Snadra

A few years ago I would have found it more disconcerting to see a business wearing its heart on its sleeve in this way (and to be honest I read it more as an endorsement than an exhortation) but now I actually appreciate the straight-forwardness of this approach. Also, if you have no other evidence telling you "you don't belong" through actions and statements, is it negative or is that your interpretation? After all, everytime I go to a halal restaurant I am in a place that serves no pork or alcohol for specifically religious reasons. I am a non-muslim entering an "islamic zone" so to speak, but as long as the food is good and the service is friendly I'll happily eat cured beef and lamb sausage instead of bacon with my eggs and drink tea instead of wine with my dinner. The places I *am* wary of are those that don't tell me their moral stance, and quietly support organisations I am opposed to. Which is part of the reason why I don't buy coffee from Gloria Jeans (not much of a problem considering it makes Starbucks taste artisinal) or go to a particular local cafe anymore.

We just watched an episode of The Victorian Pharmacy tonight and it turns out you can also use it to make photographic transfers. In case none of the actual food-related suggestions appeal!

We eat medium grain (calrose) rice all the time as we love the flavour and texture. It's firm, but nothing like al dente. I rinse it well and use a rice cooker with a little less water than indicated (I go just below the water mark in the bowl), and let it sit after the cooker switches to warm. Usually I start cooking the meal after the rice has switched, so it sits on warm for about 20-30 minutes. When I remember I also fluff it gently after it's cooked. This seems to work really well, but our rice is generally quite fresh being grown in NSW, and it may well be a different variety to yours. I would try a good rinse and some sitting time before serving to see if that improves the texture. When we started letting it sit for a time after cooking we found the texture really improved.

See, your one note and chewy is my robust and textured. Having done several side-by-side comparisons, I generally prefer grass fed to grain fed, which just shows how individual taste is. But couldn't you say there is as much misdirection in the marketing of grain fed beef? Based on some of the feedlots I've seen "Intensively fed in close proximity to a cesspool" wouldn't be completely inaccurate either. Of course, you could say that about any intensive stock operation, including dairy... Regarding the comments on how much access cattle have to grass, in Australia most cattle are slaughtered between 30 and 36 months, and the grain feeding is anywhere up to 240 days, although most of what I have seen marketed as premium is 90 to 180 days grain fed. Supermarket beef would be less than that, if at all, and the cattle destined for economy packs may be slaughtered older and not finished, depending on the quality of their pasture. I suspect it's similar in the US and Canada. I wouldn't call that completely raised on grain by any stretch.

Gado Gado is fantastic!! We always order it when we see it on the menu. I've made the one from Yotam Ottolenghi's Guardian column a few times, but I skip the turmeric water and don't cook the cabbage. It is more involved than the one FauxPas found, but it might satisfy your need to make something a bit complicated and it really is addictive. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jun/28/recipe.foodanddrink These Turkish zucchini pancakes are brilliant if you're eating eggs and dairy. I skip the walnuts and feta, and we eat these as a main dish with a tomato or garlic and yoghurt sauce and some salad. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Turkish-Zucchini-Pancakes-1208 Also, fried rice (try a nasi goreng style if you end up getting some kecap manis) is great served in a bowl with some Asian-inspired salad made with the napa cabbage from your CSA box. And i think sliced cucumber is traditional with Nasi Goreng. Lately we've been making one seasoned with garlic and black pepper with lots of fresh spinach wilted into it. Maybe you could try something similar with the greens you're getting. While you're buying kecap manis, keep an eye out for fried shallots as well. They add a great fried onion flavour to all kinds of things and they keep really well. In winter we use them to top perogies.

My current go-to pancake/hotcake mix: 1 cup plain flour (I have been using half white and half buckwheat lately) 1 teaspoon bicarb soda (aka baking soda) 1 cup. Buttermilk or sour milk 1 egg This makes a very thick batter, and it needs to be cooked over a slightly lower heat than I would use for a thinner batter. Smaller cakes (about 6-8cm diameter) are easier than bigger ones. I don't bother with adding butter or oil to the batter. We like these with maple syrup when we have it, or a quick sauce of frozen berries, warmed with some sugar.

Thanks, RRO! Just what I needed! I did use the dry beans, and didn't rinse, so I will do that first. I used sweet bean sauce, as I didn't see the sweet wheaten paste at the shop I went to. However, I'm going to another one over the weekend for a few bits i forgot last time, and will see if they have it. It's a start. I also suspect I was a bit too zealous in the initial fry stage and let a little too much fat render, but that wouldn't cause saltiness. It's a good job I didn't follow my instinct to salt the cooking water, eh? And the additional sugar is a good idea for next time. And I wonder if I should drop the dark soy as well...

