Adam Balic

That was a brilliant scene. I also liked the bit where the captain eats a fig for the first time in his life after weeks of scraping the mould of the U-boat food.

Suvir - I use the diffuser out of fear. The vessel has been seasoned exactly as you say (as is all the earthernware I use) and most likely doesn't need the difusser. I bought the Tagine in Fez while backpacking and managed to bring it back intact, which was quite something considering the adventures it had been through with me: Bribing various officials, sleeping in a squalid drug den and avoiding several monkeys that were thrown at me in Marekesh, sick tummy etc. So I am just afraid it will crack, which isn't logical, but there you go. I shall PM you RE: your king offer. Steve: I believe that there is a small hole, yes.

The problem with this is that people start inventing things like the 'Splade' [shudder].

I had not idea that Americans held there knife and fork in a different way! So how do you set you tables? And here I was thinking that settting a table with the desert spoon at 12 O'clock was vulgar. What happens when you go to a higher end resturant? Surely, no all that fork and knife juggling?

Red Banannas are a different clone then the normal Cavendish type. The taste slighly different (in a good way), but the important thing is that they are pretty flavourless until they ripen. Not mushy soft with black bits ripen, but soft to the squeeze. You thought of eG when you saw the Red Banannas? Funny, I always think of attractive, nubile and topless young things when I see red banannas. I think I win. Gauguin

Cold rice. Shredded omellete, Chinese sausage, yellow beans, dried shrimp, spring onion, peas.

Liguria is that big curvy bit at the top left of the boot no? I shall be in the Southern bit of the boomerang.

Next week I am off to Italy to attend my sister in laws wedding. The reception is to be held at Badia a Coltibuono, so the food promises to be good. Apart from hanging around in Chianti we will also be in Liguria for a week. I have been in both regions many times and wish to try some of the more obscure regional dishes. Vegetable dishes in Liguria in particular. Does anybody have any suggestions? Chhers Adam

mozzarella and anchovie sounds great. I am going to try this next week when I am in Italy.

Adam, have you gotten your diffusor yet? Since yesterday, i'm a proud owner of cooking tagine, so i'm bringing this thread back into life. Yes, and it works very well. Much better then if used in the oven (as I guessed in my original post) or if the tagine is cooked in another vessel. Meat ends up tender, but not dry and isn't swimming in liquid. A very interesting cooking vessel. It is rather good for cooking lamb shanks and these look very dramatic when you lift off the lid.

Jancis - I have very much enjoyed your contributions to wine education and appreciaton, especially the projected 'Vintage Charts', which I have always found fascinating. The OCW is quite good too. I am Australian in origin, now living in the UK. One of the most striking thinks I have noticed in the Australian wine scene in the last ten years is how the style of the reds have changed dramatically, from the point that the 1990 Penfolds Grange (Hermitage) was awarded wine of the year by Wine Spectator. Futhermore, the range of Australian wine avalible in the UK and USA seems to be very biased towards a particular style. What I think of these wines is beside the point, the interesting thing is how the increased popularity of these wines has in some ways influenced the way that they are produced and what the finished style ends up like. Do you think that an increasingly wine aware public will influence world wine production to a more standardised product (epecially in 'New' and 'up-coming' wine regions like, Germany...) or that wine producers and promoters will see it as an oppertunity to bring great, but lesser known, wines to the publics attention? I see an issue, not in being swamped with a sea of Cab. Sav. or Chardonnay, but of a standardization wine types. eg. Australian Rhine Riesling is a 'lesser' product for instance, because it is neither the Alsace or German style.

Often this is true if you are just sending seeds etc that you pick off the ground, but if they come from a commercial source they are sometimes treated differently. But, again I have no idea about the USA.

In this part of Italy there is a special type of zucchini. Unlike many other types, the female fruit is quite large, even in the unfertilized state. The male flowers are picked and fried, but the female flowers are used in other types of cooking. The have a fantastic 'zucchini' falvour and are very tender. The last time I was in Florence I had a pasta dish of these zucchini flowers in a cream (or mascapone and cream sauce) and a hint of saffron. I am going to Florence in ten days to attend a wedding, so I could send you some seeds if you like. No idea about USA laws about doing this sort of thing.

In general, stuffing is for tourists, although, this may be a particular preference of the family and not a true cooking 'Rule', which seems to be very common in this part of Italy. Flour is mixed with egg and thinned out with water (I use sparkling for some reason) until it 'looks right'. To get the custurdy effect, more egg yolks are added so that you get a batter that has similar proportions to a clafoutis. As you know pumpkin flowers are quite large, when you pick then fresh they are opened out. If you dip these flours in the batter the weight of the batter collapses the flowers, trapping some batter on the inside of the flower. The flowers are also deep fried in olive oil (Tuscan), so this falvours then as well. I think that they don't bother to stuff them because the oil and eggy batter give a rich and flavourful dish by themselves.

