Ondine

I think of myself as a semi-wing-it cook. Recipes are only ever strictly inspiration. I guess that's why I don't bake often - I tend to find the more structured format of successful baking to be a little frustrating. Even when doing more forgiving recipes like brownies I'll tinker with proportions whether or not I have sternly told myself not to. "That egg looks a little small, maybe I'll add an extra. This brand of semisweet chocolate can get a little sweet. I'll chuck in some extra cocoa. This gingerbread would be interesting with some cardamom; and damn, I'm out of nutmeg - guess I'll use some mace..." That said, I do like to get most of the chopping or measuring type prep done before I actually get started using the power of fire or electricity. When making brownies I have the cocoa, sugar and flour lined up in bowls. And I'll tip the sugar into the bowl that held the cocoa to scrub the last traces out and into the batter. When I make a stew or stirfry the chopped veggies sit in several soup bowls ready to be tipped into the pot as I decide. But when it comes to aromatics or spices I rarely measure or prep mise. I'll shake spices 'by eye' straight into the pot or pan, or impulsively add sloshes, squirts or dribbles of things like heather honey, pomegranate molasses, 4-pepper oil or garlic vinegar. The only time I prep seasonings is when I make up a marinade. And it's never the same twice. (The inability to duplicate a dish is the only thing that frustrates me about the way I cook. Sometimes I'll add saved dribbles or sauce or dripping leftovers and the result is truly WOWSTUFF! but will never happen again. ) I also tend to wash up as I go. After finishing my prep I wash the stuff I can, then run a sinkful of hot soapy water. As the cooking proceeds used dishes and bowls get tossed into the sink to soak until cooking is over, wherupon they get washed and the prep area wiped down before "Come an' geddit!" is called. After eating, the leftovers are stored and put away, the dishes and cookpot is washed, and the stove is cleaned. As I have a couple of meowing scavenger children-substitutes the main kitchen bin is out in the open (not lidded or in a cupboard), but secured under a milk crate known as 'The Cat Cage'. During prep and cooking I have a temp bin (a large unleaky plastic shopping bag) on the counter which gets finally tied up and stuffed in the bin. Any meat, bone or bloody refuse goes straight out into the main garbage bin outside and never stays in the house overnight. Skimmed off fat goes into recycled tin cans in the freezer to be thrown out when full. All this tends to happen this way as only I ever cook, prep or wash in my kitchen. My best friend and housemate sometimes cooks eggs but abides by my rule of "I don't want to have to deal with it if you cook", washing and cleaning it all up. I get a leetle bit antsy about My Kitchen. So what category do I fall into?

Matsukasa, that is awful news. I am so sorry. I wish I could be there to offer support and a great good meal with great good wines to maybe help a little. The only thing I can say to both you and Pumpkinlover is that it will get better. It may take some time, but it will. I promise. I'm sending you an amazing bottle of wish-Barolo via the WIsh Fairy right now.

Didn't drink or like seafood eh? Sounds like time to make a nice big pot of cioppino or bouillabaisse, and wash it down with bottles of red wine! When I had my last (nasty) breakup I too turned to eGullet for advice. Even though it was almost a month before I could physically taste food again - my tastebuds just went on strike, strangely enough. I ate out a lot, at places he hated going to, ordering stuff he hated. (Which I loved, of course - no point suffering more!) Despite a lot of advice to do prep-intensive cooking, I found that that only soothed me after the first initial anguish burn had faded somewhat. Otherwise I wound up thinking over things yet again in a self-destructive way. Blurring out that downward spiral with sensation (I guess that's where the alcohol and caviar comes in) helped more, to start with. Afterward, when I could actually mourn (in an active way) as opposed to feeling the pain (in a passive way) the extensive stew making helped lots. (I hope that made sense to you. I tried rewrtiting it but it all sounds a little incoherent to me.) I wish you good times again soon. And may your life never echo Jerry Springer (like mine did !).

Steaks that have been allowed to steam in their own juices in a pan - in other words, grey from end to end without a trace of browning. Makes them limp, dense, grey slabs of superchew. And any fat or gristle (which I must admit I like to gnaw on) turns into silicone window sealant. Was served this once when I was much younger in a joint in Singapore that was trying to franchise "affordable western food in your neighbourhood" in the early 80's. Blech.

