Ling

a good dozen and a half cookies from yesterday's cookie exchange, and prime rib with gravy (leftovers from last night's dinner)

prime rib and gravy and some blue cheese and walnut shortbread

Tarte Grenobloise and this delicious fig/port/onion/pear compote on cheese with crusty bread

I know that 10-15% is standard among my friends. I tip around 20%, sometimes 15% for average service in a more casual restaurant, but if we're dining in a group, it barely raises the tip total on our table. (I can see servers drawing straws in attempts to avoid my table in the future. ) REALLY bad service = between 10-15%. I always leave a tip, though, even if the service is not that great. I don't bother to really calculate tip at a Chinese noodle house or at a pho place...I'll leave a twoonie for a bowl of noodles. I do take a discreet glance at how much tip a guy I'm dating leaves...so far they've been very generous--usually 20%+ to over 100% (that particular instance was for a casual meal.) I don't know if they do this on a regular basis, or only b/c they're on a date, and my "discreet glances" are not as discreet as I think they are.

I made hot chocolate today with Bailey's, chopped unsweetened chocolate, condensed milk, and milk (my friend didn't have any half and half). It was delicious. Just the thing to go with the four dozen or so cookies I ate tonight (and that's a conservative estimate...) The hot chocolate was very good and creamy. I'm such a frickin' glutton.

OMIGOD.IM.GOING.TO.DIE. I just got back from a cookie exchange--in addition to all the wonderful savoury nibbles, I ate a good two dozen cookies there...and then I went to my friend's house with the 12 dozen cookies I walked away with, and we parked ourselves in front of the TV and watched "Finding Neverland". Fast forward 2 hours, and I must've put away another two dozen cookies AT LEAST! (She was a more conservative nibbler, so I still have about 9 dozen cookies left.) I also made us wicked hot chocolate with condensed milk + milk (she didn't have half and half), chopped chocolate, and a full cup's worth of Bailey's. The Tarte Grenobloise was delicious...I also had like six truffles. And an Irish cream kolachy. My favourite cookies of the evening (although they were all very tasty): -pecan shortbread -lime meltaways -Korova cookies -blue cheese shortbread I also had a few pieces of really good cranberry, pistachio and coconut nougat! I think I've outdone myself....I have a "food baby" that looks at least four or five months along... ...must lay down now. Can't move. Skirt cutting off circulation. Difficulty breathing...*gasp*

I didn't write that review. (It does sound a bit like me though, going ahead with all those changes to the original recipe...haha. But although I never bake with shortening, I don't think I would have quite said it like the reviewer did... )

Rolling between plastic is a great tip! Thanks, Dorie!

^I was going to suggest caramel, but she beat me to it. You could do caramel and crushed pecans, or pistachio buttercream? Espresso buttercream?

I don't know if you all look in the PH thread, but I ate all the components of this yesterday: Pierre Herme's Tarte Grenobloise chocolate sable crust, Valrhona ganache, caramel pecans

^If my photos or desserts ever become half as good as Patrick's, I'll be more than content. I should've thought of this earlier, but I'll post it here for all you would-be Tarte Grenobloise bakers--if you use cocoa instead of bench flour, you'll eliminate the faint dusting of white on the outside crust. That's what I'm going to do next time.

My favourite chocolate cake recipe uses buttermilk and cocoa. Very moist, but does not stick to the pan.

^Not Klary, but her recipe is posted in her Dutch Cooking thread! (And Klary, the sugar bread you made looks better than the one you bought! )

Here's my Tarte Grenobloise: PH says it's OK to use a liberal amount of flour when rolling out the dough, but it still looks like I used too much..there is a faint dusting of white flour on the outside of the tart in some spots. (You can see it in the picture--looks like I chose the wrong side to photograph.) Other than that, the recipe is wonderful. I used Valrhona cocoa for the crust, and 7 ounces of Valrhona Manjari + 1 ounce of SB unsweetened b/c I didn't have any Guanaja on hand. (I'm getting about 2 kgs. in a few days though... )

I had perhaps a cup's worth of chocolate sable tart dough left, so I combined it with a flourless chocolate cookie dough that I had in the freezer. Sweetened the dough with a bit of sugar, added a bit of baking soda and some salt. They turned out like an extra-rich version of the Korova cookies.

chocolate sable cookies

Chocolate sable scraps chocolate ganache caramel pecans (Yes, I am stealing a little taste from PH's Tarte Grenobloise.)

