Portia_Smith

On a recent trip home to Australia I asked my Dad to show me how to make some of the wonderful cookies/biscuits that he provides every time the occasion demands something sweet. I consider myself a poor baker, and i have little patience for fiddly things - like folding cream cheese dough into small parcels - but i wanted to preserve a bit of family history and was determined to 'watch and learn' and then have photographic evidence. As I live in London and my family is in a small town in Australia, I can't stop by to ask questions on a regular basis! So I decided to create an album on flickr - entitled Baking mit George , complete with recipes and methodology. My father was born in a small village in what is now the Czech Republic, but I'm assured by George that the recipes are Austrian. I managed to get dad into the kitchen twice - first to make vanilla kipferl - a shortbready type crescent cookie rolled in sugar and then for Wiener Liebesbriefe (possible spelling issues here) which are parcels of jam filled cream cheese dough also sprinkled sugar. It was quite chaotic! I managed to annoy both my parents and do everything 'the wrong way'... but we had a lot of fun. recipes are included under the finished photos of all the products. I haven't attempted to re-create either product yet. i'll have a go in a few weeks - but i'd recommend this type of project as a great way for anyone to ensure that valuable family heirlooms (such as recipes for cookies!) are kept safe for posterity.

Thank you for the compliments! whether it was beginner's luck or not, my next attempt will tell. the knitted fellas sadly are not mine - they were bought last year at the Andover Women's Institute market (friday mornings in the guildhall) 75 p each and I wish i'd bought more. They're designed to be stuffed with mini-eggs apparently - but i just like to have them hanging around. Happy Easter and enjoy the sunshine

Mine worked out really well for a first attempt. I was quite worried about dealing with the whole yeastie beastie thing, but found the kneading all very relaxing and I'd probably add a bit more spice next time if I was being fussy. The recipe I used had a teaspoon of mixed spice, a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg. I made the crosses out of plain dough and stuck them on the buns before baking and then glazed them with a spiced sugar and water syrup when they were taken out. We've just eaten the last ones for breakfast today - a lot went fresh out of the oven and four accompanied us on our 12 mile walk from Tower Bridge to the Thames Flood Barrier yesterday - we ate them whilst looking at the river in front of Greenwich Naval College. All very Enid Blyton except for the lack of ginger beer... I had LOTS of photos of the entire creative process from dough to whoa - but, a camera mishap meant they were deleted and now, I can only give you these links to them on flickr. Click Here! and Here! the brioche dough ones sound fabulous - sugar seattle! And I need to add more mace to my baking lapin...

I really like the idea of a blog being part of the venue's website 'experience'. It makes me feel like I'll be visiting somewhere with a person who is committed and passionate about food and wants to share. HOWEVER. Please, please, please make sure if you proceed with a blog that it is regularly updated! There is nothing more annoying than a website that is out of date - ie, the christmas and new year's menus are still up at easter. This would be even worse in a blog somehow. Also - my 2 cents worth. Make usability/accessibility of the site the priority - remember not everyone has broadband. Minimal flash, Minimal multimedia stuff. All I want is a menu, some pictures, a map and prices. And all up to date! I really REALLY hate music on websites. OMG. I've just looked at Sault's website and i'm very much looking forward to trying the food when i visit the parentskis back in central victoria next month!!

....and many more pennies if i went out and bought the loveliest looking ones from borough market today. they're SO expensive! so - with the inspiration gleaned from the pastry and baking forum, i've got up very early this beautifully clear good friday morn and started baking them myself. i'm quite excited! i've not a confident baker and have almost no experience messing around with yeast. i've already managed to cover most of the kitchen in flour, the dough is sitting in an oiled bowl rising away at the moment. If they're appalling. i'll come back to the experts here and ask questions based on the technique i used and the result. oh - i'm using a recipe from mary berry and marlena spieler's (i know she posts on eg, but not sure if she ever lurks in the pastry/baking forum) 'classic home cooking'. i'll be posting photos later and i hope that whatever spring holiday you are commerating/celebrating, it's a sweet one

