chezcherie

i don't measure wine when i cook--and i tell my students that i think it is "parsimonious and frugal" and that it imparts that frugality to the dish. estimation is the rule, and i also suggest that italian and french "cups" contain at least 10 ounces.

i also have chickens in suburbia, and there is just nothing like the taste of a fresh egg! my favorite new way to prepare them is one i saw in "the 150 best american recipes". it's from judy rogers of zuni cafe, and how i missed it in that great cookbook, i don't know, but man, it's tasty. start with a couple tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs. stir in enough olive oil to give the texture of damp sand. Toast them in a saute pan until crisp and dry, then crack in an egg. Scramble or sunny-side up it, on top of the crumbs, until desired doneness, and tip out onto a plate. swirl about a teaspoon of vinegar (i like raspberry) into the pan (picks up any stray crumbs, and any bits of oil) briefly and drizzle that over the egg. crispy, eggy, slightly tart goodness!

when i made the switch for daily use, i put my chef's knives away for a few weeks. it took about a week for me to really love the santoku....now i barely ever reach for a chef's knife. the santoku has become my go-to.

you know, i don't mind this so much in the packaged meat...what i do mind is when i ask the actual live human to weigh out, for example, a pound of shrimp, and he/she plops some on the scale, and looks at me..."is 1.25 lb okay?" jeez...it's SHRIMP...take a handful off and hit the mark, huh? i know it's sometimes a form of "up-selling" but sometimes it's clearly laziness....and that's some kinda lazy....how hard is it to toss 6 shrimp back in the case? have a little pride, people.....i know a lot of cooks who take unreasonable pride in being able to lop a hunk of butter off the block, and weigh it, and hit the mark they were aiming for exactly...

i am on the edge of my seat. missed the crop last year, and i am determined to git me some this year!

mine is when they don't count back your change (you know... stating the amount of your order, and counting back to what you gave them: "$18.50, nineteen, twenty" as they place the change and the dollar in your hand"), but just announcing the amount they claim to be putting in your hand, with the change on top, and the receipt on top of that,, rendering an unwieldy pile of paper, coins and bills that result in a little juggling act on your part as you attempt to (a) verify that it is correct and (b) get it into your purse, pocket or wallet. no one counts back change anymore, the way i was taught in the old days, and i'm a grump about it...privately. err...semi-publicly now, i guess.

nice, rjwong...both the "score" and the review...my mouth is watering. gotta get over there soon, although i think the pizzeria will be calling me...do they have the budino at the osteria? (i crave it.) and, are they making mozzarella? i know there are a couple places in the bay area that are doing so, in a demonstration kitchen setting, and as i've been dabbling with cheesemaking recently, that would be so fun for me to watch, while enjoying some wine and apps!

This Southerner IS aghast. I'm glad I'm not the only person who was really irritated bothered by that. And re: the charcoal point. Kingsford or not, there are much better ways to light charcoal than lighter fluid. A charcoal chimney works every time. I can't believe these guys know monkfish liver, but some of them seemed mystified by charcoal. ← Absolutely dead on...I kept saying to myself, where the hell are the chimney starters? ← does kingsford make chimney starters? does kingsford make lighter fluid? i think we have our answer....(i haven't smelled or seen anyone use lighter fliud in yeeeeeaaaars!)

i drove past a kebab house this week named "spitz". i get it, but really? who wants to eat fast food at spitz?

i suggest(ed) olive oil instead of an egg because (1) i like the flavor better and (2) kids WILL put that raw dough in their mouths...and even though my kids were raised on raw eggs in all sorts of stuff, some parents would faint at the thought..;->

i'd add a tablespoon or two of olive oil.

the hearty boys won the first one dan steve and had a show about entertaining..i think it was just one season, but repeats constantly? guy fieri won the second season, and has had a cooking show, and apparently has a second (non-cooking---another road food show) on or about to debut.guy

i also think this is a reference to a Dole product--presliced, very thin strands of regular cabbage. i've seen it packaged at the produce section. always thought it would make some pretty soggy coleslaw...but maybe for stirfry? what's the recipe for?

