For the Week of October 9, 2006

Back home in Chicago last week I had an especially good apple tart. The interesting thing is that it was mostly empty, being a very high-lipped little thing (probably made in an individually-sized springform pan) with just a few sliced apples at the bottom. The paucity of apples was compensated for, however, on the one […]

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Figs in Red Wine Debrief

Again, there’s not a lot to say here except that depending on the ripeness of your figs you’ll want to be judicious about your macerating time. As any fig lover can tell you, a good ripe fig is not only sweet and delectable, it falls apart quite easily. Part of the reason is that it’s […]

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Moonbows and Chicken

The wife needed a little break from her hectic back-to-school schedule this weekend, so we arranged some overnight babysitting and hit the road for Corbin, Kentucky. It’s a little stretch of nowhere off interstate 75 that would be completely forgettable if it weren’t for two things. First, there’s the moonbow, an astronomical phenomenon that can […]

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Assembling Ze S’more

It’s all well and good to assemble an assortment of premium s’more ingredients: home-made graham crackers and marshmallows, perhaps some exotic chocolates. But how to put them all together, that’s the final critical step. Certainly there are more than a few folks out there who’d be just as happy to whip together an unheated chocolate […]

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Marshmallow Debrief

Not much to say here except measure everything out in advance and watch your temperatures. Don’t worry if your egg whites finish a little early, better they sit and get a little watery than your syrup cool to the point of setting. You can always whip the whites back up some before you start to […]

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Graham Cracker Debrief

A week late I’m getting around to debriefing my graham cracker project. Such is the nature of surprise business travel. Let’s just say it’s a good thing there aren’t any Grahamites around these days, or they’d be pouring caustic lime on Gale Gand. Sylvester would have had a heart attack had he seen these. Yes, […]

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Oh Robert, Robert…

Looks like Robert DeNiro, brilliant though notoriously reclusive actor, has decided to come out and lend his voice to New York’s anti-trans fat crusade. What a shame, though he does coincidentally happen to own two restaurants that advertise zero-trans fat menus, so I guess it’s good exposure. I hate to be a bore on this […]

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Short Week, Short Recipe

I came home to find a bag of fresh late-season figs sitting on the counter, and well, let’s just say homecomings don’t get much better than that. Figs, with their medium sweetness and juicy, slightly meaty texture can be eaten either savory or sweet, and are some of the pastry cook’s best friends. There’s precious […]

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Business Travel Blues

Hey kids, looks like I’m being sumnmoned back up to Chicago for a few days. Profuse apologies, I’ve not been a very consistent blogger the last month. I’ll be back in action on Thursday.

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