Respect the Sardine! I eat tinned sardines almost every day for my office lunch. They're amazingly healthy and provide me with lots of calcium, they're cheap and, between the sardine sarnie lunch and porridge with water breakfast, not only is my cholesterol fabulously low - but i can sometimes enjoy things like this! without too much ill effect the sardine sarnies also keep my boss a safe distance... Anyway, I eat Waitrose tinned sardines in tomato sauce on organic wholemeal bread - when lettuce turns up in my riverford veggie box, i add that too. but lo! My local Waitrose in Canary Wharf has not stocked any of the tinned sardines in tomato sauce for almost 3 months. this has led me to sample the sainsbury's brand sardines in tomato sauce (sludgy and wrong-tasting) and the marks and spencers sardines (fabulous, but twice the price, and my closest M&S at More London doesn't seem to stock tinned fishy things regularly). So, i've moved on to waitrose tinned sardines in olive oil and the occasional waitrose italian sardines 'al limone' and 'al picante'. very nice - but NO BONES! Hell, i only eat the fishy critters for the bones!!! But i've got lots of new ideas for them now - onion! garlic vinagrette! crackers...mmmm

I'm really fascinated that this seems to be such a North American-centric thread. Where are the europeans? the australians? the asians? I note that there seems to be a general agreement that maybe reducing our carbon footprint is a good thing, but being a locavore is a bit of, well... trustafarian wank. OK if you're a well paid yupster who can thrill over the organic chicken at £20 a pop, but not ok if you are someone who needs to be more economically minded. I'm wondering how many of the posters on this thread who are debunking the food miles myth try to find other ways to make a difference to the planet or approach eating ethically? Do you walk to the grocery store? Buy meat from a traceable source? Support your local grocer and not the big scary chain? Or is this all part of the 'don't like being lectured to buy a lunatic leftie' argument too?

i think daylesford for new years eve would be blissful. there's usually plenty going on and waking up on new year's day to the smell of hot eucalypt from the forests...ahhh, nothing like it. we spent new years eve at bhoj at dockland's last year. we were invited to two competing parties and decided to offend neither party and just have a little twosome thing going on. neither of us love new years eve, but bhoj was really fun. it was beautiful and hot outside, we sat near the water, there were fireworks at docklands, a nice atmosphere but no pressure to dress up and get the tiara out. very reasonably priced too.

Pat's advice is spot on - I should really get organised and make sure we have enough food for an emergency. I've printed out the list - thanks. Although we're living in central London, I think it's wise to make sure one can survive for a few days without needing the supermarkets/power/water et al. It must be a hangover from the more disaster prone places I've lived. When I was growing up in Australia, my mum always used to tell me to keep a can of easy open cat/dog food in the car on long remote journeys. (we're from Mount Macedon - it's hardly the outback!) as you'd never, ever eat it unless you were terribly desperate - unlike chocolate, which - let's face it - will tend to vanish if stuck at the lights, let alone on a remote off road trip up the Birdsville track. I've never put the friskies in the glove box though.

My battered copy of 'A guide to the chinese cuisine and restaurants of taiwan' by Holly Richardson Donovan, Peter W Donovan and Harvey Mole, published in 1977 provides much information about Taiwan's cuisine - while acknowledging that it does derive from the cuisine of southern fukien and was also influenced by the Japanese occupation of 1895 - 1945, the authors say that it's worthy of more respect. Interestingly - they also state that it 'resists exploration' because most taiwanese resturants (in the 70's at least) have no menus and other menus exlude the best dishes - while social patterns mean the 'main body of the cuisine has remained in private homes or moved into stalls in simplified preparations' The author's do describe a number of Taiwanese dishes - including bamboo shoot salad - the cooked bamboo shoots are sliced and served with mayonnaise. they state that this is only good in spring and early summer when tender spring bamboo shoots are available. 'blood clams' - the authors state that the taiwanese love this variety of clam which are served scalted with boiling water then served cold on the half shell with a ginger sauce. the meat and juices are reddish - hence the name of the dish. pork patties with salted egg yolk - literally 'dawn yellow pork' - hamburger like patties of ground pork topped with salted egg yolks and steamed. stewed fresh side of pork - fresh pork is browned then stewed in a soy based sauce until tender. oyster soup - shucked oysters cooked with minced ginger in a light broth baked prawns with sea urchin 'catsup' prawns slit open along the back are brushed inside with a paste made from the pickled ovaries of the sea urchin - dipped in egg yolk and soy sauce, then roasted. roast ribbonfish - large cross sections of the fish are grilled over a charcoal fire and served with lemon wedges and pickled cucumbers. Can anyone tell me how accurate these dishes are and if you've tried them? The book also states that one of the few places that offers a wide variety of taiwanese cuisine is the Swiss Hotel in Kaosiung - on 42 Ta Li Street almost opposite the kingdom hotel. They recommend the serrated crab with rice cakes and the deep fried cuttlefish balls as well as the shark's fin stir fried with osmanthus. i've done a google search and i don't think the swiss hotel is there anymore - that's the problem on using 30 year old guidebooks!

