Pille

Hi Alinka - sorry if this remained unclear. Porridge flakes are precooked and sliced grains that you use in the morning to make the breakfast porridge. Just checked Foodsubs.com, and indeed it looks like they're called hot cereal or rolled grains in your parts of the world Here is some information in English, and here in Russian, especially for you Of course you can translate the recipe into Russian, and your friend can check out my Estonian site (which is not a blog, just a recipe database with some 7000+ recipes). I only blog in English..

Looks great, Alinka! I think you should give it another go with the original pie crust - it's quite different with all those oats/porridge flakes inside - crumbly in a very special way. And as you say in the dinner thread, as long as you have flavoursome ripe berries (raspberries work well, too!), there's no need to up the sugar content. I'm very flattered to have inspired you PS The original recipe was translated from Finnish to my Estonian recipe site and then into English for my English foodblog:) So it's a very multilingual recipe

John Burton Race made a Crown of English asparagus, using goat cheese, beetroot jelly and asparagus Michael Caines chose aTerrine of Capricorn goats' cheese, apples and celery and a salad of toasted walnuts and raisins I personally would have chosen Michael Caines' dish. And the regional winner is chosen based on the whole menu.

I have a very nice recipe for an apple cake that I've been baking for some 15 years now, always to a great success. It does use cinnamon though, but it would definitely be nice with a dollop of cream:) Here's a slice:

Thanks, Megan I've posted the recipe on my foodblog - hope you'll like it!

I made a blueberry tart last night. The crust is butter, sugar, plain flour and porridge oats, the filling is blueberries, sour cream, sugar, egg and a hint of vanilla. Absolutely delicious

I had a huge bottle of neat vodka waiting to be used up, but since I came across Nigella Lawson's recipe for pasta alla vodka, I've almost finished the bottle. Great and easy dish! Nigella uses chilli infused vodka, but I cannot see why basil one wouldn't work just as well - it gives a nice tanginess to the tomato sauce.

I second The Three Chimneys on Skye. Haven't had a chance to eat there myself yet, but as I'm contemplating moving back home to Estonia after seven years in Edinburgh, this restaurant is definitely on the top of my things-to-do-before-I-leave list.

I went for a meal twice last week. On Tuesday night with a group of 6 around 6pm and ate in the pub part of it. The place was absolutely buzzing - quite unexpected for a Tuesday night (we left just after 10pm, and the place was still busy). The food was great - I had roasted spring onions and Italian greens with grilled goat curd on toast, followed by panna cotta with rhubarb. I went again on Saturday night about 6.30pm for a quick meal before the 7.30pm show at the Old Vic, this time just me and a friend. We were seated on a shared table, and the waiter asked if we're there for a pre-theatre meal and what time do we have to leave. We had a very attentive service, and got all the drinks and the food promptly. I had pork and herb terrine, my friend opted for roasted beetroot and lamb tongue salad. There was a queue of maybe 15 people when we left about an hour later. Overall a very good experience - nice and welcoming atmosphere and delicious and interesting food.

Megan, it does look stunning! We do "pancake tarts" back home, but they're nothing like your 20-layer elegant affair!

Hi Eden, your friend can have a quick look at my foodblog, where I have written about various establishments in Tallinn, though mostly about cafes. How many days is your friend there for? I'd recommend Olde Hansa as well (the medieval restaurant mentioned in the Oct 05 post), as well as the garlic restaurant Balthasar on the Old Town Square/Raekoja plats. Troika is a cheerful Russian place on the Town Hall Square that does really delicious dumplings (I'm addicted to their pelmeni "village style" that come in a wild mushroom sauce under a pie crust). And last, but not least, the more upmarket ones are Egoist and Gloria and Bocca, but my finances have not yet allowed me to check out these places unfortunately Foodlovers have been eagerly waiting for the opening of our Chef du jour Imre Kose's new restaurant, Vertigo, but now it looks that it won't be open until late April. Hope that helps. Tallinn is a wonderful town to visit, and April is a good time to do that, as it's usually sunny and warm-ish by then.. Pille, born and bread in Tallinn, now in Edinburgh

Elegant and stylish-looking, simple, well-planned and brilliantly executed dinner indeed! Lucky guests you have! I don't eat scallops, but they actually look delicious in your soup. Everything else looks delicious anyway

I made a very simple barley mousse for dessert last night. Doesn't compete with chocolate eclairs and fancy cakes , but sometimes some old nursery food just fits the bill.

