Valerie Confections SUPER CHOC-O-FOOD

Still scrambling for holiday gifts? If you’re shopping for people who like food, or should like good food, then look no further than these L.A. options:

Valerie Confections: While Valerie Gordon is know for her toffees and cute-as-a-button petit fours, an interesting gift would be the SUPER CHOCO-O-FOOD, a huge block of milk chocolate with a hint of caramel loaded with dried pears, apricots, golden raisins, macadamia nuts, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds and peanuts. The packaging comes from Commune Design, and each color (pink, violet, aqua) corresponds to part of a triptych image found under the label. Valerie now also has teas blended by the American Tea Room just for the shop, including the Black & Blue, which was inspired by her Black & Blue jam and contains black tea from Nilgiri, blackberries, black currants, blueberries and blackberry leaves.

Kiss My Bundt Baking Academy: Chef Chrysta Wilson of Kiss My Bundt, formerly on West Third Street, is now teaching baking classes at Surfas in Culver City. The first class will be on January 15 and will focus on baking with winter citrus. And if you purchase a spot in this class before December 24, you’ll get 20 percent off. If you’ve ever had Wilson’s bundt cakes, you know they’re a treat.

Monsieur Marcel at the Original Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax: This gourmet foods store has all kinds of delicious treats, including European chocolates, fancy vinegars and oils, flavored salts, cheeses, wine and all kinds of fun stuff. This place will have lots of variety, so you’re sure to find something for the gourmand on your lift.

We were recently invited to check out the new menu, which features updated versions of Korean ban chan, ssam, jeon and many other traditional Korean favorites. Don’t worry — the grills from Gyenari are still in place, so you can get your barbecue fix, too. And the cocktail list includes some nicely crafted drinks, too.

We started off with the MoKo Punch made with soju, vodka, persimmon cinnamon tea, and market watermelon and pineapple. We’re usually not big soju fans, but the inclusion of the traditional Korean persimmon cinnamon tea was a nice touch. The punch was sweet but not cloying, which is always a plus. The Rye Blossom, with Old Overholt rye, Grand Marnier and lavender bitters, was another favorite.

MoKo Punch

Rye Blossom

The menu is divided into sections based on type of food. Our favorite from the Dumplings category were the Green Onion Pork Wontons in Red Chili Sesame Broth, which had a clean pork flavor encased in a nicely delicate skin. From the Market Ban Chan menu, we enjoyed the Sweet Lotus, which was lotus root honey braised in sesame and soy, and the Purple Eggplant Namul with gochu jang (a fermented condiment), green onions and sesame. All the dishes we sampled from the Raw menu were excellent, so there’s no going wrong here. The Grilled Gabli Marinated Beef, with red chili pineapple ssam jang and truffle essence, off the Skewers menu was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Another favorite was the Zucchini and Golden Squash Cakes topped with grilled shrimp and sesame tomato chutney. It was served like a Korean-style flatbread – great for sharing.

Green Onion Pork Wontons

Market Ban Chan

Hamachi with yuzu citrus jus, pickled jalapenos and crisp garlic

Grilled Gabli Marinated Beef

Zucchini and Golden Squash Cakes

While nearly everything we tasted satisfied, a couple of dishes fell short for us. The Gaeran-Jjim, a ginger-scented egg custard with shrimp, crab and a parmesan crisp, was tasty but way too rich and could do without the parmesan crisp. And the ssam, traditionally served as lettuce wraps, are served here in folded Chinese-style bao bread, many with some kind of aioli that makes the bread soggy.

Gaeran-Jjim

Prawn ssam

But back to the good stuff — the dessert, which was fun to make and eat. Yes, you can make your own dessert in the form of fancy s’mores with house-made almond graham crackers, chili chocolate sauce, and strawberry, orange blossom-ginger and anise marshmallows. This is where the in-table barbecue came in handy. The lychee semifreddo and the watermelon granita are also solid choices.

S'more

Lychee semifreddo

Watermelon granita

MoKo is an exciting addition to Culver City. It’s definitely worth a trip.

Note: This was originally posted on LAist. This meal was hosted.

