Gingerbread lighthouse and cottage 2011/2012
The last time I posted a gingerbread house, it was Jan 2010. Needless to say, with my mother’s illness in Dec of 2010, things went a little crazy. We still got one done but I didn’t have time to post.
*Here are a few pictures from Dec 2010/Jan 2011. 
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*So, this year I was still dragging. I love that my mother is now in a care facility nearby and am grateful to have the extra time with her, but it does add extra time. Anyway, my niece saw this cute little tin with a lighthouse and wondered whether I could do one for our annual tradition. (See other posts, more on gingerbread houses and gingerbread houses).
*The first problem to tackle was the idea that the lighthouse needs to be near the water. Unlike previous houses, we needed to have a setup where the water made sense and played a part. 
I decided to use the rice crispie treat idea to design a landscape – chocolate rice crispies for the land and regular for the sandy beach.
I crushed regular cheerios and chocolate cheerios and blended them to make the rest of the sand that would cover the beach. Later I mixed a darker mix of the crushed cheerios to make the path.
*Another complicating factor was the light placement. Every year we would build a house around a hole in the board where we could put the light and then pull it out before the breaking. This year I had to run the wires under the rice crispie treat landscape. The placement had to be indicated before I started and then before the treats became too hard. (Before the breaking, the wires were cut to remove the LEDs.)
*I adapted a pattern for the lighthouse from the web – What I needed was a good top. So, I made an aluminum foil ball, sprayed it with non-stick spray, and placed on the cookie sheet. Then I draped a piece of gingerbread over the top.
*I also adapted a house from The Gingerbread Architect. Oddly, it was a little more difficult to make the smaller house because the cutting actually has to be more refined – smaller windows, doors and decorations.
*As usual I poured caramelized sugar for the windows and attached them to the building pieces before we raised the buildings. (We also decorate the walls.)
*For the water, I molded the aluminum foil around the bay and poured the sugar syrup into it. Then I let it cool until it was hardened.
*The roof for cottage was regular sized M&Ms, while the lighthouse had mini M&Ms. I also piped with icing sugar the railings, let them dry, and then carefully piped them into place (with all sorts of little bottles to hold them while they dried).
*All that was left was to make it snow.
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…and, of course, we had our usual breaking party… Buddhist non-attachment and a lot of fun for all the kids.
Daring Bakers Challenge July 2011 Fraisier
Daring Baker’s Challenge July 2011
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Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.
(You can find the recipe here: 57_Fresh_Fraisiers-DB_July_2011.)
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For this challenge, we needed to make the chiffon cake and pastry cream from the recipes provided. From there we could take it in any direction. (By the way, the cookbook, Tartine, is fantastic. I have made a few items from it and all have turned out wonderfully.)
*So… Fraisier is similar to Fraise which is strawberry in French. While I love strawberries, cherries have also just come into season. I decided to make a Black Forest version because cherries are in season.
First, I made the chiffon cake. In order to give the cake just a tiny bit more chocolate burst, I decided to add chocolate extract, as well as the vanilla extract and the cocoa called for in the recipe.
I also didn’t want to bother with dividing the cake and so used 2 cake pans.
While the cake cooled, I made the pastry cream. This is an incredibly involved pastry cream. It’s actually a lightened one – that is, whipped cream is folded into the pastry cream base and the pastry cream is mixed with a melted gelatin. The gelatin is what eventually holds the whole cake together.
Note that in order to cool the pastry cream quickly, I spread the it on top of plastic wrap on a small baking sheet. Then I covered the top of the pastry cream with another layer of plastic wrap (to prevent a skin from developing). Using the method of mixing the gelatin into the pastry cream over the bain marie was good, but I had to whisk a lot in order to make sure that the pastry cream was perfectly smooth.
*The cherries took a long time to pit and cut in half. When I tried to put them around the edges, they didn’t stay up. So, I piped a thin layer of the pastry cream. I ended up facing the cherries with the rounded side outward because it just looked better.
