Ling

A few years ago, I had tea at The Empress and at White Heather Tea Room. The Empress room is beautiful, but I preferred the nibbles served at White Heather. The latter is also very charming, and was completely packed the entire time we were there.

^They have that at Traditional Taiwanese in Continental Plaza, next to Vogue Restaurant. It is great there--our favourite thing on the menu so far.

I had my first Tully's experience not too long ago. I ordered my usual iced Americano and was wired for the next four hours. Seriously. I was speaking so fast, I could barely understand myself. What do they put in that coffee?!!! Are the shakes at Tully's still good?

^I double checked the Sunday Dinners at Lucques cookbook and the recipe did indeed call for 9 tbsp of browned butter, and I forgot that you also need a pinch of salt in there.

NO!! Stick to the full flavour, full fat stuff. I do decrease the sugar in a lot of my baking though, as I think most recipes written for the North American audience are too sweet. Sugar often acts as a liquid ingredient in baked goods, like cakes, so you do need most of the sugar for moisture. I try to get around that by serving it with some sort of frosting that has very little sugar, or bittersweet ganache, so the bites you put in your mouth are not as sweet. I know cake isn't a pastry, but I would suggest doing at least one cake involving creaming + alternating dry and wet ingredients, and one cake like angelfood or chiffon where you have to fold in whipped egg whites. And might I suggest tuiles to garnish your creme brulee?

The last few desserts look beautiful. Nishla, for someone who claims she's "not a baker" , your cake looks great! I made Payard's Gateau Basque from the Simply Sensational Desserts book, with a few adjustments. I used ground hazelnuts instead of ground almonds because that's what I had, but didn't use the full amount as I find hazelnuts have a stronger taste. So I made up the difference with a bit of cornstarch, so the amount of gluten in the recipe stays approximately the same. I flavoured it with orange blossom water and rum.

My last three were in Seattle. brunch at Cafe Campagne, Saturday Long a favourite spot for locals and tourists, the food here was as tasty and rustic as I expected (and hoped) it to be. We got the oeufs en meurette (runny poached eggs, foie gras red wine sauce, pearl onions, and a big basket of fries) and the pork and liver pate which they make in house. The oeufs en meurette have been written about all over on various food boards as one of *the* breakfasts to get in Seattle, and it was very tasty, though the sauce tasted very strongly of garlic and I couldn't detect much foie. Our friends got the croque monsieur (I had a bite--tastes as cheesy and hearty as it looks) and the french toast. The service, however, is extremely slow. We ended brunch with a bottle of rose at The Tasting Room and then chocolates at Roses (wasabi nori, cardamon espresso, and port). Friday dinner at Siam We had Thai food for dinner with some friends who lived across the street from Siam. We got a squid salad, a fried rice dish with pineapple, pad thai, and a squid stir-fry. (Pre-dinner nosh at their place was a selection of cheeses and Australian truffle honey. Dessert was some salted caramel ice-cream we made.) Thursday dinner at Harvest Vine brief comments here In short, my favourite of all the mid-range Seattle restaurants I've tried thus far. This is a place I could see myself eating at every week.

That looks great, Vanessa! Did you use exactly half butter and half oil? I use 1 cup butter and 1/4 cup oil.

Here you go...enjoy! You can lower the sugar a little bit. Henry added a few pinches of salt (to taste) to the recipe, but deliberately undersalts it a bit so it is perfect when you sprinkle on some extra crunchy salt on top. caramel ice-cream

Thanks for the review, dimsumfan. Sounds like you ate lots of good food. I went back to Top Shanghai two days ago, and the service was again, pretty bad. I got there at 8:45pm and there was STILL a line at the door! I waited at the door for a good 20 minutes before anyone even came over to take numbers. We finally got a seat close to 9:30, but only because I said it would be OK if we 'dap toi'--share the table with 2 other couples. I see the same service issues at most busy Chinese restaurants, though. I figure it's the price you kind of have to pay when the food is good and cheap.

^That's beautiful, Lumas! For the past two days, Henry's been making the best-tasting salted caramel ice-cream. It is soooooo rich. We top it with pink Hawaiian sea salt for an extra bit of crunch. I can't stop eating it...

Yes, I did use 3 separate pans. I've never had an issue with the cakes cracking. I grease the pans, and put a round of parchment paper at the bottom. I just run a knife around the edge of the cakes after they've come out of the oven and they all pop out cleanly.

I guess my rant did come off sounding a bit harsh... It might just be the pipes in Henry's building, but the water does taste funky.

