• Las Vegas – Gordon Ramsay Burger and Wing Lei

    On our third day (and final day with any restaurant reservations) we were feeling the effects of multiple tasting menus but tenaciously persevered to make it to some of our most anticipated destinations yet.

    Gordon Ramsay Burger

    A brisk walk to Planet Hollywood and we sat down for lunch at Gordon Ramsay Burger. I had their Truffle Burger, which was top-tier.

    For a quick dessert we walked across the street to the Cosmopolitan and grabbed a slice of Milk Bar’s classic pie. The Las Vegas location seemed to mainly have pre-packaged items, so I’m still looking forward to one day visiting the original location in New York.

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    Wing Lei

    The culinary highlight of the week. An immaculate dining experience that is forever ingrained in my mind.

    Located in the Wynn, Wing Lei originally received one Michelin star back when the Guide was still in Las Vegas, but I firmly believe it would be ranked higher if stars were still being awarded today.

    Of the available options, we chose the Imperial Peking Duck tasting menu. The evening began with a small amuse-bouche before our Peking duck was wheeled out on a cart and carved tableside. The first dish was made in front of us with some of the carvings. We were then told the the rest of the duck would be returned to the kitchen to be used in the remaining dishes on the menu. We were not disappointed in the least!

    Pomegranate gelée amuse-bouche

    Pomegranate, foie gras

    Powerful pomegranate flavor packed into a tiny drop of jelly.

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    Peking duck crepes

    Peking duck, Mandarin crepes

    Peking duck by itself is very much it’s own experience. Other than incredibly flavorful and tender meat, the skin is unmatched in its crispiness. Seeing the duck carved tableside is a visual and auditory delight together. Serving the first carvings in simple crepes with cucumber and scallions was the perfect way to showcase the qualities of the duck.

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    Peking duck salad

    Peking duck, mesclun, peanut-truffle vinaigrette

    The vinaigrette on this salad is something I hope I can recreate at home. The peanut and truffle elevate the greens with flavors far beyond what the salad might suggest at first glance.

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    Duck shumai

    Peking duck, foie gras, black truffle, morels

    I’m not entirely sure how Wing Lei managed to make something like duck and foie gras taste so light, but it is a feat notably accomplished in these shumai. I wish I could have ordered a dozen more of these.

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    Duck with braised eggplant and duck fried rice

    Peking duck, eggplant, bell peppers, cauliflower, egg, sugar peas

    The last two dishes arrived together and were plated tableside. I appreciate that Wing Lei opted to include fried rice on their menu. Something that looks deceptively simple becomes another dish entirely in this context. The rice wasn’t oily or dry, but instead rather light and brought the flavor of the duck to the forefront.

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    Morello Cherry Delight

    Morello cherry chocolate exterior, mascarpone and Morello cherry filling, white chocolate leaf, vanilla shortbread cookie

    Easily our favorite dessert of the entire trip. The playful exterior belies an incredibly decadent interior with a mix of flavors that build on each other. It’s hard not to smile when a dessert like this is brought to the table.

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    Interior of cherry

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    Various sweets

    We were also given a few mixed sweets to take with us to enjoy the next day.

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    Wing Lei went above and beyond in every respect. From the time we entered to the moment we left, we saw only exceptional hospitality and professionalism. The atmosphere was both welcoming and highly refined. All of these things in addition to the world-class food being served make Wing Lei a dining experience worth travelling to see for yourself.

    We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Las Vegas and hope to make it back out to the desert sometime to try all the other food we weren’t able to get to this time.

  • Las Vegas – Edo Tapas

    On our second day we ventured off the Strip and a little ways outside of Vegas. After touring the Hoover Dam, we made a quick stop for our first time at In-N-Out Burger before heading to Red Rock Canyon that afternoon.

    Edo Tapas

    Just a bit off the Strip we meandered over to Edo Tapas for dinner. We went with the tasting menu full of modern Spanish fare.

    Watermelon Gazpacho

    Sweet and savory, accented with a bit of black pepper.

    Hamachi Tartare

    I regret that I don’t have the most informed palate when it comes to seafood, so while I can’t comment much on the flavor, I did appreciate the textural differences between the roe, hamachi, and foam.

    Paella Honeycomb

    Calamari, saffron aioli

    The paella honeycomb cracker was a wonderful combination of deep umami flavor complemented by a crisp and crunchy texture.

