False Alarm! Gonna Celebrate with Some Cookies!

If you could see me right now, I would look a bit like this!
,


Why? Because life went ahead and handed me a complete freebie today. When I woke up this morning, my beloved camera wasn't working, and the prognosis was not looking good. And my other equally beloved point-and-shoot camera (along with three months worth of pictures) was lost, hopelessly lost, trust me, I had called and looked EVERYWHERE. There was heartbreak, there were tears, and there may have also been irrational ebay bidding, along with ebay panic, and then utter ebay relief to find that i had been outbid at the last minute.

But then miracles happened, and not one, but BOTH of my cameras were restored to me by the end of the day. There was relief, there were more tears (so I love my cameras okay), and then there were cookies. How else does a foodie celebrate if not with food? Thank you all for your sweet comments at my post below, but I can't even tell you how happy I am to not have to take a break after all!



I found these gems at Gina's Skinny Taste, a wonderful blog with light recipes, especially conducive to those doing Weight Watchers. Now I'm all about cooking and eating healthy, but when it comes to dessert, I'm a purist. I don't think dessert should be messed with, just eat the dang brownie! But if you were to serve me these cookies without ever mentioning that they were light, I don't think I'd ever know. They're chewy, they're sweet, they are loaded with chocolate and my whole family LOVED them! Like a good girl, I had two, but I could have eaten these babies all night. Check out the recipe here!


Don't you love the plate? My parents sent it for my birthday a few days ago, I think I should be allowed to use it for at least a month, don't you? :)

Camera Crisis

Hey food friends, it's been a while! Unfortunately it's going to be a while longer. With a breaking heart i have to announce that I'll be taking an indefinite break. Long story short, my luck with cameras has not been stellar lately and I don't have a way to take pictures of my food right now. It's honestly killing me, but such is life!

Before I do go, a big shoutout to Foodbuzz who sampled me with three beautiful bottles of olive oil. I have no doubt that I'll use them for a lot of things, but one of them was this delicious coconut chicken. If you don't like shrimp, this is a great substitute!

Be sure to keep in touch with me on facebook and I'll definitely check in with you all when I can. I'm praying that I'll have things back in order soon, but it's hard to say. In the meantime, happy cooking!

Nepalese dumplings at Fusion Cafe and Mo:Mo Bar

Just when you know a place, it still has the capacity to surprise.  I was so delightedly shocked when Kenny revealed that Metro West, the sad-sack largely deserted shopping mall on Paisley Street, actually concealed a Nepalese restaurant.  Fancy that!!

In this small cafe, there's a menu filled with intriguing Nepalese dishes like tass or goat with "rice bubbles".  "We only have things on that side of the menu because the chef is not here yet," said the young woman at the counter.  I nervously flipped the menu over to find the standard Aussie sandwich menu and immediately assumed she meant the boring sandwich side, but on questioning, no, she could make all the Nepali classics - the chef had to be present to make the burgers and bacon & egg rolls.  Such a subversion of expectations!

We waited about 20 minutes and the kids took great delight running in circles in the Metro West twilight zone.  The hanging plants make me think of an alien attack by triffid-like beings.  A deserted shopping centre is a strange place.

Quite nice chicken broth served complimentary to start - unfortunately rather lukewarm.  The kids liked it.

Steamed momo, $8

Sandwiched between India and China, it stands to reason that Nepali cuisine has hallmarks of both countries.  These momo dumplings were pretty unreal - handmade pastry around a super-juicy chicken filling with heaps of fresh ginger flavour.  They were reminiscent of a more rustic xiao long bao.  Dipped in a little thick black soy - delicious!

Fried momo, $9

Also delicious were the vegetarian option, filled with a soft grated carrot and cabbage filling, lightly spiced.  The same pastry has this time been fried to golden, crispy perfection.  These also came with a small dish of traditional hot chilli sauce which was quite nice, orangey-red and very spicy.