note to self. don't drink and type. umm... sweden lost that one. i do remember that. i think it's just the post portugal saturation coverage of the england team that makes me think they actually played more games..against more teams than actually happened. or, alternatively - all i hear is england lose, england lose, england lose wherever i turn. i also had a v. weird rooney related dream on tuesday night. but that's another post

I've been to Brew Wharf twice now - the beer is v. good - I'll say that. We went once on a Thursday night back in May - and while the bar was quite buzzy with lots of suits - the restaurant was strangely empty. We had some of the Meantime kolsch-style beer. The other half's verdict is that while it's a great beer - especially in hot weather - it doesn't really compare to true koln-style beers that you'd find in Germany. We shared some roasted chicken - it was ok - filled a corner, but as I've had to struggle to remember what it was we actually ate, it demonstrates how unmemorable it was. We've returned since - but it was rubbish. We met friends who work nearby for an after work drink - again on a thursday - and the bar was packed. the wanker quota high and the bar man distracted. Despite this, we stayed for a meal. The restaurant was crowded, the staff few. Our orders were wrong, half arrived late and all the frites were cold. eeeek. So, although the beer's pretty good, we won't be going back. Rather - we've visited the Union pub in Greenwich (we watched the Sweden v Germany game there a few weeks back) and the beer is the same (from Meantime) with the added advantage of it being a way nicer pub! oh - forgot to add.. we actually watched the match at the Crook & Shears pub in the small village of Upper Clatford in Hampshire. Of all the matches I've watched outside the house so far it was by far the nicest venue - a big plasma screen set up in the skittle alley. People with rattles - timothy taylors on tap and pimms for me. The disadvantages? Well - england lost and it's a long mile home when you have to listen to the entire match dissected in all it's horror and then sven's failings analysed etc, etc. We had thought about watching some of the other matches at brew wharf - but the second reconnaissance visit put an end to that - so the group games were seen at a works social club attached to an insane asylum in Wiltshire (don't ask) and a horrible pub in westminster, where we saw the trinidad v tobago match at it was 10 deep at the bar, smokey and full of c***ts. I'm fussy, aren't I?

this could be an australian thing.... cold pizza - the left overs from the night before. hawaiian is by far the best - eaten for breakfast with diet coke. all the non australians i know are absolutely horrified by this - but it truly rocks. and was quite a common foodshame behaviour back at university. the other thing that i can't go past is a good old aussie sausage sizzle - the ones with the cheapest, sawdust filled thick n thins on pasty white sliced bread with white crow tomato sauce. i used to tell myself that i was helping with their fundraising - but it is ironic that i'll only buy posh snags from the butchers - organic, preferably - but i'm happy to eat the sweepings in catgut for a worthy cause. when i lived in california - it was all about the in and out burger. oh. my. GOD. i don't crave fast food usually - and i have to say when i've had burger king in the uk it's been hideous.. but what i wouldn't do for those in-n-out - in and out .... whatever.. fries.