i used to have good luck with Zout. (now i wear black or burgundy coats.)

holy inflamed gallbladder, batman! that was soooome trip. great report, russell...i am impressed and envious of your california dining adventure. thanks for documenting it.

when i made this, i found that by the second day, the caramel chunks melted into the ice cream, making it a bit sweeter (even though my caramel was quite dark too). i'd be interested to know if this happens with your batch.

after a cooking class last week, i was chatting with students, and one was asking about salt pigs---you know, the kinda periscope-shaped vessels that are supposed to keep salt from clumping. one of the women (i didn't know her, so can't track her down) mentioned that she grew up with little vessels that were shaped like a prone woman, with a depression in the belly for the salt. i'm fairly certain she said this was in mexico...she said they were hand-crafted, but were everywhere. boy, i'd love to get one...or twelve. anyone familiar? thanks in advance--they sound just marvelous!

i've made lime curd and blood orange curd, and with both, the key for me was to use some lemon juice along with the other citrus juice. the tang of the lemon is needed for the best flavor.

i teach this so often in class that some of my returning students play a drinking game (ala "rachael ray--every time she says EVOO") when i demo it to new students...(as long as they don't have knives in their hands while they play, i'm fine with that!;->) the variations i use--i show them to peel the onion skin BACK, but leave it attached at the root..that creates a little vegetable "handle" --more convenient (and safer) than trying to hold on to that hairy lil root end. also, i agree with the posters above---if you nearly bisect the onion (almost, but not quite through the root) , parallel to the cutting board BEFORE you do the vertical scoring, it will hold together better than if you do the vertical cuts first and then try to do the horizontal cut. then i teach them the "get the onion smell of your hands with stainless steel" trick, and everyone goes home happy! (oh, yeah...i'm left handed...so these photos may be spacially confusing for righties!)

muir glen. fire roasted, if i can find em, regular (organic), if not.

the first time i ever purchased duck fat, it came in a little container with a fancy logo and the words "Duck Fat--Better than Butter!" My kids latched onto that, big time, and if you wave a container of duck fat in any of their general directions, they will reflexively and gleefully announce "Better than Butter!" ....makes me smile.

we use these frozen garlic cubes almost exclusively in my cooking classes. (we get them from trader joes---ours threatened to discontinue them for a while, but a student-led protest won them over. i bet your joe's can get them, if mine can....rise up!) what i tell student is that even if they love to chop garlic...even if chopping garlic is their zen-like, centering device, after a hard day at work...sometimes you think you have garlic, and you have a sprouting houseplant...and other times, you think you have garlic, but it turns out to be just the "garlic paper"--no actual cloves remaining. so the frozen cubes are the back-up plan (or in my case, the whole plan, these days). i stress that if they are going to be sauteed, or otherwise subjected to direct heat, i like to keep them frozen until the second they get popped out of the tray and into the saute pan. if they sit out on the counter (or the mise en place tray---hey! we're a cooking school!) for more than a couple minutes, they defrost, and they are so finely minced that they will burn reallly fast. but popping them into that pan frozen gives you a minute or two to get the aroma going before they burn. i find they have a true garlic flavor, unlike the minced stuff in jars, which, to me, tastes like bad soybean oil and citric acid. i love the frozen garlic! (haven't found much use for the frozen cilantro, though i might try it in guacamole...the frozen parsley, in my opinion, is useless---good only for sticking to one's teeth embarrassingly.) the stuff in tubes has a weird texture to me. the flavors of the two i tried--lemongrass and another one? were okay, but the thick gumminess freaked me out too much.

costco where? thanks

i have the books and the mags...."i'm cherie and i am a cook addict." the mags are BIG...like mini-editions of the books. i think they run about $10 an issue on the stand, but i succumb each time. i keep thinking i should subscribe, but then i don't. (btw, that price seems lower than i think it actually is...that may be australian dollars or something...still, i think it might be worth it.)

^^ what a fabulous collection! and great souvenirs of travels. very nice!