DC took me to Braise for our anniversary dinner. It was a lovely place with the best service I’ve experienced in Singapore: warm and attentive yet unobtrusive. They noticed that I was cold and not only gave me a shawl, they also made sure that my hot water was topped up all the time.

It was too bad the tasting menu wasn’t very exciting, so we went a la carte. Still, the chef sent out an amuse bouche of some kind of pate on a sliver of toasted baguette. I don’t remember what it was, all I know that it was rich, very tasty and left us both wanting me. I suspect it’s a fish rillette of sorts. We’ll have to see whether it makes its way to the main menu before telling.

DC’s starter was just his thing: a rich and unctuous pairing of foie gras and sweetbread. I wasn’t sure of the spongey-grainy texture of the sweetbread, but DC loved it. It’s pretty difficult to get parts like pancreas in Singapore.

I had half a dozen fines de claire oysters au naturel. They didn’t even need the lemon, they were so fresh. I loved how the sharp, slightly briny taste mellowed into mouth-filling savour. It was a pity they didn’t have a muscadet to go with it, that pairing is made in heaven. I was so sad when I ate my last one, enjoying the aftertaste for as long as I could. It’ll be a while before I get oysters of that quality again.

Now for the mains. Mine was a straightforward roast beef in jus, paired with braised beef cheek, savoy cabbage and decadent, decadent buttery mash. It was a good dish that tasted far better than it looks in the picture. (The problem with romantic settings is that pictures just don’t come out well at all.) The beef was nicely rare, just as I like it, and the beef cheek the expected melt-in-mouth tender. Coupled with the very buttery mashed potato, it was a tad on the rich side, which DC quite predictably loved. Needless to say, I finished the savoy cabbage quite quickly as it was a good foil to all the butter and fat.

I think DC may have had the more interesting dish. His grilled fish with capellini was quite different as fish and cheese are not commonly paired. The pasta was doused in a very cheesy stock that wasn’t at all stringy. It was as if the essence of cheese had been distilled and used to flavour the pasta, without having any actual cheese in it. I can’t even imagine how they made this. The fish itself was good too, with a nice gratinated crust. It was ordinary in a good way.

Dessert was a bit of a pity. I didn’t understand why they had to deconstruct a trifle. I liked the apple jelly and granite, it was just a pity that the custard was starchy. It showed that either the head chef was off-duty or hadn’t any confidence in his custard-making skills or both. I liked the cinnamon donut, but wasn’t sure of the point of it. Yes yes, I know that it’s the deconstructed trifle sponge, but it didn’t really add anything to the dessert. Braise would do better if they hired a better dessert chef.

In summary, we’ve got outstanding starters and very competent, somewhat creative mains. Avoid the dessert and you’ll have a fabulous dinner.

Braise
60 Palawan Beach Walk
Level 2 Sentosa
Tel: 6271 1929

This is the BEST party recipe!  We’ve served this at all types of events - baptisms, cocktail parties, etc. – and they are a huge hit every time.  It’s perfect to serve among other appetizers for a cocktail party or as an amuse bouche before a dinner party.  It’s a fabulous single bite!

BLT Bites

Ingredients

• 16 to 20 cherry tomatoes
• 1 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley

Directions

• Cut a thin slice off of each tomato top. Scoop out and discard pulp. Invert the tomatoes on a paper towel to drain.
• In a small bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Spoon into tomatoes. Refrigerate for several hours. Yield: 16-20 appetizer servings.

If you make them, leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Lately I’ve gotten into a rut with my favorite New Orleans restaurants, going to the same ones over and over again. I can’t help it. There are so many dishes that are particular to certain restaurants or places that prepare a familiar dish in just a particular way … and I crave these things. So I end up going to the same places. This trip I decided to break out of my restaurant rut and try some of the restaurants I’d been hearing about.

Restaurant August is one of those. I’ve been hearing mumblings of its fabulousness for a long time. Then it showed up on a list of recommendations from my friend Margo Choquette (of the Sheraton New Orleans) so I decided to give it a try.

The cuisine at August is billed as ‘Contemporary French with a focus on local ingredients’. It has appeared on Gourmet’s list of top restaurants twice.

The restaurant is located in the Central Business District on Tchoupitoulas (I love that street name, named after the Louisiana Tchoupitoulas Indians).

The chef/owner is John Besh . He has been named one of the Ten Best Chefs in America by Food and Wine magazine in 1999 and he has won the James Beard Foundation Award for best chef in the Southeast. In addition he was the runner up on the first season of Food Network’s Iron Chef America.