The flavour is slightly different (not enough to worry about) and if you use the female flowers you will have to remove the pistil, as this can be very large in some varieties of pumpkin/squash compared to zucchini. May be better to only use the male flowers, depending on the variety. My Italian relatives use both pumpkin and zucchini flowers, as the pumpkin flowere are much larger they treat then slighly differently. The batter has a much higher proportion of eggs, so that if forms a custurd filling in the flower, with a crisp eggy batter on the outside.

'Saltimbocca' (jump in the mouth) is veal slices layered with sage leaves and procuitto, rolled up, sauted and braised in white wine. I think they were popularised as an intermission snack at the opera.

Yeh, "Jammy" = 'fruit, no acid, hot climate' = avoid in my book. I have always seen the word used to describe faulty wine. What that about BD?

And me for The Walworth Road Cafe during my college days Fry up consisting of Eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms, fried bread, tomatoes, beans and chips & a mug of tea- yours for £2.95 I forget, did women have the vote yet during your college days? Yeah, those that were not shipped to the penal colonies to live with fuckwit occkers S Most of those ladies were Irish and Europeans in Australia at that time were British, not Australian's, so no Okkers. Present day 'Okkers' are mostly in NSW and Queensland hinderland - where I not sure if ladies have the vote or not. But, apart form a number of temporal, social and geographic inaccuracies, you are almost correct, my old in-the-twilight-of-his-thirties chum.

And me for The Walworth Road Cafe during my college days Fry up consisting of Eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms, fried bread, tomatoes, beans and chips & a mug of tea- yours for £2.95 I forget, did women have the vote yet during your college days?

Chicken steak. But, I could be wrong here, Bux is there a US city called "Chicken"?

Actually, it's "Che-Chelia", (shortened to "Che-Chi" which can be "Chickpea"or "wart", depending on where you are in Italy)... I would agree if we were talking about modern Italian and not old Latin. Well we must dig out those recordings of Cicero ("chickpea" or "wart" again).

I believe it involves the same logic which means the word 'Celtic' is pronounced 'Seltic', instead of 'Keltic'. Actually, AFAIK, "seltic" versus "keltic" is more or less a matter of preference, with "seltic" prevailing until relatively recently. Clickety. Interesting link, I have long ago given up being critical of USA v UK english pronouciation (except for droppin the 'H' in 'Herb', that really does suck), language is dynamic and who is to say what is 'correct', especially if incorporated a foreign word. Anyway, Celtic come from 'Keltoi', so it should be prounouced with a hard 'C'. I gather that "seltic" is actually a UK pronunciation, as it has been said that way in English for some 400 years. I would also consider that number of years sufficient for the word to be considered an English one and subject to regular English pronunciation customs apart from its roots in another language. As the author of the linked article points out, if we are going to go by the rule that the original Greek pronunciation means it has to be "keltic" then, by all rights, "Cecilia" should be pronounced "kekilia" as those Cs were hard in ancient Latin. 400 years from now, I will consider it sufficient to say that "brooshetuh" is a correct pronunciation as well. In all seriousness, I wonder if that particular mistake is made because of the US's multi-ethic makeup and the fact that USAmericans have been more likely to see "sch" in the context of German words and pronounced as "sh" (as in "Schultz"). Actually, it's "Che-Chelia", (shortened to "Che-Chi" which can be "Chickpea"or "wart", depending on where you are in Italy) which brings us back to "brooshetuh" and serves those Italian right. . I think that the English most likely said "Fucking Irish/Welsh", rather then 'seltic' or 'keltic'. Yes, I think that your last point is correct. I pronouce my name 'Bah-lich', my brothers say 'Bal-Ich', most Anglo-Saxon types say 'Balick'. It is a problem with the English alphabet only having 26 letters, compared to the Croatia 30. People do tend to get worked up about it though.

I believe it involves the same logic which means the word 'Celtic' is pronounced 'Seltic', instead of 'Keltic'. Actually, AFAIK, "seltic" versus "keltic" is more or less a matter of preference, with "seltic" prevailing until relatively recently. Clickety. Interesting link, I have long ago given up being critical of USA v UK english pronouciation (except for droppin the 'H' in 'Herb', that really does suck), language is dynamic and who is to say what is 'correct', especially if incorporated a foreign word. Anyway, Celtic come from 'Keltoi', so it should be prounouced with a hard 'C'.

Didn't the Queen Mother drink it?

I believe it involves the same logic which means the word 'Celtic' is pronounced 'Seltic', instead of 'Keltic'. I think all us Americans can thank Boston for that. Frankly, I believe the "bean" thing worked out better. A Football (soccer) team in Scotland is called 'Celtic' (Seltic), named after the baseball team (?). It will no doubt become the dominant pronouciation, along with Tah-geen (Tagine) etc.