Chicken chow mein, $9

The chow mein had been highly recommended via Kenny's blog so we had to give that a shot.  "Chow mein" is very popular as an Indian-Chinese dish, which are Indian interpretations of perceived Chinese classics.  I really love Indian-Chinese food as unlike Australianised Chinese food, the Indian palate's love of chilli and spice means that the direction the basic Asian flavours have been taken in is vastly more interesting than the bland, sweet versions of Aussie Chinese.  Chow mein is not my favourite Indian-Chinese dish, basically because it tastes a lot like my own approximations of Chinese noodles.  The flavour is there but not the wok hei and the certain je-ne-sais-quoi that Chinese or Malaysian fried noodles have.  Nevertheless, I did enjoy this tangle of egg noodles with well-cooked chicken, vegies, chilli and soy sauce.

Check out Kenny and Bennie's adventures at Fusion Cafe here and here.  They have a momo loyalty card - buy six, get one free.

If you want to try your hand at making Nepalese food at home, stop into Spice Zone at 4/68-82 Hopkins Street in Footscray for a range of Nepalese spices and dried vegetables.

Fusion Cafe and Mo:Mo Bar

Metro West Shopping Centre, cnr Albert & Paisley Streets, Footscray (map)

Phone:  0401 328 334

Wheelchair Access

Level entry.

Bees on Nob Hill & Honey at Macy's Union Square

What's the buzz on Nob Hill? It's probably honey bees! Restaurants and hotels with kitchen gardens are nothing new, but a hotel with beehives is something quite out of the ordinary, especially in the middle of a city like San Francisco. Executive Chef jW Foster at the San Francisco Fairmont arrived a year ago from Dallas, where he established a 3,000 square foot herb and vegetable garden. His desire to save the bee colonies and promote awareness about colony collapse and the importance of bees inspired him to collaborate with Marshall's Farm to bring bee hives to the rarefied air of Nob Hill, in particular the roof garden.

The rooftop beehives yield about 60 pounds of honey, harvested 2-3 times a year and is used in the hotel restaurant. He says the lavender honey has a particularly pungent flavor as does the eucalyptus batch. The health benefits are part of the appeal of using honey, and it fits in to the Fairmont's "Lifestyle cuisine. " Fairmont Lifestyle Cuisine is centered around health and wellness without sacrificing flavor, think of it as the next generation of spa cuisine. The hotel restaurant uses honey in ice creams, vinaigrettes, desserts, in the afternoon tea service, and in marinades.

Chef Foster also makes gravlax with pacific cod, using honey instead of sugar. He'll be demonstrating how to make this dish at Macy's during the Macy's Flower Show on April 9th at 1 pm (tickets to the cooking class with the chef and beekeeper Helene Marshall are $10). Gravlax is a raw, cured dish and the chef shared some tips with me about cooking with honey including not using too high heat which changes the flavor. He suggested "letting it shine" and using it as primary flavor, emphasizing it when cooking. Another tip? Use it as a finishing touch, the way you might use olive oil as a drizzle on fruit, ricotta or prosciutto. Supporting the bees is also a teaching tool at the hotel, where the chef offers tours of the roof garden and a view of the bees at work to culinary students and to guests. While Macy's may not invite bees into the store, flowers and honey are more than welcome.

Pho at Hien Vuong

In the course of my work I have come across a thing called "mindfulness meditation" which intrigued me.  I asked a friend what it meant and she said it is trying to focus on being in the moment.  All my life a chronic multitasker, cleaning the kitchen while listening to talkback, knitting furiously while watching TV, as I get older I find I am having some sort of sensory overload.  While the weekends used to have the soundtrack of PBS from morning til night, now they are a slapstick comedy of me shutting off the radio every time I walk past, while my husband and kids turn it back on.  Doing too many things at once makes me stressed out while I once thrived on it.  So perhaps I am tuning in to this form of meditation without really realising it.

The other element of mindfulness meditation is being very much sensorily aware of what you are doing - not just listening to birdsong and feeling the wind in your hair but also the feeling of the warm water and the soap on your hands when you are doing banal daily tasks.  This is somewhat hard to achieve when cleaning poo out of the carpet but I think being fully present in all five senses is a noble quest.  It's probably hardest when eating.  A boss once laughed at me, eating lunch while reading Epicure - "how much food can one person handle?" and indeed, giving up reading when eating is probably the hardest thing if you want to be fully present in experiencing your food.

