bloviatrix

Paul at Per Se faxed me a copy of Wednesday's menu as well as the wines we had paired. Tasting of Vegetables Amuse - Coronet with Tomato "Caponata" Toasted Bulgar Wheat Marinated English Cucumbers, Red Onions and Port Wine Syrup Chilled Sweet Corn Soup Celery Branch and Leaves with Brown Butter "Emulsion" Salad of Toybox Tomatoes Basil Sorbet and Parmesean Vinaigrette Grilled King Trumpet Mushrooms Caramelized Fennel Bulb and Aged Sherry "Mignonette" Baked Young Italian Eggplant Fava Beans, Pickled Peppers and Nicoise Olives "Fricasse" fo Russet Potato "Gnocchi" Roasted Romaine Lettuce, Shaved Summer Truffles and Braised Red Radish "Welsh Rarebit" Ribbledale Goat Cheese, Onion Bread "Crouton" and Watercress Salad Old Chatham Sheep's Milk Yogurt Sorbet Beet Esssence "Genoise" and Candied Beets "Cube Magique au Chocolat" Valrhona White Chocolate and Yogurt "Cremeux" "Sirop au Caramel et au Chocolat Amer" and Chocolate Sorbet Mignardises Wine Accompaniment We started with a 375 of champagne. I can't remember the house and it wasn't on the fax Huet "Le Haut Lieu," Sec, Vouvray 2002 Chelia Romano, Fiano di Avellino, "Colli di Lapio" 2002 Prager, "Klaus," Smaragd, Wachau 2001 Dipoli Sauvignon Blan, "Volgar" 2001 Fourrier, "Clos Solon," Morey St.-Denis, Burgundy 2001 Emilio Moro, "Malleolus,"Ribera del Duero 1999 Mt Horrocks, Riesling, "cordon Cut," Clare Valley 2002 Chanbers-Rosewood, Muscat, Rutherglen I have the entire menu that was offered on Wed. night. If anyone is interested let me know.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I guess I'll start playing and I'll use a less concentrated sugar syrup. Moopheus - can you share the recipe you have?

Hey, are you are that Rashi was a vitner as well as a commentator?

Fairway should have it.

GG, Comfort Me? Where are you guys? Is there anyone else out there cooking this week besides me? Tonight's menu: Borscht (left-over from last week) Pan roasted salmon w/citrus balsamic vinagrette (i wanted to do this a couple of weeks ago but didn't) Zucchini smothered with tomatoes and basil Asparagus Cinammon Ice Cream We're going out for lunch.

Thanks GG. But I want a basil only sorbet. No tomato, no lime, etc.

At Per Se the other night, one of the courses they served was a tomato salad with basil sorbet. The sorbet was outstanding and I would love to recreate it (I think it would be great to serve this kind of salad). Anyone have any ideas? It was a brilliant green color. Plus, it wasn't sweet. Since I don't want to use any sugar, do you think some vodka would be good so it doesn't get too hard? Anyone have any experience with herb sorbets?

Today at 97th street: Red leaf lettuce Green pepper Zucchini Scallions Cherry tomatoes in assorted colors Orange Beefsteak tomatoes Eggplants Nectarines Gravestein apples Spearmint Lemon Thyme Challah and double onion rolls Hmm, I didn't realize I bought that much stuff. Plus, Blovie is planning on hitting Union Square for corn.

Thanks for the explanation for guanabana. I just knew it by another name.

Butter, Olive Oil, and Duck Fat are my faves The canola comes out for deep frying. And because of kashrut I use non-hydrogenated margerine for desserts eaten with meat meals.

Regarding Andrea Strong's article --- I don't care how stylish your shorts/coulottes are or that they're from a designer. It's just wrong. When you go out to nice restaurant you should dress appropriately. Being in the 'burbs is not an excuse. (gets off soap-box)

Can you please explain what guanabana and cajeta are for this northerner.

Jane Grigson's Fruit Book and Vegetable Book. Years ago I was told they were essential for every cook's library. They are fanstastic resources.

