tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48072509496987324352024-02-20T02:14:09.116-05:00Not a Dinner DateYelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-47844715513251689232007-12-06T13:14:00.000-05:002007-12-06T13:16:59.613-05:00I Don't Know What I WantMaybe I know what other people want.<br /><br />Yes, it's holiday time and I'm shit out of ideas for what people should get me. Aside from some out of print/obscure/not available in the U.S. books, a dog (not happening), and a new bed (also not happening), I don't really need anything. Worse than that, I don't really find myself wanting anything. <br /><br />Is that sick?<br /><br />So I thought I'd try to find the answers to what other people might want this holiday season and, in doing so, scare up a couple if ideas for myself.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">1. The Gift that Obviates Marriage</span><br /><br />Don't want to get married but want the presents? Buy them for yourself. Once you have these items, you'll find the reasons for nuptials greatly diminished.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006N900C?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0006N900C"><img border="0" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/I/11K4J4JWRNL._SL160_.jpg"></a> The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006N900C?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0006N900C">KitchenAid 5-Quart Mixer</a> is easily my favorite kitchen appliance. Want to make a quick cake? Dump ingredients in mixer and come back when homogenized. It's heavy as anything and needs a permanent space unless you enjoy lugging it from a cabinet, but mine has a place of honor on the counter between the espresso maker and the cuisinart.<br /><br />I personally favor the color I own (long story short: I bought myself a blue one several years ago on sale and lamented every day afterwards that I had saved twenty bucks but failed to get the color I had my heart set on. Two years later the Man of the House buys me the color I want for our anniversary. Yes, it is true, for a few days, I owned two of these before donating one to ye olde best friend), but the following are additional hues that make me smile: Grape, Crystal Blue, Pink, Chocolate.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">2. The Gift that Turns Your Kitchen into a Maranello Showroom</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000C7GE1?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0000C7GE1"><img border="0" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/I/11SJDF37R6L._SL160_.jpg"></a> The<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000C7GE1?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0000C7GE1">FrancisFrancis! X5</a> espresso maker is a work of art (also available in many awesome colors and, yes, mine matches the stand mixer). So this is not a cheap gift. I have never, not for one tiny tiny moment, regretted buying mine. It has totally transformed the kitchen both visually and qualitatively. I can make a damn fine espresso anytime I want. The steam action pump is an immensely necessary feature as it really expresses the coffee in a way that gives it good crema and a terrific taste. Yes, the pods can be expensive (it also takes grounds FYI), but less expensive than a Starbucks and infinitely more convenient.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />3. The Gift for Budding Patissiers</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471359254?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0471359254"><img border="0" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/I/21VMQWPKK8L._AA_SL160_.jpg"></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471359254?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0471359254">The Professional Pastry Chef</a> is an invaluable reference. Yes, it is hampered by the size of the recipes (how often will you really be making chocolate mousse for 50?) but the mise en place section alone is worth the price of admission. I mean, did you know it takes about 20 minutes to make your own graham crackers and that they're awesome? The soup-to-nuts desserts I've made from the book haven't always been my favorites, but the procedures have really shaped how I go about baking and designing my own recipes. It is a heavy tome that doesn't get replaced on the shelf very often in my house because I like to have it around when I'm working.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">4. The Last Salt and Pepper Mills You'll Ever Need</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J1A8MA?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000J1A8MA"><img border="0" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/I/11e1bRHBJML._AA_SL160_.jpg"></a> The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J1A8MA?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000J1A8MA">Peugeot 9-1/2-Inch Pepper Mill, Black Matte</a> and accompanying salt mill were (don't laugh) a Valentine's Day gift this year and they are amazing. I might well never buy another mill. The coarseness settings really really work and are unique enough to allow for pretty much any application of salt or pepper one could conceive. Furthermore, they are neutral and elegant and wouldn't look out of place on a casual or fancy table. Now, if only I had a table.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />5. The You're Really A Grownup When Gift </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00086HGKI?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00086HGKI"><img border="0" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/I/11EKECX9VYL._AA_SL160_.jpg"></a> You have the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00086HGKI?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00086HGKI">Riedel Vinum Burgundy Glasses</a> in your beverage arsenal. While Man of the House and I recently bought a sweet bar from Crate and Barrel, I am not yet confident enough in our abilities to buy real wine glasses. You see, we are not exactly what I'd call delicate. I buy glasses in bulk so that when, inevitably, we break two within the first week and one every two months thereafter, it isn't such a big deal. If you are more mature had sure-handed than we, however, these are really beautiful glasses.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">6. The American Psycho Blue Ribbon Winner</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NCX7?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00005NCX7"><img border="0" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/I/01M440ARGDL._AA_SL160_.jpg"></a> The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NCX7?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00005NCX7">Wüsthof 8-Inch Extra Wide Chef's Knife</a> is a solid weapon. The heft of it is comforting especially if you, like I, might live in a less than desirable neighborhood. Moving onto to reality, though, I had wanted this knife for ages because it was the first knife I had ever held where I felt as though no task would elude me. I know knives are very particular and every person will love a different knife. However, if you like something substantial and heavy, this may well be the knife for you. <br /><br />So that's just an overview. I could go on, but I don't want to appear to be reaching. These are five indispensables and one wish for the future from my personal collection. Happy Shopping!<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=nadd-20&o=1"><br /></script><br /><noscript><br /> <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=nadd-20" alt="" /><br /></noscript>Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-52281719023001144582007-12-05T10:29:00.000-05:002007-12-06T13:18:02.082-05:00Viva Las Vegas - Could You Point Me Towards the Vomitorium<img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BT-tH4pRI/AAAAAAAAD48/02GQoVDp9Cw/IMG_0115.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br />A business trip brought me to Las Vegas for the first time the other week. I was skeptical of course, how would grown-up Disneyland seem to a jaded New Yorker with a distaste for crowds? I decided to follow in Le Bourdain's footsteps and make sure I ate a number of nice meals in an attempt to make sure I would have something good to say about the town when I returned.<br /><br />I needn't have worried. I saw the lobby of my hotel and the inside of the office building where I was working and little else. However, each evening I had a reservation and a table for one awaited me if I could only navigate beyond the glittering lights and tinkling machines.<br /><br />I dined with clients on the first evening at Craftsteak. This was my first meeting with the clients and I feared their response to something overly precious or complicated and figured that everyone, save vegetarians, can get in the mood for steak so steak it was. Regrettably, I didn't take pictures as I thought that might undermine my professionalism.<br /><br />I can say, though, that I had an entirely serviceable meal. The meat was very well done, the sides full of butter and cream, and the wine a terrific accompaniment. Except well, the wine...was...RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE. I'm not one to balk at the 250% premium I pay on a regular basis when I drink wine at a restaurant, but Las Vegas's markups were bordering on the ridiculous: $25 bottles were being poured by the glass at $18. Howvere moderately inflated I might have found the prices of the food relative to Manhattan, the wine prices were just a joke.<br /><br />Something brought into sharp relief the next night at Bouchon.<br /><br />Granted, I got to walk past the fake canals of Venice through the heavily ornate interior of the Venetian hotel on my way to the restaurant and was able to spend a truly terrific 15 minutes prior to arriving by the Venetian's pool, reading a book, smoking a cigarette or two, and delighting in the balmy evening temperatures that hovered around 70 degrees.<br /><br />I had a string pulled to get me an earlier reservation: 9:00pm vs. 10:30pm, but I wondered if I needed bother. The restaurant was nowhere near full when I arrived (which makes me a little dissatisfied with my table without a view (but I do acknowledge that a single diner gets the short end of the table selection stick). My food, though, was nothing short of perfect.<br /><br />I'll admit my stomach was rebelling over the amount of 15% alcohol California zin I had objected it to the night before and did not at all agree with my choice of appetizer and main course, but we settled the dispute between ourselves when I opted for two half glasses of wine from the "Sommelier's Selection-" a way to charge me $17 for a half glass of wine while making me feel good about it. I rationalized this by not ordering the $50 plate of foie gras.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BTvdH4pII/AAAAAAAAD30/PlR9t4sN12U/IMG_0173.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />I started with the duck confit over braised mustard greens garnished with blood orange. The highest compliment I can pay to Bouchon is that decorum only prevented me from sucking the tiny bits of meat off the bone. It was a perfect duck confit, marred only by my stomach saying to me at one point, "are you kidding me, lady?" The skin was crispy, the meat was dripping in fat and pulled delightfully away from the aforementioned bone. I ate the tiniest ladylike bites I could muster simply to prolong the eating experience, and to prevent myself from ordering seconds.<br /><br />Without a second thought to my gastrointestinal distress, I followed it up with the braised beef cheeks with French lentils.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BTyNH4pJI/AAAAAAAAD38/6jjAAnKlQic/IMG_0174.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />Not the most diverse-hued of a dish, but boy did it make up for it by displaying a range of unctuousness I thought was reserved for things like straight melted goose fat.<br /><br />My stomach and I skipped dessert, rationalizing this deprivation by the selection of probably wonderful but traditional bistro desserts on offer - the signature chocolate bouchons having been lovingly consumed on many other occasions at the bakery outpost in the Time Warner Center.<br /><br />But if these forays were the appetizers in our Roman orgy of food, the main course was something we couldn't have expected and, sorry to say, can't be super forthcoming about. <br /><br />Wednesday night in Vegas I dined at a restaurant whose name I am not at liberty to reveal because I don't want my review to seem biased and a close relative works for the restaurant group. Let it be said, though, that if you ever have a chance to be considered a VIP guest at any restaurant, you should take it and take it quickly before they realize you're a nobody who happens to be related to somebody and whisk you away to a table in the kitchen where they feed you potato peels.