Vivienne wrote to me recently asking if I'd tried Hien Vuong's pho.  "I think their sliced beef and chicken pho is probably the best in Footscray," she said.  "The owners are really nice too, it's a family run business and there's usually a bunch of kids in there."  I had been lucky enough to try Hien Vuong's pho a while back and  had gone for my usual sliced beef so when the craving struck, I knew just where to head.

Love this place - so old school.  Everything is sparkling clean in a houseproud way.  The owner comes over the minute you sit down in that classic Vietnamese restaurant way - it's because it's assumed you came here because you had a hankering for one specific thing, rather than wanting to browse the menu, which of course is okay too!  For vegies, there's hu tieu chay or Vietnamese vegetarian noodle soup.

I am not very adventurous with pho - I have had a chicken pho just once and constantly refer to pho bo tai or sliced beef pho, where the wafer-thin raw beef slices cook almost instantly on contact with the hot broth.  True to Vivienne's rec though I opted for the mixed beef and chicken.  This was awesome - the beef perfectly sliced, tender and tasty, the chicken well-poached pieces of breast meat.  While some pho broths have a really marked undertone of whole spices, this broth was really aromatic with fresh herbs, scattered with onion and coriander.  Does anyone know if they mix the two broths for this mixed pho?  In any case, it was fantastic - the warmth and soothing nature of chicken broth combined perfectly with that clear, cleansing yet hearty beef broth.

Hunched over your bowl of pho, there really is no choice but to be in the moment.  It's impossible to wedge a book under the bowl and if you were able to, it would be splattered with stock in a second as you slurp up your noodles.  The steam in your face, you contemplate the noodles and the flavours and textures just jump round your mouth.  The sweat from the chillis begins to pour out and you get that tropical hot food feeling, outwardly hot but refreshed inside.  For ten minutes, I was nowhere else but in the moment.  When I stepped out onto Leeds Street, I felt as centred and calm as after a massage.  Pho as meditation - for a food junkie, that is the one for me.

I loooooove getting your emails and tips - please keep them coming.  I keep them all in a little book and absolutely intend to work through them all so if I haven't been to your favourite place yet, I will soon!  It all depends on what I feel like eating that day.  Feel free to send me a reminder, though!!



Pho Hien Vuong
37 Leeds Street, Footscray (map)
Phone: 9687 1470
Hours: 7 days 8am-9pm

Wheelchair Access
Step.

Your Hand in Mine

fickle |ˈfikəl|

adjective

changing frequently, esp. as regards one's loyalties, interests, or affection : Web patrons are a notoriously fickle lot, bouncing from one site to another on a whim | the weather is forever fickle.

DERIVATIVES

fickleness noun

fickly |ˈfik(ə)lē| adverb

ORIGIN Old English ficol [deceitful] .

I’ve always known I’m fickle.

persnickety |pərˈsnikətē|

adjective informal

placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details; fussy : persnickety gardeners | she's very persnickety about her food.

• requiring a particularly precise or careful approach : it's hard to find a film more persnickety and difficult to use than black-and-white infrared.

ORIGIN early 19th cent. (originally Scots): of unknown origin.

I’m also aware that I can be tremendously persnickety.

At times either of these attributes could be considered cute, quirky or even endearing. But as I get older I would say that, more often than not, these qualities are irritating, unnerving and not so attractive. Especially if you’re a food, restaurant or boy I can’t decide if I want or not, or might want, or maybe I won’t want - at any given moment.

Doug knows all too well that prior to dining out – or even last Friday when deciding on a happy hour spot – there is a whole process involved. This process usually begins anywhere from a few hours to a few days before said event.

I just want the choice to be the perfect choice. I want everything to be just right. I don’t want to wish I were anywhere else. Or with anyone else.

I guess I have control issues. And I’m kind of OCD.

Hey, I’ve never claimed to be a walk in the park, you know?

Anyway, there’s all sorts of good stuff, too. But it’s not what I’m thinking about right now.

I’m thinking more about how I can relax. Without pharmaceuticals, mind you. I need to learn how to go with the flow, float with the tide. I need to fucking chill out. I can’t control everything and it doesn’t make any sense to try anyway. It’s exhausting for me and, I imagine, for the people around me. Maybe this is why I’ve been so tired lately.

