ctay122

What is Bassins?

I left a post under Restaurants/Corduroy. Are any Rockwellians going? Looking for table mates.

Is anyone going to the Corduroy/Pegasus wine dinner on the 12th besides us?

CORDUROY

proudly welcomes

Edward Donaldson

Owner of Pegasus Bay Winery

Waipara, New Zealand

June 12th, 2007, Tuesday

Reception begin at 6:30 pm

Dinner served promptly at 7:00 pm

Passed Hors d'Oeuvres

Smoked Sable with Black Pepper Cream

Chilled Sorrel Soup

Duck Rillettes

Pegasus Bay, Sauvignon Semillon, 2006

Dinner

Carpaccio of Hamachi with Mizuna and Ginger

Pegasus Bay, Riesling, 2005

Wild Ivory King Salmon, Lyonnaise Potato and Onion Sauce

Pegasus Bay, Chardonnay, 2005

Braised Pork Cheek, Parsnip and Burgundy Truffle

Main Divide, Pinot Noir, 2004

Roast Loin of Lamb with Chanterelles and Rosemary

Pegasus Bay, Pinot Noir, 2004

Local Raspberry Tart and Ice Cream

Pegasus Bay Finale, 2003

Chef and Owner Tom Power

$100 per person excluding tax

Reservations must be guaranteed with credit card information

Please cancel by Friday, June 8th to avoid guarantee fee

For reservations, please contact Rissa Pagsibigan or Scott Palmer at (202) 589-0699 or by email at rissa@corduroydc.com

I ended up buying a 14 pc set of Calphalon One Anodized on EBay for $400. More than I planned on spending but it is a 14 pc set and I think I got a good deal.

At home I have a set of Faberware Millenium that I've been using for the last 7 years. It was inexpensive, but I have been pretty happy with it. I also have several pieces of Mauviel copper, mainly a few different size skillets and some oval pans. I have purchased these pieces individually on Ebay as I see a good deal. I also have the egg white bowl, the tarte tatin pan and the bain marie. They are a pain to keep clean, but I use the heck out of the fry pans and I love the bain marie since I bake alot and its great for melting chocolate. I have a gas cooktop at home.

I have an online subscription to Cooks Illustrated and to be honest after reading all the reviews on saucepans, saute pans, fry pans, stainless, non stick etc etc I had a headache.

Final report. Weigh in at Jenny Craig. Lost another pound although this weekend I ate like a pig...brats, potato salad, corn on the cob. Rib eye steak, baked stuff potatoes and more corn on the cob. Happy hour cocktails and appetizers (wings and potato skins) at Fridays. Life is good. Lost a total of 16.2 lbs total since Jan 1st. Now I am able to increase my calories from 1200 to 1500 and will try to maintain my weight on my own. Summer time is easy, but will see what happens this winter when it's hibernation time.

I did it.

Congratulations Heather!

(aka Thread)

Week 10 weigh in at Jenny. Lost a half pound and didn't even try. I've lost almost 15 pounds now. I started my training program yesterday for the Marine Corps Marathon. I ran 3 miles, but it took me 45 minutes and then I had to walk some but at least I didn't stop. I obviously have a long road ahead of me. Thank goodness I have 5 months to train...again I doubt I will be able to run the whole way, but my goal is to finish. The good side is I am going to have to increase my calorie intake from my present 1200 calories due to the running so I probably will be able to take a break from the Jenny Craig food. I've weaned myself down to only 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches on Jenny, the rest I do on my own. I might have to go back on during the winter, but hopefully my experience the five months have given me a better sense on how to eat healthy. Perhaps I won't need her.

We dined at Brasserie Beck Sat night. We got there a half hour before our 8 pm reservation, so we sat at the bar and I had a kir royale and my husband got something on tap. I thought the design of the restaurant was quite amazing. Big and open, and I loved watching the action of the kitchen through the huge glass windows. In addition, where we sat at, about the halfway point of the restaurant near the private rooms, there was a tv inside one of the rooms that we watched which has a cam from the kitchen. We watched the plates as they came out of the kitchen for pickup. Although we were was at first disappointed with our seating, as we thought we were too far away from the action, we appreciated the quietness of our table as we were able to have a nice quiet dinner and conversation.

