Ling

Your picture reminds me of the Elvis Presley pound cake I made awhile ago--there are areas where the cake looks denser in your picture (near the top and bottom) and I think I didn't beat my EP pound cake long enough.

^mmm...that Turkish rice pudding looks great! What makes it different from the North American version, other than being baked? The little babas look like they are opening their cream-filled mouths saying, "Eat me!" Whenever I get baklava in Vancouver, it almost always comes drenched in syrup. Is this the way it's always served?

Made some peanut butter cookies today, then sandwiched some booze-y ganache and raisins in there. Kind of like a grown-up version of peanut butter and jelly, in cookie form.

I didn't mean to imply you liked Wonderbread! Oops! heh heh... ...and it was a pistachio gelato. The gelato was a bit too sweet for me, but the fact that Jaime brought out a beautifully garnished dish and gave us both a smaller spoon and a larger spoon each (such attention to detail!) really impressed me. Both the scallop dish and the tuna were amazing. The scallops are blanched for 30 seconds in a court bouillon before being sliced. The crisp sweetness of the apples and the slight bitterness from the greens really heighten the dish. The vitello tonnato was as robust as the scallops were delicate. I loved the salty pungency of the anchovies and the tuna aioli against the rosy velvet slices of veal breast. The tuile that holds the tiramisu was incredibly thin and buttery--the picture does not do it justice. The tiramisu was served with an espresso sauce. It was my favourite of the trio. The white chocolate cup held a coconut fruit salad, and is served with a papaya mango sauce. I'm not a fan of white chocolate, but the sauce was quite acidic and cut through the sweet creaminess quite well. The chocolate mousse cake is encased in a Valrhona package, and this was served with a ginger sauce. Inside are layers of dark chocolate sponge, milk chocolate mousse, and white chocolate mousse.

^Just to clarify--I didn't tell D90 that good bread should have a thick crust, but that I love a good crust on my bread (as opposed to soft, chewy Wonderbread crusts.) D90--what am I going to do with all those pictures I Photoshopped, resized, and artistically cropped?!!!

^Oh wow! Those look great! Mario Batali's recipe for biscotti is my new favourite. And it's super simple too! Here are the ingredients: 2 3/4 cups AP flour 2 cups sugar 3 eggs 4 yolks 1/2 cup walnuts (I used 3/4 cup hazelnuts) 3 tbsp nocello (I used rum and Amaretto) Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, slice, then 275 for 20 minutes. (Mine took longer--30 minutes at 350, then 30 at 275)

^Mmm sounds good. Oreo ice-cream is my favourite "junky" flavour. Tonight was just biscotti biscotti and more biscotti. And a handful of chocolate thrown in.

^Yeah, actually I was eating with my friend D90!

I had the most amazing service (and food!) and CinCin's last night. Our sommelier/server, Jaime, was so knowledgable and friendly...he spent so much time with us last night talking about the food we were having (just appetizers and dessert, as we came in at 10pm having had dinner already). He also told us about a number of dishes on the regular menu that I'm excited about trying. Honestly, I can't remember a time when I had such great service. Props to CinCin's for showing us a wonderful time on the busiest night of the year!!

Oops, forgot to post my pictures of the Bearfoot desserts. Chocolate tasting (the squares are chocolate jelly flavoured with nutmeg, I believe) Peach cobbler

^Irishgirl is right--Cape Gooseberry and slices of pear. The ground cherries are a really popular garnish on dessert items in Vancouver, it seems.

^Ruth, those are adorable! And much better than the heart-shaped cookies I was considering purchasing at a notable bakery yesterday! Today I made Batali's "Walnut biscotti" with a few adjustments. I didn't have any nocello so I used a mix of Amaretto and dark rum. I didn't have walnuts either, so I used hazelnuts. This was a fabulous recipe that yielded really crunchy biscotti! I've always been a fan of the slightly more tender, non-traditional biscotti (made with some oil)...but these have made me a convert! ETA: After dinner tonight, I had a trio of desserts at CinCin's in Vancouver. There was a coconut milk fruit salad (with pineapple) in a white chocolate cup with papaya and mango sauce; tiramisu in the thinnest, most buttery tuile I'd ever tasted with espresso sauce; and a triple chocolate mousse cake encased in a Valrhona "package" with ginger sauce. I also had the pistachio gelato, made in house. (The pastry chef used to work at a currently 3-star Michelin restaurant.) cake interior shot pistachio gelato

^The Susur cookbook is sitting on my shelf...perhaps one day I'll be brave enough to attempt a recipe.

I'm glad you were able to salvage your Bad Tart! The crumble idea is a good one. That's what I would've done too.