During these moments I usually I turn to soup. But today I thought I’d give myself more of a challenge. I needed to get a lot more involved in something. I decided to bake. So, earlier, as I was listening to one of my favorite songs, and one that has been in constant rotation of late, Your Hand in Mine by Explosions in the Sky, and reading through some of my favorite blogs, I stumbled upon a particularly tempting recipe from One Perfect Bite. A recipe for Bouchon Bakery’s Nutter Butter Cookies.

I made a scant few modifications here and there, but I’m pretty excited. I baked!

I guess I can grow and change. 

Nutter Butter Cookies

Makes 8 ginormous cookies

Ingredients:

Cookie Dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter, preferably Skippy
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons coarsely chopped peanuts
1-1/4 cups quick-cooking oats

Cookie Filling:
8 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) To make cookie dough: In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and peanut butter. Add sugars and beat at medium speed for 3-4 minutes, scraping down bowl twice. At low speed, add egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until well mixed, frequently scraping down bowl. Add peanuts (if using) and oats, and mix well. Using an ice cream scoop 2 inches in diameter or an extremely heaping tablespoon, place balls of dough on parchment-lined baking sheets at least three inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and turned very light golden brown, about 10-14 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool and firm up, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely before filling.

3) To make filling: Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, peanut butter and confectioners’ sugar until very smooth.

4) To assemble cookies: Spread a thin layer (about 1/8 inch) on underside of a cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat.

 

東寶小館 Tung Po Restaurant @ 北角 Northpoint, Hong Kong

東寶小館 Tung Po Restaurant is the kind of restaurant that has a unique character. It's located above a wet market, on the second floor of the Java Road Municipal Services Building. The typical 大牌檔 'dai pai dong' stall is normally located at a street side but Tung Po's ambience is like a Singapore food centre setting but comes with air condition. The second floor of the building used to have several 大牌檔 'dai pai dong' stalls but most of them have lost out to Tung Po such that most of the space now belongs to 東寶 Tung Po. 東寶 Tung Po is not a fine dining restaurant, so expect the ambience to be lively, noisy and maybe sometimes rowdy. The food may not look pretty but they're definitely delicious. When I ask the concierge of my hotel to help me reserve a table in 東寶 Tung Po, he told me that it's also one of his favorite and he may have problems getting us a reservation. That indicated that we've made a right choice of restaurant and in the end, he did manage to get us a table. Yeah!

This is the crowd that visits Tung Po. Reservation is definitely needed.

One character of 東寶 Tung Po is drinking beer off bowls like this. I like the words on the bowl, 戰斗碗 and it's taunting everyone for a beer drinking competition.

This is the Daily Soup that comes out of a Chinese Caserole. Carrots, winter melon and pork ribs were cooked till the clear soup was so sweet. The pork ribs was so tender that the meat slipped off the bones.

A bowl of the Daily Soup.

A plate of Grouper with Tofu steamed in Hong Kong style. Fresh grouper that so fresh, sweet and tender went well with the smooth tofu that drizzled with some savory sauce.

One of the chef's signature 南乳炸豬手 Fried Pig Feet with Marinated Tofu. The pig's feet was fragrant, crispy on the outside. It taste very delicious but on the inside ........

...... on the inside there's plenty of fatty soft pork lard with non of the lean meat in sight. Are you up for it? I can taste a few pieces of this ultimate indulgence and then I'm totally done with it. Beer would be good to compliment this dish to wash down the cloying feeling.

This is the best 黃金蝦 Crisp Fried Shrimp that I've eaten. There seems to be only a thin coat of the crab roe but this is no diluted stuff. It's pure salted crab roe that made this dish so crispy and so indulging. My best dish here in Tung Po.

Again, a close up of my favorite dish with the golden coating of indulgence.

A fried rice with and interesting name, 大肚婆炒飯 'Pregnant Lady' Fried Rice. The only semblance that I can make  out of this dish to its name is the huge heap of rice that looked like the bulge on a pregnant lady's tummy. Anyway, it's fried rice cooked to perfection. It's fried rice with 鍋氣, 'wok's fragrance'.

