haresfur

Not sure how it would be on those fish but my go-to now for salmon is to crust the fillets with crushed dried caperberries. A fellow has been selling those at our farmers market and I have been having a lot of fun playing with them. Not so overpowering as regular capers

If you try a new flavour of potato chips from the grocery and don't like it, you pay for it and feed the rest to the dog. Same thing. That being said, there is nothing wrong with letting the restaurant know that you didn't like the food but it is up to them to decide whether to take it off the bill or not. If the food was actually spoiled I think you would have a case. But ultimately, pay the bill and absolutely tip the waitress. I let a very nice restaurant know that one of the dishes was really excessively salty to our taste - really to let them know rather than expecting anything. It was nice of them to take it off the bill, but they didn't have to. I mean why else would they ask, "How was everything?"* *I had friends who liked to choose a pretty ordinary pizza place for lunch. So when asked how the food was, my answer was always, "Up to your usual standards."

The lockdown restrictions on regional Victoria Australia have just eased, although Melbourne is still isolated. This means the other states are easing their border restrictions so that crews can come in to harvest crops. This is huge for the food industry. There are still issues because they can't bring in workers from other countries but it helps.

Here's an Australian Aldi contribution from the frozen section Not too bad. Not excessively cheesy, in spite of the unincorporated wad you can see, and not overpowered by the leek. No tin so served right side up. They also do a slow-cooked beef version that is decent. Still not quite the same as going to the bakery.

Now that you mention it, my father would often use his mock Hollandaise (roux based)

No beef offal pies?

My way, adapted from my father's, is not necessarily the best but works for me. Trim off the stem. Trim off the top of the bud - this makes the next step nicer by removing the spikes. You don't need to get all the spikes, just cut it off to expose most of the inside leaves. Then I run the artichoke under cold water, gently spreading the leaves apart. Getting water down inside and spreading the leaves apart speeds up the cooking considerably, especially for big ones. Then I put in a deep pot with a couple of cm of water and steam until you can pull the leaves off easily. My father was big on brown butter but I really like dipping in balsamic.

I take it you are a collector? The pot actually has a bit of a history - an ex-girlfriend swiped it from her grandmother, Florence Greenberg, who founded Scepter records and was apparently quite a character. Not that I have any documentation of the provenance.

This could have gone in the moka-pot thread but really, I dug the pot out as an excuse to use one of the Rosenthal coffee cups I inherited. I love reviving ancient topics.

I'd look to eastern Asia where there are all sorts of interesting snacks. One of our local grocers had a special on these and it didn't take me long to become addicted

Maybe it would be better to leave them to grow for another year

Australian meat pies from the bakery do not come in aluminium, except maybe family size pies. Nor do the frozen "party pies" - about 4 cm diameter pies for finger food. I suppose I could take one for the team to show them to you but they are pretty ordinary (Australian for pretty awful). Some of the other grocery store pies come in tins. There is a barbaric South Australia thing about flipping a meat pie upside down into a bowl of split pea soup as a Pie Floater.

I do a lot more sous vide then freezing than I do freezing then sous vide

'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze' The pies are from the Eaglehawk Bakehouse. The Borough of Eaglehawk, now part of the city of Bendigo, may or not be the Eaglehawk of the poem. No matter, we have embraced it and they have recently constructed a marvelous Mulga Bill themed playground. And lest someone thinks we are straying too far from food, my belief is that a sense of place is as important as a sense of plate in the way food nourishes our souls.

Here is an Aussie Vanilla Slice. Canadian Date Slice for scale. Don't Napoleons have more layers of pastry?

Mulga Bill - lamb and potato and a chicken and mushroom. Chicken pie needs more mushrooms. Crust on both was very good imo

I have cut baby bok choy in half lengthwise, put them in the steamer cut side up, spooned on some hoisin sauce and then steamed. Not too bad.

Here's another source for the Australian terminology. Sorry you don't find it helpful.

Kind of peripheral to this topic because it is sweet. - vanilla custard sandwiched between layers of puff pastry. Every country bakery has won awards for their vanilla slice 😀

According to the all-knowing internet, it is from the shoulder

Wow, you must be remote! Want me to send you a meat pie and a vanilla slice? 😀

Thank you about the serving plates. It was nice to get a few out - I'm a pottery nut, too, and have lots.

The lamb was only boiled for long enough to heat through so it was still very pink inside

If someone were to ask for a recommendation for nice dining in Bendigo, I would probably send them to Mason's of Bendigo. They specialise in mostly local food. Obviously it's a tough time for them and they have responded by offering "Masons at Home" meals. Some assembly required. You need to order in advance and there are a limited number of slots. It turned out to be a delicious meal and was very nice to set your own pace. The little bit of heating and plating gives you something to do between courses. Here is a running commentary of this week's meal: Showed up at 5:30 for our designated pick-up time. Was sternly warned to get the ice cream into the freezer first thing upon getting home. The meal came in two big (blurry) paper bags. The herbs were in the smaller one: The menu, like the ones at the restaurant is printed on the back of their signature place mats: The loot. Shiso and Lemon Balm for garnish are in pots, upper left. Plenty left over for planting (I've had some success planting herbs from the same supplier): Comes with instructions: The beef brisket bun course was the only one that needed actual cooking instead of just reheating: Next up was the pork scotch with delicious funky black vinegar noodles. The pork was a bit salty for my taste but the whole dish came together really well. The main was lamb shanks cooked perfectly, although I might have been tempted to reheat them sous vide rather than boiling (I think that's probably how they were originally cooked). I realise that when I've done them, I leave them in too long and they start to fall apart too much). Served with charred cauliflower salad, and roasted brassica (so much fancier than broccoli 😉) - both really good veg: And, of course, dessert, macaron sandwich with berries and ice cream garnished with fresh flowers: Nearly forgot, a local Heathcote Malbec from our own stash:

I have yet to meet a sausage roll I like. My bakery will often run a special where they throw one in free when you buy two pies. Makes the dogs happy.