Eggplant caviar and smoked trout rillettes

Culver City just got a little cooler: Chef Benjamin Bailly, formerly of Petrossian in West Hollywood, has taken over the helm at Fraiche. And he has revamped the menu to blend French (he’s from France, natch) and Italian influences. Perhaps the best part, at least for me, is the reasonable prices for the high quality food: nothing is priced more than $28 on the dinner menu, with most items coming in under $20.

I recently had the pleasure of experiencing the dinner menu myself — along with Caroline of Caroline on Crack — at the invitation of Chef Bailly. Herewith, some of my favorites.

We started with a couple of the potted items under the Share section of the menu. I really liked the smoked trout rillette with lemon, chives and creme fraiche. It was creamy and packed full of flavor. The eggplant caviar (really just the seeds of the eggplant) topped with golden raisins and marcona almonds was also a winner — and pretty.

Eggplant caviar topped with raisins and marcona almonds

The brussels sprouts salad had lots of sweet and savory flavors with its mixture of chorizo, dates, almonds, manchego cheese and piquillo pepper vinaigrette. I loved the juxtaposition of the spicy chorizo against the sweet dates, and I’m a huge fan of brussels sprouts in general, so this salad was perfect for me.

Brussels sprout salad

And speaking of perfection, the mushroom agnolotti topped with more wild mushrooms, mascapone cheese and truffle butter was amazing. AMAZING. I could have lapped up that sauce all on its own. This is a must-order dish. I hear Chef Bailly also makes a truffle burger, which I will definitely go back for.

Mushroom agnolotti

From the entree menu, we had this crispy loup de mer served on a bed of sunchoke soubise (a béchamel-based sauce normally containing strained or puréed onions), wild mushrooms, crosnes (small crispy tubers in the mint family), salsifi (the root of a flowering plant) and bordelaise sauce. As you can probably tell, this dish was full of uncommon ingredients that required a bit of Googling. But while I was eating it, I didn’t feel like it was so exotic; rather, all the items came together nicely, from the perfectly cooked fish to the strange-but-tasty crosnes (the little white things underneath the fish that either look like seashells or larvae, depending on your point of view).

Crispy loup de mer

For dessert, I enjoyed the pistachio crème brûlée served with apricot sorbet and rosemary cookie crumbles (and a cool sugar design). I’m a sucker for anything pistachio, and I had never seen it served as a crème brûlée, so this was a treat.

Pistachio crème brûlée with apricot sorbet and rosemary crumble

Pistachio crème brûlée

We were also served a slew of cocktails by mixologist Kiowa Bryan, and my favorite was The Big Lebowski, a deconstructed white Russian. Most of the other drinks she graciously presented to us had just too much going on for my taste.

The Big Lebowski deconstructed White Russian

All in all, I would recommend the new menu at Fraiche for your next trip to Culver City. Thanks again to Chef Bailly for making this happen!

Note: This meal was hosted.

Emily the Strange. From SlashFilm.

Emily the Strange at Royal/T: Starting today through Nov. 11, Emily theStrange — the ever-moody black-haired cutie cartoon — will be at the center of a pop-up shop and exhibit at Culver City’s Lolita-inspired Royal/T cafe space. During the exclusive retail engagement, books, artwork and one-of-a-kind collectibles will be on sale. Proceeds from the Emily the Strange pop-up shop will support the brand’s altruistic efforts — encouraging teens to be empowered individuals. When it’s time to take a break from shopping, you can order up a Strange Brew Chocolate Pangea Tea and Emily the Strange-themed black kitty cupcakes by Hot Cakes Bakes. The official opening party will take place on Friday, Oct. 26.

Royal/T
8910 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232

Macy’s Shop for a Cause: On Oct. 16, donate $5 to charity online or in-store and get a shopping pass that gives you 10 percent to 20 percent off items you purchase that day. You can also use the in-store shopping pass for 25 percent off one regular, sale or clearance item in men’s, women’s or kids’ apparel or accessories (some exclusions apply). In any case, you’ll save. Sounds good to me!

Junior Drake Warehouse Sample Sale: Clutches for $40? Bags for $60? Yes, please! Head down to the South L.A. warehouse this weekend for a cornucopia of bags, wallets and even belts. Make any purchase on Friday or Saturday, and get an additional 10 percent off to spend on Sunday. You can enter a raffle to win a free handbag, and if you spend at least $150 you’ll get a free canvas tote. Munch of free hot dogs, cookies and drinks, too.