I noticed a piece of information printed at a corner of the menu telling patrons to call for reservations only from 2:30pm~5.30pm. Nobody will be answering any calls at anytime other than that mentioned. A big claim here is the food in 東寶 Tung Po is 100% without MSG. 

Whether you arrive in a cab or by MTR, recognize this building, take the escalator to the second floor and you'll be in 東寶 Tung Po.

北角渣華道99號渣華道市政大廈2樓
2/F Java Road Municipal Services Building
99 Java Road
North Point, Hong Kong.
Tel : 852 2880 5224

Caldo de Camaron Seco

Caldo de Camaron Seco

what a fabulous soup i have found!

it was pretty much be accident...as are many of the "out of the ordinary" things i come across. last week i was shopping at my favorite Mexican market, Northgate in Santa Ana, to get the correct/authentic caramel sauce for my Flan Cake.  i needed Cajeta de Leche as the recipe called for.  just in case you missed the post on "The Flailed Flan Cake" here's the link...so sad...so very sad...
anyway.....as i entered the market the impulse buys caught my eye (i'm a sucker).  they had a large display with these packaged up dried shrimp.  i had seen them many times before here and Asian markets.  "i wonder what the heck you do with these?" i asked myself.  i thought they must be some Mexican treat or for some fabulous special occasion recipe if they have them all out on display...
they're ugly salty dried up old shrimp...i HAVE to buy them...i'll find out what to do with them later.

well, as far as i'm concerned...I HIT PAY DIRT!

these ugly pale shriveled up little critters make the most incredible broth for this soup.  i can't describe the flavor, but it's FABULOUS.  the shrimp add a whole new layer that makes it taste rich and deep and totally authentic Mexican.  a friend said she was transported back to her vacation in Puerto Vallarta.  i'll take that as a compliment...thank you very much.

the recipe is fairly easy, but just a little time consuming.  the shrimp need a pre-soak, a little broth time and then you have to remove the head, legs and tails off of EVERY single little shrimp that goes in the pot, but it's well worth it.  you also have to make a real Mexican Red Sauce that requires steeping, pureeing, straining and sauteing the chills...again...well worth it.  i make red sauce all the time...it's not that big of a deal.  it's great for so many things...pork, chicken, turkey, beef etc...the Red Sauce recipe and instructions i use are found HERE, but i always add a few extras like cumin, oregano, 2-3 adobo chiles and adobo sauce.

i found this delicious soup recipe by googling "what to do with dried shrimp, Mexican".  i thought about going with an Asian recipe, but i was in the Mexican mood...you know the Flan Cake and all...it was going to be a Fiesta!...

the soup?...incredible !  

the flan cake?...don't ask...

CALDO de CAMARON

adapted from Pati's Mexican Table

i made a few changes, so please check the link for the original and her comments...she has loads of great Mexican goodies

1/2 pound of Mexican dried shrimp

2-3 oz dried Guaillo chiles...i also used a few New Mexico Chilies

1 Tbsp Mexican oregano

1 ripe tomato, diced

3 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

1/2 small onion, roughly chopped

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne...optional

3 carrots, sliced

1-2 diced potatoes are supposed to be added, but i chose other veggies...

2 celery stalks sliced

a handful of green beans

1/2 head small cauliflower

1 more tomato, diced

1/2 onion, sauteed...(this was a good addition)

1 jalapeno, sliced or diced...optional

2 Tbsp oil

limes and cilantro for garnish

FOR THE SHRIMP

cover the shrimp with cold water and let them sit for 10-15 minutes.  drain the shrimp, rinse them and place them in a medium pot.  cover the shrimp with 5 cups of water and bring to a simmer over med. high heat, then turn down to a slow simmer for 10 minutes.  strain the broth reserving both the broth and the shrimp.  allow to cool.

once the shrimp have cooled remove the heads, tails and legs.  Pati (original recipe blogger) suggests you keep the body shell on to add a little crunch to the soup, so that's what i did.  

