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good question. I don't use linen. I always use cotton. Just make sure it's very floury when you put the potato loaves on so they don't stick. When you've done them I love to hear your thoughts on the shaping of the loaves. This is one of my fave recipes in the book!

I'm an American that lived in Melbourne for 11 years before leaving in December. I often brought back Ghiridelli choc chips in those giant Sams Club/Costco sort of bags. You can get choc chips here but those were always my fave. Hope you don't use Crisco too much because it's extremely hard to find in Au. I also brought in dried berries (ie blueberries, strawberries... they come in a mixed bag; can't remember the company) unsweetened chocolate, if you use that sort of thing. You have to be careful of mixes with milk in them; they'll likely be confiscated but canned stuff is no problems and many commercial foods, but definitely not meat (ie jerky, sausages...). I probably wouldn't bother too much with the small appliances, but having said that they are often more expensive in AU. I did bring my beloved Kitchenaid, a dehydrator, and a bread machine. I bought a transformer no problems. Melbourne food and wine is wonderful, wonderful. You're gonna have such a terrific time! Please feel free to PM me if you have any non food related questions too.

Excellent blog and what a fab idea about the laundry forecast. Would have loved to have had that when I lived in Melbourne and didn't have a dryer!

I made the pebble bread again a few days ago. I do really like this recipe because it's fun to make the "pebble" impressions. It's a nice chewy texture too.

Shinboners, as usual, thanks for the info! I found a few of the recipes form this cookbook on his website here. I'm hungry now!

My rugelach is done. What a messy messy recipe! I haven't made such a mess in the kitchen in ages. These things are really good and why woudn't they be with all that butter and sugar?! What I found is that I couldn't really pinch the seams together when I rolled them up because there was too much filling. I didn't think anything of it because the dough still sticks together unlike a yeast dough. However when going to cook them the instructions say to stand them on the cut edge. When I did that mine just fell apart. On the second batch that I baked I put them on the seam side. I also had a lot of the coating left over (nuts, sugar and cinnamon) even though I felt I was quite generous when coating the rolls.

oooh, raspberry and chocolate! I'm gonna have to give that a try too. I've got my rugelach rolled up (which is quite a task with all that filling!) and chillin' in the fridge. Will bake 'em tomorrow, and of course, post a picture.

Here are my ginger cookies: Even though I cooked them the amount of time of the recipe the didn't get crisp. That was fine by me because I like soft cookies. These were great and I'd make them again.

For bush tucker spices/dried versions, I like Paddymelon. I also like Herbies. I haven't tried this place (Bush Tucker Shop) but it looks pretty good. I found this site, Cherikoff, too. Oh, and Beerenberg makes excellent jams, mustards, honey... Best of luck!

Gosh, I have no idea about rugelach. I've never even seen it let alone tasted it or made it! The BWJ recipe has a cream cheese pastry. The filling is sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, assorted nuts, assorted dried fruit, and apricot or prune preserves. Also forgot to mention that I'm doing the BWJ gingersnaps. (In a bit of a baking frenzy, it appears!)

I thought I'd try the rugelach. Anyone else want to give it a try with me?

Seth, you inspired me to do the double chocolate cookies. Aaaaaaaggggghh, I'm in a chocolate stupor now! How good are these? Scrummy! Here's what mine looked like: A couple things about the recipe. I was surprised that my batter "collapsed" as much as it did when adding the chocolate. Also the description of how the bake up (puff, then sink, crinkle and wrinkle around the edges)...I didn't really think mine did that. That's why I like pictures with recipes, in case the description doesn't ring a bell with me. Seth, did your cookies look similar to mine?

I will never again allow my husband to make guacamole unsupervised. How hard could it be...avocado, chile, salt, cilantro, bit of onion? Gave the ingredients to him then let him go for it. He put it all into a handcrank food processor to blend. I taste it..."why's it crunchy?" I ask. Ha! He forgot that avocados have pits! ROFL The amazing thing is that the pit chunks were pretty small. He musta used quite a lot of arm strength with the hand crank food processor. and then there's Koolaid.... water, Koolaid packet, sugar...even easier than the guacamole. Somehow he forgets the sugar. Pours a glass for our visiting friend who now sends him the Koolaid packets with sugar already added!

Wow, thanks, Dorie! That means a lot to me!

I've just found this thread. Love it; it's fascinating! Go Glenn!

thanks for the tempature information. My mixed starter loaves turned out pretty well, though a couple sorta deflated when I moved them to put them in the oven. I thought I was pretty careful. do you think they were overproofed? Anyway, they look gorgeous and taste delicious too. I'm particularly proud of the epis. I think I managed to shape them perfectly. Here's the picture (can't post to my eGullet photo album at the moment). Wadda ya think?

PM me if you want me to help you figure out how to post pictures. I am currently baking the mixed starter bread. I made 2 baguettes and 2 epis. I think that perhaps my new oven isn't getting as hot as it should and that's why my country loaves aren't working right. Gary, your loaves are so golden and gorgeous. Mine aren't browning that much. And, at least with the mixed starter loaves, taking longer to cook than the recipe states. Guess I'd better put that thermometer back in there.

Rochelle, thanks for the great trip this week! All I can say is...Wow, well done!

ldubois2, can't wait to hear about your experience with shaping the loaves. Please keep us posted! I made the country loaves again and haven't been that happy with the results either time. The loaves look great because I've been able to use my new bannetons but the texture's a bit dry, though I don't think I've over cooked them. And the flavour's not much of anything. Not sure what I've done wrong. I put the starter in the fridge to get more flavour and it looked and smelled wonderful before I started making the dough. I think I'll leave the recipe for now and come back to it again at some other time to give it another try.

Rochelle, how old is the sorority building you're in? Did it come with that kitchen or was it put in later? At the Uni I went to in Montana, nearly all the Greek houses were former real houses (mansions for the area). I never got to see their kitchens but I always envisioned that they were like normal home kitchens only much much bigger.

Wow, cool job! I'm impressed that 1) you can make food for 34 people (far more than I've ever made food for!) and 2) balance all the varying dietary needs. Can't wait to here more, Rochelle!

Thank you!

Oh, thank you so much for all your kind words about the blog, all the wonderful ideas and fascinating and useful information. I'll see you around eGullet, and perhaps here, some day!

You definitely should. It's terrific. Let me know what you think...

Well, that’s about it from me. (Oh, no! I don’t want to say good-bye. ) Thanks so much for visiting! If you ever come here for real you must let me know so we can go eat something together. Take care, and have a great time reading the next blog, I know I will!