Ling

^That's quite a bit of fat for 1 1/4 cups of flour. Half a cup of fat, total, is more in line with the proportions I've seen, so I'd change the recipe to 6 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of shortening. (Perhaps the recipe author uses more bench flour than you do when rolling out the dough, so the dough contains more flour than yours.) Also, is your dough chilled properly? If the fat is too warm, it can melt more easily. You also might try letting the lined pie plate/tart ring set up in the fridge for 15 minutes after you've placed the dough in, so the fat can firm up again.

^Thanks for the kind words. I met Dorie at an event at Macrina here in Seattle. I am self-taught. I just started doing some desserts for Veil yesterday, and have been invited into several kitchens to help with desserts before that.

She mentioned she met you! She was wonderful in person! She asked me, "Are you Ling...on Egullet?" and then said she was so excited to meet me...imagine that! I got to sit next to her at the event. Thanks GTO...I love those candied violets as well.

^It is...but it is an interpretation done by Bon Appetit. Apparently they (Veil staff) tried the Bon Appetit version after it was published and it was...interesting. So you'll have to go to the restaurant for the real thing. BTW, I did some stuff at Veil today. Like garam masala truffles.

You're welcome to come for any of our dessert outings, Pegu Club (Thursday night), Room 4 Dessert (Friday night), or Katz (Saturday lunch). Just PM me.

Such beautiful things on this page! I especially love the chocolate mousse spiral and Abra's festive cake. I made these tiny chocolate tartlets today--some for me, some for Dorie Greenspan, and some for the chefs I'm working for tomorrow. There's caramel underneath the ganache, and I topped them with a candied violet.

OK, we'll do that. Do we need to book reservations at Room 4 Dessert?

We went to the Leslie Sbrocco event last night--4 courses with paired wines. Although this was the shortest tasting menu I've had at Veil, it was by far the best. roasted petite beets with red onion cream and horseradish mussels with fregola sarda, chorizo, oven-dried tomato roasted Muscovy drake duck with farro, fig and saba big island coconut sorbet with vanilla roasted pineapple and warm tapioca The two stand-outs for me were the barely poached mussels with the hearty fregola, and the dessert was easily the best dessert I've had for many months. The flavours were well-balanced, and the texture of the tapioca with the sorbet (not to mention the temperature difference) made for one pretty damn sexy experience.

Had an incredible lunch at Porcella last week. We got the charcuterie platter (my favourite), the grilled chicken and pancetta sandwich, truffled fries and the cassoleut. Noah threw in a piece of duck confit for me because I couldn't decide between the cassoleut or the duck dish. How gorgeous is this... I think it was the fries and the charcuterie that did me in...I took a 3 hour nap after lunch, and woke up in time for dinner.

^Thanks for the tip! I'm looking forward to the yuzu and the black sesame!

We have a rough itinerary worked out, and are making reservations tomorrow (which the exception of Gordon Ramsey's place, which we made this morning.) 13th--we land in Jersey, and are invited to dinner at an EGer's home! 14th--lunch at GR at the London, dinner at WD50, then Room 4 Dessert 15th--lunch at Jean Georges, dinner at Bouley, followed by Pegu Club 16th--lunch at Katz, and then we're flying back home For breakfast and snacks, I have the following lined up: -Lady M in Manhattan -Kee's -La Maison du Chocolat -Jacques Torres -Fauchon -Pierre Marcolini -Amy's Bread Henry is also hoping to fit in some pizza somewhere, and the pork belly buns from Momofuku. I am still trying to decide whether Payard is worth a trip or not...perhaps we'll drop by if we're shopping nearby. Thanks for all your help!

I love the shots of the pasta, the gondola ride and the parm with 100 year balsamic! (How does that taste?! It actually looks thinner than I thought it would.)

I usually go to the Met Market that's the old Larry's. I checked all their creams last week and they only sell ultra-pasteurized stuff. (BTW--we bought a discounted bottle of wine there as I needed something cheap for beef bourguinon and it was corked. ) Thanks for the tips about the duck eggs. $8 is a little pricey, but I'm gonna have to try them at least once! Abra--I bought Organic Valley two weeks ago, but I used the entire liter for caramel and chocolate mousse (with lots of butter added) so I couldn't taste the flavour of the cream that well. I'll get some more this week. Thanks again, everyone!

