Ling

What sort of biscotti are you looking for? The type that's slightly more tender due to some oil or butter in the dough, or the traditional kind that's hard and must be dunked in coffee?

I remember reading that Anne ate pig's tail. ← It's not Anne who ate pig's tail--it was Laura Ingalls and her sister, Mary! Pa had butchered a whole hog (Laura covered her ears so she couldn't hear it squeal) and then they had such fun blowing up the pig bladder and swatting it around in the yard. The pig tail was covered in salt and then the two sisters took turns turning the tail, which had been skewered onto a stick. They picked the meat clean off the bones before it had cooled...then I believe they helped Ma make salt pork, sausage patties, candles, and head cheese in the days following. I'm pretty sure this all occurs in the beginning chapters of Little House in the Big Woods. (I guess I really was a food geek when I was a child--the food parts in the Little House series were always the best parts! Farmer Boy had especially good food scenes, if I remember correctly. )

^My sister and her bf last week, and while they didn't notice whether Daniel was in the kitchen or not, she thought her cornish game hen was a little dry too. They both really liked the rack of lamb, though.

Thanks for the tips! I'll try to remember to take a picture of the cones we make.

Well, I wouldn't say it's all or nothing for me, but I don't get much pleasure out of eating anything made with Callebaut (or anything even further down on the scale...) Rebecca--what's so good about your boyfriend's beets? I just roast them and dress them lightly and they are good, as long as I start with sweet organic beets. I'm curious as to what sort of magic he does with them in the kitchen....

^haha...thanks. I'm not a fan of scrubbing the stove, so I'll remember now to overfill.

I would love to do the cupcakes in the ice-cream cones with my baking class on Friday. Do I put a cupcake liner in the cone, then fill with batter and bake as usual? Or do I put the batter directly in the cone? Thanks ETA: Oops, just found out on Martha Stewart's site that I can pour the batter directly into the cone. Do you all use some sort of support so the cones don't topple over in the oven?

Thanks! I was thinking about doing a 50/50 split between Meyer and regular lemons if Mentons aren't available here...glad you think that's a decent substitute! I was hoping that the griottes would come without brandy, since I'm using port...but I guess I could just rinse off the brandy. It should be OK--I'm just using them for a black forest cake.

Is it possible to get Menton lemons in Vancouver? (And if not, would Meyer lemons be a good substitute?) Also, looking for bottled, pitted griottes (small dark sour cherries)...

Could it be that the eggs were simply not beaten long enough, and there was not enough air incorporated? Or perhaps the batter deflated too much due to over-folding?

If it makes you shiver while eating it, thats great chocolate. ← Ahem. I also like a smooth melt, interesting background notes, and a long finish.

^My friend (the chef next door at Bistro Sakana) really likes the hot white chocolate with mandarin and orange. He's been getting free samples from Chocoatl for days now! Lucky guy...

Oh yeah...I'm thinkin' a ball of frozen dough rolled in graham crumbs, then encased in a thin batter. Drizzle the bad boy with some Valrhona sauce out of the fryer and you've got heaven on a plate. I've had a fried California roll and I didn't care for it. I like fried Oreos and Mars bars, and fried bananas, of course!

New coupon...2 for $109. Enjoy! Morton's deal

He is great (and shame on me for forgetting his name). We used to frequent Wabi Sabi regularly. I loved the green tea creme brulee that would be hidden away in the lid of the serving bowl so that when you lifted it, you'd initially assumed they'd mixed up your order. ← The male server's name is Tomo. (I loved the green tea brulee at Wabi Sabi too! Creative presentation.)

I love him too! I ate at Wabi Sabi a few years ago, and had such good service that I remembered him when I saw him at Yuji's!

^I would love a baklava thread too! It's not one of my favourite desserts, but I'm sure it's because I haven't had a good version yet. I would love to learn how to make proper baklava. I made a quick apple galette with the last of my puff pastry (no frangipane this time), then ate most of pan of butter cookies. I also made palmiers with some puff pastry scraps...ate those too.

No, I've only had it at Parkside and I also make it it at home.

I wouldv've accepted the complimentary dessert and thanked them, then ordered the date pudding (I love sticky toffee pudding, btw) after I finished the creme brulee.

^Wow, how amazing! I look forward to your comments (and perhaps photos?) I love Susur's presentation...what an artistic eye. I especially admire the photos on page 2.3 (Whole Five Spice Roast Squab) and 2.32 (Roast Whole Rabbit with Preserved Lemon Chili Honey Glaze).

^I had dinner at CinCin a few years ago--started with the beef carpaccio, followed by the veal cheek pasta, then finished with the tiramisu. The first two dishes were pretty good, but the tiramisu came absolutely soaked in espresso to the point where the biscuits were really mushy. I didn't really enjoy the dessert, but that was, I assume, before Thierry was working there. I thought the dinner was good, but not something I'd go back for anytime soon, with so many other restaurants in the city to try. I thought the dishes we chose a few nights ago--the scallop carpaccio and the veal--were both excellent...but both dishes are pretty hard to mess up if you're starting with quality ingredients. I hope my next dining experience there lives up to recent memory!

I taught the kids in my cooking class how to make brownies today (using my recipe, but with Baker's chocolate as I can't afford to give them Valrhona to work with, and I doubt they'd notice much of a difference anyway). I then showed them how to do caramel on the stovetop and they thought it was pretty cool watching the sugar turn brown in the saucepan. The kids loved the brownies!

Tuesday night CinCin comments and pictures in this thread Friday lunch...takeout at No. 9 I just needed some 'tang jie jook'--the congee with all types of offal in it. Good stuff. I had a craving for cow stomach. (Is there a more appealing term I should be using instead of "cow stomach"?) Not the best place for congee, but I was in the area and this hit the spot. Also ate some of my mom's crispy noodles with onions and beef too. Very average and oily. dinner #1...at Collingwood Neighbourhood House Today my friend and I taught the kids how to make a bechamel sauce and how to do baked macaroni and cheese with a bread crumb topping. We used a Martha Stewart recipe that's really popular over in the Cooking forum now. I liked the recipe a lot. I taught them how to make brownies today, and also how to make a proper caramel sauce on the stovetop. The kids loved the dessert! It was their first time doing this stuff from scratch. I have a special little helper who loves to cook and wants to be a chef when he grows up. I think he's the only one who remembered the techniques I was teaching them, like "tempering". And he stayed behind and helped us clean up, and drew me a picture of Garfield too! dinner #2 ...at Guu in Gastown I had so many dishes tonight, I couldn't list them all if I tried. Drank a lot of sake too, which may explain something... Some of the dishes we had were "Salmon and the Seven Sons" (??)-- basically diced salmon sashimi with a bunch of diced garnishes and a raw egg), multiple orders of chicken karaage, scallop carpaccio, takoyaki, and oyster gratin, a few noodle dishes, negitoro and nori with ponzu, beef short ribs, miso black cod, bacon and scallops with enoki, bacon and scallops with shrimp (fried), fried spicy ika with a ketchup dip, and maguro tataki (with avocado and ponzu mayo sauces). The maguro and the ika were by far my favourites of the evening. Everything else was good. Food is really cheap (about $5-$7 per dish) and you get what you pay for.

^I don't know what kind of soy sauce was used, but I'm going to guess Japanese. It was a balsamic aioli.

The chef is Andreas Wechselberger and the Pastry Chef is Thierry Busset. They were thinly sliced...it was a good deal for $19 though, I think. And I know you've seen all the pics already, but I do love this one I fixed up and cropped, so please indulge me...