I finally got this book last week, and on Friday spent some time picking up a few ingredients. A few basic stir fries and master stock dishes are the extent of my expertise, so this whole boom is quite exciting. Tonight I cooked my first dish from this, Twice Cooked Pork. For once I followed the recipe exactly (other than subbing green onions for leeks) but we found it overwhelmingly salty. It was quite simple to put together once the pork had its first cooking, and I'd like to try again, but before I waste another hard-to-access free range pork belly on it, does anyone have suggestions on how to tone down the salt? All the sauces list salt as an ingredient - maybe I've purchased the wrong ones?

I'm not fond of yoghurt as a sweet, but we go through quite a bit of greek yoghurt (always the full fat version) in savoury applications, mostly in topping-type things. * On perogies instead of sour cream (when I'm really in a hurry and don't want to make a mess, I also use fried shallots from the jar instead of frying onions) * Mixed with fresh herbs and chives/green onions as a topping for boiled potatoes (frankly this and a vegetable makes a fine winter dinner) * Mixed with mayo for potato salad (I used to use sour cream for this) * Straight or mixed with grated garlic as a topping for zucchinni pancakes or poached eggs and harissa served on sauteed veggies (usually, zucchini, capsicum, and whatever else is in the fridge) or lamb mince kebabs. Plus a sprinkle of sumac. * as a marinade for meat (I've got a lamb backstrap marinating in yoghurt with ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander for dinner tonight) * On 'curried' fried rice made with leftover basmati - usually I throw in some sultanas or dried cranberries, nuts and a bit of meat plus curry powder, topped with onions fried in butter. I stand by its deliciousness, while acknowledging its complete lack of authenticity. *thinned with milk as a buttermilk substitute in pancakes. I do find I add a bit more salt than I would if using sour cream, but I've come to prefer its tanginess and lighter texture. So, fiend! These sound great. You've reminded me I must make labneh, and made me curious about the scones. I keep thinking I should make some but the butter almost always ends up in chocolate chip cookies instead. Can you share a recipe for the yoghurt scones?

As far as I know they're only found in trufferies here, grown mostly from hazelnut trees that have been deliberately treated with the spores, so if you are foraging and finding them, either roo droppings are an undiscovered delicacy, or you're trespassing . They comes mostly from Tassie and WA, and it looks like they might just be the next emu farm craze, except that people are probably more likely to buy truffles than emu. Perigord Bones Truffe Wine and Truffle Co Darn you Anna! I want to try truffles now.... Ps. There are apparently native truffles as well

My husband's family always looks at me askance because I haul out the good china and the 'fancy' meals so often when they stay with us. Because my motto is "what's the point in having it if you aren't using it". But back to truffles... I recall watching an episode of The Cook and the Chef that was all about truffles, and there are some good ideas there. But the two things I have always wanted to try are truffled brie and the Truffled Egg Pasta from Buon Ricardo.

My in-laws keep a very nice vegetable garden, but believe in everything being "well-cooked". I can't count the number of times I have eaten broccoli, just brought in from the garden, cooked to such a yellow it's practically indistinguishable from the packet hollandaise sulking over it. They mean the best, so I eat it with a smile, but it's terrible to see lovingly grown and perfect ingredients destroyed. But I do appreciate the fresh goodies they bring when they come down to Sydney.

Barbara I don't think you are mistaken. The NYTimes has an article about the history of government involvement in food and nutrition and there is indeed a seven-group pie diagram (butter IS a food group!) from around that time. Also, who knew that 'Explorer for the Department of Agriculture' was a legitimate job title?

Hot tea does a good job of this too. My Aussie-born in-laws say this. It's disturbing to see an 80-year old come in from working in the garden on a summer morning complaining of thirst turn down a glass of water in favour of a cup of tea (tea is hot by default here). Personally I think ice tea does a better job! I grew up in a dry climate, and it's the summer humidity that squishes me to the floor in Sydney. I preferred Alice Springs in December to Sydney. My top method of coping in minimal AC is to take a very short cool shower and take advantage of the evaporative cooling under a fan. Foodwise, how much I eat seems to be almost as important as what I eat. In my experience, eating lighter meals in smaller portions, with lots of greenery and fewer carbs, has been the most refreshing. I think that's why things like salads, gazpacho and fruits (watermelon is tops for me) are so perfect in summer. And although I like drinking plain water, I find I have an easier time keeping my fluid intake up with lightly flavoured and sweetened cold drinks. Next summer I plan to experiment more with syrups to add to soda water, but I've found a 1:3 ratio of juice to water/soda easier to drink than undiluted juice. It's worth a try. Of course, yesterday was the first day of winter, so I'm actually feeling nostalgic about that summer heat now...

