Ling

I would make a tapenade and add some fine chopped, toasted walnuts and some walnut oil.

I haven't written about coffee in a few days, because I've been drinking some weakass coffees. What is up with that? I thought the quality of coffee in Seattle should be pretty good whereever you go, since it's known as the coffee capital, is it not? Anyway, today I had great coffee from a coffee place I first visited awhile ago, thanks to the Seattle Egulleters. cool artwork inside! I was really happy with this morning's 3 shot Americano.

the chocolate stash I have at Henry's place Thanks Klary and Abra for the pistachio chocolate (in the green wrapper)! It is really good...very dark, with a nice long finish.

So last night began with a stop at a party at Henry's ex-boss's house in Madison. It was a posh cocktail party with open bars and lots of little nibbles. (Of course, I didn't take pictures as that would be rude.) I ate: pepper-crusted ahi, mini crab cakes, mini potato cakes, roast beef on crackers, heirloom tomato, basil and mozzarella, mini jerk chicken sandwiches...the list goes on. I drank a glass of wine and Henry had a martini. We weren't all that hungry for dinner, but had to soldier on for the blog First stop--Sitka and Spruce. CLOSED. Rats! (again!) Since John wasn't at Lark (he was cooking at the Boomtown event), I suggested we go to Elemental instead. It's REALLY small inside--only 5 tables, and 2 seats at the bar. The infamous Phred... "Have a palate cleanser," he said. We drank it. It was a sherry. "Would you like to start off with cocktails?" We said sure. We asked him to bring us a few dishes of whatever he liked. I understand how some people would have a problem with the service, as Phred gave us each wine without any explanation. I didn't mind this, as I like guessing. I got the first wine correct! It was a Riesling. The Riesling was paired with a crab and mango salad. It was very simple, but the quality of the food is good. I should take this time to say that we had a wonderful evening yesterday night. However, none of the dishes we had were what Henry and I consider restaurant fare--as you will see in the pictures below, there are no fancy techniques or presentations here. In fact, I think most decent cooks could make stuff like this for regular weeknight meals. So in that respect, I wasn't really impressed. However, Elemental offers a very different experience in that the wine pairings are very generous and very good/excellent. The next course was a chicken thigh dish with tamarind glaze and couscous. Phred poured us two wines each for this dish "for comparison purposes". Based on the nose (and before tasting), I guessed that the first wine was a New World pinot and the second was an Old World burgundy. I got it half right--the first wine was a blend from Oregon and the second was an obscure wine from France. We got a white wine with the next course (greens and hazelnuts). We were falling behind on the drinking...at multiple times during the meal, there were like 8 glasses on the table for the 2 of us! The crust was nice, but the crumb too spongy. Lamb t-bones with walnut tapenade and roasted vegetables. We drank two more glasses of red EACH with this dish. Excellent cheese board. We each got a glass of white and a glass of red with the cheese. (Is anyone keeping count with how much wine we've had at this point?!!!!) Phred insisted we have a dessert drink as well. Just in case we didn't have enough alcohol with our meal, you know.... All in all, we both had a fantastic night. I do see how Elemental might rub some diners the wrong way. I think most diners would like to see a menu and choose their wines on their own--and I think they have every right to expect that as paying customers. At the same time, Henry and I both enjoy getting some direction from people much more knowledgable than we are about food/wine...we like to be educated at dinner, as that enhances our dining experience. Would I go back to Elemental? Possibly, for the cheese and wine...the food was solid, homecooking, and while it was tasty, it is not really something that appeals to either of us when we're dining out. ETA: To clarify, Elemental does have menus, but we opted to let the kitchen choose for us, as we often do when we dine out.

For the tart, I just poached, skinned, and sliced the peaches, and gently transfered them to the pre-baked, hazelnut tart crusts. Then I made a caramel with sugar and heavy cream, and added enough curry powder so I could taste it well enough. Then I ladled the caramel over the peaches. The gorgonzola polenta was made with 4 cups vegetable stock (I should've used 3, though...it was a bit too soft), and 1 cup of ground, organic, polenta. I stirred it on low heat for about 25 minutes, and then added half a stick of butter and a little more than a quarter pound of gorgonzola. Then I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and a bit of thyme.

^Sure! I learned a lot from Rachel's definition. I would love to hear an Italian's view on how the two differ as well.