I always thought flapjacks were another name for pancakes. These look like home-made muesli or granola bars. Is this a particularly English term or confection?

Hey there all. Am about to leave for my own work potluck-cu-barbequeue in about 30 minutes. I work in pathology and one of our department Pathologists has kindly invited us all to hold it at his place, and will also be providing basic meats (steak, chops, sausages) as well as beer, wine and sodas. This is awfully sweet of him. We all like him a lot. The rest of the staff are bringing other things - the boys are bringing seafood and poultry, the girls are bringing desserts and salads. I've made a really huge caprese salad to bring, with EVOO, sea salt, organic tomatoes (about 6 lb!) and some really fresh mozzarella and basil. I don't know how well it'll be received as this crowd thinks you can buy good blue cheese at the local supermarket. But tomato salad should be simple enough to be okay. It's getting stinky hot here in Australia as summer sets in with a vengeance. It'll be over 34C today (I think that's over 90F? I could be wrong - help me out here?) so it's a good thing that said pathologist lives right on the beach in a slightly moneyed area. I'll let you all know how it went, like Okbrewer did. SOrry, Okbrewer, for just jumping in here to semi-hijack your thread like this. I just didn't want to start a new, too-similar thread.

Hey there Romany O'Malley and welcome to Perth for your trip! I would recommend going to Kailis Bro.s in Leederville for your fish. They are one of the state's biggest seafood purveyors and importers, and the shop is not only at one end of the shopping strip, it's open 7 days a week. I would also recommend Mondo di Carne in Inglewood (corner of Beaufort and 6th streets) for meat. They carry a wide range of meats including organic pork and lamb, and White Rocks veal. And just down the road at 965a Beaufort st is my all time favourite italian restaurant, Da Bruno's. They don't have a printed menu. The day's selections are all up on a series of chalk boards, and the antipasti is all freshly made in the kitchen - nothing greasily out of jars and bottles. (08 9272 3755) Anyhow, enjoy Perth - I love the place, that's why I live here!

I just recently moved house and the logistics were unusual. With the kitchen largely packed I found myself at a loss to feed myself and my volunteer moving crew of good friends. We wound up going to a nearby Turkish kebab place where I paid for kebabs and hommus all round. What did you do when your kitchen was out of commission? It could be due to moving house, like me, power cuts, to renovations, or broken fixtures. Did you break out the charcoal grill? Did your microwave work overtime? Or did you just ring for pizza? And on a related moving-house note, did you have any particular plans when emptying the fridge? Did you design meals to use up everything or did you just throw it all out? Or did you take the easy way out and just haul everything - including the almost-empty jam jars you kept telling yourself to discard? Inquiring minds want to know.

Hey all you wonderful eGullet folks! This is a question for all you Melbournites out there. I will be making a lightning visit to Melbourne from the 11th to the 15th, with mostly free nights. It's for a (ducks head ) SF convention called Continuum. (Anyone going? I might see you there.) I would like to know where I should eat, with a budget of about $30-50 a head without wine, and of any ethnicity at all. I have had suggestions of Vue de Monde and Li Li's, but they seem a little pricey. Any ideas? I will be staying a short walk from the Queen Victoria markets and will not have access to a car. Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated. Especially ones along the line of,"That place looks good but don't go there because of ..." Thanks heaps in advance! Edited to mention that I have actually read the thread on Melbourne eats but am specifically unable to splurge (sigh) at the destination places like Flower Drum. Sorry. (pout)

I'm breathing, I am! I'm sure if I stopped I'd notice. Pan: I do feel like I'm a very lucky girl with this breakup. I have lots of friends and family, both online and off, who are showering me with support. And I have one of the very best therapists ever. He agreed today that I needed more intensive sessions, and when I told him I couldn't afford it, told me he'd charge only $5 more than the Medicare rebate, which is about $130 - I'd get $125 back from the government! Apparently part of the problem was the fact that I've been going to therapy in the first place It seems to happen in a lot of relationships - when one person starts to change, heal and become more confident and centred, the other person often cannot cope with the changes. I guess now he needs the therapy! On another note, I got myself to get back into food today - I'm starting to do the whole comfort food thing, but slowly, so my shrivelled stomach can cope with the new workload. What did I eat today? Over the course of today, aside from many pots of tea, I had two grapes, a childsized cone of stracciatella gelato, with the tiny chocolate shavings in. And I had dinner tonight. It was kinda like JennyUptown - I could eat if I was across the table from someone at a restaurant. I had rare grilled pink snapper with a suppli risotto cake and tomato concasse with lemon basil oil, and a shared side of tiny sauteed garlic and parsley mushrooms. Dessert was a tasting plate: a saucedish-sized serving of passionfruit creme brulee, a 70% cocoa truffle, 2 thumbsized chunks of panforte, and two tiny, penny-sized tarts - one caramel and pinenut, the other lemon curd. Having starved for so long, the flavours today were larger than anything I'd ever imagined. That creme brulee nearly blew my head off. It was scarily intense!

