Gym Crush boy is taking me here on Friday for my birthday. I already know I want to try the foie gras croquettes, the chicken wings, the marrow dish, and the pork belly. And the oysters. And the cheese-filled crackers. It'll be hard for me not to order one of everything on the menu. I'll be sure to take pictures!

This class looks great. Too bad I was too strapped for cash to join! So...when do you all cover desserts?

Here is the ingredients list for the coconut pie shell. As you can see, a pretty typical pie crust recipe that uses all butter, 1/2 cup coconut and two tsp. sugar. When I make this pie, I use my own favorite pie crust recipe (the one that has some white vinegar in it) and merely add the coconut to it. I like my crust better. 1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice 2 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp kosher salt 1/3 cup ice water, or more as needed ← Thanks! I might just add the sweetened coconut to my recipe, which includes lard, a beaten egg, and vinegar. I also use some sugar in my recipe, to boost flavour and add in browning.

percyn, I've long been a fan of your dinners and breakfasts, so I'm so excited you're posting! My votes are: -lunch at an Amish restaurant -Reading Terminal Market -Parsi dishes Your cat is the cutest lil thing!

I know it's traditional with the newspaper, but that would lose points with me. I hate the smell of newspaper. Hot, fried food resting on inky paper doesn't sound appetizing.

Well, it's a fairly "new" favourite--my old favourite (old as of last month) was a Martha Stewart recipe. With the Epicurious recipe, I did an Italian caramel buttercream, Valrhona ganache, almond and pecan dacquoise. Chocolate mirror glaze. Italian caramel buttercream: 5 egg whites, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup water and 1lb butter and vanilla extract. Standard procedure. Most recipes I've seen only call for 3 whites to 1 lb. of butter, but I like the extra airiness the 5 whites give.

There are some pretty awful dishes at No. 9, but you can never go wrong with the beef tendon. So meltingly soft. I also eat at Congee Noodle House. They're open until 3a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, I believe. Last call at 2:50 a.m.!

That's right! We freaks have to stick together!!! There's a crazy world out there who doesn't understand why I spaz when I accidentally leave my cookies in the oven for a minute too long! (I am more forgiving with brownies. They can go over for 2 minutes before I start throwing a tantrum.)

You're right. The drinks there weren't good. But that's the price one paid to be seen, back in the day. The "new" Jack's Loft's drinks were even worse than the ones at the "old" Jack's Loft. But where else can you pay $6 to camp out at a table for a few hours, playing Big 2? The award for "worst" bubble tea though, imo, goes to Estea in Richmond. We ended up there pretty often though, because they have that big table. Their desserts are equally atrocious--I never understood Chinese-style "cheesecakes". They're like air. But desserts are free for ladies on Wednesday night, with the order of a drink. Favourites: -taro milk tea with pearls at Pearl Castle, and regular milk tea with pearls -green tea ice-cream with pearls at Oasis. They scoop like 5 scoops of ice-cream into that one drink! Anyone have a favourite hot bubble tea drink?

I searched quite a few sites for the pie crust recipe...all I came across are the coconut filling recipes for the Dahlia coconut pie. Maybe I should just add 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut to my pie crust recipe? (I use lard.)

I've learned that I'm not the only person who's obsessed with re-working pastry recipes until I feel I've ended up with a version I can't really improve on. I used to think I was a freak, baking apple pie after apple pie (averaging at least 2 or 3 pies a week), changing the variety of apples, cutting each medium-sized apple into exactly 16 wedges (larger apples into 20 wedges), taste-testing each apple to see how crisp they were, then adjusting the stovetop cooking time accordingly... (...and don't get me started on pie crust ) I've also met some really nice and interesting people on Egullet who are as into food as I am (some much more so!) My friends (in their early 20s, like me) don't appreciate food like I do, and none of them cook. I'm thankful to be able to connect with people who share my passion, and I've learned so much from this website. Even as recently as a few months ago, I could sense that some of my friends found it kind of odd (in an endearing way, I guess) that I spent so much time in the kitchen, but by now they've learned a lot indirectly from Egullet too. They don't read this website, but their palates have definitely changed ever since I've started baking for them regularly (often b/c I was inspired by something I read here.) They can tell the difference between cocoa brownies, and brownies made from quality chocolate. They could tell when I decided to add a extra 2-3 tablespoons of flour to my regular peanut butter cookie recipe, and asked me to switch back to my old recipe. (Perhaps most importantly, they now know my cheesecake is like only 100x better than the stuff from Cheesecake Factory!) And they say the baked goods at Safeway don't do it for them anymore. I see how food is becoming a bit more of a focus in their lives, and that makes me really happy that I shared that with them.

^Tell her thanks for the compliment. I do try my best. Today... the remainder of this beautiful lemon curd, that I made yesterday (I ate it straight from the fridge. No shortbread or scone needed.) And a brownie.

^Yeah, I think that place is owned by the same people who run Pearl Castle. The one in Yaohan is called Elephant Cafe, I think. (Or maybe they just have the same logo as Pearl Castle?)

Sake (downstairs by that Samba bbq meat place, downtown)

Oohhh....speaking for myself, but the number ain't pretty after my summer of heavy drinking!

I would have to say porcini, chantrelles, gruyere, sage, and caramelized onions on puff pastry does it for me.

Most seductive... to touch, peaches to smell, mangoes to suck and nibble, lychees to play with, cherries and in bed, strawberries