curlywurlyfi

sorry, can't help, am going to Yauatcha... Fi

I see your point, that bolting-on a fairly random selection of dishes to the menu and calling it 'nuevo latino' scarcely enhances the dining experience at Gaucho Grill. But since, as you say, how would you suggest that they widen the authentic Argentinan dining experience? Are they not rather to be commended for even trying to introduce a wider range of choice to their customers?

another tip is make a list before you start of things you absolutely want to happen in your kitchen. By no means exhaustive, but mine included: - drawers to keep pots and pans in rather than cupboards - no eye-level cupboards - I have low ceilings so would have compressed my space further; instead I have 'tower' cabinets in the corners of the room - adequate space to the right of the sink (or whichever side you prefer) to take a meal's worth of dishes so you don't have to stack the machine during the meal - dishwasher to be beside the sink for easy scraping - four shelves in the tower cupboards instead of manufacturer's standard three - I specified a washing machine which had a zero-degrees option (for washing woollens) - slightly taller than standard units so my countertop is at a comfortable prep level - kitchen taps you can turn on/off with your elbow! - cupboard under the kitchen sink to hinge on the 'wrong' side, because most of the time I'm getting into it for dishwasher powder or laundry detergent, and both appliances are on the right of the sink And I second the comment about power outlets! Get more than you could believe possible. And if you have space (which you may not, in an apartment kitchen), get a big sink. You want to be able to soak a roasting tin in there, not just dip in one end. (Can you tell that's one I got wrong.) Fi

I'm a believer in Plymouth (nice and dry), with Tanqueray a close second. Recently I took my parents a bottle of Hendrick's, because it's distilled in Ayrshire (near where they live). You're supposed to garnish a Hendrick's + tonic with a slice of cucumber rather than lemon. We had a tasting (see, this is why I love my parents - they take their gin V-E-R-Y S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y), and I found it rather like drinking bubblebath, which I suppose would be the rose petals in it.

unless we find a way to break the 'cheap is good' mentality, then we will wake one morning to find all we can buy is either hand-crafted bread made by Tuscan virgins from milk-fed hand-nurtured every-stalk-has-its-own-name wheat, OR generic pre-bagged pre-sliced processed square white at 17p a loaf. it's the disappearance of the decent quality middle ground that is my fear.

Today's Independent (it's in other papers too) has this story: UK shoppers spend 33p out of every £1 in the big supermarket chains comments, anyone? (ducks to avoid hail of incoming)

years of experience (ie a crap corkscrew in the flat I was living in for the last six months) led me to this: - peel capsule from bottle top - find a flattish-bottomed kitchen implement eg small wooden spoon, though I have used a cheap metal knife (blunt cutlery knife rather than prep knife); a meat mallet (or similar bashing device); and - vital part - a teatowel - put the bottle in the kitchen sink. make a fist and hold the bottle top with the little-finger side of your fist and with the rest of your fist hold the wooden spoon handle-down vertically onto the cork. Lag teatowl round fist, bottle top, base of wooden spoon. - gently gently whilst still holding wooden spoon onto cork bash down wooden spoon with mallet. Keep at it. Eventually, you will force the cork into the bottle and wine will spray everywhere. This is why you are glad you have (a) the bottle in the sink and (b) the teatowel arranged to keep the worst of the wine from drenching you. - rinse base + sides of bottle, dry with teatowel and pour much-needed glass of wine. voila. sometimes I feel like a complete student. edit: clariteeeeee

Anna N, those ribs, oh my god. Saturday morning MobyP and I perpetrated a raid on Borough Market and I came home bow-legged + staggering under the weight of my purchases. Some, though not all, were transformed into elegant kitchen picnic dinner for friends on Saturday night: A perfect little Northfields Farm fillet of beef, rubbed with mustard powder + black pepper, seared hard, cooled + sliced into little ruby coins. A hunk of Parmesan, elegantly served in its wrappings with a vegetable peeler plonked on top for make-your-own-shavings. Cherry tomatoes roasted with bay leaves, cumin, garlic + olive oil and some roasted baby beets, sliced + served with tzatziki. A big green salad of lamb's lettuce, rocket and watercress, and Pugliese bread, echire butter, olive oil, quartered lemons + balsamic for dipping + making salad dressing + drizzling generally. this was followed by sort-of trifle - sponge finger biscuits dribbled with Cointreau, layered with creme fraiche mixed with a little grated orange rind + icing sugar, and wonderful dark red sweet strawberries. A bit of Bleu d'Auvergne and some galetti (Maltese water biscuits) to finish. and then lots of lying on the sofas looking slightly glazed and talking rubbish over some Glenfiddich.

