curlywurlyfi

I've got a couple of these (though from France) and followed the instructions about soaking before first use - all good - but I regularly now put mine cold into a hot oven, eg when making vegetable tians, and they are absolutely fine (though doubtless have just invited disaster by saying so). Fi

ooooooh, controversial. In MY house, grilled cheese sandwiches are ALWAYS cut into four squares. That way, you avoid the barely-filled - and therefore boring - bit at the pointy corner. And for you UK-ers out there, the splendid Lakeland have been doing these toaster bags for ages - are we inclined to go head-to-head with the US?? (Probably get our arses kicked, as per usual.) Fi

griddled and tossed with a little lemon juice + a bit more EVOO roasted with shallots, unpeeled garlic cloves, a few crushed fennel seeds + a little stock + OO but I think raw in salads is best - real eye-popping flavour. am loving the idea of blood orange avocado oil... I want fennel NOW.

an ex of mine had a book lending policy which concentrated the mind wonderfully - you could only borrow a book from him if you lent him one of equal sentimental value in return. So he would cheerfully lend crappy 70s sci-fi in return for just about anything, but try to borrow his Four Seasons cookbook and you practically had to give him the Rosetta Stone. Fi

Squeat, thank you for this blog, you make me laugh out loud! Fi

last night I was photographing some recipes for a food + drink mailer we're sending to advertisers. coconut, coriander, mint + green chili chutney with poppadums for scooping mushroom + chestnut stew with a little carrot, celery, parsnip, thyme, red wine, onion and garlic, and about a teaspoon of Marmite for mmmm French bread 'pizza' made with jarred salsa (but I got my way with the fresh mushrooms, spinach + mozzarella) the rejects from the batch of gingerbread Christmas cookies courtesy of Sinclair's suggestion of the Martha Stewart website my personal favourite were the 'blinis' made with the traditional smoked salmon/blob of creme fraiche/sprig of dill topping, but the blini bit was... [proprietary brand name here] Smiley Faces - discs of reconstituted potato in the shape of a face, heat for 15 minutes from frozen, serve. Have photo, but technical ineptitude prevents posting.

for my money, asparagus just TASTES better when eaten with the fingers. sort of gives it an 'abundant' feel, as if I've got so much asparagus on my plate that I can just dig in and don't have to savour every last bite. And does anyone else reverse the order they eat it in - eat the stalk first and save the soft and delicious tip for the last mouthful*? oh well, just me then. Fi * have now rewritten this sentence three times and it still sounds vaguely smutty

have just stumbled across a Lindsay Bareham recipe in a recent (London) Evening Standard for green fruit salad with lime + avocado cream. hmmmm. have a slight feeling the plate would resemble a mosaic of Kermit the Frog but... you could try it? Fi

oh my god, jackal10, I haven't had those in YEARS. Lots of black pepper. And none of your fancy wine vinegars either - malt vinegar only. Or that completely scary thing, 'non-brewed condiment'. Just what the hell IS that? Crunching on the softened bones is the best part... Fi

Velvet Crumb Cake from the back of the Bisquick packet circa 1975 (basically, a very close-textured plain sponge topped with mixture of dessicated coconut, nuts, brown sugar and butter, then grilled till crunchy).

the Saturday Notting Hill Gate farmers' market got me: a pumpkin ruby chard delicious small Egremont Russet apples with their heavenly sandpapery skin lavender and apple sponge square (breakfast) wanted to buy beautiful Brussels sprout sticks but knew I wouldn't use them (out too much this week) Fi

with toasted pine nuts, fresh herbs, a few chopped tomatoes (or reconstituted sundried if no flavoursome ones around) and EVOO over pasta the Maltese make pastizzi, which are basically the cheese equivalent of heroin. amazingly buttery filo type (but not quite filo) pastry, twisted round a chunk of soft salty ricotta - nothing more added. the pastry splits sometimes at the top to let the cheese ooze out. sigh. Fi

hi Jen the pork belly is already cooked, right? I think frying it hard is the only way to go! with lots of thyme and more salt than is strictly good for you. crispy brown edges, mmmm. to complete the fat attack, serve with sauteed potatoes. am very jealous indeed. Fi