I agree, though I haven't sampled their pastries yet, either. Their croissants look pretty good, though--dare I say even better than the Le Fournil ones in the same bakery case. I went back to Whole Foods today to pick up some La Brea sourdough, and they had even more samples out than earlier in the week. Brownies, gelato (yes, they have a gelato counter), meatloaf, sausages, Fran's chocolates, cheeses, fruit, chips and guacamole, organic vegetable stir-fry--it was almost enough for lunch! I also noticed huge freezers full of ice-cream...I haven't seen a selection like this since, well, ever. They even have pomegranate sorbet, rosewater ice-cream and various goat milk ice-creams.

Awesome, I suspected there would be better eggs at the farmer markets! Is Stoney Plains at the U-District?

Hey--thanks for that tip! I've been really missing my standard four-egg breakfasts!

-salted, rosemary Marcona almonds -Honeycrisp apples -duck prosciutto...or any charcuterie -crusty bread ends with lots of butter and truffle salt -Valrhona -crackers with low-sugar jam (today, it was blueberry jam) -peanut butter and Nutella -Nueske's bacon

^We tried out the fish grilling counter yesterday for lunch, and struck up a conversation with the head of the seafood department. They are still obviously working out some kinks (service was slow, fish was over-cooked), but their regular offerings (burgers, fish and chips, etc.) look decent. There's no charge for grilling the fish you purchase at the fish counter, only 50 cents extra if you want any of their marinades, or $2.99 extra for a side of pasta and vegetables. The guy asked us how the fish was after we had eaten, and I mentioned it was a bit overdone and he treated us to lunch. Very nice. Overall, the Whole Foods is set up quite similar to the Whole Foods in North Van (Canada)--the prepared stuff, pizza, and Asian counter on the left side of the store, food aisles in the center, and produce on the right side. I thought their pizzas looked particularly tasty. The prepared food also looked like it was of good quality, and I liked how they were selling many local products/goods like Theo chocolates, Le Fournil pastries, Mighty-O Donuts, Macrina and Grand Central bread, etc. Great selection of cheeses, though no raw milk Epoisses (can't fault me for dreaming).

^That looks great! We usually get our meat from Don and Joe's. Have you bought anything from there? It's been about 2.5 weeks since I've been hanging out in Seattle. I have been eating more vegetables and fruit, since the quality is quite good at Pike Place. (It is definitely better than what I was buying in Richmond. More expensive, though.) We also shop a lot at Metropolitan Market, though that will likely change now that the new Whole Foods has opened. (BTW--Whole Foods charges less for all their wild mushroom varieties than Metropolitan Market, and cheaper than some of the stands at Pike Place as well.) One other difference I've noted is that the eggs (particularly the yolks) do not have much taste here compared to the Born Free Omega-3 eggs I was getting from Costco in Canada. I've been buying Omega-3 eggs from Metropolitan Market, and the yolks are pale and lack richness. The free-range eggs at Pike Place are a bit better, but still no comparison to the (rather ordinary!) eggs I was buying from Costco. Also, the milk and cream also seem to lack flavour. Sometimes I accidentally buy the ultra-pasteurized stuff, but I made certain this week to get the regular pasteurized cream and it is still lacking a bit of that sweetness that I associate with milk and cream. Other than that, the quality of the produce, bread (of course!) meat, and fish seem to be better than what I could buy in Richmond, so we are eating quite well!

That foie gras poutine looks incredible! And that looks like some salad I would eat... I know some restaurant cookbook recipes are adapted (or simplified) for the home cook, and therefore don't taste very similar to the version served in the restaurant. How did you find the poutine and maple syrup pudding recipes you tried?

Absolutely stunning, Patrick! I haven't posted in this thread in awhile, not for want of desserts, but because we are running out of Image Gullet room. Anyway, I made these pecan sticky buns today. The brioche dough recipe is from the French Laundry, and then the filling/topping is loosely based on Nancy Silverton's recipe for this breakfast treat. I used even more butter (if you can believe it!), a little less sugar, and more cinnamon.

The wild strawberry tartlet sounds incredible! I once had wild strawberries included in my dessert, and they were so tiny that I could fit one berry on each of my fork tines. They were the most delicious berries I've ever tasted, and I imagine that tartlet you had was even better!

Yes, it's near Crystal Mall, as mentioned upthread. My mom has eaten there and says it's quite authentic.

How cute are you and Dayne! The lamb looks incredible, and that gelato!

I made the French Laundry brioche recipe yesterday, and baked it for breakfast this morning. Then I sliced and toasted it, and covered it with more Plugra. Not pictured are the fried eggs, Nueske's applewood smoked bacon (yum), and coffee.