Cowprintrabbit's Profile
Helena Withdrawal (Caesarea, Isreal)
We used to eat at Restaurant Helena once a week; I am seriously in withdrawal! Have emailed them several times for recipes since we moved back to USA, no response, possibly because I'm writing in English? My written Hebrew is grade-school level...
Going to try to attempt a facsimile of their Shrimps and Scallops in Ouzo tonight, and maybe some flatbread to go with. There's no mention of either in the Uri Buri cookbook someone gave me when we left so am improvising unless someone has recipes?
Veuve Clicquot CEW: what do I have?
Asked a friend coming through duty free to pick us up a bottle of Veuve Clicquot since it's so expensive here. What he brought back was $35 more that we were expecting, and is called Veuve Clicquot Cuvee Edouard Werle. From reading The Widow Clicquot (an excellent book!) I know that ol' Eddie was the widow's business partner and successor, but what does that mean for my bottle of champagne?
Latke aftermath
Cooking that hot for that long in nonstick scares me - we have a parrot and I read something a few years ago about teflon, etc should only be used for as long as it takes to scramble eggs if you have pet birds...
Latke aftermath
* In fact, I took one, stuck a wick in it, lit it and it burned for 8 days! * hee hee!
I had a couple turn out that way (the dogs liked them!) until the oil came up to heat - I had our gas stove turned up as high as it would go; but it's the kind with the propane tank outside - I think my best friend's in the US get hotter...
To Box or not
I ask for food to be boxed if I know I can get it rerrigerated within a reasonable time - DH and I have REALLY sensitive stomachs and get sick if the food was even considering maybe spoiling. I prefer restaurants that box for you, most restaurant plates are so heavy it's clumsy to lift with one hand and scrape with the other - not to mention the old knocking over the wine glass with the styrofoam container trick.
My favorite boxing story, though, is the our last night in a hotel before moving abroad. I had ordered Filet Oscar and couldn't finish it; and wanted to take it back to our dog waiting in the room. I didn't want to clog the room sink with crab and hollandaise debris, so I asked the waiter to rinse off the steak and box it without any of the sides. He was naturally curious so I admitted it was for canine consumption and got a huge smile! When we got back to the room and opened the box, there was not only my leftover filet, but a stranger's porterhouse bone, both neatly rinsed! My canine daughter enjoyed herself that night!
Family Lost in the Kitchen
what is it with mothers and dull knives? I have never cut myself in my own kitchen (knock wood) but I ended up with a paring knife almost through my palm in hers due to lack of clean cutting boards and improper/dull knives...
She HAS sharp knives, but never uses them, and I am finally allowed to use them at 31, only under supervision, and only after reminding her of the above incident every time I visit...
5 Kitchen Gadgets you can't live without???
It's actually pretty small, it will effectively do about 1/2 cup of something at a time. What i use it for the most is to mince garlic; I've got a bad shoulder on the my knife hand arm so the less I have to use a knife repetitvely the better. A garlic press is too much force, too.
I have the Williams Sonoma version of the as-seen-on-TV veggie chopper, too, but it didn't really make my list because, while better than hand chopping, it requires my whole body weight to get tomatoes and cucumbers through. And that I do make large salads with - we go through several gallons of Israeli salad a week!
Latke aftermath
I was afraid of that - will letting it sit a month before cleaning hurt it? I mean, it's clean enough to cook in, it's just ugly...
Latke aftermath
OK, my first year making latkes - they turned out great. My husband is still raving!
BUT my gorgeous deep 5 layer stainless skillet with the helper handle on the far side (because I'm a weakling and can't lift it one-handed) has burnt on oil splatters all up the sides. I tried a cream cleanser and an organic orange concentrate that said it would attack oil. No go - hubby is going to bring me Bon Ami the first week of February when he's back in the States on business; but I hate to wait that long.
We don't eat much fried food, so I've never run into this problem before - how does everyone else clean their latke pan?
5 Kitchen Gadgets you can't live without???
spring-loaded tongs
salad tossing/chopping scissors
salad spinner
and best of all - one of those chopping things like you see at the state fair (spring loaded, with the accordion shaped blade that goes up and down and round and round)
Crepes (Palacsinta) Hortobagy
While on vacation in Budapest, I loved the Crepes Hortobagy (crepes with chicken in a sour cream/paprika sauce) so much I had it at least once a day. Now I'm back home wanting to make it for myself but not finding much online. Can anyone share their Hungarian grandma's (or grandpa's!) recipe?
Seattle breakfast w/o margarine
Cool, thank you! She was not aware of the new location (they love the old one, but it was too far from the condo.)
