Fibilou

It never bothered me being one of only a couple of females in a big, male dominated kitchen. Yes, we were probably treated a bit differently, but that generally meant that one of the blokes would carry over the 20kg bags of flour from the stores, that we avoided having to clean out the fat fryer and the extractor units. to be honest, a little sexism is preferable in my eyes to spending the afternoon scrubbing out a fryer. I'd rather be treated courteously out of sexism than rudely and sworn at, just for the sake of some sort of "equality".

Has anybody tried making a very large, gateau sized macaron ? I'm thinking a full sized gateau might be nice for my Boxing Day dessert buffet - any advice on timings etc ?

Our trusty digital has bitten the dust and I'm after a new camera. Maximum spend of around £250 - $500. I want something that is going to produce nice pictures for my cake business and to post on here.

Damn you, Dougal ! there went £19.50...... my husband will have a pink fit, I promised faithfully I would buy no more cookery books this year... have cunningly sent it to my parents' address so he thinks I've had it for ages. What a cookbook addict won't do to get her hit...

These are some pictures of macarons I made for my recent wedding. It was the first time I had made them and I was pretty pleased. Rose macaron shells. The crushed pink stuff on the top was crushed candied rose petals bought on a trip to Paris. Black sesame shells The finished macarons. Some flavours were more sucessful than others. The pistachio, while delicious, were very hollow. The lemon ones, to which I added lemon curd, came out wtih a very odd shell. The coconut ones, while they tasted lovely, did not resemble macarons at all, and would need to have a much finer coconut in another attempt. Can't believe I was taking photos to show you lot in the middle of our wedding reception this was the black sesame and coffee one. These were the rose petals with which the ispahan style desserts were garnished, thankyou to everyone who told me how to achieve the dewdrop. All in all I was pretty pleased wtih the macarons, and will be making some more for Christmas. I used the PH recipe with meringue italienne and most were filled with buttercream. The salted butter caramel ones had a light sprikling of maldon salt and the caramel filling. They were delicious, so delicious in fact that they never made it to the reception as I ate them all in the morning

harhar ! if only my cookbook budget would stretch to a Bulli book....

Tukka - Authentic Australian Cooking Because wattleseeds, balmain bugs and widgety grubs are not easily found in the wilds of East Susssex !

Prawncracker, where do you buy boar bacon ? Sounds interesting..

My leftover yolks always disappear before I have a chance to use them as my husband steals them and makes an artery-busting egg yolk heavy omelette.