I think TongoRad may be right. My Turkish flatmate uses both of them interchangeably and doesn't seem to think there's any difference. We only have orzo in the house now, so can't really compare the size

Yipppee - I made this one, too, though mine didn't look as elegant as yours, Patrick. I didn't like the sound of the rice crispies (I don't have breakfast cereal in the house anyway), but next time try then. I also used a bit less milk, and the chocolate was Green&Black bittersweet dark, which was great. Otherwise I stuck to the recipe. It was very-very delicious. With all those tips and pictures on this thread, I may even try some of the cakes one day in the book

The April 2006 issue of Olive has a 2-page food map for Nottingham. It says that "in recent years, a fledging restaurant culture (demonstrated by the city's first restaurant awards in 2003) has seen new venues opening to match the already legendary nightlife". It lists some 'hot hotels', 'cool shops', 'best bars' and 'great eateries', the latter including Geisha, Alley Cafe Bar, Shaw's, Cast, Hart's, World Service (as guessed by transfattyacid above ), Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms. As for the MSN quoted in the article, then that must be the company who carried out the research - Guardian quotes "The Frequency of Overseas Dishes (Food) study, conducted by MSN Local Search".

You totally confused me for a second, but then I realised that here in Scotland we've just seen the episode you guys in south of the Border saw yesterday (Dean steaming tea and fish etc) Will watch the food writers/reviewers judging tomorrow. Curious to know what and whose dish tasted like poison.. I'm for Digger Driver Dean as well

Sorry Spanky, I did get carried away. Apologies But it is great to have some of the more upmarket supermarkets here in Edinburgh as well, though personally I would only take advantage of them occasionally.

Alinka - this looks absolutely delicious - any chance of sharing the recipe for this Kiev Cake (?)

Nah, thats just tarted-up sheep tortellini right? although the tail-fat in there does add a nice juiciness. still not as good as a crispy soup-filled shanghai dumpling, although I admit that the tandoor baked version (samsa they were called in chinese turkestan; don't know the uzbek equivalent) might run it close... prove me wrong! J ← This is getting very interesting:) Maybe we should have non-Italian dumpling cook-off:) I'd do Estonian "pelmeenid" (which we've nicked from our huge Eastern neighbour - same thing, just nicer obviously:) Thanks, Tim - I did miss this one, although I listen to it regularly. What's the Lithuanian lethal liquor called? We have something called "Vana Tallinn" in Estonia, but don't you dare to call it lethal looking (and the cream version of it beats Bailey's any time

Home made pelmeni can be just as delicious as any posh ravioli. Maybe not exactly in the same league as poulet bresse and kobe beef, granted, but as far as filled dumplings etc go, they don't deserve the "dodgy eastern european grocery store staple" title either. But then I'm probably not objective. I grew up eating the stuff almost on a weekly basis, and I really miss them here in Scotland. You can't find a decent thing anywhere One other reason to check out the forthcoming Waitrose then, maybe..

That's great news. Slightly above my budget for everyday shopping, but as I live in Marchmont, then it's well within walking distance whenever I feel like shopping for something special, or fancy picking up the newest Waitrose Food Magazine.

Thanks, Pille! I bake them a bit longer than I probably should, because I just love that slightly crispy, light crust. Ooooh, baby. Interesting about the banana creme brulee...sounds tasty. Can you imagine it with lime? ← That explains the beautiful shine. Sadly, I don't own a madeleine tin myself, so I must just come back here and "eat" them.. Re: the banana brulee - I can definitely "imagine" it with lemon. Don't think I've tried banana&lime combination yet, so must taste it before I can "imagine" it

I think it is a cape gooseberry the middle is the fruit and the petals are the thin membrane encasing the fruit ← Hi Abra - Arghavan is right, it was a cape gooseberry. My friend had never seen it before and popped the whole thing into his mouth before I managed to say that the membrane is not supposed to be eaten

Megan - I like the look of your glossy madeleines!!! I had a meal out tonight for change, and ordered this banana creme brule for dessert. I was a bit worried that it will be too gooey, but it was just delicious with a very subtle banana taste. Yummm...