<br /><br />I was warmly welcomed and ushered to the best seat in the house - outdoors where I was blissfully permitted to smoke. My waiter appeared with a wine list and mentioned to me that there was no menu because the chef wanted to cook for me (if that isn't music to my ears). He politely inquired if I had any food preferences to which I responded no (as I firmly believe one should unless one is deathly allergic to something. There are foods I never thought I would like or consent to eat that I have delighted in because I left myself in a chef's hands).<br /><br />And the cavalcade commenced.<br /><br />I started with a sadly unphotographed amuse of potato pancake with horseradish and cranberry relish.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUV9H4pjI/AAAAAAAAD7Q/nFKAC81WEr4/IMG_0203.JPG?imgmax=576" width="350"><br /><br />A trio of appetizers followed. <br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/R1WgBrLALyI/AAAAAAAAEDQ/1cTNH9FUWrc/trio.jpg"><br /><br />Porcini quiche with parmesan tuile, merguez sausage and falafel, and parsley cream stuffed chicken wing. I'm a sucker for merguez so I'm going to annoint that two bite wonder the winner. As soon as I finished the plates I realized with alarm that I ought not to have eaten the whole thing - there was bound to be more to come.<br /><br />Next up was deconstructed Nicoise salad<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUddH4prI/AAAAAAAAD8Q/6G49v949ijI/IMG_0217.JPG?imgmax=720" width="350"><br /><br />I used to be frightened of raw fish - deeply deeply frightened. And I'll admit, though it does lower me in the estimation of many, that I'm still not sold enough to make an entire meal out of it, but I've come to really enjoy raw fish as part of a larger meal. For my Passover seder I traded gefilte for tuna tartare. This salad in two parts was one part tuna tartare with duck egg (and I think I've mentioned before what a big fan I am of egg yolk as dressing) and one part Nicoise salad vegetables. I was struck by how the deconstruction wasn't gimmick-ey but necessary for the enjoyment of the dish: had the tuna been part of the salad with an egg topping it, the whole thing wouldn't have been nearly as good. It was far more satisfying to take, chew, and digest a bite from one side and follow it with a bite from the other.<br /><br />Next up was torchon de foie gras. I'd love to show you how beautiful this presentation was: stark white plate, cylindrical marvel of foie gras, tiny diced and compoted apples, beautiful dollop of mustard chantilly. But I can't. Because as soon as I saw the foie, I pounced. I didn't even realize I was doing it. In fact, it wasn't until the plate looked like this:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUgdH4puI/AAAAAAAAD8o/hh_zoyyc10U/IMG_0221.JPG?imgmax=720" width="350"><br /><br />did I realize that I hadn't taken a picture. So I give you what it looks like when I meet torchon. It isn't pretty.<br /><br />Having settled the first part of the meal, I was now in for it. I mean, obviously I ate the entire bit of foie gras - it would have been absolute sin not to. But I was now uncomfortably full and we hadn't even reached main courses.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUkNH4pxI/AAAAAAAAD9A/hhzR8008wgM/IMG_0225.JPG?imgmax=720" width="350"><br /><br />This is an example of something I wouldn't have ordered on my own, but which was amazing. This is Hawaiian marlin in a meyer lemon gastrique and it was, hands down, the best dish of the night (ok, well, excepting the foie, but it is my opinion that nothing compares...) The shoestring potatoes provided a nice crunch, but the star was the fish itself which was both like cooked tuna but nothing like it. It paired with the lemon in a way that didn't express necessity, the way lemon and some fish feels; instead, the lemon cut the fattiness of the fish and smoothed it out brilliantly. I was taken aback by this dish.<br /><br />But by this time, the evening had taken a turn for the worse. It was at this moment that I entertained serious thoughts about hitting the bathroom to remove some of the offending material from my stomach so that it could absorb further gustatory delights. I'm not proud of this, nor did I do it, but I feared the future. I was sure that I was in for at least one more savory course and then the desserts, both dreaded and anticipated.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUldH4pyI/AAAAAAAAD9I/0UjYuHgK-tE/IMG_0231.JPG?imgmax=720" width="350"><br /><br />This poor trio of pork, lovingly prepared and barely touched was a testament to my fullness. I had a nibble here of loin, and a morsel of homemade sausage, and, well, ok, all of the pork belly. I know it was delicious, I just can't say I enjoyed it so much.<br /><br />At this point I begged my waiter for a reprieve before dessert. I wanted to smoke a little, mind over matter my bloated carcass a little, and overall enjoy the warm evening. The couple sitting across from me asked me the "why are you so special?" question and I tried to tell them it was both blessing and curse.<br /><br />When dessert arrived it was as though god and the chef had heard and answered my prayers:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUp9H4p3I/AAAAAAAAD9w/NDRViHhh_nQ/IMG_0238.JPG?imgmax=720" width="350"><br /><br />look, ma, bite-size! A selection of the wonderful desserts in a portion I could feel fine about. A nibble of each would do me fine. Chocolate mousse with dacquoise - wonderful! Apple mousse over shortbread - mmm, appley. Trio of tropical sorbets - palate-cleanserrific. And pistachio mousse tart with raspberries - a perennial favorite. I didn't feel guilty by not wolfing everything down, I even saved the last available bit of space for an espresso and a bite of the two dessert amuses.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/R0BUrdH4p5I/AAAAAAAAD-E/UXhI_eD0aGc/IMG_0241.JPG?imgmax=720" width="350"><br /><br />It was an amazing meal, and I enjoyed it utterly alone. Though, in hindsight, having a partner to eat with me might have meant more would have gotten eaten.<br /><br />So that was my trip to Las Vegas. On the last night, I cried mercy and went to bed without supper, but three nights in a row of gluttony might be as many as I can stand.<br /><br />I was pleasantly surprised that the three restaurants I ate at did not feel contrived or second-rate. I would merely state that, for me, the over the top-ness of Las Vegas and by extension its restaurants, doesn't necessarily create the atmosphere for dining I most enjoy. Still, if you would rather spend money on food than Cirque du Soleil, you could do worse.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-37257663679405697082007-12-04T10:22:00.001-05:002007-12-04T10:39:16.103-05:00The simplest of decisionsAfter quite a few months of completely unchecked eating, I was told by my brother that I resembled famed movie villain Jabba the Hut perhaps more strongly than was my intention. Thus began deprivation cycle followed by little, probably poorly chosen treats. For the week after Thanksgiving I would eschew things like bread or fat or any of the things that make life good for the reward of tucking into a slice of mom's pumpkin pie at the end of the day.<br /><br />The main problem has been that I have had little time to prepare food. The past couple of months have been busy and I'm just exhausted at the end of the day and far more prone to order a quesadilla from the corner and wash it down with half a box of Entemmann's chocolate chip cookies than make sure I had anything resembling real food.<br /><br />So last week I stopped by the Whole Foods, picked up some boneless chicken, and vowed I would cook it before it went bad. At 7:30 last night I put up my brown rice on the stove flavored with a little bouillon. I took out my chicken breasts, got some olive oil and a small pat of butter going in the pan, and sauteed them with a little pepper. The problem was that the breasts were very thick and I could tell that they would not be cooking through in time to save the consistency of the exteriors. Not wishing for my only full meal of the day to be disgusting, and not wishing to poach the chicken in heavy cream (though that is the only liquid guaranteed to be in my fridge), I did what any sensible person would do:<br /><br />I decided we'd be having wine for dinner.<br /><br />I opened a bottle from the fridge, a really nice white burgundy that had been served at a friend's wedding, and dumped a cup into the pot, put the lid on, and let it cook in the wine until the pink parts were no longer festering pools of salmonella.<br /><br />And you know what? I'm never forgetting to add wine again. It was just the little kick that the chicken needed to go from mandatory protein consumption to actual meal. <br /><br />For years I was of the opinion that the wine I cooked with should be cheap and not something I would ever drink until the obvious struck me: if I didn't want to drink it, why would I want my food to? For in reality, the two of us weren't going to drink a full bottle of win on a school night, and the cup I used in the chicken transformed the meal. Plus, when we drank the same wine while eating, everything tasted better. I have been overly liberal with my wine expenditures as of late and the house is more full of wine than it ever has been before. I have to remind myself that at $20 a bottle, I'm not looking to preserve these wines for my grandchildren and that I should be drinking them - and cooking with them.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-91830624459459857732007-11-15T12:34:00.000-05:002007-12-04T10:39:49.957-05:00Late Review: Fish and FarmThree weeks ago, we took our show on the road to Sonoma for a wedding. I think I mentioned how we traumatized a perfectly kindly Toyota Prius.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_9-HZBsEI/AAAAAAAADsU/nmv1yN15ruA/IMG_2915.JPG?imgmax=576" width="350"><br /><br />After a weekend of wedding festivities, we drove to San Francisco on Sunday to spend some time with cousins from the other side of the family, the very tall, despicably handsome, Matt and Liz. <br /><br />After a delightful and touristy stroll around Fisherman's Wharf (this was only my fourth day ever in San Francisco) which involved a truly awesome sea-salt caramel chocolate cupcake at <a href="http://www.karascupcakes.com/" target="_blank">Kara's Cupcakes</a> in Ghiradelli Square and an Irish coffee (or 2) at a bar nearby, we cabbd it over to a new restaurant which had just opened in the Mark Twain Hotel, <a href="http://fishandfarmsf.com/" target="_blank">Fish & Farm</a>.<br /><br />This was fun. Man of the House's foodie cousins had selected a new, sustainable foodish restaurant for us to all try. It made me like forget my antipathy for California.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RzyHrtH4pAI/AAAAAAAAD2c/1NWTGa5SdGo/apps.jpg"><br /><br />We started (clockwise from top-left) with the roast venison and cucumber, grilled Monterrey squid, salt cod fritters, and grilled Monterey Bay sardines. The restaurant <br />makes every attempt to source its ingredients from within a 100-mile radius and I got tremendous glee from imagining Forex traders weekend warrioring as deer hunters. The venison was the only appetizer not sourced from the sea, and I thought it deserved a try (also I really really like venison). I steered clear of the sardines though I promised myself I would be more welcoming of them in the future, heads and all, but dove into the salt cod fritters with relish. Fried brandade sounds like a brilliant idea to me. The squid was deemed lovely by the squid fans, but I'm still squarely on the side of octopus in the cephalopod wars. <br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RzyNWNH4pBI/AAAAAAAAD2k/3hXA5YgufaI/mains.jpg" width="350"><br /><br />One of our main courses did not photograph well, but the lower right photo is what the smörgåsbord plate looked like (nb: Man of the House hates smörgåsbord plates). I ordered the crayfish with okra and polenta which might have won as favorite main course. The polenta was perfectly cooked and the okra offered a really nice balance to the fish. The pan seared corvina was good, but the accompaniments of sweetbreads and mushroom ravioli was a little watery. I'm not a huge fan of sablefish, but I am quite taken with chanterelles - together with the mustard braised cabbage, they tones down the sablefish and made it a little more savory. Finally, the salmon was cooked beautifully even if the gnocchi they came with could use some sturdiness.