Comfort Me, Gifted GOurmet: Yup. Um, hee hee. I guess so (blush). Now I just gotta go find one. Rachel Perlow: I wish! I don't think they make blenders that big - ex was 6 ft 6. And I'm thinking I'll just give his stuff to some impoverished college students who, while they may not trash it, certainly will neither appreciate nor take care of it. Pan: I see what you mean. I have thought long and hard about it all. Having been to a lot of sessions I do know how to make allowances for my own bias. Having said all that, it is quite obvious that it was way more his fault than mine. I think it's time to go shopping for a BIG tub of honey. Mags: Where do I get a copy of this Guidebook? Obviously my copy got lost in the mail somehow! Gonna try to cook some today. I have a kilo of organic lamb chops defrosting. Hm. garlic, lemon, walnut oil and Grey Goose? And my gay friends want to take me out dancing. Hope I'll have the energy!

Heh. Would love to but there's a slight hitch. I currently don't want anyone else, or even a fling. sigh I ate something today!!! Work has free pizza on fridays and I had two pieces after not ingesting anything but black tea and water for 50 hours. I made myself eat - I'm so proud of my act of will. Still tasted like salty wax though. It was a very weird sensation, feeling your metabolism start up with a vengeance. Almost exactly 40 minutes later I had all the symptoms of a major caffeine rush without the caffeine - the increased heart rate, the quickened breathing and sharper thoughts, as well as the almost imperceptible shake to the fingertips. Just goes to show what a calorie infusion can do. Must try to do that more often.

Sigh. Suzilightning: Those brownies look fantastic. I'm wondering if I can substitute another kind of booze? The petty ex took the bourbon when he moved out. Cusina: The other one I am still living with. Our breakup was more a gentle, sad, fading-away than an abrupt end. We still love each other, but more as once-intimate friends than romantically. He's been wonderful and we've been supporting each other through this. Understandably he's rather steamed at the other guy too. I'd love to join some kind of fitness class but there have been some obstacles to this: 1) I am a medical scientist (read, lab rat) and my roster changes from day to day depending on who's off sick and needs their shift covered. If I'm not on call my working day can vary from 6am to 2pm starts. Full time. It's rather hard to coordinate any kind of regular class with this almost-shift-work. NOt to mention the weeks when I'm on call. 2) I have longstanding joint problems from the lumbar region on down. I'd love to go for long walks and run, but more than 150 yards (Imperial measures for you folks) and Im in agony. I love my car. I've been swimming at the local aquatic centre though. 3) I've not had much energy lately. Not eating will do that to you. I"m trying to eat, I surely am. But when your favourite sashimi literally tastes like slightly salty wax (I didn't think that could happen) and you can't keep solid food down, things get a little difficult. Trying hard here, guys. Even though I dislike sweets I've been drinking strong tea with honey in it to keep up my energy, and thinking lots of ice cream, scrambled eggs and chocolate, just for all of you. You've all been very supportive and I'm terribly grateful. And will be trying to make those brownies, Suzilightning! Anyone else have simple (remember I am baking-challenged), sinful baking treats I can make? I recently bought some silicone muffin trays and haven't used them yet. The petty ex accidentally left his bottle of (unobtainable here in Australia) Grey Goose vodka here as well as his best pair of dress shoes. I'm going to try to think of ways I can combine the two. I love this place, and I love you all!

Ooh, and I thought I was making progress. Last night I had a remarkably callous phone call from the now-ex in which he chirpily recounted how very happy he was to have walked out; no, there was no hope of getting back together, or even being friends. And I'd only just started eating again! I'm guessing it's time to badger the therapist for happy pills. Pan: Yes, he is that expensive. That is because he is the best, without exaggeration. Other clients have moved interstate and overseas to see him. What was the recipe for those cookies again, suzilightning?

