Yum yums

[veganray]

It was freakin' fantastic! Top 10 restaurant meals I've had this century. Great Sage in Clarksville http://www.greatsage.com/

[veganray]

Last night Wanda & I tried out a local joint's fancy imported wood-fired oven. Our dinner was off-the-hook - defo the best pizza in Fredericksburg:
mixed cured olives & peppers
sourdough loaf with herbed murky green olive oil & cracked pepper
Wanda's pizza: mushroom paté; fresh, aged, & smoked mozzarellas; speck; grana padano cheese
my pizza: tomato sauce, tomatoes, roasted peppers, grilled artichokes, ripe olives, mushrooms, basil, & garlic

[veganray]

[biscgolf]

laszlo's weenie world- best vegetarian food in fredericksburg one weekend a year...

was that castiglia's pizza VR?

[veganray]

Yes, Castiglia's.

[Frank Delicious]

hey VR have you ever made panna cotta with pectin instead of gelatin? I'm looking to make a vegatarian one for some people who don't want to eat gelatin. I was also thinking about using agar agar because I think it will keep the panna cotta closer to the traditional texture than pectin would but I have pectin on hand.

Also panna cottas I will be making:

Mint
chocolate mint (not chocolate and mint, just chocolate mint leaves).
candied orange

[veganray]

I have made panna cotta with agar powder cut with a little tapioca starch. Indistinguishable from having used gelatin. I doubt you would get good results from pectin unless your panna cotta base were extremely sweet & acidic, and even then you'll probably end up with more of a gel than a creamy custard.

[veganray]

Lunch:
megasalad of micro coriander, micro carrot tops. micro radish greens, mixed lettuces, rubbed kale, baby carrot, yellow bell pepper, English cucumber, purple onion, chives & chive flowers, olive oil-poached tofu dice, and pickled turnip with fresh lemon juice
6 Reduced Fat Triscuits

[BLURR]

Dessert tonight consisted of homemade white chocolate bread pudding with bourbon sauce and golden raisins. Even had a loaf of briocche for the bread filling. It was rocking good.

[Frank Delicious]

Things I made today that were good or will hopefully be good:

pickled spring onions
Spring onion vinaigrette (used the greens from the pickled onions)
Strawberry Panna Cotta
Southern Golden Fleece (a weird dish from one of my grandmother's cookbook from 1917, it was essentially a really weird way of making a frittata)

Things I ate today that were delicious

Katayel
Various Kabobs
Sweet Lebonese rice

[Jesse B 707]

Had a Big Mac for lunch with a crispy chicken snack wrap on the side....beat that!

[BLURR]

McGangbang is much better...and cheaper.

[veganray]

Home alone last night --> a buttload of kitchen experimentation:
Spanish tortilla with home-cured pork belly (thanx LJ), asparagus, white potato, and pecorino Romano cheese
two loaves of whole spelt potato sandwich bread
grapefruit/thyme-marinated baked tofu
Mexican-style pasta casserole with black beans, avocado, chipotle salsa, and a baked garbanzo/sour cream topping
sautéed mustard & kale greens with enoki mushrooms
faux Nutella mousse pie in a hazelnut/chocolate cookie crust

[veganray]

Baker's block: I've got it bad, with a cupcake competition only 8 days away. Please help a brutha out & send me a suggestion or two to hopefully help relight my creative fire.

[BLURR]

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcake (grandma used to make these growing up and they were great)
Chocolate cupcake with Nutella-type frosting(son eats nutella like its going out of style and he likes chocolate)
Chai Latte cupcake with cinnamon frosting (was drinking a chai latte earlier...sounded like an interesting cupcake)
Chocolate cupcake with mint filling/frosting(grasshopper, wife's favorite drink)
Rootbeer cupcake with vanilla bean frosting (Rootbeer float, daughters favorite drink)
-- Possibly filled with some sort of root or vanilla filling?

Butterscotch cupcake with Jagermeister frosting