<br /><br />All in all for a restaurant's first week, we thought they succeeded well. There was a spelling mistake on the menu (which they thanked me for pointing out and which I am pleased to see was corrected on the website as well) and the servers were still coming into their own, but the owner was gracious, comping us a bottle of wine when we were nearly finished with our main courses and the bottle we ordered before they arrived still hadn't made it to the table, and asking us several times during the meal if we everything was ok.<br /><br />Were I to live near a restaurant like this I would be most satisfied. The food was neither simple nor pretentious, the prices were eminently fair, and there was a warmth to the dark room that was conducive to a nice meal with relatives one likes.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-4106252232254560862007-10-31T15:50:00.000-04:002007-10-31T15:51:21.086-04:00Putting the Prius Through its Paces - A California Story<img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_8m3ZBrRI/AAAAAAAADls/daz_oyxXnUQ/IMG_2842.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />The other weekend we were in Sonoma for a family wedding. I have my reservations about California in general (being a stuck-up New Yorker), but am not immune to the charms of beautiful countryside and delicious wine. Spending time with pseudo-in-laws was the price to be paid, but I figured the bounteous goodness of Northern California would ameliorate that nicely.<br /><br />Oooh, there's just one thing: I know nothing about California wines.<br /><br />I wanted a day of wine tasting and I hadn't done any research. The Man of the House just wanted to keep everyone happy and out of his hair. So I sat down with ye olde trusty laptop and went to work albeit belatedly. I decided to cheat, figuring if some of the best sommeliers in New York were selecting Sonoma County wines for their restaurants, they'd be good enough for me to do some casual tasting.<br /><br />This was a mistake. The best sommeliers selected a great number of, no doubt, wonderful wines from wonderful wineries that...didn't have tastings. Only one stood out from the list of thousands and that was Martinelli. Helen Turley, of the can't be missed Turley vineyards, has now devoted her ample talent to this single vineyard. <br /><br />I regret to say I didn't taste a single wine I would buy - not even the one the woman pouring suggested I pick up for pizza (are there people who buy cases of $25 wine for pizza night?). Dejected we toured around the towns and stopped for hard cider (in the midst of wine country this must be some sort of blasphemy) before taking our scenic drive.<br /><br />Which, surprisingly, involved four loaves of bread. Nearly causing some sort of accident, we veered onto a road delineated by a sign that said Organic Brick Oven French Bread and ended up at the ohmygodunbelievable <a href="http://www.wildflourbread.com/" target="_blank">Wild Flour Bread</a>. The smell was overpowering and as a self-avowed bread addict I was in a little bit of nirvana. I'm surprised me managed to only buy four loaves (more on that later). We bought basic wheat and white, a goat cheese and herb bread that became lunch, and a walnut cinnamon raising sticky bun concoction that was maybe a million times better than Cinnabon and was still warm hours later.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_8d3ZBrLI/AAAAAAAADk8/JlH4nt9StWI/IMG_2834.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />We made it to the coast literally each day we were there for no particular reason save if was so frickin' beautiful. <br /><br />The food I ate (as it was all planned for me) was not so good. I resisted the urge to see if the French Laundry had a last minute cancellation as I am well aware it is bad form to skip a wedding for even Thomas Keller.<br /><br />The morning of the wedding, seeing as within ten minutes of our house there were only fifty or so wineries, I dragged all the pseudo-in-laws to Mendocino County to visit a winery from which I had enjoyed an amazing Sauvignon Blanc two years earlier and could not find anywhere in New York.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yorkville-cellars.com/" target="_blank">Yorkville Cellars</a> is an organic winery up a beautiful, but fraught with switchbacks Americans hardly ever encounter, road and for me, at least did not disappoint. They had yet to finish their harvest which I found unusual (it being October), but afforded us the chance to see grapes on vines whose colors were already turning.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_8yXZBrWI/AAAAAAAADmY/g8deusQXzHs/IMG_2852.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />The Sauvignon Blanc was as I remembered it and I eagerly tasted the rest of the offerings. Surprisingly, I was bowled over by two of the red wines on offer. It has been my limited experience that if a vineyard makes a white I adore, I generally think less of its reds and vice versa. The Cabernet Sauvignon was excellent and, in the mid 20-s, a terrific value. But the crown jewel had to be a wine they call Richard the Lion-Hearted, a cab-blend that uses a but from their other red plantings. It was rich and complex and even had the Man of the House, a notorious sticker-up-of-his-nose at things like "rich and complex" wines pulling out his wallet. I was so enthused I signed up for their thrice-annual shipments. My first one arrives next week!<br /><br />Grossly misjudging actual distances between points, and traveling without aid of a map, we managed to see Point Reyes <br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_9SXZBrnI/AAAAAAAADok/EvbnKMBaF-A/IMG_2878.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />but got back to change for the wedding 34 minutes before the wedding started.<br /><br />Our rental, a lovely earth-friendly Prius was not speaking to us at this point. We had pushed her a little much around the single-lane backroads we navigated to and from, seemingly, everything.<br /><br />The following day it was off to San Francisco for some quality time with cousins from the other side of the family - need I mention we took the scenic route?<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_983ZBsDI/AAAAAAAADsM/ryhbZuI7Y04/IMG_2914.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />And that's a story for tomorrow. We ate at a just-opened restaurant and took many pictures.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-2179895534200465322007-10-29T12:08:00.000-04:002007-10-29T12:45:53.015-04:00Our First ChickenThe elusive roast chicken. The dish that culls the wheat from the chaff. I confess I'd never done it. My only previous whole bird experience was with the turkey that wasn't quite done for the First Dijonaise Thanksgiving we tried in 2000. Yet it was the Man of the House who suggested that we learn to roast a chicken together. Dutifully he followed me to Union Square in the rain Saturday morning where we selected our veggies and picked out our charming 5-pound bird.<br /><br />While we waited for dinner time to approach I amused myself by starting a vat of vanilla extract:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUdhbVubAI/AAAAAAAADyA/8OtKe0AgDRE/IMG_0024.JPG?imgmax=576" width="350"><br /><br />Then I sacrificed these lovely apples:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUdlrVubBI/AAAAAAAADyI/ceube6cHbcE/IMG_0025.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />to this:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUdtLVubDI/AAAAAAAADyY/gIMWHpvGelQ/IMG_0032.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />to this:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUeF7VubLI/AAAAAAAADzY/SFv3Wb8AsGQ/IMG_0053.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />I'll be canning it this afternoon and then eating apple butter for the rest of the year. Thanks to <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000125.html" target="_blank">101 Cookbooks</a> for the recipe I used this year.<br /><br />I also tried my hand at pumpkin hazelnut gelato, but it didn't turn out as I wanted. It was too hazlenut-ey, not sweet enough, and not pumpkin-ey enough.<br /><br />So then it was time to get down to business.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUdv7VubEI/AAAAAAAADyg/zVBWCZtiF4o/IMG_0034.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />Nothing loves a roasted bird more than olive oil and butter do. This would be the first couple of turns' basting liquid.<br /><br />Man of the House was on prep and slather:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUd17VubGI/AAAAAAAADyw/rEWSlaVbNjI/IMG_0042.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUd8LVubII/AAAAAAAADzA/7vzQzdeHEQM/IMG_0048.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />We used Julia Child's plain and simple recipe. We, mistakenly, didn't truss the chicken, though one of us, and it wasn't me, did trek around the neighborhood desperately searching for butcher's twine (our neighborhood is more of the bologna sandwiches and fried food persuasion). The recipe didn't mention trussing, though we'll definitely do it the next time.<br /><br />So it was pretty simple. Chop veg, butter bird, cook, and baste frequently.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUd_rVubJI/AAAAAAAADzI/D8UeTgVAz_M/IMG_0049.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />Halfway through, so far so good. It was the later innings where things went awry. There wasn't enough liquid pooling in the bottom, the veg were burning, and I had to continually add more butter and oil just to have something to baste with. I don't know why this was the case or how to rectify it in the future. The result was that the wings started sticking to the bottom. Then they decided they would prefer to be affixed to the bottom and not to the rest of the bird. C'est la vie, the rest of our chicken was looking ok.<br /><br />I followed the instructions to a T and I should have been a little more flexible because the chicken was about 10 minutes overcooked. The meat wasn't yet dry, but neither was it moist. I made the gravy while he carved, and we ended up with this:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RyUeYLVubOI/AAAAAAAADzw/fe1c1PqcuUQ/IMG_0066.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />Man of the House gave it a 7 out of 10, I'd give it a 6. We're excited to try again!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-9947508302967249262007-10-26T11:11:00.001-04:002007-10-26T11:36:02.017-04:00Catch-up Friday TaggingIt's been a couple of weeks (I've been otherwise disposed for a couple of Fridays), so indulge in the following with my apologies.<br /><br /><a href="http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2007/10/macarpone-banana-tartlets.html">Mascarpone Banana Tartlets</a> - Well, obviously, this could only be good. Note to self: have not been food shopping since returned from California; perhaps today would be a good day to remedy that...and buy some mascarpone.<br /><br /><a href="http://figsoliveswine.blogspot.com/2007/10/recipe-pumpkin-hazelnut-gelato.html">Pumpkin Hazelnut Gelato</a> - As the damn Italian merchants who were supposed to send me pistachio cream have gone radio silent, I guess I'll have to make ice cream with other nuts. This looks phenomenal. <br /><br /><a href="http://cookthink.com/blog/?p=272">5 Broccoli recipes for people who hate broccoli</a> - Wait, that's me. I hate broccoli. Perhaps I shall give it another chance in the interest of being a grownup.<br /><br /><a href="http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/10/spicy-sweet-potatoes-fries-recipe.html">Spicy Sweet Potato Fried</a> - Ok, perhaps I will go to the market tomorrow (see aforementioned lack of edibles in house). Can I serve these with roast chicken? <br /><br /><a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/10/pumpkin-bread-pudding/">Pumpkin Bread Pudding</a> - Someone strangely resembling me might have made a vow just the other week not to make bread puddings this year, citing the problem that occurs when a loaf pan of the stuff somehow convinces us to treat it as dinner. In its entirety. So damn you, Smitten Kitchen, for convincing me to welch on this vow so soon after it was made (and also thank you for the above).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slashfood.com/2007/10/25/yumpkins/">Yumpkins</a> - Now I'm starting to feel persecuted. Pumpkin cheesecake poundcake bars? Fine, I warn all the people in the Bahamas with me this winter that I will be very fat indeed and will possibly be the person eying your persons hungrily on the chance that I could make a Yumpkin out of you!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-14833385859553609222007-10-25T10:34:00.000-04:002007-10-25T11:29:06.753-04:00The Siren Song of Danny Meyer<img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RyCq73ZBsnI/AAAAAAAADww/LNFmx9YRn_Q/IMG_0009.JPG?imgmax=576" width="350"><br /><br />"Where should we go for dinner?" How often is this question answered with a Danny Meyer restaurant? Out of the last 4 dinners I've eaten in Manhattan, the answer is 3.