To decorate the top, I whipped together some stabilized whipped cream. Then I spread some on top and piped little rosettes to hold the whole cherries (with stems) that I had kept for decoration. (I saw a picture of a black forest cake with the whole stemmed cherries and it just looked dramatic. It made sense to try to re-create it.)
Note that I didn’t use plastic wrap to line the edges. Instead I had professional plastic strips that are a bit sturdier. They allowed me to use a slightly bigger spring form pan and just pull the strip tight around the cake (holding it on the outside with duct tape.) Worked perfectly….
Result: The cake was tall and miraculously stayed together when cut. It was extremely dramatic. While the black forest cakes on the web seem to have denser chocolate cake and vary in decoration widely, I enjoyed thinking about changing the Fraisier to fit the bill. Everyone really liked this version – They thought that the cake had enough chocolate flavor and the whole thing was a lot lighter than it looks. That is, for a summer cake, it was perfect – light (not heavy, as a butter cake would be), fruity, and creamy (but not overwhelming like a full-fat custard).
*Summary: While this is quite an involved production, each of the pieces was not difficult (and the pastry cream could be simplified). I could see myself making it again with the strawberries. It was a fantastic, light summer dessert and everyone liked it.
Daring Baker’s Challenge – Baklava
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Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.
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*I like making baklava every Thanksgiving/Xmas season, leaving a pan on the counter for all guests to indulge. The high sugar syrup insures that it will be OK for the short amount of time that it usually rests there.
*This month’s challenge was focused on the homemade phyllo dough.
*Here’s the ball of dough after I made it. It was very nice and smooth, if somewhat moist. I made only the regular recipe, rather than doubling.
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*After letting it rest and putting together the filling and syrup, I rolled out the dough. (I used maple syrup in the syrup and filling.) I used a pasta machine to start and hand rolled the rest of the way. The dough was so delicate that it was difficult to move from the counter into the pan without it wrinkling.
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*Note that after baking, you need to pour the syrup over the top and let the whole thing sit overnight. So, you can’t plan to have it on the same day you make it.
*Summary: The flavor was good. If I made this again, I’d definitely make a double batch of dough. I’d also try to figure out some interesting ways to roll the dough more efficiently so that I could get a thinner product. I’m not sure that I’ll make this recipe again but it was fun to try it.
New Mexico – Santa Fe 2011
Santa Fe 2011
This year we decided to take our spring break in Santa Fe. We have been going since the 1980s – driving down from CO and staying at various places along the way. (When we lived in NM, we would drive up for the opera in the summers and vacation during down times.)
~So, unlike other places, we have a long list of old favorites. It’s difficult to decide where to go and to balance the old with the new. (While we’ve been to San Francisco many, many times, there are very few old places that we absolutely have to see each time. I’d list Recchiuti for chocolates and the whole ferry building as a must see/eat on our part.)
What did we do this time? Old favorites:
*The Shed - Good as usual, reasonably priced for being so close to the Plaza. On this visit, it seemed like the front desk did not have a good handle about actual wait times.
*La Cantina (part of La Casa Sena) – We’ve mainly gone to La Cantina because we like hearing the music. Over the years, it’s been a bit harder because we’ve been less familiar with the newer musicals; however, the singing is often so good that it doesn’t matter. 
The food has declined a bit and become a bit more uneven. My salad was perfectly dressed and delicious. The other dish we ordered had a steak that was a little tough (for the expensive cut they listed on the bill) but the sides were good. The chocolate chili soup wasn’t quite hot enough, although the flavor was good. The donut, on the other hand, was fantastic. The portions are gigantic.
*Café Pasqual’s – We love coming to this fun, bright restaurant. The food is also fun and creative; however, the prices are noticeably higher. (The cheesy grits were served in a mini cast iron… so good that there were no leftovers.) Service is fantastic for a breakfast location. We’ve never shown up when they open and so do not know how long the line is at that early hour; however, on this visit, we just walked in and the wait list didn’t really start until after 9 AM. This seemed to be true throughout our trip.
*Tia Sophia’s – They are known for their burritos and the prices are really reasonable. It’s a place where locals go. The service was friendly, the food was good, and the place was surprisingly uncrowded.
