ApprenticeGourmet's Profile
What bread[s] do you make for dinner? Is there a pattern to what you make or do you make your bread component according to what's for dinner? Recipes if you have winners please.
Normally we don't have bread with dinner unless we are having homemade soup (from leftover chicken or turkey...yum!) Then we'll either whip-up a quick cornbread.
Sometimes my dad will get the baking itch and make an amazing loaf of whole wheat bread using the recipe from the back of the King Arthur Whole-Wheat Flour bag. He uses molasses and olive oil, and it makes an insanely delicious loaf with a wonderful crumb. This doesn't happen often, however, because we'll eat way too much!
Beanscene Espresso - Oak Park, CA
There exists on almost every block in Southern California an outpost of the "chain who shall not be named". They brew mediocre coffee (badly), serve scalding hot tea, and have low-caliber baked goods. Sadly, the prevalence of this chain has pushed out many of the funky, local, high-quality coffee shops, especially outside of LA.
Luckily, for all of those in the Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks/Agoura Hills area, there is Beanscene Espresso in Oak Park. It's a small, one-outlet place in a strip mall squished between a scrapbooking store and a dentist. It may not be as serious as the Silver Lake heavy-hitters, but what they've got is wonderful.
What sent me through their doors was a cappuccino from the evil chain: not only was it too hot, the foam had the texture of styrofoam and the coffee had a nasty metallic, burnt taste. So I stopped by Beanscene and ordered a 20-ounce nonfat cappuccino. Their chalkboard is a great guide for coffee newbies or anyone curious about what different drinks are, as each drink is accompanied by a brief description (i.e., below Cappuccino it says "1/3 espresso, 1/3 milk, 1/3 foam"). Prices are in the moderate range, with my order being $3.95. They offer a variety of seasonal drinks, and a selection of "Blasts", blended beverages that come in a bunch of different flavors. Iced teas and water can be refilled for $0.50.
The cappuccinos are the perfect afternoon pick-me-up; the coffee's natural bitterness is tempered by the milk, leaving only the faintest impression of equal parts bitter and toasted. There is no skimping on foam, but it is a softer, more natural creature than that found in the drinks from the chain.
Food-wise, they have diverse offerings. I haven't tried anything except a biscotti (from Naughty Biscotti); they make some of their baked goods in-house, while others come from local bakeries. For example they offer loaf slices from Stone Ground Bakery in Agoura Hills and Suzy Lou Who bars from Susie the Baker. There is also oatmeal, granola, panini, and yogurt, so they would make a good breakfast stop.
Instead of taking your coffee to-go, hang around and benefit from their free Wi-Fi. So if you want great coffee and high-quality pastries, but don't want to give-up Wi-Fi, then ditch the chains and swing by Beanscene. I might even see you there!
AG
(Does anyone agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear opinions!)
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Beanscene Espresso
610 Lindero Canyon Rd, Oak Park, CA 91377
Creating a Cooking Club Curricula
Does anyone have experience doing this? I'd love to hear from some people who know what this entails...
Creating a Cooking Club Curricula
Thanks! Yeah, I really want to get them "hooked" by making something that they can eat pretty quickly. At school I'll do food safety and knife skills (without actual knives, though; they're not allowed at campus). We'll probably go to farmer's markets on weekends so they get to see where their food comes from and how to pick out the best stuff.
Creating a Cooking Club Curricula
I'm just about to enter my senior year of high school, and I have noticed a severe lack of cooking skills amongst my peers. To remedy this I am creating a cooking club to teach people the basics of cooking.
So I come to you, oh wise chowhounders, to help me refine my "lesson plan". My plan is to do most of the cooking outside of school but discuss choosing ingredients/knife skills/other tasks that don't immediately require food in school. Here is my current lesson plan (or order in which I will cover them).
1) Grains (rice, quinoa, pasta, couscous)
2) Vegetables
Roasting
Sauteing/caramelizing
Steaming
Potatoes
3) Salads
Vinaigrettes
Pairing ingredients
4) Chicken
Sauteing
Grilling
Roasting
5) Sauces and Marinades
6) Baking
Quickbreads
Cookies
Cakes
Pies
Bread
7) Meat
Roasting
Braising
Grilling
8) Seafood
Grilling
Sauteing
Baking
Suave, Sophisticated Deliciousness!
So I troll around Chowhound granted with the impossible task of narrowing down my lunch the next day in NYC. This is my only chance to eat in the city on my trip, so I wanted to make it count.
I hear a lot about Eleven Madison Park; they are booked. I hear about the great lunch deal at Jean Georges; also booked. Other choices turn up the same.
Well, luckily for me, I came across a few mentions of a little place called Tocqueville. I checked on open table, prepared for the worst, and...seats available! Score!
* * * * * * *
Fast-forward to the next day; I've been walking around New York for a few hours, it's hot, and I'm hungry. An air-conditioned restaurant is absolute heaven, and the maître d' and waiter are like angels. Here I am, a sweaty teenager in jean shorts, a flowery tank top, all alone, and they courteously offer to check any of my belongings. I hand them my shopping bag from The Strand, they hand me back the dainty tassled key to my personal locker. First impression: wow!