<br /><br />Last night ye oldest friend and I called an audible on dinner and decided at 6:00pm that we would meet in front of Tabla at 6:30 and if they could seat us, terrific, if not, we'd check out A Voce and, failing, that, walk over to Blue Smoke (a 66% Meyer favoritism from the get-go). The Bread Bar had availability and we had our decision made for us.<br /><br />The waiter recognized me, which is only slightly surprising given it was three weeks earlier that he last served me. Ye oldest friend (YOF) had only ever eaten upstairs before so this was his maiden voyage, compelling me to strongly suggest the onion rings<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RyCtbXZBsoI/AAAAAAAADw8/Xvq2S7uWoTo/IMG_0010.JPG?imgmax=640" width="350"><br /><br />Oh Boodie's ketchup, how I adore you, dream of you, think, actually, that I have the recipe for you in Floyd Cardoz's book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060735015?ie=UTF8&tag=postmoderncou-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060735015">One Spice, Two Spice</a> - must investigate that tonight. What I mean to say is that I find the onion rings a necessary component of any Bread Bar meal.<br /><br />Though, as inflamed as my passions become when I muse on Boodie's, the dish I long for when I am all the way uptown, far away from any decent grub, is the lamb "naanini."<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_-n3ZBslI/AAAAAAAADwg/W1DSFsAkWzg/IMG_0014.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />Let's be frank: there is no way for a sane human to not get hyper over a sandwich of lamb and mashed potato. i cannot live in a world where this is not a universal good. But when the lamb is so tender and flavorful, the mashed potato so spiced with mustard, and the naan - here I must just admit that I have a naan problem and be done with it - so bready and wonderful.<br /><br />YOF wanted a salad, something I am eternally teasing him about as I consider salads to be a waste of stomach space that could be filled with meat or bread, and we got the radish and cucumber Dhabba salad which was, I grudgingly admit, quite good.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RyCyDXZBspI/AAAAAAAADxE/EKSkXRYZxsE/Untitled-18.jpg" ><br /><br />YOF also was thrilled by the Saag Paneer Pizza which was a first time selection for me and one I don't know if I'd order again simply because I am not a super spinach fan and longed for something tomato-ey in my pizza - the crust, however, was spot on.<br /><br />We together decided to order the Pork Vindaloo, a dish I think might be new as I don't recall seeing it before or, rather more accurately, cannot believe I would have seen it before and not ordered it. While not as spicy, surprisingly, as the naanini, the pork had been cooked so long and so well as to be absolutely flavor-saturated, the fat was rich and smooth and so not good for me. I apologize to my fellow diners that I was the uncouth loutess who dipped my forkfuls of pork back into the dish to get more juices.<br /><br />That was wrong of me.<br /><br />There was sourdough naan and mustard seed corn naan and apple, tamarind, and mint chutney (ok, maybe I also dream of the mint chutney - the apple chutney, a seasonal addition, was killer and I definitely want to make some). In short, we over-ordered. This was much appreciated later by the man of the house who dug into our leftovers with gusto - he too has a potentially damaging addiction to lamb naaninis.<br /><br />I offered the donuts to YOF as they are a signature, but he allows me to choose the Saffron Poached Pears:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rx_-o3ZBsmI/AAAAAAAADwo/Ocxs-Axo6eo/IMG_0015.JPG?imgmax=800" width="350"><br /><br />Chai tea was poured into the shallow dish which imparted a wonderful spiciness but did create some unanticipated sogginess in the crust beneath the pears. The pears themselves were nice, but the star of the dish was the pear sorbet which was unbelievable (note to self - also make pear sorbet this weekend).<br /><br />All in all, yet another amazingly satisfying meal at the Bread Bar. I'd like to say I'll be able to stay away, but I'm fairly certain we have plans with an out of towner in a week or so and she mentioned she'd never been to Tabla...<br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=postmoderncou-20&o=1"><br /></script><br /><noscript><br /> <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=postmoderncou-20" alt="" /><br /></noscript>Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-35906784881531027442007-10-10T23:29:00.000-04:002007-10-10T23:42:17.731-04:00Top Chef at Home<img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Rw2X6TF7RqI/AAAAAAAADgs/bKqoCzktr08/s400/lumix%20003.jpg" / width="350"><br /><br />The man of the house and I are going to the Bahamas over New Year's and we could both stand to pay more attention to getting ourselves in fighting form. This means that this morning at the greenmarket, I spent less time fantasizing about buttery tarts, pies, and pastries I could make with fall fruit, and more time realistically planning healthy meals that wouldn't taste, well, like salad. <br /><br />The cool organic salad people tricked me out with a mixed assortment of everything they had and then directed me to the purslane (hmm, where have I heard about purslane recently?); I paused very briefly to give their baby cherry tomatoes on the vine a grab, followed soon after by the sungolds I get from Walter every week. <br /><br />After grabbing some apples and raspberries, I had a hankering for fish. Even though Wednesday is not a great day for me to be buying fish as immediately after work I have my french lesson (allowing said fish to become a little more room temperature than strictly desired), I decided to risk it because we haven't had scallops in a while.<br /><br />But wait, surely purslane and scallops remind me of something. Oooh, that's right, it was a dish made on the finale of Top Chef. I think they used grapes - lucky for me then, I bought about 200 pounds on a rare Saturday trip to the market this past weekend! I think I remember something about fennel and, voila, here is some beautiful baby fennel staring right up at me - god, I love this market. I think there would have to have been an herb included somewhere, but I can't be expected to remember what it was. How about lemon thyme? Lemon thyme seems like it would work well with scallops fennel, purslane and grapes. Let's grab it.<br /><br />Upon arriving at work I hope that I can find the recipe online and lovely Bravo obliges. Shoot, it was tarragon not lemon thyme, and I do not have a lemon at home for fresh lemon juice, improvisation will have to commence.<br /><br />Fast forward 12 hours and I realize that I only have yuzu rice vinegar, but the yuzu in the vinegar will obviate the need for the fresh lemon juice. So I start cleaning and picking and stirring and sizzling and suddenly:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rw2YTzF7RrI/AAAAAAAADg0/DOLhhzkIfuY/s400/lumix%20004.jpg" / width="350"><br /><br />dinner is served.<br /><br />And dinner tastes good. Really good. Even at 10:30 at night. <br /><br /><strong>Seared Scallop with Purslane</strong> (adapted from Top Chef season finale and Dale)<br /><br />1/2 cup green grapes, halved<br />1/2 cup olive oil<br />1 tbsp. lemon thyme<br />3 tbsp yuzu rice wine vinegar<br />Salt and pepper to taste<br />9 fresh scallops scallops<br />5 bulbs mini fennel, shaved thin<br />1/2 cup purslane, cleaned and picked<br /><br />Garnish:<br />some corn I found in my freezer<br /><br />Marinate grapes in olive oil, lemon thyme, and vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Sear scallops until hard and brown crusted (really this took quite a while, about 8 or 9 minutes, but the scallops were quite big and I have a horro of undercooking them). Toss fennel and purslane with grapes. Place scallops on salad and garnish with sweet corn.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-75141054252645192742007-10-05T11:50:00.000-04:002007-10-05T16:23:16.711-04:00Friday From The TagosphereTo start with, I just read this and it made me laugh out loud: "I come by this particular tendency honestly, as that's just the way we always did it in my house while I was growing. It's akin to the how my mom's family used to eat cheesecake when she was growing up. Her mom would plunk a frozen cake down on the kitchen table and everyone would sit around it with forks, picking at the defrosting edges." By way of <a href="http://www.slashfood.com/2007/10/05/insulated-bowl-keeps-your-ice-cream-cool/" target="_blank">Slashfood</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://80breakfasts.blogspot.com/2007/09/hhdd-15-tartes-tatins-of-caramelized.html" target="_blank">Caramelized Red Onion and Goat Cheese Tarts</a> - Not much to complain about here. I have passed by the red onions in favor of the cipolinis for several straight weeks, but next week might be the week I change my tune.<br /><a href="http://tobemrsmarv.com/2007/10/02/ricotta-almond-tart-with-honey-glazed-figs/" target="_blank">Ricotta Tart with Honey Glazed Figs</a> - I have been rather disappointed with all the figs I've eaten this year: those from the guy on the corner, the horribly expensive ones I had sent to me from California and, yes, even those I have eaten in restaurants, but I seem to remember loving figs, so I keep taking down recipes that use them.<br /><br /><a href="http://cafefernando.com/raspberry-crumb-cake" target="_blank">Raspberry Crumb Cake</a> - The weather just doesn't seem to be cooling off which means that there are still buckets of raspberries being displayed on market tables. I've been just popping them down my gullet at my desk for sport, but perhaps more could be done with them.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2007/09/28/dark-chocolate-custard/" target="_blank">Dark Chocolate Custard</a> - I must must must coordinate my work so that macaron day and ice cream day are either the same or very close together so that I don't run the risk of more egg wastage. However, instead of ice cream day, perhaps there should also be custard day. The man of the house does enjoy custard especially now that we own a blowtorch.<br /><br /><a href="http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2007/09/quince-tartlets-and-one-happy.html" target="_blank">Quince Tartlets</a> - So, I'm looking at you chef from Payard who was fairly brusque and forwny with me on Wednesday at the market when I expressed delight in your menu choice of wild boar and quince, when I say that just because I don't have the kind of relationships with the US Customs and small wild boar purveyors in Canada does not mean I will be unable to enjoy the brief exciting quince season. I am a lady so I will content myself with extending a VTFF to you as well - sheesh I was just trying to be personable.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-5684525741836407362007-10-01T08:24:00.000-04:002007-10-01T08:50:34.626-04:00New Camera TryoutI bought a new camera the other week, a cheapo that was on sale and I figured, hey, for 100 bucks let's see how she flies. <br /><br />Below are scenes from a dinner. The first shots are taken with my surprisingly trusty Canon A85, a shockingly good camera even in these days when its paltry four megapixels seem ancient; the second with the newcomer, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS70, a smaller seven megapixel camera.<br /><br />All attempts were made to take the same shot with the same settings. Alas, as the evening wore on and the drinks accumulated, I don't know how faithful we were.<br /><br />As for the dinner: superb! I am not at liberty to extol its virtues or reveal its name as I have a weighty conflict of interest. Suffice it to say, were I free to gush, gush I would.<br /><br />Part 1: Bread.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmRTF7RXI/AAAAAAAADbk/JjU1pWZFaeA/s288/IMG_2782.JPG" /> - Canon<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmfTF7RaI/AAAAAAAADb8/ySj1g0yt9oA/s288/lumix%20001.jpg" /> - Lumix<br /><br />The colors of the Canon are definitely more true to life and the flash - which I am often loathe to use, created more distortion in the Panasonic. I do not immediately detect a quality difference given the number of megapixels in the Panasonic model.<br /><br />Part 2: Tarte Flambee.