Comments on: “Cold Cake” on a Xi’an Street Corner

By: leakat

leakat — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 06:27:22 +0000

Cold Cake is great recipe . How i can cooking this Cold Cake .
Please tell me more.

By: Dawn McQ

Dawn McQ — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 21:31:32 +0000

can ANYONE tell me where I can buy (I live in FL) glazed Pili Nuts (not just the plain raw) – are there any stores that carry that I can either order on line or paypal for a few bags please?
They seem pretty impossible here to find. thank you – any information greatly appreciated.
DMM

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 06:49:01 +0000

OMG, Footloose! I also read Blue Afternoon when it first came out over 20 years ago, truly a wonderful novel.

By: Nikita

Nikita — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 03:52:50 +0000

At the restaurant I used to work at we used thread or dental floss (non flavored) to slice through soft cheese and pate :) or you could do the standard hot knife technique but this still required you wiping the the knife clean after each slice

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 21:50:47 +0000

Footloose, your ability to connect food, of any kind to literature and history is astounding… I, for one, like candied violets, but probably only because they really are like colored, flavored sugar cubes… :)

By: Footloose

Footloose — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:00:04 +0000

@Nina, yes, just a slight trace, a soupçon, if you like…

In William Boyd’s Blue Afternoon, a fantastic mystery novel with its backdrop Manila still under military rule by the newly arrived Americans, candied violets from this venerable Madrid shop was used as the key clue for the denouement. There must have been an even older supplier of this rare confection since the thread of this fictional account dates back to 1910.

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 12:42:11 +0000

I meant essence of orange blossom or rose syrup . Footloose, I make ricotta pistachio ice cream with a bit of orange blossom and served it with Kouign Amann. Beautiful pairing! I think the key is to add these flower flavoring minimally… just enough to add je ne sais quoi but not enough to overpower the dish.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:41:20 +0000

Still on flowery flavourings, in my quest for a less-pricy proxy for fiori di Sicilia, I once thought that I held in my hand the coveted password, orange blossom water. Even more widely used in Mediterranean cooking than rose water, I knew it in Spanish as agua de azahar. It turned out to be a smell I could not abide, perhaps even as strongly revolting to me as kewra, the Indian food flavouring distilled from screw pine flowers which I wrongly assumed would give off a pleasant pandan perfume.

By: emsy

emsy — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 01:57:23 +0000

I love anything rose-y. I don’t know why but I loved it since I first tasted a rose sharbat (sp?) when I was 5 or 6 years old. When I had this dessert I think I had it twice a day for a week or more until I was all rosed out. LOL there are variants where the rice cake is stuffed with peanut butter, rolled in peanuts or walnuts and covered with other syrups like hongzao or red date, citron, and ginger. But always always with honey

By: Nina

Nina — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 19:06:20 +0000

In Madrid, since 1915, is La Violeta which specializes in violetas, violet candies and natural violet flowers in crystallized form. The candies were not “flowerish” at all. In Turkey we had pastries with essence of rose blossom or rose syrup. On High Line Park in NYC, La Newyorkina offers hibiscus flavored ice pops that you can sprinkle with chili powder/lime salt. I make char siu with chinese rose wine and bake madeleine with lavander sugar occasionally. All very interesting to taste but I agree with most, they’re an acquired taste.