FOR THE RED SAUCE...

remove the stems and seeds from the chiles and place them on a hot "comal".  i do not own a "comal" so a hot skillet works just fine.   toast lightly until they change color a bit...jus about 10-15 seconds per side.

place the chiles, tomatoes, garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, cayenne in a saucepan and cover with water.  bring to almost  boil and turn down to a slow simmer for 15 minutes.  get your stick blender out and puree until smooth...or use your regular blender or processor...i highly recommend getting a stick blender!

over medium heat add 2 Tbsp oil (olive is good) to a large soup pot.  strain the chili puree over the oil.

NOTE...use a regular strainer and push all the goodness through.  you should have just the tough bits left in the strainer.

add your cumin and cayenne if using.  simmer the sauce for 10 minutes over medium heat allowing the sauce to season and thicken.

FOR THE FINISHED SOUP

add the shrimp, broth, carrots, green beans, jalapeno, 1/2  sauteed onion to the chili puree and let simmer for 10-15 minutes until carrots are tender...also add in the cauliflower towards the end because you don't want it to fall apart.

serve the soup with wedges of lime, chopped cilantro and some fresh diced jalapeno.

this is great as is, but also fabulous over rice...or add a few more veggies of your choice.  i like my soups thick with goodies.  the original only called for carrots and potatoes, but i wanted to add a bit more...maybe not as authentic, but good and good for ya.

   

Gracie's Place - Polish crepes in East Keilor

People bag the suburbs but I love them - they are so full of surprises.  Finding a "secret" bakery or food shop nestled in some run-down shopping strip in the boonies puts me on a high for the rest of the day.  So where else for gorgeous Polish crepes than in an industrial estate in East Keilor?

Gracie's Place is your classic tradie lunch stop with sandwiches, some hot food and a few intriguing Polish items on the menu.

The two Polish ladies who work here are gorgeous.  I couldn't see any pierogi on the menu so I asked if they had any.  "How many you like?" said the lady - "Oh, I don't know, maybe six?" I replied.  She came back with six bags full of frozen homemade pierogi.  "You having a party?" she laughed.

"Crepe with cream cheese filling", $4.50

We worked out I wanted six pieces, not six bags (although there's always next time ;) and pierogi safely stashed in my bag, I turned my attention to the Polish crepe.  This was soooo fantastic.  The crepe was thick yet delicate with those lovely, crispy edges that only come from being fried in butter.  It was stuffed with "cream cheese" that was quite like ricotta, scented with cloves and tangy with lemon.  With cream and icing sugar - divine.

Pierogi, $6.90 for 6

Time for main course - home to cook up these lovely homemade pierogi.  We eat a lot of these in Chicago, where the Polish community is quite big.  The supermarket sells them frozen in a huge range of flavours.  We would fry cabbage for a long time until really soft and crispy and put the pierogi on top with vinegar and sour cream.

Mr Baklover panfried them (they had defrosted a little on the way home) and served them with sausage, fried onion, sour cream and dill.  The filling was sweet, creamy mashed potato.  Delicious - but that crepe took the cake.

For more cake love, you may like to read my article for SBS Food on Adriano Zumbo and his Easter egg macarons at the recent SBS Food Journey Festival.  Thank you SBS for the opportunity!

Gracie's Place
Shop 4b, 60 Keilor Park Drive, Keilor East (map)
Phone: 9331 5119
Hours: Mon-Sat 7am-3pm

Wheelchair Access
Level entry

Reading, Tweeting & Eating

I was smack in the middle of a really fun book: Blood, Bones & Butter, by Gabrielle Hamilton. She is the chef/owner of Prune in New York and it is her memoir. While, unfortunately, I have not yet dined at Prune, I was having a blast eating up her words. And, lamentably, it’s been too long since I’ve really delved hungrily into a good book.

Last Monday evening Maggie and I were sitting in the living room, happily plotting our lazy night in with the pups and our jammies as we were plum tuckered out from a slightly, ahem, indulgent weekend. This conversation was happening through me reading my book and Maggie compulsively Tweeting on her iPhone. It was about 7:30-ish, I’d say.

Then suddenly Maggie nonchalantly asks me to remind her of the name of the book I’m reading. “Blood, Bones & Butter”, I tell her. To which she replied, “So I guess you know about this thing at Lucques tonight?” 