Friday, Oct. 15, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 16, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 17, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Junior Drake Warehouse
740 E. 60th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90001

Grilled tuna burger

M Cafe de Chaya, the macrobiotic mini chain that’s part of the Chaya Restaurant Group, is celebrating its 5th anniversary this month with different $5 specials each week at all three of its locations.

Week of June 7 — Falafel Wrap & M Chopped Salad (Grab & Go only)
Week of June 14 — 2 Salad Combo & Tofu Bento (Grab & Go only)
Week of June 21 — Breakfast Enchilada (breakfast hours only) and Double Chocolate Fudge Cake

What’s macrobiotic food? It’s food made from minimally processed, natural whole foods that are in-season. Fish is OK, but not poultry, red meat, eggs or dairy. I’ve been to M Cafe a few times, and it’s actually pretty tasty, despite its nearly vegan-like description. I have a few recommendations, none of which are part of the $5 specials. But no matter — you can always go back, and for certain items, it would be worth it.

My favorite menu item is the Big Macro, M Cafe’s veggie burger made with a whole grain brown rice and vegetable patty, “special sauce,” soy mozzarella, tomato, pickles, onion, sprouts and lettuce on a house-baked whole wheat bun. The grilled tuna burger (above) is also a good option, but I prefer the veggie version.

I also prefer the shoestring fries with shiso and nori to the sweet potato fries with chili and lime, which have a nice flavor but can lack the crispness of the regular version. The lime-y dipping sauce that comes with the sweet potato fries is really good, though.

Sweet potato fries

As for the deli salads, I really like the new chickpea and dandelion green salad as well as the kale dressed in peanut sauce. The red quinoa with beets and cucumbers is also good.

Chickpea and dandelion greens (left), quinoa and beets (right)

Kale with peanut dressing (and peanuts!)

To drink, get the mint green tea or the green lemonade, which has kale in it. I find M Cafe’s lemonade a bit too tart, but that’s a personal-preference thing.

As far as desserts go, the only one I’ve tried is the strawberry shortcake, which tastes more like a decadent Nutri-Grain bar than anything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is reminiscent of breakfast at dinner.

Strawberry shortcake

Note: The food shown in these photos was complimentary.

Drago Centro charcuterie plate. From Dig Lounge.

Whether you plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day or not — or just haven’t made up your mind yet — here are some special meals that will be happening around Los Angeles.

To Celebrate

Drago Centro: From Feb. 12 to 14, Drago Centro is offering a four-course dinner for $55, with wine pairings for an additional $35. (Limited à la carte menu items will be available, too.) Here are the menu choices:

First course — beef carpaccio, hearts of palm and candied almonds, or antipasto plate

Second course — butternut squash ravioli with lemon brown butter, or shrimp and scallop agnolotti with cioppino foam

Third course — roasted lamb with artichoke hearts, brown butter pomme purée and rapini, or Dover sole, baby vegetable ragoût and lemon beurre blanc

Fourth course — strawberry semifreddo with basil and white chocolate, or chocolate cake, candied Marcona almonds and raspberries

Also, on Feb. 14 the restaurant will be hosting a masquerade carnival with live music, and guests are encouraged to dress up, too.

Cecconi’s: The West Hollywood eatery is offering its full à la carte menu, a tasting menu for $85, and an optional wine pairing for an additional $45. The tasting menu includes wild mushroom cappuccino; dungeness crab, ahi tuna and avocado; winter black truffle and ricotta ravioli; chateaubriand for two, winter root vegetables and a peppercorn sauce; and a layered chocolate cake, kirsh cherries and whipped cream.

Pourtal: The Santa Monica wine bar is offering two-for-one glasses of bubbly on Feb. 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Choose from the featured selection of Marquis de Perlade Blanc de Blanc or a Kir Royale. Cupid will be there to pass out secret Valentines to guests who purchase bubbly or a tasting card; they will receive a free pour ranging from on Pourtal’s Enomatic machines.