Spoken like a true foodie. If I'm ever in Chicago I'm eating rice and soy sauce till I can afford a spot at Alinea. ← Ahhh...I'd go as far as eating plain congee for Alain Ducasse. Friday Collingwood Neighbourhood House My friend's brother asked me to help him teach a children's cooking class. We made potato, ham, cheese, and vegetable frittatas, and chocolate chip cookies with these mini rainbow candy-coated chips. The kids were all very well-behaved and took turns mixing up the cookie dough, and then they cleaned up the kitchen by themselves. Both the frittatas and the cookies turned out really well! There was a huge group of kids not enrolled in the cooking class begging for cookies outside our door. Saturday Taverna Gorgona (in Ladner) My friend took me to this restaurant after hearing some great reviews from his co-workers. The atmosphere is actually pretty cute with the Christmas lights and they have a bellydancer around 8pm on Saturdays. We started with a trio of dips--a very garlicky humous, taramasalada, tzatziki, and the saganaki (also served with pita). The saganaki was my favourite of the items we ordered, but it's pretty difficult to mess up a simple dish of lightly breaded, warmed cheese. For our main course, we split the Gorgona platter--like a Greek version of the infamous Memphis platter, judging by its epic size. The platter comes with spanakopita, calamari, roast lamb, potatoes, rice, salad, salmon, and keftedes. I found the items, for the most part, pretty disappointing--everything was piled on top one another, so the spanakopita and the calamari were soggy by the time it hit our table. The keftedes looked and tasted like charcoal briquets. The lamb was tender, but wasn't flavourfully seasoned or anything. Salmon flaked really easily--really dry. We drank a bottle of Goats do Roam. Meal ended with a complimentary order of ekmek. The best part of the dinner was the bellydancer. And the flourless chocolate cake and Yoku Moku cookies my friend bought for me to eat during the drive. (My favourite Yoku Moku cookie of the varieties I tried was the almond one, followed by the cigarette cookie.) Night ended with lots of drinking at 686. Monday Bistro Sakana and Honjin Sushi I met up with my friend downtown to do some shopping, and then we walked past Bistro Sakana where another friend was eating lunch. I talked to the sushi chef while stealing food off my friend's plate. They have a scallop and prawn in shredded phyllo dish that is similar to the one offered at Nobu, so I had to try that. Then my friend wanted to go to Honjin Sushi on his cousin's recommendation, so we went there for lunch. (I had eaten at home already, so I got a few orders of chicken hearts and gizzards, and shared the spinach appetizer with the fish flakes and sesame with my friend. He had a lunch combo with beef teriyaki, vegetable tempura, california rolls, miso soup, and rice. The food was just OK. I took a quick glance at the sashimi that arrived at the table next to us, and it didn't look too appealing.

There's a recipe for chicken liver crostini in Batali's Molto Italiano, page 94. Sounds similar (and super delicious!)

I had gingerbread pudding, and I'm still working through my block of E. Guittard L'Harmonie. I think I should bake something with it though--it's not my favourite eating chocolate. Also had some blue cheese and fig jam.

argh. Chambar full.

^Wow, I love all the dishes you make, Foodman, but that dish really stands out! I've got to try the brioche recipe. Thanks! (BTW, have you tried the brioche recipe in Baking with Julia?) Today for breakfast I had a smoked turkey omelette and now I've got gingerbread pudding in the oven. It'll be ready in a few minutes! Mmm...second breakfast....

Hi, thanks for all the replies! I had forgotten about Stella and Habit--still need to check out both spaces. We decided to move the dinner to Friday, since we really wanted to go to Chambar. (Plus, I believe I still have my free beer to cash in! )

OMG! You are the baking GOD, Patrick! I was going to make the Plaisir for a dinner I had planned, but the guy wanted apple pie. Easier on me, I guess. But the Plaisir is on my list of culinary goals this year (along with cassoleut).

When we buy 100+ oysters at a time from Lobsterman, there will usually be perhaps 4 or 5 that are bad (i.e. inedible, smells rotten). Don't know if those are good odds.

It's a custardy layered cake topped with whipped cream. Very good! I like it more than baklava.

I shouldn't post in this thread in the afternoon, as I will inevitably have consumed more dessert by nightfall. Dessert tonight after a Greek feast was ekmek. And too much alcohol. Nite! Eta: oops, forgot about the flourless chocolate cake my friend made for me, the selection of Yoku Moku cookies he got from Japan, and the chocolate-filled cigarette cookies at home too!

^I'm not Becca, but I'm going to guess it'll be OK. I did Flo's recipe last night and it was very similar to Becca's, but with 2 cups of sugar.