rajsuman

I wish there was a farmers' market closer to me (I'm in Lucan). I've been to Templebar a couple of times, but the thought of driving into the city and finding a parking space kind of puts me off.

I LOVE Irish pottery, particularly the Jack O'Patsy Collection. More Irish Pottery here.

I guess I would be the odd one out here to say that I quite enjoy watching Masterchef - I am particualrly fascinated by how the same set of ingredients transform into so many different dishes. Would someone be kind enough to give me the name of the French dish made on Day 1 of the semi-finals? It was poached chicken breasts (stuffed and rolled into clingfilm) served with a mustard sauce. Thanks!

What a great idea for entertaining! Tandoori paneer, chicken, anything... Chicken Satay Kababs Cocktail sausages Meatballs Cubes of frittata Please post loads of pictures of all the food-on-sticks!

I'm not sure if I told you this Abra, but I enjoyed your last blog so much I often re-visit it for inspiration. Those raspberry fudge bars still make me drool! Naturally I'm thrilled about another blog from you! Yay!

- I wish my husband was a foodie. - I wish my children were more interested in food, although I hope they'll change for the better as they grow up. - I wish I'd known well enough to ask recipes of all those memorable dishes I ate at other people's homes as a child. - Sometimes I wish I could stop obsessing about food, but not really.

I can't cook in a cluttered kitchen, so I try to get as much out of the way as possible. The only thing I have on the counter is a microwave. Thankfully I have got lots of cupboards(and yet I've run out of space), where all the following reside: 1) Breadmaker 2) 2 Ice cream makers 3) Yogurt maker 4) Deep fat fryer 5) Toaster 6) Kettle 7) Food Processor 8) Blender 9) Mixer 10) Sumeet, a heavy-duty grinder for some of my Indian cooking 11) Ultra Pride Plus, a stone grinder, again for Indian cooking 12) Sandwich toaster 13) Slow cooker 14) Mini food chopper 15) Juicer 16)Electronic weighing scales The only appliance I haven't used in a long while is the deep-fat fryer, only because cleaning it is such a PITA. I'd much rather deep-fry in my karhai.

Two uses for pomegranates in this household: 1) Eat the seeds on their own 2) Use them as a garnish on phirni, ice cream, fruit salads.

Mine has been a gradual progression from hating lamb to loving it. Hated it well until I was in my teens, ate a fabulous seekh kabab in Dubai which made me reconsider, so I began eating it, but only in minced form. When I first started to cook, I'd make keema (mince) about two times a year. My husband doesn't eat lamb and I wouldn't want to eat it more often than that. My son didn't like it either. Then I got pregnant with my daughter and I had such craving for meat that I cooked lamb quite frequently. At this point, I still hadn't gotten around to eating or cooking lamb pieces. It's only in the past year that I've started eating pieces of lamb and I bought my first leg of lamb a couple of months ago. The first thing I made was a Cardamom lamb curry from Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India. My 32-month-old daughter and I now give each other company when it comes to eating lamb. We eat it about once a month now and I can say I quite like it now. So, there's my rather long-winded answer to your question.

Here's a shot of my very modest cookbook collection. I've acquired at least 10 more since then and my shelves have undergone re-organisation, so I must try and post the latest pics. I also have a few in a box in the guest room - these I intend to give away, no matter how painful it is. I no longer use them, but I can't bring myself to part from them. I need to make room for the next consignment of books that I've ordered or intend to, so the old ones must go.

Hi, I'm a total novice at all things alcoholic. I don't drink much,if at all, but ever since my husband got me three types of chocolate liqueurs from Vienna, I'm eager to expand my culinary horizons with liqueurs. I've just heard of a liqueur sale in my local shop(amaretto and limoncello are on the list). I want to stock up, but only if I can keep them for a few years. So, my question is, do liqueurs have an expiry date? The chocolate liqueurs don't have any BB dates printed - I wouldn't have thought so, since it is mostly alcohol - but I'd still like to confirm it with the experts here before I part with a lot of cash. Thanks!

Oh God! I am in a panic mode right now - I want to bake a special cake for my birhtday too, but only have three months to decide . I've had my eye on the Exotic Orange Cake for a while now, so most likely it'll be my birthday cake.

Okay, now I'm convinced - will definitely try this cake soon.

Just came across this chocolate cake and was wondering if anyone has tried it or heard of it. Something tells me it might work well, but I want to know what your opinions are before I experiment. Thanks!