Austerity Dining. It's like being back in the 1950s. Maggiethecat, I sympathize too. there have been a lot of lentils, baked potatoes and pasta in my life lately. (fie to thee, Atkins, fie, fie!) think your menu ideas sound great. Broccoli stir fry with lots of mirin + soy sparked with red chili would be my tip. Beetroot + smoked mackerel salad is another good cheap one - and so fashionable, too! but something which worked for me (which you I am sure already know) when trying to stick to my food budget is to plan plan plan ahead. work out your meals for the week the minute you get home with the produce from the market and stick to your week's schedule - that way you won't suddenly find the dying celery at the back of the fridge, you will know you are going to use up the poaching liqueur from the veal breast in the following day's broccoli soup, etc. good luck. Fi PS the other great thing is to have store cupboard armageddon. NOW is the time to use up the tinned smoked mussels that came in the hamper three Christmases ago (even if it's only to feed the cat). (if your cat will touch them, that is.) Still got that tiny jar of non-opened gourmet mustard? Bring it on and liven up your ham sandwich. Little 'treaty' things like that make the Austerity Dining thing more bearable. (That, and kind friends who drop by with wine.)

very finely chopped fresh red chili (loving the idea of flaked almonds, though, have mentally tucked that one away, thank you bushey!)

Nick, that sounds yummy! In Portugal I've had delicious baked goat - big chunks of meat, fried off a little in olive oil to brown them, then tossed with roughly chunked potatoes, quite a lot of tomatoes, garlic, oregano/marjoram, lots of salt + pepper and more olive oil, and baked on a gnarly old roasting tin till succulent and melting. Not smart food, just delicious.

baked potato with hummus, grated beetroot + grated carrot, chopped coriander, squeeze of lemon juice. this from the liver-cleansing diet sheet. ho ho ho.

have just unpacked my cookbook box (moved into a new flat end of June, has taken this long to get a shelf in the kitchen), so add my 47 to the list (50 if you include the three bulging lever arch files of clippings marked Starters, Mains, Puddings)

entirely inspired by this thread (and a vile cold) I spent yesterday making leek + potato soup finished with double cream, and pureed butternut parsnip + carrot with ginger, garlic + chilli, finished with mascarpone. and then ate the lot in two meals. yay!

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread and $50 thou beside me...

loving the idea of an all-potato based meal! this might be a little advanced but if you're trying to get him into new flavours, try cubes of waxy potatoes tossed with coarsely chopped fennel, some crushed fennel seeds, some crushed garlic, a bit of saffron, about half a pint of stock, a couple of tbsps evoo and a little bit of red wine vinegar. Bake in a shallow dish for about 40 minutes (depending on temperature, etc), turn the potatoes over regularly, they go crispy and squashy at the same time.

how disappointing - bean soup should be really heartwarming. you could try adding some of the drained bean liquid? full of starch so makes for a slightly thicker broth (not to mention all that delicious salt they put in there). Sounds like it was missing a dimension of flavour as well as texture. onions nice and browned? hmmmm. I wonder if it would have been better the day after. sorry if that last sentence is just about the most unhelpful thing you've ever heard!!

dried apricots make a great chutney with orange + cloves (lovely with baked ham).

the pear frangipane tart is a great idea - the River Cafe Cookbook's version is the best I've ever found. or, make a pear tart with walnut pastry and lots of cinnamon.

how weird to find this thread, I haven't baked in months and then yesterday was feeling a little under the weather (viz, overdoing it Saturday night with a bottle of Brouilly) and decided that an old-fashioned traditional English Victoria sponge would be the road to wellness. I was not wrong. Plain light buttery vanilla crumb, with a cup of tea. A semi-Proustian moment. the cake that I totally love, however, is my mother's Whisky + Walnut cake which she makes for church fetes or after huge curry lunch buffets at our house. Two layers of delicious sandy walnutty sponge with whisky-soaked sultanas embedded in it, with whisky + lemon buttercream icing in the middle and on top, decorated with walnut halves. it is just the old-fashioned business.