Amy D.

@liuzhou thank you. As with most good food in any country I'm sure the best stuff doesn't make it out of the country. I'll have to have a proper look to see what else is available here

This post has just made me want to stock up on different soy sauces to try out. I haven't cooked with dark soy sauce for years because I didn't like the almost bitter molassy aftertaste but tbh that's probably from using an inferior product so I should re-investigate. It's interesting @liuzhou that you say pearl River brand is preferred in china to LKK as in the UK Chinese supermarkets it always used to be the cheaper brand to buy (so the one I always picked up) until more recently years where LKK is now ubiquitous (found in normal supermarkets). Would it be more typical for a Chinese household to have one light soy sauce and one dark or several of each? I ask as for example pearl River sell several different qualities of light soy sauce (silver, gold etc)

So the media keep telling us and yes things are more expensive but people are still buying plenty of takeaways and the high street and town are still very busy with lots of people spending money. We are very privileged with the quality of life that we have here and the variety and options we have that it really annoys me just how negative all the news reporting is.

It's described as mini but it will fill a dinner plate. Chippies went through a phase of offering ever increasing portions to beat the opposition. Now they are readjusting. Undoubtedly traditions are changing, though Friday still sees the longest queues at any chippie. But is the change a bad thing. In the small town I grew up in Gloucestershire 30 years ago the only takeaway option was from half a dozen chip shops and one Chinese. Now there are at least half a dozen different cuisines offered all from independent businesses. Yes some of the pubs have closed down, but instead if having ten poorly run businesses there are a few really well run and characterful pubs offering great selections of brilliant locally produced drinks. Nostalgia is great but change isn't alway bad.

Just another doom and gloom article that the British media love to produce. Yes things are more expensive and yes people and businesses are struggling. Is it the end of the industry. Not at all. The vast majority of towns will still have multiple chippies. The more successful ones will provide a superior product that people with pay the premium for or just make the portions smaller ( no one needed a fish the size of your forearm and a sack of chips anyway). At Matlock bath in deepest Derbyshire yesterday it was £6 for a mini fish, chips and peas. At Scarborough last week it was £8 but that also came with a fishcake and was fried in beef dripping and the sea air. Both meals were more than enough calories for two adults. But most importantly tastes have also changed in the last 20 years. With the takeaway and restaurant industry providing a far more diverse range of cuisines.

Savora sounds more like a piccalilli without the vegetables. French mustard is a definite mustard texture, but with a much sweeter flavour than most. Though savora may have the right spice blend.

Sorry have no suggestions for recipes other than just have a play with the spices and keep adjusting until you are happy. But wow just the mention of French mustard takes me back to eating out in pubs in 90's early 00's with those little sachets of French mustard. Haven't seen it in a while but then I tend to shop in Aldi or lidl so a more limited range. It definitely has its own distinctive sweeter flavour. Nothing like say Dijon but then it doesn't pretend to be. Some times foods in the past were labelled after the country of inspiration or general flavour profile.

Can't get through to the recipe but it looks great, love a self saucing pudding, going to have to make another one soon. Last time I made one I added orange juice and zest, and pieces of orange flavoured chocolate.

Ah that explains why there was loads of greenery on the floor in front of the other supermarket. They had lots of greens for sale in this shop but no lettuce.

We bumped into this lion in Sheffield today when we went to get ingredients for our new year's feast. Does anyone know why the shop assistant is showing the lion around with a leek?

There are so many recipes and tips for Yorkshire puddings but for me and my oven I have found I get consistent results when I make mine in silicone bun (cupcake) case lined cupcake tray. I've just found that I get better puddings that don't stick and clean up is easier. I also only use a drop of sunflower oil (1tbs between all 12) in each one, and usually only heat the pan in the oven for a few minutes, even if it doesn't sizzle as I pour it in they still rise fine. I use a Mary berry recipe that calls for 125g plain flour, 3 eggs and 200ml milk and whizz them together with a hand blender, rarely rest it before using. For a normal midweek meal I actually only do a one egg mix with 40g flour, 65 milk. My Yorkshire MIL told the family last week that her recipe is like dejah's equal parts egg, flour and milk (though that wasn't the recipe she gave me 20 years ago so either she was keeping it secret or she has changed it over the years) though she still uses lard in her pudding pans that she never washes.

Heinz pushed the sandwich spread again in the early 90's when it grew relatively popular, I remember one summer holiday when it was the in thing, but it's really seen now. You could probably find in a larger supermarket possibly lurking near the jars of fish and meat paste...

Thanks I will have to have a better look at the spice mongers here in the UK. Though reading the burlap and barrel's page it describes the funky umami flavours of the white pepper, so it may just be that it's not a spice I like.

I wonder if any there are any sellers that can say that their white pepper is exclusively fermented in flowing water. I always think white pepper tastes of the smell of decaying chicken. I probably eat it fine when it's disguised by other flavours but as a main seasoning white pepper ruins a dish for me. But I love freshly ground black pepper

Xmas dinner with corn fed chicken, had a very similar dinner last night too with the left overs. Followed by a small cheese plate. Sadly didn't manage to get to our local cheese factor before Xmas so only four different cheeses, will visit them in the next few days to improve our variety as we do love a lazy cheese lunch or dinner when we're on holiday.