    Picanha Tartare Tartalette

    American wagyu, mint, basil bearnaise

    A crispy and flaky crust quickly gives way to a creamy basil bearnaise followed by tender American wagyu.

    Shrimp Aguachile

    Blanched shrimp aguachile with lime and jalapeno

    Surprisingly refreshing following up after the heavier Wagyu tartare, the citrus flavors pair well with the jalapeno in the dish.

    Blue Crab Chawanmushi

    Blue crab, Dashi custard

    This dish was the one off note for me in an otherwise well-crafted menu. I believe the chef was trying something new as it was not listed on the menu we were given. The chilled crab was fine, I just wasn’t a huge fan of the dashi custard.

    Tarte flambée

    Iberico ham, caramelized onions, Manchego cheese

    The Iberico ham provides a punch of flavor followed by the sharp crunch of the crust. One of our favorite dishes of the night.

    Roasted mushrooms

    Black trumpet and other mushrooms in a béchamel sauce

    The black trumpet mushrooms had a smooth smokiness to them.

    Tempura Squash Blossoms

    Zucchini blossoms, wild boar, tomato vinaigrette

    My personal favorite dish on the menu. Squash blossoms were stuffed with wild boar, fried in tempura batter, and served on a parmesan foam. The flowers were light and crispy, while the stalks weren’t too different from fried okra minus the seeds and gooeyness.

    Raviolini

    Ricotta, salmon and bowfin caviar

    Perfectly cooked cheese ravioli accented with lemon zest.

    Washugyu Hanger Steak

    Washugyu steak, koji, endive, flowered broccoli, black trumpet mushrooms

    One of the strongest dishes on the menu. The hanger steak was encrusted with koji, providing an incredible blast of umami that accentuated the meatiness of the steak. The mushrooms, broccoli, and endive were an excellent pairing to balance out the heavier steak.

    Strawberry Granita

    Strawberry shaved ice, popcorn mousse

    I’m always a fan of shaved ice and this dessert did not disappoint. The popcorn mouse with the granita served as a perfect pair to bring the menu to a close.

    Edo Tapas definitely served some of the most interesting dishes we encountered on our trip and lived up to the hype we had read about online. Each dish was crafted with care to ensure each details shines. If you’re looking for modern Spanish cuisine this is certainly a contender. If you don’t particularly enjoy seafood, consider ordering off of the regular menu rather than the tasting menu.

    Next post coming up shortly!

  • Las Vegas – Best Friend

    My wife and I recently returned home from visiting Las Vegas–a vacation that was planned as a sort of food pilgrimage. We were able to visit some truly fantastic restaurants and left inspired by all of the unique dishes and ingredients we tried.

    Our first day started off at Area15 with a visit to Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart. We had lunch at Todd English’s The Beast (also in Area15) but the burger I ordered was unfortunately rather lackluster and disappointing. Omega Mart was great though!

    Best Friend

    The evening of the first day brought us to Best Friend–an incredible fusion of Mexican and Korean cuisine by Roy Choi. We chose the tasting menu and were not disappointed.

    Banchan

    House kimchi, broccoli banchan, marinated cucumbers, rolls

    Several banchan were served as the first dish.

    Kogi Tacos

    Korean BBQ and cilantro-lime slaw made an unbeatable pair in these tacos

    Slippery Shrimp

    Fried rock shrimp with spicy mayo and walnuts

    This will be the first recipe I try to recreate at home. A beautiful level of heat and creaminess from the spicy mayo compliments the crispiness of the shrimp and the light crunch of the odd walnut tossed into the mix.

    Garlic chicken and kalbi short rib

    One of the strengths of Best Friend is how well executed even their simple dishes can be. Unbelievably tender, the soy-marinated garlic chicken and kalbi short rib are an incredible pair that is easy to share and hard to forget.

    Kimchi Fried Rice

    The one thing issue I had with the fried rice is that it wasn’t presented sooner. A medley of spicy and savory, complimented by a runny egg.

    Dessert

    Mango cheesecake and mango-passionfruit sorbet, guava whipped cream

    Even though we were stuffed and almost unable to move by this time, we found that there is somehow always room for dessert. The mango cheesecake was just as much a delight to dig into as it was to see.