He recently published his first solo cookbook, ‘My New Orleans, The Cookbook ‘. It looks fabulous. This one is definitely going on my list. I might have purchased it on the spot, but there’s another cookbook I’m hunting down this time so I’ll have to wait on this one.

The decor of August is very elegant without being stuffy with lots of wood, exposed brick exterior walls, beautiful lighting and white table cloths.

I dine alone quite a lot when on the road and enjoy it immensely. From time to time I don’t get the best service, but I usually do and I really like having the opportunity to give my full attention to the experience … the surroundings, the food, the conversation with the servers and occasionally other diners that I wouldn’t have if I had a dining companion. The service at August was attentive and warm.

The first course was a complimentary amuse bouche (often referred just as an amuse). It loosely translates to amuse the mouth … something to tease the palate. This was probably the best amuse I’ve ever been served. It was a seafood sabayon (or custard) with black truffle and caviar. It was served warm inside an egg cup. Just a few bites. The flavors were so well balanced and delightful. My palate was thoroughly teased.

There were so many wonderful items on the menu it was really hard to decide on something. I thought about ordering several small plates but ended up with a salad and an entree.

I ordered the ‘Organic Greens with Pumpkin Seed Brittle, Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Pumpkin Seed Oil Vinaigrette’. I loved the combination of the rich sweet brittle with the bitter greens and the salty blue cheese.

My entree was the ‘Sugar and Spice Duckling with McEwen’s Stone Ground Grits, Roasted Duck Foie Gras and Candied Quince’. WOW! The duck was cooked medium rare and had a sweet spicy crust. The duck foie gras was subtle and rich. The quince sauce was the perfect complement. The server said it was one of their house specialty dishes. I can see why. It was spectacular!

I would have loved to stay for a while longer, but Karen arrived later that night and we had a plan to walk around the Quarter and get a little dessert someplace together.

I will definitely return to August and along with Margo’s endorsement, the restaurant will be on my list of recommended New Orleans Restaurants too.

There are few things I’m really good at in life, and naturally, I feed those and try to improve on them.  Now I know making sushi is NOT one of them.  How do I know this?  Maybe because I ended up with a mess of fillings, rice and disintegrated nori at every attempt.  I overfilled, under filled, rolled perfectly, only to find that my border was taken over by globs of filling, leading to gaping holes in my nori, and the inability to seal the damn rolls.  I actually had some success with with my California roll, only to find that they looked like little lumps of ‘What the %#&* are those?’ when it came time to take photos.

                               Dragon roll with yellowfin tuna and California roll

As you already know, this months Daring Cooks challenge is sushi.  Along with making proper sushi rice, we were challenged to make three rolls;  One, a Dragon roll, which is inside-out sushi (the rice is on the outside, the nori on the inside) made to look like a dragon,  some with faces, some not (My Dragon’s face was hit by a Mack Truck), with a tasty surprise filling.  Two, Decorative sushi, a nori-coated rice roll which reveals a decorative pattern when cut…and Three, nigiri sushi, which is slices of raw or cooked fish, OR whatever suits your fancy, draped over tightly formed little mounds of rice.  Before I continue..you know the drill..

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.  Thanks for a great challenge, guys!

                   “ROAR!  My head is made of pickled ginger and I have no face!”

Sushi is much appreciated for its delicate taste and exquisite appearance. Sushi actually means vinegared rice, which is the essential ingredient in every sushi recipe. Sushi is simple and cheap to make at home, needs no special equipment and is an excellent way to use left overs.

Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was invented in Japan in the 1800’s where a ‘hand-formed’ sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball was eaten as a snack food. Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw and cooked.

                      Left to Right: Egg {Tamago), Shrimp (Ebi), Smoked Salmon

Now that you have a little background on sushi, I’ll get to my near disaster.  I admit it, I cheated a little, but not completely.  After many attempts to turn out pretty sushi, I finally waved the white flag and went to a local sushi joint to pick up some sushi grade tuna (NO WAY was I going to purchase sushi grade fish from a supermarket.  With my luck, little wormies and gut eating bacteria would inundate my beautiful fish and everyone who tried it would die).  When I was there, I got down on my hands and knees and begged the sushi chef to SHOW ME THE LIGHT!  I cried, bowed at his feet, offered up my firstborn, and pleaded for sushi mercy..OK, cease and desist on the dramatics.  (Disclaimer: the aforementioned pathetic groveling is purely for entertainment purposes only and completely fictional).  I asked him nicely if he could show me how to make these three rolls properly, and I would pay for every roll he made and I made.  Fortunately, he was nice enough to only charge me for the rolls he made, which kind of makes sense, since I think he would be utterly embarrassed to charge me for my inadequate, lumpy sushi.  Nice guy.  This little lesson took all of 10 minutes for all three sushi preps, and let me tell you, with his ingredients and equipment, especially the rolling mat (mine is akin to glued toothpicks), I was able to turn out some decent looking sushi. 