There's indeed a Black Forest cake recipe in Pierre Herme's Chocolate Desserts book, page 11-15. It's made with his cocoa cake, chocolate whipped cream, kirsh soaking syrup, kirsh-flavoured cream, port-soaked cherries, and garnished with sour cherries.

^I can't stand rancid oil. I think I mentioned earlier that's why I tended to avoid the ubiquitous deep-fried chicken at Chinese banquet dinners...somehow, off-tasting oil is really apparent in that dish. Oohh "Jeem Jai Gei"--it's been awhile since I've been there! I second the recommendation for the wonton. You can also ask them for a double helping of noodles (for a small price) if one bowl is not enough for you. I like the curry place in Yaohan, but I prefer it at Mui's or Deer Garden. I also get the steamed buns filled with meat at Yaohan all the time.

I've never had anything awful happy to me after eating cookie dough! And I consume vast quantities in one sitting.

Pannetone...I had my first pannetone just last year. The smell when you open the package is unbelievable. I like it best sliced, toasted, and buttered, but I wouldn't say no to pannetone bread pudding. And I know you can get Almond Roca anytime of the year, but I usually associate it with Christmas. This year, I'm going to try making my own chocolate almond toffee. Don't like: -fruitcake -candycanes -Pot of Gold chocolates -anything with the hard pieces of red and neon green candied fruit

I had a lot of cookie dough for lunch (gingersnap). For dessert (after my healthful lunch), it was chocolate cookie dough and chocolate cake (treats I always have on hand in the freezer.)

Last Saturday Spicy Szechuan in Richmond I had a few take-out dishes (i.e. left-overs from my parents' lunch)--a deep-fried donut-like pastry, filled with minced meat and onion. It was tasty...but then again, most meaty fried pastries are tasty. There were also two sticky rice rolls wrapped around Chinese donut and shredded "pork fluff" (dried, heavily seasoned pork). I also had maybe five potstickers, three fried chicken wings, and a styrofoam container with two kinds of noodle--one was the thick Shanghai noodle dish, and the other was "neen go"--a "rice stick" noodle that's sliced into flat ovals. Monday night Pacific Crab and Co. Had dinner here with a few friends b/c Mondays is "Buck-a-Shuck" night--they have a few selections of westcoast oysters for $1 each. A pretty good deal, considering my friends and I often haul a cooler down to Lobsterman and buy over a hundred oysters for a little less than that. (Also, someone invariably gets hurt after downing too many beers and then trying to shuck oysters...so why not pay a pro to do it for you? ) I had six Fanny Bays, and six Chef's Creek (I preferred the latter, although all the oysters were nice and fresh.) I also had lobster with roast potatoes and vegetables, and also a glass of Chardonnay from BC--I think it was Blue Mountain. My friends had the bouillabaise (she has not read Bourdain), my best friend had the burger (the meat looked grayish and he said it was a bit dry), his gf just had oysters and the cumin yam fries (comes with chipotle aioli...quite good). And my other friend, whom I'm seeing (??) had the crab, oysters, and seafood chowder. The food was decent, but I stuck to a "safe" choice of steamed lobster after reading some lukewarm comments about this place. Thursday night Shanghai Wind I had take-out from Shanghai Wind tonight...got there at 8:20 p.m. and the restaurant was still packed! Ordered the lion's head meatball dish, the xiao long bao, and the seafood hot and sour soup. I prefer the vegetarian version of the soup...I love shrimp and scallops, but it was strange eating them in hot and sour soup. The lion's head meatballs were the size of baseballs! I've never seen such...BIG...balls. They were quite rich and the texture of the meat was very smooth. The meatballs were studded with waterchestnuts and the broth was rich and savoury. Came with bok choy, of which I did not partake (eww...healthy green things.) We ate and watched the third Harry Potter, in preparation for the fourth one, which we'll see soon. (P.S. He did the dishes. 2 points!)

I second jackal's suggestion of melting a good quality chocolate (I like Valrhona Manjari, but any bittersweet would do nicely) instead of using cocoa powder. I make mine with half and half.

Your turkey came out beautifully! I've seen the cheesecloth used on TV, but I haven't tried it out yet. Will do so this Christmas.