annachan
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Posts posted by annachan
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This is making me miss the food! There were many places we didn't get to last time and can't wait to go back and try them.
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When I put pasta in soup, I usually just cook it in the soup instead of cooking it separately. The thing is, it usually takes much longer to cook the pasta in soup instead in a pot of water. I'm really not sure why.
This reminded me of Rachel Ray cooking pasta in wine on Iron Chef. Like her or not, that sounds interesting.
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Just finishing my first vegemite toast. Didn't put cheese on (will try that next time) but it's on bacon and cheese bread. I think I put too much on as I'm getting very thirsty and the coffee isn't helping.
Good to know that you can use it in cooking. I use Bovril in my cooking at times (stews, soups, etc.) when I have that on hand. But that stuff is so darn expensive here so vegemite will have to do.
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Broken up amaretti cookies and wafers, feuilletine.
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I was iffy on McCormicl and Kuletos but the wife read about it on some travel website and she has to go. I had to research the other places, are any of them close to Fisherman's Wharf?
I'm a bigger fan of Tartine Bakery actually, the plan was to get there around 5:00 when the bread comes out. Think the restaurant we end up eating at will care if we bring our own bread?
The Wharf is a tourist area so it really isn't known for great food. McCormick & Kuletos has average food at pretty high prices, and great views. If you don't mind traveling away from the Wharf a bit, down by the Ferry Building, you'll find places with both great food and great views. For seafood, there is Waterbar. If you want more steak and potatoes type place, there is Epic Roasthouse right next to it. La Mar has good Peruvian food, with plenty of seafood and meat choices. Then there is Lafitte, which has a small menu that changes daily.
Maybe you can call the restaurant and ask if you can BYOB. You don't have to tell them that you meant bread....
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Now I want one for dinner! Well, got something else planned so it'll have to be another day.
I usually just have mine with some grilled onion and maybe a little mustard. Now that Pierogi has mentioned cheese, I want mine topped with nacho cheese! And maybe some jalapenos....
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Another thought for the modernists out there...it might be interesting to glue the bacon to the hotdog using transglutaminase and deep frying the whole thing!
I imagine toothpicks will do just fine for frying.
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I love cookbooks and have tons of them. However, I rarely (except for baking/confectionery) follow recipes. I tend to learn methods of cooking, and adjust the ingredients to my liking.
Also, I find that I only follow recipes when I have the time to do so. So often we have to just get in the kitchen and whip up a meal, there is no time to even find a recipe.
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I first started watching Martin Yan back in the 80s as a child. Having just moved from Hong Kong (with family members being in the food industry), I wasn't really impressed with his knife skills or his cooking. I thought he was a joke.
However, as I grew and learned more about food, I began to appreciate him more and more. I don't have any of his cookbooks but I enjoy the shows a lot. I don't cook Chinese food much at home now but if that changes, I'll probably pick up a few of his books.
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I have been thinking of getting a pasta machine and wonder if I can roll out dough for dumplings with it. Anyone tried?
Wonder if you could use a tortilla press, too.
Tortilla press....interesting! Wonder if I can find one around here and how much they go for? I should have gotten one while in the US and sent it over with my shipment....
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I do get Choice (although it can be annoyingly prissy in a domestic sciences teacher sort of way) and I looked up their recommendations. The Breville Ikon and Kenwood came at the equal top of the list of the ten tested. Considering the Breville Ikon is $200, I'd go for the $70 Kenwood.
The comments section said there will be another test of slow cookers coming out before winter.
Besides Bing Lee & Peters, also check out The Good Guys when shopping for small appliances. David Jones can also have surprisingly good prices on these kinds of things at this time of year.
And from an acquaintance who deals in refurbished electrical goods (ie store returns, etc), appliances from Aldi are apparently quite good - keep an eye on the catalogues, as they are likely to bring out a slow cooker as we head into autumn.
As far as cookbooks go, I use booko.com.au to find the best price for books shipped in/to Australia, but if you sign up for Borders VIP you can get excellent occasional discounts via email as well (frankly, considering the prices at Borders I need a discount to shop there).
I did see the Kenwood one and was considering it. It's good to know that it performs well. I'm at the mall often so I'll check David Jones.
booko.com.au is just what I'm looking for! I love that it does all the comparisons.
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Given the relatively low power requirements of a slow cooker - it would be a suitable to use with a converter/transformer. Anyone from the US coming to visit soon?
No, as we haven't settled in yet. It'll be at least several months until someone comes over. Not sure if anyone is willing to bring over a slow cooker though.
Since we do plan to stay here permanently, I'm trying to get appliances that doesn't need to use a transformer. I guess I will have to get over the much higher prices at some point.
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I suggest you try asking at Forum Thermomix
Brazen, one of the moderators of this segment has three crockpots or slow cookers and has posted about them in other threads.
I can't recall who else has them but several Australian members use them in addition to the TMX and they are always very helpful with purchasing information.
I forgot about the Thermomix forum. Thanks for reminding me.
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Kitchen appliances are stupidly expensive here. Just wait until you see how much they want to sting you for a KitchenAid mixer.
