miladyinsanity

...cheesecloth? What for? I've never seen it done that way. And why do you say it's undercooked? Do you have pictures? It's not necessary to soak it either.

Yup -- go right ahead. It freezes very well for several months. I put plastic wrap right on the surface to prevent ice crystals since I have a frost free freezer. Let it warm up before re-beating and adding your flavoring. ← Thank you!

Can I freeze the unflavored buttercream, then take out as needed to mix it flavor? I've seen some references to freezing buttercream, but now I can't find them.

Help identifying the other items I photographed would be welcome: ← I can try...the first one is "sert yee" (snow fungus in English?), the second one I see all the time but I don't remember what it is. I was going to guess shark fin but the pieces look too small. The third is just Chinese dried black mushrooms...you use them in soup or you can braise them in sauce and serve them on a bed of Chinese greens, and the fourth one I'm also not quite sure about, but it looks ike "fish maw" or "fa gao" in Cantonese (fish stomach? fish bladder?) and it's used in soup. Fish maw soup is one of my favourite Chinese soups, but only if it's of excellent quality. I like it even more than shark fin. ← Is the second one fu chuk (sp)? It's like sheets of dried tofu-ish. Things. ← I know what you are talking about, but I don't think it is. Foo Chuk is usually more crinkly. I think it's snow fungus and fish maw too. Hey therese! Is this one of the spongy desserts? I noticed you got the daikon cakes as well. Did they have a sautee cart for those and some of the other dumplings? What was in the egg roll sprinkled with sesame seeds? ← That's Chestnut cake, the fried one. You can get it steamed too.

You're right, it does. But it tastes great anyway.

I think if you go to to the Cooking forum, there was somebody who installed a small marble countertop for pastry/chocolate use. Just that section was marble, and the rest of the countertop area was something else.

I was told by a friend that supposedly one of the reasons why breast cancer is so prevalent is that in most homes, the microwave is just at right height. I have one, and so do most of my relatives in Malaysia.

Dried WHAT? There's a FACE in there!! ← I'm reasonably certain that the left picture is abalone, but I've no idea what's the stuff in the right bottle. Great blog Therese!

Thank you, Ling, for *suffering* for us. LOL. I've gingersnaps, very bad Egg Yolk cookies and cocoa cookies. Holidays are coming, and that means I can bake something new. Hooray!

Thanks aznsailorboy! I'm planning to make IMBC soon, and I can always use more egg yolk recipes, given that I've a taste for macarons and all sorts of nut meringues.

Black Sesame Ice Cream has been around for awhile now here. The problem is finding one that not too much sugar or enough salt to cut the sweetness.

I use 10 ounces bittersweet, and half a cup of sugar. But I double the amount of cocoa. The first time I made it, I was out of unsweetened, and then I just stuck to it.

a fudgy brownie is what i am aiming for! think i'll just go back to a. medrich's recipe, though this one was quite tasty - quite sure its the valrhona and scharfenberger chocolates. ← Maybe try Ling's recipe? I use this one, except I use 10 rather than 8 ounces of chocolate, even though 8 gives you a really fudgy brownie already.

Um,... , could you translate that into Devlin speak? ← K8's saying Private Message her. I don't think you're allowed to sell on the forums.

The only way I eat non-scrambled eggs is egg salad. Poached eggs, sunny side up etc, Blech. I don't like egg yolks in hardboiled eggs either, unless there's a spicy sauce or some sort accompanying the rice and eggs. I did go through a period when I wouldn't eat eggs because when I cracked open one, there was a bug inside. Eeeeeek!!! I was...10? I wasn't a girly girl, but food isn't supposed to have bugs in it! I never used to like cilantro, and it still makes me gag to bite into it, but I can't imagine steamed fish, for instance, without it now. I can't stand dried shitake mushrooms. The smell of them soaking sends me running out of the kitchen, and I don't eat many dishes that have them. I don't really like the fresh ones either, but I can cope. I don't like raw veggies in my sandwich. Meat + Cheese + Bread = May's sandwich. Period. And raw tomatoes....*faints dead away* Just no, just no. Ketchup, tartar sauce, most salad dressings, and mayonaise (except in egg salad) never ever pass my lips.

Oh thanks, Ilene! I've been looking for a florentine recipe too. And I'm with you, Kerry, I like the ones that are just almonds and nothing else.

Cinnamon sugar cookies--a bit too sweet, but good that way. Flourless Chocolate cupcakes. I swear, I should have gotten the user ID KitchenDisaster. Last week when I made the cupcakes, I used too much sugar. This time? I forgot to add the flour! That's why they are flourless. It's not the original recipe--original recipe contains 1tbsp of flour, which contributes quite a lot to the texture, despite the small amount.

Well, it does have gluten. I guess the question is whether the other things would cause the microorganisms to die.

Good luck, Michael. My uncle's wife's older brother is working in Shanghai, and whenever he comes back or they go to visit, they bring tons of foodstuff because he can't find them there.

Roasted and non-roasted sesame oil have different taste profiles. I'd say try both and see which you prefer, though it's generally agreed that roasted is more aromatic. Also, Chinese/Japanese sesame paste is different from tahini, and then there's both black and white sesame.

Whisk means wirewhisk, right? I was making scrambled eggs the other day, and absently dropped in cream cheese and tried to whisk that. It got caught between the whisk and I had hardly any cheese in my eggs. I imagine it'd be the same for cake batter, right?

Same here.

I wish the damned waiters at the Chinese restaurants here would give me a menu too. Just because it's clear I'm not the one paying--I'm not one of the parents, but one of the kids. I think it's about expectations. Here, kids are expected to turn up for wedding dinners, reunion dinners, the odd housewarming or dinner party etc dressed well and on their best behavior. There are exceptions, of course, but they tend to be business deals or when the hosts do not have kids themselves. To the Chinese, everything is a family celebration, and the words "Be seen but not heard" still hold. Yeah, sometimes things get rowdy when the kids run around playing. Or worse, when their parents ignore the kids and just let them run around. Except for the very young, we eat what the adults eat, though nowadays kid's meals are more common.

Not this cake, K8. It's 200g butter and chocolate melted together, 100g sugar stirred in, cooled some, then crack 2 eggs in mix. Last thing is stir in half a tbsp of flour. There is no leavening agent at all. It's actually quite close to my brownie recipe which is adapted from Ling's, except that the eggs are beaten until pale with the sugar. Sorry, I should have elaborated.

I'm reasonably sure infusing won't work very well. Abra is right on the sesame oil, but it can leave a funny aftertaste. I'd go with alanamoana's idea, except that I'd look at getting sesame flour rather than making my own--if you grind them, they'll become paste just like most nuts.