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*Coyote Café (The cantina is where we usually go but it was closed due to the cold weather.) I don’t know how long we’ve been coming here. The inside is the same and the food continues to be very good. When you look at the menu, it looks very standard, especially by today’s world palate tastes.
However, each item has a unique and interesting twist. The Caesar salad, for example, looks like a sushi roll and it includes these cheesy polenta rectangular shapes that are just delicious. They have some very modern drinks (must have a good mixologist, as they call them now). We wa
tched a table celebrating someone’s birthday order an array of these drinks – it looked like fun.
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New venues:
*Chocolate Maven – This is new from our last visit to SF, otherwise we would have visited. I read about it in several places. From the outside, it doesn’t look like anything (it’s part of a warehouse complex); but, on the inside, it’s a whole new world. 
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Chocolate cake at the Chocolate maven
You are greeted by several large cases of pastries (classic breads and pastries, cookies, cupcakes, pies, and savory items, as well as “pre-made” chocolate items from other purveyors). The room on the first floor has a large window that looks out into the kitchen. You can also dine upstairs by heading up a spiral staircase. Upstairs where we dined it felt like a small café – low noise, intimate, comfortable. The food was delicious overall and very plentiful.
*Dinner for Two (D42) – What a surprise. The restaurant is a bit odd in terms of shape and décor. It’s a bit of a walk from the main Plaza but not too bad. 
The menu is a bit large and seasonal. What’s neat is that there are many different choices for how you can put together a meal. First, you could choose the set 4 courses that the chef has created. 
Other than choosing only 1 -3 dishes, this is the best deal for 4. Second, you could choose to mix & match – This could include the standard 4 with one from each section BUT it could also be a salad and 3 desserts. 
We mixed and matched for 2 set 4 meals and then just ordered 1 main. The food was great. The other unique aspect is that this is truly family run (mom out front, dad doing pastries and “at the table” flambé desserts, and son as chef). We enjoyed enjoyed everything – including watching & listening to the larger 6 top near us.
*Clafoutis – This is far away from the main Plaza and it gets a little precarious when you hit Guadalupe – not a fun walk at that point. However, this little place is somewhat worth the hike. It’s like a little country cottage – with mini blackboards advertising in French and nicknacks on shelves. 
Like any good bakery there’s a wide display of French baked goods. Their menu has classics (like crepes and croquet monsieur/madame), huge salads, etc. People were clearly visiting and having a good time. 
We enjoyed a clafoutis of the day and a ham and grueyere crepe. On our way out, we purchased some tuiles to munch on for our walk back to the Plaza.
*Jambo– This little place is stuck in a strip mall near Hobby Lobby. We didn’t walk because Cerrillos is just not that much fun to walk.
Salmon salad at Jambo
The food is a combo Carribean/African. It’s actually quite good and inexpensive. As an adult, you can ask for a half portion which is what they serve as their kid’s meals.
*Harry’s Road House – This place has been around for a long time and my sister used to drive up from ABQ to eat here. My brother-in-law requested that we take a picture of the scrapple for him. The décor is eclectic and the rooms are large and bright. We had the lemon ricotta pancakes and the special of the day (You can find a web recipe for the pancakes here.) The pancakes were not overly heavy and the lemon made them have just the right level of sweetness. There were definitely locals and regulars here. The table next to us had two people show up later who complained that they couldn’t make it through the various dining areas to the back (where we were) without having to stop at every table. You can’t really walk here from the Plaza but it’s so worth the drive.
*French Pastry Shop (in the La Fonda) – This is also not a new place. We’ve often stopped in to get a quick pastry when the lines aren’t too long in the middle of the day. This time we decided to go ahead and eat breakfast. The Nutella crepe was good but took a long time (maybe because so many people order crepes there?). The croissant was also good but like many classic chocolate croissant, there was not as much chocolate to pastry. Finally, the croquet monsieur was good.
Vinaigrette – Nice & creative salads.