We started with the charcuterie plate as it sounded too good to pass up. I was amazed at the size, as it could have served four easily. It was delicious. Our waiter, Jamie, kept the bread basket full. We didn't want to spoil our dinner so we ended up asking our server to box up the remains. My husband had the Duck Congolese Almondine ,which was served with couscous. I had the Beef Carbonnade. Both dishes were cooked to perfection. I also ordered the frites, after hearing the reviews here. I was a bit disappointed as they were too heavily salted, not hot enough and somewhat ordinary. I'm sure we could have returned it for another order, but at this point I was filling up fast.But I loved the the mayo trio the frites were served with, and was surprised my husband didn't ask for ketchup. The portion was quite large...luckily we saw one of the other servers bringing an order out, so we knew not to order two. After listening to the next table ooh and ahh over the pear tartine, we decided to split an order along with a french press. The tartine was a little too sweet for my taste, but hubby loved it. Along with an inexpensive ($40) bottle of Catena Malbec, our total bill came to $125 before tip. We spend double or triple that at Marcel's so of course we felt like we got a great meal for what we consider a bargain price. We will definitely return. Our server was great and he did everything we asked as far as pacing the courses, we were there until 11:30 and just took our time and enjoyed.

I'm not absolutely certain how All Clad does on glass cooktops, but they have heavy flat bottoms. Go for a set of All Clad, is my advice. Here's a link to a place that sells factory seconds--they may have a little tiny scratch, but I've been completely happy with everything I've gotten from them.

http://www.cookwarenmore.com/

Thanks for the info, I am always looking for new websites with cooking stuff. I don't know anyone who has a glass cook top and I 'm definitely not keen on them. I'll definitely check it out. Thanks.

My husband and I are setting up a second home and I am trying to decide what to buy for cookware. I don't want to spend more than $350 and I prefer stainless steel. Any ideas out there? I have been online researching, but I am totally confused at this point. The new stove is one of those awful electric glass cooktop things. Though we plan on eventually changing over to propane (natural gas is not available), it's not going to be a while. I would appreciate any ideas.

Thanks to all who have given me support and encouragement on this website. I'm coming out today! I am ctay122.

For the past 6 days I was out of town and ate basically whatever I wanted but watched how much I ate and ordered healthy except I went off the wagon with fish and chips and a microbrew one night (hey I was in Maine and I couldn't pass up fresh haddock!) and also molten chocolate cake (but I only ate 1/3). I managed to maintain my weight at my weigh in at Jenny Craig yesterday and am still under my goal. I hope to lose a little more by 1 June. I feel inspired by my new healthy lifestyle and all the walking I've done. As a result, I'm kicking it up a notch and I registered for the Marine Corps Marathon that takes place the end of Oct. I am training with a friend of mine who did it last year. Our goal is to make it between 5 1/2 - 6 hours (what can I say, we are 50+++ women). But without this challenge I doubt I would even have considered trying. It made me get off my fat behind! Congrats to everyone who participated in this challenge.

I made several cookbook recipes on Saturday (discussed in the dinner party thread). It ended up being four from Babbo, if I want to stretch things (brown chicken stock, pumpkin orzo, braised short ribs, and bittersweet chocolate cookies). Those short ribs were amazing.

I also made fabulous lemon shortbread cookies from The Chicago Tribune Good Eating Cookbook. I have dough left and can't find the right sized cookie cutter to make more.

I had a less good experience with pasta handkerchiefs with wild mushrooms from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook, mostly because the pasta didn't turn out right (mushrooms were excellent). I'm not sure if it was me or the recipe, so I'll try that pasta again. It seemed to have an awful lot of eggs.

Last night I made a quite satisfying soup from James Peterson's Splendid Soups (Swiss Chard with Garlic and Parsley--I'd have to look up the exact name).

Pat,

All these recipes spond wonderful. Too bad I'm dieting. I think I'll have to buy the Babbo cookbook.

Congrats on the weight loss. I'm impressed that you have managed to keep such a detailed listing of what you eat. Has it helped you any in planning your meals or do you just "go with the flow"?

I am on a 1200 cal diet, eat 6 times a day which I'm not used to and drink at least 8 glasses of water, which is the hardest part for me. I don't think I'm as hungry, and I'm having success eating many smaller meals than trying to stick to 3 meals. I also find that having a glass of water before and after my meals takes some of the edge off.