Here is an article on freegans in Melbourne, Australia Like some previous posters I'm revolted by the thought of eating manky and possibly dangerous food scavenged from the garbage. But I'm equally as revolted that perfectly good food isn't distributed in a better way to organisations and people who do need it and that this kind of excess is encouraged. I'm also a bit cynical about their emphasis on the green aspect of dumpster diving when they're cruising around melbourne in their toyota. if this is really an anti-establishment, radical green lifestyle wtf aren't they on bikes? or walking? why don't they join a group like Ceres who i feel are making much more practical headway in educating the community about sensible use of resources, and ethical approaches to food and transport. I think freegan energy would be better harnessed in the chook group

in our home it's always a green salad, austrian potato salad with white wine vinegar and shallots and - weirdly - rice. my german cousins say the rice is a moravian/bohemian oddity inherited from our grandparents. either a desperate war-time need for carbs, or they were too poor to buy anything else. the rice/vinegar potato salad when mixed actually tastes really good. for me - sauerkraut with schnitzel would never work... sorry! i'm now having a severe schnitzel craving - not good as we're off to a pub for a sunday roast. damn it

Wow - thank you for all the tips. Given that they are expecting -17 celcius temperatures in Linz tomorrow night and my cousins in Munich have reported a meter of snow dumped at their house yesterday I might need to head for the cosy places that you've mentioned! The place you mention in Kutna Hora sounds fabulous and makes me want to go and visit - we were debating about whether we had the time to include that in our trip. Your description makes me want to go there for the pivnice alone. I'm intrigued by the fish restaurant in Trebon. I normally avoid fish like the plague when I go to the Czech Republic - but I know this area is famous for all the fish ponds stuffed with carp and trout to feed the townsfolk - so fishy should be tasty. Will I overcome my carp-phobia? Possibly - although I need to balance that decision with the fact that eating fish will mean a meal without dumplings..and pork.. I looked at the Eggenberg restaurant brewery website, they have a menu with the fabulous sounding 'pork iron maiden'. I know it's probably a fillet with lardons or something to make it resemble the torture instrument. But I keep humming 'run to the hills' and imagining it garnished with a leather bomber jacket and with a pile of sauerkraut artfully arranged in a mullet shape. I've just made a reservation by phone at the brewery/gasthof in Kefermarkt. The woman had a command of english similar to mine of german. But we muddled through - she had the most fabulous accent and told me 'you can eat zeee gut foood.. drink zee gut beer and zen go to bed - ja' You can't say fairer than that really....

as we say in the north hampshire ghetto.. respect da rose! i couldn't live without it - especially after visiting the tesco nearby and finding that they don't ever seem to restock their fresh veg and expect you to buy one of their ready meal selections instead.

It went really well! Thank you! The chicken was actually a far better choice than the fish would have been. I really like fish - but I'm not a confident fish cook. Also, I think I failed to mention that the bone in chicken thighs that I bought were £2.30 for 8. Compared with the price of the halibut it was a bargain. The beetroot relish is actually a bastardised version of a beetroot pesto recipe from Marlena Speiler's pasta book. Mine is much simpler - roasted diced beetroot, balsamic vinegar, a few spoons of pesto stirred through. In her book it's served with a blue cheese mac and cheese bake - it does go very well with that, but I also like to serve it with roasted lamb or sausages. We are members of an organic veggie box scheme based in Devon and have been getting lots of beetroot lately. I should do more things with them - like borscht or beetroot dip with creme fraiche.. but I always go back to the beetroot pesto! It was a great match for the haloumi pitas. We ended up watching Crufts dog show on the tv while eating - I highly recommend huge amounts of wine and pastoral dog judging combined. The figs were also a triumph - I should really have people around more often as I really enjoyed cooking it all last night and seeing my husband and our friend enjoy themselves so much. As most of our friends live a fair distance away, we tend to meet up in London or spend time together on holidays and eat out. Oh - I would never put my deli, fish or meat purchases near the tins. I feel bad enough about abandoning them away from their home in a refridgerator case - but do people really dump stuff where it will go bad? That's terrible. Wow - I have the moral high ground now! Oddly - despite only 2 glasses of wine I had the weirdest dreams. In one of them, I started my new job which instead of being located in London was an open railway platform in Swindon. It was snowing and there were many russians running beer concessions on the platform. My new boss was discussing various chinese sociological issues and i was confused, because i was pretty sure i'd been hired to be an adjudicator for the ombudsman. I was handed a whole sheaf of stapled journal extracts which I was required to photocopy and couldn't operate the machine or find that vicious little implement that takes out the staples. I started to cry. Then. FUCHSIA DUNLOP of szechwan cooking fame turned up on the platform to talk to my colleagues and I really really really wanted to hear what she had to say. but I couldn't because I was faffing around with the bloody photocopier and I was sure I was going to get fired. Now - I don't have the fuchsia dunlop book - am a terrible chinese cook (although enthusiastic eater!) and have no idea why i had this dream. I am now even more bloody nervous about the new job on Monday though. Thanks for everyone's suggestions - I wish I'd taken pictures though..

