Madeleines for Everyone!

'Tis the season for sharing. Despite the best intentions to try new recipes for caramel with fleur de sel and coconut macaroons, I succumbed to tradition this holiday season by making vanilla madeleines as gifts for friends. Even though I doubled the recipe, which I had found in the San Francisco Chronicle's famed food section years ago, I couldn't get around the limitation of having only three madeleine pans. One actually came in a little kid's baking set. Guess which one.

The key to this batter, which was super-easy -- perhaps easier than mixing chocolate chip cookie dough, was the melted butter added in the very last step before spooning the batter into the molds.

Here are the tins before I popped them into the oven.

I ordered a cooling rack from Amazon.com some years ago. But I returned it because I didn't like the way it looked. So superficial of me! I've been using these French-inspired metal trays instead to cool my baked goods.

How many memories are oozing out of your brain upon spying this scallop-shaped madeleine?

I produced 47 madeleines on this round. So only seven of my friends were fortunate enough to receive a little green bag of madeleines for the holidays. I saved 10 for me and Miguelito. This is a breakfast I had a few days ago. The colorful mug holding my Earl gray tea was a souvenir that Miguelito bought for me on his last trip to Cannes, France.

Thai Elvis

Who needs Mario Batali's hard rock soundtrack or Katsuya's electronica emissions or even El Compadre's mariachi band when Palm's Thai on Hollywood Boulevard features an Elvis impersonator. He never steps off the stage to serenade diners at their tables because he needs to see the karaoke machine reminding him of the words for the King's hits.

Getting Down to Business at Boiling Crab

It's been four years since my last crayfish meal. For the latest feast, I didn't hop on a plane to Sweden. I just had to toodle in my car to Boiling Crab in San Gabriel Valley. I have to thank Johnny and Khue for serving as my guides in a night of sampling a smorgasbord of seafood, spices and other savory slime.

We started with a platter of oysters. Boiling Crab doesn't bother with any niceties. There are no plates, finger bowls and metal utensils to help you crack open the crustacean shells. You just get bibs, a roll of paper towels and a giant sheet of white paper that doubles as tablecloth and plate. The only sort of platter I spied was the one for the oysters (filled with ice, of course).

We squirted the ketchup for the Cajun fries right on top of the paper.

Miguelito and I decided to wear clothes that we didn't mind spilling food on (i.e., H&M).

This was the kind of meal that required you to put your hair in a ponytail. Stray strands would hinder maximum eating.

With a squeeze of lime juice and a dab of hot sauce, the oysters prepared our palates for the main course....
which arrived in a big plastic bag.

We didn't order the crabs that gave the restaurant its name. Instead, we asked for four pounds of crayfish and two pounds of shrimp. Hidden in the mess were a couple of cobs of corn. Everything was drenched in garlic and Cajun spiciness.

Extra flavor came in plastic containers: aioli and a salt-and-pepper blend with which we could mix freshly squeezed lime juice at the table.

It was truly a night of DIY dining.

The potpourri of cayenne pepper and paprika made the crayfish pop in intense crimson.

Unsated by our initial order of five pounds of food, we ordered two more pounds of crayfish and another of shrimp. This was the scene of the devastation at the end of the night.

The Best Invention Ever

This is a great tool for people like me who try to be tidy but don't actually like to clean. A present from a former intern extraordinaire, the Robo Vacum is like a Roomba for the desk. Notice the scale of the Robo Vacum vis a vis a bagel. This, along with the cell phone-shaped flask, will be a must-have for all the Dilberts who eat their lunches in their cubicles.