              This was supposed to be a spiral roll  Didn’t quite work out that way.

Unfortunately, since this was a last minute, pathetically desperate plea, I didn’t have my camera with me, but mark my words, I made every single bit of sushi pictured in this entry.  It was my hands that filled, rolled and sealed…my hands that carefully draped paper-thin slices of avocado over my wimpy, steam spewing dragon (no fire there), MY HANDS that proudly held pretty containers of what looked pretty close to sushi, as I exited.

A few years ago, I received a book called Sushi, American Style, by Tracy Griffith – the half sister of Melanie, minus the silicone lip injections.  This book is awesome, and every few months I would swear I was going to attempt to make these cool creative ‘raw fishless’ sushi rolls she came up with, one of them being a club sandwich roll –  layers of cold cuts, lettuce, tomato, mayo, rolled with the nori and sticky rice.  After my little lesson in sushi making, I felt confident I could pull it off.  I made another batch of sticky rice (What a drawn out preparation, and damn, that stuff is like glue to the skin if you don’t wet your hands prior to touching it.  Some construction dude could easily hang from a beam, 100 stories up, using sticky rice to to glue his construction helmet to it…for as long as need be, unscathed), did exactly what Mr. Master Sushi Chef instructed me to do, and VOILA..filling all over the place, unable to seal them, ripped nori.  WTFFFF???  Ok, breathe deep..I will do this..and I finally did, after wasting  a ton of turkey, ham, tomato, cheese, and my own wasabi mayo.  These were supposed to be spiral rolls, but I’m pretty sure the nori disintegrated underneath all the moist cold cuts prior to rolling, because my spiral looks more like a broken kaleidescope.  Regardless, it still turned out pretty nice aesthetically  I served those with a sour pickle and potato chips.  This is the kind of roll that your jockish, sushi hating ‘HE MAN’ would eat.

‘Club’ sushi roll.  Wasabi mayo, romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, ham, tomato and turkey.

All in all, this was a great experience, as I never thought I’d ever be rolling ‘real’ sushi.  A new notch on the old culinary belt for sure.  For sushi making instructions and the recipe(s), go HERE. 

Be sure to check out the other Daring Cook’s sushi creations by going to the Daring Cooks Blogroll and clicking on the links to their blogs!

Bonjour!  Just so you know, I have no opinions to express in this post here.  Just the fact’s ma’am, letting you know about a French dude,  a food cart, and a deportation, all in the Mission district.  Perhaps you have already read the some background on the tale here on Mission Mission.

The Amuse Bouche newsletter included a note from Murat’s wife today:

Dear Friends,

It is now final: Murat will be leaving the country on Thursday, November 12th. Our request for deferred action was denied, and even though we filed our green card application it did not bring about a reversal in ICE’s decision to deport him. Murat and I considered delaying the process further to see if he could make his way in front of a judge but decided that the disadvantages (mostly his continuing internment and the suffering it has caused to ourselves and our families) is not worth the gamble. So, I bought his plane ticket today.

As you might imagine we are filled with mixed emotions. It is a shame that Murat is being treated like a criminal and that the life we have built in San Francisco is coming to such an abrupt end. At the same time, we are infinitely glad that he will have his freedom back and that our families, and a whole new life awaits us in France. We are also very thankful for ALL the love and support you have shown us during this difficult time. I will never forget the t-shirts, the good wishes, the many many offers of legal, financial and emotional assistance. I know that once Murat is back in France and reads all of his emails he will have things to say of his own, so I am leaving it at that.

Love and blessings to you all,

Pelin Celebi-Ariner

Take that as you will.  I’m not interested in telling you how to take that.  Would love to hear how you take it in the comments section, though.

[Source: CBS Eye on Blogs]

I met Murat, the Frenchman who launched Amuse Bouche, “the original recession buster breakfast,” when I was casing out nominees for The Guardian’s Best of the Bay Awards. He was incredibly charming, from the time I contacted him to when he gave me an ipromptu lesson on muffin mixing to the time he made two egg cartons full of morning glory muffins for me to bring to my office. For months, Murat has been under a strict watch by the ICE. For the last few weeks, he’s been detained in prison for the same immigration issues. Today, we learned that he’s heading back to France tomorrow.

