Official Bottega Veneta Chat Thread - Lets Chat!!!

[jane]

Quote:

jane - did you get the russian series polishes? I love Kona's ears.

I did! And they finally shipped, I'll get them Christmas Eve, apparently.

Kona does have magnificent ears.

[Bichon Lover]

jburgh I looooove food, and I do mean loooove Savory and sweet. I cook a lot and I'm particularly famous for my decadent desserts. Whether it's a simple chocolate chip cookie or a molten chocolate souffle, the vanilla makes a huge difference in the taste. I have smelled the Tahitian vanilla at my SIL's but have not run out of Mexican so I've not actually used it. I'm told it's better than say a Schillings if you don't have Mexican. Trader Joe's has the Tahitian. I've had friends bring me all different brands of vanilla from Mexico and I've never run across a bad one. I put in my egg mixture for french toast. Just like your pancakes. Damn, it's almost time for bed and now I'm hungry. I guess I'll have to make myself a cup of 25 calorie hot chocolate with a dash of vanilla in it since I was a bad girl and polished off a bottle of champagne with a couple of friends at lunch along with some steak salad, prawns, fondue with bread, fruit and fries and topped it off with a chocolate fondant . Nothing like a good 3 hour lunch to celebrate the holidays

[kroquet]

Now, I am hungry!!!

[goldenflower]

Originally Posted by Bichon Lover

jburgh I looooove food, and I do mean loooove Savory and sweet. I cook a lot and I'm particularly famous for my decadent desserts. Whether it's a simple chocolate chip cookie or a molten chocolate souffle, the vanilla makes a huge difference in the taste. I have smelled the Tahitian vanilla at my SIL's but have not run out of Mexican so I've not actually used it. I'm told it's better than say a Schillings if you don't have Mexican. Trader Joe's has the Tahitian. I've had friends bring me all different brands of vanilla from Mexico and I've never run across a bad one. I put in my egg mixture for french toast. Just like your pancakes. Damn, it's almost time for bed and now I'm hungry. I guess I'll have to make myself a cup of 25 calorie hot chocolate with a dash of vanilla in it since I was a bad girl and polished off a bottle of champagne with a couple of friends at lunch along with some steak salad, prawns, fondue with bread, fruit and fries and topped it off with a chocolate fondant . Nothing like a good 3 hour lunch to celebrate the holidays

Wow, that all sounds so good! Especially the prawns ... and the fondue ... and the chocolate fondant.

I've never tried Mexican vanilla but now I'm intrigued. I bake a lot and use the vanilla from the supermarket, since I don't live near any stores like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, and we lost our only "gourmet" store a long time ago. jburgh, you said you find Mexican vanilla at Marshall's. Are you talking about the discount store (similar to TJ Maxx)? Alas, we don't have a Marshall's here, either.

[Bichon Lover]

Originally Posted by goldenflower

Wow, that all sounds so good! Especially the prawns ... and the fondue ... and the chocolate fondant. I've never tried Mexican vanilla but now I'm intrigued. I bake a lot and use the vanilla from the supermarket, since I don't live near any stores like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, and we lost our only "gourmet" store a long time ago. jburgh, you said you find Mexican vanilla at Marshall's. Are you talking about the discount store (similar to TJ Maxx)? Alas, we don't have a Marshall's here, either.

Yes, it was all so yummy You really must try some Mexican vanilla if you can get a hold of some. A couple years ago I ran out and bought some from the grocery store (Schilling) and when I got home and opened it and took a whiff I was like whoa..... no vanilla smell, just alcohol. So I took it back and bought McCormick instead and found the same thing. Used it because that's what I had and then had a friend who knew someone who was going to Mexico pick some up for me on her trip. All this for a little good vanilla

[jburgh]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

I'm a vanilla fan, too, and often drink steamed milk with a shot of vanilla in it. I live near a predominantly Hispanic area of San Francisco (The Mission District) and there's a store called "Vanilla & Saffron Imports" that has outrageously good vanilla and saffron products. Love both of those items. Risotto with saffron is a specialty of mine.

Would you be willing to share your recipe?

[BookerMoose]

I had no idea there were different types of vanilla - but I am culinarially-challenged so that isn't a big surprise to me that I didn't know!

