Brianemone

My Wife and I will be visiting Sydney in July. I've already booked Tetsuya's and will be heading to Bentley Bar at the recommendation of Adam Chef. We need to decide on another restaurant to visit while there. I don't know if we will be going for a full tasting menu at the third restaurant but will consider anything as we will at least have time to save if that is what we decide. Price is a concern, as I am a student, but given that this is the first trip away without the kids we want to enjoy ourselves so it's not the only concern.

Cereals and grains. Rice enjoys almost universal popularity, what about the rest? Relegated to porridge and sugar coated breakfast food.

I've got a bunch of things I want to do and have serious regrets about not getting around to them when I was in a part of the world close enough to do it. Fresh Foie and Durian are two things I want to try, then there are the restaurants I want to visit, lots and lots of restaurants.

I just got this as an early christmas present from my Wife. Great looking book with lots to read through and apply in different areas. One thing that did surprise me was the sheer volume of components to dishes involving hydrocolloids. It seemed like every dish had at least two varieties of jellies.

I really enjoyed what I saw of the series. My only problem with it was that the blasted channel that showed it here in NZ decided that 11pm would be a good time to air it.

I have always disliked the label of molecular gastronomy, I guess in part it is because I feel it pigeon holes peoples expectations and possibilities. People often think that I am focused on this direction of food, in reality I just love new techniques and ingredients, when I first learnt about braising I did it at least 3 times a week for dinner, where as spherification only held my interest for a limited period of time as it has fewer practical applications. I much prefer the term Progressive Cuisine as it seems to encompass past and future.

I'll be happy to go quarter on the Activa. Have you tried using Wheat Starch? I believe Trisol is this. Perhaps a specific version, but it might be worth trying before forking out cash for it. I think I need to write a guide for finding ingredients like this and post it up on my blog so that Kiwi's can find this stuff when they want to experiment.

Update for you Leslie. I contacted Kerry, they don't really deal with individuals and act more as an importer. They also had a minimum order of 50 units, it comes in 1kg bags........ I don't know about you but I don't need 50kg of meat glue. There is a resaler called BUNZL. They have a website but I couldn't find Activa listed there. I have called them and they do in fact sell it in the individual units (1kg). The price however is a little high. It costs 256$ ex gst per bag. I can't justify buying a whole KG at that price, especially as I wouldn't get used a whole lot for feeding the kids. I might consider a shared buy though if someone else wants some.

Have you had any luck tracking down some Transglutaminase yet? I wouldn't mind getting some as well.