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Bernaise

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Posts posted by Bernaise

    Candied Angelica

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I have some candied angelica I bought in Paris . . .

    There is only one on-line source.  PM me to remind me to look it up if I forget.

    I like it chopped fine and added to cannoli with tiny chocolate chips . . .

    In Sicily, my dear, you are going to find INCREDIBLE candied fruit.  Are you familiar with cassata?  Try this day one in Sicily so that you can have it every day.  My last day in Sicily we drove around looking for a pasticceria -- I had to have ONE MORE SLICE -- before we went to the airport.

    My only regret is that I did not photograph every whole cassata I saw, because the designs are exquisite. 

    Grab you some candied citron, which you can buy whole and slice any way you want it.

    Candied cherries have a checkered past -- they used to be brandied cherries until Prohibition.  I've taken to candying my own every summer for use in my fruitcakes.  You might want to look into Chukar Cherries, they sell dried cherries of many types you can plump up with a lil bit of simple syrup and approximate a candied cherry.

    Tell me/us more about your fruitcake.

    Well many thanks, I will pm you shortly! I am making a fairly traditional rich (light) fruitcake with a few small changes:

    Fruits include: dried apricots, pineapple, mango, papaya, cranberries, cherries, pears, prunes and dates.

    sultanas, golden raisins, currants

    real fantastic peels/citron (cedro) from Sicily

    Well toasted walnuts-medium ground (not chunky)

    last 70-80% chocolate chunks (heresy I know-but trust me it's great!)

    I m making two batches one with nutmeg and mace only, the other with the full dark spice load. Half the batch I am soaking in bourbon and the other in brandy or dark rum (still undecided) anyone want to add an opinion?

    I really love the cake base I am using. It takes light brown sugar and honey, gobs of butter and many many eggs.

    I'm licking my chops thinking about it.

    The angelica, I want to use in the cake, but really it depends of quality and flavour. If it is not great, I may use it decoratively.

    Candied Angelica

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I want t use the candied angelica in shhh (fruitcake). This is in the place of horrible glace cherries. If I have time i will be making my own candied orange and lemon peel. However I will be in Sicily in October and may find lovely candied fruit there....hmmmm

    Los Angeles for grrrrrrrrrr-tourists!

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    so much good info so little time!

    Here's the Itinerary so far:

    Thursday, Camarillo-let the girls play the new 'game' the women folk head off to some outlet centre(not sure why) please read my final sentence.

    Friday-the Getty Centre and I'm thinking lunch there looks too beautiful (maybe a persian dinner)

    Saturday breakfast -Esotouric tour of Pasadena! Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles (my dream)

    Sunday Melrose, Robertson Blvd., farmer's market + el cholo tamales, beard papa, ativan!

    Monday-tylenol and a stretcher!

    I've already ordered 4 pairs of shoes, lots of linen clothes and SIX bottles of bourbon to be delivered to my niece in Camarillo!

    Los Angeles for grrrrrrrrrr-tourists!

    in California: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Bernaise (log)

    Well hello VG!

    thanks for the shopping tips-myself i would rather walk, people watch and visit the beach-but man

    y thanks for the tips. do tell me more about la haunts please!! oh and, we've never been before. my one niece lives in camarillo she "writes game software" i think- but as with many geeks she doesn't get about much.

    oh and i am obsessed with bourbon-any good places to buy also welcome.

    Hello Bernaise! 

    As far as shopping goes, I may not be too much of a help since I am a low maintenance, beach dwelling male, but I will give it a go.  Melrose is always interesting and is close to the Beverly Center, Beverly Hills and Hollywood.  The 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica is also a nice place to walk, shop and eat as well.  Thats about all I have on that subject  :unsure:

    As far as food goes, there are quite a few good spots to eat.  For Persian food, Shekarchi is quite good and is located in Downtown LA near Chinatown, Phillipes French Dip (good food), and Olvera Street (great taquitos there).  I don't know how often you and your group has been to LA or whether or not you are interested in trying the typical LA haunts like Langer's, The Hat, El Tepeyac, El Indio, etc, etc.  Let me know and I can elaborate.

    @ Kim Cooper - I just got an email about the Downtown Art walks and saw that you and Esotouric are offering your services to help out, so hopefully I can say hello one of these days!  :biggrin:  The Bukowski tour sounds interesting as well!

    Los Angeles for grrrrrrrrrr-tourists!

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    Hello everyone!

    My niece was recently diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disease-she is 18. Anyway we are trying to do some fun stuff with her while she is able. I know she wants to go to the Getty museum in LA. Also she would love to witness a taping of Ellen DeGeneres.

    So here's the request:

    A reasonable safe and modestly priced hotel-close to "famous" shopping I think she wants the Kitson boutique??

    We are three adult women ages 45-60

    and three young women ages 18-26

    Also we are thinking Persian food...but we are adventurous eaters who would gladly snaffle back fish tacos and chicken & waffles. House of Pies perhaps, in and out burger!! hahahahaha

    I really am having trouble understanding "safe" 'hoods in LA (ok aside from SC LA).