Into the dining room we go, and...what a beautiful space! Lit with an amber glow there is well-chosen art on the walls and an attractive large lighting fixture hanging from the center of the small dining room. Too bad there is no one else to share the space with; a couple, a group out for an elegant lunch, and two buddies will show up later, but for the first 20 minutes I am the only patron in the establishment. A little bit awkward, but kind of special, too.
After being served water one of the waiters comes over with a beautiful basket filled with house-made breads, sets down a small ceramic cup containing their house-made butter with sea salt, and offers me a selection of foccacia, brioche, sourdough, and maybe one other, but my attention was solely on the brioche, a golden-brown almost-orb topped with a few grains of coarse sea salt. The waiter suggests I try the sourdough, and I (of course) accept.
Brioche: a subtle buttery yellow on the inside, this is both light and rich at the same time. Divine, divine, divine!
Sourdough: crusty on the outside, chewy yet tender on the inside with the slightest sour kick. With the saltiness of the butter, a little bit of perfection.
I only eat half of each, because if the bread is so wonderful, I want to save room for the real meal!
But before I can finish my two halves of the breads, I am brought out an amuse-bouche of house-made duck prosciutto curled up atop some chopped pieces of cucumber, a slice of radish, and what I think was basil oil (not totally sure, though!). He tells me it is complements of the chef, and I feel particularly smug when neither the sophisticated older couple, obviously-rich group, or obviously-regular men get an amuse-bouche.
And from there, the meal begins!
Salad of Greenmarket Summer Vegetables: fresh, vibrant, summer on a plate! Vegetables both cooked or raw decorate the plate in a scattered line, accented with a smear of carrot puree, green tea-cucumber dressing, and some small tapioca-like pearls. Roe? No, I am told they are zucchini puree transformed through some feat of molecular gastronomy into chewy, slightly sour little balls. Beets (raw and cooked), carrots, new potatoes, some things I couldn't identify; overall, totally and irrevocably delicious.
Spiced Peking Duck Breast and Leg Terrine: a fancy meal that takes some inspiration from carne asada and other well-spiced summer meats. The duck breast is studded with a peppery, slightly spicy, absolutely amazing spice rub, yet the duck flavor still comes through via the chewy fat and the rare, gorgeously pink duck meat. Baby turnips add a sour-by-way-of-savory flavor, while rhubarb goes the way of sour-by-way-of-sweet. Charred escarole cream is herby, deep and absolutely marvelous with the duck. Overall, a stupendous, super-awesome meal.
The staff couldn't have been nicer or more polished, the food couldn't be better, and the space couldn't be more elegant. If you are looking for great food amidst classic New York elegance, Tocqueville is the place!
I don't know why this place wasn't absolutely packed...but it deserves to be!
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Tocqueville
1 East 15th Street, New York, NY 10003
Trapped Chowhound Seeks Aid!
Yeah, I'm thinking of changing my plans to Neptune; what are the best things to get there (or a board where this topic has already been covered)?
By the way, thank you very much everyone! You've been so supportive and awesome!
Trapped Chowhound Seeks Aid!
I can get a lot of good ethnic asian in LA, so that's not my priority. My plan is to hit Deluxe Town Diner for pancakes, then probably Toro or Coppa for lunch.
Trapped Chowhound Seeks Aid!
I'm back in my hometown of Lexington looking at colleges all over the East Coast. My relatives are reluctant to let me go, but I (luckily!) have a "free day" on Wednesday - sadly, this will only probably be breakfast, lunch, no dinner. (But please feel free to include bakeries/sweet/ice cream places! I am allowing myself to totally pig out here!)
My plan is to bike into the city and take the T to two Chowhound favorites. What are your recs?
(P.S. Being back where I grew up, I've already covered the nostalgia bases. Pizza at Bertuccis, honey cake at Alouette, Wilson Farms, Rancatores ice cream...some better than others, but all childhood staples. I want to try the new Boston, what the up-and-coming food scene is like on the East Coast. Another minor concern - I don't eat mammals (no pork, beef, lamb, horse, human, etc.), but all other creatures are fine (birds, fish, crustaceans, bugs, reptiles...).
Thank you all!!!!
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Wilson Farm
10 Pleasant St, Lexington, MA 02421
Bertuccis Restaurant
6 Plaza Way, Plymouth, MA 02360
Looking for recipes using Ras-al-Hanout
Rub on some salmon fillets, wrap in aluminum foil and pop on a medium grill until done. Time varies depending on the thickness of the fish.
Looking for small plates/tapas
Vinoteque on Melrose - great food, beautiful setting (if a little cramped), extensive wine selection, friendly staff.
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Vinoteque on Melrose
7469 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046
Trucks That Suck
I got nanaqueens at a farmers market...artificial banana flavor reminiscent of jello pudding and Nilla wafers. I could make a massive batch of the stuff for the price I paid for a tiny little container.
What to do with Cinnamon Basil???
try making a pesto with some olive oil, garlic, parmesan and a dash of lemon juice (or whatever your favorite pesto recipe is). Since tomatoes are just in season right now where I am I would recommend sliced heirloom tomatoes drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then topped with shredded basil, fresh mozzarella, and some pepper.
