Dinner! 2005

[Ling]

^Thanks! Actually, my birthday is on the 30th but this was a "trial" birthday cake...although I was a bit of a perfectionist even with my trial. I redid the chocolate layers b/c I didnt like the first recipe I used very much, and I redid the buttercream too (changing it from a French rum one to an Italian caramel). I also scrapped my chocolate pastry cream b/c I got lumps, and ended up doing a whipped ganache for the middle layer.   

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Hi Ling,

My birthday's on the 30th too and I am inspired by you to start thinking about my own birthday cake. I usually end up making one as I am the official and only cake maker in the family. I was following your post in the pastry thread (come to think of it I should look over there) with much interest. What recipe did you end up using for the chocolate layers?

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The recipe that I ended up using is posted in my birthday cake thread. It's this one:

double chocolate layer cake

It's very moist and rich without being too dense. Rises evenly too! It's my new favourite chocolate cake recipe!

[Daddy-A]

I haven't posted here in a long time.....

I am such a bad photographer and my meals always pale in comparison.

Yeah, that photo really sucks! Simple and beautiful Kris. Truly.

Last night I made ikura-don, I even made the soy sauce seasoned ikura (salmon roe) myself from a sac of fresh eggs. The shiso (perilla) garnish was growing wild in my backyard.

So THAT's what you do with shiso! I have a bush of shiso on our back patio, and I keep making up things to do with it, and I don't know if any of them are proper. I suppose I should post a question in Cooking ....

A.

[little ms foodie]

Another tuna loin from DRColby was poached in EVOO with rosemary and lemon zest. Served with white beans, rosemary and bacon

Wendy that tuna dish looks positively luscious I love white beans with bacon.. I never would have thought of adding tuna to it.. but seeing it in your picture it makes total sense.

For how long was the tuna cooked? was it cooked through? would this also work with a grilled tuna steak you think?

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Chufi we brought the oil up to 200F on the stove and then added the tuna steaks. We took it off the heat and let the tuna sit for 10 mins, then flipped them over and placed the whole pot in a 300F oven for 20 mins. The tuna needs to be taken out right away after this (from the oil) I wasn't thinking and left ours in so it was a little more done than I care for but still delicious.

I think a grilled tuna steak would be great on the beans too. drizzled with a nice EVOO, yum!

[Susan in FL]

So many great ideas here... anybody who visits this thread regularly can never run out of things to cook.

Our recent highlights...

Today a Panera Bread opened about a mile and a half from our house, and we planned dinner around that.

Lots of fun this weekend was the eG Fresh Pasta Cook-off.

The night before that we made seared fresh sea scallops with corn and cucumber salsa.

[little ms foodie]

hubby wasn't feeling well today so i made summer squash soup with basi, crostini of rosemary olive oil bread, parm shavings and drizzled with good EVOO

[dockhl]

Darling daughter (4th year, Cal Poly SLO) is back from a summer in Lake Tahoe (not exactly like MY college days !) and has nothing to eat in her house in Shell Beach.......so Mom got to cook (as a bonus she'll spend the night )

Persian cukes with a delicious Ginger Soy Dressing from Henry's Markets in San Diego (could eat the dressing alone with a spoon !)

Polenta with sauteed mushrooms and Dry Sonoma Jack topped with

Spicy Marinara Sauce with Trader Joe's little teeny weeny frozen green beans and sauteed shrimp (brined for 1/2 hr before dinner and SO SUCCULENT)

Quick dinner for a surprise guest.......and quite good

Isn't cooking as an expression of love what it is all about?

(As the child slumbers on the couch in front of "Sex in the City" reruns)

[racheld]

Oh, Susanna.

Everytime I pass the table upstairs with the stacks of decorating and cooking and art books, and see the one titled "Pleasures of the Porch" I expect to see your name on the spine.

Gorgeous. The outdoors seems to be in tune with your pink and green color scheme. Lovely.

Our Panera is less than three blocks away.

But then, DD bakes glorious, beautiful breads of all kinds and flavors for a living, so we don't frequent the store very much.

[lauderdale75]

If my pictures continue to turn out this crappy, I'm gonna quit posting altogether, especially after SusanFL just posted her images. Anyhow, I made a relatively simple (in preparation) but complex (in taste) shrimp "curry." I served it along with flour paratha (the bread dish). The shrimp pic is blurry and bluish (I was playing w/ the white balance).

I promise better pics during next week's dinners.

The shrimp:

The shrimp & paratha bread:

[Susan in FL]

Thank you for the kind words! Most of all what I appreciate is having a place to share the joy of doing what I love, with others who love food as well. Your compliments do motivate me to continue efforts in photograhing food. Thanks, Dinner! thread friends!

[Megan Blocker]

Great pics, Susan! I particularly like the one of the pasta hanging on the drying rack! Hee hee!

[Ann_T]

Wonderful Pictures. My husband would love those Scallops and the tuna and white beans are calling to me. Susan thanks for the link to the pasta cookoff. Great thread.