Sorry PAt, this may come a bit late, but please don't be daunted by the prospect of making the bread. I forgot to mention it, but I've never made this bread. I usually buy the bread or make a chilli tomato bread instead. Edit: typos

Very decent of you to write to him in the first place, Andy. Anyway, here's my report on making of the tamarind ice cream. It is, obviously, a very unusual flavour, but the honey and the tamarind work very well here. The tartness of tamarind tones down the sweetness imparted by the honey and somehow the combination works well. The texture is pretty good too. Chromedome and Abra, here's what I did for the pulp: I steeped 135 g of block tamarind in 500 ml boiling water for about an hour and then squeezed the tamarind well to extract (into the water) as much pulp as possible. I then strained 200 mls of this into the custard, whisked it well and then strained the custard again.

Update on the cake: The texture of this cake is really lovely and moist. I did have one problem with it, but that I strongly suspect is my fault not the recipe's. When I inverted the cake, the whole thing just fell out into pieces. I think it was because I used 3/4 tsp baking powder as advised by the Joy of Cooking as a substitute for the double-acting kind. Like JustKay suggested (I only read your post now JK), I think it's advisable to just use the same quantity of baking powder, double-acting or not. I would definitely make this cake again, because it's good, very good. Thanks Renee. Because my children were looking forward to baking a cake and having Dad cut it, I then made these. I wanted to try the recipe anyway and this seemed to be the perfect excuse. As you can see, we now have lots of chocolate goodies in the house.So if any of you are thinking of dropping in, do so within the next 24 hours before they're all gone. Jackal10, thanks for the link - science and cooking are my two most favourite subjects in the world, so when they come together, I'm one happy girl! You mention pastry flour - where do you find it? I presume you're in the UK. Here in Ireland, I haven't seen anything by that name in supermarkets. Most plain and self-raising flours here have a protein content of 10% or more. I sometimes come across flour which is 9%, but nothing lower than that. Doesn't cake flour have around 7% protein? Corinna, if I come across cake flour, you'll be the first to know. I'm not sure if I'm dedicated enough to drive a long way just for some flour (but then again, I might), but I'll try calling the place you mention. I might even speak to the manager of my local Superquinn. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

This is my most favourite way of eating roast vegetables. I vary the bread often and sometimes add sun-dried tomatoes in oil and fresh basil to the filling. I also love to eat the roast vegetables cold from the fridge with some chunks of mozzarella and lots of tabasco sauce. Whizzing them up with tomatoes, reducing the whole lot to a sauce consistency and serving it with pasta is my sneaky way of adding more veggies to my children's diet.

Yay Renee! Congrats on your first post and welcome! I'm glad my post coaxed you out of your shell. I enjoy your blog immensely and let me tell you, if I were you, I'd be far from shy about posting here, especially with a blog like that. So hope you'll post more often. Thanks for all your advice. I intend to make it tomorrow - can't wait! Thanks also for the wonderful idea of steaming cakes.

Thanks all of you for your responses. This is the reason I believe what I have is single-acting, i.e., starch+baking soda+ 1 phosphate acid. I've written to Supercook too, but I don't expect them to reply until Monday. I've just browsed through Joy of Cooking(borrowed from the library specifically for this) and it suggests adding 1.5 times phosphate/tartrate baking powder as a substitution for double. So I guess I'm on my way to steamed chocolate nirvana! P.S. Corinna, while we are on the topic, have you ever found cake flour in Dublin?

Wow! The lengths people go to help out others - this could only happen on eGullet! Thanks Andy and Peter!

For my husband's upcoming birthday, I thought I'd make this beauty. It calls for double-acting baking powder and I'm not sure what I have is single or double acting. I've googled, but haven't found any relevant info. What I have is this (with English packaging of course) and the ingredients are: Disodium Diphosphate Sodium Bicarbonate Maize starch As I typed out the ingredients, it occured to me that this is probably single-acting. Is there any way I can use this in the recipe? Can I substitute something else? It's unlikely I'll find double-acting in the supermarket, because this is the only brand I've ever seen.

PG used the compressed tamarind that Chromedome mentions. I'm pretty sure he soaked it in boiling water before use - it certainly had that appearance. He whisked it into the hot custard and then strained it to remove the fibres. Chromedome, I guess you just measure the thick extract. Abra, I thought of using the concentrate too (so convenient), but first I want to make this the way it was done, then tinker with it. If any of you want more help with the method, please feel free to PM me. For those interested,here's an article by Peter Gordon where he mentions this ice cream. http://www.waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/not...our/9810130.asp

Thank you both for taking so much trouble. Much appreciated.

I was trying to watch Peter Gordon make a tamarind ice cream (UKTVfood, Nigel Slater's Real Food Show) last Wednesday when interruptions made it difficult for me to follow the whole recipe. I can't wait to make this ice cream and was wondering if someone could kindly help fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw. Google shows up only references to the recipe, not the recipe itself. My questions are: - How much honey does he use - with the yolks and in the cream mixture? - Double cream or single cream? - How much tamarind? Thanks for all your help, as always.