Cube: Head over to Cube Marketplace’s cafe on Feb. 13 for a fondue party. Ok, not really, but you can get the fondue special and make it your own party! For $35, you can get prosecco, cheese fondue, roasted farmers market vegetables and fresh fruit, house-baked bread, Meyer lemon coeur a la crème, farmers market berries, citrus cookies — and house-made dark chocolate truffles and confections to take home.

Not To Celebrate

Charlie’s Malibu: On Feb. 13, Charlie’s will host “Bitter, Party of 1” for singles (or as its press release says, “couples welcome, but we may mock them”) with tunes from DJ Kid Wycked from 9:00 p.m. to close. And on both Feb. 13 and 14, the restaurant will offer a four-course chef’s tasting menu for $75, with a $20 wine pairing, along with the regular à la carte and lounge menus. The tasting menu includes dishes such as poached pear with herbed goat cheese and candied walnuts, filet mignon, and lobster tail. You don’t have to eat with a Valentine, you know.

Rush Street: On Feb. 13, the Culver City bar and restaurant will host a Meet Your Valentine party with specialty cocktails and artisanal chocolates. There will be no prix fixe menu. On Feb. 14, diners can enjoy half-off featured wine and champagne all day long.

Akasha: Take home a box of 12 mini cupcakes for $20 from the Culver City restaurant’s bakery to serve at your anti-Vday party — or eat them yourself, I don’t judge. Flavors include chocolate and vanilla cakes with different frosting and icing. The chocolate with Gianduja (that’s a chocolate/hazelnut combo) filling, chocolate glaze and fleur de sel sounds awesome!

The L.A. mini chain Pitfire Pizza is about to get just a bit bigger with a new location in Culver City, and even though it’s not officially open for business yet (official word has it opening in about a week), the food is already pretty solid. I guess that’s easier to do when you’ve had some practice at your North Hollywood, downtown and West Los Angeles locations. But the Culver City location has a new kind of pizza oven, so there!

Really, the pizza, especially the crust, is very good. I normally don’t eat pizza crusts, but the crust on these pizzas was so good that I had to force myself to not eat them lest I was not able to control myself. It’s perfectly light and chewy, with just the right amount of bite. As for toppings, stick with the pizzas that come with tomato sauce. The burrata, magherita and pepperoni pies are good. I wasn’t as impressed with the field mushroom pizza, made with fontina cheese and creme fraiche, because it didn’t have as much flavor without the tomato sauce, which is also spicy.

Burrata pie, topped with arugula

Magherita pizza

Field mushroom pizza

But Pitfire isn’t all about pizza. Before this visit, I had been to the downtown location a couple of times and had pasta both times. While we didn’t sample pasta this time (the pasta is good, by the way), we did have some starters. I loved the roasted vegetables, especially the brussels sprouts and the cauliflower, which was dusted in breadcrumbs. I could easily eat a plate of these vegetables as my whole meal. The chicken salad, with roasted chicken, arugula, butter lettuce, croutons, scallions, toasted pine nuts and pickled currants.

Roasted vegetables

Chicken salad

The cucumber mint lemonade was a standout, and the jumbo chocolate chip cookie is one of the best I’ve ever had. The chocolate is layered, so you get the maximum amount of chocolate in every bite. It reminds me of the cookies at Grey Dog’s Coffee in New York.

Cucumber mint lemonade

Chocolate chip cookie

A note about the new location: Though it’s technically in Culver City, it’s not in the downtown Culver City area. It’s west of the 405 freeway. Be prepared.

Akasha food from Great Chefs of L.A.

Friday is the first day of Akasha‘s Hanukkah meals, which include slow-roasted brisket; potato pancakes made from Yukon gold potatoes with gravlax, wasabi tobiko and horseradish crème fraiche; and Israeli doughnuts. There will even be special cocktails, including the Winter Mary made with celery-peppercorn vodka, carrot juice and pickled carrot. The special holiday food is available through next Friday, Dec. 18, during happy hour (small plates and cocktails) and dinner.