I wish you success in your challenge!

There's probably a reason why it airs on Sunday mornings.

On the flipside, this is the guy (haha) who won the Food Network's Who Wants to be the Next Food Network Star competition...so at least he's giving it a go (for better or for worst)

I watched the show last season. Although I like some of his recipes, it grosses me out that he is wearing all this jewelry. Half the time it looks like the bracelet or whatever it is he's wearing is slopping around in the dish he's making. When I was going to culinary school, we always had to take the jewelry off. I find it distracting and also wonder how sanitary it is.

Also one thing I notice about this show is sometimes you can see the camera boom or microphone in the picture and the camera moves all over the place around like some amateur is filming it. It 's hard to watch, the quality just isn't there.

My neighbor gave me 2 caribou roasts today. I was wondering if anyone has any experience cooking this type of meat. I was thinking of using it to make something similar to beef barolo, but if any one has any othersuggestions I would sure appreciate them!

I cannot believe that I don't own this book. I think it would make a great source for a dinner party.

If you really want a cookbook that will provide alot of conversation, try Au Pied de Cochon - L'Album (Martin Picard). I accidently bought the Fr Canadien version after seeing a review of the book in Bon Appetit.. I sold it to some Canadian on eBay. It is a really wild book. Recipes for every part of the hog and more. Heather's post about the warm pig's head reminded me of it. The pictures (and some of the recipes) are very ....unusual at times. It's kind of hard to explain. Has anyone else seen it?

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=94737

I had to make an excel spreadsheet for my cookbooks. I couldn't keep track of what I was buying . I have bought duplicate cookbooks so now I have a list to keep me straight (about 327 right now spread all over my house). I think I will try to cook out of Sunday Suppers at Lucques (Suzanne Goin).

We have the bar plus the three high tops for you all... I hope you are all friends....

If not, we will be by evenings end! My appetite should be up then also!

As of today, 18 people have said they plan to attend next week's happy hour, along with 3 people who are "definite maybes."

We have a reservation there for dinner afterwards. I am wondering, the bar area is pretty small, where are we all going to fit?

If you’ve found that the cold weather and dashed hopes for a snow day (or two) have taken their toll, I hope you’ll come to happy hour at Dino on Friday, February 23rd from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Dean has promised some great specials, including a Rosso di Montalcino wine flight (3-3oz pours for $12); a special martini for $6 and prosecco for $5, as well as some delicious nibbles.

If you’re interested in joining in, please PM me so I can let Dean know how many of us to expect. (Note to any other “fit for summer” challenge participants: I plan to take the metro to Woodley Park and walk up Connectict Ave to Dino as a preventative (or guilt-blocking) measure and I would welcome company.

How many are interested so far?

OK. So there are a few of us. Maybe we should try to set something up sometime.

I'm game but the pickins around here are slim to none........unless you know something I don't!

Please count me in as well as my "plus 1" hubby. Sounds great!

I would like to see how it's done right. Count me in too.

Anyone on the board down in PWC besides me?

I'm here in Woodbridge, which my husband and I call the "Cultural Black Hole"

Went to Global Foods in Woodbridge to buy shrimp for dinner tonight. The watercress looked wonderful, so I decided to make this soup tonight along with Shrimp and Butternut Squash Risotto. It's one of my favorites:

Polynesian Watercress Soup:

3 tbs butter

3 tbs flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp curry powder

3 c. milk

1/2 c. boiling water

1 1/2 c. shredded carrot

3/4 c. watercress

Condiments:

shredded coconut

papaya, cut in cubes

macadamia nuts

Melt butter in sauce pan; blend in flour, salt and curry powder. Gradually stir in milk and cook, stirring constantly, till smooth and thickened. Set aside. Put carrots in boiling water in a small sauce pan; cook covered about 3 minutes or until just tender. Chop washed watercress using green part of stems as well as the leaves. Add to carrots and cook about 30 seconds longer. Stir carrots and watercress into hot milk mixture; bring just to simmering point. Serve immediately with suggested condiments.

I finally bought some pork belly and am looking for a good recipe. I wish I could find something similar to what Chef Powers makes. If anyone has a good recipeand would be willing to share....