I'll post the (small) stash of chocolate in the afternoon, along with the rest of our pictures from last night. It is nothing really special so I hope I don't disappoint you all. Also, I am out of Valrhona at the moment--I used the last of it in a dessert last week, and haven't had time to go to TJ's to buy more. So what's missing from the stash is the 5-10 bars of Valrhona I usually have on hand. Breakfast was an empty leftover hazelnut tart shell from my IC dessert, a few forkfuls of leftover pork ribs/pulled pork and a 3 shot Americano from Vivace (one of the best coffee places in Seattle.) Now we're going to have some lunch at Salumi...the grilled cotechino is calling me....see you all soon! I_call_the_duck: There was no comment from that judge on the peach gastrique/stilton biscuit dish.

Yes, it's much better when Henry and I work on separate components of the same dish, and bring it together at the last moment. That way, we're not getting in one another's way.

I agree! Ah well. I also got robbed by the judge who didn't like fresh mint ice-cream, but likes the GREEN STUFF you buy at the supermarket!

I think I was totally robbed by the judge who gave me a "5" on my first course!!! Oh well...re-match next year!

I'm going back to bed for a bit...I just woke up because I remembered the drunken post and wanted to get to it before too many people saw it, and I come online only to find out people actually liked it! So I'll post more about my background when I wake up... Yes, I can speak Chinese. I speak Cantonese but I took a few years of Mandarin classes so I can speak a little bit of Mandarin too. And yes, Henry speaks Mandarin. He thinks he is speaking Cantonese when he randomly bastardizes Mandarin words by changing them slightly...it sounds sooooo horrible, but it's so funny.

OH GEEZ! I woke up early because I remembered the drunken post and I was going to edit it before too many saw it, if it was really bad (AND IT IS!!) ...but I guess I will leave it up...I guess it does make the live-blog thing more "real". I_call_the_duck: Usually when Henry and I are cooking together, we write a menu and we both tackle different tasks on the same dish (i.e. in the case of the Wedding Present dinner from a few nights ago, I did the wattleseed pastry, and then shelled those damn peas ( !!!!) for the soup while Henry sauteed the lamb for the filling and made the pea soup.) We were just talking about it over dinner last night--I am so glad to have met someone who can cook, but at the same time, it was/is kind of weird giving up "control" in the kitchen. All my life, I've been used to doing my own cooking/baking from start-to-finish. (My parents don't touch my stuff when I'm cooking/baking, it's like an unspoken rule in my family...I think it is because my mom hated it when my grandma would dictate what she should do in the kitchen). So when I met Henry, it was kind of strange having someone work on a dish with me. I think I can be kind of overbearing in the kitchen, even though 95% of the time I bite my tongue and try to remember it's his dish too, and he can do it how he wants. Still, the vast majority of the dinner photos we've posted on EG were plated and photographed by myself...I still have to work on that. I'll try to get a picture of us working in the kitchen together later this week!

Hmm..methinks that's a smudge@

It is exactl 12 midnight so I guess I can address some of your comments. for the record, most of you guessted correctly--i am iron chef #1 an henry is iron chef #2. im response to rj's comments--i did the mint ice-cream b/c peach ice-cream would be way too obvious. i do think ii kept the peach as the main ingreidnet in the dessert course, as it was a peach tarlet. the less-than -perfect tarlet--well, i didnt pay much attention to the other tartlets i made, amd possibly photographed one at an angle that shows a small chip on the ruffle. believe me, i see that. but at the same time, it is hard to get every singe ruffle completely intact when you try to use a softer tartlet dough (i.e. i lower the amount of gluten by using a lot of ground nuts or cornstarch, in this case i used hazelnut flour) especially when you are lifting the tartlets out of the mold and dont have the luxury of scraping every tartlet whose edge does not c ome out completely perfect. i dont think the tartlet looks horrible, but i know i could've done better if i had more space and was working under different conditions. i do think that you were all very generous in your scores--personally, i would give myself (iron chef 1) a 7/10 on presentation/taste/originality, and i normally think i turn out much better dishes when i am cooking alone in the kitchen, or with henry. it is just SO HOT and SO CROWDED when you are cooking completely different menus in the same kitchen...i definitely understand when real iron chefs tell the audience they are 70% or 80% satisified with their dishes, bc that's what I feel...i give myself 7/10 n execution, and would probably rate my normal multi-course tasting menu dishes 8.5/10. anywaym ui really should be giving more insight into our iron chef thing tomorrow morning when i am sober...i just know i amd ging to read this moorrow and cring.e...so goodnight agian`1

Ling, can't you get arrested for pornography like that? TOO beautiful, and your talent for lighting is supurb! ← Thanks, what a kind compliment@ we are both very much amateur photographers and just try o take pictures of wha looks good to us, thank-you!