Hmm, not sure how many Asian dishes use red wine, so my suggestion would be chicken livers sauteed with onions, garlic, bacon, thyme. Deglaze pan with the wine, maybe add a little balsamic if it needs a touch of sweetness.

leafing through this month's Sainsburys magazine I see a recipe for Pimms jellies. As part of a picnic. dear god. Fi

wokked spring greens with garlic, red chilli flakes, soy sauce, Chinese five spice powder and a little stock, served over buckwheat noodles. instant post-pub food.

clock this thread for some fabulous 80s dessert ideas (cake decorated like a Rubik's cube, anyone??) Fi

yes! try adding a healthy splash of Angostura bitters to the jug. Or cutting the lemonade half-and-half with soda water (all lemonade is too sweet for me). Or using dry ginger ale. Frozen raspberries also good as icecube helpers but this is definitely verging on chi-chi.

second dinner for friends on new cooker! slightly derailed during the prep stages by flooded hallway. so it was a bit more scrambled together + rushed than I'd have liked. tiny weeny bacon joint (where DO they find those tiny pigs), roasted on top of some rosemary sprigs, with sauteed potatoes sprinkled with parsley and coarse salt, Hell Carrots TM (carrots tossed in chilli flakes + cumin + olive oil then roasted) and a floppy green salad with balsamic dressing. English mustard made up with a bit of Ma Kirkpatrick's legendary marmelade + some whisky. Redcurrant jelly. Then leftover apricots in cardamom from Monday, with plain yoghurt and grated orange rind. Dom brought a Cotes du Rhone rose which we drank with frozen raspberries to act as icecubes - most chi-chi. I love my new kitchen...

first dinner for friends in new kitchen on new cooker - hurrah! Roast leg of pork (from the smallest pig ever), lots of salty crackling + meagre but concentrated pan juices, with redcurrant and apple sauce. I kept basting it so I could lick the spoon. Rainbow chard stir-fried with garlic + lemon, some roasted baby beetroot, sliced and served warm with tzatziki, and boiled new potatoes. then apricots poached in cardamom sugar syrup, chilled and served with fresh raspberries + Haagen Dazs strawberries + cream icecream. My friends brought me beautiful blue delphiniums, so it was a fair trade.

I think you do have to get them from Books For Cooks - there are currently five or possibly six of them (they've kind of done a 'one-a-year' thing), they're about £6 each. here is a link to the BFC's under-construction website but it does at least give opening times/phone no/email.

and for an embarrassing 899th time, my vote goes to... the Books For Cooks compendia. Never fail to inspire. They have simply got the knack of distilling any given cookbook down to the two recipes you would actually use and printing them with 50 other similarly excellent ones. eg I can chuck away the first River Cafe Cookbook since BFC has both the lemon polenta cake and the pork braised in vinegar and bay. Fi

oooh this reminds me. - avocado with Worcestershire sauce. MMMMMMM. which also reminds me (it's a childhood thing) - ripe papaya with crispy bacon shards and a squeeze of lime (am I allowed three things in my combination??) Fi

do not, whatever you do, buy the 'Toothkind' (green foil round the top) kind. it is minging. the reduced-sugar one isn't bad (blue foil) and certainly reduces the sugar-induced hysteria you get after drinking pints of it. edited to add: that is the best title I've ever seen! thank you, ballast_regime! Fi

- artichoke bottoms, lemon zest, parsley, EVOO + garlic - tuna fantastic - so called because it's made of tuna, and it's fantastic. tinned tuna, chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped fresh basil, capers, EVOO + balsamic, stirred into hot pasta - the classic EVOO, chili, parsley + garlic - chicken livers fried with bacon, onions, garlic, pan deglazed with red wine and/or port and maybe a chopped tomato/little tomato puree for body - my mum's bolognese, made the Maltese way with equal quantities of pork mince, beef mince and bacon mince (now THERE's a concept)

what about something soothing for your digestive tract, like peppermint tea or (my preference) fennel tea? am not suggesting for one minute that these are alternatives to medical help, but they can be palliative. Drink warm rather than hot hot hot, and feel better soon. Fi

