pants

Thanks. I thought this might be the case. Problem is I need to wait till next season for a new batch of lemons ... Or buy some at the supermarket, which just wouldn't be the same!

I've been making Katie's limoncello recipe very successfully for a couple of years now, so far always using Meyer lemons. For the latest batch I used Yen Ben, as we have just started getting enough fruit on our tree. Problem is, it is not lemony enough. Not sure if it is the lemon breed or maybe I added slightly more extra vodka than usual. My question is ... can I fix it? The lemons are now finished, but I have plenty of frozen juice and was wondering if I could add a bit of sugar syrup made from the juice. Any help much appreciated - it's OK to drink but not as good as we are used to.

Thought I'd bump up this thread now people may have had more experience with induction. We have a large collection of Le Pentole which we love, but have just made the big decision to go with an induction cooktop. The reason the decision was big was exactly because we did the magnet test on our Le P and it failed miserably, and investing in new pots is an expensive business if you have our champagne tastes. Now, however, we are seeing that Le P is being advertised as induction-friendly. Has anyone had any experience with Pentole and induction since Gary in 2008? Most of our pots are from the 90s, but one was purchased last year (new manufacturer).

Yup, I'm for fresh. We had a fresh garlic shortage recently where I live (go figure ...) and ended up buying a jar of crushed garlic - very pungent when you open the jar, but need to use a LOT in your dish to get the same flavour. My issue with garlic is not the peeling, but whether to crush or chop - crushing involving trying to dig bits out of the garlic crusher and chopping inevitably results in smelly fingers. My latest trick is to grate on a microplane - no stinky fingers and works brilliantly for frozen fresh ginger as well.

We were given one as a wedding present, and I have to admit have used it maybe twice in nearly 12 years. However was recently at my parents' place and cooking a stir fry for 4 - they have no wok and a normal frying pan on the stove was not big enough - so I used their electric frying pan. The size and depth are useful as several posters have said. I have also ear-marked my own one for outside cooking, although have not done so yet.

I am in Madrid at the moment with dh, and have followed this thread for the last couple of days. I thought I'd post some of our experiences as well. We went to Cava Baja last night, trying Tempranillo, el Camarillo and Txirimiri based on the recommendations above. We also tried a few other places while waiting for the others to open (we too struggle with the late Spanish hours). Txirimiri was sensational. I took their business card and noticed that it says "alta cocina en minatura" which I completely agree with. Having already had various plates of nuts and olives with our earlier drinks,the 2 raciones we had were really enough for the rest of the night - very generous portions of first a very rich and tasty boletus ravioli with truffle oil, and second their take on a hamburger - toasts with mayo, lettuce, caramellize onion and a patty of what we think from our poor Spanish was pork mince and duck liver coated in something unidentified but very tasty. It also had a mushroom sauce. Unfortunately we needed to save room for later, so couldn't try any of the pre-prepared tostas at the bar. They also offered some quite different selections to other bars. At Tempranillo we had a plate of very yummy hand cut jamon iberico and a plate of manchego - a bit more cheese than we needed, and at el Camarillo we just had the red pepper spread on bread that came with our drinks, as by then we were very full. At all we just had whatever wine arrived when we asked for vino tinto, and all were very nice. Worth mentioning was our tapas crawl the previous evening - at Calle de Manuela Malasana, in the Malasana district, which is near where we are staying. Firstly, we were there from about 7pm, and nearly everything was already open, and secondly, we tended to get a decent tapas at each bar with our drink (i.e. something over and above simply nuts or olives), so it ended up a cheap evening out. In one place we splashed out a bought 2 very good tostas, one with goats cheese and one with the little fake elvers and (also fake, but how could it not be for the price) caviar, prepared freshly by the sole bartender. I couldn't tell you the actual names of any of the bars, but it is not a long street and worth a wander down in my view. A restaurant that we lunched at and enjoyed, particularly for the rather hectic ambience, was Taberna Maceiras (Huertas 66). Quite a queue builds up and it didn't seem very touristy. The food was very nice but it was watching the waiting staff rush around and manage to keep service running very smoothly that was priceless. We also had lunch at a little place near Reina Sofia, not wonderful in itself, but where we discovered the bargains to be had when ordering the menu del dia. We thought EUR 9 each for 2 courses was good value, but when the bill came and it turned out the price also covered our bottle of wine, bottled water, bread and coffee, we were converted to this way of eating. Next stops Barcelona and San Sebastien, where we have bookings at Gresca and Etxebarri respectively. Very much looking forward to that.

Very sorry not to be able to participate as I am between homes for a few weeks. However as we have just moved out of an apartment and are moving countries, we have spent the last few weeks trying to use up absolutely everything in the cupboards, fridge and freezer - so a quasi participation in this challenge. We were relatively successful, but there was one thing left that really bugged me - a jar of tamarind paste, bought I don't know how long ago for a specific recipe that I can't even remember. Two questions 1) does tamarind paste go off? 2) any ideas on how I could have used it? Seemed such a waste when there must be some good easy uses for it.

Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to report back. Either Bordelaise or Tupina. Or both!

Thanks for bumping this up Forest. Unfortunately I can't help as I have a similar question. We will be in Bordeaux on a Friday in March, and it is very hard to get a tour to the wineries at that time of year. So can anyone suggest somewhere to taste good Bordeaux wines and try some local foods at the same time? Thanks!