chezcherie

i have a little souvenir cookbook from england, titled favorite teatime treats. it inclues a recipe for grasmere gingerbread: (and i paraphrase) 9 oz brown wheatmeal flour 3 oz. porridge oats 3/4 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger 9 oz. "hard" margarine 9 oz. soft brown sugar Preheat oven to 325 degree, or gas mark 3. Grease a shallow 14 inch tin. In a bowl, combine the flour, oats, bicarb., cream of tartar, and ginger. Cut the margarine into small pieces and rub into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Press into the tin and press down with a floured fork. Bake 20-30 minutes, until pale brown. While still warm, cut into squares, and leave in tin until cooled. Keeps well in an airtight tin. haven't made it, but hope it gives you a starting point, and perhaps inspires poetry!

the glazed pork belly at herbsaint changed my life.....there still isn't enough pork belly in it, tho. (my life, not the dish.)

salt black pepper butter chipotle garlic wow...that went too fast. saltpepperbutter chipotle garlic cumin thyme

this is a new one for me. vegans, yes, but freegans? wow. dumpster dining by choice

he grew up?

my question would be: did you develop them yourself while attending culinary school? or are the the recipes used at your school? because in the second case, they aren't really your recipes. (in the first case, of course, they are.) sigh...edited because, as i stated in a post yesterday, i'm really bad at math. in this case, i got my "first" and "second" confused....now, that's bad math! sorry

oh, this is FUN! he does not remember a fork, altho he points out that it was (a) half his life ago and (b) he was a fairly unobservant 8 yr. old, so maybe there coulda been a fork. he just had a flashback, as we were talking about it---he remembers a spice packet, with what appeared to be tiny, dessicated radish slices. BUT, he said, they had a spiral from the edge to the center, very uniform, which caused him to believe that they were "faux" veggies! also, maybe the package was red... we are having fun with the search, and appreciate the help you all are providing! i will peruse the local korean market tomorrow!

he says they had a pinkish broth (which may have colored the noodles a bit), that was spicier than "grocery store" ramen. he's 20 now, and used to eat this snack at a friend's house 8-9 years ago, and hasn't forgotten it. (if it narrows things down, ramen-wise, he thinks the friend was korean, but isn't certain on this point...) i would sure love to track this down for him, as he's kept it in his "mind's palate" all this time. of my three kids, he's the "foodiest", and it would be great to provide him with this treat from his childhood. thanks for any help you can provide!

may be a dumb question, but...as they are made with sweet potato starch, do they have an orange-pinkish hue? my son used to have a ramen-type dish at a friend's house, when he was 8 or 9, and he really loved it. no ramen we've tried is "it", so i wonder if this is the elusive after school snack? thanks!

you see, now--this thread, this thread right here is exactly why i recently acquired the lovely "society donor" designation next to my avatar*. there isn't any place else i know to get this kinda entertainment. (at least, no place i can be, and help the kids with homework at the same time!) *and doesn't it look lovely? and i do hope the "egullet"schwag promoted in the come-on description is pearls...doncha think "society donor" just screams "pearls"?

Asian markets sell big jugs of peanut oil for a better price than I have found at Costco.

at least it's just AN hour at a time. and while you may not be able to BS with radio, you certainly can BS ON radio!

snowangel, from all i've read here, i really love your kids! also, as a cooking teacher with very limited on-camera experience , (i've been on a couple hgtv segments recently, but hey--a little exposure can lead to more, right?) i'm finding this thread informative, thought-provoking and helpful. keep it coming, all.

TYLER FLORENCE following in Julia Child's footsteps??? tyler florence most resembles child? the horror. i cannot even bring myself to contemplate the number of verbal tics and filler words florence uses constantly....on more than one occasion, i've had to turn the kitchen tv off because he's repeated the same inanity ("ya know") to the point that it crept into my subconscious and i couldn't even bear it as background noise. doesn't he have about three shows now? i briefly saw him on "how to boil water". apparently he replaced the guy with the accent and the difficult name (von koppernal?). i'd prefer the accent, and the self-deprecation, but that's just me.

don't discount the getty for food. they have a really fine restaurant (even tho' it is called "the restaurant"), but their self-serve cafeteria is also above par.

and "gooey" was my flippant way of saying "not crisply golden"...it's not really goo-ey, it just doesn't form a crust. i think the polenta is definitely firm enough to panfry or griddle. it hold together beautifully when cut, and in the pan. maybe i just need to "cook like the beatles" ("let it be, let it be, let it be, now, let it be...") dave's reply got me thinking that i love duck fat...and then i got terribly distracted, imagining polenta glistening with duck fat....

i think my polenta is ontrack as far as your description--pulled away from pan, firm consistency, and chilled well. when i cut the disks, they were clean, with no cracking or mooosh, so i think i'm good there. hadn't thought of tossing them in an oil/butter combo, but will do so. thanks for the suggestions--will take them to the "test kitchen". have short ribs, braised in port with wild mushrooms....that's what i want to pair the polenta with...so i am in total agreement on the above sentiment!

i have some beautiful mascarpon-i-ful polenta chilling in the fridge. what i want to do is panfry disks of it (in butter..or is that my problem?) so that it is golden-crisp on the outside. but i have tried this in the past, with poor results, and a test batch just now proved disappointing, as well. (delicious, don't get me wrong...just not crisp-golden.) i have been using a non-non-stick pan*, and a knob of butter. would oil be better? a dry pan? would a non-stick be better? how long should it take? (i realize that there are many variables in that question...pan size, heat level, temp of polenta...should i withdraw the question?) please help me get the yummy crispness! *is there a more elegant term for indicating a pan that is "plain", that is not treated with a nonstick lining?

dehillerin (on rue de coquillerie-sp?) will have them, as will their competitors around the corner, a.mora.

pick it up next time...i love this stuff. makes great panini. for a quicky app, roast asparagus spears for about 10 minutes (bigger-than-a-pencil-asparagus), wrap a slice of provolone around, then a slice of the gorgeous rosmarino. back in the oven just until melty. dip in a mustardy sauce if desired (not necessary, but yummy.) big rosemary flavor comes through. trader joe's carries this as well.

may make this my new sig line...i'm tearing up just imagining the snap and juice of it. mmmmm. pork.

i don't use any flour in my nut crusts. i think the issue may be with the amount of butter. you mention a "sticky mass", but in my experience that would be too wet. i would describe the texture as "damp sand". my loose proportions would be along the lines of 1 1/2 cups ground nuts, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter. (it differs depending on the freshness/oiliness of the nuts, what the final product is, etc.) hope that helps?

nine months. times three. i was really scrupulous when i was pregnant. but the kids turned out great. (tho' i do consume wayyy more wine now that they are teenagers!)

could not resist mentioning--the same Savuer mentions my tiny cooking school...as a participant in their "Saveur Cooks Authentic French" program. we are absolutely tickled!

just picked this off the new book shelf at the library, and couldn't even cook dinner because i was busy zooming through it. thoroughly enjoyable little book, with glimpses into the back and front of the house of taillevent. i found this book to be full of little jewels, and really recommend it for a quick and delicious read.