When I first asked him, “How did you come up with the idea of selling muffins and chai from a cart?” he responded, “Well, I like to bake, my girlfriend likes to bake, and she and I were trippin’ out, and we thought, ‘Hey, why not sell them?’” Murat was just a guy with an idea, and now he has to leave his wife (then girlfriend, pictured here with her at Eat Real) behind.

Here’s an interview I did with Murat that never got around to being posted to SFBG.

Name: Murat
Age: 36
Hometown: Paris, France
When did you move to San Francisco? December 2008
What do you have to say to people who call your accent fake? Salut, ca roule?
Who taught you how to bake? My wife, my mother and my paternal grandmother.
I heard you got married recently. How did you and your wife meet? We have been friends since we were kids. Our families summered in the same place in Turkey.
What kind of wedding did you two have? City Hall, champagne in plastic flutes with our witness.
Where did the idea behind Amuse Bouche come from? We came up with the idea of the mini muffin and chai in an egg crate one night when we were stoned.
Is Amuse Bouche your full-time job? Yes.
Where do you work? At home and in the street.
Favorite thing to bake: Pear almond tarts. I love making them. There’re a lot of steps but it’s very exciting. And the result is very good.
What are your recommendations for making the perfect muffins? Do not overstir.
Got a recipe you’d like to share? Most of my recipes are modified from internet recipes. Here’s my favorite modification: When you make banana muffins, fill the cup halfway then add a teaspoon of nutella in the middle and cover with another half of batter.

I didn’t post this to pass judgment on a case I know very little about. Just sending Murat best wishes.

Matcha Green Tea does not have to be the focus.

Not everyone who sits in your restaurant is going to order a green tea.

But that’s what’s wonderful about the fact that Matcha is a powder.

It is an ingredient which ~ when added to the table hors d’œuvre or amuse-bouche ~ makes your establishment stand out from the ordinary.

Many people who frequent the local tea house or smoothie shop are health conscious individuals who are secretly fighting the urge to bite into a sugar coated candied apple.

You can answer that need with Matcha.

Simple recipe: Slice some Fuji apples and sprinkle some Matcha powder on them.

Seriously, the flavor will take the taste buds into a simple splash dance of flavors without loading a person down with caramel-lined arteries.

It’s a recipe easy to make, great on the taste, and an upsell that accompanies any beverage choice they might have made.

http://matchagt.com/
http://www.smoothieessentials.com/
http://matchagt.blogspot.com/
http://smoothieessentials.blogspot.com/
http://matchagt.wordpress.com/

Toast a la Vire als Amuse Bouche

Mit Zutaten aus unserer Partnerstadt Vire wird dieser Toast zubereitet,

Grundlage ist ein Stück Lebkuchen mit Feige, darauf eine dünne Scheibe Andouille de Vire. Dies wird abgedeckt mit einer Apfelspalte. Camembert de Normandie bildet den Abschluss. Kurz vor dem Servieren das ganze kurz unter den Grill bis der Käse beginnt zu schmelzen. Zusammen mit Cidre servieren.

Toast a la Vire als Amuse Bouche

Speisekarte 08.10.09

Amuse Bouche

Gemüseterrine

Meerwolf

Rehrücken

 Es war schon eine “böse” Arbeit an diesem Sonntagmittag ein Menü mit sieben Gängen sowie zwei Amuse Bouche  für 11 Personen aufzutischen. An dem ein oder anderen Detail muss noch gefeilt werden, ich selbst bin aber mit mir zufrieden.

I very good friend gave me some serrano ham a few weeks back when during my birthday and so often than not, I just eat it as is. Then, I realize that the value of that ham could have been better if I were to do something about it hence, I made a serrano cigar!

This is actually an amuse-bouche. It is something that is served, upon the selection of a chef, in a restaurant as a starter but not an appetizer. It should be small and presentable and it must be bite size. Amuse-bouche are eaten in a single bite, just one bite!

Anyhow, here is the line-up photo.

First, get a saucepan, pour in red wine and some canned cherries with their syrup.

Taste first, if it lacks sweetness, add some sugar, which happened in my case.

Bring to a boil to reduce it.

For the cigar part, cut some celery

Blanch it by putting it in boiling water *picture doesn’t look like it is boiling though*

Then give it an ice shock

Lastly, mangoes brunoise. Brunoise is technically super small dices. Which can be seen here.

Then serve it nicely if possible. Mine looked like a phallic symbol lolz. Or, in a different perspective, a tank!