That was my first thought (it certainly makes sense), but that would still beg the question of why this hasn't ever happened in Italy, where there is certainly no shortage of gender stereotyping! I'd have to add that the waiters who've done this haven't struck me as the sorts who would accept gender stereotyping in themselves (but it's no secret that thinking something doesn't automatically make it so). I've had this happen in all categories of restaurants, incidentally, from the very modest, to the high end, and this has also happened when I've ordered fish or chicken, if my fellow diner happened to order something vegetarian. I'm hoping some of the members who work, or have worked as waitstaff, will weigh in on this. I think stereotyping, as Jenni suggests, has got to be a big part of this, at least in restaurants with poor ordering practices, where no note is taken of seat position or busboys deliver orders. I waited tables for nearly ten years in a range of places, but my last job was in a hotel bistro here, where people ordered at the counter, and then their meals were brought ocut to them. I hated 'calling' plates, and it was often tempting to make assumptions about who ordered what, at small tables, but it usually ended up being embarrassing (to me!). But I wonder just how well those stereotypes hold... I have a semi-regular lunch date with female friends and we often order steak, chips and beer, usually while wearing skirts and makeup.

This never happens at the better places I go to, but every time I'm out at a casual place with my husband, he gets my beer and I get his coke, he gets my steak, I get his chicken. sigh...

That is actually something I have been wondering about, everyone and their mother have KA's, what are the added bonuses on a KA that you don't get on things like a Kenwood? Or are they the same, minus the looks and brand name? I used a hand-me-down +30-year old Kenwood Chef for a few years (the gears eventually gave out and it wasn't worth the expense of having it repaired) and frankly, I'm not sure there was a huge difference between it and the KA (although someone who has deeper experience of the two may have a more considered opinion). The mixing action was great and it was even a bit quieter than my KA. There are also quite a few attachments available for the Kenwood, though may be not as many as for the KA. Considering you are in Europe, wouldn't you also have access to Bosch mixers? I saw one on a local Bosch-sponsored cooking show (not the universal mixer, but I can't find any details on it) and it looked quite powerful and had a slightly different action to the KA/Kenwood.

Let me know when you're next coming to Sydney and you can teach me how to make marshmallows on mine! I do love my KA - for one thing it just looks cool in the kitchen. But it's made it possible for me to make more complicated cakes,better cookies and the occassional italian-meringue based buttercream. Lately I've been making the Ciabatta out of The Bread Bible, which can only be done in a mixer and it's been a revelation. A thousand times better than any ciabatta I can easily get my hands on here (seeing as I'm not willing to spend hours travelling across Sydney to get my hands on one). However, I still don't feel like I'm getting 'full worth' out of it - I really need to use it more. One of my problems is that I've been unwilling to spend money on any attachments as they're so pricey. In fact, they're so expensive I am close to wishing I had been given a Kenwood Chef instead of a KA, even though they're not as pretty.

I harbour a bit of nostalgia for the Old El Paso pack myself. In fact, we still have them once or twice a year, and enjoy them for what they are - they're meant to be fun, not serious, so enjoy away, Grace! Aside from gaucamole dip mix they were the closest thing to mexican food I ever had until we went to Chi Chi's Restaurant in Calgary in the 80s. When I first arrived here in the mid-90s grated carrot was one of the suggested toppings for kit tacos along with sour cream, cheese and lettuce. Jaymes' Sloppy Joses sound brilliant, and I like all the suggestions for seasonings here. I may have to make kit-less 'kit tacos' this week! edited for clarity

Whoops! Crosspost with RRO.

While you probably won't drop dead on the spot if you eat them, in addition to oxalic acid, they are thought to contain another substance, Anthraquinone glycosides. See Wikipedia for more, or this website for a list of symptoms. You can apparently use them as an ingredient in a natural insecticide.

I'm with you Anna, and for exactly the same reasons! Although I grew up with rice cooked on the stove (in the green ceramic pot that my mother made yoghurt in) and cooked it the same way for years, I'm so used to it now that when I find myself cooking rice in a regular pot I always mess it up. It's not that rice is difficult, it's that the cooker is so convenient.

A corn dog is coated in a fairly thick coat of corn bread rather than flour batter. I think I'll explore some of the other unknown items. I think I'll stay clear of the battered, fried snickers, though. I'd forgotten about the corn part of corn dogs... Have you had a potato scollop/scallop yet? The concept of carb on carb is odd, but a freshly made one is not bad. And there is always the hot chip sandwich -you'd have to make it yourself though, as I doubt it's on a menu. A teachers' morning tea I went to a few years ago featured chip sandwiches.

I believe that a Pluto pup is a corn dog. The menu similarity is always funny. I love how there are the chiko roll-dim sim-burger with the lot 'standards' across all the shops and then minor differences between them, like rice puddings or fried rice. We were in Germany a few years ago in May and it was "spargelzeit". All the restaurants from Frankfurt to Kiel, no matter the ethnicity (and there is much more variety than when I was first there over 20 years ago) had the same special asparagus menu with soup, with hollandaise, with crumbs, with schincken, etc. A friend was just there a couple of weeks ago and it was the same.

I've never come across couta before. Actually, I can't remember the last time we had fish & chips! Must fix that ASAP (in fact, would have fixed it tonight, but the local seems to close at 7pm on weekdays). The boniness of the couta sounds pretty off-putting though. Did they warn you? Was it worthwhile or would you go back to something else?