EDIT
Oh and books (i.e. cookbooks). Never buy locally. Even when I worked in a bookshop and had (well, I still have it) a 30% discount card at two of the major book retailers, it was still almost always cheaper--often by a fair amount--to buy from Book Depository or sometimes Amazon (depending on the exchange rate).
I know about the KA mixer. It's insane! So, I shipped mine over along with a transformer....
I checked out the books at some bookshops and they are really pricey. I checked the prices on a few books and they're double or triple the price of what's in the US or even from online here. Good thing I will have visitors coming from the US. They will all end up having to bring me a few cookbooks every time they visit.
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'Homemaker' is, I think, Kmart's home brand. For future reference: cheap rubbish. You can get a Cuisinart for a touch over $100 from KitchenwareDirect. They're supposed to be good.
Slow cookers just aren't things I thought I needed to spend tons of money on. It's really not a complicated machine. The cheap store brand ones in the US generally work just fine. I guess that is not the case here so I'll just have to pay more for one that works....or just don't bother with one.
I also bought a Homemaker rice cooker ($30) and it's been working fine. I just didn't have the heart to spend $200 on a Japanese model, even though that's all I would use in the US as I can get them for much less.
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I use my pasta roller to roll very thin cracker and cookie dough. I use my pasta extruder to shape unleavened bread dough to decorate the top of holiday loaves of bread. I roast big batches of peppers in the fall in a grill basket with a weed burner. I guess a weed burner isn't really a kitchen gadget.
Great ideas! Another reason to get a pasta roller!
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I saw that same article on Choice! But also not a subscriber and not sure I want/need to do that. I also saw the reviews on the other review site you listed. Just wasn't sure how reliable since most of them have very few reviews.
The brand is Homemaker; I got it from Kmart.
I think I'll end up with a Breville as well. I saw it at Bing Lee and on Peter of Kensington's website. I'll see if Bing Lee will give me the lower price.
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I walked by a crepe stand at the farmers' market the other day and made me think of my crepe maker. I thought it would be nice to use curry as a filling as I glanced at the Indian food stand. Then I thought, can I make dosa on my crepe maker? I haven't tried it yet but it seems to be a good idea. Any thoughts?
Then I thought about making my own dumplings (Chinese dumplings). I don't care for the package wrappers but I really don't care to use a rolling pin to roll out dough. I have been thinking of getting a pasta machine and wonder if I can roll out dough for dumplings with it. Anyone tried?
Anyone out there use their gadgets for purposed other than what they're intended for?
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I've had one of those cheap, $10 ones for several years and it's treated me well. It did what it needed to do without giving me any troubles.
Now that I'm in Australia, I thought I can just pick a cheap one and be happy with it like before. I was WRONG! I got one of the cheapest, $35 for 5L model, at the store. This thing is a piece of sh*t! I've been cooking a pot of bolognese (2 lb grounded kangaroo, carrot, onion, celery, garlic, tomato products) for 10 hours (on and off) on HIGH. The vegetables (1/2 to 3/4 inch dice) are still barely cooked. I mean, I can smash the carrots with a wooden spoon, but need to use some force. The garlic has not fallen apart. This is extremely slow for a slow cooker!
So, this slow cooker will be returned to the store very soon (as soon as my bolognese is done!). Any suggestion on which slow cooker to get over here in Australia? I would really like to keep it under $100.
TIA!
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I like a variety of Chinese pickled vegetables with porridge. Some sweet, some savory and some spicy - I love them all. Along with the pickles, I love a little dish of peanuts in soy sauce as well.
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Just saw news about Costco opening in Canberra! It'll be good to have one so close....
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I'm so glad that I came across this thread and found Temasek. I had the Hainanese chicken rice and it's fantastic. The just cooked meat, the jelly under the skin and the fatty but not greasy skin. I devoured my plate in no time and will definitely go back for more before leaving the area.
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We just went to Cotogna and it's just fantastic. Reservations aren't easy to come by but the best seats in the house, IMO, are for walk ins. Now that they are open all day (though only serving pizzas from 2:30-5:30pm), not sure how easy it is to get seats as walk ins without a wait. We want when they just opened for lunch (11:30) and grabbed seats at the counter right in front of the roasting station. It was great watching all the actions. Prices are very reasonable for the quality of food. The pasta and roasted meats are not to be missed.
I do know that it's not easy to get Burmese food around the country. And I do agree that it is one cuisine that is worth trying. Personally, I love it. I just don't think Burma Superstar does it justice. I much prefer Little Yangon because that reminds me of the home cooking stuff I was exposed to by family friends. I was enjoying tea leaf salad 20 years ago as afternoon snacks before that dish became so popular.
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Like others have said, I eat them if they're fried crispy. Heck, I eat some of the shells as well if they're crispy.
Sponge Toffee by Greweling
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
It's interesting reading about needing to use a warm pan and keeping it in a warm place to cool. I made sponge a few years ago during Christmas time. I can't remember which recipe it was but it was a simple one. I don't think I used gelatin. I just put it in a regular pan, not warmed, and let it cool in room temp. Considering that was in San Francisco, the room temp was on the cold side. The sponge came out just fine. I wonder if some recipes just don't require the warm treatment.