Sorry I can't give more specific advice as moved away from Bristol 21 years ago, but you may have more luck if you try a Bristol based forum for up-to-date local knowledge. The city always used to have a hippie-ish side to it so a coop would probably be well received, but like many places the city has dramatically changed since my college days. If not there always used to be good green grocers on Gloucester road and in st. Nicholas's market. There are also national veg delivery companies such as riverford. Whilst you're staying there definitely try to take a trip into the next county to Stroud for the Saturday farmers market.

Sadly the article linked is from the daily mail, one of several papers here in the UK that unfortunately just try to stir up hate. I'm not the biggest fan of Jamie Oliver (the original naked chef shows were the only series I managed to watch all of), but I do think that throughout his public career he has acted upon the constructive feedback (you don't have 30 minutes let's make 15 minute meals). Jamie Oliver is just one of those figures that not matter what he tries to do he will still get negative press. TV shows should definitely make some effort to show some respect the economic climate of the viewers, by offering some appropriate programming. However, It will always be a tricky one making a show that draws in the viewers without having an out of touch wealthy presenter that doesn't understand the true difficulties cooking nutritious food on an extremely tight budget, without the benefit of economy of scale. That is not to say I want all the food shows to be on frugal cooking, because, when watching TV, I mostly want to be entertained and distracted from the day to day realities.

Some of the current rotation. OH loves his chilli sauces so we always have a selection in the cupboard. Most farmers/ artisan markets here tend to have someone selling chill sauces, as well as the supermarkets stocking ever increasing ranges so he keeps picking up various blow off your head numbers as well more day to day sauces that are still spicier than I would usually choose. The national mango chilli sauce is very sweet but full of Alphonso mango flavour. Chilli crisp is probably the first sauce that I have found I want to eat with everything, probably more for it's savoury flavour than heat. The encona habernero scotch bonnet hot sauce has become my staple hot sauce for making salsas etc as it's got a good flavour and is sold every where here. I loved el yucateco green as it has a fresher taste but need to order that one, so will probably try some of their other profiles when I do.

I love reading about everyone's different Christmas recipes, will definitely have to try the cheese biscuits . We used to make lots of mince pies when I was a child, used to love topping them with a marzipan star rather than pastry top . I haven't made one for years, though I have discovered our local shop freshly bake these thin pies that have my perfect ratio of filling to short pastry, that I would try to replicate/improve on if I had more time but as it is they really hit the mince pie spot! We like to have Christmas day at home with just us and the kids, I always do a Christmas lunch with either goose (my favourite) or chicken (the kids preference) and the star of the meal the pigs in blankets (sausage wrapped in bacon), a nut roast for my veggie oh, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds, stuffing, roasted Brussel sprouts, red wine braised cabbage and carrot and swede mash. Followed some hours later by christmas pudding and brandy butter. we go visit my family and the in-laws on other days, spreads things out and the kids love it as they get three Christmases, we used to end up having three Xmas lunches too though usually now it's more of a grazing buffet affair.

The lady fingers pictured are pretty similar to the ones we get here in the UK (pretty sure ed Kimber is UK based too). Typical Supermarket ones tend to be a bit thinner but most seem to choose to stock the Italian style now. But this could be the issue if you counted out the fingers rather using the weight. Main thing is to ensure the fingers have enough liquid to just absorb and not drench so they don't turn to mush. but any type of sponge is fine, again just adjust the liquid content, we also used to use sliced swiss roll sometimes.

Had a craving for the type of doughnuts I'd normally only be able to buy at a fairground stall (after watching them fry to perfection in the oil and travel along a little conveyer to dump them in the sugar). No fairs this year means I've now discovered how dangerously quick and easy these are to recreate!

@Porthos one of those weird but why not moments, I had to have a quick check of other freezers for sale here and yep they all have drawers .

Good project @dcarch , are open shelves common for freezers in the states? most uprights here have drawers for each shelf Our (only) built in fridge freezer broke down just at the time people started to panic buy. First the fridge went so I picked up an almost free 2nd hand one to tide me over for the few days until the engineer could come out to fix it. Only when the engineer came he couldn't fix the fridge and his attempts killed the freezer too. Whilst it was only a small freezer so I didn't have masses of food in it there, there was enough to keep us going for a month or two, and it was at the point where supermarket shelves were actually being emptied. Turns out people were also panic buying freezers because it took me half a day of searching and ringing round shops before I managed to find (what felt like) the last freezer to be had for miles around. On the plus I have a bigger freezer which means I can make homemade ice cream again, and when things settle down we'll replace the built-in, but for now it's serving as a quaratine snack cupboard.

Yesterday it was a bank holiday in the UK to commemorate VE day. Lockdown meant any public events were scrapped and instead we were encouraged to have household afternoon tea in our gardens. Any excuse to get baking, my daughters (8 &5) helped make three types of scones (plain, cherry and cheese), union jack iced shortbread biscuits (my eldest's idea), a Victoria sponge, red white and blue meringues, and the essential cucumber sandwiches. We spent the afternoon grazing over it and reading passages from my grandparents memoirs of their london wartime childhoods and the years spent as child evacuees.

Aside from the copious amounts of cakes and other home baked sweets, our family of four are consuming lots of buttered toast, eggs and milk and have been all lockdown. Toast has always been my comfort food, but my 8-year-old daughter has always hated it (because of the crumbs) and yet has found a new love for toast in the last few weeks.