What?

Turns out Suzanne Goin was hosting a dinner in honor of Hamilton’s book with a four-course prix fixe menu, with a copy of the book for $95. Oh yeah, and Gabrielle Hamilton was going to be in the house, dining, drinking, mingling and signing copies for the guests.

Er…

Well and so – after a panicked phone call, a string or two pulled (thanks Matt!), and the two of us paint-over-rust-style getting ready, Maggie and I managed to get to Lucques by 8:15pm for our two saved seats at the bar on that sold-out night.

The restaurant was as full as I had seen it since their annual rib roundup and the menu was simply beautiful. I couldn’t help but notice all of the dishes were not only seasonal (of course), but were all dishes and/or ingredients that had prominence in the book. They were even roasting lambs and potatoes on a spit on the dining patio.

Suzanne Goin and Lamby

Beauty.

We took a few moments to enjoy our wonderful house-made bread and fresh butter, Lucques olives, roasty, oily almonds and coarse salt and our glasses of 2009 Nikolaihof, Gruner Vetliner from Hefeabzug, Austria (selected by Caroline Styne) before our first course arrived. I needed to soak it all in for a moment. I mean, Hell, a mere forty-five minutes ago I was in my jammies in the big, brown chair, curled up with my book. Now I’m sitting in my dearest restaurant (still clutching my book) about to eat gorgeous food in the same room with the author of my book and the chef of my chosen food.

It’s true. I haven’t written much about Suzanne’s restaurants over the years, though I eat at them all regularly and mention her often (just put her name in the search engine of this blog and see). But it’s certainly no secret that she’s kind of my culinary hero.

So let us begin with the Asparagus vinaigrette with Dijon mustard, eggs mimosa and American proscuitto. This dish was served somewhere between room temperature and ever so slightly chilled. The asparagus was perfectly and delicately blanched with a succinct, little snap. The dish was fresh and light and was perfect in waking up the palate, getting it all prepped for what was to come.

And what was to come was the Roast Windrose Farms’ lamb with potatoes from the coals and a salad of English peas, pea shoots, Meyer lemon and chanterelles. Seeing both of these dishes transported me immediately back into the book. The first chapter of the book was all about the ornate lamb roasts Hamilton’s family hosted in her childhood. She described the process with such love and nostalgia that I could almost smell the lamb and feel the chill of the cold water in the stream behind the house while grabbing a cold drink from it’s bed. The pea salad took me instantly to her story of hiding on the floor of her childhood butcher shop having absconded with a handful of the fresh peas the butcher and his family grew – Gabrielle eating them raw, right then and there.

And Suzanne did it all a beautiful and savory justice.

The lamb and potatoes were simply without equal. Faultless.  Suzanne accomplished the perfect, simple – and seminal - potatoes Gabrielle spoke of that changed her world in Greece. The salad, which was reportedly the crowd’s favorite, was also Maggie’s preferred dish as well. And it was sublime. It was refreshing, vibrant, and in contrast to the soft and almost sultry lamb, crisp and bright. The chanterelles added that bit of Earthiness and the Meyer lemon provided the perfect touch of sweet citrus to round it all out.

We paired the lamb, et al with the 2005 Domaine Gallety, Cote du Vivarais from France (also Styne’s pick). We both loved this choice.The wine was big and confident without dominating the food.

And finally we were served the Cornmeal shortcakes with strawberries, mint and crème fråiche. I don’t recall this dish from Blood, Bones & Butter but from Sunday Suppers at Lucques served instead with peaches. Interestingly enough my mom served this dish at our first Dinner at Eight. And it was amazing. Suzanne’s cornmeal shortcakes are heavenly. I, obviously, would have liked to have seen considerably less strawberry goo. With this we opted for a glass of the rosé champagne.

What a night. I was able to say hi to Suzanne, get a hug in, met and briefly chatted with Gabrielle and a few of her friends. I ate the food I was reading. I ate the food I love. I got my book signed by the author.  All in my favorite restaurant. Yes. It’s true.

I finished the book just last night. A week after the dinner. Suzanne’s food lingers on my palate and Gabrielle’s words linger on my mind.

I feel happy.