Suzilightning: Chocolate chip cookies sound good! Though I doubt Customs and Quarantine would let them through. Bastards would probably eat them. WHich is sad as I can't bake to save my life. Mabelline: I have been indulging in fried noodles (mee goreng, chow hor fun) and weird vegetarian meat substitutes. It's been kinda like I've reasoned that my taste buds are haywire right now, I should try stuff that is totally weird. Strangely enough, traditional starches like bread and potatoes don't seem to appeal at all. And I seem to have totally gone off sugar and chocolate. Judging from most of the previous responses this does seem rather unusual! But I have been drinking lots of tea. So much tea, I slosh when I move. Or maybe not. I do have plans in the works though. I have just come off a killer week of on-call overtime - the boy does have an evil sense of timing, however inadvertant - and my paycheque is burning a hole in my pocket. This weekend I have one of my rare appointments with my therapist ($250 an hour is too much for frequent visits), followed by a half-mad wardrobe shopping spree with a gay friend! Or maybe I shouldn't let him pick out the stuff I wear to work.....

Thank you everyone for all your good wishes, I am trying hard to just get through the days. It hasn't been a week yet. Pan: The breakup is a little complicated actually. I had a partner of 10 years and a partner of 3 years (yes, at the same time; yes, they knew of and liked each other). In a spectacular case of ripple effect a whole lot of things happened and I am now single. And not loving it. Is it time to put my therapist on overtime? I am trying to decide what to have for dinner right now.....mustard sounds good. I'll have to have something with mustard...

What do you eat when you feel down? What flavours help a heartbreak? When you really need something more than that siren-song bottle of scotch or that handful of hanky, what do you reach for? We are all familiar with the cliche tub if ice cream with chick flicks, or the box of chocolate truffles larger than your torso. What else makes you feel just that little bit better about the world for just that little while? I'm looking to hear of habits, inclinations, peccadilloes, and even possible suggestions. I am currently going through a nasty breakup, after a combined 13 year relationship, and things are looking pretty dark. So it's probably a good thing I'm not running the current foodblog or it'd read pretty oddly. Anyways, I am an equal-opportunity topic starter: what about all those eGullet men out there? What would you choose? I'm sure it's not just us girls who do this. Fire away!

I love crunchy prawn shells too! And I have converted my housemates to the love of prawn tail shells too - we fight over them if they're available. I love them from tempura, salt-and-pepper prawns, and those lovely sticky black-soy-sauce-fried whole-shell-on prawns, which I eat whole. The whiskery bits can stick a little in the throat though if you're too enthusiastic. Excuse me, I'm going to to buy me some prawn skewers at my favourite all-night bistro. (Why do we not have a drooling smiley?)

Ya know, when the idea first occurred to me for the cube dessert, I spent a frantic 20 minutes fruitlessly googling for tips when it hit me."Idiot! You're an eGullet member! You've seen odder questions asked." So thank you everyone for coming through for me - I truly appreciate it - and in less than 24 hours too! Huevos del Toro - Thanks for the tips. I could probably separate out a little of the working gelatin and opaque-ify it for creative milky streaks in the cube critter. Frogprincess - I did think of that but for a party I think a series of small ones would have less impact than a big one. Gus_tatory - I have seen that! It looks nifty, doesn't it? Katherine - Wow, thanks for all the info. I will probably try with a small aquarium, maybe 1/2-3/4 gallon. Just one more thing. What flavour should I go for? I like grape or raspberry but I'm afraid that the colour may be a little too deep to see the inserted objects (I'll probably add in the odd big inedible thing too, like green plastic army men). What is the most crowd-pleasing flavour? BTW: The British candy company that made the little jelly body parts is also putting out a new range called Jelly-Atrics, which includes little jelly wheelchairs and walking frames!

