So what have you cooked lately? (Year three!)

I'd make the Dipsea Cafe's eggs benedict tomorrow, but I've suddenly gotten paranoid in the last few days about my heart blowing up.

seven-grain pancakes with pomegrante sauce and a reduction of pear syrup
turkey-rice soup w. ginger & lemongrass
chocolate mint "frog" tort (aka I know how to use a cookie cutter)
congo bars
apple spice cake with molassas-bourbon frosting
apple-cinnamon cobbler
clementines and meyer lemon lemonade
christmas puddings with non-alcoholic brandy-butter (earl grey tea, spice sachet, lime juice makes a decent sub)
corn and cherry scones
cranberry clafouti
banana cream pudding in chocolate shells
cherry and sweet-cream blintzes
lebeküchen

at home i've been on a fake Poly-chinese kick, trying to emulate all the '60s vintage Tiki restaurant menus of my culinarily-deprived youth. So far I've done a decent (improved on citrus chicken) blood-orange squab with chow mein, a creamy, cinnamony, rendition of American strip-mall sweet-and-sour soup, some phony pork curries.

For Christmas presents, I made three types of catsup (Amish apple, smoky pepper, cardamom brown) two whole-grain mustards, and a vinagery BBQ sauce. They were mostly well-received, but apparently I made the mustards too spicy for my midwestern friends.

Tomorrow I'm gonna try to do a whole menu from Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite books.

I made a reasonable attempt at chocolate mousse for dessert on New Years Day. It followed Bream roasted on top of peppers and and potatoes tossed with thyme, the pan then swilled out with white wine and saffron water before being severely reduced for sauce.

But there was Sandbox ILC!

Also, any ideas where I can buy cheap duck or goose fat for confit? On a Sunday in Los Angeles? Surfas doesn't seem to have any... neither did the Culver City Whole Foods.

can't decide what starch to serve alongside. couscous w/mint?

Who follows their cravings when cooking? I had a fish craving bad, hence the pasta. I'm a big believer in listening to the body's cravings.

We were at our local fabulous asian market Saturday and got a 1 lb. slab (about 1/2" thick and 6"x8") of the most beautiful sashimi grade maguro. I sliced it in 3, coated with a mix of black and white sesame seeds and seared it in a blazing hot cast iron skillet for 2 minutes per side. It was divinely rare. Served with rice/green peas/toasted pine nuts as a side.

What was the name of that dim sum place we all ate at?

I made a tomato soup last night which was easy and tasty. And my long-awaited pain des pommes, whose recipe starts with a warning of how some might be daunted by a bread that takes weeks to make, is nearly done. The first two loaves got cooked yesterday, and right before I bit into one I realized that there was no salt in them. And I checked the recipe and sure enough that's how the recipe goes. And so I ate some and it was nice but was unsalted bread. So I added some salt and tried to work it into the remaining three loaves, which will go into the oven in maybe 30 minutes.

That was House of Hong, oh diaphragm drawer. Mr. Jaq and I took our Sarah there for lunch when she got here on Thursday. Our new neighborhood is the land of phô, and I am learning its varied delights.

$2 more per lb, too.

Can you provide more detail on this? I don't want to let my imagination run away with itself.

http://www.recipezaar.com/162127

The marvellous (though somewhat scary) Heston Blumenthal roasted his for four hours at 60C. N.B I am not suggesting you do this as he had to deep fry the damn thing to crisp the skin up afterward which is somewhat impractical, though you could brown it off in a pan. A couple of hours at a lowish heat, then a blast (He also brined it, boiled and refreshed the whole thing twice before roasting, this strikes me as being too much like hard work, and somewhat the antithesis of the whole idea of a roast i.e. lovely straightforward comfort eating). I find a salt/marjoram mix brings the skin up a treat (as nobly suggested by Paul upthread).

p.s. - i am in love w/ silver spoon.