What are you eating?

[imperfection]

I love Peking duck. 

[Brünnhilde forever]

Where is everybody? OK, I eat it myself!

[Brünnhilde forever]

For all my friends here, Adeau to summer! My last ones out of the garden. 

[mozartsneighbor]

I don't know the name either but I've eaten in a couple Korean restaurants there, you got the location exactly right. However there is a better one in Soho, just one street to the west of Frith St (Bar Italia), off Old Compton St. Great area.

I don't know that one, thanks for the tip. I will give it a try next time I'm in London.

[SonicMan46]

Where is everybody? OK, I eat it myself!

Lis - that veal looks delicious, and thanks for the flowers - will await next season for more! 

Dined at our small Italian bistro the other night and I had my usual dish:  Veal piccata, nicely sauteed w/ a wondefully 'reduced' tart lemon sauce & plenty of capers - yummy!  Instead of a side of pasta (which is wonderful!), I usually get the broccoli sauteed - tons of fresh garlic shavings & other herbs added.  Meal starts w/ a fresh Romaine lettuce salad w/ an excellent homemade dressing - almost like a vinigarette of V8 juice (hard to explain) and some nice bread.  Wine - yes, of course! Usually a better Italian Pinot Grigio or the Rosenblum Viognier - had the latter (and a recommendation if you're getting into this grape).

Tonight, we ate at our mountain bistro right down the road - I had the grilled duck breast cooked medium rare w/ a berry/merlot sauce - superb!  Came w/ two sides, so shared some potato fries w/ Susan & also had some asparagus (just steamed - heart healthy) - wine for me, a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir, Brancott from New Zealand - I'm absolutely sold on their Sauvignon Blanc; the reds from that island country are improving tremendously - 

 

[Brünnhilde forever]

I only go through that about twice a year, get up at five, make a big batch of sweet yeast dough and then make it into three batches of Apfelnudeln and Schmalznudeln. Two thirds goes in the freezer, the others I manage quite nicely to have for morning and afternoon tea and in between snacks.

Dave: you mentioned heart-healthy asparagus - also good for at least four nightly trips to the bathroom, but that is OT - my schmalznudeln violate all the current dire warnings of early and painful deaths because generous helpings of pork lard are used to grease the baking pans, which makes for those delicious brown crusts on the rolls!

[Papageno]

Where is everybody? OK, I eat it myself!

Looks cancerous...

[Lilas Pastia]

Last Saturday, my daughter-the-sexy-cop, my NY friend and I had a scrumptious meal at Shun-Lee's, a Mid-town Manhattan chinese restaurant. We shared a bottle of excellent zinfandel over crunchy fried alligator and tasty duck meat, with a few mixed dim-sum appetizers thrown in. Believe it or not, I just realize now we didn't take any pictures . Which is why I can't post this in the GMG Members you actually met thread. Boohooohoo .

But memories live on...

[SonicMan46]

Last Saturday, my daughter-the-sexy-cop, my NY friend and I had a scrumptious meal at Shun-Lee's, a Mid-town Manhattan chinese restaurant..........

André - on my last visit to NYC, we ate at that restaurant - excellent!  Unfortunately, nothing available like it in my town in Norh Carolina - 

Today was interesting - the LOML, Susan, has been taking horse lessons, so today I went for my first lesson & did quite well, in my mind (use to ride horses in my teen years some 40+ years ago!) - we both had a good time; reason is that there are plenty of opportunities to ride horses in our area, i.e. NC-VA mountains & on the coastal areas (and, of course, in between), so come spring we will likely be doing some horsing around! 

So, we felt really into this North Carolina scene and pick up some PIG MEAT (coarse chopped) w/ cole slaw from Little Richards (shown below) - Susan cooked up some fresh green beans w/ tomatoes & garlic - added a light Pinot Noir - delicious & a great day.

P.S.  Hope that Allan doesn't read this post - I know that he would like to sample that Lexington Barbecue!   

[toledobass]

Damn you.......

[Lilas Pastia]

ndré - on my last visit to NYC, we ate at that restaurant - excellent!  Unfortunately, nothing available like it in my town in Norh Carolina -  Cry

Hey, what a coincidence!  . This was the culinary high point of our 4-day visit in the Big Apple. We had goodish meals at various eateries such as Connolly's (W.45th), as well as an italian restaurant or two I forgot already. A chicken kebab on pita from the sidewalk vendor left a bigger impression. Delicious! One of the places I wish I'd never visited is The Golden Corral. My, this is US kwizin at its worst  . A simple hamburger at Fuddruckers (Albany) left a much better impression.

[orbital]

Well I've made 2 higher gluten flour pizzas so far and I'm not really sure it's gonna work out.  I think perhaps a mixture of bread and AP flour may be better.  The dough is super tough compared to AP and the first one I tried I ended up not rolling out thin enough. It was really too chewy and bread like.  The second I made much thinner and while I liked the results it turned out more like a NY style pizza with a good crispy bite to it.  Good but not what I'm looking for. I don't think the dough responds well to the lower temp of 500. I have 3 more of these things to use up then I think I might try and spike some AP with just a touch of the higher gluten bread flower. 

Allan

Well, my pizza experimenting days are over and I think I am pretty close to what I started out to do which is to make a true NY style pizza. I've experimented with many hydration/temperature/yeast/sugar levels and came to the conclusion that there are two very important things to deliver a good pizza: Fermentation and high heat. To my surprise, high gluten flour did not work the way I thought it would and I achieved much better results with high quality bread flour. From what I can tell if you are to use a high gluten flour you should increase the hydration levels so that the dough can be rolled properly.
I employ a triple fermentation method with a wet dough (around 60%) and cook at about 800F. The pizza comes out in about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes perfectly charred. As for the sauce, absolutely no olive oil at those temperatures. Fresh tomatoes with salt and herbs is just what this pizza needs.

