sanrensho

Thank you. More data is always helpful! I will make a point of buying the 3" pans.

Wendy, have you noticed the same phenomena that Sugarella refers to? Namely, that the same amount of batter will rise higher in a taller pan?

McDonald's gift cards? Is this part of some new trend that I'm not aware of?

Couldn't agree more. I can't wait to turn mine into frisbees. I'll try to do a similar comparison to yours when I get my 2" (maybe 3") pans.

It really depends on who (how many) you're baking for. I find myself going to smaller pans as I bake often and don't want to have a cake sitting around too long. I've also started to bake from Japanese recipes, which often call for 8" or smaller. Having said that, I use two 9" pans and one 9" springform for 95% of my (round) cake baking. Partly because most recipes are based on a 9" size, and because it fits the cake stands/containers that I have.

I would use the 8" springform, assuming you want to fill this cake. The Cake Bible should tell you the finished height and how much the batter originally fills the pan, so just gauge this when filling your springform. Bake the rest in a muffin tin for sampling! I have 9" x 1.5" pans and I think they are limiting, since I often have to resort to a 9" springform. I will eventually replace them with 2" pans. If you don't want to build a large pan collection, return those 1.5" pans and source some 2" pans.

There's a good thread about cafe sua da here. Basically, you use a dripper to brew strong coffee over a liberal amount of sweetened condensed milk. Thanks for the info, Lorna.

Yorna, do you usually use a Vietnamese brand of condensed milk, or something like Carnation brand? Does it make any difference to the finished product? I only ever use sweetened condensed milk for Vietnamese coffee, so I don't know if there is much of a difference between the two. Thanks.

Looks great! What banana cake recipe did you use, and how did you like it?

Or you could just call it crab miso, like the Japanese refer to it (kani miso). Sounds nicer than either tomally or "crab guts."

I was thinking the same thing. If so, congratulations!

Unless you are going on a tour (for pleasure), I wouldn't sweat too much about hitting other parts of Japan, especially as far away as Tokyo. Although it would certainly be a nice option, for more reasons than just food. There are regional specialties in every part of Japan I've been to. If anything, I would try to get invited into as many homes as you can to get a feel for what the locals really eat (and drink).

I couldn't agree more. Although I think that there are more coffee (vs espresso) drinkers than you give credit for. I recently ordered a double espresso at a highly recommended coffee bar and the barista actually messed up my order. (I was watching him.) He was caught off-guard by somebody ordering an actual espresso!

Lemongrass and galangal: Tom Kha Gai. You can definitely freeze the three herbs/roots you mentioned. Kaffir lime leaves and Thai bird chilles can also be frozen and used as needed.

I'd buy that.

Nice tie-in to Asia for dessert. I see you that you stopped in at Sadaharu Aoki's shop. How did you like the maccarons?

Yikes! I stand corrected. I guess it shows how often I make it out to Aberdeen Centre...

2nd floor food court? First thing that comes to mind is the food court at Aberdeen Centre, where the Daiso is located.

Hi Klary. Nice to see this thread back again. Do you mean that tulband is baked on birthdays as part of the festive table (and not the birthday cake itself)? Is there a traditional Dutch birthday cake? I'd like to hear about that.

Sounds like small daikon radishes. They are quite common as kim chi.

This seems to be the recipe you are looking for: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/105698

I think I've mentioned this before, but a lot of the bagels sold in Japan are actually imported frozen from the States. Besides, the best bagels are actually from Montreal. Napoli-style pizza has been a trend in Japan for at least 15 years, no?

How about mousse-filled tarts? Portable and no need for containers. Or cake/mousse squares enrobed in ganache?

Here in Canada, we have something called the Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code. It sounds much like the system in Australia. Although it's a voluntary program, quite a few major retailers subscribe to the code. Sadly, a lot of consumers and retail workers are not aware of the program and how it works. The upshot is that if an item scans at a higher price, you get the item free up up to a max. value of $10. http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/interne...temID=1262&lg=e

You could also make a large batch of several buttercreams and several cakes, which you could then freeze separately. That way you would have more flexibility in building your cakes with different flavors. Would take up less space, too. I would use up the yolks first because the whites can easily be frozen.