I quite like dining alone - always have... I've met a few interesting people. Including the agricultural co-op worker from the West Indies who was touring around fiji studying vanilla plantations. What an interesting job! We had breakfast together and told me all about his work. But I've had a few horror stories My family moved around asia a lot when I was younger. In Malaysia we were living in a hotel for a few months before our house became available. I was 14 - but looked older. However, I was from a rural australian religious school and really only interested in my pony. So I was a bit naive to say the least. But I was blonde...and..er...'quite developed'. I'd been sent down to fend for myself at the hotel coffeeshop as my parents had a work function to attend. I felt quite mature - all alone in a five star hotel cafe, I had a copy of smash hits to read complete with picture of Duran Duran on the cover (phworgh!), a burger and fries to eat and was contemplating the cheesecake option for dessert. Independance! Life was gooooood. When suddenly - Mr. Japanese Salaryman wandered over from a nearby table and said he would like to join me. I was so young at this stage that I thought all adult requests had to be followed obediently and despite the fact that I really did not want this person at my table I said 'yes'. I was absolutely mortified and expected my parents to turn up any minute and see me with a 45 year old mid level mfanager from osaka. It was excrutiating... I think my uninvited guest picked up on my discomfort - or perhaps he could feel the heat emanating from me as I was blushing so fiercely. He asked me how old I was - I told him 14. He went white and made his excuses... I couldn't stay after that - I was sure the entire hotel staff was taking the piss out of me at that stage so went upstairs - only half the burger eaten! I then had the completely unreasonable thought (I was 14 - forgive me!) that he had seen my room number on the hotel key and was going to loiter outside my room contemplating an assault. I think it's fabulous that you met your husband when dining alone lucy. I was thinking how romantic that was when it occured to me that I met mine when travelling on business - the diffence being that I was tired, grumpy, jetlagged and needed a drink. So I went down to the hotel bar and when I didn't get served got really narky at the tall bloke in the corner whom I assumed was a waiter. Turned out he was there for a conference and waiting for a drink too... ooops. but reader - i married him!

my friend is a free lance IT geek and has been all alone in his apartment working away on something involving flash.. so i think he'll be delighted to be fed and watered. Chufi, you're right! I believe in this meal! - and what else do they say? better good friends at table in humble circumstances that dining on truffles with your enemy. Chook is in the oven - as are spuds. My husbands train is horribly delayed - there have been lightning strikes in London and all the signalling has been affected - but that buys me some time as i won't have to go up and meet him. My only timing problem was that I forgot that I can't hang around in my alluring socks/birkenstock sweat pants combo that has been my uniform this rainy week. I've MADE AN EFFORT! My toilette has been attended to. I have been arranged. I am wearing a tres expensive pair of boots I bought in Bath last year that can't be worn outside the house as I'll be crippled and/or fall over. I have banished the halibut from my mind... poulet all the way!

liebe ludja! i'm such a huge fan of beetroot/vinegar and herbs - in australia it is de rigeur to have on a burger along with a fried egg! I had toyed with the idea of a vinagrette with pumpkin seed oil and cider vinegar along with some parsley.. but figured i had enough green herb stuff happening already. i feel a bit of a fraud as most of the interesting bits of the meal have been purchased - i should really have made the biscotti, the pita bread....etc, etc. But hey - as explained upthread. I wasn't in the best mood and i can imagine that transmitting itself to the biscuits. I had promised my friend that I'd do an Austrian themed meal.. znaimer goulasch, noodles, krautsalad and chestnut schnitte for dessert.. but it's impossible to get proper cucumbers here. I do have a lot of slivovice and borovicka to finish off the night with though.. i walk up to meet my husband at the station at 6:15 - and the guest is to arrive around 7 - so i can chuck the pitas in the oven when he arrives, have a beer - and then put the chicken and spuds in then too..