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmUDF7RYI/AAAAAAAADbs/2Oarq1z2Des/s288/IMG_2784.JPG" /> - Canon<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmhzF7RbI/AAAAAAAADcE/7W6zXF3Z-Ak/s288/lumix%20002.jpg" /> - Lumix<br /><br />Notoriously unphotographable, that Tarte, the Lumix beat out the Canon on this one because the picture I took with Canon and flash was so bright I thought the cheese might have been radioactive. I didn't touch these photos up in any way though now I'm tempted to do some levels adjustments to see which photo looks better post-edit.<br /><br />Part 3: Foie Gras.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmYjF7RZI/AAAAAAAADb0/T1QVlLnL5PE/s288/IMG_2785.JPG" /> - Canon<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmpTF7RdI/AAAAAAAADcU/-kaREFZEM2Q/s288/lumix%20003.jpg" /> - Lumix<br /><br />My dinner date, Ed, pointed out to me that the Panasonic models have a special shooting mode for food, so we tried it out. I don't think there's any question which photo is better. The detail on the Canon shot is pretty out of this world. Both the greens and the sea salt have exceptional clarity and the color is spot-on.<br /><br />Part 4: Lamb.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmjzF7RcI/AAAAAAAADcM/upwrCARnj2A/s288/IMG_2788.JPG" /> - Canon<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmrjF7ReI/AAAAAAAADcg/YsEJQJXFEEQ/s288/lumix%20004.jpg" /> - Lumix<br /><br />The food scene mode is suffering mightily as trusty Canon trots out another bang up shot. The shots are a little small on the screen, but the Canon succeeds in capturing the grains of couscous as well as the glistening hunks of lamb. The Lumix - not so much. It looks like a big unappetizing blur.<br /><br />Part 5: Dessert.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmvDF7RfI/AAAAAAAADco/2qaXaXrv4y4/s288/IMG_2790.JPG" /> - Canon<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RwDmxDF7RgI/AAAAAAAADcw/LGS_mjC1L3U/s288/lumix%20005.jpg" /> - Lumix<br /><br />Ouch. Yet again one of these cameras is bitchslapping the other. In the top shots I can see grains of cocoa powder, berries, and color differentiation. In the second I can't.<br /><br />Final verdict: I won't be using the Lumix for food shots. In fact, I won't be using the Lumix. It's a perfectly serviceable point and shoot that I suspect will be better suited to daylight and the casual shooter. As such, it will be gifted to mom and dad (who currently do not own a digital camera), and I will return to lusting after a DSLR while contemplating simply moving to the Canon A-series older brother the 7-megapixel A570.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-52493637489119512802007-09-17T16:20:00.000-04:002007-09-17T17:49:09.505-04:00Depression in Aisle 8Yesterday I did something I haven't done in quite some time: I went to my local supermarket.<br /><br />I live in a bad neighborhood. In order to preserve my unbroken record of living in New York, I have opted to live in a less than ideal locale, calmly coping with the drug dealers, the occasional shooting, the lackluster food delivery options, and the absence of many of the amenities the rest of my home borough rightly takes for granted. It was Sunday, we had been spending a lazy long weekend, punctuated by some frivolous eating out and dressing up (as documented earlier), and I just wanted something to eat. Right. Now.<br /><br />That's what the local supermarket is for.<br /><br />So, with a vague notion of something quick to heat and eat, I entered. I've lived in this apartment for four years and have made my way to the supermarket loads of times to stock up on garbage bags, sugar, parchment paper, light bulbs, etc., but I can't remember the last time I went in here for food. I do most of my shopping at the Whole Foods near my office and the Union Square Greenmarket. I am the girl on the subway laden with bags. By the way, please give me your seat when you see me - this stuff is heavy. <br /><br />As I walked up and down the aisles, though, I felt myself grow more and more dissatisfied and vaguely ill. The man of the house had requested a hard sausage, and the options available to me were Oscar Meyer - meat of uncertain provenance (or uncertainly meat) stuffed to the gills with freshenators, colorizers, and starchatives (he is far less demanding than I (and often dismissive of my food fascism) and accepted the Hormel pre-sliced pepperoni like a champ, though I was pleased to see the majority of the package in the trash this morning. <br /><br />The produce aisle looked like something out of a documentary on starving children in war zones - the fruits and vegetables donated by rich countries left to spoil on a tarmac somewhere while 14-year olds with uzis prevent people from taking it. There was no fresh bread to speak of, unless you count the spanish style rolls which are without taste or nutrients. There was no cheese save packaged cheese (forgive me I bought Polly-O String cheese as I know he likes it) - and I'll have more to say on that later. The frozen foods were plentiful, but not a single product worth looking twice at. Frivolously I read some packages noting that there were far more ingredients than strictly necessary or preferable, and that, more often than not, simple things were labeled as flavored i.e. chicken parmesan made with chicken flavor, macaroni and cheese with real cheese flavor. What is real cheese flavor?<br /><br />I saw the Top Chef-hawked Bertoli frozen skillet meals and almost took one with me, but the idea of cooking it made me ill - there were just too many mystery inclusions. I did discover organic milk, but many of the cartons (of both organic and conventional) were either past or nearly past their expiration.<br /><br />I ended up buying a frozen pizza and I did, in fact eat it. There was nothing wrong with its taste (bland vaguely tomato), but it didn't really taste like anything going down. It was so clearly designed to make me full without nourishing me. I took home a bag of Pepperidge Farm bagels which had a more natural feel to them than the Thomas's ones (which are a consistency no bread product should be - a very very disturbing squishiness), but couldn't really commit to eating one so I threw them in the freezer. <br /><br />Had I wanted chips and soda, I would have had limitless choices. There were three separate chip displays including the new, and incredibly grotesque sounding, crab flavored Lays. There was an entire half aisle (in a four aisle supermarket) devoted to soda (though, in fairness, they did have some Izze).<br /><br />I get a lot of grief at home for my shopping habits. The man of the house doesn't understand why we need to pay twelve dollars a pound for flank steak from the market and why I won't just buy an apple in the store in June. Since he does none of the shopping and is clearly pleased with what he eats in our home, these little disagreements crop up only on the rare occasions we go shopping together (when ample fun is made of me for convenience purchases like organic bouillon). And, to be perfectly honest, until yesterday, part of me felt as though my shopping habits had a fair amount to do with conscious choices and politics (though anyone who has eaten supermarket meat recently will back me up when I say that taste plays a major role in how I shop). Now, having seen that the poorest people are supplied with food that is bereft of nutrients and stuffed to the gills with white flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and methylethylwhatevrylmimicyrlfalserylcolorylickyryl - food that lets you know you've eaten but does nothing but stuff you with simple carbohydrates and, presumably, cancer, I realize that health is now trumping politics in my mind as I shop for our household. I don't ever want to go to that supermarket again for something that isn't a household cleanser or paper good. It made me not a little sick.<br /><br />Now back to that cheese:<br /><br />A 15oz. package of Polly-O Extra Long String Cheese set me back $5.99. Read that again to make sure you got it, please. Even at Whole Foods, which can be a little pricey, a pound of fresh mozzarella is, I believe, $5.99. It certainly was $4.99 at Fairway, and the bocconcini I bought at Citarella a couple of weeks ago was $7.99, and that's a prepared food. When I hear people lament that buying and eating good food is too expensive, I'm going to remember the mozzarella.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-62305533420688643722007-09-15T11:23:00.000-04:002007-09-15T11:58:17.590-04:00The Bar Room at The ModernOne of the lovely indulgences of having good friends in town from far away places is that of the dinner out. Or dinners out. I was given free rein to choose restaurants and, once seated, to choose food.<br /><br />Sadly, I didn't bring my camera Wednesday evening when we dined at Bread Bar (which was, as always, eminently satisfying), but I did not forget the camera last night as we four made our way to The Modern.<br /><br />I have now eaten more than a handful of times in the Bar Room, yet never in the main dining room, and I'm going to hope that the people next door continue to eat the same kind of spectacular food I've eaten on every visit.<br /><br />So permit me to bore you with a full retelling.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RuvytuhcFDI/AAAAAAAADU8/3vhwdU_wcK0/s400/IMG_2728.JPG" width="350" /><br /><br />I'm a big fan of the mini baguettes and the butter (not pictured) was at the perfect spreading temperature. It is surprising how many restaurants do not make sure to bring room temperature butter to the table, and what a difference it makes.<br /><br />When taking European friends out to dinner, I like to order, when suitable, an American wine they wouldn't have the opportunity to taste at home. <br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv0VuhcFQI/AAAAAAAADWk/48XG02jCAxY/s400/IMG_2739.JPG" vspace="5"/><br />I chose an Emeritus Vineyards pinot noir (2005) which, while a trifle heavier than I might have wanted was both delicious and reasonably priced.<br /><br />We ordered eight dishes spread across two courses, starting with:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Upside Down Tuna Tarte</span> with fennel, Japanese cucumber, and aioli<br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruvy8OhcFEI/AAAAAAAADVE/CJTHDHUiwA0/s400/IMG_2729.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />I've had this dish before and liked it so much (and was dining with fish enthusiasts) that it simply had to be enjoyed again.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Arctic Char Tartare</span> with basil and trout caviar<br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RuvzPehcFII/AAAAAAAADVk/-SbAPViSxzI/s400/IMG_2730.JPG" width="350" vspace="5" /><br />Another repeat well worth it. The fish was really so fresh and tasty.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Charred Octopus</span> with chickpea-radish salad, salsa verde, and crispy capers<br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RuvzTehcFJI/AAAAAAAADVw/ne-d2H2DCaE/s400/IMG_2731.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />was the weakest of the dishes and I maintain that I have only ever eaten truly exceptional octopus at the Mario Batali restaurants - I don't know if they have some octopus voodoo, but it is always excellent. This was just ok.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Foie Gras Torchon</span> with Muscat gelee and toasted country bread<br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RuvzkehcFKI/AAAAAAAADV4/7MVzgDzkQO0/s400/IMG_2732.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />The torchon was so wonderful that the gelee only detracted from the unadulterated pleasure, though it was quite tasty. We all simply agreed that we'd rather eat the foie on its own. <br /><br />And now for the second course:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Roasted Long Island Duck Breast</span> with peppercorn crusted apples and pistachio-truffle dipping sauce<br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RuvzruhcFMI/AAAAAAAADWE/Gxcyk2l-7XQ/s400/IMG_2735.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />The apples were crusted with pistachios as well and quite lovely. The duck was cooked perfectly though I was quite surprised that when we ordered this and the lamb dish the waitress queried us as to whether we wanted it medium, whereas I was under the impression that for both meats, medium rare was the standard.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Beer Braised Pork Belly</span> with sauerkraut and ginger jus<br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruvz7OhcFNI/AAAAAAAADWM/72h3DRQeCvU/s400/IMG_2736.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />I may have ordered this on two previous occasions (I know I ordered it on one) and just have enjoyed the heck out of it. Tonight was no different. The meat is really stupendous.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tarte Flambee</span><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv0AOhcFOI/AAAAAAAADWU/81N5yiLheaU/s400/IMG_2737.