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melinda

Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 256 Location: Richmond, VA, usa
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:35 pm Post subject: splurge meal |
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since Valentine's Day is nigh......what would u fix for a splurge meal (not a list of 50 things....just 1 meal)? _________________ Make me half the person my dog thinks I am. |
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Dairy_Queen

Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 342 Location: Chicago and other places
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Nice topic, melinda!
This is my tried and true Sweetie Pie meal.
Romaine lettuce salad with honey-Dijon dressing and mandarin oranges with almond slivers.
Home-made Crepes Divan with broccolli spears.
Chocolate fondue with strawberries, Angel Food cake and pineapple chunks.
And bottles of champagne, of course! |
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David
Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 1855 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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Oddly enough when I want to make my guy a special dinner I often end up making liver with bacon and onions! It's his fave and I like it too! _________________ Vivant Linguae Mortuae!! |
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Dairy_Queen

Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 342 Location: Chicago and other places
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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David wrote: | Oddly enough when I want to make my guy a special dinner I often end up making liver with bacon and onions! It's his fave and I like it too! |
Well, David, just consider that you've got "Good Taste"! We have a restaurant in Chicago, called Ambria, and one of their TOP selling dishes that they are reknowned for...is their Liver & Onions! It's the type of place that you drop $118/person, so they must know something that you do! Here's a review of the place; I've eaten there a lot, as they are a landscape client of mine.
"Perennially touted as one of Chicago's best, this warm, wood-paneled restaurant is perfect for special occasions. Gabino Sotelino (with chef de cuisine Christian Eckmann) continues to flawlessly execute intriguing contemporary French selections. Starters include sauteed Hudson Valley foie gras with roasted apples and spice bread, and a more traditional oysters on the half shell. Dishes from sweetbreads to fish are available a la carte, but degustation menus are the best way to sample the chef's talents: five courses of a shellfish, game, vegetarian, or "Ambria classic" menu for $65 to $85. Of special note is their perennial favorite: liver and onions. The outstanding wine list ranges from affordable to astronomical. Be sure to save room for the desserts, including pastry chef Michel Briand's famous souffles: whether Grand Marnier, chocolate, raspberry, lemon, or Frangelico, they're magically both creamy and fluffy, light and rich, and always heavenly." |
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brighidsdaughter
Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 233 Location: Canton, TX USA
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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I picked up V-day splurge food last night, except for cheese & wine. The menu is:
Goat cheese & tapenade mini-bruschetta
Tomato-basil soup
Pan-seared lamb loin chops with wine sauce
Spinach & artichoke gratin
Dark chocolate cheesecake
Wine
Espresso
Nothing very difficult, just really good ingredients. Cheesecake is make-ahead, of course & I can assemble the gratin up to a day ahead. This gratin is *so* retro. It leapt out of my 20-yr-old catering journal a couple of weeks ago, and we're enjoying it all over again -- I've made it twice in 3 weeks. |
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Dairy_Queen

Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 342 Location: Chicago and other places
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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brighidsdaughter wrote: |
Nothing very difficult, just really good ingredients. Cheesecake is make-ahead, of course & I can assemble the gratin up to a day ahead. This gratin is *so* retro. It leapt out of my 20-yr-old catering journal a couple of weeks ago, and we're enjoying it all over again -- I've made it twice in 3 weeks. |
bd: can you post the gratin recipe here or in the What's Cookin? thread? I'd like to give it a go, if you don't mind sharing your recipe. |
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madameshawshank

Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 1654 Location: Penrith (where jacarandas remind me of change), New South Wales, Australia
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 12:31 am Post subject: some German rolls :-) |
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a surprise of rouladen would surprise my darling...and a fine wine...his choice..hope it's cool enough to sit outside and listen to the birds..finches and friends ..sing us VD love songs....I know I know rouladen in summer sounds a bit crazy...however my darling doth love his meat... _________________ "I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson |
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brighidsdaughter
Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 233 Location: Canton, TX USA
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:06 am Post subject: spinach & artichoke gratin |
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Recipe posted in "What's Cookin". BTW, I like having that section for recipes. I was almost embarrassed to post the recipe, it's so much the antithesis of the Chocolate & Zucchini mindset. Please don't flog me with a zucchini for this recipe! I warned that it was retro, & true to retro-cooking, it doesn't have a fresh ingredient in it. |
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Rainey

Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:13 am Post subject: |
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If I were to make the "ideal" meal for my husband, it would be a hamburger casserole that his mom made. It's really semi-appauling but that's what he loves and can't get enough of and, since Valentine's Day is about the people we love, we'd give them what gives them pleasure not what would impress someone else, no?
He'd enjoy if I splurged a little on dessert tho. How about a Grand Marnier enfused panna cotta served on a galette of bittersweet chocolate and topped with fresh berries? Or maybe, Valentine's Day being the theme, melted bittersweet chocolate drizzled out into a lacy heart shape beneath that creamy panna cotta? |
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Kate
Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 16 Location: Cambridge, MA
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 4:22 am Post subject: |
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One year I made my boyfriend (now husband) coq au vin. I don't know how long it is supposed to take, but I wasn't very skilled in the kitchen at the time (not that I'm extremely skilled now either, but I sure like to try!)and I remember it took HOURS and was simply exhausting.
My husband who is the better cook out of the two of us prefers to go out for Valentine's Day. Probably the best meal of my entire life was one Valentine's Day at Babbo in NY -- tasting menu paired with the wine tasting menu. Fantastic. |
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David
Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 1855 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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DQ-next trip to Chicago Ambria it is!!! _________________ Vivant Linguae Mortuae!! |
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Dairy_Queen

Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 342 Location: Chicago and other places
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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David wrote: | DQ-next trip to Chicago Ambria it is!!! |
David: You and your honey will adore not only dining at Ambria's but, staying at the Beldon-Stratford Hotel, which is situated directly above the wonderful restaurant! There is also a more "Down Home" restaurant/cafe, also owned by Ambria's chef, called Mon Ami Gabe, literally on the other side of the hotel. It's slightly less expensive and has outdoor dining.
They are located in Lincoln Park, which has to be THEE place to live in Chicago, proper. That is where all of my city clients live.
If you stayed at the Beldon, you'd never, I repeat NEVER need a car for your entire stay! The Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory is literally 1 block away, and Lake Michigan is on the other side of the Zoo. You'd walk your feet to the knee joint with the things to do in this area.
I'm posting a link to the hotel; if you type Beldon-Stratford into your search engine, it will come up with loads of agencies that can give you up to 70% off on your hotel room! http://www.hotelkingdom.com/hoteldetails.aspx?hotel_id=637&origin=overture&OVRAW=Beldon%20Stratford%20Hotel&OVKEY=belden%20stratford%20hotel&OVMTC=standard&hotelid=637
Sure hope you and your honey make it to the Windy City! |
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David
Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 1855 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks DQ looks fabulous!!! We visited Chicago for the first time last September and vowed to return. _________________ Vivant Linguae Mortuae!! |
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Erin
Joined: 18 Oct 2004 Posts: 1654 Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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I haven't celebrated Valentines Day since I was in freshman in high school due to a four year run of bad luck. It all started with the nerdy boy that hid pencils in his hair and ended with Mr. Grabby Hands. The boxing moves my brother and dad taught me sure helped with the latter.
I hope you all have a wonderful time. Phil and I will be boycotting by eating pizza and wearing pj's. _________________ "It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."
"It's hot ham water." |
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Rainey

Joined: 29 Sep 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Well, Erin, if you ever feel like taking minor note of VD you might consider heart-shaped pancakes. That's what our own family VD tradition is. Heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries (you can slice them so they're ever so vaguely heart-shaped too) and whipped cream.
To get the shape, put the batter you like best into a lipped pitcher or large glass liquid-type measuring cup, pour the batter into two small circles close enough so they'll begin to run together. Now, as you pour, draw one circle to a point and finish by connecting to the first circle (that is to say, you're pouring out a "V" to connect the tops of the heart figure). The faster you can do this, the less different in color the finished "heart" will be but whatever color you get is easily disguised by the berries and cream.
These are very homemade looking hearts. So much the better! And one day you may have little ones who's hearts will never be broken who will approach VD with a whole different zest and delight! |
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