On Saturday, join in the Loopt Holiday Scavenger Crawl, which is part pub crawl, part scavenger hunt that promises to take participants to speakeasies, galleries and coffee shops on a hunt to be the first to find a “VIP” party. Along the way, you’ll win prizes from the locations you’ll scurry to, as told to you by the Loopt iPhone/BlackBerry app that guides you. The top three players from each city (there are also scavenger hunts in New York and San Francisco) will $200 gift cards to the retailer of their choice, and the grand prize for the top player out of all the cities will get a round-trip ticket to Hawaii.

Wrap up your weekend on Sunday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Cynthia Vincent and Sid Vintage sample sale at Code C boutique, where there will be one-of-a-kind of pieces available only at this sale. Bonus: Bring an unwrapped toy to donate to L.A. Family Housing and receive a free Coolhaus ice cream sandwich. Shopping and ice cream? Yes, please!

I was so excited to finally — finally! — eat at LudoBites, which eluded me in its last incarnation at BreadBar over the summer. So when Esther of e*starLA generously opened up her reservation to a bunch of her blogger friends, I happily signed on. And I had never been to Royal/T Cafe, the location for this LudoBites pop-up, so I was expecting all kinds of new experiences.

And then I got sick.

Now, I felt fine except for a ridiculously stuffy nose. After making sure I didn’t have a swine flu-like fever, I decided to still go to dinner. After all, who knows when I would be able to eat at LudoBites again, especially since reservations for the 2.5 week run sold out before opening night? So I went, determined to make the best of it.

I arrived at Royal/T not really knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by the eclectic art installations and gift store that had Hello Kitty Rubik’s Cubes on Christmas trees. The night was already off to a good start.

And then I took my first bite of food and realized I couldn’t taste anything. Damn you, stuffy nose!

So I’m at LudoBites, and I can’t taste anything. Other than running to the restroom periodically to blow my nose in the hope that I would clear enough to be able to taste again, what was I to do? I decided to make the best of it and make the experience an exercise in textures (!).

We ordered two of everything on the menu, so I got to (not) taste it all.

We started off with caramelized peanuts with curry. Everyone said these were amazing.

Caramelized peanuts with curry

Next up was bread soup with a poached egg and a gruyere marshmallow. This was nice and creamy, accentuated by the cheese’s crumbliness. It seemed very comforting.

Bread soup with poached egg and gruyere marshmallow

The scallops with brown butter, pineapple chunks and black (squid ink) powder was interesting. The only thing I could taste was the acidity of the pineapple, but the smoothness of the scallop coupled with the crunchiness of the squid ink powder was really interesting. I’m not sure what the green stuff is, though.

Scallops in brown butter, pineapple and black powder

Then came the foie gras beignet served with yellow celery root remoulade. The foie gras contained within the fried dough was in pieces as opposed to being in terrine form. The pieces were a little strange texture-wise with the doughnut, but not bad. The crunchiness of the celery root was a nice contrast, but I think I really missed out on the flavor combination here. Sigh.

Foie gras beignet and yellow celery root remoulade

Then came the one bite of food I could actually taste, as my nose cleared up just long enough for this miracle. I got to taste the confit pork belly, pickled mustard, vadouvan apples and frisee. I thought this was also comfort food-like, with the tender pork and apple flavors melding nicely.

Confit pork belly, pickled mustard, vadouvan apples and frisee

Then it was back to tastelessness when the Monterey squid with chorizo oil and kimchi puree came to our table. Well, that’s not entirely true: I could taste the acidity in whatever was used to prepare the onions (was this the chorizo oil? vinegar, maybe?), which was strong. But I couldn’t even taste the kimchi! Ugh. Oh, that thin black thing on top is eggplant paper!

Monterey squid, chorizo oil and kimchi puree

Next was marinated hanger steak with crunchy escargot, baby corn, bok choy and black olive mole made from Gluster’s mother’s recipe. The steak was cooked nicely, but I didn’t get one of those snails to try, unfortunately.

Marinated hanger steak, crunchy escargot, baby corn, bok choy and black olive mole

The veal udon with kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso (poured on the side of the bowl) was one of my favorites, probably because it was a soup dish and I was sick! It was another menu item that I found comforting, and I could have eaten a whole bowl myself and would have been happy.