We stayed overnight on Monday for a luxury Yuletide "booze cruise" in the hotel, and had the tasting menu "retour aux sources" Unfortunately I cannot remember the canapés served with our drinks in the bar as I was engrossed by the cognac cupboard (a thing of beauty) The breads served were brioche, ficelle, a campaillou style roll and a seeded wholemeal variety. Unsalted butter and 2 varieties of salt on the table - sea and plain table. the bread was constantly brought round, I consider myself greedy but was surprised at the sheer quantities of rolls being consumed by the other diners - at the table next to us, 4 businessmen, they were taking 3 or 4 rolls at a time First course was described as scallops, lettuce, cepes and champagne vinegar. The dish itself came in 3 plates and actually consisted of 3 variations on the scallop theme - one served with an emulsion and cepes, one on a very thick puree of lettuce and the final one served with a warm champagne vinegar vinaigrette and brunoise of beetroot. The beetroot was my favourite presentation. I was not so keen on having 3 plates in front of me - this was a little unwieldy and left one wondering what to do with the empties. Second course, Sea Urchin with spices and a mousseline sauce. We had not tried urchin before and this was the prime factor in the menu selection. the mousseline sauce was more of a foam, and was extremely light. This dish was certainly, erm, interesting, and no doubt extremely good if you enjoy the unique taste and texture of sea urchin. We gamely finished the dish, but I would have been grateful for more of the foam. i would not choose it again ! The 3rd course was a fillet of John Dory served in a light vin jaune sauce. Vin jaune is a dessert style wine from the Jura region of France with quite a particular taste. This worked extremely well with the dory and was very succesful in retaining the fresh flavour of the wine. An excellent dish. the "main" course was venison fillet served with a coconut sauce. this was very artistically served but was a very small course indeed. The sauce was again served as a foam, and I think this was one foam too many. I did not particularly enjoy the coconut flavour, which did not really do much for the venison. It was served with jerusalem artichoke puree, which was very tasty. Cheeses were served from the trolley, a wide variety of goat, cow, hard and soft. If i remember rightly I chose Langres, gruyere, boulette d'avesnes (my guilty pleasure) and a soft, local goats cheese. The cheeses were in excellent condition and there were a lot of champenoise cheeses. The waiter knew what he was about and made some good choices for my husband who is fond of soft cheeses adn blues. There were not many blue cheeses on the trolley, which was a shame. Following the cheese were the mignardises, which were a parade and served on the most delectable selection of silverware I have ever seen. Small trays with the chef's name engraved on them on which were served doll sized eclairs and the chocolates. Served on a silver half grapefruit with holes in were two sticks of candy floss, just like at the fair ! there were sugar lollipops, palmiers in silver salvers and my personal favourite, some jellies and truffles served in a solid silver cocoa pod. I was only sorry I didn't have a larger handbag..... I know we had dessert, but I can't remember them It was a selection of 3 desserts again, all on a chocolate theme. I know they were fantastic, but.. oh well. One of them, a light chocolate mousse involved popping candy and there was also a chocolate popsicle. Espresso was served with yet more chocolate, I'm at a surfeited collapse at this point and have to admit defeat. We were given a brioche to take home as well. The food here is very good. I have eaten in better two star restaurants (Chez Dominique in Helsinki being the best) but all in all it was a very pleasant experience. They clearly have a very good pastry chef because all the sweet items were a real knockout. i had read some very bad reviews of the restaurant on tripadvisor, but it just goes to show that lots of the people there aren't very interested in nice dinners ! The service is attentive but not overpowering, although the wine staff are rather puffed up wtih their own importance. However, they did manage to make one bottle of champagne last the entire meal, so I shouldn't really complain ! The wine list has a lot of champagne, as you would expect, with countless permutations and houses. Most of the people in there were drinking blanc de blancs (as were we - Philipponat 1996), and they certainly have a very comprehensive selection. Very nice meal, at 150e per head plus 85e for the wine.

Not a New Years Dinner (my husband is working), but on Boxing Day I am cooking for our respective parents, menu will be very traditionally English Some hot appetisers with a glass or 3 of champagne Potted Shrimps or Roasted Parsnip Soup Trio of Christmas Sorbets - champagne & lime, mulled wine, clementine Roast Wing Rib of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, Horseradish Gravy, roast potatoes, brussels, carrots and roasted beetroot Cheeses (from our latest french foray) wtih homemade fig jelly, homemade caramelised pears in apple jelly, homemade walnut bread Dessert Buffet of mignardises and buche de noel and some fresh fruits

Thankyou all, a request has been sent to Father Christmas

I used to earn £19,000 as a pastry chef in a 5* hotel; that was about 7 years ago but the salary in the UK (outside london) hasn't gone up much.

http://www.garraways.co.uk/c18519/iSi-Cream-Whippers.html Is this the kind of thing I need to be purchasing to make foams ? I'm in the UK

If you want to go for the real authenticity, don't forget to divide off a bit of the pasty to fill one of the ends with jam - for pudding ! I would concur with the person who said stewing steak, potato, swede and maybe turnip. Mind you, my Mum puts all sorts of garbage in hers, from peas to baked beans.

Last reckoning, about 220 and still buying...

i do a bit of casual waitressing - please answer me how do you ask the "is your main course ok or do you think it's awful and want it changed or are you going to eat it and then pretend it was awful to get money off" question ? I usually ask the simple "is everything to your liking ?" when patrons have just started eating their main courses (not with other courses as i find it very intrusive to constantly have a waiter bobbing up and down for your assessment of the food when I am on the receiving end) Do you find this patronizing ? I hate asking, but people expect it and at least it gives me an opportunity to sort out a ghastly meal before it gets out of hand.

something that isn't exactly the same as everywhere else, is not Gordon Ramsay. For a thursday lunch in January. Budget around £150 inc. wine. A proper meal, not some pseudo japanese tosh that is far from japanese or overpriced mezze. Is it me or do all the restaurants just seem to blend into one at the moment ? i am utterly bored of restaurant food right now, and that is a really dire thing for me to say. I wish a chef would invent a new cuisine like the Nouvelle movement in the 70s. Or reinvent Escoffier. Just for something different from endlessly identical meals in samey surroundings served by samey staff. My husband has asked me to book the table ("not le gavroche again please") and I have just run out of steam. I look at the menus and nothing stands out, they are all the same old stuff every time.