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />It doesn't photograph well, but I'm glad I finally ordered it. It's a staple on the menu and my brother is always pissed when I tell him I didn't order it, so I did this time and not only was it delicious, but a huge hit at the table, as our guests had not eaten it before.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Spice Crusted Colorado Lamb Loin</span> with shank and manchego cheese gratin and pomegranate reduction<br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv0MOhcFPI/AAAAAAAADWc/puH5jfWOLgg/s400/IMG_2738.JPG" width="350" vspace="5" /><br />The lamb was a little on the medium side of medium rare, but still wonderful, and the shank and manchego gratin was stupendous.<br /><br />But of course we ordered dessert:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pistachio Dark Chocolate Dome</span> with pistachio ice cream and amaretto gelee<br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv02-hcFXI/AAAAAAAADXc/Cny2tREDLfo/s400/IMG_2751.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />The amaretto gelee was really fun to play with reminding me why jello is so popular with children. The dome was a layer each of pistachio and chocolate cakes topped with a dense pistachio ice cream and covered in chocolate. Honestly, what could be bad?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Beignets</span> with maple ice cream, caramel, and mango marmelade<br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv1LehcFYI/AAAAAAAADXk/4mR9fIk4ebM/s400/IMG_2752.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />These didn't photograph well, but they were fantastic dipped into the caramel sauce. The beignets were not greasy at all and had a terrific crisp which was eminently satisfying.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hazelnut Dacquoise</span> with milk chocolate chantilly<br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv1UehcFZI/AAAAAAAADXs/XLVBQjdU3Iw/s400/IMG_2753.JPG" width="350" vspace="5"/><br />Like nutella for grownups, this beautiful presentation was actually, and unsurprisingly, far tastier than nutella with a delightful crunch. The chantilly was far more solid than simple whipping cream and better tasting for it (more of a light mousse).<br /><br />I photographed our coffees as well as they were really quite pretty:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv0ouhcFVI/AAAAAAAADXM/GCDsGr4mHzk/s400/IMG_2749.JPG" width="350"/><br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/Ruv0uehcFWI/AAAAAAAADXU/nDncBNuPjqY/s400/IMG_2750.JPG" width="350" /><br /><br />All in all, a terrific meal enjoyed by all. I have to hand it to Danny Meyer: there are a plethora of restaurants to choose from in New York and almost without fail, when I am responsible for taking people out, I gravitate towards one of his. They are convivial, professional, and always delicious, and I have yet to be disappointed.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-58100465961238660702007-09-14T13:09:00.000-04:002007-09-15T11:21:58.846-04:00Short week taggingOut of the office two days this week, meaning I had less time to read other people's sites. There were, as always, quite a few standouts in what I did read, though.<br /><br /><a href="http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2007/09/dark-chocolate-financiers.html" target="_blank">Dark Chocolate Financiers</a> - I too am a fan of Jean Paul Hevin, and as I do not have a cookbook from him, though, obviously, now I'll be looking for it, this is a lovely little introduction.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2007/09/09/corn-soup/" target="_blank">Real Corn Soup</a> - It's true, the corn is nearing it's end, but I haven't used it much this summer, other than an occasional ear at dinner, so I might have this be corn's last hurrah for the year.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/006080white_beans_and_sausage.php" target="_blank"><br />White Beans and Sausage</a> - Which, I guess, means cooler climes are upon us and I should just get used to the idea of several months of comfort food.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/port/trinchado.html" target="_blank">Spicy South Africa Braised Beef</a> - Ditto. Plus, I've been thinking of braising all my meat and saving money on the pricier cuts.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/espresso-caramels-recipe.html" target="_blank"><br />Espresso Caramels</a> - I, myself, have been making caramel without a candy thermometer, but Heidi's look like they achieved a really good, really even consistency, so maybe I'll trot the old thermometer out.<br /><br /><a href="http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2007/09/ricotta-cake-with-meyer-lemon-curd.html" target="_blank"><br />Ricotta Cake with Meyer Lemon Curd</a> - And yes, soon the Meyer lemons will be arriving, and with them a weekend of zesting and juicing. Once I have more juice and zest than I could ever hope to use, this might be a nice destination.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-33072551873415306502007-09-10T23:26:00.000-04:002007-09-10T23:49:35.784-04:00A Tale of Two Plums<img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYHURKAJ-I/AAAAAAAADR0/qfUjxBYNOK4/s400/IMG_2702.JPG" width="350"/><br /><br />A misnomer, actually, as there were far more than two plums:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYG_BKAJ7I/AAAAAAAADRc/AOsGCg0ddIk/s144/IMG_2690.JPG" hspace="5"/><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYHKhKAJ9I/AAAAAAAADRs/OdqxW2kVe5Q/s144/IMG_2696.JPG" /><br /><br />The time had come to take a stand against the plum rebellion. Those innocent plums just seemed to multiply, declaring sovereignty in the precious free space of my fridge. Their disobedience could be suffered no longer.<br /><br />And so:<br /><br /><img src="http://lh5.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYHGhKAJ8I/AAAAAAAADRk/0fb19_6jp4M/s400/IMG_2694.JPG" width="350"/><br /><br />they found themselves mercilessly quartered and then quartered again, thrust into a hot pot and covered in sugar and a substance known as pectin;<br /><br /><img src="http://lh3.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYHcBKAJ_I/AAAAAAAADR8/sWF5zUvcMyo/s400/IMG_2704.JPG" width="350"/><br /><br />cooked until they no longer resembled themselves; the precious juices forced from their variegated flesh;<br /><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYHexKAKAI/AAAAAAAADSE/qcJBE87l1lU/s400/IMG_2707.JPG" width="350"/><br /><br />forced into strange glass vials and subjected to astonishing heat, their bacterial breeding ground obliterated.<br /><br />At last, the indignities almost too much to endure, they found themselves trapped, amidst strange surroundings, unable to move or escape.<br /><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/RuYH8RKAKFI/AAAAAAAADSk/IQaWL4QXz80/s400/IMG_2716.JPG" width="350"/><br /><br />An ignoble end, perhaps, for the once mighty plum, and yet somehow far more honest than the tribulations suffered by some of their brethren who were viciously diluted with cream and frozen.<br /><br /><em>fin</em>Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-43046263475466781822007-09-07T13:34:00.000-04:002007-09-07T13:57:29.437-04:00Working From Home - Friday TaggingBeset by a migraine, I am in a dark room in my house instead of the bright office. This has not prevented me from doing the minute tasks that fill the ends of weeks, nor will it prevent me from the Friday tag wrap-up.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/09/pistachio_gelat.html" target="_blank">Pistachio Gelato</a> - There's nothing like reading a post that forces you to scour the internet to then buy a product from a website in a language you don't understand, prompting you to ask a co-worker who then reads every word aloud to you. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting the moments until my Bronte pistachio cream arrived. Thank you, David.<br /><br /><a href="http://cafefernando.com/lavender-creme-brulee" target="_blank">Lavender Creme Brulee</a> - I don't know why I bookmarked this since I own the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618443363?ie=UTF8&tag=postmoderncou-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0618443363" target="_blank">Dorie Greenspan</a> book. Perhaps it was to remind myself to investigate it more. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.trifles.nl/2007/09/02/apricot-jam-galore/" target="_blank">Apricot Jam</a> - The season is over here, but I stored some already halved apricots in the freezer for jam. I thought the photos were beautiful, though, and have to seriously reevaluate the light in my kitchen if I want to continue posting my own.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/cookbook/ricotta_napoleon.html" target="_blank">Honey Ricotta Napoleons</a> - One of the reasons for wedging a chest freezer into a New York City apartment was so that things like veal stock and puff pastry could be made and kept. Sadly, I bought the freezer during summer when I had little desire to make either. With autumn approaching (drat), perhaps its time to utilize said freezer.<br /><br /><a href="http://wednesdaychef.typepad.com/the_wednesday_chef/2007/09/mark-bittmans-t.html" target="_blank">Tomato Paella</a> - Ok, so it has no meat, which will require a little convincing for the man of the house (who, yes, I know, should shut up and be thankful someone cooks for him), but this does look tasty, and I do buy too many tomatoes every week.<br /><br /><a href="http://nookandpantry.blogspot.com/2007/09/tiramisu-ice-cream.html" target="_blank">Tiramisu Ice Cream</a> - There has been mascarpone in my fridge for several weeks, as I was planning on making cheesecake. Perhaps I should give up the fight and turn it into yet more ice cream.<br /><br />I am gong to try and jam my plums this weekend, so stay tuned!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-8927705067530187812007-09-05T16:34:00.001-04:002007-09-05T16:50:14.246-04:00Matt, you're off the hookDidn't see Matt this morning at 14th street, but I did see the Red Jacket Orchard's greengage plums - the very plums I had accusingly harangued poor Matt about for several weeks (Matt is the tall and, dare it be said, quite attractive CECNY employee at the Union Square market - my mom and I both have a bit of a crush). Now I have black plums and green plums, and nothing has been done with either yet. Perhaps after my French tutor this evening, I'll make jam (because everyone is in the mood for jam at 10:00pm).<br /><br />I have some legacy photos from can this part 2 which I wanted to share (and also ask questions about):<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Raspberry Jam (with, perhaps, a few too many seeds)</span><br /><img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Rt23oBKAJxI/AAAAAAAADPU/IgwJpyr7EOQ/s400/IMG_2682.JPG" width="350" /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Roasted Peppers</span><br /><img src="http://lh4.google.com/ymalcolm/Rt23zhKAJzI/AAAAAAAADPo/M5CHbb8y7eE/s400/IMG_2684.JPG" width="350" /><br /><br />So the question is about the peppers. I don't know if it's visible, but there's lots of white junk floating in the terrine. I'm assuming it's congealed fat, but if anyone knows differently, especially if what you know is that I will die if I eat the white stuff or anything that touched it, please do let me know.<br /><br />Thanks!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-51906021861817949662007-09-04T15:55:00.000-04:002007-09-04T16:21:12.456-04:00Happy Birthday J<img src="http://lh6.google.com/ymalcolm/Rt23uBKAJyI/AAAAAAAADPg/GXC_5Jr8tN4/s400/IMG_2679.JPG" width="350" /><br /><br />While office life drains me of much lifeforce, there are a couple of co-workers who go that extra mile to make my days bearable by being awesome. Upon learning that one of these people, darling J, was turning the ripe old age of 27 today, I decided it would be a terrific excuse to bake a cake. J had confided in me that she was a raspberry fan, and seeing as the freezer did already hold an astonishing number of said fruit, I tok it from there.<br /><br />This was a new experience for me in that I dreamed up the cake on my own. The combination of ingredients is by no means revolutionary, but I wasn't relying on someone else's ideas - so that was, well, cool. I have, on previous occasions, made platings out of several different dessert ideas, and have long invented frozen dessert flavors, but this was my first cake composition.