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As China starts its 8 day public holiday, the locals are engaging in their favourite holiday activity – shopping. So the stores are going all out to promote their mooncakes before next Monday, the Mid-autumn festival. Among the offerings are a follow up to my last post. Inevitable, I suppose. Following the Hong Kong style “custard lava mooncakes”, it was only a matter of time until someone came up with a chocolate lava mooncake. 橙香巧克力冰皮月饼 (chéng xiāng qiǎo kè lì bīng pí yuè bǐng), orange scented chocolate iced mooncake.

It is brewed in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China.

Nice. Does it show where it was brewed? (Guinness is available in 120 countries but there are only 6 Guinness breweries in the world!) Cheers mate

You may find this article from Emily at Steam and Bake useful as an overview of steam oven brands: The Best Steam Oven Brands in 2025 If you are on Facebook, Emily's group ( https://m.facebook.com/groups/combisteamcooking/?ref=share ) might be a good place to ask questions about models you are considering. The group seems fairly quiet but it’s worth a shot. If you plan to replace your wall oven with a combi steam wall oven, keep in mind that the cavity size of steam ovens tend to be a good bit smaller than conventional ovens, particularly for the non-plumbed models as they need to accommodate a water tank.

No recent experience to share, but I will be monitoring responses for ideas. My 20-year old Miele convection oven is about to die, and I am looking for a replacement. I am thinking another Miele convection oven, plus their combi-steam oven (smaller model) to replace / upgrade my warming drawer (I don’t use or need a microwave). Sinilar to @ElsieD, the steam oven will not be plumbed.

Of course, I meant mushroom wontons. Too late to edit.

@rotuts referred to this in the Trader Joe's topic, but the pasta in question isn't restricted to TJ's Cajun Chicken Alfredo. Read the recall, based on the past, here: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/fsis-issues-public-health-alert-ready-eat-meals-containing-pasta-may-be-contaminated

I've missed posting a bunch more pistachio-centric recalls over the past week or so (been busy/traveling, also forgot). All Ontario-centric, IIRC. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/handfuel-brand-raspberry-pistachio-clusters-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/indian-punjabi-bazaar-brand-green-pistachios-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/pistachio-raw-kernels-recalled-due-salmonella https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachios-and-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-0 https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-4

Porterhouse with donabe short grain rice.

My microwave died the other day and I need to buy a new one. My husband suggested we also replace our wall oven with a new one at the same time as it too is over 20 years old and apt to fail sooner rather than later. Both are/were GE Profile. I said I'd be in for replacing the wall oven but only if it could be a steam oven. He said okay so we've been looking around. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with either a combo or a wall unit they would recommend? The steam oven would not be plumbed to a water source/drain, it would have a refillable tank inside the oven. Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Tuna salad on a toasted brioche bun My last few breakfasts have been deficient in vegetables so I added a few.

Chicken thighs marinated in zaatar, yogurt, and garlic and grilled, with a big salad, rice pilaf, and flatbread

香菇馄饨 (xiāng gū hún tun), fresh shiitake mushrooms in a chicken broth.

Poached Chicken with Puy Lentils from an old Jamie Oliver Magazine - mix of diced poached chicken breast (poached in chicken broth), puy lentils, green beans, grilled artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, parsley, capers, mustard, olive oil and lemon juice

The plan is Montreal if all goes well.

Everyday Korean has several Dutch baby options so I tried the kimchi and cheddar cheese version today. It still didn’t climb up out of the pan as much as the first time I made it but it was tasty.

奶黄流心月饼莲蓉传统港式蛋黄爆浆月 (nǎi huáng liú xīn yuè bǐng lián róng chuán tǒng gǎng shì dàn huáng bào jiāng yuè), Traditional Hong Kong style custard mooncake with lotus seed paste and egg yolk. These are also sometimes known as ‘lava mooncakes’ or similar.), Traditional Hong Kong style custard mooncake with lotus seed paste and egg yolk. These are also sometimes known as ‘lava mooncakes’ or similar. Although HK in origin, the are becoming quite the fashion on the mainland.