I have been invited to a theme party for a friend's birthday, and the theme is Dungeons and Dragons. Having refused to don the elfbabe costume, i decided to get into the spirit by making a jello dessert to bring. Those of you who have had any exposure to roleplaying games may be familiar with a classical monster known as the Gelatinous Cube which was a large, cubical (well, duh! ) transparent jellylike thing that would sweep down dimly-lit corridors and engulf hapless adventurers. (Well, yes, I'll admit I had my RPG phase in highschool too. ) What I am trying to achieve with this dessert is a fairly large (preferably about 10-12 inches high), freestanding cube of largely transparent jelly with little amusing adventurer- type things suspended in it. I have a source for little gummy sweets shaped like body parts (left over from Halloween stock at the shops I think) and was going to make little Indiana Jones whips from thin liquorice strips and so on. I guess what I am asking for help with stems from the fact that I have never in my whole life made a gelatin dessert, much less one this ambitious. Should I make the solution stronger for better upstanding-ness? How do I suspend the objects randomly in it without bubbles? How does one avoid layer-marks in the final product? How does one make such a large cube without a mould? What flavour/colour should I try? I would very much appreciate any help here. The party is in two weeks and I fully expect to do a lot of experimenting after work from now till then. Thanks everyone!

I have to say I do agree with everyone here - unsticking the noodles with hot water before continuing to cook them is the way to go. I am not too fond of the copious oil that the fresh noodles are packaged with (to keep them separate in the bag presumably) so what i tend to do is to soak the whole lot in a large pot of boiling water (which helps to soften them too) and worry the noodles apart with a pair of chopsticks. Then I pour off a good half of the water, which carries most of the oil off. I don't personally feel you have to dry them before frying - in my experience the conjunction of the wet noodles and the hot pan helps prevent the noodles from sticking in the first few minutes before they get coated in the hot oil from the pan. But then again i tend to make noodle dishes that have a bit of sauce/gravy like kwaytio rad naa or saar hor fun. Give things a try and find out what works for you!

Most of the embarrassing stuff in my kitchen is due to my three housemates. Commercial meat pies in the freezertonic water (I Hate the stuff), Froot Loops, cheap strawberry jam, popcorn salt... we make a point of laughing at each other's food quirks. That's why the four of us have stayed together as a household through the last two moves. I don't regard this as an embarrassing thing to find in my kitchen, but I deliberately went out and bought some instant mashed potatoes. Just so I could mix some up and add some white truffle oil, for the ultimate Meal Of Irony - it's almost lethal that way.

I have been discussing this with some friends of mine and thought I'd bring the topic up here for discussion by people who might care . I find that my ideas of when food is cooked are quite different from that of a lot of people I know. For example, I think that fish is overdone when it 'flakes easily from the bone' as stipulated in a number of recipe books. I like it to be just still clinging to the bone. I like my chicken to be just opaque at the centre, with the bones still red in the middle. And I have had arguments with my housemates about pork roasts that are just pearly pink in the centre. And I like my beef still a little bleeding in the middle (though I know this is just me). I like my vegetables to be still crunchy - roasted vegetables I find a little too mushy - and only just having lost that green, sappy raw taste. Long-simmered stews don't seem to hold much charm for me - perhaps it's a texture thing. I don't cook via thermometer either (' roast until attains 165F') as I never seemed to get the hang of it. The thing is, I know that a lot of this is the way I grew up and what I am used to. But I would like to know if any of you guys can tell me: is this just a case of personal idiosyncrasy or is it an actual, established, legitimate cooking style? I mean, does everyone else cook things until it's done, done, done, and I am kinda odd; or am I channelling some strange raw-food impulses? I'm just worried that this may stop me from enjoying wonderful food like the slow-cooked pig barbeque that so many people drool over. Their descriptions sound so good.... Should I be right to wonder?

Yeah, crumbs in the boobies tickle, don't they? You don't want crumbs in the cleavage at 75 mph. They definitely do. And what is it with food drops in cleavage that make everyone egg everyone else to offer to orally remove the offending object?! And it isn't just the men that bring it up either. I remember once at a teppanyaki dinner, when the chef was doing his thang with the crispy-fried prawn heads, that one was flipped underhand towards me. It bounced off the edge of the griddle, skipped in the sauce dish like a stone on a pond (spraying me with sesame goop) and plopped neatly in my cleavage. As it was searing hot and prickly, I instantly went into some very undignified gyrations while my dad and brother howled with laughter next to me. The chef was terribly apologetic and doubled my portion after that. Oh, and for the record, I would say that I am considered fairly busty at 42E. NOt bad for a Chinese lady!.

Thank you, everyone. You've been a great help. I can see many polenta-filled vistas opening up ahead of me... And EJRothman, thanks for the tipe. I will definitely try to seek out that spelt pasta. Cheers to all of you!