Ling

I made the spice out out of Rob Feenie's Lumiere cookbook today. It is good and moist, perfect for today's rainy weather. I doubled the amount of cinnamon because the original recipe only specified 1/2 tsp. for 2 cups of flour, and most of the other recipes I've used in the past has about 1 tsp. of cinnamon. I also substituted the cloves for cardamom, and added a quick oatmeal streusel topping (no recipe, just eyeballed everything). (Those wet spots are actually raisins...I take bad photos...sorry!)

^I love your creative spin on the cocoa chiffon cake! Which one did you think tasted the best? I think I would've really enjoyed the "Autumn" dessert.

Argh...so disappointed I missed this dinner! (But Diva was good too.) Hey do they have Peking duck on the menu? If they do, I should do my Peking duck dinner there, with the crab and squash dish as an appetizer.

-salted macadamia nuts and salted cashews -dried squid and dried cuttlefish -kettle chips with sour cream, pieces of crisped bacon and caramelized onions -any sort of blue cheese, but especially Neil's Yard stilton -salted caramel and chocolate -the Asian-style beef jerky that's spicy and kind of moist -Asian pork fluff/floss (those dehydrated shreds of heavily-seasoned pork) on white bread with scrambled egg and Japanese mayonnaise !!!! -good baguette with a crisp crust, a thick slab of cold unsalted butter, and a sprinkle of crunch fleur de sel -nut butters (with a spoon) -a nice antipasto platter with olives, cornichons, and a good selection of dry-aged and cured meats and cheeses -roasted garlic with olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar with fresh bread

^The PH lemon cream is indeed delicious, but you'll have to wait for it to cool in the fridge, ablosh, before digging in. When I made it, I started eating it right away (greedy greedy Ling, as usual) and I thought it tasted disgusting--so buttery! Like eating lemon-flavoured butter! But after sitting in the fridge, it was soooo good.

I like them with plain lemon juice or a mignonette. The Stellar Bays I had at Aurora were amazing...though I forget what was in the mignonette. I've always had really good oysters at Joe Fortes too!

Did you use PH's caramel ganache recipe? That's my absolute favourite thing with this particular chocolate cake recipe!

Here's my favourite lemon curd recipe...and it calls for exactly 2/3 cups of lemon juice! Fine Cooking's lemon curd recipe

^ The Korova dough takes care of the chocolate cravings AND the salt cravings in one delicious, easily-put-together product! Not only that, the mixing bowl and wooden spoon is perfect for cradling in front of the TV--no extra bowls or clean-up required! Still need convincing? One batch of dough = one PMS-serving size. Just eat the whole thing. No need to rustle around in your cupboards, looking for extra containers to store your dough. You should be thanking me!

^It's never a competition, just dessert-love I love ricotta cheesecake and your cheesecake looks great! I just got off work and I'm kind of tired, so no baking for today. I ate a box of Glosette raisins after dinner, a handful of honey-roasted peanuts, and a handful of Valrhona fevres.

I love Stellar Bays. What were they served with?

I am working...always on and off the computer printing stuff off for students. I've made foccacia a few times, and I've only made a baguette once a few years ago. I remember the foccacia was really easy to do and turned out well. The baguette turned out well too, but I didn't have a good reference point a few years ago (having eaten very few "good" baguettes at that point in my life) so I'll have to try again. Thanks for posting this thread...I'm sure it'll help me a lot.

^I'll lend you my scale tomorrow and you can try making baguettes again, then invest in a scale if you're really sure you're going to be using it a lot in the kitchen. ETA: I haven't done a lot of bread-making, but I'm pretty sure bread flour is a much better bet than AP.

Hi Fred, this is the same recipe that has been re-worked a few times...I believe the new version calls for slightly less sugar, and 1.5 ounces unsweetened and 1.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate. Also, half the vegetable oil has been replaced with melted butter for better flavour. Here's a link to the revised version: updated Double chocolate cake recipe, from Epicurious I like both the original recipe and the one that was re-worked by some very talented bakers in this thread. I haven't had them side by side, but they are obviously very similar in taste, with the re-worked version having a deeper flavour and being slightly less sweet.

prasantrin, I'm glad your friend enjoyed the cookies, and your variation with the hazelnut and the wholemeal flour looks REALLY good, Chufi! I will have to try that sometime! miladyinsanity: My apologies...I am a bad influence.

cardamon whiskey truffle by Thomas Haas

My mom makes this dish all the time, and it's one of my favourites!