Hye everyone, we eneded up gong to Elemtnal onight because Sista and Spruce was c losed! We took a tpicture. Anwyay, we both had a great time at elemetnal, we too k pic tures and had way tooo much to drink... I tnink I had ike 10 drinks tonight and my limi ts is usually 2 or 3 drinsk,s we il l post pictures torooow because we are too drunk and henry already fell asleep . here's what we have lined up fr you' tomorrow" we are going to see one of seattle's (if not america's!) biggest private cookbook collectins. we are super excited to show you this! it is owned by egulleter "heyjude" and she graciously lends me her cooking/baking books tomorrow night's dinner is at union tnuirsday: since moorpheous will b e out of town for his sister's bday celebration, we are going to Porcella with the sous chef at Mistral (Charles) a d his wife Melissa/ Thursday night we are going to a wine bar with Wiillaiam (the chef at Mistral) obviously i am too drunk to be posting about Elementa tnight so see you tomorrow morning! (p.. s . the above post has been edited to the best of my abilty ) goodnight!~

So for lunch, we were going to get some bread at Columbia City bakery, but didn't note before we left that they aren't open on Tuesdays. I am walking up to Columbia City bakery, only to be confronted with... RATS! Here are some of the other places you can find in Columbia City... (We looked at the menu here and it looks good--classic American diner food, done well, I'm guessing.) One of the better pizza places in the city I suggested Essential (my second favourite baguette in the city), but Henry suggested we hit up Grand Central since I've never been there. The line was pretty long. Their baked goods looked fantastic. (to be cont'd)

BTW, he did! our first date

We just got back from lunch. Originally, we were going to go to Columbia City bakery but they were closed, so we went to Grand Central bakery (Seattle's first artisinal bakery). Henry is going to post the pictures soon, but I thought I'd pose the question of where we should go for dinner. Should we... 1) have authentic Mexican at La Carta de Oaxaca 2) go to my favourite (thus far) moderately-priced Seattle restaurant, Harvest Vine (They serve tapas.) 3) go to Henry's typical first-date restaurant ...Lark (I have not been to Lark, since Henry says he went all-out on our first date to try to impress me.)

I believe that this was the reasoning of the chef who created this dish. He/she took inspiration from curries, peach chutneys, and creamy mint raita. (edited to remove trash-talking)

Yes, I believe they are conventionally grown. The produce at this particular market stand is quite expensive (but the quality is there), in my opinion, but Henry is friends with the guys there. Tomorrow is "Organic Wednesdays" at Pike Place, and I'm going to take a look there, as neither of us have been. I wonder if it's like a farmer's market?

Need a Roomie? ← I meant to ask you, Rachel, if there is a difference between grits and polenta, and if yes, do I qualify for GRITS girl status, with my Red Velvet cake the other night? (Not saying that I made the gorgonzola polenta course, of course...uhm....yeeeaah.)

Heh. In most parts of the US, and indeed in many outlying parts of the greater Puget Sound area, a grocery sign with an expletive would still be considered, well, blasphemy. But in liberal Seattle itself, especially in the character-drenched Pike Place Market, I bet it only gets a few raised eyebrows and a bunch of giggles--especially when it freaks the tourists. ← I should note that the front of the sign called them, "OH MY GOD!" peaches. The back of the sign (facing the inside of the store) read, "HOLY SHIT!" peaches.

Thanks for all your comments! We (OK, I) decided that we're now going to visit our favourite place for bread in Seattle (Are you reading this, Renka? ), so we're going to be gone for a bit. But how nice to wake up this morning and read all your comments! RE: The stilton, avocado, and peach gastrique course was the only course of the evening to score a perfect 10 from a judge. Charles's comment (aka the Rosanjin scholar) wrote this bit of wisdom next to his score: "A darling combination! But the peach gastrique makes it work." I think both our presentation for the main course suffered b/c two of the judges were a bit late, and the kitchen was slammed (yes, SLAMMED! WITH FIVE DINERS IN THE HOUSE!! ) The gorgonzola polenta kind of fell apart in the pan (it was fried in duck fat, and the Iron Chef had used too much liquid in his/her polenta before chilling it in the fridge.) I must say that it is a lot harder to try to cook two separate menus from start to finish in Henry's small kitchen than it is to cook one, multi-course menu together. We do the latter all the time, and although the kitchen still gets really messy, the pace is a lot less frenetic. See you soon! And keep the votes coming!

Yes, highly inventive...of Ferran Adria!