- Thai-style salad of grated red bell pepper, courgette [zucchini], carrot + green mango tossed with fish sauce, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, lime juice + chopped fresh coriander. this was so beautiful I wished I had taken a photo. Topped with grilled salmon fillets, sprinkled with red chilli flakes and a little balsamic. - to follow, homemade gingerbread with big chunks of crystallized ginger we ate this whilst lying like Caligula on the sofa, watching Pieces Of April. ah, Sunday night suppers.

hear hear! I have decided that I really can't make it better myself (or not with limp UK tomatoes, at least).

I went to Lindsay House last night for a surprise 40th in one of the private dining rooms. There were 16 of us and we had the tasting menu. I ought not to criticize, since I was a guest at this dinner, but I am going to, since it was so disappointing. The food is not experimental, it's more on a par with Racine, for example, but do you know? that is the sort of food I like to eat - as balex said in a different thread, you can't eat genius every night. Canapes: - shot glass of something creamy (didn't try) - Caesar salad on a china spoon (didn't try) - finely chopped potato salad with anchovy - delicious - croute with chicken liver pate (didn't try) - black pudding in a filo case, topped with melted Taleggio - nice, but for my taste should have been the spicier Scottish black pud rather than the weedier English version Foie Gras with Apple and Lime - piece of seared foie gras, with a fan of poached apple slices with curls of dried lime zest over the apple. Lime not punchy enough to contrast with either the foie or the very sweet apple (since it was so sweet, not much was needed as contrast, so for my taste there was too much of it). My foie was very tubular, though others' were fine. Baby Squid stuffed with Chorizo + Feta in Mussel Broth - three thumb-joint sized tubes of squidlet and one tiny gnarly tentacle - perfect size, beautifully cooked. however, cheesy sausage stuffing's texture was seriously unpleasant - sticky and pasty - wanted to scrape it off my teeth. Mussel broth was bright herby green and delicious. Three tiny garlic croutons a nice touch - used mine to mop up mussel broth, then got bread roll involved. Scallop with spiced Carrots and Belly Pork - could have eaten this ALL NIGHT. Perfectly fresh, sweet, seared scallop. Batons of salty steamed (? maybe cooked in stock?) carrot on a splodge of cardamomy carrot puree. Small square chunk of crisp fatty belly pork. Both the pork and the scallop went brilliantly - though entirely differently - with the sweet carrot puree and the salty carrot batons. Chicken with Asparagus and Chanterelles - dull. but then I find chicken dull generally. Poached breast, one spear of (nice) asparagus, mushroom sauce consistency of thin cream, whole mushrooms in. Rather dreadfully, not only did three of the guests have to wait a considerable time for theirs to arrive, to the point where the host had asked the rest of us to start, but at least two of the breasts were undercooked. not just a little undercooked, but actively pink. Melon with Charentais Jelly - served in a martini glass, four small green melon balls, and if it was jelly it had melted by the time it arrived. Forgettable. Chocolate Mousse, Buttermilk Sorbet, Cherries with Banyuls - poached cherries, fine but not awe-inspiring. Buttermilk sorbet delightful, chocolate mousse fantastic, small smooth bits of chocolate suspended in smooth rich mousse (in fact, texture not dissimilar to Haagen Dazs Belgian Chocolate icecream, though flavour infinitely better). Cafetiere coffee (disappointing for me since I like the punch of espresso after dinner, but others were happy) + petits fours including a chocolate truffle whose butter was just on the turn. Blech. so - an alarming preponderance of wrong. In some cases, very wrong. I have not said anything to my friend and her husband, but I know they too must have been disappointed. And I am certain that, based on the above, I won't ever go back. Ho well, it'll just have to be Racine for me. Fi

actually, I used to think she had made it up, until I visited some friends whose daughter has severe cerebral palsy. She communicates in a version of sign-language, much less elaborate than the widely-known deaf persons' sign language - it consists mainly of single gestures to mean nouns and moods/desires (eg 'I need to go to the bathroom'). The symbol for 'I would like a biscuit' is to cup your elbow with the palm of your hand. So maybe the gingersnap thing is more widely known than my mum's car circa 1975!