Ylee

Thanks guys! I'll keep an eye out for that CIA book. Meanwhile, I might look into acquiring the Well Decorated Cake as recommended by AnnaC, as it doesn't seem too expensive.

Can you please expand on the pastry scene bit? I'm going to Tokyo/Kyoto in October and am also interested in any food recommendations, especially pastries. Like Hidemi Sugino and Sadaharu Aoki, for example.

I'm looking to get some cake decorating books off the internet, but need some advice because I can't flip through the books, obviously, so don't know if they will suit me or not. These are the books I'm thinking of getting, and I was hoping someone might already have them and can say if they're worth it. I'm looking for books that are inspirational and have enough information in them for you to actually recreate the cakes (I've been told a lot of books leave important steps out). 1) Cales to Dream On, by Colette Peters 2) The Whimsical Bakehouse, by Kaye Hansen 3) Confetti Cakes, by Elissa Strauss Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to help!

Great photos, Fanny. Would drop everything right now for a chance to do what you're doing there!

Hi! I'm from Sydney as well, and get my cocoa butter in 850g tubs. I order mine through a company called Deshel, but I think you can also get the same from stores like Essential Ingredient (in Crows Nest).

Thanks for all the tips. It ended up going pretty well - maybe too well, because they want me to do another 400 this coming week I did a combination of things, including freezing water in pans, as was suggested. At first I contemplated working in the walk-in freezer when scooping the ice-cream, but decided against it because the last time I went in there to look for something, I had to run out thirty seconds later - my fingers felt like they were about to fall off from the cold.

Thanks for sharing. Lucky you - I wish I could've been there!

Great photos (and commentary), and I like the idea of restaurants using blogs... or even eGullet forums, like Alinea did when they started up.

Sandra, that would probably be Cafe Sydney that you went to!

I'm about to embark on the task of dipping several hundred ice-cream balls in chocolate (milk and white), and was wondering if anyone had any tips? Also, is it possible to dip the ice-cream (which will be impaled on skewers) in plain melted chocolate, or should I add something like cocoa butter to the chocolate? Any help with this would be much appreciated!

I know people who live in the Kirribilli area. Great for views, but not so much so for grocery shopping. Cremorne/mosman isn't bad; lots of shops (speciality cheese, chocolate, meat, and kitchen shops like Accoutrement for example), restaurants, cafes, and is close to Balmoral Beach or Crows Nest (where Essential Ingredient is) but might be inconvenient to have to travel from there to the city. There are buses, but no trains. My boyfriend works in Pyrmont - There's the amazing Sydney Fish Market there, a branch of Simon Johnson (cheeses, luxury import items like Valrhona and Mariage Freres), the monthly growers markets (Good Living Growers market on the first saturday of each month)..hmm.. maybe *I* need to move to Pyrmont..

Cookaburra: Omega has closed down, unfortunately. Maliaty: My favourite place to eat in Sydney is Yoshii, if you like Japanese food. Also Pier at Rose Bay, especially just when the sun is setting. I revisted Quay recently and had a very good meal there (mud crab congee was a highlight). We took some photos, which are here http://blog.lemonpi.net/?p=788 if you're interested in seeing what the food is like.

Amazing first attempt chocolates! They're gorgeous!

Rick Tramonto's Amuse Bouche recipe book has some savoury foam recipes (blue cheese, potato and vanilla,...).. but I haven't had a chance to try them out yet. At my work, we've used a coconut foam, vanilla, and almond milk foam for various things in the pastry section. At home, I've substituted ordinary milk for low-fat, lactose-free milk, so I guess it's possible to make low fat foam.

With the fizzy fruit, I've found that 2 x C02 canisters makes a small handful (eg. ten small ones) of grapes wonderfully fizzy. Filling to the third or half way mark requires more canisters - the grapes are still carbonated, but not as fizzy. Once the canisters have been inserted, I leave it to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before using.

I gather that one can 'whip' rather than 'churn' an ice cream mixture. (And freeze the foam.) Question: Is this a reasonable alternative to an ice cream maker? (I'm looking for more justification for buying one!) ← You'd probably have to drastically change your ice cream recipe..? I'm guessing you won't get the right desirable ice-cream consistency, even if you could do this.

Don't know if anyone has pointed this out already, but last week in Good Living (food supplement of the Sydney Morning Herald) there was an article about someone attempting Blumenthal's perfect sausages, with verdicts given by various people in the food industry. The pictures (not all included in the online version) were very funny as well. http://www.smh.com.au/news/good-living/per...5685603638.html

I noticed no one has listed Muck 'n' Muffins in Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal, so I thought I'd mention them - it's a cute little pottery studio/coffee shop run by two sisters who do all the pottery. Worth checking out if in the area. http://www.mucknmuffins.com/

It looks great, and I'm a sucker for a bargain, but I can't imagine where I would put it if I were to get it! We're in a small apartment, and unless we sell the car and use the car space to house it .. it's going to be hard driving a tandoor to work.. hehe

I was in Belfast about a month ago. James Street South was pretty good. Might've been the best meal out I had in NI. Took a few pictures, if you want to see what the food is like (might be a bit blurry though) http://blog.lemonpi.net/?p=323 Also was at Deanes Deli http://blog.lemonpi.net/?p=299 Have been to Alden's, Restaurant Michael Deane and Cayenne on previous visits. Nothing very memorable, but of the three Alden's would be the one I would go back to.

If this is a help at all, I use ground almonds for macaroons, but pass it through a sieve and use the bits left behind for something else, eg. a frangipane tart.

I watched this recently and actually quite enjoyed it - or maybe it's because here in Oz we're a little starved of good food programs. HB has a great way of talking to the camera - not all talented chefs command good screen presence as well. And I thought it was hilarious the way he bashed the dry ice and tried to make his own treacle. It seemed a bit pointless, but still appealed to me in a geeky/sciencey kind of way.

In Sydney, Essential Ingredient stocks callebaut and lindt couvertures, as far as I know. I've only ever seen Valrhona available at Simon Johnson. Haven't seen any heavy duty chocolate moulds in either of those stores. Essential Ingredient only has the cheap plastic ones. But I spotted some one-off good quality moulds at Chefs Warehouse a couple of months ago. They were on special - maybe they were seconds. There's a company in Sydney called Deshel that stocks to the hospitality industry.. I don't know if they do retail as well, but they have gianduja, nut pastes, Boiron purees etc.

I usually go to chefs warehouse or essential ingredient (which is now in Crows Nest) for basics. For frou-frou kitchenware (good quality, good looks, but a bit more expensive), I like Accoutrement in Mosman.

I'd just like to add, now that I'm back from my London trip, that I found Macaron to be a bit disappointing. Perhaps it was because it was a Sunday and perhaps they had run out of most things from their range, but considering we had to go specially to Clapham to check it out, they didn't seem to have much sweet stuff on offer. There were only two types of macaroons (the mint-green one was pretty, but the mintyness was not to my taste, and a red fruit one which was okay) - both of which were not a patch on La Maison's chocolate macaroon or Laduree's salted caramel one.