You seemed interested.
Judging from the whopping 5 comments to my post about the annoying reader/commenter in my Jacques Pepin book, I thought I'd conclude the story. I've finished the book--it was good, read it if you're interested in Monsieur Pepin or cooking, but don't rush out and spend $15 on it or anything. Plus, there really weren't any recipes I was dying to try.
Anyway, our reader took a break from commenting after the "chopsticks!" outburst, and I was starting to forgive him/her, until we got to Jacques's wife's recipe for pork ribs and red beans. This warranted a "ho hum" comment. Just when I was starting to get annoyed again, I turned the page to begin a new chapter. There are little line drawings over the chapter titles, and this chapter showed pictures of different kinds of mushrooms. The reader actually IDENTIFIED the different mushrooms in the illustration: "hygrophorus camarophyllus," cantharellus cibarius," "clavulina cristata," etc. And finally, one of the last recipes in the book, Semi-Dry Tomatoes and Mozzarella Salad (which actually sounds really good, sort of a caprese with roasted tomatoes), is deemed "too campy" by the reader. Campy??? It's not like it's a Jello mold or sandwich loaf, for goodness sake.
I hate this reader.
And in more food-related news, I'll tell you about my dinner with my parents and Nate at Eva in Greenlake on Saturday night. This place is fantastic--REALLY reasonably priced, fantastic food, good wine. Most of the food is local/organic, too. Nate ordered the golden tomato and basil pesto soup, which was great, but of course not hot enough for me. (I am such a nutcase when it comes to hot soup.) Then we shared a big bowl of mussels (only $14!)--they were in a parsley/garlic/almond sauce that was fantastic with bread after we ate all of the mussels (fantastic eaten just with a spoon too). For my entree, I had the pork loin (SO GOOD!) with corn maque choux, aioli, and frisee. This was only $16 for a huge amount of food--I could definitely see a more expensive restaurant charging over $20 for this. And then for dessert, we shared the brown sugar spice cake with stewed peaches and buttermilk ice cream. This was so delicious. (I sometimes read the blog of Eva's pastry chef--check out this dessert. I was going to order it, because I loooove Ding Dongs, but the spice cake/peaches/buttermilk combination was too good to pass up.)
Anyway, our reader took a break from commenting after the "chopsticks!" outburst, and I was starting to forgive him/her, until we got to Jacques's wife's recipe for pork ribs and red beans. This warranted a "ho hum" comment. Just when I was starting to get annoyed again, I turned the page to begin a new chapter. There are little line drawings over the chapter titles, and this chapter showed pictures of different kinds of mushrooms. The reader actually IDENTIFIED the different mushrooms in the illustration: "hygrophorus camarophyllus," cantharellus cibarius," "clavulina cristata," etc. And finally, one of the last recipes in the book, Semi-Dry Tomatoes and Mozzarella Salad (which actually sounds really good, sort of a caprese with roasted tomatoes), is deemed "too campy" by the reader. Campy??? It's not like it's a Jello mold or sandwich loaf, for goodness sake.
I hate this reader.
And in more food-related news, I'll tell you about my dinner with my parents and Nate at Eva in Greenlake on Saturday night. This place is fantastic--REALLY reasonably priced, fantastic food, good wine. Most of the food is local/organic, too. Nate ordered the golden tomato and basil pesto soup, which was great, but of course not hot enough for me. (I am such a nutcase when it comes to hot soup.) Then we shared a big bowl of mussels (only $14!)--they were in a parsley/garlic/almond sauce that was fantastic with bread after we ate all of the mussels (fantastic eaten just with a spoon too). For my entree, I had the pork loin (SO GOOD!) with corn maque choux, aioli, and frisee. This was only $16 for a huge amount of food--I could definitely see a more expensive restaurant charging over $20 for this. And then for dessert, we shared the brown sugar spice cake with stewed peaches and buttermilk ice cream. This was so delicious. (I sometimes read the blog of Eva's pastry chef--check out this dessert. I was going to order it, because I loooove Ding Dongs, but the spice cake/peaches/buttermilk combination was too good to pass up.)
posted by UW Nutrition at 10:45 AM
4 Comments:
I'm interested based on the mussels alone! That sounds incredible. Inspired by your post, I have to tell you about my dinner tonight. The Butcher Shop, South End, right across from Heaven (a.k.a. Hammersley's). We shared an antipasto platter filled with their own cured meats, olives, caponata, pecorino romano, and fresh figs. I went on to an heirloom tomato salad and D had veal sweetbreads. Dessert was the kicker. A chocolate sampler. Not a chocolate dessert sampler, but pure unadulterated, dark chocolate. Big hunks--three of them--with labels and taste descriptions (bitter, fruity, spicy, etc.) and little rectangles of the most perfect toasted brioche. I only made it through half of the platter, but guess what I'm having for lunch tomorrow!
Oh...I love heirloom tomato salads. This place 3 blocks from our house had this awesome heirloom tomato salad special all summer--an heirloom tomato cut into slices and skewered with big chunks of fresh mozzarella with a balsamic dressing, roasted garlic cloves, and fresh basil. Alas, it's off the menu now.
Anyway, that dessert sounds absolutely amazing. I just had a realllly rich brownie but I could go for some more chocolate. But what else is new?
Any chance you want to post the tomato and mozzarela salad recipe? =)
One of the staffers at school is leaving on Wed so I made her a cheesecake tort. It just so happens that this staffer is the one I resolved to ask out next semester before graduation. So tomorrow I stop by to ask her out. Wish me luck.
James
Unfortunately, I returned the book to the library already. From what I remember, it involved slow-roasting tomatoes, and then cooling them (maybe not until cold, but at least not hot) and serving them with sliced fresh mozzarella and fresh basil leaves (I think Jacques might have put some capers and lemon juice on top, too). Here's a recipe for the slow-roasted tomatoes (http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005/08/better-living-through-slow-roasting.html).
Ooh, good luck with the asking out! Let me know what happens.
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