Foodies Unite!

[ALady]

I recently made a cake for a relative's 60th birthday. It was a double layered orange flavoured sponge, covered in choc orange-frosting and filled with choc-malteser frosting. It also had more maltesers filled in the top, and chocolate shards around the outside.
Here is a pic:

That's a great looking cake MG :o  What a great 60th bday gift. :)

I just looked up Malteser.  Had no ideal what they were but they looked like Whoppers.  Go figure.  I guess its Mars' version of Hershey's Whoppers that we know so well over here in the States.  

Sorry, I didn't realise people wouldn't know what Maltesers are! But yeah, I love them and I figured the only way to make them better was to put them in a cake... or if Mars decided to make them 10 times bigger. Anyway I ate far too many when I made this but I figure a sugar-induced stomachache was a small price to pay.

Thanks everyone for your comments. No ALady, I am not a pastry chef, I just like cooking- especially baking, as I usually end up with something sweet and yummy at the end :)

Then I'm doubly impressed!  It really looks professional, and I bet it was delish.

Tonight I think I'm going to make red lentil & butternut squash dahl.

[Ruckus]

That soup that AMD and Vespa made sounds good.  I might give a go at some time. :)

Just picked up a sack of marrow bones at the Amish Market.  Gonna spend the day making some beef stock.  Tomorrow will be classic French.  Don't know what I'm doing yet because I haven't purchased my protein yet but it'll be something out of Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook. 8-)

[aMillionDreams]

eww.  I don't have a Bourdain cookbook yet.  Hmm....


How much did the marrow bones set you back, Ruckus?

[Ruckus]

eww.  I don't have a Bourdain cookbook yet.  Hmm....


How much did the marrow bones set you back, Ruckus?

Unfortunately, veal bones are preferred because of the higher collagen levels I believe, but you just can't find them anywhere because Americans don't eat veal so I settled for beef bones which still work fine (I've used them before).  At the Wegmans, they are 1.49/lb but they were out.  At the Amish Market, 1.99/lb.  I got 8 good sized sections that ran be about $6.50.  That should be enough for at least one or two 12qt. pots of stock.

I'm sure where you live, you have better access to local butchers and can get 'em cheaper and easier.

The Les Halles cookbook is great for classic French Bistro food.  As he reiterates over and over, once you get your stock right and plenty in reserve frozen, the rest of the cooking is easy.  The recipes are very traditional and can be found in most other French cookbooks.  What sets it apart (as many others have said) is Bourdain's unparalleled writing skills and sense of humor.  It is a very entertaining cookbook.

[mjkoehler]

THat's not a bad price on the marrow bones.

I have a serious man crush on Bourdain. That is one of the books on my list.

[megalicious]

did you ever get that calling all cooks cookbook, dylan? if so, tried any recipes yet?

on an unrelated note: i had tabouleh and hummus for lunch today, and it was delish.

Yeah, I got it.  It's awesome!  There are a ton of recipes in there, all southern homecookin'!  I've only tried a few appetizers from it so far but I have some dog-earred. The Blue Cheese Ball was good.  Do you recommend any in particular?

pretty much all the pickling/preserves recipes are great. peach pickles, although they sound gross, are especially awesome.

the next time i'm at my grandma's, i look up the page #'s for some of my personal favorites.

[Ruckus]

Snowed in Super Bowl dinner
mushroom soup, sauteed pencil thin asparagus with garlic and shallots, mashed potatoes with cream, butter, garlic, parsley and scallions and sirloin steaks with homemade demi.

Not a typical Super Bowl spread but it was good!  A nice way to get drunk, spend time NOT watching all the pregame crap.

[weeniebeenie]

Snowed in Super Bowl dinner
mushroom soup, sauteed pencil thin asparagus with garlic and shallots, mashed potatoes with cream, butter, garlic, parsley and scallions and sirloin steaks with homemade demi.

Wow. That sounds good.

[aMillionDreams]

Homemade linguini.  My god that was good.  Ate too much though.  I tried a 50/50 mix of semolina and AP flour, I think that's the way to go.