The Chocolate Trail: We only missed one place (C.G. Higgins Confections) and Chocolate Maven should be included even if they don’t hand dip their own chocolates.
*Kakawa – The building seems to be stuck on the side of a lot of parking lots – very non-descript. You walk in, however, and it’s colorful, with quirky decorations and fun display of chocolates. They are known for their hot chocolate concoctions which are incredibly rich and served like strong coffee. Their elixirs are supposed to have health benefits. We tasted one but found it to be too much and so we stuck with their standard flavors. All the flavors are supposed to be based on ancient/historical recipes. The chocolates were good.
*Todos Santos Chocolates (an old favorite but no real dining) – This is still the best. The chocolates have that nice crunch. The variety of flavors is stunning, with some unusual ones thrown in. They have different shapes and great decorations. The chocolate mushrooms are fantastic (still). The customer service is not quite as good as it was. (I had to ask to have my over $40 worth of chocolates wrapped this time and one of my friends recalls little tin decorations added to the boxes which were not on my box.) Because the chocolates are just a cut above, if you only have time for one shop, this would be it.
*Chocolate Smith (also has a small kiosk in one of the shopping areas near the Plaza) – This is a classic shop, serving classic types of chocolate. It reminded me of See’s before they went large (when I was just a little girl). Very amazing service and if you go down to their Cerrillos shop, then they’ll give you a taste of whatever you want.
Places we usually go but didn’t have a chance to visit (maybe someone can update us before our next trip): 315 [Bistro 315 when we started going there], the café on museum hill (amazing views), La Boca, India Palace (way too many Indian/Nepalese etc here in Boulder)… There are interesting places along Cerrillos but as above, it’s not a fun walk – you do need to have a car.
Museums: You must visit some museum (at least one) during your visit to Santa Fe. Just for reference, the best deal is the 4 day museum pass. It has changed over time but if you’re a non-NM resident, it makes sense to buy a pass and see everything you can. If you’re a NM resident, it is actually better to buy a museum membership. We used the membership to visit everything from your classic museums in Santa Fe to forts all over the state.
*Museum hill used to have 3 places to visit on the pass but now just include the two main museums. The revolving nature of the displays make both worth seeing every time we visit. The Palace of the Governors has now split into two connected pieces with the history part in a brand new building. They have also put holes into walls and floors so that you can see the original buildings/walls of the Palace of the Governors. The new history displays are really worth seeing.
*While you’re at museum hill, take a stop at the Wheelright. They ask for a donation and this month they had a wonderful exhibit of two grey hills blankets. The Georgia O’Keefe and the Institute of American Indian Arts are also not included but are well worth a visit.
Other non-food notes:
*If you’re interested in Native American art (mainly jewelry and some pottery items), try to find something under the eaves of the Palace of the Governors. You can buy directly from the artist. I also like to support the museums – costs a little more but they also buy directly from the artists and you have the opportunity to support a museum.
*For rugs, we have had luck with Packards (a little expensive but reliable). We’ve also found things we love by just going in and out of stores. Sometimes it’s just one piece tucked away but it’s worth looking through the other stuff to find it. (This is often true about anything, though.)
*Santa Fe also has the oldest house (supposedly) and the oldest church (mission). The Loretto Chapel has a staircase made without any visible supports – it’s also lovely.
*Cooking School – While I haven’t found anything I want to take other than maybe a walking tour (and those have not been offered on the days we have come through), the people are really nice and their shop has a wide selection of useful items. It’s worth a stop.
Daring Baker’s Challenge – Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake
Daring Baker’s Challenge – March 2011
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The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.
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This challenge was interesting because it came on the heels of making many versions of King’s Cake (click here to see the ones I made this year). A King’s Cake is a yeasted bread ring with filling and icing. Both the King’s Cake and the Meringue Coffee Cake are yeasted bread doughs and require the same kind of treatment as any other bread dough.
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*~Also, a colleague of my sister needed a lemon meringue pie. For this pie, I made the filling a bit more tart than the recipes I found and the crust was made with a combo of butter and Crisco (non-butter flavored). Essentially, I had made all the parts for this challenge over the few weeks before.