Homemade slice-and-bake cookies with design inside?
I'm wondering if two chocolate ropes the same size and one fatter one, with plain dough around the outside would make a reasoble Mickey Mouse - fun for kids if it worked!
I'm also thinking a fat orange rope with a skinny green one pressed into a dent in the top might make a pumpkin cookie.
Uh oh, I feel a cookie making session coming on! My neighbors should be happy :-)
Seattle breakfast w/o margarine
My sister has a condo in Seattle near Lake Union; she is there about once a month so they don't really have cooking stuff there. She would like to find a good breakfast place that doesn't use margarine, organic would be a plus, too. I had recommended Tilth, but they only do brunch on Sundays and they're normally heading back out of town by then.
Any suggestions for her?
What's your Salt Fetish?
I have low blood pressure and have to indulge my salt cravings or I get dizzy when I stand :-)
Used to eat salt out of the shaker as a kid; had to stop buying peanutbutter because it's really not meant to be eaten by the 1/2 jarful. Why is such a good salt source so fattening? Pickles, olives (cracked Syrian, please!), soy sauce, potato chips - ecxuse me while I go raid the kitchen...
First date advice; need help
I love the Pasta Freska idea! My sister and bro-in-law took us there a few years ago and it was wonderful. If my sister likes it, it is a good restaurant - she is the pickiest eater I have ever met...
Where has the great dim sum gone?
I second Noble Court and Top Gun (either the Seattle or South Bellevue locations)
Ageist service problems -- paranoia or shared experience?
Not just in restaurants, we have walked out of car dealerships and jewelry stores when they bypassed us to wait on older customers who came in after us. Then I developed two silver streaks in my otherwise brown hair - problem solved! (note - I am still only 30; we go grey early on my mom's side...)
First REAL Food memory
I would have been 3 or 4; the open-faced shrimp sandwiches served in Harrods (not the food hall, the restaurant upstairs.) I've only found them again once or twice in my life - and the ones at Ikea do NOT measure up.
Probably the next one was at a restaurant in Seattle on the water (Lake Union?) and being allowed to order my own filet mignon at 8. I had the most amazing baked marinated mushrooms as an appetizer that I've never found again. The steak was topped with crystallized ginger which my dad told me to eat as a joke and I ended up loving!
What's on your cookbook wishlist?
I just ordered technique books from Le Cordon Bleu and Jaques Pepin - I'm really excited, but have to wait till October to pick them up from my mom's where I have stuff shipped...
Crossing the US / Canada border with food. [split from Quebec]
Is duck poultry or game? My sister has a friend who brings and prepared confit de canard whenever he visits. He is always relieved to have gotten it over the border OK. I think once he said he gave them a bottle of wine to look the other way.
He also takes cases of WA wine back to BC with him and counts on losing a bottle per case to the customs agents. I'd be too nervous to try that!
What is THE dish to judge a cuisine by?
Growing up I thought my mom was very pious, she'd pray before every meal in a restaurant. Several years ago she confessed she was actually warming the butter between her palms and had always wondered why I got quiet when she did it!
Things I ate/drank in college that I will never eat again
I keep a box we brought with us from the US to shock and disgust dinner guests. Evidently it's a foreign concept for most of the world. It was a lifesaver in college and when I could barely stand and cook post spine surgery but now - no thanks!
fruit & veg washes/rinses
yep, here it's called "Fairy" but in the US I used Dawn. I keep a spray bottle of a few drips to a whole bottle of water around too. It's good for delicate things (and applying stained glass window film, but that's a different board...)
I figure if it's safe enough to wash my dishes and untensils with, it's safe enough to wash my food with.
What to do with leftover tenderloin????
Drool... I might add a touch of mustard to the vinaigrette, too!
What would you add to this roast beef sandwich to make it PERFECT?
I'm on a chutney kick right now, but I would use the semi-savory kind, not the jammy kind.
fruit & veg washes/rinses
I don't wash mushrooms, berries get a good rinse, and almost everything else including lettuce leaves go into a sink full of cold soapy water to soak briefly. If it's something durable I rub it before I rinse it, something like lettuce or parsley I just rinse and dry.
does anyone still buy instant coffee?? canned vegetables?? condensed soup??
Ditto on the tomato products, artichoke hearts, garbanzos, water chestnuts, pumpkin, mandarin oranges, and olives (much better here!), plus I prefer canned corn in salads. I also keep frozen broccoli and green beans because the produce here is not always reliable. Oh, and instant chicken broth - if you add a spoon or two extra powder you get something remotely resembling stock :-)