New Olive Garden Commercial Just Made Me Nauseous. Literally.
If I'm consuming that many calories, it better be amazing. Definitely NOT something from Olive Garden.
What do you make that is SOOO easy yet you impress yourself every time you make it?
Bittersweet chocolate mousse (especially if you serve it in nice glasses with homemade whipped cream). It's elegant, delicious, and everyone thinks you slaved over it. Mmm...
What do YOU consider "empty calories"?
Like most people, I'd say soda, fruit juice, mediocre candy/sweets, mayo-based anything (can make it just as creamier with yogurt) are all empty calories. Extra bread on my sandwich is also in that category, as well as crusts on pie. Just give me the filling any day.
On the bread/dessert note, I must say I love me some good bread or a high-quality dessert item. HOWEVER, I do not see the justification for insane amounts of butter, oil, heavy cream or any other rich ingredient in a recipe that, alas, I seem to see a lot of around here. Applesauce works wonders for moisture, as does yogurt.
Finally, bad meat. I don't eat red meat now, but I remember having to eat mediocre cuts of tough beef.
Looking for food-grade diatomaceous earth
Not to sound ignorant, but...what do you use it for?
when did you start to become interested in food?
When I was 15 and I lost about 50 pounds, I started caring more about what I ate. I had always enjoyed good food, and found helping out in the kitchen to be enjoyable, but only recently have I really gotten into cooking. Now I try to go to the best restaurants in my area, cook my own meals, Cooking Light is my favorite magazine, and I want to study to become a dietician, so I can guide people to the amazing world of good food!
Surprisingly Good Meal in Nordstroms
I just came back from a decent lunch at the Blue Stove in the Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks. Food is served as small plates to share, and the cuisine is nouveau American/Californian, with a small but well-rounded menu. Some produce is organic, and many of their dishes are vegetable-based, but there are carnivorous options available.
To start they came with a decent bread, with a fruity and fragrant olive oil for dipping. My friend and I had a chopped vegetable salad, which was fresh and crunchy, dressed lightly with a sherry vinaigrette. We split the lemon-scented risotto with scallops and haricot vert. The scallops were well-cooked and sweet, the risotto creamy but not without a subtle tooth. Haricot vert were firm, but slightly scorched. Then we had the lime-cilantro chicken tacos. Really, there could have been more cilantro, but the tiny fried tortilla shells were crisp and flavorful, and the chicken was very tasty. These were topped with shredded lettuce, raw veggies, and a sprinkling of queso fresco. Finally, for dessert, we split the molten chocolate cake with a raspberry liqueur filling, topped with a very nice whipped cream.
We were both satisfied with our meal, and with the decor; it had a relaxed, lounge vibe, and unlike other places in the mall was situated within the store, allowing us to escape from the passers by. Service was friendly and prompt. We'll probably go again. Much better than the Cheesecake Factory.
providence or Sona?
My birthday was a while ago, but we didn't go out to dinner; we were planning on going to the Bazaar, but we waited until too late, and they were booked.
Where do you recommend would be a quality, excellent place that isn't booked for the next 2 months?
Health and Flavor
Oh, yeah. It just frustrates me that people seem to equate 'low-calorie' with bland, chemical-laced packaged foods or flavorless chicken dishes. When I try to convince one person to do a lighter recipe, they complain before even trying it how "You can't lighten that up", or "That recipe's no good".
Health and Flavor
Thanks everybody! And I must admit, packaged chips, snacks, and soda isn't appealing to me anymore. The way I see it: quality over quantity, and the last bite tastes the same as the first, so why put so many bites in between?
Health and Flavor
Hey, Chowhounders-- I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place; over the past year or so I have lost 50 pounds, and as part of that I began paying attention (!) to what I eat, eating more vegetables and not eating anything with 4 legs (cows, pigs, sheep). However, as I began cooking more of what I ate I began to experiment with flavors.
Now I am much more interested in the best food possible, I feel torn between 'healthful food' and 'gourmet food'. How do YOU find your middle ground? And has anyone else felt this division?
"healthy" cooking for a fan of "unhealthy" food?
Yes, I swear by cooking light; however, I add a bit more spice than they require and use homemade whipped cream instead of 'non-fat whipped topping'. Egh.
I've also made the transfer from unhealthy-to-healthy food, and one tip I recommend is getting a bunch of veggies on your plate and taking a bite of vegetables with your meat. This helped me associate 'vegetables' that I didn't like with good taste. Now, I pop mushrooms like candy and have broccoli for a snack.
One last note: as others have said, you can't completely ditch your old favorites. Just dial back on portions. And finally, exercise, exercise, exercise! Even if its just a 30 min. walk, it'll make you feel better. Best of luck to ya!
Farfalla Westlake Village & Farfalla Los Feliz...same folks?
Hello, everyone! I went there for a lunch today and, to escape the rain, had a bowl of their papa e pomodoro soup and their mushroom risotto, while my fellow diner had the minestrone and we split the risotto. Everything was hot and comforting, although I must say the 'small' soup size is much more than I was expecting.
