liuzhou

Fancy a copy of a hand-written and illustrated cookbook, “a funny cookbook for people who don’t cook”, one of only 34 copies in existence? Only $30,000-$50,000 (£21,600-£36,100) estimated auction price. I'd buy it myself but I like to buy things in pairs - you know like shoes and gloves - but there is only one for sale!

Other than that the do have a black skin and grow in fir plantations, no. I can't explain the 'chicken' part.

Tagliatelle with chicken and 黑皮鸡枞菌 (hēi pí jī cōng jūn), 'black skin chicken fir mushroom', Oudemansiella raphanipes and 龙须菜 （lóng xū cài), chayote vine shoots.

Chinese style scrambled egg and tomato (番茄炒鸡蛋 - fān qié chǎo jī dàn）on flat bread with 龙须菜 - lóng shū cài; literally 'dragon's beard vegetable'.

It has been running for months - a different foodstuff each week.

The whole series is fun.

Pork marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, coriander seed, Sichuan peppercorn, chilli. Stir fried and served with a tomato and white onion salad and orzo.

I'm not in Canada, nor am I ever likely to be, but if I were I'd be visiting this exhibition of food photography. Open now, the exhibition runs until May 30th. The Polygon 101 Carrie Cates Court North Vancouver, BC V7M 3J4

I'm still toast and jam OR toast and butter - never both!

My main microwave task is short bursts at lemons before squeezing for juice. Oh! And recrisping duck or chicken fat.

There is a good summary of how to cook them here. The important thing, I feel, is to tenderise them. Either by pounding them or by long slow cooking. Or just eat them raw!

Mine is a mere 400W, so it matters more to me, not that I use it much. All Barbara Kafka's books are good.

You just beat me to it!

I can buy regular abalone here - fresh and frozen, but I'm intrigued as to what the difference might be. Might have to wait till I can get to the Channel Islands. Fresh Abalone

Sure. At least one of the dishes I've already mentioned involved frying the rabbit. The Sichuan lazi rabbit in this post was fried. Many Chinese, perhaps most, rabbit dishes are fried.

I was shopping and thinking of the recent eel topic, so looked in to see if they had any, but not today. However, where they usually have the eels they had these. So, I bought some. They are a bit slimy and can live for days out of water, so long as they don't dry out completely. And they are lively! I spent a while chasing some around the kitchen! The ony realistic way to kill them is to put them into cold water, then bring that to a boil. This also causes the skin to slip from some. Boiled Once they cooled down and dried a bit, I gutted them. Left heads, fins and tails on. Too much trouble. They are still sticky. Dredged them lightly in flour seasoned with Sichuan peppercorn, chilli flakes and salt and deep fried them until crisp. Delicious hot or cold. So what are they? Loach. There are many varieties of loach. These ones are small - some are much larger.

There are passing mentions of ormers in this old topic. Nothing else that I can find.

The area of China where I live tends to the spicy (sometimes very), yet children eat the same as their parents. They soon get used to it. Also, I have never seen a children's menu in a restaurant in China. Again, everyone eats the same irrespective of age. Nor have I ever heard a parent complaining that their child is a 'fussy eater'. In fact, I've had trouble trying to explain the concept to Chinese people.

Fidgety Pie I'd totally forgotten about this, but I ate one of these around 50 years ago. And really enjoyed it.

Barbara Kafka's Microwave Gourmet is a great book (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) on just this topic. Full of surprises. Her microwave risotto has converted many a scoffing purist! On another note, it is amazing how few of the recipes linked to in the article mention the wattage of the microwave ovens they are using. It makes a huge difference!

That! Thanks!

No worries. I'm a bit slow today, too. I've been trying to find a pair of images I am sure I posted before of a German style sausage thing in a bun thing that McD's did here. The ad and the reality, but haven't found them yet.

That is my point.

The UK seafood that could send you to jail The article is non-commital regarding the taste, so I looked up some more of the earliest references in English which are more positive. Anyone sampled them?