Haven't done a lot of cooking in the last couple of weeks. Last nights dinner was lamb shanks with braised baby artichokes and baby lima beans. I started the beans earlier in the day and then finished them off with the lamb.

Not very colourful but tasted good.

[gourmande]

Last night we had braised beef short ribs (à la Balthazar's) which I served over a potato and celeriac purée, with steamed and buttered sugar snap peas and long bias sliced carrots. I had to show tremendous restraint when saucing the plate... honest to God, I could drink a pint of that stuff it's so delicious!

[Susan in FL]

You're welcome, Ann. That Cook-off thread is full of information, in good how-to detail.

Your lamb shanks dish might not have the colors of the rainbow, but its goodness shows through and through! I want to reach out and taste it.

[Chufi]

well, I finally faced the fact that 'dinner on the balcony' season is really over.. fall kicked in with storms and rain today. So I brightened up the diningtable a bit.. and then thought I hadn't kept my promise of trying more New Things.. and made Mooshmouses MuShu pork wraps as featured in her blog, only without the wraps. Served with sticky rice with sesame and omeletstrips, and stir-fried cabbage with ginger, chillies and coriander instead.

Today's new ingredients: water chestnuts and hoisin sauce.

The water chestnuts, I don't know, they have a pleasant crunch but I don't see tons of them in my future.. but the hoisin sauce.. how is it possible that I've lived my entire life without hoisinsauce?? this stuff is divine.. I could eat it by the spoonful

[Jake]

Last night was hot and muggy and we wanted something easy that I didn't have to go to the market for.....so, crab cakes with a spicy remoulade and a garden salad with some wonderful tomatoes from the garden. A lovely bottle of sancerre to go with followed later with some port, cheese and pear.

[Daniel]

Wow that looks good Ann

[Mooshmouse]

well, I finally faced the fact that 'dinner on the balcony' season is really over.. fall kicked in with storms and rain today. So I brightened up the diningtable a bit.. and then thought I hadn't kept my promise of trying more New Things.. and made Mooshmouses MuShu pork wraps as featured in her blog, only without the wraps. Served with sticky rice with sesame and omeletstrips, and stir-fried cabbage with ginger, chillies and coriander instead.

[...]

Today's new ingredients: water chestnuts and hoisin sauce.

The water chestnuts,  I don't know, they have a pleasant crunch but I don't see tons of them in my future.. but the hoisin sauce.. how is it possible that I've lived my entire life without hoisinsauce?? this stuff is divine.. I could eat it by the spoonful 

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Hooray Klary! I hope you liked them as much as the Mouse family does.

And Ann, that's one damn fine looking lamb shank.

[Mooshmouse]

So many great ideas here... anybody who visits this thread regularly can never run out of things to cook.

Our recent highlights...

Today a Panera Bread opened about a mile and a half from our house, and we planned dinner around that.

[...]

Lots of fun this weekend was the eG Fresh Pasta Cook-off.

[...]

The night before that we made seared fresh sea scallops with corn and cucumber salsa.

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Susan, I'll gladly fly down if you've got any leftovers.

[little ms foodie]

Ann..... YUM!!!

tonight we had pork parmesean with brown butter spatzle

my honey is still a bit under the weather so just Pelegrino in the glass

[Daniel]

If pork parm and spatzle dont fix it, its time to shoot him..

Edited September 15, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[curlywurlyfi]

If pork parm and spatzle dont fix it, its time to shoot him..

This thread is killing me. I've been out to dinner every night since Wednesday last week, and tonight I'm out at an art exhibition till late so dinner will be cheap white wine + peanuts. I miss my cooking!! But I live vicariously through you all...

[Shalmanese]

Yesterday, I decided to spoil myself and make up a lunch (almost) entirely from the farmers market:

A 350gm (3/4lb) Wagyu Sirloin from the wagyu seller sprinkled with a little maldon sea salt (not from the market), a chunk of organic, sourdough baguette from the bread man with a nice chunk of sharp buffalo cheese from the cheese guy. A salad of radishes, cucmbers and apples from the produce girl and the apple dude respectively, dressed very simply with a little cider vinegar (not from the market) and some lime tree honey from the honey man.

A big tall glass of lemonade made from lemons from the lemon, orange & avacado family and some fresh strawberries from the strawberry guy.

All of it bought, cooked and eaten within an hour.

Yum!

It was nice being able to build an entire menu like that from scratch.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, nice pizza topped with slices of eggplant grilled earlier in the week, a shower of thyme leaves from the garden, very thin-sliced raw onion, mozz. Redleaf salad bracingly dressed with Balsamic and olive oil. Some kinda inexpensive vin d'Oc from Trader Joe's, pretty good.

[CharityCase]

You know you're in the twilight zone when you're reading about people eating wagyu steaks for lunch!!

[Malawry]

Thai-style spring rolls

Sweet chili crispy wings

Vegetarian fried rice

Chicken and broccoli stirfry

Shanghai cabbage with mirin and ginger

Brownies and mint chip ice cream

For 14. First time entertaining more than two folks in the new house.