    Best Friend absolutely gets a recommendation. Every dish was packed with unrelenting flavor that matches the restaurant’s upbeat and dynamic vibe.

  • Office Lighting Upgrade

    About a week ago I started working on a project to improve the lighting in our office. Neither of us are particularly fond of ceiling lights and our office didn’t have appropriate corner for a floor lamp so something else had to be done. We had been using a shop light mounted to the inside of the office closet for some ambient light, but it couldn’t light the room evenly and could draw up to 100 watts at max brightness.

    After looking into our options we settled on a light bar that would run along the back wall and I got to work. I spent some time looking into premade options, but most existing aluminum channels meant for this type of installation either weren’t long enough or were too expensive. I reasoned I could probably make something acceptable out of wood so I bought a 12′ 2×4 and set up shop in the garage.

    • Cutting the board in half at 45 degrees
    • Routing a channel for the LED strip
    • The finished profile
    • Patching any voids

    My first step was to cut the entire 12′ board in half at a 45 degree angle. I was able to cut the whole length of the board using a circular saw and clamping everything to my workbench. I used a length of 4×4 from another project as a straightedge for the saw to follow. An actual saw guide would probably have made this process much quicker, but it turned out alright just working slowly and carefully. This cut about an inch off the total height of the board which is what I was looking for. The final height of the board was 2.5″. This angled cut would also allow light to spread outward more easily once installed.

    I then used a 1/2″ straight bit to route a channel along the back of the board to create a space for the LED strip to sit into later. I then filled in any gaps or cracks in the wood with some spackling before sanding and painting the entire thing.

    After the paint dried, I did an initial test fit to make sure everything looked decent. I hadn’t run any electrical at the time and only attached the board on the ends so that it would be easier to take down and make changes. It was at this point I realized the LED strip I had originally purchased wasn’t going to be nearly bright enough.

    I originally tried using 5050 RGBCCT LEDs with 60 LEDs per meter as I had good luck with this style of strip in an earlier project to add above-cabinet lighting in the kitchen. While they look nice and it’s great to have separate warm and cool white channels in addition to RGB, they just weren’t bright enough to evenly light the room when facing the ceiling like this.

    I instead switched to a single-color 2835 LED strip, with an insane 240 LEDs per meter. While 2835 chips aren’t quite as bright as 5050’s on their own, the sheer number of them greatly makes up for their lower light output. Additionally, 2835’s draw less current than 5050’s for the same brightness.

    The difference in LED density for 2835 (left) and 5050 (right) strips

    With the new strip installed, I felt confident enough in the end result to permanently wire up the light bar. I ended up using some 14 gauge speaker wire to run power from the power supply plugged into the UPS hidden under my workbench to the LEDs. I used some chart online to check on the required wire gauge to avoid significant voltage drop over the ~15′ needed to reach the light bar and decided the speaker wire was adequate.

    • Light bar installed, screws covered with spackling
    • Finished light bar, wired and painted

    The difference in light quality is amazing! The lighting in much more even now and covers the whole room. I’ve got it connected to a smart plug right now, but I’ve ordered an LED controller so that it can be dimmed in the evening. The new light bar also only pulls 45 watts!

    • Before
    • After

    If you’re looking to do something like this yourself, I’d highly recommend it. It’s not a particularly difficult project and I was able to complete it with some basic tools from Harbor Freight. If you’ve already got a circular saw and a drill, you’ve shouldn’t need much else. Even a router isn’t absolutely necessary–the LEDs can just sit at an angle if you haven’t got a way to carve out a channel for them.

    That said, the final materials list is as follows:

    2x4x12 pine board – $7.50 (Lowe’s)
    2835 LED strip, 5 meters – $11.50 (Aliexpress)
    12v 5A Power supply – $12 (Amazon)
    50′ 14ga speaker wire – $15 (Wal-Mart)

    Total $46

    Things I had on-hand:

    Smart plug
    Screws
    Paint
    Spackling
    Sandpaper
    Cordless drill
    Circular saw
    Router
    Wood clamps

    I had a great time building this in my spare time and I am very pleased with the outcome. I’ve got a few other projects planned that I’m looking forward to sharing soon!

  • Game Log 2022

    Games completed in 2022

    I just recently hopped on the Game Pass train and it has opened up so many new games I thought I wouldn’t have access to until those Steam sale deep discounts game around. With that in mind, I figured it would be interesting to compile a list of all the games I’ve completed this year to compare at the end of 2023.