Thanks for sharing Jim's story with us.

Bring foods of love: oysters and chocolate

Last night was my dinner at Per Se. Wow. It was unbelievable. There were 3 in my party. Blovie and I had the vegetable tasting menu. My brother had the 5 course prix fixe. In addition, we did the wine pairing with each course. Unfortunately, because we finished dining near 2 am I forgot to ask for a copy of our menu (I called and asked that they send it to me). Our reservation was called for 9:45, but we arrived a bit early and were seated right away. (btw, the dining room was full when we arrived but we were the last to leave) There were a couple of dishes that were absolutely transcendent. The first being the corn soup with corn salad. The soup bowl came out with the corn salad piled in the middle and then one of the servers poured a pale thick yellow liquid over it. The result was lick-your-bowl good. Imagine the taste of butter almond crunch without the almonds - that's what the soup tasted like -- sweet with caramel/butter flavor. The soup had a great silky texture and the corn kernels added some pop. The salad part included what I think was celery leaf which had a bit of astrigency to it and prevented the whole thing from becoming cloying. At the same time my brother received his corn agnolotti which he also raved about. The sighs of pleasure coming from our table were quite loud. Next outstanding dish was the mushrooms. The problem is I can't remember what mushrooms they were. But again, we were ooing and aahing (my brother had a dish with mushrooms at this point as well and he loved his just as much) The finally trascendent dish for me was the first dessert - a white chocolate and yogurt sorbet with beets and coco nibs. The yogurt was cool and slightly tart. But the beets were sweet and the coco nib(which have on their own a mild chocolately taste) beet sauce tasted like excellent dark chocolate. Here too I wanted to lick my place. One of our earlier courses was a tomato salad with basil sorbet and parmaesan vinagrette and a parmaesan tuile. The sorbet was really good -- refreshing and clean -- and it's something that I want to try to make. I cannot remember the names of the wines and am not really equipped to discuss each one. But there were two reds which were really great (my brother got the names of them so he can search them out ). About the room -- I want to eat there on a night when there's a snow storm. The way the windows overlook the park and with the fireplace, I bet it would be spectacular. About the service -- I felt so well cared for. I can't remember the name of our captain, but he was a doll (he's one of the NY crew. didn't come from TFL). Finally, I took a tour of the kitchens. But the time I got there everything had been cleaned up for the night. The chefs had gone and the kitchen was pristine. As my captain showed me around you could sense a pride about the kitchens as he described how they dwarf the ones at TFL. I got a look at the pastry room and the bread and baking area which will also house all the baking operations for Bouchon. And when we left they presented each of us with a parting snack of macarons. I'm still full so I haven't sampled them yet.

I'm pretty sure that The Kosher Marketplace carries their products. I'll check the next time I'm there to save you a trip.

If you missed The Restaurant or just need another fix of the horror, they're re-running the whole thing on CNBC from season 1 episode 1 through the bitter, messy end. It started tonight.

One other thought. In order to relieve some of the discomfort, you might want to add some stool softener to the Metamucil you're taking. Colace is the most common one found. What ever you do, make sure you don't buy the one with the laxative in it.

I've collected recipes for sweet corn ice cream since I bought my ice cream maker, but never got around to actually trying one. But I've got most of a quart of heavy cream sitting in the fridge (leftover from the cinnamon ice cream I made yesterday) so maybe this is the excuse I need.

BTW, this is the NY1 segment. You can download the video and see what the food looks like.

lala, do you mind me asking where you're staying on Mt. Desert Island? We're toying with going up there next month and I'm just starting to plan.

If any of you get the Bergdorf Goodman catalogue (what they call The Magazine), Dan Barber had an article on Stone Hill in there which included a tale of his disasterous first meeting with David Rockefeller.

You know, I've never given much thought to the way I tackle corn. I think I tend to a combo of typewriter method and eating around the cob. To me the best part is wiping up the leftover melted butter which with the cob and sucking on it.

Just remember the side effects of beets. Because if you forget you've eaten them the result can be un-nerving.