Gul_Dekar

I'll be heading to Paris for the first time this Christmas but since I'm kinda on a student budget, was wonderin' if anyone could give me some good recommendations about where to eat. Especially at night. So far I already plan to visit all the boulangeries and patisseries I've read so much about up until now. And I suppose bistros and brasseries would be my best bets for good and affordable meals. But I was also thinking of splurging on one meal while in Paris. I've read great reviews on Spring, but unfortunately i think they're full-booked till January (according to their blog anyway). 40 euros for 4 courses at such quality would've been great! Is there anything similar? Thanks!

Hi my friend mentioned that her relatives often go back to India and buy these Indian milk sweets which are diamond in shape and come in various flavours like pistachio and so on. I was wondering if anyone has any idea what they are called and if possible where I could find a recipe to make my own? Are they difficult to make? I live in Malaysia and apparently they don't sell them here so I was just really curious about them. Would REALLY REALLY be grateful for any help!

Ed, is your stone quite wide? Where is the heat source in your oven? I'm wondering if it's blocking the circulation of heat in the oven... ← Actually I have the opposite problem even with a stone. The outside browns much quicker than the bottom. Can it be rectified by just lowering temperature and baking for longer or is there perhaps a better way?

I can't seem to find sausage casings sold for retail here. What else could I substitute it with?

Thanks for the input. I'll try it out anyway and see how it goes. I was living in a 'milder' climate before and thought the mesophilic culture would be easier to use than the thermophilic one so I didn't get any of the latter. It's kinda ironic now that having some here would mak a lot of sense. Never mind, I guess. Just got some mason jars so hope to elaborate my culture soon. Hopefully things go well!

Speaking of soursop (guyabano), I've only recently gotten acquainted with it and was wondering how does one approach one such a fruit? Is everything inside edible (aside from the seeds)? How do you know when it's ripe? Is it when the outside feels soft? Some guidance would be appreciated! So far some (western) herb seeds I planted have grown to become summer savoury & thyme (quite a few true leaves are out)! Hopefully they can adapt well to the local weather here in the longterm. Hoping to acquire one or two more fruit trees, like limau madu (honey citrus) and maybe a guava plant from a nursery.

Is this possible at all? I happen to possess a packet of freeze-dried mesophilic culture and was thinking of propagating it by making a prepared culture following the instructions in Ricki Caroll's Home Cheese Making (so maybe I could keep it and use it for longer). All I could think in order to adapt to room temp here (which is about 88-89F) was placing it in a water bath and adding ice to the water bath to maintain the 72F asked for in the instructions during incubation (after all the previous steps which I think should be possible to manage). Either that, or reduce the incubation time. But I don't really know for how long exactly. Any ideas? Or maybe I'm just way over my head about this whole cheese-making experiment in hot & humid conditions... but I was just thinking that maybe it's worth a shot since I brought the culture back halfway around the world and if I don't use it it'll go to waste anyway. Only other thing I can think of to do with it would be to add a bit to some flour & water to see if it works as a sourdough starter. So...any help or opinions would be much appreciated!

I've tried making jams using fruits with low pectin by mixing it with fruits which have more pectin...say apples. Or maybe you could just try it out anyway and make it with just the fruit, might have enough natural pectin? I don't know for sure, but worth a shot! Think belimbing (star fruit) would probably make pretty tasty preserves though...

Cool! So far I've got some bok choy growing, one lime tree and a chili plant. My brother also has a pretty healthy-looking passionfruit tree, although I'm not sure if it'll fruit in the climate we live in. Do you guys grow in pots or in the ground? The ones I have so far are all potted but hope to plant some in the ground when room is made for it.

I'm planning to convert part of the yard into a edible garden and will probably just give everything a go (leafy-veges, root veges, beans, different fruits trees...local stuff of course). See if it's possibly to successfully grow 'em at sea-level. So I was just wondering if anyone grows their own veges, fruit trees and herbs here in S.E. Asia? Certainly would seem like a good idea with the whole organic/non-pesticide fad going on here in Msia.

Thanks for the tip! Went to Ace (megamall) and found some woodchips. Cherry flavoured with other things in small packets...pricey though. Guess will keep looking and try to find out more about what other local woods I can use.

What kinds of wood do people use to smoke stuff here in Malaysia? Like the smoked garlic I see at the supermarket. Anyone knows a good source to get wood/woodchips in KL for smoking stuff?

Yup, it's working. I think it would go up to 80F if it were turned off (average room temp is about 88F here ). I've managed to get it to stay about 60F but it can actually go a bit warmer if need be. Maybe I'll try the water & salt trick too and see if I can get the humidity up. p.s. what's the use of salt for though?

Just jumping onto the bandwagon and about to attempt my first project - bacon or...pancetta. I just have a question. How important is the humidity factor if I plan to cure stuff in a refrigerator? I stuck a thermometer that has a humidity reading and it's about 15C and 20% humidity in the fridge I'm 'dedicating' to curing stuff if it's possible. Also use the fridge to store flours and other dried stuff which doesnt carry any funky flavours (since one has to refrigerate most things in the tropics!) so it's not too crowded. So, any ideas?

Hi, I made this bread a couple of times too and it's been a hit every time! I noticed you separated the dough into 3 loaves so maybe that's why they dont reach the side of the pie pan? I usually just make them into 2 and they do reach the sides and even bake up with the imprints of the sides of the pie pan on the bottom edge of the loaves. Then again, if you already increased the amount of dough so you could have 3 loaves I'm probably completely off-base.