bloviatrix

I'm with you on cumin in burgers. Other favorite places for cumin..... Jean-Georges Carrot Confit -- carrots, slow cooked in a mixture of fresh squeezed oj and evoo with cumin seed Chili!!!! Yemenite Chicken in Spiced Tomato Sauce - chicken rubbed with a spice mixture of cumin, cardamom, salt, pepper, corriander, and turmeric. Stewed in a tomato sauce loaded with garlic. Cauliflower curry with tomato and and cumin seed.

Yesterday was fun. I can't think of a better way to spend a snowy sunday afternoon. Everything looked gorgeous. I'm in complete awe of Kirk's burger pie. Especially the supersized homemade bun. The third sorbet was mango-star anise. MRX - I need to figure out an exact recipe for the strawberry balsamic sorbet, but once I do, I'll enter into RecipeGullet. Party at Joe's!! What time should we be there? It would be a shame to let that tart go to waste.

I make fresh horseradish every Passover, only I do it in the food processor (first shred, the chop) instead of a grinder. The effect is the same. In fact, I've taken to wearing ski goggles while preparing it. Taking the top off the processor is akin to setting off a tear gas bomb in the kitchen. I've had my cats sit up on their haunches, take a sniff skyward and BOLT up the stairs like banshees when I'm playing with the Evil Root. But if it doesn't make you cry it ain't worth a damn, I say! I remember the first and only time I made it in the food processor. I swear, I singed my nasal passages. Now, mil in makes it. The woman has the most sensitive stomach you have ever encountered. But for some reason, she can eat horseradish with nary a problem.

Simple. The captain is told by the maitre d' who the host is. The menus are presented and the host is asked if he/she would like the wine list. The host is then the one who either accepts the list or delegates. My list, though fairly large, is pretty straightforward: the first half is white wine, the second half is red wine. I am also a maniac about keeping the list up to date. I print pages almost daily to reflect new products, out of stocks and vintgage/price changes, so that most common ritual I find in virtually every restaurant I dine in, that of the waiter returning to tell me my choice is not available almost never happens in my establishment. If the wine is on the list, I have it. Most people never notice this small fact, but to me, it is very important. Mark: If I were to have the good fortune of being a regular at your establishment, I would most certainly notice that fact. I'm equally anal retentive about wine lists and after dinner spirit lists. There are occasional complaints that the menu paper is expensive or whatever, but my attitude is it's more expensive to piss customers off or to have product taking up valuable and precious storage space while the product that isn't on the list yet gathers dust. I wish more places would update their wine lists on a regular basis. In the past few months I have been in several places that haven't had the wine I ordered. In one case I had to choose 3 different bottles before I chose one that they actually had in stock. It's just bad business sense. And a really big peeve of mine.

I'm having fun with the Alice Medrich book Bittersweet. I made the classic brownies using ScharffenBerger semi-sweet chocolate and pecans. They're very rich.

I'll second that suggestion. Blovie discovered that addition years ago. It adds a nice earthy flavor. Chili powder is also good.

Friday night's dinner Butternut Squash Soup Veal Chops, breaded and pan-fried Kasha Varnishkes My new favorite mushroom recipe - cremini and buttons sliced and sauteed with garlic and balsamic vinegar Unbelievably rich chocolate brownies with pecans (recipe from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet) Baron Herzog Claksburg Chenin Blanc 2002 For shabbat lunch (which is our big meal on Saturday) Blovie made a big pot of cholent.

Seriously, there's a 1/60th rule. So, if you're making chicken soup and you accidentally drop a little milk into it, so long as it's 1/60th of the total, you haven't treyfed it up.

We found it sale so I have several bottles in the fridge. I really like the pom-mango. Plus the bottles are great for other uses.

I found myself nodding in recognition as I read this article. To this day there are certain things my mom won't buy because they seem treyf to her (even if it's in a kosher store complete with rabbinical supervision). Her number one item to to stay away from is fresh tuna. It just doesn't seem kosher to her. My mil is similar, but her kiss of death phrase is "it doesn't have a yiddeshe ta'am" (jewish taste).

I like this vicarious experience. It's all the fun w/o the headaches and expense. When Blovie and I finally bite the bullet and buy an apartment, I'm coming to you guys for help.

I'm with Jinmyo - braised meat. Last weekend I made braised short ribs which made me feel as toasty as a 4-ply cashmere sweater. Soups work well too.

That tends to be my experience as well. And then everyone at the table points to me and says I get it. I find if I order the wine I'm the one who's offered the initial taste. I can't remember anyone bone-headed enough to offer the sample to my male companion.

I guess you like the recipe.

I braved the freezing cold weather tonight and had dinner with a friend tonight. Afterward, we treated ourselves to a little "snack" at a local dessert place. I had a chocolate cupcake with chocolate-orange buttercream with a cafe au lait. The cupcake was little but hit the spot. The orange in the buttercream was suprising. I figured it was just chocolate.

When it comes to baking, I've always been more of a cake and cookie person, so when Blovie bought me the book for Chanukah, I was a little surprised. I haven't used it, but have skimmed a bit. I'm not even positive I'm going to keep it yet as I actually find it a bit intimidating. But, I've been saying for the past several years that I want to try my hand at challah - I haven't made one since I was 16. And I buy at least one a week. So, I'll leaf through the books to find a recipe, and if my schedule isn't crazy, I'll jump in.

The original recipes for challah didn't include milk because it was used as part of a meat meal. The addition of milk shows how challah entered the mainstream and has been adapted. I'm sure I have at least a dozen recipes in the house for challah w/o milk. I know for a fact that the recipe in RLB's Bread Bible doesn't have it. So, I might just use a different recipe. I just thought it would be fun to make the identical thing as everyone else, not a different variation.

Don't forget to serve dessert mit schlag (whipped cream)!!

The strawberry-balsamic vinegar sorbet is done - although it made less than I expected. Two more to go.

Well if it's Austrian desserts you want, than the Sacher Torte is a must.

I took a look at the recipe this afternoon. It's got milk in it, so I don't think I will be joining you. I need a pareve challah for use on Friday night.

Wow, those sound incredible. Do you ever share the recipe? It's simple. I use the gingerbread cookie recipe from Nick Malgieri's How To Bake and I fill them with apricot butter. Gingerbread and apricots are a really good combination.

Onions that didn't make my eyes tear.

The one thing that comes to mind is my flourless chocolate cake. I've had people request it on numerous occasions. This is one of those things that's indecently easy to make and yet always leaves them clamoring for more. When I've brought it as a gift, I can see the recipient thinking "do I have to serve this? or can I keep it for myself?" I'm also known for my gingerbread-apricot hamentaschen. Last year, I didn't have a chance to bake for Purim, and I had to make calls to friends to give them a heads up so they wouldn't kill me (I had a good excuse, I chaired a dinner for 400 the day before Purim). I'm told that my friends will hide these from their spouse so they don't have to share. We even had someone who moved out of our neighborhood make a trip over for the hamentaschen because they didn't want to miss out. It's really quite flattering to know that you can have such an impact on people.

How many of you guys remember drinking juice or any other liquids out of glasses that originally held Yerzheit candles?