Pumpkin Lover

Tissue: I remember now an appetizer that a friend of mine made. She took those pre-made Pillsbury croissants, and wrapped up an apple slice and slice of Brie in the dough and baked them off. They were delicious. She used green apples; it might be best to use a less juicy apple.

Lessee... --On the "undercooked fetus of a cinnamon bun" tip: the undercooked pastry that hugs the filling of a samosa, usually found around the tips and folds. Egad. Also: undercooked parts of parathas, puris, etc. Chewy. Mmm. --Licking the serving spoons from the pots of Mom's curry while she and I clean up the kitchen --The little knobs of skin that hang off of the bones while I'm eating buffalo wings --The very last, refreshing sip of tea from my teacup. Also: the last little bit of masala chai from the teapot. After an hour of sitting in all the spices, that tea becomes an elixir. --Fried bits of salmon or eel skin during a Japanese meal --OH. Man. One time, my mother fried fish in a non-stick pot, and the pieces of fish had stayed together, for the most part. There were a few knobs of fish eggs that had COMPLETELY soaked up all the spices, and had falled out of the fish while cooking. Those spiced (turmeric, chile powder, what have you) and fried egg packets... oh God. I haven't had it again, but oh Lord, I'll buy my mother a mama fish to have that again. --Shrimp shells, after eating the rest of the body --The stuff on my fingers after eating Doritos or cheddar popcorn --The soft garlic cloves hidden in sauteed greens --Chocolate chip cookie dough bits in ice cream I'm sure there are more, but I'm now thinking about those fish eggs!

Centro-Fly and arc both just closed. Centro was okay, but I loved arc when it was Vinyl. No more Be Yourself nights anymore--it's really, really sad.

I can't tell you how excited I am that this thread inspired you to make the Brie! I feel like a true member of eG now.

Marlene: I wrapped it up, egg-washed it, and baked it at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. The PF recipe said that after baking, it should stand for 40 mins. I didn't like that idea--I wanted my cheese to be as melty as possible when I sliced it, so instead of letting it stand outside, I turned off the oven and let the Brie sit in the oven for about a half-hour. Then, I let it stand outside for 10 mins. The cheese was runny enough, but it cooled down to solid after about 15-20 of sitting outside. So, you can basically control the runniness by letting it sit in a warm or cool environment for however long you want.

PF=Pepperidge Farm. I didn't want to keep writing it out. I bet that onion confit would work really well! If only I had a crockpot.... And garlic sounds really good, too.

For my Friends get-together last night, I made a baked brie en croute. I admit that I cheated a little bit--my base recipe came from Pepperidge Farm's Puff Pastry website; I had seen commercials for baked brie on FoodTV, and those started a craving that I couldn't help satisfying. However, I improvised: I found on Epicurious a recipe that called for topping a brie with caramelized onions, and another recipe on the PF website that called for splitting a brie in half and stuffing it with jam. Also, Sara Moulton had a recipe where she split a brie in half and stuffed it with more cheese. So, I split my brie in half (it was a leftover semi-circle, probably half a pound), and put down a layer of caramelized onions. Wrapped the whole thing in PF PP, and an hour later, I had a very rich and gooey cheese. It really impressed everyone last night. Now I wonder--when did baked brie first become popular? It actually strikes me as an older type of dip--maybe the seventies? I have no idea, but it's so good that I wonder why I don't see it more often. Also--has anyone tried putting jam with baked brie? I might try to do that--I might even try to put some fresh berries in there along with the jam. It sounds excellent. What are all your recipes for this cheesy delight?

Columbia Hot Bagels is closing soon. I miss it already. Pisces recently closed. It was on on 1st Ave., right? Or A? That place was awesome. Great prix fixe menu.

Yeah, my sister and I were wondering about that, too! I grabbed a menu this weekend (I ended up eating at Soba-ya--siiiiiiigh, so good), and we were wondering about the lack of lamb. Is lamb not very present in Israeli cuisine? Edit: Ah, and Pan--I'll PM ya when I plan to check out Chickpea. Cool?

The D'agostino's is a "D'Ag Fresh" market now. It's vewy, vewy tiny. Crappy cheese selection. But, ya know... when it first opened, I'd go there just to buy bananas, and I still do. West Side and UFM had terrible bananas. I must give credit to D'Ag Fresh--their bananas last me all week. As far as cheese: Morton Williams expanded the paltry cheese selection that UFM had. The last time I went, they had full wheels of Pierre Robert, which usually sells out fast at Fairway. That impressed me a lot, but overall, prices have gone up. The problem with Morton Williams, at least for folks in the neighborhood, is that when the new ownership took over, they dumped a lot of folks who worked at UFM, and cut the salaries of anyone who wanted to stay. When this first occurred, students and residents were pushed to boycott the store. How the employees are actually treated, I'm not quite sure. The big stir in the neighborhood, though, was that many employees from UFM were getting cheated, and why? Morton Williams is a pretty big name with, I assume, pretty big money behind them. Here's further reading on the situation if you're inclined. Also, for anyone interested in the Morningside Heights neighborhood, there's a Yahoo mailing list called MHNET that you can subscribe to. Columbia Spectator Editorial News Article From February Another Editorial Another News Article Yet Another Editorial BTW, I don't mean to pimp Spectator out of favoritism--I think that they've had the most coverage about this specific news item, and a lot of talk on the MHNET has centered around Spectator coverage. And, I don't know the writers, they're all uncool sophomores. Edited for spelling

She made a great find with that recipe, but I think it came from a cookbook she was reviewing. It's called The Glorious Foods of Greece. That recipe alone makes me want to buy the book.