    Next year’s list should include more information that I’ll make note of as I complete each game–this year’s chart is in no particular order and just the closest approximation of rating and total gameplay hours I can remember. Additionally, I only included games I actually completed, and left out multiplayer games like Halo Infinite and Overwatch 2.

    At 25 games completed this year, I wanted to give some quick thoughts on five of my favorites. I would likely recommend any game on this list with a rating of 7+, but these five in particular were the most enjoyable to me.

    God of War/God of War: Ragnarok

    Let’s go ahead and get these two out of the way–both games have won numerous awards and received unparalleled praise. I realize my review adds nothing new to the conversation, but I will say both games were an incredible experience and truly raised the bar and expectations for further AAA releases.

    Both games deserve a 10/10, but my hot take is that God of War serves as just the set-up to Ragnarok, and Ragnarok could have been about 5 hours shorter and still told the same story. Those *very* minor concerns aside, both additions to the series have easily cemented themselves in video game history.

    Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

    Sunbreak is the DLC to 2021’s Monster Hunter Rise (although the PC version was released in January of 2022) and provides a greatly improved experience over the base game. As of writing, I have a bit over 400 hours in the game total, but about half of that has been since the Sunbreak release.

    Like other Monster Hunter games, the premise is simple: pick your favorite comically-large anime-inspired weapon and smack some dinosaurs and dragons with it. Although base Rise had some interesting gameplay changes from previous entries, Sunbreak added so much content and re-balanced so many things that it is almost a different game.

    I think the best way to describe Sunbreak is “git gud lite”. While not nearly as difficult as most Souls-likes, Monster Hunter has always weighed player skill more heavily than equipment stats. Early on, monster fights can be brutal and last half an hour or more, but each fight slowly teaches you how to be a better hunter and you start to chip away at those completion times until you find yourself able to solo endgame monsters in under 8 minutes. The frustration of learning the game is always washed away by the elation of finally overcoming a particularly difficult monster and unlocking the next creature.

    The Witness

    I realize I’m a bit behind playing 2016’s ode to Myst, but when parody game The Looker came out earlier this year, I knew I had to play both. I’m very glad I did.

    (The Looker is free and should be played after The Witness for the jokes to hit just right.)

    The Witness is one of the most devious puzzle games I think I’ve ever encountered. The game says it contains over 500 puzzles, but thankfully you only need to solve about 300 of them to complete the main story. The Witness doesn’t hold your hand, but does give you all the information you need to solve each puzzle–although finding that information is almost always a puzzle in itself.

    There isn’t much story to give away, but I will say that if you are a fan of puzzle games, you owe it to yourself to at least give this one a try.

    Prey

    Speaking of games I’m playing a bit late, Prey is a fantastic sci-fi FPS from 2017.

    Prey got a lot right–tight controls, fun gameplay, interesting story, excellent voice acting, and solid graphics. It’s only downfall is that it isn’t particularly memorable, which is a shame for how well it did all the things a video game should do. Most reviewers seem to agree this is because the enemies are these forgettable, amorphous, alien creatures and the final boss fight just isn’t very good.

    That aside, it’s a great game, particularly if you’re looking for something to scratch that “Bioshock-in-space” itch.

    Scorn

    I mean this in the most positive way–Scorn is a truly unique game.

    Scorn is an H.R. Giger-inspired visceral experience where you play as a seemingly-lost alien creature wandering a derelict planet without much explanation of who you are or where you are going.

    I firmly believe that video games–as an art form–should not always try to reach the broadest audience. There is certainly a time and place, even a need, for such games, but we also need games like Scorn that explore unconventional avenues of what a game can be.

    Scorn is a good game, although it isn’t for everyone and that’s ok. It’s weird, unsettling, and the ending leaves you with more questions than answers, but you get the sense that it accomplishes exactly what the developer wanted. The whole game is uncomfortable, there’s no HUD or text, and I’m not convinced the entire combat system isn’t just a red herring when nearly all combat can be avoided. But all of these things are what make it so interesting. These design choices are what make Scorn special.

    There are definitely some parts toward the end that feel a bit rushed, or that an area may have been left out, but the overall game is solid and worth playing if you’re even slightly interested in what it offers.