We went to Harvest Vine tonight! We got 4 plates--the venison with crispy oyster mushrooms, the pork belly with cranberry beans, the cod with olive mashed potatoes and a jambon and cheese broth, and the chicken livers with armagnac and cream. All the dishes were delicious, and HV is my favourite of all the mid-range (under $100 for 2) restaurants in Seattle so far. Our favourite tonight was the venison, with the chicken livers being a close second. The only thing that I didn't like so much was that the pork belly was refridgerated after being braised, then heated to order, but it wasn't heated long enough and the top layer of fat was still a bit cold. Still, great flavour in the dish. We will definitely be back to try the rest of the menu!

^The tap water in Seattle is disgusting. I had to drink some once because I was dying of thirst and we were out of Pellegrino...I had to plug my nose to get the tap water down my throat. I haven't had tap water in many places, so I don't know how it compares. I haven't drank tap water in many, many years up here in Vancouver either, but I don't remember it tasting very good.

I've been reading about Harvest Vine for some time, and though I haven't had the chance to go there yet, I've sent friends there (they were looking for something casual). The chicken liver dish looks like it would be right up my alley. Thanks for the pics.

^Thanks for the compliment! Have you had the almond croissant from Le Panier? I heard they are really good, and they look really good too. I'll get one next time I walk by. I confess though, that the other pastries in the case don't really appeal to me...some of the items look a little sloppy. I don't remember seeing the chocolatine though, but I'll keep an eye out for it. BTW, I have been referring to Hiroki's (the bakery across from Eva) incorrectly...it's not Hiroyuki's. Oops.

So I visited Forester's on 41st for the first time in ages a few days ago. Two ladies are now running the shop, and have been for the last 3 weeks or so. They were really friendly and cut huge samples (like...5x the size of a regular sample) of many cheeses for me to try. Really, really generous. They even asked if I was in a hurry, and when I said no, told me they'd like the cheese to come to room temp for a few minutes before I taste them. They told me they're getting a new shipment of cheeses in tomorrow morning (Wednesday) and they both seem really enthusiastic about their cheeses. One thing that I really liked was that their cheeses are vacuum-packed with a bit of air left in the package to let the cheese breathe, and they also vacuum-pack the cheese you buy the same way.

No, the purple things in the foreground are pitted gaeta olives. The purple bits in the background with the beans is the purple cauliflower.

My mom got a flat of figs from her friend's farm today. I ate five in rapid succession, then decided to share their voluptuous beauty with you all. figs and Bleu d'Auvergne

Some very beautiful desserts (and biscotti) on this page...gfron, that lemon dessert looks exceptional! Today I had some leftover macadamia nut cookie scraps and lemon sabayon from a tart I made for a friend. At night, I got the chance to meet Emily Luchetti at an ice-cream social event at Eva in Seattle. My bf and I were guests at the Cooks and Books table, and I sat next to Emily! Pastry chef Dana Bickford offered the following interpretations of Emily's recipes. The lemon ice-cream with the gingersnap cookies were particularly tasty. The peach soup tasted just purely of the ripest, sweetest peaches imaginable. The sun had gone down at this point, so the next two pictures are not as pretty as I had to lighten them considerably in Photoshop. Nonetheless, I assure you the hazelnut semifreddo was incredible. It was a bit sweet on its own, but worked nicely with the rich chocolate cream. I know some pastry chefs refuse to use stuff like Rice Krispies in their desserts, but I'm not above that and I'm glad I'm in good company. The cereal adds just the nicest crunch to the brownies and brings back memories of childhood, though the quality of the ingredients was obviously much better than your run-of-the-mill brownie and chocolate sauce. The brownie was great--very fudgy. I don't know if you can tell from these photos, but the size of the desserts were incredibly generous and my bf needed some help finishing off this plate...I was only too happy to assist. The evening was so much fun...great desserts, great company. I had a fabulous time!

I wanted to sneak in one more quick Sicilian meal before the month was over. antipasto Swordfish involtini with green beans and purple cauliflower in a garlic anchovy sauce

Thanks! Your party looks incredible...especially considering the quality of the dishes tthat were coming out of your kitchen (not that there was any doubt.) The duck, lamb, and risotto dishes look particularly delicious. You and your team deserve a huge round of applause!

Yes, I went for lunch...we got there just after 1pm and we were seated at 1:40pm It was just the two of us. The 2-4 person tables were being turned the quickest--I didn't see any of the 6+ tables being turned while we were waiting. Yes, lots of people were hovering near all the tables in the front of the restaurant, since they don't have a waiting area. We got seated in a rather secluded corner, which was nice, but even if we weren't, I wouldn't be too uncomfortable eating near a crowd.

^I believe beating incorporates air (which makes the cake lighter) and adds structure by developing gluten.