lexy

ooh, a mango tree in the backyard … I'm so jealous! when my mum was growing up in Africa they had one, and the fruit was so juicy they had to eat the mangoes in the pool to keep the mess to a minimum

I remember reading somewhere that boiling lemons quickly before juicing them results in a lot more juice. Since I'm lazy, I tossed one in the microwave until it felt warm last time I was juicing a lemon. I didn't objectively compare the juice yield to a cold lemon, but it seemed like I was getting a lot more juice. Anyway, to maximize your juice yield, you might try this, or at least leave the lemons out overnight to let them warm up some.

You might be able to make a watermelon ice cream or sorbet with it I've never heard of it either, but it sounds like something you might just drizzle on pancakes or toast

I would cautiously say yes, just not too much. The gluten levels are different than regular flour (I think? someone correct me if I'm wrong), and too much will screw up your dough. I don't know what the "too-much" border is - I would think that replacing 1/4 or 1/3 of the total amount of flour with whole-wheat would be fairly safe.

sometimes all you really want is the sunday morning 4.99$ all-you-can-eat, drowning-in-grease chinese buffet. much more satisfying than a more 'proper', and more expensive, breakfast

A couple of people have commented how it's too bad the girls can't use the kitchen, but lack of interest is probably also a pretty big factor. I'm living in university residence right now, in what they call 'apartment-style' residence - four or five people share a suite which includes separate bedrooms, a living room area, bathrooms and a kitchen. Most of the time my roomates aren't too interested in cooking despite having access to a full kitchen - microwave dinners and take-out are pretty standard. So having malawry's kitchen off limits probably isn't as harsh as it seems. However, I do think a cooking class would be a great idea. edited to add: do the girls ever stage raids on the kitchen? I worked as a dishwasher in a camp kitchen one summer, and we'd eat anything that wasn't nailed down

I don't know much about bread making, but this is what I always do. I knead the bread in the evening, throw it, covered, into the fridge, and then in the morning I punch it down and bake. Works fine for me.

we did something like this in my senior high school french class too. well, sort of - it wasn't multicultural, we were a small class, so we had a picnic in the park at the end of the year. I made pain au chocolat, which tasted fine at room temperature, but were a hassle because I baked them the morning of so they wouldn't be stale. The real hit was the big loaf of good french bread and cheese selection someone brought - both good at room temperature, simple, and tasty!

it's not terribly weird (I hope!), but I confess I rather like eating steel-cut oats raw. I usually sneak a spoonful as I'm making breakfast

nutmeg is addictive, and grating too much of it into my hot milk will turn me into a raving nutmeg junkie (this is actually based in truth, but it terrified me when I was younger)

we used to eat this all the time in elementary school, mostly as a snack during recess. mmmmmm, salty …

Just another vote of appreciation for this blog … I'm thinking I need to visit the middle east now edited to add: could you share your recipe for the flatbread, it looks really good!

From the little I know about the UAE, I remember hearing that a lot of westerners live in compounds (sort of gated communities) and buy all their groceries in stores that ship in western products. Do you shop at somewhere like this, or do you frequent local stores? (or both?)

since we're discussing alcohol, how do you pronounce 'julep', as in a mint julep? is it 'jew-lep', 'jew-lip', or 'jew-lup'? I've wanted to order one of these for ages but haven't quite been able to overcome my dread of mispronouncing the name edited for poor spelling

Wayne, I warn you that rambutan generally travels poorly, so it's pretty unlikely that you'll have good rambutan in Canada. If you don't find the fruit very good, therefore, don't assume you won't like the real thing when you have the chance to taste it. As for the mangosteen, even a mediocre one will probably taste pretty good to you; what a wonderful fruit that is! ← I've been able to buy pretty good rambutan in Toronto's Spadina Chinatown. Now granted, I've never been to SE Asia, so maybe I just don't know what good rambutan's supposed to taste like, but I've liked the stuff I've bought

homemade date square … salty, sweet, and buttery (but I hope this will be topped by pizza and mincemeat pies for supper tonight)

me too! and, living in Canada, it'll be about 6 months until I see any local ones around here

is that the same thing as edamame? because that's what they look like to me

maple syrup, molasses, and butter and cinnamon sugar are all favourites (to clarify: not all together though)

mmm, cheese current fave is Bleu d'Agur, a nice creamy, sharp french blue

I'm making some this weekend anyway, and since I'm going away next week, I have some extra milk to use up before I go, so I've been thinking of things I might use it in and then freeze.

I don't know if it was CoolWhip or some similar brand, but I've had Irish coffees in restaurants where the 'whipped cream' had melted in an odd way … it kind of separates

I excited about an Amsterdam foodblog - I love that I can travel vicariously through overseas bloggers Will we get to see any pictures of the rats?

I thinking of making a double batch of béchamel sauce, and freezing half of it for convenience. I'm not too worried about food safety (milk and butter freeze safely, and I'd be using it within a few weeks of freezing anyway), but I'm wondering if the freezing would alter the texture/taste/composition of the sauce. Can anyone help me out?

I think I've heard of using marmite in some sort of meat glaze I'm not really sure what you'd do with it for dessert. I love marmite, but I can't really imagine it making a good dessert. I'd stick with something that's not overly sweet - marmite (vegemite in your case) and sugar strikes me as pretty gross