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@Tempest63 I'm so very sorry to hear this. Sending you all the positive, healing energy possible and hoping for a successful surgery and speedy recovery. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Made a Lemon Meringue Cake for a friends birthday. Sorry, they ate it all before I could get a picture of the cut…..

This is very misleading. One type of cooking show is out of favour. Reality television food shows are still as popular. The Great British Bake off a BBC show is very popular and heading into its 17th series in 2026. The UK Masterchef (the original) is still going strong on its 18th season, again on BBC, despite recent scandals when two presenters were fired for inappropriate behaviour.

That's rough. Hang in there, and we'll hope for the best.

It is the name given to the host standing up and stirring the pot as they speak, I.e. cooking on tv. Nigella Lawson is a prime example, Jamie Oliver etc.

@Tempest63 What is a "stand and stir" cooking show? Can you provide any examples?

Japanese-y dinner … Edamame, bamboo shoots, salt-pickled cucumbers with katsuobushi, (unfortunately closed in the picture) bowls with oden with egg, tofu & daikon, spinach with sesame dressing, roasted miso corn, tuna tataki, karaage (from chicken breast imstead of thigh - it was a spontaneous dinner from the fridges content), dried skate wings and (commercial) gyoza … An icecold chuhai … And spaghetti with (commercial) uni butter - excellent … An umaibo from the mancave for dessert (beef tongue flavor) … Enjoyed while watching Nausicaä from Studio Ghibli … No complaints 🤗

I have been in Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge, England for 4 weeks now. I can’t comment on the food, as apart from the first day or two I have been nil by mouth. And even then the hospital missed me out over a couple of meal times. After over 50 years of Crohn’s disease, this last year has been troublesome to say the least. My weight which was 13.5 stone a few short years back has unintentionally dwindled to 8 stone. It is one of the reasons I have not been participating either here or elsewhere very much. Major surgery is scheduled for 25th September and then it is touch and go whether I will ever eat again post op or will be fed liquid nutrition via a pump. Surgeons are hopeful but won’t give any firm reassurances. In the meantime I pore over the stream of food books my wife brings me in and catch up on my favourite food programmes that are either broadcast on-demand or are available on YouTube. Possibly a masochistic form of self torture. One strange thing I did happen to notice. During the first few days of nil by mouth, I kept getting fleeting taste sensations in my mouth, as if I was eating small pieces of food. It culminated with the overriding taste of strawberry ice cream, as if someone had placed a large spoonful in my mouth. After that the sensations stopped completely. I have been known to covertly sneak out for the very rare black coffee during my stay. It is not allowed but is desperately needed for my mental well being.

I am unfamiliar with the situation in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, but here in the U.K. the “stand & stir” TV shows are dying out on mainstream TV, such as the BBC, who have commissioned zero cooking shows this year. Commissions for such shows are down by 44% across the board in a year and whilst some of the chefs/cooks/hosts are taking it graciously (Nigella Lawson for instance) others are not (I won’t name the biggest whinger). Some cooking shows are booming but these are not being produced by the traditional production companies. Instead, they are appearing on the likes of Instagram and Tic Toc. Cooking shows which once filled our screens, morning, noon and night, are now persona non grata.

Chicken marrow is not as cattle or goat marrow. Chicks are 'expected' to flight, so their bones are quite different and more light, that may impact the marrow distribution

First published in 2001 The Chicken Cookbook by Sharda Pargal, published by Penguin and full of Indian chicken recipes, had eluded me until now. I was browsing through AbeBooks recently when I saw a copy for sale at a knockdown price. So I snapped it up. The cover matches exactly that of “Curry Curry Curry” by Ranjit Rai of “Tandoor: The Great Indian Barbecue” fame, which makes me wonder if there are further books in the series. The other pre-loved book bought from Abebooks was “Cooking like Mummyji”, by Vicky Bhogal (2003), home style food from a British Sikh home with some weird concoctions straight out of tins, think tinned sardines and tuna. A picture of how those in the Sikh community ate using supermarket ingredients with an Indian twist. This book compliments others in my collection that focus on Indian home style cooking here in the U.K. “The Urban Rajah” (a great little book) and “Cooking with my Indian Mother in Law” both spring to mind.

It is over 20 years since CP released “50 Favourite Curries” and now she has followed it up with “Vegetables the Indian Way”. Whilst I hanker after it I have held back, for two reasons. First, I have not yet seen a physical copy of the book. “50 Favourite Curries” was littered with errors and typos, some of which were carried over into later versions of the book. Shoddy proof reading and quality control on behalf of the publishers, and I would like to examine it to see if the standards have improved. Secondly, “50 Favourite Curries” was subsequently rereleased in a smaller format and this was the biggest selling release of the book, still gracing the shelves of the bookshops today. I would much prefer a copy in this smaller format. There is a further consideration. As we hurtle towards the end of the year I often struggle to give the kids ideas for Christmas presents for me when they ask. I will hold back ordering any new books until I know what Santa is bringing.