well- i've had the salsa verde covered and in the fridge for a little while now - and i've just gone and tasted it. it now tastes of coriander - which is a relief.. i was getting a little paranoid! i know - the price of fish is INSANE! Admittedly it's for three of us (my hubby will be eating too) but there was no way i was going to pay that. I did a very, very bad thing too... she wrapped up the fish for me. I saw the price... panicked and hid it in the dairy section case near the yogurts. I will go to hell, won't I? Re the haloumi - let's just subsitute warmed for melty. Do you think the beetroot relish thing is ok? The figs have turned out fabulously - they're going in martini glasses with the ice cream and amaretti balanced on the side. time to HOOVER....

Ahhhh.. Plan B! It must be admitted that I was without the plan B. So Anna- when the chicken wasn't at the store, what did you do? Chicken surprise.. The surprise being - there's no chicken? I have to admit, the preparation hasn't been too bad so far - the chook is marinating in a mix of lime and orange juice with chile powder, loads of garlic and coriander, paprika and cumin. It's in the fridge for the next few hours when I'll have to wrap it in bacon prior to roasting. The figs are simmering in the red wine. But the coriander and lemon salsa has raised another issue. I whizzed up a load of fresh coriander with a green chile, some lemon juice, salt and green onion. But there is no coriander smell at all emanating from the concoction. To my mind, it should reek and be green, grassy and herbaceous. Nothing. Now - I don't have a cold - so I've eminated my sense of smell being up the creek. The next thought was that the chopped flat leaf parsley I bought was used insted of the coriander. But nooooo.. that's still safely in it's little baggie. (note - in the area I live, the fresh herb is unknown outside of the sealed plastic 50 g bag imported from spain or israel) Then I thought - maybe the producers have commited a horrendous act of mis-labelling. On opening the flat leaf parsley, it is absolutely identical to coriander. That's not right is it? AAAARGH.. To add to the mystery - as one herb is from spain, and the other from israel - it would take a big mix up for that to occur. Well - it's a salsa verde. Perhaps coriander, perhaps parsley. bugger.

A friend is invited for dinner. I had planned a casual, low impact menu of whole wheat pitas stuffed with halmoumi and toasted til all the cheese is melty and fabulous - served alongside beetroot and basil relish. Grilled halibut with cumin roasted potatos and lemon coriander salsa. Steamed green beans and carrots. A fancy schmancy cake. However.. I've awoken with a head ache and a bad attitude, the arrival of my new job contract with it's surprise 8 week notice period and the incipient end of my enjoyable leisure filled days schlepping around the house has not proved beneficial to choosing or baking fancy schmancy cake. Not to worry - a quick scout around some cook books meant that I could easily do poached spiced figs in red wine, served with vanilla ice cream and amaretti. But I've just been to my local Waitrose and the halibut was going to set me back £25... WTF? It didn't even look particularly good either. That's what happens when you only buy gutted mackeral from the wet fish counter and start to believe all fish has to be that cheap. So - I've changed the halibut main to a kinda southwestern influenced (and by that i'm not meaning cornwall) marinated chicken thigh creation, wrapped in bacon and baked.. same sides. Sigh - so who else plans these events and then has to re-arrange their menu at the last minute??? I better get marinating!

Fabulous Smells Walking through the food halls of various top end department stores - especially the ones with a fresh cut flower concession. The combination of roasting coffee, posh bread, chocolate and mangos makes me feel richer than God and more . Even if I'm without a penny to call my own those smells transport me to a place where I'm pampered. I also love the smell of a continental delicatassen full of smoked and cured sausages and hams. A good cafe will reveal itself with its cakey, bready, coffee smells. Do not eat at the cafe that does not smell of these things! Bad Smells.. The smell of the disgusting water they use in the bain maries in Japanese convenience stores during oden season. The scary bacteria ridden oden water with fish sticks afloating always seemed to be located near the till, so you'd hand over your money and be assaulted by a small not unlike old waste water from tinned tuna mixed with male pork. Blach.