~In making various versions of King’s Cake, I found that using coconut oil made no difference. In this version of dough, expeller pressed, safflower oil was substituted to give a healthier dough. Also, a vanilla bean was steeped in the milk. (This is a picture of the dough.)
~I wanted to make both fillings, so to keep it all straight, I left them in long lines. I made the meringue as specified and followed the directions. There was too much meringue and so it was both difficult to roll and difficult to pinch the edges together. Searching through my cabinet, I found 2 pans that were about the right size and placed the cut rings into the pans (sprayed with Pam and a parchment circle on the bottom). 
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~What happened? I thought they rose beautifully and looked just like coffee cakes (as opposed to a different version of a King’s Cake or bread ring). Because I grew up with more of a quick bread version of coffee cake (like a NY crumb coffee cake), this shape resembled more of a cake. It’s also very dramatic. The flavors were good – both fillings were fun.
What would I do differently? I would make less meringue and more filling. Also, the saturated fat (both butter and coconut oil) produced a more moist cake, as well as a richer mouth feel. Maybe half/half next time?
Bottom line: Fun challenge…. I loved trying different fillings and will try this cake again using different mixtures.
King’s Cake (Mardis Gras 2011)
So, I’ve made King’s Cake (gateau des rois) before, at around this time. One time I made 2 for a class of culinary arts students (during the week I was teaching pastry to them). It’s a fun cake because it’s so colorful and flavorful but it’s also a good demonstration of a yeasted bread.
~This year I was a bit lazy and didn’t want to make croissants for my daughter’s French class. Since they happened to be talking about Mardis Gras, I thought I’d make them some King’s cake. My daughter and I had a discussion about galette des rois versus gateau des rois. The galette uses puff pastry and frangipane; whereas, the gateau des rois is made with brioche. In New Orleans, they usually put a little plastic baby (or pecan or something else) into the cake, but because this was going into her class, I didn’t put anything other than filling in –> I wanted to avoid lawsuits.
~Being who I am, I chose 2 different recipes. One recipe is from the Allrecipes site (you can find it here) and the other is Emeril’s recipe. Emeril’s recipe resembles a more traditional brioche (with lots of butter and egg yolks); whereas the Allrecipes version is a leaner loaf. I used the Allrecipes filling for both and for the frosting, I used 5 cups poswered sugar, 3T melted butter,2 T vanilla, and 6T milk for the frosting.
~You can see the difference between the two loaves. The Allrecipes version is lighter and produced a gigantic loaf. If I made this recipe again, I would definitely split it into 3 loaves.
~Emeril’s loaf was denser and smaller. The smell and flavor was just a bit more rich.
~In both cases, I let them rise with a small glass to hold open the hole but removed the glass before baking. The hole filled in during baking…
~For these first 4 loaves, my daughter wanted to make the icing. We let the loaves cool overnight and she frosted and decorated before school. Notice the beautiful, even job that she did.
~I’ve been interested in coconut oil and products for years now and since last week’s NYTimes article discussed coconut oil. I re-made Emeril’s loaf: reducing the 5 yolks to 2 eggs, using non-fat milk, and substituting coconut oil for the butter. The result = the loaf looked essentially the same. You could not taste the coconut oil (unlike some other true cake applications that I’ve made with coconut oil). I placed rolled aluminum foil to keep the hole open during baking and removed them after the loaves were done.
~For these last 2 loaves, she made the frosting and my daughter and nieces decorated.
~Bottom line: Everyone enjoyed all versions. Unfortunately, today is Mardis Gras and so that means we can’t try again until next year.
Daring Baker’s Challenge Multi-layer Panna Cotta & Florentines
The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.
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I love puddings. Panna cotta is wonderful version. It’s usually made with gelatin rather than cornstarch and this gives it often a lighter feel.
~ For this challenge, I had never made a multi-layered panna cotta and was very excited for an excuse to do so. Here’s a picture of the 2 and 3 layer versions made with the 2 types of gelatin and 1 type of gelée that I made.
