Saffy

Kulfi... wonderful stuff! Now If only I could make it the way it should be.

These suggestions sound so good!! Gonna be cooking a lot of leeks I think :)

I won't show you mine 'till you show me yours. Leek Tart Flakey pastry ( pate brisee ) or filo pastry for the crust 3 lbs of leeks - washed and roughly chopped 4-6 tblspns butter Salt to taste freshly ground black pepper 2 large eggs 1/2 cup of creme fraiche 3 oz freshly grated gruyere cheese Make the pastry shell and chill ( 10 inch tart pan ) Preheat oven to moderately hot. ( around 220C ) Prepare the filling Melt the butter in a large pan add the leeks and salt and pepper to taste and cook until the leeks are soft but not brown, covered. Drain leeks if they have given up a lot of liquid. Combine the eggs and creme fraiche and mix until blended. Add the leeks and half the cheese. Mix again. Pour into the chilled tart shell and sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper. Bake until nicely browned and filling is set about 30-40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature We had this last night with seared salmon steaks and a white wine/shallot/lemon butter sauce. MMMMMMmmmmm :)!!

I have a recipe here for a Leek Tart which looks quite good. So that will be dinner in our house this evening. It dawned on me today that Leeks are one of my favourite veges, it's a pity they are seasonal :/ What are some of your favourite ways to prepare leeks? Or do you despise them ? I would also be interested in any other Leek Tart recipes that you might have hanging about in your kitchen

steens will do mail orders, even overseas :))!!

I never refrigerate eggs - that spoils them for a number of things and makes the whites watery if you are beating them for pavlova - eggs always at room temperature. Never refrigerate - olive oil Never ever ever refrigerate tomatos it spoils the flavour Butter - some out at room temperature for spreading , some in the fridge Onions - never in the fridge, they go softer quicker carrots - always in the fridge helps them keep condiments - depends on the condiment, on the whole I look on the jar to see what is required if it is purchased, if it's homemade I always refrigerate.

If you are looking for indian cuisine imparticular, some things that are really popular with my vegetarian daughter ( has been since day 1 ! ) are samosas ( not to heavy on the spices ) and a pumpkin and lentil korma curry which she loves! If you are not looking specifically at Indian food, then baked beans are an excellent one for getting that much needed protein and iron into a growing child.

I use to come home, sneak into the kitchen grab anything that was in the fridge and devour it, drink several glasses of water, run to the bathroom and brush my teeth, then go say goodnight to them. Of course you have to time that correctly, so that you are late enough that your parents are in bed, but not so late that they are livid about you being late.. of course .. that was so many years ago now I can barely remember it

These suggestions are all wonderful!! :)

Thanks for these! I am going to make my way slowly through each suggestion until we have tried them all. Tonight I made the honey,mustard soy sauce and olive oil suggestion and it was really good :) It tasted a lot like the marinade I make for chicken nibbles with honey, soy sauce and cold tea. As I try each one I will come back and post. Thanks again :)

I usually avoid buying chicken drumsticks because I invariably end up looking at them in the fridge and nothing creative springs to mind. That is exactly the situation I find myself in at the moment, with 8 of them sitting in my fridge waiting to be prepared for tonights dinner. Does anyone have a recipe/ideas for a quick but tasty way of coating them to fry or bake ? Any other ideas for preparation are very welcome.

I think if you look at the chances of talking to someone in a resturant while they actually have food in their mouth, you will find the chance is quite high, especially if you have just started your meal, and you are hungry and you are me - more eating less talking! :)

Try baked banana peels .. now that's bad.. and as for the nutmeg.. I don't think I will be trying that anytime soon! :) btw.. I had a couple of mouthfuls of absinthe and decided there were more pleasant ways to spend my time - like eating the freshly made pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies!! :)

Nope, I am not from Finland, I am from the opposite end of the planet! :) New Zealand. There is a restaurant here that makes the most fabulous licorice icecream. It's very popular. If I had an icecream maker I would make it myself, but I never seem to have enough time to do it the old fashioned way. Trying to get it beaten at the right times is just too tough. So I have to save up for one :/

Mangetout - snow peas - the flat ones in the pod that are nice to eat whole and raw. swede - rutabaga ( sorry not sure of your spelling ) muscovado sugar - this is a type of sugar that is unrefined and still has a high molasses content. look to see if the recipe states light or dark and substitute light or dark brown soft sugar if you can't get muscovado. Muscovado is also called barbados or moist sugar I believe.