DUDE. What would we do without the jumbo slices?! I'll go to D'agostino's or Fairway now. Probably Fairway, actually. And whenever I'm in the area, I'll do some shopping at the 24th St. Whole Foods--in the past few weeks, their mixed greens and baby spinach have been on sale.

UFM is now a Morton Williams Associated supermarket. Prices have jumped considerably.

I just saw that restaurant yesterday. I'll miss St. Mark's Pizza, but the "Chickpea" sign is pretty hot. It will be VERY difficult, when I'm back down there, to choose between Chickpea, Saint's Alp, Village Yokocho, 2nd Ave. Deli, Veselka, and Soba-ya for eats. There's such great eating just in that small area. I used to live in the NYU dorm at 9th and 3rd before I transferred to Columbia, and DAMN do I miss the eating down there!

Right now, all we (the students) know is that the building is undergoing "renovations," and that West Side and Columbia Hot Bagels will be coming back once the "renovations" are done. Who knows, though. Ho Bags isn't closed yet; I think their closing date was pushed back. I'm not quite sure if the building is or is not owned by CU. Let's see what the landlord does, though--I don't know if the renovations are bogus or for real. It's really disheartening to see what's happening in this area, with West Side and University Food Market both riding off into the sunset. You can do a search on the Columbia Spectator website for more info on this stuff.

HOO MAMA, that sounds good! Thanks, Bleu, for moving my quote over here. Reading this thread, I've realized some things: 1) I probably don't know how to temper chocolate. I melted my chocolates in a double boiler. Once the chocolate melts, how long do I let it go to "temper"? What exactly does that mean? I assume it goes beyond just "melting"? 2) Someone mentioned using semi-sweet chocolate with a high cocoa butter content. Isn't white chocolate all cocoa butter? I'm definitely going to try this again. It was soooo goooood, although the strawberries didn't look so great.

Bleu, if you're still reading: I tried making the chocolate strawberries with the white chocolate dip. Everything was going fine until some of the filling started getting into the white chocolate. Soon enough, the white chocolate thickened up with the residual creme fraiche (in some cases, the dark chocolate filling completely dropped out of the strawberry, and I think a lot of the CF fell into the white chocolate). I ended up slapping the white chocolate on the rest of the strawberries with a rubber spatula, and the chocolate wasn't so white anymore, but that's okay. Things I'll do differently next time: 1) Pipe the dark chocolate more tightly in the strawberry...perhaps I should have used bigger strawberries. 2) Chill those strawberries once I stuff them with the dark chocolate mixture. That way, when they hit the heated white chocolate, the filling won't melt so quickly. 3) I've never made choco-dipped strawberries before, so I wasn't sure if I should have made a ganache; I ended up just melting some white chocolate and went from there. If I had used a ganache, or at least a glaze, I have a feeling the chocolate wouldn't have seized up so quickly, and would have been a lot thinner for dipping. I don't know a lot about what or what not should go into chocolate--do you think I should have made a ganache/glaze? Maybe I should put this in the baking thread. Anyway, I thought you should know about this before dipping those gems in white chocolate.

I second Shojiro. Say hi to Toshi when you get there!

I must also record my admiration for this foodblog. Thank you so much! I'm making the chocolate-stuffed-dipped strawberries tonight--can't wait!

Oh, MAN! Even though I don't post much, I would love to go... but, I have to go to Queens that day! Dang! If this happens again, though, could I attend? I'll bring lots of bread?!

Thanks, Ronnie!

Hey Ronnie--I wanted to ask: I looove onions. Do you think that, if I used a generic onion like "Spanish onions" (which are what I usually pick up in the grocery store), I could use two onions for two thighs of chickeny chicken? I only plan to make two thighs at a time (small pot), and I'd like a lot of sauce. Also, when you brown the thighs in the skillet before braising them, do you brown them in olive oil, or do you just toss the thighs in dry? I think there was some talk about paprika possibly burning, so I wanted to know if you used fat to brown them. (I also have never really "browned" anything before, so I don't even know if the process involves fat). One last general question for the board: where's the best place to buy paprika in NYC? Kalustyan's? Are there secret spice shops that people frequent?

I read everywhere that a baguette is a phallic symbol. If a girl/guy is always lugging around baguettes, she/he might be reminded of a little somethin' somethin', and ya know... she/he might want to do some extra shopping. **TMI NSFW JOKEY-JOKE** Although it's disturbing to think that a baguette, as a phallic symbol, takes hours to get hard. Ba-dum-shuh.

I don't know if this is as weird as all y'allz, but I LOVE Kewpie mayo and Sriracha on white bread. I've tried it on whole wheat, but the WW takes away some of the condiments' flavor. Along those same lines, I love Miracle Whip with Sriracha on bread, but I only eat that when I'm in my parents' house. Kraft singles drizzled with the Kewpie mayo and Sriracha, or Kraft singles with Heinz's new spicy ketchup. So awesome. I can eat the Kewpie mayo by itself. Ugh... but soooooo gooooood. When I was younger, my mother would make us hot dogs in buns. I'd pull the hot dog out with my teeth and eat it first. Then, I'd tear up the bun, piece by piece, smush it around in my fingers until each piece became a little ball, and then dip it in ketchup and eat it. And, this isn't so weird, but it's delicious: when I had my wisdom teeth taken out, my mother made me her incredible egg salad. I mixed Sriracha with that, and it was a dream. *Edit fo' spellage*

Hellz yeah. One of the few meals that I threw together from my own little brain included CO, sausage, roasted red peppers (I used jarred red peppers, marinated in chile and garlic), walnuts, and roasted butternut squash, all thrown together with pasta. The CO were like noodles along with the pasta. Yummo. I also like to put CO in a pita sandwich with roasted red peppers and hummus--so awesome!