Food Update

Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons

Translation: Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms

This was Saturday the 12th new meal of the week. My first attempt at a fish dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Brent and I had some good friends over for dinner that night, so I got four people to rate the meal. All four of us said very good. In fact, Brent even went the extra mile to say that the sauce was fantastic, and I agree. Buttery, savory, fishy. Very fishy, so if you're like my sister, this isn't the dish for you, but if you're someone like me who has started succumbing to the goodness of fishy fish, then try this. Tomorrow.

Though it was good, I'm not sure I'm going to make it again. I'm not sure I can explain why. I guess it felt like fancy restaurant food, when while I'm at home, I like to feel like I'm eating fancy homecooked food? Is that a good explanation?

Then again, if I had a restaurant's chef in my home, I would ask him to make this dish often. So maybe it's the effort put into the dish that makes me want to pass over writing this one down as a keeper?

I would post the recipe here, but it's very long and complicated. (It is, afterall, from Julia Child.) If you really so desperately want it, ask me. :)

Virgin Daiquiri a La Brent Tyler

I love that I have the kind of husband who likes to make virgin daiquiris, and that he adorns them with umbrellas and extra pieces of fruit every single time. His daiquiris are delicious...they always turn out different, depending on what fruit we have on hand, but they are most often delicious. :)

Strawberry-Vanilla Bean Cake

The picture doesn't do it justice....the camera made the whole picture too orange, so I spent four seconds trying to fix it in Photoshop, got impatient, and saved the picture like this. But imagine a creamy white cake flecked with vanilla bean specks, with creamy white frosting with a hint of pink and strawberries. It was a beautiful cake.

Delicious too. So moist, so rich.

I had seen the recipe in a magazine a little while ago, and salivated every four hours every time that I thought about it till I made it. I waited for a special occasion with guests to make it, and when I finally did, it was worth the wait.

My only regret was that I wished I had used more vanilla bean. The recipe called for one whole tbsp of the pricey stuff, so I bought four beans thinking they would probably be more than enough. Wrong. Four vanilla beans barely got me half a tbsp of flecks. I dream of how flavorful the cake would have been had I used an entire tablespoon.

Again, if you want the recipe, ask me. :)