Shoyu Chicken over Ginger-Garlic Rice with Bok Choy This turned out to be very flavorful and the closest yet to what I want out of this dish. I used low-sodium San-J Tamari and the result was nicer that previous results with various soy sauces. The Thai Hom Mali Jasmine rice was cooked in a store-bought chicken broth with homemade ginger-garlic paste added. I was going to make the sauce with chicken stock, but at the last moment decided water would be the choice at a 1:1 ratio with the tamari. Light brown sugar was added, although the intent was to use dark brown. None was available, so light brown it was. Definitely want to try dark brown, and maybe even turbinado, going forward. Brown rice vinegar was added, although I went back and forth between it and a really nice, traditionally aged but young, balsamic. TJ's has one that's a good couple of steps above standard supermarket fare and would be the first choice should balsamic be used. Next time, maybe some dark soy sauce mixed with the tamari with the intent of making the sauce darker. Gotta play with that. The chicken was marinated in the braising liquid over night in the fridge, and it rested in the sauce for about 40-minutes after cooking before removing it to the broiler to crisp up the skin. It got five minutes under the heat, and another minute or maybe two might have been nice. The sauce was strained, cooked down, and thickened with cornstarch. 'Twas an enjoyable dinner ... This was the fourth or fifth time I've made the dish. It's a work in progress. The internet recipes are all similar to one another, but there are many adjustments and tweaks that can be made. It's been fun trying to improve the dish and make it more my own.

To my surprise, as I generally prefer my oysters au naturel, I'm rather partial to these on occasion.

Would you consider adding sliced/diced peaches in the filling? Peach can an elusive flavor so a concentrated syrup can help boost the flavor. I'd suggest a judicious use of spice though; you don't want to overpower the peach so maybe cinnamon in only one element? Maybe in the feuilletine? Possibly infuse some thyme into the peach syrup with allspice?

Ok, so for a little over a year, I’ve been working on a recipe. A very peach-forward cake. I haven’t been able to focus too much on it this summer, due to family losses, but I haven’t given up on the idea. These are the components: 1. A classic French Genoise sponge forms the base. Whether it will be composed of two layers, or one sponge sliced in two, I haven’t decided yet. 2. the filling is a French pastry cream, flavored with peach purée and cognac. I’ve made a test-run of this just today, and am waiting for it to cool to taste it. 3. frosting is stabilized whipped cream, with some being mixed with raspberry purée to make a criss-cross pattern on top. 4. A crunchy feullitine, flavored with cinnamon and all-spice. Maybe crushed into medium sized chunks and spread around half-way up the sides. 5. Now we come to the difficult part. It’s Genoise so it needs a flavoring liquid soak. Classic Genoise is mostly tasteless, serving as a vehicle for the flavoring liquid. I have two potential options. One is a simple homemade peach liquor. This is a classic. But a part of me wants to do something different. I found a recipe for a tippel called a Peach shrub. I would like to flavor it with some cinnamon and all-spice. The original recipe calls for ginger, but I replaced it with all-spice. This really appeals to me as a soaking liquid for some reason. I’d love to hear you guys thoughts on this idea. Is there anything I’m missing? Any advice?

Yes. In Mandarin Chinese, they are 大葱 (dà cōng), literally 'big onion' but often translated as leeks. They are also known as Japanese leeks. As a kid growing up in East Scotland* they were known as sybows but pronounced sybies in my local dialect. The history of the names is interesting. First known reference and from 1362 is as 'chibols'. This is derived from a Northern French dialect name, chiboule. The Scots sybow was a 16th century adaptation of chibol. * Wikipedia claims incorrectly that this name is from the west of Scotland. No, it ain't. In the west of Scotland they are referred to as 'spring onions'. There are many other names used in different places.

Had dinner at one of my son’s home. They cooked salmon, mashed potato and 3 greens - broccolini, beans and peas. The salmon was lightly marinated in honey and soy with a few chilli flakes and red peppers. It was very good.

@Pete Fred OK. you have a lot of work to do . take it slowly . change very little each Bake . Ill take all the remainders .

Fergus Henderson's Apple and Calvados Cake has been sitting in my to-do folder for literally years. Instead of watching my apples rot on the ground, I decided today was the day to finally cross it off the list. Rather than make his comically giant version, I scaled things down somewhat and made a couple of 10 cm (4-inch) ones... It was pleasant, reminding me of other French apple cakes which are mostly apple bound by a small amount of batter, although this was a bit more more cakey. The apples kept it nice and moist, but the dominant flavour was the spicing (cinnamon and cloves). In the restaurant, they give it a cider and Calvados soak, so maybe that's what I was missing.

Fission chips. 6/10. Perfectly OK. I'm at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham. A few years ago I was at a medics pub quiz and the best team name was The Queen's Gynaecologists.

Grilled bangers, mash and (unmushy) peas. I like to remove skin and flatten banger into patties. Made a red wine and bacon gravy. Solid comfort food for mi esposo who returned from a solo trip to US first time since his femur fracture and surgery. We were told at his age (73) it would be a year to full recovery, and that he might never fully recover. He's pretty much at 100% now, 8 months post ORIF surgery (internal metal brace secured to femur with screws and wires).

Sounds like an excellent veg & seafood combo. I have one marked to try called Mussels and Brussels 🙃

Sprouts and shrimp Last night was BLTs that I've shared(and eaten!) a lot this summer.

to conclude : this is the CkMarrow pic'd from the first phase of the CkJell iPot . 1 X note that it did not melt . there may be some CkMarrow flavor in the pot , but Id guess not much. the flavor is earthy , but not like mushrooms are earthy . the flavor is not rich and delicate . no more CkBone chopping for me. there might be hints of Iron ( from the RBC's ) . so , there is a reason CkMarrow is not mentioned ( to my knowledge ) in Julia Child's tomes or served at 5 ***** FR restaurants . its work to get , and adds , if anything , nothing very delicious . but is for sure , a nutritional powerhouse.