Thanks! Zahav was a lot of fun.

The usual base price for that sort of thing here in Philadelphia is in the $150 range. But that's typically for a more or less standard set menu that might change only a little over the course of a month or two and only see big changes seasonally. Zahav's is much more experimental - they're basically trying out almost finished dishes before they go on the menu (or not) so they've priced it as a "good value" experience rather than the restaurant's main offering as they do at places like Vetri ( http://vetriristorante.com/menu/ ) another place we absolutely love - about once a year.  The Zahav Kitchen Counter is just 4 seats, one a week.

I do know http://www.superkitchenmachine.com - that's where I first started to track down the elusive Thermomix. Hadn't seen her version of the Meat Fruit though. I've read several places that none of the "3 Stars" are consistently profitable.  It's kind of a bummer that guys like Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adria can't actually make a living from their restaurants. (Though I must admit I don't have much sympathy for Gordon Ramsay's various troubles.)

BTW, we made the TMX Egg Nog tonight. Here in the USA it's usually consumed cold, so the hot version was new for us. There's almost a liter left in the refrigerator so we'll see how it tastes cold at breakfast.

Cheers,

-bill

>Don't know if Vorwerk will be pleased with your tracking of  your TMX from Winnipeg. LOL! Others might get the right idea.

I can only hope! The home demo approach they use has a poor reputation in the USA where it is generally associated with what tend to be over priced, low end products and occasionally "adult toys". I think the TMX could be sold successfully here by moving the demos into carefully selected high end kitchen stores. Sub-Zero Wolf have demonstration centers in affluent areas that would be a perfect fit.

Yeah, el Bulli graduates are everywhere. Last summer we had lunch at Curate in Asheville, North Carolina and we've eaten at Jaleo in Las Vegas though for some reason we've never hit any of the Jose Andres places in DC. 

Anyway...

I used to use canned chickpeas too. Then one day we were shopping at the Italian Market where one of the stores has all kinds of legumes available in bulk so I gave 'em a try and haven't gone back. Apart from any questions about packaging and preservation, working with dried chickpeas gives you flexibility to manipulate texture. That makes a huge difference for things like falafel and anyplace you'd use them whole.

My cooking is probably best described as "Modernist Mediterranean" (all the way around) with a healthy dose of east Asian thrown in. There'll be TMX adapted recipes on the "regular" blog and I've got a batch of the el Bulli stuff lined up for the near future. I don't normally put the recipes for the el Bulli stuff up since it's not mine to publish but if anyone wants one to try themselves I'm happy to email them a scan of the relevant pages.

Cheers,

-bill