<br /><br />I need to name it. But, you see, a good name doesn't present itself. The layers are as follows:<br /><br />Chocolate Meringue<br />Dark Chocolate Mousse<br />Rich Chocolate Cake<br />Raspberry Mousse<br /><br />I wanted to have some textural diversity so the two mousses were different, and the two separating layers were as well. It went crunchy, unctuous, dense, fluffy. Could I call it the Crunchy Unctuous Dense Fluffy Cake? Or CUDF Cake for short?<br /><br />Step one: meringue.<br /><br />Two egg whites<br />50 grams confectioner's sugar<br />1.5 tbsp. cocoa powder<br />45 grams sugar<br /><br />Sift confectioner's sugar and cocoa together. Beat eggs until they hold soft peaks, gradually add sugar. When meringue is achieved, fold in cocoa mixture. Pipe. Let rest. Bake 2 hours in an ajar oven at 250 degrees. Let cool in turned off oven.<br /><br />Step two: chocolate mousse<br /><br />Adapted from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316357413?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316357413">Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme</a><br /><br />170 grams bittersweet chocolate (Callebaut 70%)<br />60 grams whole milk<br />20 grams heavy cream<br />1 large egg yolk<br />4 large egg whites<br />1 tbsp. vanilla sugar<br /><br />Melt the chocolate and let cool to body temperature. Combine the milk and cream and boil. Pour over chocolate and whisk to incorporate. Add the egg yolk and whisk it as well. Beat the whites until soft peaky and gradually fold the whites into the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate.<br /><br />Step 3: Dense Chocolate Cake<br /><br />Also adapted from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316357413?ie=UTF8&tag=nadd-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316357413">Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme</a><br /><br />250 grams bittersweet chocolate (Callebaut 70%)<br />230 grams sweet butter<br />20 grams lightly salted butter<br />180 grams sugar<br />4 large eggs<br />70 grams flour<br /><br />Melt chocolate and let cool to body temperature. Beat butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, really incorporating each egg before adding the next. Add the chocolate and incorporate. Add the flour and incrporate briefly (no lumps or streaks). Pour into greased, parchment-papered, floured pan and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool a lot. <br /><br />Step 4: raspberry mousse<br /><br />200 grams raspberries<br />60 grams sugar<br />1 tbsp. glucose<br />2 tbsp. water<br />2 egg whites<br />240 ml heavy cream<br /><br />Puree and strain raspberries. Make a simple syrup of the sugar, water and glucose - cook until soft ball stage. Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks and start pouring syrup while mixer is running. When meringue is achieved, begin to fold in raspberry puree. Whip cream until firm and fold into raspberry meringue mixture. Refrigerate until firm.<br /><br />Nota bene: I am not a huge fan of gelatin and wanted to make a fruit mousse without using it. This was both a great idea and a less good idea. The above recipe will give you an awesome airy mousse, but it needs to be eaten sooner rather than later. When I went to assemble the cake later, much of the puree had sunk to the bottom of the bowl and I had the skim the mousse off the top to get the bits that remained at the proper consistency.<br /><br />Step 5: assembly<br /><br />This is my least favorite step as I do not have what others could refer to as a light hand. The meringue had been baked in a cake ring (and really, if anyone can explain to me how to properly use a cake ring, I would name my firstborn after him or her (or something equally grandiose) because for the life of me, my batter, no matter what kind of batter, seeps out the bottom. I was under the, perhaps mistaken impression, that real bakers didn't mess around with pans, and instead used rings and silpat. I own rings and silpat and I end up with messes when I execute my baking using them - please, help would be a godsend), and so was the right size. Using an offset spatula, I added the chocolate mousse. I cut the cake vertically to get the thickness I wanted and then, literally, mushed it into the ring on top of the chocolate mousse. Finally, I offset spatula-ed the raspberry mousse on top and garnished with some berries.<br /><br />I think the cake turned out to look fairly decent - I worry that it will be altogether too rich. However J was ecstatic when she saw it this morning abnd I only remonstrated with her briefly when she stuck her finger into the cake I spent a day making, reasoning that it was, after all, her cake now.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=nadd-20&o=1"><br /></script><br /><noscript><br /> <img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/noscript?tag=nadd-20" alt="" /><br /></noscript>Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-47314559673444758842007-08-31T11:15:00.001-04:002007-09-05T13:03:46.057-04:00Slow week Friday taggingI am devoting my Saturday and Sunday to the beach. The weather looks to be gorgeous and I know there will be precious few more days to bronze myself for the pale months to come. However, in order to avoid the crushing traffic I anticipate on Monday, I will stay closer to home, and closer to my kitchen (though my mother and I were promised a personal shopping experience at the greenmarket were we to show up on Monday). <br /><br />I'm definitely going to make my belated attempt at daring bakitude, I need to jam my sugarplums, and I a friend's birthday is on Tuesday, so I think I'll be whipping something up (and just now as I wrote that the final idea presented itself - yippee!). But there are some things from this week's tagging that might also find their way into the agenda (I'm looking at you plum crumble).<br /><br /><a href="http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2007/08/caramelized-homegrown-tomatoes-on.html" target="_blank">Caramelized Tomatoes on Gnocchi</a> - this looks like a great dinner I could even whip up on Sunday night or something. It will necessitate another trip to the market this afternoon to supplement my tomato stocks, but I like a good gnocchi as much as the next girl.<br /><br /><a href="http://figsoliveswine.blogspot.com/2007/08/grilled-merguez-with-fresh-prune.html" target="_blank">Grilled Merguez with Prune Chutney</a> - I do have a lot of plums hanging around - I just wish the chutney would last longer. Do you think it would freeze? The merguez is a little more difficult to source as I've only ever found it at the market on Saturday, and I hate going to the market on Saturdays (especially when it interferes with waning beach time), so maybe I'll make the chutney, experiment with freezing it, and pick a rainy Saturday to find the sausage. <br /><br /><a href="http://wednesdaychef.typepad.com/the_wednesday_chef/2007/08/marian-burross-.html" target="_blank">Plum Crumble</a> - The man of the house is a big defender of crumble. It is the primary bargaining tool I have when looking up at him with my puppy dog eyes and suggesting a full day of apple picking. He's not the biggest of plum fans, but perhaps the crumble will sway him.<br /><br /><a href="http://figsoliveswine.blogspot.com/2007/08/apricot-chestnut-tarte-tatin.html" target="_blank">Apricot Chestnut Tart Tatin</a> - I have halved and frozen the last of the Red Jacket apricots. I don't see how this recipe would suffer by using the frozen fruit and I'm always looking for something to do with my chestnut flour (when I'm not being overly ambitious and making chestnut fettuccine or something like that). If I do decide to use the frozen apricots, I can hold off on this recipe for a bit.<br /><br /><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/08/strawberry_dessert_quartet_at_jean_georges.html" target="_blank">Strawberry Dessert Quartet</a> - No recipes here, but it's gorgeous. I don't have a lot of interest in eating dinner at Jean Georges (I've heard from trusted sources that it could be better), but now I want to go for dessert and have this (it will somehow make all the times his people have beaten me to the market for strawberries seem, if not ok, then barely tolerable).Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-26813421819550548552007-08-31T10:19:00.000-04:002007-08-31T10:42:05.073-04:00Can This - Part 2 (photos to come)Phillips Farm has been offloading their raspberries recently for truly remarkable prices (5 1/2 pints for 10 dollars?!?), and I knew something had to be done with this bounty. Raspberries are reliable freezers and both of my freezers at home now have containers full of them (for those lonely January nights when even the apples are now mealy), but 5 of the half-pints recently acquired have done their duty and become jam. Specifically, seeded red raspberry jam infused with fresh rosemary. <br /><br />After pulping the raspberries slightly I heated them to just below boiling at which point I dropped about three stems of tied up rosemary, covered the pot and let the steeping commence. In retrospect I should have steeped longer, but I'm impatient like that. The final product has more of a hint of rosemary as opposed to an undercurrent.<br /><br />I've never made jams before, so I'm still working out the right amount of pectin. My batch of strawberry had the right consistency, but I used granulated sugar which clumped in places. For the raspberry I used too much pectin, causing the jam to be a little more like Jello, than jam, but superfine sugar, so no clumps.<br /><br />I also olive oil packed my delicious maroon peppers, duly roasted. If I can keep a certain someone's hands from these savory creations, our winter might not be so potato and turnip heavy!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-91887322236104052732007-08-30T14:20:00.000-04:002007-08-30T14:31:57.034-04:00Sweet Sweet CornIt took me until the last possible day, and now I'm hoping they continue it into September, but the sweet corn custard from the Shake Shack was everything I wanted it to be.<br /><br />When I ordered for two, one for me and one for a friend, the Shake Shacker asked if we'd ever had it before and then suggested we try before we buy. In my estimation this did not bode well. However, when offered the two test spoons, we bravely ate, and were astounded that there might be people out there who didn't really adore it.<br /><br />It was, for lack of a better word, corny. It tasted like corn but without an aftertaste (unless you burped a half hour later in which case, well, it was a burp that tasted of corn). The consistency was great, much better than any I have achieved at home where, even after pushing the corn liquid through the chinois 3-4 times, there's still, well, that vague corn consistency. I detected none of that in this ice cream.<br /><br />It tasted of late summer, and yesterday was, admittedly a great late summer day. I never managed to get down to the Shack on a Sunday to try apricot, but I was pretty pleased with my homemade apricot ice cream. We'll have to see what September brings!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-25198980030016941552007-08-29T16:24:00.000-04:002007-08-29T16:49:46.750-04:00I Want to be a Daring BakerI am a lurker. A shameless, shameless lurker. But one who is full of wonder.<br /><br />Every month I patiently await the Daring Bakers Challenge, finding it so fascinating and wonderful that a group of bakers around the world have found a forum within which to experiment. The results are so different and each so lovely (yes, even the mistakes are wonderful) that it becomes my favorite day of the month when the posts are revealed.<br /><br />Today, however, I wonder if I might cease my ceaseless lurking. I have a small home on the internet now. A poorly trafficked, mostly self-indulgent home, but a home nonetheless. Perhaps this coterie would accept my humble application to join their ranks and perhaps next month I could dare a little. In the meantime, these were the tarts that appealed most to me this month (and yes, my tastes skew to the modern):<br /><br /><a href="http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2007/08/just-bunch-of-sassy-tarts.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1406/1255173521_014d01f81a.jpg" width="200"> - Alpineberry's</a> tart is simple and unadorned and the mousse and caramel layers look really well defined and seem to be the perfect consistency.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.foodbeam.com/2007/08/29/du-chocolat-et-du-caramel-pour-une-daring-baker-tarte-au-chocolat-au-lait-et-au-caramel-au-beurre-sale/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.foodbeam.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/chocolate-caramel-tart.png" width="200"> - Foodbeam's</a> individual tarts with spun sugar have a beautiful lip caused by the protrusion of the crust (I must find out how everyone else in the world removes tarts from mini tart pans without breakage, because I can never manage it).