Ling

Whoa! Peking duck skin burger! You're a genius! Have you actually made one? Or did you just submit a recipe to Gerald? (I confess I didn't test any of the recipes I submitted into the contest...and I might have been drunk at the time I was writing them too. I remember suggesting a turkey and stuffing burger though...)

Awesome blog, Darcie. I love tortilla chips extra brown, just they way you did them. Mmm!

^I saw the recipe...it's very similar to the Elvis Presley recipe I tried today. I noticed that you prefer the Cold Oven cake with 5 eggs and 2 yolks. I definitely think the 7 eggs was too much in the EP cake. I'll give yours a try soon! Thanks.

I made the Elvis Presley pound cake today. I'm not a fan...way too dense, even for a pound cake. picture and more comments here

Aww...I am sorry you're having a bad day. I would go for good ol' pork schnitzel with lots of gravy, chicken pot pie, or lasagna. Anything with lots of pasta and gooey cheese would make me feel a bit better. Making an apple pie would lift my spirits too. Nothing beats the smell of a spicy cinnamony apple pie baking.

The beignets look incredibly light! I made the Elvis Presley pound cake from Epicurious today. I was really disappointed with the cake--very, very dense and heavy (yes, even heavy for a pound cake) and a bit too sweet for me. The only good part is the crispy sweet crust. I wonder if I didn't beat the cake mixture long enough. Or perhaps it's just me...two of my students really liked the cake, but they are not terribly picky eaters. My mom also found the cake too heavy, and she's normally loves the other pound cake recipes I've done.

^Wow, thanks for the demo! The custard tarts look incredible. Do you prefer the recipe you have in Recipe Gullet? Thanks again...I will have to try these sometime soon!

I just wanted to chime in and say that the batches of ice-cream and sorbet are made regularly, so maybe it was just that batch of mango sorbet that was a bit bitter. My friend who went to Feenie's this week said the mango sorbet was amazing.

But to eat dessert they would have to stop drinking beer.. that was my thinking anyway. ← now that's just not true... ← Blueberry beer? Anyone, anyone? ← Bellevue Kriek (a cherry beer) is great with dessert!

^Yeah, the bottoms are definitely browning too quickly. Thanks, Wendy. Do you think it would help if I baked them on the upper-third of the oven? I've since thrown away my old cookie pans..they were cheap and thin, so that's probably why they were browning too quickly.

Ah, I see! So the authentic recipe must include the milk and cinnamon. I will have to give the real recipe a try!

Yes, it's definitely jaconde and the thin crispy cookie (often used as a garnish on a plated dessert) is the tuile.

I'm not surprised about that. I've heard less-than-stellar things about the kitchen from people who worked there. Our family went to Pink Pearl all the time when I was a kid because it was close to our church. I don't think the dishes are anything special.

^That looks simple and delicious! I have the Feenie's cookbook too...I'll have to make something out of that book soon.

Your new baby is adorable! Congratulations!

No dessert? I find my guy friends usually like the really basic stuff. Cheesecake. Apple pie. Brownies. Sticky toffee pudding.

When it's the stuff I find more tedioius, like chopping onions or garlic, I tend to do it quickly. I slow down a bit when frenching bones b/c I want the finished product to look really clean. I take a long time plating and arranging the food so that it looks good, though...I think that's the fun part! I bake more than I cook, and I'm the same way when it comes to baking. Putting together a cake only takes me a few minutes--I'm super quick at that, because I don't think the quality of the cake will suffer as long as I measure accurately. I do take the time to press the tart dough into the tart pan perfectly, so that takes awhile. So really, it depends on whether I enjoy the task or not, and whether working faster will compromise the finished dish.

^I'd take Mistral's pate en crepine too. I didn't find the veal cheeks too salty, but maybe that's because my palate has been corrupted with too many salted caramels...heh heh. Actually, I'm sure the veal cheeks differ a bit from day to day, depending on how much the stock has reduced. Habib was my waiter too! I think he did a good job of upselling. When he was pouring my friend's Coke, he said: "This is our finest vintage." I thought that was hilarious. Manjari and Guanaja are so similar in terms of cocoa percentages that it would be hard to tell what was used in the cake. I only had a bite, but I'm going to guess Guanaja because it didn't taste all that fruity to me.

Your cakes turned out great, Darcie! (And Happy Birthday!) Have you tasted the Peninsula Grill coconut cake yet? I also toast the coconut for colour contrast, although I've never made it with real coconut before! (Come to think of it, I don't come across fresh coconut too often in Vancouver.) I think the raspberry mousse cake looks delicious. Too bad about the orange cake though. Hope you enjoy the lime meltaways too! I can't keep away from those...they are addictive. And now I have some questions for you... 1. Which of RLB's Cake Bible recipes do you enjoy the most? 2. What is your specialty in the kitchen? (A dish that you're known for?) 3. What are you most fond of baking? (And what do you enjoy eating the most?) Thanks!! (That's so awesome that you made three birthday cakes...I'm going to have to make multiple cakes for myself next year too! Such a smart idea!)

^I like Sun Sui Wah too. My little cousins go nuts over their mango crepes. I love the dofu fa. Have you had the tripe and tendon dishes?

No, I didn't find that one cup of milk was enough. I eyeballed everything that went into the custard and I'm guessing I used 1 1/3 cups of cream for a cake made with about 1 1/2 cups of flour. You can see the texture of the pudding in my photo--it's very moist. (The pudding was baked in an 8" round pan. The cake cubes + custard measured about 2.5" in depth, I would guess.)

^Omigod. Those pork buns look incredible! Love the glossy tops. My friend has dim sum at Sea Harbour sometimes...anyone been? I can't wait for the DDR competition. I assume it'll take place at RUSH, conveniently located a stone's throw from Sea Harbour? (Talk about a throwback to 1997. I haven't stepped into RUSH since grade 10!) Better dig out the baby-t, brown lipstick, and glow sticks.

Not that Neil has a cookbook (yet--but he should!) but I thought you might be interested in seeing the infamous gingerbread pudding recipe, with a few liberties. The original recipe can be found here: HSG gingerbread pudding I used the fresh ginger and buttermilk cake recipe, and did the custard portion with whipping cream only (no milk) and 5 egg yolks. I also steeped fresh ginger into the whipping cream for the caramel sauce, to make a gingered caramel. (I actually did a "nice" gingerbread pudding in a ramekin so I could make a plated dessert, but somehow the brown-cylinder look wasn't working for me, so I dished up a portion from the large batch I was baking alongside my ramekin for the photo.) CLICK for the photo!

In Vancouver, Chef Neil's gingerbread pudding at the Hamilton Street Grill has quite a dedicated following. He serves it warm, with pumpkin ice-cream and ginger ice-cream. His recipe is here: HSG gingerbread pudding I did a take on his dessert by using the fresh ginger and buttermilk cake recipe I entered in Recipe Gullet, and using only whipping cream and 5 yolks for the custard portion. I infused a little bit of fresh ginger in the whipping cream for the caramel, to make a gingered caramel.

I've seen it demonstrated on TV where water + chocolate were added together and it did not seize...so ditto what Alex said.