OT (oh wait, I don't have to apologize here for going off topic, since that is what this thread is all about!) - I was looking around different parts of tPF last night than I ordinarily check out and I discovered that plans are in the works for a tPF meetup in Las Vegas next August! Is anyone from here going?! I've never been to Las Vegas, and never really had a burning desire to do so until I discovered BV, and now the fact there are two BV boutiques plus other stores carrying BV there has changed that for me... although the discussions about how hot it will actually be in Las Vega at the beginning of August do scare me a bit! But a BV sub-meetup at the big tPF Las Vegas meetup would be awesome!

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by jburgh

Would you be willing to share your recipe?

Sure thing. I always make risotto in a pressure cooker -- 6 minutes and no stirring! It's worth buying one just for risotto.

Risotto with Chicken and Saffron


2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
A pinch of saffron
¾ lb. Chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 ½ cups arborio rice
3 to 3 ½ cups chicken broth or stock
½ cup chopped Italian parsley (flat leaves)
10 baby carrots
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

In the bottom of a pressure cooker (6 qt minimum), heat the olive oil. Add the onion and chicken -- stir constantly until the chicken is browned, but don't allow it to stick to the bottom of the cooker. Add the saffron.

Add the rice and stir until the rice is coated with the oil. Add the chicken broth (use 3 cups in a modern pressure cooker; 3 ½ cups in a jigger top) and carrots.

Over high heat, bring to a full rolling boil. Stir and lock the pressure cooker lid in place.

When high pressure is reached, lower heat to maintain pressure and cook for five minutes. Use a timer as it's easy to overcook the risotto.

Immediately reduce pressure (either by running the sealed cooker under cold water or by another immediate-release method). Open the cooker and stir gently. Don't scrape up any burnt bits that are stuck to the bottom of the cooker.

If there is a lot of liquid left, cook gently over very low heat to reduce the liquid.

Top with chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

*All pressure cookers are slightly different in the amount of liquid they need. If you have a new, modern cooker, you can use the 3 cups of broth. Older cookers or cookers with slightly worn gaskets may need slightly more broth.

[CaliforniaGal]

Booker, it will be hotter than "handbags" in LV (oh that's Las Vegas, not Louis V.) in August .. but that's why they have air conditioning. Might be fun .. not too far for me.

[jane]

YAY MY HUSBAND GETS HOME TODAY

Last night I went a little nuts shopping online because the deals at Neiman Marcus and Nordys were too good to pass up, not to mention free 2-day shipping and no tax at NM. So I got much, much needed sweaters.

Originally: $298
I paid: $111.30



Originally: $225
I paid: $86.80


(in this color)

Originally: $268
I paid: $159.90



Originally: $119
I paid: $69.90

[boxermom]

^^^jane, you are shopper extraordinaire. Don't you feel great when you score buys like that?!

So how is everyone doing with holiday prep? I decided if it's not done by now, it won't get done and I'm relaxing. Of course, we're not having company this year. If our grandkids were here I'd be baking and we'd plan to do stuff. I think we'll go down to Myrtle Beach and eat out.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukahh, and happy holidays to everyone!

[jane]

I am done, just need to wrap two more gifts for my husband. My mother in law and my mom will both be here at our house for xmas. I am excited for wednesday -- five day weekend, woo hoo!

[Bichon Lover]

Beautiful sweaters jane !

[goldenflower]

Nice sweaters, Jane!

boxermom, going out to eat sounds really nice! I am sort of dreading all the cooking and baking I have ahead of me. I just made a grocery list that is two pages long in Word (pretty small font, too!) and I am trying to decide if it's better to go to the store today when we're supposed to get up to 4" of snow, or tomorrow when we're supposed to have 35 mph winds and blowing and drifting of the 14" of snow on the ground.

We go to my parents' house to decorate the tree every Christmas Eve. I hated that tradition when I was growing up because all my friends had their trees so early in the season, and even more as a teen because of course by then I thought it was "dumb", but as an adult I find it charming (if a bit inconvenient) because it is an old-fashioned tradition that meant so much to my father.

I'm almost finished wrapping. I'm contemplating trying to get some gift cards for stocking stuffers, but not sure if I'll get it done.

One of my main goals for this holiday season is to maintain my weight! I know I won't lose (I have no willpower when it comes to sweets) but I'd really like to avoid holiday weight gain!

[Bichon Lover]

We all want to avoid holiday weight gain . So far I'm holding steady