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| Tuesday, February 15, 2005 It's the cheesiest!
I can't believe I haven't written about our latest cheese revelation: Beecher Handmade Cheese. It's in Pike Place Market, for those of you lucky enough to live in Seattle, close to my new favorite cheese.
Monday, February 14, 2005Our friend Sonja had gotten a little block of Beecher's signature cheese when she was here visiting from Australia (it also came with a cute little cheese cutting board, which Dari immediately claimed for his wooden cooking set). To keep it fresh, I put it in the bacon 'n eggs drawer of the fridge (which is usually filled with bacon, eggs and sometimes ground pork, oh yeah, and cheese... and is the coldest place in the fridge). We then promptly forgot it was there for a few weeks. Thank goodness it is a 'middle' type of aged cheese (what the Dutch call belegen, but I don't know if there's like an American word for the same), so it didn't go bad. Kyle had broken it open for a little sandwich on the go, and I hear him raving in the kitchen... about this cheese! So later Trish and I broke out the trusty ol' Dutch cheese knife (one of my fave cheap purchases from over there) and had some and we couldn't believe how excellent it was! If you like the semi-soft Dutch cheeses like Gouda or Edam (belegen, again) this is the cheese for you. (I sound like an ad for Beecher cheese). I couldn't stop eating it. Highly recommended. In eBay speak: A+++++!  Lousy picture of my new favorite cheese! posted by sheryl | 8:11 PM | comments (1)
Yes Mireille, you are skinny, alright already!
Sacre bleu! I've had it up to the gills with news about this book: French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. The gist is that she's a middle-aged French lady who studied in the U.S. once when she was twenty, and went back to France 20 pounds heavier because of her newfound love of cookies and brownies. She then lost the weight, thanks to help from her French doctor, and has never looked back. This book seems to be a new sensation in the press, with coverage by NYTimes, Vogue, etc.
Have an outrageous Valentine's Day!
Here's an excerpt from a New York Times review: To that end, Frenchwomen eat small portions. They eat whatever they want - even chocolate - but certainly not every day. They use ultrafresh ingredients and avoid processed foods. They drink a lot of water, but never take wine without food. Okay, I will tell you right now that the entire "Frenchwomen" (is that a word?) population of France is not making their own yogurt. That is absurd. It's like saying every American is on Atkins (okay, a lot are, but not all of us!) Granted, I have not read the book, but from the above review, it seems like a lot of sweeping cultural stereotypes. There is a big missing factor in all this: many French women (and Europeans in general) smoke like chimneys. And yes, this is a weight suppressant. I will give Guiliano this much: Jeffrey Steingarten once wrote about the French Paradox: it is true that with a diet high in carbs and fat, that the French suffer less from heart disease than the average American. That said, we must take the role of genetics into consideration alongside the cultural implications of the differences in our lifestyle habits. Anyone who's gone to Europe will notice that Europeans seem thinner in general. Some, like the Dutch, have generally awful cuisine, worlds away from delicious French food. Yet they too are generally thinner than Americans. Now here is my theory: the biggest factor leading to American fat? The car. I wonder if anyone has done a study on New Yorkers and Europeans. Every time I've been to New York, it seems the fatness levels are not the same as, say, in the Midwest. Many New Yorkers walk, just like Europeans. Are we onto something here? I need to start working on my own book. It's called The Diet of Frites. It's the story of how I moved to Holland for several months, ate frites with mayonnaise followed by ice cream or chocolate bonbons every day, and lost 20 pounds. The secret was walking. And no, I did not make my own yogurt. posted by sheryl | 9:59 PM | comments (0)
Because Valentine's Day puts chocolate on everyone's mind (and because Food TV shoves Chocolate Obsession Week at us this time of year), here's my recipe for Little Outrageous Brownies. I call them Little Outrageous Brownies because I had to adjust Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) recipe for Outrageous Brownies. No wonder she's gained weight-- who makes a 13 x 18 sheet pan of brownies?! So given most people's appetites, I've been working to get this recipe down to a normal-sized 8 x 8 inch pan. This is my favorite brownie recipe so far (and believe me, I've tried a lot!). This one finally gives you that nice crackly top that you usually only get with commercial brownie mix because it has a healthy dose of baking powder-- something that is often missing from homemade brownie recipes. This also calls for a bit of instant espresso, which does wonders for bringing out the taste of the chocolate. The great thing about brownies, including these ones, is that you don't really need a super-high-quality chocolate for it (except use some great chocolate for the chips). And I made it even easier than Ina's recipe by replacing the unsweetened chocolate with additional bittersweet. Eet smakkelijke!