[AMightyCaporal]

my fiancee and I have been cooking up a storm! Enchilada's, lime marinated salad, black bean soup, deep dish pizza with spinach, bbq chicken pizza, bbq chicken sandwiches, oven stuffer, stuffing, mashed potatoes.... man oh man, its been some gooooood eatin over here in NJ!

[Janet]

Am very excited for this weekend.  Taking hubby away to Napa for the weekend.  Have reservations for dinner on Saturday at Bouchon (since that didn't happen in LV in December) and brunch at Ad Hoc the next day.  May have another surprise up my sleeve as well....

[Soulshine]

Am very excited for this weekend.  Taking hubby away to Napa for the weekend.  Have reservations for dinner on Saturday at Bouchon (since that didn't happen in LV in December) and brunch at Ad Hoc the next day.  May have another surprise up my sleeve as well....

Niiiiiice! My bro lives up there and there is no shortage of wonderful restaurants...enjoy yourselves. You are a good wifey! Have fun!   :)

[ALady]

Ooooh....enjoy, LucyLew!   :)

[vespachick]

Super jealous.  Oh, wine tastings, hot springs and eating a pork chop at Mustard's...how I miss thee.

[Ruckus]

Am very excited for this weekend.  Taking hubby away to Napa for the weekend.  Have reservations for dinner on Saturday at Bouchon (since that didn't happen in LV in December) and brunch at Ad Hoc the next day.  May have another surprise up my sleeve as well....

Nice L².  :)  Hope you make Bouchon this time.

[Janet]

The trip did not disappoint.  

Wanted to go to Mustards for a pork chop lunch on Saturday - but apparently everyone in the county had the same idea.  Was starving, so had to bail out of Mustards and headed over to Redds.

Bouchon was really good.  Apparently I like escargot.  Who knew?  The food was pretty straightforward french bistro.   I liked it, but truth be told, I thought it was more expensive than it needed to be.  Maybe it was the wine?  I guess a couple glasses of champagne and two bottles of wine will add up...

We picked up some goodies from the Bouchon Bakery to take home.  Will definitely head back to that bakery - and EdTomBell and I are very happy to live 75 min. away from that place!  If I lived any closer, well, it wouldn't be good...  ::)

Ad Hoc was spectacular.  My fav.   I cannot wait to try some recipes from the cookbook.  Part of the brunch menu (three courses) was their take on huevos rancheros.  Cormeal waffle that was amazing, slow poached eggs, chateaubriand slow roasted, then sliced off and grilled, incredible black beans (I cannot figure out of the life of me what they put in them but they were to die for) with cilantro and avocado and there was this smoked chile/jalapeno sofrito that brought it all together.  Yum!

It was a very good trip - and brought home a case of wine to boot!

[Ruckus]

Thanks for the reviews Lx2.  I'm glad you had a great time.  Ad hoc sounds great.  I guess I should try to do brunches at some nicer places.  I always feel the need to do dinner if I'm going to a quality restaurant.

Going back to my roots, I just cooked up some Japanese style chicken curry with rice and some chicken and snow pea stir fry with white bean paste, chili, garlic and ginger.

Also picked up about 5 lbs of beautiful beef short ribs which I'll be braising in Guinness this weekend.   8-)

[dragonboy]

Made fish cakes for the first time @ the weekend. We added a lot more parsley, chives & lemon rind than the recipe called for & they turned out great!

[Ruckus]

Made fish cakes for the first time @ the weekend. We added a lot more parsley, chives & lemon rind than the recipe called for & they turned out great!

Sounds great DB :)  Dude, you make fish cakes and risotto.  Man can cook for a Brit. ;)

[dragonboy]

Made fish cakes for the first time @ the weekend. We added a lot more parsley, chives & lemon rind than the recipe called for & they turned out great!

Sounds great DB :)  Dude, you make fish cakes and risotto.  Man can cook for a Brit. ;)

Haha don't forget I'm part Japanese like you  ;)

My biggest problem when cooking is remembering that not everyone likes their food as spicy as I do...I nearly killed my friend a few weeks ago cooking with cajun spice & fresh chilis  :-[