    With all that said, 2023 has some fantastic games in the works that I am excited to play. I’m looking forward to everything the new year brings and I hope to share another one of these wrap-ups next December.

  • Au 14 Février

    During our recent trip to France, we had the opportunity to dine at the two Michelin starred restaurant Au 14 Février in Saint-Amour-Bellevue. Chef Masafumi Hamano specializes in Franco-Japanese cuisine, situated in this rural village.

    All courses below were served in order.

    Amuse-bouche of fish crackers, hibiscus and cheese macarons, and savory cake with tomato soup pipettes.
    Appetizer of sesame and corn fritter, flan, and broccoli cream puff.
    Green pea espuma with Ibérico ham consommé.
    Langoustine, white asparagus, tuna.
    Pan-seared fois gras with mango and carrot purees, wrapped in buckwheat crepe.
    Fresh sea bass with squid ink and blueberry sauce. Dusted with cacao.
    Apple granité.
    Bigorre pork, kumquat sauce, mixed mushrooms.
    Blond chocolate mousse, verbena sauce.
    Three sweet pastries: shortbread, custard, gingerbread.

  • Zigbee Deadbolt Sensors

    So my wife and I just bought a new house a few months ago and I’ve completely fallen into the ever-expanding abyss of IoT and Smart Home devices. We lovingly describe our home as “IoT-core”. As of this post our Home Assistant environment includes 24 automations, a combined 41 lights and switches, and 236 sensor entities. What began as a hobby to find what could be automated has quickly become a quest to find anything that can’t be automated.

    While I would love to create a post for every project I’ve worked on recently (and I hope to write about at least a few more) I’m just going to focus on one for now–deadbolt position sensors. While monitoring the state of doors and windows is trivial with off-the-shelf sensors from Ring, Aqara, and others, I couldn’t find a simple way to know if a door was locked without installing expensive smart locks. Fortuitously, the aforementioned window sensors are actually a fairly elegant solution to this problem as well.

    Enter the Universal Electronics XHS2-UE, aka the Xfinity MCT-350 from Comcast.

    XHS2-UE, often sold as MCT-350

    This door sensor is perfect for this project. They are low-cost (a pack of 10 on eBay goes for about $45), small, low-power, and use Zigbee for communications.

    “But wait, how does a door sensor work with a deadbolt?”

    Not in a way that may be immediately obvious. Door sensors like these work by using a reed switch in the main body, and a magnet in the smaller shell. When the magnet is near the reed switch, the switch is closed. When the magnet moves away, the switch opens. The cool part is, you can remove the reed switch completely and replace it with nearly any type of switch you want! This works well for this project because we can replace the magnetic reed switch with a simple mechanical switch and install it in the lock body of the deadbolt that will be triggered when the bolt is engaged.

    It should make more sense explained with the images below:

    Back of the sensor
    Cover removed
    Case pried open

    I began by opening a switch to get to the hardware inside. They are fairly simple to open. The cover protecting the battery just slides off and the CR2450 cell inside can be removed. A spudger or scraper can be used to pry the two halves of the case apart, they’re just held together by a few clips.

    Inner electronics with reed switch exposed.

    Thankfully these sensors aren’t too complicated inside. There’s a small tamper notification switch on one side and the reed switch on the other. It can easily be de-soldered and replaced.

    I swapped the reed switch for two short lengths of wire and passed them through the side of the sensor case by burning a small hole with my soldering iron (don’t inhale fumes!). To the opposite ends of the wires I attached a microswitch in the Normally Open (NO) position. Now when the switch is pressed, the sensor reads as “closed”.

    Switch installed with 3D printed arm

    I removed the indoor half of the lock assembly and positioned the switch inside with some hot glue. I needed a way to press the switch more reliably when the lock was turned, so I designed a small 3D printed arm that fit over the shaft. This could easily be replaced with a small piece of metal or plastic that is glued on. The odd shape is to keep the arm out of the way of the bolts that go through the lock when fully assembled.

    The finished sensor installed

    The end result is inexpensive, reliable, and reasonably unobtrusive. I connect all of my Zigbee sensors to Home Assistant using the excellent Zigbee2MQTT integration. These sensors have all paired without issue and seem to work well. I’ve now created a few automations that will notify our phones if any doors are unlocked before going to bed, or leaving the house. I don’t have much data on battery life yet, and the batteries these sensors come with are fairly hit or miss from what I’ve seen so far. At some point I’ll replace them all with known fresh batteries for comparison.