Little Outrageous Brownies 7 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I like Ghirardelli double chocolate chips) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat, or over a double-boiler. Cool until just warm. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar and espresso. Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture while whisking. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into the egg/chocolate mixture until well-blended. Toss the nuts and chocolate chips in the 1 tablespoon of flour (this will keep them from settling to the bottom of the brownies) and add to the chocolate mixture. Scrape out the mixture into a nice little 8 x 8 pan. Bake for about 24 minutes, just, just until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a bits of chocolate clinging to it. Let cool, cut into squares and serve with excellent vanilla ice cream. :) Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet posted by sheryl | 7:02 PM | comments (0)
Chocolatey Goodness: an ode to Puccini
Slate has ratings of the "tastiest" chocolates (quotations are mine) you can get by mail. Don't listen to any of it. Since the Holland stint, I have become the biggest chocolate snob in America. (Yes it's true, even more of a chocolate snob than either a waffle or french-fries snob. The french fry snobbery I will get to in another post). I usually really like Slate's Shopping column, with the exceptions, of course, being their coffee-maker article and their vacuum-cleaner article. (Many know about my obsessions with my Francis X5, (which I've nicknamed "Francis"-- what else?) even though I've gotten lazy and use a regular ol' Krups nowadays, and my newer obsession with our Miele vacuum cleaner, which cost more than anybody should ever spend on a vacuum-cleaner, ugh. But I love it! And I'm getting away from the subject here.)
Mario the Comic Book Guy
Anyway, I think Puccini Bomboni in Amsterdam ruined me, ruined me! for regular chocolates. It's the combination of super, super dark (i.e. at least 70% cacao content) chocolate and super-strong, unusual flavors, the best of which are fig-marzipan, tea, lemongrass, tamarind, and last but not least, pepper. We also had a Den Haag based chocolatier called Westerbroek, which had the best damn hazelnut chocolate anywhere. Unfortunately, Puccini does not mail-order, so Kyle, Tricia and I are incredibly depressed whenever we imagine pepper chocolate and fig-marzipan bonbons. How sad! As far as the Slate article goes, avoid pretty much everything on the list, with the exception of La Maison du Chocolat, the French company. They actually have stores in NYC, and are highly regarded. Some chocolate-crazies that I know prefer Maison's best of all, so even though I didn't get to try them while in Paris (even more expensive than Puccini, so I couldn't do it!) I trust that they truly are some of the best out there. Avoid Leonidas, the Belgian company on Slate's list: totally mediocre. A Belgian company I really like just for regular chocolate bars is Galler. They also have bonbons with flavors like curry, but I did not get to try them. Actually, now that I think of it, for regular chocolate bars and for baking, one of my favorites happens to be Scharffen-Berger, which is an American company! So that gives me hope: maybe I will come upon the ultimate American bonbon one of these days. Speaking of bonbons in America, when we got back to Seattle last year, one of the first things I did was check out Fran's. It is sometimes regarded as the best chocolate in America. I'm gonna go old school here-- Don't believe the hype! It was totally overpriced, and to me, tasted like the commonest Belgian chocolate this side of Bruges. Not only that, it was too sweet-- one of the typical crimes of American chocolate. It is $45 per pound! Compare that to Puccini's 40 euros per kilo, and you'll understand why I think Fran's is overpriced. The only worthwhile bonbon was the salt caramel, but it's still not worth the cost. Anyway, I can't write about this anymore, it's too depressing! Soon I will have to have a Holland-based friend send us some chocolates when this withdrawal becomes too unbearable. It'll be totally worth the shipping cost! Better yet, anyone going to Amsterdam soon?? :)  Puccini's Staalstraat location. Staalstraat is one of the cutest little streets in Amsterdam, and this shop has a tasty sandwich shop next door (also named Puccini). (sigh... I can see the tamarind flavor right there in the forefront...) Labels: travel posted by sheryl | 9:33 PM | comments (9)
Am I the only one who thinks Mario Batali looks like the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons?
Tuesday, February 01, 2005 Worst Ponytail Ever. posted by sheryl | 6:02 PM | comments (2)
Take that, Bobby Flay! Iron Chef America update: Jerky Flay went down to Ming Tsai in the Duck Battle last night. Ever since Jerky stood up on the cutting board against Morimoto, I've been waiting for him to lose. He is definitely the biggest jackass on Food TV. I'm so glad he was beat by an Asian-- hee hee! The episode: Foie gras creme brulee actually looked good (Tsai), and I have to say the jerk duck from Jerky (how appropriate) looked awesome on the plate. Even though he's my all-time favorite food writer, Jeffrey Steingarten's arrogant comments are getting old. Ted Allen was actually pretty good, and thank goodness they got rid of that stoopid middle judge from last week who was afraid of Trevino's catfish doughnut. (But not afraid of his 'miso honey' sauce. Haha-- I snorted on that one when he said it on TV). All in all, a great ICA episode.
posted by sheryl | 12:39 AM | comments (0)
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Welcome to Sheryl's site dedicated to the humble waffle, among other sweet, savory and delicious things. I'm based in The Hague, Netherlands, and post recipes and travel (food, of course) photos. Mmmm...photos... Top Posts Categories Recent
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