^Thanks! Today I finished the rest of my Haas chocolates. The cardamon whiskey one is still my favourite. Then I had some Poplar Grove Tiger Blue cheese with peppered black Mission fig preserve.

Here are some more of the desserts I had yesterday: twice-baked almond croissant Sacher torte almond marscapone (the mouthfeel of this dessert was so incredibly light!) chocolate walnut pear bombe tarts pastry case chocolate/truffle case my chocolate/truffle selection Not pictured, but I also enjoyed the lychee gelee, passionfruit gelee, and cassis gelee...and also the double chocolate cookie and the Sparkle cookie.

I don't know if it's still open, but there's a herbal tea store in Parker Place right near the entrance (NOT the No. 3 road one, the other entrance) that might have what you're looking for. I would also second the recommendation of inquiring in one of those Chinese herbal stores. I know the one in the mini mall across from Lansdowne (same complex as Thai House) brews those medicinal concoctions for you if you don't want to do it at home.

Glad your dinner at Feenie's went well! The mission trout is my favourite, and I think they do the best ice-creams and sorbets ever!

I had so many delicious things yesterday, so it's really hard to choose. I would pick the twice-baked almond croissant from Thomas Haas, I guess.

^You can use parchment or grease the cookie sheets. I flatten them to about 1/2 an inch, and Karen says to flatten them to 1/4 an inch. (I like them thicker but that's entirely up to you.)

Just some brief notes about the food and our evening: Drank: -the Cedar Creek Select pinot noir -a Poplar Grove merlot -dessert wines from Sumac Ridge and Peter Lehmann 1st course: Fraser Valley Duck Terrine pickled vegetable salad black pepper gastrique Excellent flavour, nice punch from the black pepper gastrique. The vegetables tasted like they were slightly pickled, and provided a nice foil to the rich terrine. Spiced Butternut Squash Velouté confit pork belly, golden raisins & toasted almonds Another excellent starter with Middle Eastern flavours. I enjoyed both appetizers immensely! Mains: Aromatic Braised and Glazed Veal Cheek warm, creamy onion tart thyme-scented jus The veal cheeks were incomparably tender. I am one of those people who can't resist that unctuous jelly-like consistency that coats braised cheek and shoulder cuts. The sauce had quite a bit of cinnamon. Rich onion filling on a buttery puff-pastry crust. And yes, I did eat all the slow-cooked garlic. Moroccan Spiced, Seared Rare, Ahi Tuna creamy orzo provencal, olive tapenade carrot emulsion My friend's main course--the fish was of excellent quality, and the orzo was delicious. Neither of us liked the olive tapenade very much with the fish (though I do love olives in many preparations and on their own.) I found the tapenade too overwhelming with the tuna. I think the Meditteranean influences in the dish sound like they go together better in my mind than they actually taste... We also had the seared scallops (+ $10) with pineapple coconut foam and basmati rice. Quite good...juicy, scallops cooked to medium. Warm Upside Down Chocolate Soufflé chantilly cream I enjoyed a few bites of my friend's souffle, though it was rather dense for a souffle. It was more a soft chocolate cake, but it was delicious. Deep chocolate flavour. (The chocolate garnish broke, so it looked better when it arrived than it does in the picture.) Stilton cheesecake, port wine glaze A smaller version of the stilton cheesecake you get at Sen5es, but it comes with the same bruleed top and the same rhubarb compote. I love this dessert. They used a shortcrust, though it used to come with an almond sable crust at the bakery. Sweet Spiced Beignets hot milk chocolate, vanilla foam This was my second dessert at dinner (and my...11th? 12th? dessert of the day...though I DID share some of my earlier desserts from Thomas Haas! ) The beignets were a disappointment--they contained a few cranberries, but were very heavy and bready, though fresh from the deep-fryer. The gelato was quite good, and full of vanilla seeds. I can taste the Valrhona used in the hot chocolate, and it did make the beignets more palatable. But overall, I would definitely pass on this dessert and go for either the stilton cheesecake or the souffle. Diva impressed us both, and we will be back for the regular menu. I thought I had made the best choices for my tastes, which is always nice. My friend enjoyed his soup a little more than my terrine, and the souffle more than the cheesecake, but we both agreed that the veal cheeks were a winner. (He could not stop talking about how wonderful the soup was! )

Here's the three desserts from Diva at the Met: stilton cheesecake chocolate souffle cranberry beignets Haas photos to come tomorrow... I forgot to take a photo of the Filipino cashew/meringue cake, but it was oval and white and not too fancy anyway.