Veal, udon, kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso

The wild stripped bass served with garden vegetables and yuzu aoili was my favorite visually. The colors were gorgeous, and I’m a sucker for mini foods, so the tiny brussels sprouts got me very excited…even though I couldn’t taste them.

Wild stipped bass, garden vegetables and yuzu aoili

The fourme d’ambert tourte with red pear and a honey balsamic sauce was an interesting take on a cheese course. I liked the idea, but alas, I couldn’t taste even this blue cheese.

Fourme d'ambert tourte, red pear and honey balsamic

Last up were the two dessert dishes. First was the chocolate cake with coconut sorbet soup and mashed rum bananas. Now, this “cake” was really more a mousse, as you can see from the photo, very different from the version that was served to the food bloggers at the FoodDigger preview dinner just days earlier. That version also had pink peppercorns sprinkled on top, which ours didn’t, though I could taste some kind of spiciness in the chocolate. The coolness of the coconut sorbet soup was a nice contrast to that spiciness, and the textural difference between those two elements and the rum bananas was nice, too. I really wished I could have tasted the flavors of this one!

Chocolate cake, coconut sorbet soup and rum bananas

The second dessert was pistachio rice milk topped with coffee chantilly and served with lemon pound cake. I really like rice pudding, which this basically was, but since I couldn’t taste any of the flavors, it all seemed like a lot of the same to me. So sad for me.

Pistachio rice milk, lemon pound cake and coffee chantilly

One thing that was pleasantly surprising was our bill: Split among eight people, the price per person (not including wine) came out to about $45, which I heard was much lower than LudoBites at BreadBar. At least I didn’t pay an arm and a leg to not taste anything, right? I will definitely be hitting up the next incarnation of LudoBites, hopefully with my ability to taste.

By the way, my favorite part of this meal? Being in a place where everyone — including Chef Ludo and his ultra-supportive wife, Krissy — was happy to be there sharing the same food experience in a laid-back, almost homey environment. It almost felt like one big dinner party. The fact that Ludo and Krissy are so involved in the L.A. food scene, including cooking with foodies who aren’t professionals, learning from them and conversing with them, made the whole experience feel communal. I had such a good time that I almost forgot I couldn’t actually taste the food.

The dining room at Royal/T for LudoBites, with Krissy (center, standing)

Inside Akasha. From Eater LA.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. You don’t have plans, but you want to have plans. What to do? Check out the holiday dinners from these L.A. restaurants, and take your pick.

Akasha: This Culver City eatery is offering a $55 per person, three-course meal ($30 for kids 12 and younger), including a pie buffet for dessert. All dessert courses should be buffets! But I digress.

Starter options include winter squash soup, a salad with persimmon, pomegranate and goat cheese and an assortment of biscuits. Entrees include slow-roasted turkey, pomegranate-jalapeno jelly glazed ham, and wild peppercorn and sage-roasted tofu. The pie buffet includes class pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie with candied pecans, spiced pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust, and pear and cranberry tart with cinnamon crumble. There’s much more; take a look at the Web site for the menu.

Joe’s Restaurant: This veritable Venice Beach institution is serving up a $52 per person, four-course meal ($20 for the kiddos). You’ll start with sunchoke soup, then move on to your choice of a greens and squash salad, Swiss chard ravioli, sweetbreads, mussels, or diver scallops. Main dish options include turkey with all the fixings, lamb with a pumpkin risotto, monk fish and shrimp, or vegetables with quinoa. The dessert course includes your choice of pumpkin pie, persimmon and pomegranate bread pudding, apple pie, or chocolate marquise.

Campanile: Mark Peel’s Mid-City mainstay has a $65 per person, five-course meal ($39 for kids) on the menu. You really can’t go wrong at Campanile. To start, there’s a mushroom barley soup. Then it’s on to your choice of a bibb lettuce salad, chicken liver crostini, or warm roasted vegetable salad. Then comes turkey for your main and another course of savory bread pudding, sweet corn succotash, mashed potatoes, cranberry chutney, and Blue Lake beans. Last is a dessert of either pumpkin ice cream, spiced apple bundle, or mixed nut tart.

If none of those hit the spot, also check The Rundown‘s list of Thanksgiving dinners, including Anisette, Henry’s Hat, Jar, The Langham and Whist.