Thoughts

First of all, I will never use celeries from China if it was meant to be chopped! It sucked texture wise. Other parts were chewy. It think it had too much cell wall ). Flavor wise, the celery was good, but it wasn’t good for something eaten this way. I bought it cause it was cheap, well, it’s china! Next time, I think am just gonna use China celeries for stock making lolz.

I think, it could have been better if the mango and the reduction was placed on top because when I ate it, I wasn’t able to get everything. Moreso, I think it was better eaten with a spork *the utensil that is like a spoon and a fork combine?* Serrano ham is serrano ham and that’s it. I think this was a bad amuse-bouche

The only thing that was good here was the red wine and cherry reduction. I think am gonna use it again for some sort of a glaze. Lastly, I need to practice my brunoise, it was poorly done

Die Gaststube

Mitten im Herzen der normannischen Schweiz liegt ca. 40 km südlich von Caen  das Städtchen Pont d’Ouilly. Ein ländliches Restaurant mit kleinem ruhigem Hotel. Ich selbst hatte das Restaurant bereits Ende der 90ziger Jahre besucht  und meine damaligen positiven Eindrücke wurden auch diesmal bestätigt. obwohl es anscheinend im letztem Jahr einen Besitzerwechsel gegeben hat,

An diesem Samstagmittag waren wir die einzigen Gäste. Wir wurden von einer jungen Dame freundlich empfangen und konnten uns den Tisch aussuchen. Als Aperitif wählten wir einen Kir Normand. Frische Brötchen und Salzbutter standen schnell auf dem Tisch.

Aus der Speiskarte wählten wir für 22€ ein viergängiges Menü, as wie folgt aussah:

Amuse Bouche

Thon und Crevetten

Perlhuhn

Dessert Quarkmousse

After a week’s hiatus I am ready to resume my musings for you, dear reader. Re-entry into the hustle and bustle of Manhattan takes some adjustment for yours truly. Getting back my city streets mojo is a far cry from living our pastoral type of existence on Cape Cod, but I’m feeling my old self again and ready to rant, rave, and whine.

Of course the real bonus in this is being wrapped nightly in my Mom’s arms and then knowing that when I awaken in the morning she will still be pressed against me, no matter how many moves I make during the night. That feeling of security is beyond compare…well, maybe a nice juicy marrowbone comes close, but no, not really. I am able to survive our long days alone in the apartment because I know my mom will be home in the evening, ready to reclaim our emotional connection.

This weekend was spectacular because we had long outings to Tompkins Square Park, cuddles on the couch, and a primo bull pizzle, which Lizzie and I consumed on our terrace. Life is good for us, I must confess. The only issue I currently have is the lack of comestibles in our NY home. At Grandma’s there was always a steady, flavorful, and diverse supply of treats. Grandma was mindful of fulfilling our palate’s constant jonesing for an amuse-bouche. I do miss those daily samplings and the heavenly aromas emanating from Granny’s big kitchen.

In the grander scheme, I am quite content and have been reminded this week of the old Simon and Garfunkel song lyrics:

Home where my thought’s escaping,
Home where my music’s playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Mom, your little man is happy to be home again.

Respectfully submitted,

Mason

Just couldn't resist including this shot since it shows me at my finest...working on a lobster claw. Happy times!

An All-American Weekend at Formaggio Kitchen, Cambridge
Saturday: October 24th. Three local cheesemakers, Carlisle Goat Dairy, Jasper Hill Farm and Twig Farm, will talk with Formaggio Kitchen customers about what they do and how they make their cheese. They’ll also answer questions and sample their cheeses, and the event is free. Read more at Formaggio Kitchen.
Sunday: October 25th. Formaggio Kitchen is offering a class focusing on domestic food producers as paired with domestic brews. Tickets ($35 apiece) can be purchased through Formaggio’s online store.

Savory Pot Pie on Sunday in Maine
For those of you looking to travel a bit further afield this weekend, Cellardoor Vineyard of Lincolville, ME, is holding a cooking class on Sunday, Oct. 25, with Savory Pot Pie but one of the courses to be prepared on site and enjoyed with the Vineyard’s own wines.

Pepper Jelly, Anyone?
Jo of Amuse Bouche has posted an equal parts informative, equal parts funny ‘how to’ on canning pepper jelly (I hear you on Sunday’s weather, Jo–I ran a road race in that rain/snow/wind. Canning jellies sounds nicer).

Mama Cooks
The Kitchen has added a new blog to its blog roll, Mama Cooks by Betsy Block, a Boston area professional food writer, restaurant critic, and recipe developer. Welcome, Betsy.