    We arrive the 23 and leave on the 29

    any help tips advice greatly appreciated.

    ps: she can still walk and see but can no longer hear

    Twinkie Recipes

    in Ready to Eat

    Posted

    Forgive the hyperbole - this got me so excited I just had to share it withyou:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12239532/

    This link contains a small review of, and recipes from, the Twinkies Cookbook, including Twinkies Sushi, Twinkies Burritos, and even a Twinkies Wedding cake.  It looks like a fun book, and it's published by the same people who make Twinkies.  It's nice to see that they have a sense of humor.

    shel

    in the name of all that's good and holy!

    This is i am afraid a top contender for the uneffingbelievable food related posts of all time.

    i bow to your greatness!

    twinkie sausage breakfast OMG

    Tim Hortons

    in Ready to Eat

    Posted

    i don't drink coffee. but i am always thankful for the super hot extra large tea with milk no extra charge!

    and the clean toilet when i have desperately needed one.

    plus once i had a tasty chocolatey doughnut with mint frosting yummy! i was hungry. oh and come to think about it i have had too many wheat and carrot muffins until one day i decided to see how virtuous i was and checked the nutritional facts! i think that the very healthy sounding wheat and carrot muffin has more calories and fat than an egg, cheese and sausage mcmuffin with extra cheese, buttered muffin and two hash browns.

    i wept.

    and an iced cap goes down silky...

    hey i guess i am a TH fan after all!! imagine that! hahhahahhaa

    ok but not that muffin of the devil!

    Worst meal at someone's home - Part 1

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    watch as the north american food and allergy obsession spirals out of control!

    i was volunteering at a charity benefit recently, where the veggie option of grilled veggies on a wheat roll was not a sufficient alternative to the pulled roasted organic chicken sandwich.

    no.

    we had to have a veggie burger option.

    not just any veggie burger option: a wheat free, legume free, nut and seed free protein option. they looked like slices of sea sponge and smelled like the time when i was 9 and left a live starfish in my treasure box on holiday in the car for 3 days!

    me, on the other side of a table, serving, when a woman quizzes me about the content of the burger: i couldn't tell you what's in it - but it has been approved allergy and food sensitivity proof. says she ' but does it have a high fat content?'

    i smiled at her blankly, because i knew i couldn't say "even it was filled with some tasty fat i still wouldn't feed this disc of crap to a bubonic plague carrying rat.

    i can't even believe someone would pay for this much less serve it to others they love :sad:

    The hot sandwich: sometimes not so hot

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    'toasted bread + cold filling' - yes that seems more right to me, oh but not always. post easter holiday, i had two sandwiches: rare roast beef with wasabi and pickled ginger in a thick flabby 'wrap' style bread and a lamb and brie sandwich on toasted sour dough multi-grain.

    the beef could never have been improved by heating i mean IMO yuck recooked beef turned grey and wet in a panino maker or aghhh a microwave disgusting!

    but wasabi and pickled ginger with bleeding beef-yummy.

    however: the barely warmed thick flabby flatbread was another disappointing element frankly. what is with the flatbread and wrap phenomena anyway???? between that and extra thick sliced bread i feel i can't get a decent sandwich anywhere anymore.

    right, back on topic: the lamb and brie was very good. i should say though that the bread was thinly sliced, lightly toasted, and the lamb side was smeared with warm mashed mix my friend makes with capers, candied garlic cloves, anchovy, sundried tomato, fresh rosemary and few olives. the brie acted as a butter or mayo component :wub: .

    i still tingle a bit when i think about it

    FoodTV Canada Insider Program

    in Food Media & Arts

    Posted

    hear hear to of the above respondents!!

    finally they sent me a survey as above-no room for comments.

    i tell you what i really miss: a brit show, half hour long, 3 contestants, several different challenges. they make their entree desert salad etc., and slide into the pass through window and judges decide which they think is the tastiest Top Chef? loved it.

    Another good brit show was about interesting food traditions: example, at a christening the mother made a pate out of her placenta which the vegans were fine with eating! creepy maybe but definitely interesting.

    god i even miss some guy named dean fearing? making butterscotch and southern style banana pudding.

    The hot sandwich: sometimes not so hot

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    hmmm the hot sandwich.

    i did not grow up with the tradition of the toasted sandwich. my first experiences of cheese toast were as follows: place slice of cheese on bread, pop under the broiler, wait until it becomes puffy and crispy, eat. the result was a soft bottomed crispy-edged burnt cheese dream!

    a few years ago i experienced the tuna melt. when it was described to me i thought it was going to be revolting.

    but no.

    a blanket of sharp-ish melted cheddar covering a cool-ish mound of tuna with pickles, onions and mayo was delicious. :wub:

    more recently i enjoyed another incarnation of the tuna melt: the hot tuna pocket. there is a device that creates sealed half sandwiches-crispy on the outside and molten hot and tasty on the inside. my friend tells me the key is to be sparing with the mayo and not to over-stuff.

    yum

    what i don't understand is the reuben sandwich. i love the constituent parts but not the outcome. i can't imagine my schwartz's meat sandwich reheated with the addition of wet sauerkraut, crap swiss cheese and warm russian dressing. blasphemy i know, but i don't get it.

    Banana Bread: Tips & Techniques

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    I use frozen black bananas, barely defrosted, mashed with a fork, mixed with the wet ingredients. I quickly mix in the dry and treat the batter like muffins. Seems to work well, no separation. Oh come to think of it, I made one small change: I no longer make it in deep loaf pans. Bananas are sweet and very wet and the temptation is to bake it longer.....shallow pans and muffin tins solved this for me.

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