    Sensors as they appear in Home Assistant

    One additional note: I originally tried to fit the entire sensor inside the lock by disassembling it completely, but ran into an issue where it couldn’t connect to the Zigbee network after the lock was reassembled. Who knew wireless devices didn’t work well when fully enclosed by metal?

    That’s it! Each sensor ended up being about $4.50 to build and–not counting the few hours of test fitting and re-printing parts for the first lock–only a few minutes to install. Thanks for reading!

  • Rotocasting Snoms

    I made my first sale! I’ve been making these rotocast resin Snoms recently and I just sold a pair on Etsy. It’s a great feeling after spending so much time working on a process and a craft to finally have it pay off.

    Check out Snom here!

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    Completed resin Snom, on top of its mold

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    Mold during rotocasting

  • Recent Project Dump

    Here’s a quick project dump of some things I’ve made or been working on recently (that I remembered to photograph). I didn’t want this blog to slowly become “Look what I’ve 3D printed/baked today!”, so most of that small stuff is just going to be left out. I’m also working on a github page where I will post more detailed logs and related files.

  • Food Experiments (cont.)

    For my 26th birthday I cleared out my schedule and filled up my pantry. I spent three days cooking a wide variety of foods and exploring new ingredients. Overall, I gained valuable experience from working with some difficult items.

    Side note: DO NOT boil tripe in your house unless you hate yourself.

    Sous vide Cornish game hen
    Probably the easiest dish I attempted–Cornish hen with butter and herbs, vacuum sealed and cooked for 4 hours at 150F. I seared it off in the trusty cast iron skillet before serving. Super easy, and honestly some of the most tender poultry I’ve ever made. Would recommend.

    Pork tamales
    This was my first time making tamales. Definitely a few things to improve, but overall the flavor was there. I think my ratio of lard to masa was off–or I didn’t steam them long enough–so they kind of crumbled when removing them from the corn husks. Very tasty, and the process isn’t nearly as labor intensive as it is often made out to be.

    Chili oil
    Simple chili oil made with sesame oil, gochujang, dried chilies, and szechuan peppercorns. Just cook it all in a wok for a few minutes and bottle it up!

    Sauerkraut
    If you haven’t made sauerkraut, you can do it in about an hour with very little effort. Thinly slice your cabbage and mix in 2% kosher salt by weight. Massage the cabbage and salt and let sit. Continue to massage every 15 minutes until enough brine has seeped out to cover the cabbage when placed in a jar. Weigh down the cabbage in the brine and seal the jar. Keep at room temperature for about 2 weeks before transferring to the fridge. Be careful that too much gas doesn’t build up while fermenting–open the jar every now and then during the initial ferment to relieve pressure.

    Menudo roja
    Such a mistake. I could have followed the recipe wrong somehow, but this one should have been easy. Maybe I just wasn’t made to eat tripe. After boiling away all morning, the smell of tripe had filled my house completely and it was impossible to escape the deathly odor of salty stomach lining. I actually attempted to eat a spoonful of this potent soup, but couldn’t keep it down. If you know of a less offensive tripe recipe, please let me know.

    Fresh tofu
    Making tofu was a very lengthy process. I don’t know if I would do it again simply because of how cheap tofu is, and how spectacularly I failed at this one. I’m almost certain it is because I did not allow the soy milk to cool long enough and because I used epsom salt instead of pure nigari when attempting to coagulate the mixture. Don’t cheap out on your coagulant, boys.

    Baguettes
    Simple baguettes that I make regularly. Fairly sure I’ve included them in a previous post about bread. Just flour, salt, water, yeast.

    Chicken feet and gizzards
    I’ll be up front–I never finished making these. I prepared them, but never got around to frying them. Both ingredients actually smelled amazing when prepared with their appropriate spices and seasonings, but I got sidetracked over the weekend and missed my window to fry them up. I’ll definitely try them again because I’m really curious about the texture of both.

     

     

    The new kitchen is decently broken in now, and I was very content with the results of this experiment. Maybe something to do every year? I got to try some things that have always intrigued me, and came out of it with some good food.

    Next time: puff pastry and croissants!