~You can find the recipe on the Daring Kitchen site. First I made the chocolate panna cotta. I used 60% Ghiradelli (because I always have this in my house). I checked it after 1 hour but it took a little more than 2 hours to set.
~While the panna cotta glasses set, I made the Nestle Florentine cookies. For one set, I flattened as per instructions but parts remained less cooked than others. Then I made the inside less dense than the outer edge. This worked fairly well for one batch. The final batch with only slightly more on the edge was the best.
After 2 hours, I made the almond panna cotta. The recipe supplied is a vanilla panna cotta. I replaced the milk with almond milk (unsweetened). What’s amazing is that the recipe has a vanilla essence without adding any vanilla extract. To boost the almond flavor a bit, I added ¼ tsp of almond extract. I let the mixture cool (almost 25 minutes stirring every so often.) Then I carefully poured the mixture on top of some of the glasses with 2 glasses reserved for just a little of this almond mixture.
~Because the layer was not as thick and the glass/chocolate panna cotta was so cold, it didn’t take as long to set. I waited about 1-1 ½ hours. I then made a raspberry gelée. First I took some frozen raspberries (10 oz although a larger amount would have been better). I put it through a sieve in order to remove as many of the seeds as possible. After getting about 8 oz, I made the recipe. (I did just barely heat the raspberry/sugar until it was melted and heated for 2-3 minutes rather than 5. I also melted the gelatin and water mixture separately and added to the fruit. This allowed it take a lot less time to cool.) After cooling 
I carefully poured a thin layer on top of the all the glasses. (I had a lot of extra chocolate mixture and didn’t quite have enough raspberry gelée to give a thicker layer.)
~While waiting for the gelée to set, I drizzled chocolate on top of the cookies.
~I was so excited that I used different types of glasses. Here’s my picture that is similar to the one in the challenge.
We enjoyed the flavor of all of these panna cotta. 
If I made the chocolate one again, I would put the chocolate/cream mixture through a sieve before adding to the gelatin/milk mixture. I’m not sure I’d make the Florentines again. I might make some other type of cookie that matched what I was doing in the panna cotta. The look of the multi-layer was fantastic but took a long time – Clearly the almond/raspberry was good enough. The whole challenge was definitely worth the effort.
Here’s a picture with the cookie balanced on the edge – it almost looks like it’s floating above…
Chinese New Year 2011
Ever since I finished college, I’ve been very interested in learning and keeping my mother’s traditions. For several years when I lived in New Mexico, I also read books and the internet and gathered the information – including my mother’s own handwritten notes. There are differences between what my mother does and what is considered “traditional”; however, after so many generations of the family living here, it’s not surprising.
~This year is different from previous years. My mother is now living here in town. So, aside from getting everything ready in my own home, I have also had to get everything ready for her. This is a great honor for me; but, as you can imagine, it has meant a great deal of extra work – on top of my actual paid work and the general care of my family. (The 15 days after Feb 3rd are filled with Superbowl Sunday, 2 birthdays and Valentine’s Day.)
~Feb 3rd was the first day of Chinese New Year. I made Dan go, red bean soup, and fat go (or faat go, fatt go, fatt gou or fatt gao – all spellings on the web for prosperity cake). The dan go is my mother’s recipe for steamed egg cake. (I prefer my mother’s cake. I have made this with a rice flour mix substitute to mimic neen go’s rice cake idea (also spelled neen gow).) The red bean soup is a cobbled together from The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen. Finally, the fat go used half the pancake recipe from The Breakfast book plus the rest from the prosperity cake recipe of Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s website. (Notice that the cakes blossom up – into what look like flower petals. I added more baking powder, even though we’re at altitude, to insure the flower – otherwise it wouldn’t be the same.)
origami fortune cookies
~I visited mom after breakfast and brought her a piece of dango and some of the sesame and peanut candies from my red box (as shown above). This was my mom’s box. She gave it to me after the first Chinese New Year in my own place after college. I fill it with the Chinese candies from the store that I like and the Valentine’s day candies because they are often red, gold, and silver.