So, we are back after a delicious 4 days of feasting. The first night was spent at Chez Dominique. The ambience of the restaurant is modern, clean and professional. The tables are sparsely appointed with red rose, main course cutlery and a glass. No extraneous paraphenalia here. There is lots of glass and modern sculpture decorating the restaurant. We elected to have the 6 course tasting menu wtih their accompanying wines. The meal ranged from finnish/french to totally finnish dishes. Wines were mainly European. Food is very modern, with foams, gels, contrasting textures and ethereal flavours featuring heavily. I will update the menu when I get home and find the scrap of paper hastily scrawled in my drunken state on our return to the hotel ! It was a fabulous meal, easily the best I have taken fork to. The second night was spent in Saslik, the well known Russian restaurant. We requested the "Diamant" room for two, and I was really chuffed to get it. It was pretty busy in the restaurant for a Sunday night. We had originally booked for their buffet lunch but they stopped doing the lunch so offered us their Zakuska starters at half price to make up for it when letting me know. To my surprise tha waitress who gave us the menus knew about our special starter - finnish efficiency at work - and charged us correctly at the end of the meal. We elected to have elk and reindeer for our main courses. The portions at Saslik are massive and seem to have been designed with a hard day's reindeer-driving in mind, so make sure you are hungry ! The food was very nice, although not up to CD standard ! We could not manage a dessert, just coffee. We would not return to the restaurant, simply because it was an "experience" place rather than a place to go for great dining - but for what it was, it was excellent. They have live troubadour music - I was glad we were in the little cosy alcove room and were able to enjoy it peering out from our heavily fringed curtain ! Main courses are priced at an average of 25e We mainly ate from cafes in the daytimes, and bought picnic food from the covered market. The first stall in, the bakery, sells good bread. We also had very nice open sandwiches in a russian stall in the market. Breakfast at the Fransmanni Restaurant in the Sokos Kluuvikatu was as good as I remember, and really good value for money. It was 12e and literally all you can eat - porridge, fruit soup, cookies, breads, cheeses, meats, herrings 3 ways, salads, bacon, eggs, cereals, joghurt, fruits, a parade of food ! It saw us through till dinner time. our third dinner was in a burger bar near the station square. we were so exhausted after 8 days of cuisine that we just wanted chips. Cakes from Fazer were as good as I remember, as was their open gravlax sandiwches. Woefully expensive though. I do NOT recommend the winter restaurant on Suomenlinna - it was awful. Take a picnic with you and huddle up in some shelter.

I made some nougat a couple of days ago, very pleased with the result; I whipped it a bit too long so it was difficult to get out of hte kitchenaid, but tastes good ! It has whole, roasted pistachios and some cherries and candied peel bought on my latest foodie trip in Paris (at G Detout in the Rue Tiquetonne) I discovered that the best way of cutting it neatly is with a sharp knife just dipped in boiling water - cuts very sharply

Must have been beginner's luck because the temper came out perfectly - I have tempered dark chocolate (a long time ago) but never milk before. Really really pleased, will post a piccie when I get a chance.

Update ! I got some solid cocoa butter which i melted and brushed lightly on the moulds. I sprinkled these with lustre dust and then piped in the chocolate. They are a triumph and I will post some pictures when I find the camera.

I don't have enough moulds to make all the chocolates in need in 1 go, but i only have use of hte digital probe for a couple of days. Can I temper a large batch and melt it as required without it going out of temper ?

is corn syrup the same as liquid glucose ?

suitable for macaron filling - any help gratefully received !