We were planning on Thai - specifically the fried chicken and a khao soi. They were out of the khao soi, so we got the Northern Thai sausage. The fried chicken was ok, but not even close to the best Hat Yai fried chicken we've had and the puck of sticky rice it came with should have had them cowering in shame. It was so overcooked that the individual grains fused into a single gummy mass. I can't blame it on the fact that it may have been sitting around as I remember getting a mango with sticky rice in Chiang Mai where the vendor dug teh sticky rice out of a cooler that was probably sitting there for hours and it was perfect. I had mistakenly thought that the sausage was sai oua - a type of Northern Thai sausage and asked for it. The manager who took our order knew what I was talking about, but didn't correct me in the fact that what they were serving was definitely NOT sai oua as I knew it both from Chiang Mai and at my much missed Pok Pok whose version was just like we had in Chiang Mai. Saturday's version was a uniform fine grind, very one note, and they happened to burn the crap out of the sausage casing....

Any idea where the workshop will be in ‘26?

You are certainly more of an authority on the matter than I am, so I defer to your expertise. I will add some related history for anyone interested. The oldest found molds for pastries (There has previously been a discussion about the use of the term 'pastries' in another thread here, which I concluded simply comes down to language differences) date back to the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046BCE). At this time the items were primarily offerings, which transitioned during the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256BCE) into being gifts given to others (family, neighbors). The latter shift is a result of Héhé philosophy (harmony and cooperation). During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, these gifts and offerings evolved further as commercialization and mass production expanded. According to records, there were many pastry shops in Chang'an (Xi’an), and professional “cake chefs"/Bîng Shī (饼师) appeared. Drinking tea with snacks also became popular in the tea banquets of the Tang Dynasty court. The word “cake”/Bing (饼) appears in texts during this period, and later "mooncakes" (月饼) are documented in connection with August 15th. We find molds from this time that have both square and round, as well as other shapes, but the square and round were often found on the same wooden paddle because of the traditional connection between the moon (round) and the earth (square). For anyone who wants to geek out on these details, I suggest seeking out a very cool book on dimsum history based on the molds throughout time - 小点心,大历史 (Small Pastry, Great Culture). And apologies for any errors in my hanzi - they are taken from my study notes on the topic.

It just got "reviewed" on Eater - for whatever that's worth! (Basically, nothing, as eater, in my opinion, is gasping for air). https://ny.eater.com/restaurant-openings/404894/time-out-new-york-market-union-square-kebabwala-lori-jayne-kam-rai-thai-taqueria-el-chato-fornino-patty-palace

Test 2 of the cultured milk sherbet fixed the slight texture issue of test 1, so I think it's now good enough to share the recipe: Sorry for the horrible photo light... Served with marzipan soaked in the juice from fermented cherries, fermented cherry pieces and dark chocolate crumbs. I know that Flaxfiber is a pain to source, but hopefully, someone else will be inspired to try this method and share their results to further its development. I mentioned xanthan gum as an alternative to Flaxfiber under the recipe, but lambda carrageenan could probably also be an alternative? Glucose powder with DE42 is probably easier to source for the majority of you. I don't have more DE42 left myself to test it, but with other recipes in the past, I've been able to switch between DE33 and DE42 glucose powder without noticeable issues. I've just made a simplified conversion of the ratio of dextrose and glucose powder in order to keep the combined DE value of the two sugars consistent. Something like this: My next attempt will probably be strawberry or rhubarb (might be too acidic for Gellan gum to work), but my stock of glucose powder is almost empty, so it may take a little while before I get a chance to try that.

To finish my crumbly cookie recipe... @Tropicalsenior informed me that the recipe contained a major flaw. It called for 2 tablespoons of butter when it should have called for 1/2 cup. I heated it up, added 6 tablespoons of butter and Bob's your uncle. It's still too sweet for me but Ed thinks it's fine.