Ling

That pad thai looks much better than any pad thai I'd ever had, that's for sure! I like the pulled sugar bow too!

bourbon

^well, "fussy" in that it contains a lot of ingredients, but it's very simple to prepare. The compound butters are an excellent choice too!

Like I posted above, I would add chopped parsley to finish, along with "lap yook"--this is kind of like a Chinese bacon? And the dried tiny shrimp called "ha my" (actually the second word is pronounced kind of like like the word "eye" with a "m" in front of it...so "ha meye"?) (The dried oyster and dried scallop is optional, of course...but I like my sticky rice packed with add-ins. )

The bird takes second billing with this one. The oysters add a little smoky taste. ← 'Shredded' was a bad way to describe it, sorry--I was thinking "chopped". (Dried oyster = 'ho see' in Cantonese). I also like some dried scallop in my Chinese sticky rice stuffing...

I use Knob Creek--I don't know if it's good or not (I only use it for pecan pie) so perhaps someone could give me their opinion? (I don't drink "brown liquor" either.)

The ribs are gone, and so has the red tide. Oh, and those deep-fried goodies aren't as "gross" as I thought they would be. They're actually pretty good...less sweet b/c they're covered in that fried batter, and soft and mushy on the inside. The fried Oreos are pretty good.

The blue cheese/cream sauce is great, carwell. Filet mignon isn't my favourite cut...I really need to eat it with a rich sauce b/c the meat is so lean. The recipe I posted is a bit fussy and calls for a lot of ingredients. When I'm feeling lazy, I just do a really simple recipe based on the Chez Panisse cookbook--olive oil, chopped garlic, parsley, anchovies, butter.

I think the next time I do the Frog Commissary cake, I'm going to add half a cup of drained, chopped pineapple to the mix, and cut the sugar by perhaps 2-3 tbsp to account for the sweetness in the pineapple. I've looked at the proportions of all the recipes in this thread, and I think the addition of the pineapple in the FC recipe is the only thing that keeps it from being a "10" for me. OR should I increase the amount of flour by perhaps 2 tbsp. to account for the extra moisture from the pineapple, and reduce the sugar by only 1-2 tbsp? The News USA recipe looks pretty similar to the FC recipe, but the 1 1/2 cups of oil is a bit much (I used a very similar recipe a few years ago that had the same amount of oil/flour/carrot ratio and it was too oily.) The UCLA recipe (cake, but not the frosting) also looks good, but I would double the amount of carrots to 4 cups, so the proportion is similar to the dense, FC cake. (The addition of cardamom and nutmeg sound interesting. )

Jeremiah Tower's recipe for "Montpelier Butter" sounds like it would be nice on top of the filet. 6 spinach leaves 1/2 bunch watercress leaves 2 tbsp fresh parsley 2 tbsp fresh chervil 1 tbsp fresh tarragon 2 shallots chopped 2 cornichons, rinsed and chopped 4 salted anchovy fillets 2 tbsp salted capers, rinsed, soaked for 2 hrs. and drained 1 clove garlic 1/4 tsp cayenne 3 hard-cooked yolks 2 raw yolks 1/4 lb unsalted butter 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp white wine vinegar salt and freshly ground white pepper Blanch spinach, watercress, herbs, shallots 1 min. Drain, dry. Put in mortar or food processor, add everything except yolks and butter, and vinegar. Process til smooth. Add yolks and butter, process. Whisk in oil by hand. Beat in vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. ETA: The ingredients list is from Jeremiah Tower Cooks, and I paraphrased the directions.

I'm not touching this!! ← I thought most women (and some men) like touching fat, glistening sausages? OK I"ll stop now....

Sure, I am not adverse to having an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie or six for breakfast. (Actually, tomorrow is my day off (from school, but I still gotta work) . Maybe I'll surprise you all and cook a bowl of oatmeal, and post a picture. But don't count on it. )

Yeah, except this one was a monster-sized one.

percyn: Nothing like a fat, glistening sausage to start off your day, huh? I had curried beef brisket. It's supposed to be for dinner tonight, but I'm out of brownies. The requisite chocolate portion of my breakfast will be in the form of a chilli-infused Dagoba bar (74%..nice and dark). And maybe a bit of the E. Guittard bar I have in my pantry--I bought it for baking, but it's nice to nibble on a wedge too.

I used dutched Callebaut with this recipe, and the cake rose just fine. IIRC, Ling used Valrhona (also dutched) in her cake, and it appears to have risen fine also. ← In addition to the Valrhona, I've also made this cake with Bensdorp, Bernard Callebaut, an organic cocoa, and Fry's, and I think these are all dutched cocoas. The cakes all rose nicely. The last few times I made the cake, I used cake flour and used 2.5 cups + 5 tbsp (up from 2.5 cups like the original recipe calls for)...that's 2 tbsp. less than you, Jay...I was worried about adding too much flour on my first "tweak" I've also lowered the sugar from 3 cups to 2 cups + 14 tbsp., and I think it was OK in terms of the sweetness level, keeping in mind that my buttercream recipe calls for only 1 cup of sugar per pound of butter (as opposed to 2 cups like I've seen in many other recipes.) Also, the ganache that I use on the outside of the cake is not very sweet.

I think both your tarts look beautiful, Deborah!

I wiping the drool off my chin, Daniel. You eat very well--I'm a huge fan of your dinners too!

Thanks for the demo and all the pictures! I'll try this during the holiday season, and maybe put onion tarts or napoleons on the menu.

Unless I can find a place that makes it with Valrhona and half and half, I'm sticking to homemade.

I just got a new burn on my right forearm yesterday. Now my forearms match.

No, sorry! I'll remember to take a picture next time. BTW, the crust on my pie looks all jagged because I did a pastry leaf border but turned the leaves inside, facing the meringue. It doesn't look too pretty from the angle in the picture, though. Dessert today was the last slice of cake. The pie was finished last night.

Yeah, I microwave most of the Chinese buns. Makes the bread so soft. I forgot to post that I went to New Town two weeks ago--I bought a selection of buns, but they didn't have any cocktail buns! The buns were good--baked a bit on the dark side, which I like. And I also bought something called an "egg crispy" or something...it was like pate choux that had been fried (but fried until crisp, so unlike a cruller) and then covered with a very light syrupy glaze.

^What an interesting menu! I especially liked how you explained why you chose each dish, and explained the progression of the courses. I like yours a lot too, Deborah...I'll think of a menu to contribute when I have some time during the week.

Covering anything in batter and then frying it is bound to make it taste better... My favourites: -squash blossom -oysters with lots of tartar sauce -pakoras I've never had a corn fritter, or a sea anenome fritter. The sea anenome fritter looks like a scary tarantula, but I'm sure I'd like it if I closed my eyes and popped it in my mouth.

Here's the lemon meringue pie: I had a slice of pie and 2 slices of cake--after a nice light dinner of turkey, roast pork, stuffing, scalloped potatoes...you know, the usual sides. My tummy sure looks round right now.