My University of Florida friends took me to an outstanding dinner at Embers to continue our discussion. The atmosphere is fairly classic steakhouse with a modern touch. The service was very gracious and helpful.
The meal started with not one but three different types of bread: garlic, cheese, and one other. The garlic bread was my favorite.
We started with two appetizers. The blue crab bisque was outstanding. It was nicely rich but the crab still came through. The calamari was outstanding with a crunchy crust and delicate interior.
My ribeye was the best steak I've had in quite some time. The fat content and the meat were very nicely balanced; the steak was nicely tender with just the right amount of tooth. The vegetables were excellent, including both a zucchini drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a grilled Vidalia onion.
My flourless chocolate cake was outstanding. The steak had done its job so I saved most of the cake for breakfast.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...






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