~We took mom out for a traditional Chinese dinner. It was good – 3 cold dishes (vegetable stuffed tofu, cold chicken, and a scallop/shrimp ceviche like dish), whole fish, duck, Cantonese style noodles, vegetables in deep fried potato dish, lobster, and sesame seed balls for dessert. I had not seen mom eat so much since she’s arrived.
~On Friday I went to visit my mother in the morning – brought her a pine nut cookie and another sesame candy. That evening the extended family ate the leftovers – I added fresh rice and peanut noodles because there was not quite enough of each item left for the number of people.
~In previous years, I have had multiple CNY dinners, inviting many guests. I am still not quite into the routine of this year. So, my sister and I just celebrated together. She brought 2 dishes (walnut shrimp and Chinese chicken wings) and I made whole fish and ji. Ji consists of rice noodles, fat choy (mushroom), dung go (shiitake), and cabbage (which I forgot) and it can be made vegetarian but I used dried shrimp and oyster sauce (in the sauce for the dish).
~For dessert, I made almond jello with mandarin oranges, lychees, and maraschino cherries (for the bright red color, not for health). I also tried “tangerine pie” (caramelized pineapple pastries) from Pichet Ong’s cookbook, The Sweet Spot. This is an involved recipe. I made the dough and filling separately on Friday (to let the dough have time to rest). Today I brought the dough to workable condition and made the rounds. They have to sit in the fridge before you can brush them with yolk, stick the clove in (not edible), and bake. However, they tasted great…
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~One of my friends posted that she had missed National Nutella day. When I looked, I found David Lebovitz’s site stating that World Nutella day is today. I hadn’t missed it…! I took a brownie recipe, removed 1/3 of the batter, mixed the nutella in, and then swirled it on top. It was very chocolatey…
ChoLon, Denver
We don’t usually get down to Denver because the restaurants (from low to high) in Boulder are just so great. All through the summer, I’d been seeing notes about ChoLon. The descriptions on various web reports made the restaurant sound like the type of fusion that I love to eat. Finally, in November, because we were taking some out-of-town visitors to the art museum, I made lunch reservations and we had the pleasure of dining there.
~The decor is modern but not unfriendly. The tables have enough space so that you don’t feel crowded and the noise level is just right.
~The meal started with this beautiful rice cake. At another table where a couple sat, this rice cake had the window as its background. The lighting from the back made the rice cake look like a gigantic cross section of a geode or gem. It positively shimmered. If it wasn’t so impolite to take pictures of strangers eating, I would have taken one at that moment.
~Because everything on the menu sounded interesting, we ordered a wide range of items to share. I’m just including a few pictures to give you an idea about the plating and the range- two of the small plates and two of the mains.
Pork belly dumplings
Duck rolls
Green curry tofu
Noodles
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~The best was the soup dumplings dish which just like the classic xiao long bao where the soup just comes oozing out as you take a bite, but with decidedly European flare. Overall, the flavors were amazing. We were going out for dinner that evening and so we skipped dessert. That just means we have to go back….
Hush Denver – Premiere of Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar
Hush Concepts Dinner January 22nd….
~For months I’d been receiving e-mails about events happening mostly in Denver, every so often, in different venues, with different chefs, etc. I’ve wanted to go but have been busy for one reason or another. (Click on Hush Denver for more info.)
~In Dec I received an e-mail about a preview of a new restaurant in Denver. This sounded like a lot of fun and January was so far away that I couldn’t imagine being busy on that date.
~After a very hectic 3 weeks of the new year, we were ready for a night out. The event was at the Spire building which is right across the street from the arts complex and convention center (where the big blue bear is looking in). There’s still a lot of construction and the restaurant isn’t technically done.
~We checked in and headed to the 9th floor lounge. Spire is like many of the new city buildings: mixed use with retail on the bottom and living on the upper levels. This is very high end. There’s a general lounge on the 9th floor with a staircase to a lounge on the next floor up. (The upper floor had seating areas, a movie room with popcorn machine, a long table that could be used for meetings or catered events, and 2 Macs. The 9th floor was a huge lounge with a balcony that had a long swimming pool, hot tub, and several couched areas. There’s a great view of the convention center.)