[Mozart]

My friend turned me on to eating chickpeas. Anyways some issues concering the nutritonal info.

I bought a bag of dried chickpeas today and it says 1/4 cup (45g) of chickpeas have 168 calories...That must be wrong no? Do they add something to give it that many calories?


On this website http://www.calorieking.com/foods/food.php?amount=1&unit=110697&category_id=34646&brand_id=1&food_id=69896&partner=

1 cup of chickpeas
Nutrition Facts
Calories 269
(Kilojoules 1124)
       % DV**
Total Fat   4.2 g   7%
   Sat. Fat   0.4 g   2%
Cholesterol   0 mg   0%
Sodium   11 mg   0%
Total Carbs.   45.0 g   15%
   Dietary Fiber   12.5 g   50%
   Sugars   7.9 g   
Protein   14.5 g   
Calcium   80.4 mg   
Potassium   477.2 mg   


The bag is in spanish, but I don't see any ingredients but they look like another others I bought...

[Lethevich]

Finally found somewhere that sells taleggio - it is a favourite of mine, but I hadn't had any for around two years due to losing a source to buy from. Such an incredible cheese - so tangy and flavourful, and either spreadable or able to be sliced. The rind is something special too - the worst smelling thing I have yet to encounter in this life. I ate it with oat biscuits and salad with grapes + apple.

[toledobass]

my new favorite (SFW) website:

http://foodporndaily.com/



Allan

[SonicMan46]

Tonight, a second try at a new restaurant in town, the Ombu - an absolutely gorgeous place (hope that it lasts in this economy!) - the menu is quite eclectic w/ plenty of interesting options; the wine list is superb - tonight I had a couple of glasses of Steele Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara.

Susan & I both started w/ the Hydroponic Bib Salad - crisp & tender lettuce leafs w/ nuts & cheese, plus a light dressing - a joy to eat!  She had the New Zealand Lamb Chops w/ beans/figs & pommes frites (lightly fried and just delicious; not as thin as usual but crisp).  I had the Salmon Blackened w/ skillet potatoes (like thicker hash browns) and asparagus (tender and tasty).  Shared a dessert w/ a couple of cappuccinos.  We'll be returning in the near future! 

[SonicMan46]

A new discovery for me tonight - Quinoa - a seed/grain product from South America, and a popular Incan food - reference HERE!

Basically a carb/protein food w/ a fairly bland taste (kind of like 'cream of wheat') - accompanied w/ an Italian chicken dish w/ tomatoes/olives/onions - when combined w/ this mixture a very nice combination; the Quinoa is high in protein & fiber - we plan to explore future preparations, including a mixed pepper dish that was on the box!

Any other experiences w/ this product?  As some of you may know, I'm a fanatic about the history of the American continents, and to think that I'm eating a grain/seed that was considered a noble part of the Incan diet absolutely is thrilling! Hmmm - 

 

[mozartsneighbor]

I made some Vanille Kipferl, my favorite Austrian cookie. It is a cookie made using the sanding method so has kind of a Scottish short-bread texture and flavor -- the big difference is they are tossed in vanilla sugar at the end and are, of course, crescent shaped. Delicious.

[SonicMan46]

I made some Vanille Kipferl, my favorite Austrian cookie. It is a cookie made using the sanding method so has kind of a Scottish short-bread texture and flavor -- the big difference is they are tossed in vanilla sugar at the end and are, of course, crescent shaped. Delicious.
 

MN - those cookies of yours do look delicious! 

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, there is a historic Moravian tradition that dates back to the 1750-60s - the Moravians had wonderful music/seasonal traditions, which included some unique foods & desserts, including a favorite of ours, Moravian Ginger Cookies; these are some of the thinnest cookies on the planet - crisp (but melting in your mouth) w/ just a 'biting' ginger taste - the statement that your can't eat just one is not even applicable here - you can't stop eating a dozen or two!  Susan & I proved that tonight!  If you get a chance to eat these cookies, don't pass over the experience - 

[SonicMan46]

A few posts back in this thread, I commented on a 'new discovery' for us, i.e. Quinoa grain from South America; on the box was a recipe for Quinoa Stuff Peppers - well, Susan made these peppers tonight and the meal was just delicious; the mushrooms & quinoa gave the stuffing a 'meaty' quality - the recipe below was a little bland for me, so we'll try some additions in the next attempt, i.e. a little cilantro & some chile pepper (not much), and maybe a little cumin? 

If interested, check out the Quinoa Site HERE - please reply back if other recipes are tried positively - thanks - 

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers (from the back of the Traditional Box)
(4 Servings)
1 cup Traditional Quinoa
2 cups Water
4 large or 6 medium  Green Peppers
1 medium Onion, diced
1/2 lb. fresh Mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 - 28 oz can Tomatoes, coarsely diced (reserve juice)
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
1 - 12 oz jar Mexican Salsa
2 Tbs. Dry Sherry
10 oz Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Pre-heat oven to 325° F. Cook traditional quinoa following basic directions (add 1 cup quinoa to 1 1/2 cups boiling water, return to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes). Steam 4 large or 6 medium green peppers until soft but not limp. In a large skillet, saute the onion and mushrooms in butter. Add the diced tomatoes (reserve the juice). Add the crushed garlic and Mexican salsa. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the sherry and simmer 10 more minutes. Fold in quinoa. Place peppers in baking dish and fill with quinoa mixture. This will take about half the mixture. Thin remainder with reserved juice and pour around peppers.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over peppers and bake in 325° F. oven for 30-35 minutes.