[Dry frying]

Chinese long beans in a hot wok with a little salt works great. you have to keep them moving though.  A lot of things I do in the wok receive no oil.

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Try sichuanese dry fried green beans (gan bian si ji dou, i think) that is awesome.

Although the chinese method of dry-frying does use a little oil.

[Empanadas]

Baozi from street vendors all over china. All the types of baozi i can get here use a different kind of dough, and are usually really sweet.

In Beijing I had pickled carrot and chilli ones, so good.

[First meal with your partner...]

He took me to a sichuanese restaurant, and i beat him at the 'i can eat spicier food than you' game, and i still tease him about it 'cause he's from sichuan.

[Raise the Bar]

The bar has been raised: the NSW government has announced its intention to reform the Liquor Licensing Act to make it easier to open small bars and for restaurants to serve alcohol without food.

See The Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cautio...4329224837.html

and The Daily Telegraph for details:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5001021,00.html

And watch www.raisethebar.org.au for further details.

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This is great news, i have friends who promote small independent music nights in sydney they'll be wrapped. It's a bit of a wasteland for the smaller venues that are needed to support a healthy music scene.

[pickling cucumbers in melbourne?]

http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=pickles

this is the recipe i want to try, it suggests grape or oak leaves to keep them crispy.

Suppose i'll have to wait till summer then, for some reason i though cucumbers were a winter thing.

[pickling cucumbers in melbourne?]

I've got a serious Ogorki addiction right now, and i'm just starting to get into preserving.

I've got a recipe I want to try, but I can't find those small lumpy cucumbers anywhere around Melbourne.

Any suggestions?

[Aussie Chefs' Cookbooks]

Speaking of Maggie Beer, has anyone else been enjoying 'The Cook and The Chef' on abc?

I think it's great, best cooking show i've seen in ages.

[42 Below Feijoa Vodka]

The moment I heard of this, I thought that feijoa was just born to be marinated in spirits. From where I am now, I can only dream, so can somebody please tell me if it's any good?

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I've had it a couple of times.

I thought it was pretty good, and i'm not a big fan of feijoa. A very fresh taste, not too overpowering. You could make some interesting combinations with it.

After seeing what a feijoa looks like, I just found out that the street i grew up in was lined with these. My brothers and i used to throw them at eachother for fun.