View onto balcony from 9th floor lounge
View of convention center from 9th floor lounge
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~Initially, they served a welcome cocktail and passed hors d’oeuvres (walnut/parsnip soup in small sipping glasses, pulled pork on crostini, parmesan crisps with goat cheese). There was enough time to explore, sit in a retro 70s red rounded chair, talk to the concierge, and look at the view before dinner. The long tables were reminiscent of a wedding or a very large farm-to-table dinner.
View of other side of room, near set-up/temp prep space
~The seat next to P was empty, as was the seat across. The 3 couples next to us happened to be in the other part of the room when we squished ourselves into the red chair. They were thrilled to recognize us (“you’re the red chair folks”). I enjoyed chatting with the different folks, sharing pics of our kids, and talking about outrageous things. (ex/The woman next to me has their house rented in Oregon while they’re here on business for a few years. On New Years their tenants got drunk and shot guns from the balcony.) The woman across from me is a chef who works at a Catholic convent now (did her time in restaurants etc already). The third woman does international level accounting for a Denver company (flies all over, etc).
View of where we sat from the stairs leading to the upstairs lounge
~P started talking to one of the wine distributors sitting across from him. They were from Grand Vin in Littleton. The distributor accessed P as someone who loves wine and could carry on and interesting conversation… So, he started to pour some of the ones he had on the side. These were fantastic pours and we’ll likely try to find them. He suggested that if we wanted to find them or any other that we’d had at a restaurant, we could go to our local wine store and ask that the acquire it from Grand Vin. (Great advice. I’m currently searching for a wonderful Riesling that I had at Benu.) We are definitely going to try this with some of these wines.
~Also, the owner, David Schneider, took the seat next to P and talked about how he came to Denver after owning 4 restaurants in Chicago, how he met the chef, how the design/re-design of the restaurant went and what the current progress is. He’s anticipating opening in the next 6 weeks….We’re looking forward to seeing the actual space and trying the food again.
~Here are pictures of the dishes.
The food was good (except for the tuna which was definitely overcooked). To the chef’s credit, he came out and apologized – however, he didn’t need to do so, we all understand how difficult service for 75+ is (especially when you’re not in your own kitchen and in some sort of odd, put together space in the back of a large L shaped room).
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~After dinner we went upstairs to the 42nd floor (top of the building). There’s another lounge that is reserved for guests who stay in floors 25+. The round table was full when we got there and by the time I took the picture many plates had disappeared. 
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On the long table, one of the sous chefs was putting out hot chocolates to go along with dessert. That was actually the best part of the dessert. The wine distributor came by and offered P & I a great Madeira. The woman across from me wanted some and took up my white wine glass. I told her not to do that and the distributor agreed that it wasn’t a good idea to ruin my white wine. I offered the woman my glass of Madeira, finished my white, and asked him to pour the Madeira into the empty glass. It was delicious but I do like caramel flavors. P noted that what he liked about the wines brought by this distributer (not necessarily the ones as listed on the menu) was that they had a balance – not too sweet. 
~Another couple from our side came by and started talking to the couple across from me and that freed P & I to go off and explore the model rooms they had to show. Amazing views and even more amazing prices… (The kicker is actually that their HOA fees are really high and parking costs as much as a nice car – over 35K.)
Phil Armstrong (Hush), Chef Arik Markus, owner David Schneider
~We chatted with the wine distributor out on the deck a bit more – about beer, where he lives relative to Spire, and how glamorous or unglamorous his job is. He was a really nice guy with a great deal of wine knowledge. It was an honor that he shared his knowledge with us. We also had a chance to meet Chef Markus and thank him for doing this event.
~Here is a picture of the view from one portion of the balcony. One can definitely see how you could live downtown if you could have this kind of view. All in all, the experience was fantastic – good food, great wine, & nice people: I’d definitely go out for one of these unusual events again.