Licorice icecream.... mmmmmmmm

My hubby and I just found this in our local store this week , first time I have ever seen it there. I did not know you even had special glasses for it. I was wondering what the best way is to drink this stuff.. I heard a rumour that you were supposed to mix it with water and sugar ? I am almost too scared to try it.. what is the general opinion on it out there ?

hehe ..having one of those days Tommy ?

I like to have my salad with my main meal When I was in the US this too seemed to be an almost impossible request in many places. I would get " are you sure madam ? " oh yeah.. and calling me madam.. makes me feel old ! blah I think I am on a roll here.

Or worse when you know that the product has always been in the same sized can, and a recipe states that you need 1 - 2 oz more than the can holds. Oh yeah.. one other thing.. recipes that sound perfectly alright, until you get to ** one cup of bisquick**

I hate it when.... recipes have things like "- 3 squares of baking chocolate !!! ??" How much is a square, how big, how much does it weigh When they state a brand but not the product!! 3 tblspns of shreddo .. what the heck is shreddo ?? !! and I hate it when.. I am grating nutmeg or parmesan and I grate my finger

babaghanouj (or babaghanoush) -- different spellings: roasted eggplant, tahini, LOTS of garlic, lemon juice, salt. thats the one !!!

aww Kim, I think that's sad :( I guess as they get older it changes a little. I have always tried to give my kids what they like to eat, therefore they feel good about it and are not embarassed to eat it. I had to laugh the other day. My daughter ( 14 ) took a slice of mudcake to school with her lunch - she said to me when she got home " Mum did that cake have alcohol and coffee in it ? " " Yep" I said " coffee and Tia Maria " " ahh ok "was the reply .. " me and my friends thought there was.. they wanted to know if you can make some of that for camp next week? " I asked her if she had been analysing my cake. " Oh yes .. your baking is the favourite at school everyone always likes to see what I have for lunch, they just have boring stuff " So there you go.. I doubt that that attitude would have been there when she was little, but as the kids have got older they almost like to " show off " what they have for lunch I think. Sooo Leah is off to her school camp for a week with 2 specially made mudcakes

My children are like yours , they tend to have very adult tastes. Pita pockets stuffed with filling of choice, my kids like tabouleh and cubes chilli coated chicken. Or lamb kofta with yoghurt and garlic sauce and lettuce. thick slabs of bread with a selection of sreads in small containers. most often it is pesto, hummus, fava bean puree and umm I forgot the name.. the eggplant spread. They like the DIY approach for lunches. Today everyone went out the door with leftover chicken korma with sweet potatos and red lentils with basmati. My son adores taking rice balls ( onigiri ) wrapped in nori strips with teriyaki chicken in the middle. I give him a little container of soy sauce and wasabi to take along with this one. Often I just cook the rice ( kohishikari ) and he likes to make them himself the night before - he's 12 Another favourite of my kids is bagels with salmon, capers, onion and cream cheese. They always take fruit or raw vegetable strips, some homemade baked goods of somekind ( today rhubarb and cinnamon muffins ) usually cheese and a muslie bar of some kind. Date, cream cheese, celery and walnut sandwhiches go down well too.. sounds like a strange combination but it works. Found this link on for making Onigiri for kids - so even better they might like to refine their skills on their own! :) Onigiri

Helen, of all places you can buy it in Dunedin at the Meat warehouse in Hillside Rd. They make it themselves to what they say is an old original recipe. I am not sure if they will do a courier order for you to another place or not. BUT, I lived in Christchurch for a good many years and a small resturant called Zydeco also had Andouille sausage on the menu, they obviously had a supplier there too. It might pay to phone around a few butchers or even places like Verkerks ( that make all the salami etc ) for stockists, am sure you will find someone that makes it close to you. If you have a local cajun style resturant... you could phone them, they may know where you could get it from.