Ling

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

^We didn't use mushroom soy either...just dark soy. We didn't really measure when we made it (3 times in the last week and a half!) but adjusted the taste as it braised. The pictures Henry posted were of a spicy version he did with sambal oelek and Szechuan peppercorns.

I always eat the chicken bits and pieces from the stock, and I bypass the actual "meat" and pick at the neck and the back first (that's where the "oysters" are, after all!) But I just don't like the overcooked vegetables in stock....

I was a little bit let down with Recchiutti as well. However, I do think his fleur de sel chocolate is much better than Fran's. Did you try the fleur de sel at Recchiutti, Wendy? I was disappointed with Fran's salted caramels after hearing so much about them. To me, they are merely good candies rather than serious chocolates.

I'm not including tax and tip, like they do on the show, but here's what I'd do with $40. BREAKFAST: strawberry danish and coffee, Cafe Besalu $6 LUNCH: hot meat plate (with porchetta, 2 slices cotechino, 2 slices of grilled lamb, 2 meat balls, and side of bread) and a soft drink, Salumi, $14 HAPPY HOUR: 2 Cascadia sliders (sorry, can't afford any cheese or extra toppings), Cascadia, $2....and a martini at Zig Zag's, $8 DINNER (if you really think you can still eat after that enormous lunch!): banh xeo, Green Leaf, $7 DESSERT: Valrhona Le Noir bar, Trader Joe's $3 Dayam...that's a lot of food!!!!

The fregula looks awesome, Nathan.

Is the double cream just stirred into the pastry cream to thin it out a bit? Or is the cream whipped, then folded into the pastry cream?

I can't wait to see what's up for Father's Day, tupac. Are you making that pecan pie from scratch? (Please say yes... ) I'm loving your blog! You're such a talented cook, and have such an ease with words. Your family is very lucky to have you cooking for them!

Thus spaketh the man who enjoys cream cheese hotdogs.

A few months ago, I made dinner for my friend whose parents were out of town. He doesn't know how to cook, and had been living on canned soup and Pocky for dinner for a week! I braised a few lamb shanks and served it with risotto. After dinner, we were cleaning up the kitchen and I was about to dump out the vegetables and braising liquid (vegetables were cooked to mush...I had braised the shanks for three hours!) He yelped when he saw me moving the pot to the garbage can. "Are you THROWING that away?!!!" he said, wide-eyed. I put the pot down and he proceeded to finish off the pot of vegetables, proclaiming them "the best vegetables I've ever had!" Then he said, "If you consider those vegetables trash, may my mouth be your garbage disposal."

I think orange and olive oil cakes are quite popular in Italy...I've seen quite a few recipes for that.

I had something very like this in Alsace, France - in Strasbourg. I think the restaurant was called Chez Yvonne. It was a couple of years ago. It was fantastic. ← I know they serve it at Bouley's Danube restaurant, and I've also made foie gras brulee at home. I don't use any sugar in the custard base. I serve it with sauteed wild mushrooms cooked in stock, port, butter, some herbs, and a healthy drizzle of white truffle oil.

I just finished reading this thread in preparation for Friday night's Sardinian meal! What a wealth of information. I confess I've been following these Italian threads closely, but I haven't cooked much from ANY region in Italy and the idea of sourcing Sardinian olive oil scares me! I doubt our meal will be as authentic as the meals posted here, but I will give it a try. I made a Sardinian pasta dish a few years ago that I really liked, and thought I'd share the recipe. I remember using a mix of ground lamb and pork instead of just pork. I also used more meat than the recipe called for...(what can I say, I love meat. ) I also made my own saffron gnocchi...I think it was a Batali recipe. Alas, these were the days before I found Egullet and I don't have a picture. Saffron Pasta with Pork and Tomato Sauce There's also a recipe for Sardinian Ravioli cookies in Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook. It is a fried dessert with goat yogurt and honey as the filling. I'll post the recipe if anyone's interested.

I had Copper River and King Copper River carpaccio last week, and it rocked too.

I'd go with Pierre Marcolini.

I had dim sum...tripe with black pepper, pan-fried Chinese radish cake with Chinese bacon and dried shrimp, egg tarts, taro and shrimp-filled spring rolls, shrimp dumplings, fried tofu with minced pork, shark fin dumpling with bamboo pith, and tapioca pudding with chestnut paste. It was quite a lot of food for two people, but we finished it all!

^I admire your determination! Today I had 2 more slices of carrot cake (it's all gone now ), a slice of a cream sponge-cake roll from a Chinese bakery, a bowl of tapioca pudding with chestnut cream and a pastry crust at dim sum, and also egg tarts at dim sum. Eating a bit of coffee ice-cream now.

What? They have pommes frites at Dick's? (I've never eaten there but realize it's a Seattle institution.) I remember catching a bit of that episode a few months ago. Not familiar with The Crocodile or Beth's, but Top Pot's is a good choice, if only for their old-fashioned glazed!

Yesterday I had a few slices of carrot cake, an old-fashioned glazed donut from Top Pot's, and also had about half a donut each of their blueberry, their cherry, and their apple cinnamon. Still love the old-fashioned glazed one the best, by far.

^ I think you have to make another one, Doc...this time with the bacon!

Do you have a favourite carrot cake recipe? I love a good carrot cake, but I rarely make them, and have been disappointed with the results - I've only tried my mum's family recipe though, which (shh! keep this quiet!) makes a rather rubbery cake. ← I do...my favourite recipe is the one I made yesterday. I looked at a bunch of recipes and kind of adjusted the proportions in my mind while I was baking to get the result I want. It's kind of a mix with the UCLA recipe and the Frog Commissary cake recipe you'll find in the carrot cake thread.

^not my favourite either. I like them steamed, chilled, then served with Chinese black vinegar and slivered ginger.

^Their bread is amazing...will have to try the walnut levain and pistachio pinwheel very soon. Thanks!

^Awesome, thanks for the tip!

carrot cake