<br /><br /><a href="http://chocolat-vanille.blogspot.com/2007/08/milk-chocolate-and-caramel-tart-daring.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1kKo1pHTV-e4QMAZ4Exx4lEjDrAcjy9YIXDAweAOBj3Y29_D_bACzzhDLLhfh-zoQLfXBdMXzmgwYvVad7KxFBOCwiI3h6P64ROYUtx-Li51hPvvFI4rPKZC9md6L044_II_nHCKeryQ/s320/DBaugust1VC.jpg" width="200"> - vanille & chocolat's</a> look just about ready for a pastry case (again, my knife skills must be utterly lacking as I either smush or rip when I try to cut in straight lines - perhaps it's a continuation of being unable to paint within the lines).<br /><br /><a href="http://thebarmybaker.blogspot.com/2007/08/daring-bakersyep-thats-right-i-said.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSaBNGbleJ8EBCb1lF5xYBQQiUfECJOzdcztUnRBxoColnjDbHVmfYK4Ni_Sq3I82lvpOcd_Q4tXPcxJuepFvrL-KClQsX_UcY7tHjIqR4yQqiAKxnSKlh8usa7oa4H4ZR8CV28eGmH8pb/s400/dbchallengeonetrimmed3.jpeg" width="200"> - the barmy baker</a> found the perfect piece of broken caramel with which to adorn this slice of tart. I also found her step by step photos gorgeous and I liked that she too makes fingerprints in her tart shells when filling them.<br /><br /><a href="http://dessertfirst.typepad.com/dessert_first/2007/08/daring-bakers-c.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://dessertfirst.typepad.com/dessert_first/images/2007/08/26/choccarameltart.jpg" width="200"> - but Dessert First</a> is my favorite because I, too, am a sucker for the long rectangular tart pans. I don't have one, but I'm getting one as soon as I finish this post.<br /><br />So thank you, <a href="http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Daring Bakers</a>, for inspiring me to make this tart over the weekend. Know you'll be receiving a letter from me soon asking if there's room for one more.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-33765594828057506222007-08-27T10:19:00.000-04:002007-08-28T09:44:12.044-04:00Bed PicnicI love 'em, he hates 'em. I know why I love picnics in bed, though. I grew up in a one-bedroom apartment on the upper east side and my parents' bedroom was in the living room. They ate in bed all the time, really complex meals like hot dogs, french fries, and baked beans, while watching Miss America, the Yankees, or dad's favorite Entertainment Tonight. When my brother and I got to eat dinner in their bed it was the kind of fun that only emerges from something you know you're not supposed to be doing - eating in bed. My mother would lay out towels so we wouldn't spill on their sheets and I don't remember what we did with our glasses, but I do remember fighting with my brother over the fries and the feeling that while our living situation might have been less than ideal, we were a family that loved each other and managed not to kill one another even though we shared one bathroom and gave little thought to modesty.<br /><br />So now I live in a much bigger apartment in a much worse neighborhood and we still manage to eat all our meals in bed. The living room is both uncomfortable and un-airconditioned, and there's no real table to speak of suitable for plates - also that table is more of a storage piece than a dining piece. We're getting a new couch in a couple of weeks and, its comfort pending, I might be convinced to eat more meals out of bed, but sitting cross-legged across from the man I love seems more intimate than sitting side by side on a couch hunched over a coffee table.<br /><br />Friday afternoon I was craving something luxurious, I almost wanted to go out to dinner save for the fact that Friday at 3 is no time to go searching for Friday at 8 reservations and I hadn't taken a shower and I was wearing jeans, an Old Navy T, and flip flops. So instead I decided we'd have the <a href="http://figsoliveswine.blogspot.com/2007/08/catalan-tomato-bread-pa-amb-tomquet.html" target="_blank">Catalan tomato sandwiches</a> from Figs Olives Wine. Whole Foods, for those keeping score, does not carry Serrano ham. After a couple of phone calls, however, it was determined that Citarella did and so I took the subway two stops during a late lunch break to pick up provisions including, the ham, the bread (a pugliese), and some unthought of delicacies. I thought there should be some variety so I bought a St. Marcellin cheese and a small hunk of foie gras. <br /><br />So that evening, we spread out on our bed and started slicing bread. I had a box of unusual dark red, almost purple, larger than cherry, smaller than plum tomatoes leftover from Wednesday's market, and we destroyed those utterly as we ground them into our bread. The taste was perfect, and the foie and cheese were nice alternates as well - not as good as the oozing-with-unctuous-yellow-fat foie I had in France when last I visited (it was the only time I think I have ever played the "guest" card with my friends and took them up on their offer to finish up the last of the foie grsa). <br /><br />We drank an absolutely fantastic rose which, obviously, I can now not find. A 2006 vin gris from producer Robert Sinskey which was so light in color as to be an almost yellow/peach color, and which was a perfect accompaniment to our sandwiches. <br /><br /><img src="https://www.vinfolio.com/image/label/109076/2006-front.jpg?scaled&width=283&height=386"><br /><br />We were relaxed, we were looking forward to a weekend of few responsibilities, it was a good picnic.<br /><br />And I didn't have two bratty kids trying to steal all the good food. Sorry mom and dad!Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-88052503557997288362007-08-24T11:00:00.000-04:002007-08-24T12:47:24.328-04:00Another week, another assortment of tagsWhile I await more of can this this weekend, here's what I looked at this week:<br /><br /><a href="http://swankypanky.blogs.com/bakeandshake/2007/08/vanilla-bean-ch.html" target="_blank">Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Caramelized Figs</a> - Notwithstanding the fig ordering debacle, I think there are still enough salvageable figs to make this this weekend. If only the man of the house loved figs as I do...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/madeleines-recipe.html" target="_blank">Madeleines</a> - One can really never have too many recipes, especially if one, say, is a new eponymous shop that has opened in New York whose madeleines tasted quite similar to sponge or rubber.<br /><br /><a href="http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2007/08/fig-almond-tartelettes.html" target="_blank">Fig Almond Tartelettes</a> - But do I have enough usable figs to make this as well? I fear not as I really am crazing fig ice cream, seconded by chocolate fig cake. Perhaps I'll take a chance at the figs from the corner or Whole Foods.<br /><br /><a href="http://figsoliveswine.blogspot.com/2007/08/catalan-tomato-bread-pa-amb-tomquet.html" target="_blank"><br />Catalan Tomato Bread</a> - Dear god, this is tonight's dinner. I must find Serrano ham asap! Holy crap it looks good.<br /><br /><a href="http://cakesinthecity.blogspot.com/2007/07/confiture-de-tomates.html" target="_blank">Tomato Confiture</a> - Damn - I didn't make it to the market this morning, maybe I'll sneak out now.<br /><br /><a href="http://tartelette.blogspot.com/2007/08/pistachio-cherry-financiers.html" target="_blank">Pistachio Cherry Financiers</a> - Mmmmm, sour cherry season is pretty much over. Next year?Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807250949698732435.post-26959772584299783912007-08-22T12:01:00.000-04:002007-08-22T12:55:49.752-04:00A Tale of Two Fruit DeliveriesFrom October through March, I have the good fortune of spending my money on beautiful California citrus (and a couple of pomegranates as well). The farm, <a href="http://ripetoyou.com/" target="_blank">Rising C. Ranches</a>, provides me with awesome Meyer lemons, pink lemons, various limes, and the amazing Moro blood oranges. I may well buy 150 pounds of citrus per season. The stuff shows up when I schedule it too, they make arrangements to ship on specific days so that it can arrive on specific days, occasionally they throw in a sample of something I haven't ordered before (Bergamot anyone?), and are generally really attentive and customer driven. And not really all that expensive when you remember that Meyer lemons can top 5 bucks a pound at various fancy markets.<br /><br />This summer I wanted figs. We really aren't in the proper climate for local figs, so I looked westward again. I only found two places shipping fresh black mission figs, and I chose the less expensive of the two. And less expensive is a highly relative term. The price range for a single box of figs was 8-20 dollars - per pint sized box, so I was pretty hopeful that the money would be well spent. I called the company before I placed my order to determine what shipping company they used so that I could prepare for the delivery on my side (I know the driver for one of the shipping companies and he arranges to personally schedule delivery times with me to ensure I am there to receive packages - I love you Terrence, man!). After being assured that all was copacetic, I placed my order while trying to inwardly justify the price.<br /><br />Then I plotted the wonderful things I was going to do with my bounty: would I make a chocolate fig cake like the one the pastry chef at Grocery was once known for? Would I make fig ice cream, fig tart, fig cheesecake? I was psyched for whatever would get made and also pretty jacked for merely sinking my teeth into the first fig savoring the texture and the taste. <br /><br />The first thing that went wrong was that my shipping confirmation arrived with tracking information for the other shipping company, the one I didn't have a personal relationship, the one that was under no obligation to wait until I was home from work before delivering. The farm was closed so I called the shipping company and mercifully was allowed to waive the signature requirement over the phone and authorize the leaving of the package on my doorstep unattended.<br /><br />So I got home yesterday evening to find that my nice next door neighbor had taken the box from my unattended doorstep into her apartment and now gave it back to me, demurring when I offered her some figs of her own. I eagerly opened the box.<br /><br />The first thing I noticed was that the pound of pluots I had thrown onto the order on a whim were packed in a plastic bag wrapped in paper and tossed next to a large box full of figs. So, basically, completely vulnerable to the movement that is national shipping. As a result, each was severely bruised and battered and susceptible to bacteria. In other words, I wasn't eating them. I opened the box within the box to find my figs which were packed very well atop several cool packs. Unfortunately, the cool packs weren't insulated and condensation was everywhere. Moisture content is the enemy.<br /><br />The figs, upon first glance, looked fine. I started unpacking them to remove any that were moisture damaged and to make the others were toweled off to prevent spoilage. What greeted me was truly disheartening. In each of the seven boxes I bought, 1/3-1/2 of the figs were unusable. Some had holes that looked astonishingly similar to animal teeth marks; some were so overripe they had burst, and yes, some were already molding. Of those that were salvageable, more than half were way riper than I thought they should have been given the mandatory next day shipping requirement which, for me, implied that they were picked and packed on the same day. <br /><br />I angrily called the company and to its credit I was refunded for about half of the figs, but they sounded both suspicious and uncaring. Much as they were when I mentioned the shipping company issue and was asked, "well what do you want me to do?" Uh, lady, an apology might be a good start. I tasted my first fig and it was ordinary. I'm still going to use the salvageable ones and be happy for fresh figs of any stripe, but I'm looking at the guy on the corner with the 2 dollar boxes of figs with more friendliness in my gaze.<br /><br />I haven't named names here because I'm not out to ruin someone's business. Perhaps got a bum crop and a bum customer service representative, and I certainly don't need to prejudice anyone based on my experience (an experience that will not be repeated, mind you, and the idea of repeating it filled me with suppressed mirth as the representative asked me if I wanted the credit back on my credit card or applied to a future order - as if), but you'll be able to figure it out based on the limited number of people selling figs, if you are so inclined. I was just really pissed and really disappointed. <br /><br />But do check out Rising C. Ranches - they're amazing.Yelenahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00513062012309461001noreply@blogger.com0