CeeCee

This pretty much sums it up for me, although they were a special treat in general and not per se for my birthday (selfishly, we kept these for ourselves mostly). Both Betty and Duncan were not so readily available and if so, they would cost quite a bit. My mom never made frosting herself though. We also had brownies, blueberry and banana-nut muffins from those packs, before it got more common over here. At my birthday parties, my mom would set the table with madeira and/or chocolate cake along with decorations. We all loved this DIY party, as we could decorate a slice to our own liking and keep ourselves busy for a while (which my mom liked a lot too).

If someone aims to be a professional, you should be able to handle deadlines. But I agree, way too much emphasize on speed while we have so many other dishes missing out, just because they don't fit in the schedule. Masterchef is being mentioned a lot, I love the UK versions. I dislike the USA version and now even Australia's is putting me off. I almost wish that the Ozzies would try a bit of USA's rudeness to counteract all the mushy emo talk and tears, because it has seriously gotten out of hand in season 6 imho.

To me the adjuma and scotch bonnet still look pretty similar on those pics, but I will pay extra attention to details from now on It's nice to support independent stores and if they're conveniently located for you, it's not a problem. Otherwise, you could check with Albert Heijn to see if they want to order it in for you. I bought one there last week to make ghoegrie, so there's access and it will be probably be fresher than at Dirk's. There might be a problem if it's just the odd one or two i.s.o. of a batch though.

Sometimes is all the time in my area, if we are sure it's actually a scotch bonnet in the first place. I do get confused as there seems to be quite the mix up with ajuma's, which look a lot like scotch bonnets and they often label them madame jeanets anyway. I haven't seen them labelled as scotch bonnets in ages anymore. Madame jeanets look a bit different, so I think I can distinguish these succesfully, but these are less common available. Still waiting for fresh habanero's, but the dried ones are on the rise and the mainstream supermarkets now carry hot sauces including not only habanero, but also chipotle. I even picked up a pack of dried habanero's at a Chinese store a while back and had even happier times when I found another chinense, the aji panca as a paste at an Asian-Caribbean store

My favourite corn recipe has got to be perkedel/frikadel/bakwan jagung, an Indonesian corn cakes. Delicious and I don't even like corn that much! Can't recommend an online recipe (in English) from my own experience, but google can help with getting the basic idea. It's not complicated. My favourite shop version (which I'm still trying to crack) uses both celery and kaffir leaves, which are valued additions imho.

Haven't had Thai Kitchen in years, but picked one up the other day (think it's a penang, not sure though). Still haven't used it, as we had to finish a Mae Ploy first, which is kind of my favourite brand next to Onoff Spices! The latter is organic in small packets and less salty. Not sure if it's availble outside of Europe though. I always thought yellow curries were mellow ones, but Mae Ploy's was spicier than I expected. The heat from Mae Ploy's is a bit too much for my fellow diners, even though I have been raising their tolerance for a while now. So I stretch the flavour by using the paste as a base and add some extra (roasted and ground) spices, along with coconut milk and things like pineapple for some extra soothing. It's been a while since I had Nittaya and Asian Home Gourmet, but I think Nittaya was not as spicy as Mae Ploy and Asian Home Gourmet was the mildest. I liked them then, but that was before I dated a someone who cooked Thai really well. He liked Thai Kitchen best when he couldn't or wouldn't make or have a homemade paste on hand. Since I started cooking Indian food from scratch, I'm not much of a fan of Patak's anymore. My mom still is, but that's more about the easy use in general and the availability of this particular brand. Sharwoods and Geetha's for instance are less common over here. As I find balancing out Indian curry's much easier to do than Thai on both flavour and ingredient availability, I hardly use pre-made Indian pastes anymore. If using pre-fab, it's a dry mix like TRS garam masala, Surinamese hindu masala, MDH Kitchen King or Shan's. The latter is my mom's favourite of dry-mixes, although she dislikes whole spices that need to be fished out of a dish. With hot Indian food, a (mango) lassi, raita or plain yoghurt can be helpful to tone down heat as well. When I was young, my mom trained my tolerance with a helping of apple sauce/butter on the side. I've also had a bit of succes removing some of the oil floating on top, which packed most of the heat when I tried a package for Chinese/Mongolian hot pot/fondue. Maybe this helps with a curry as well? The saltiness can be tamed down a bit with potatoes, they seem to suck up some of the salt and I like them in my curry anyway.

With the lattice on top etc., wouldn't it be more a pflaumentarte instead of a kuche?

The good thing about getting stuff I don't like, is wrapping it up around christmas in a big box and give it to my mom. She misses getting a christmas care pack, since she stopped working and she's way less snobby and more into convenience food than we are. If she doesn't like it, she hands it off to someone else or I try to find someone else for it. I really hate seeing edible things go to waste, but have to admit that I'm a sucker for those thrift shops gadget finds...

A mini oven is probably my most used kitchenware gift, even though you can't regulate the temp and the timer has a max. of 15 minutes. I guestimate it around 170 Celsius and it can fit a modest 2-portion ovendish, 2 mini pots, 1/2 of a pizza, 2 large potatoes or dito beets. We use it 2-3 times a week and for such a cheap thing, it amazes me it's still working quite well after +2 years. Another favourite is a very large Dutch Oven like pan, which my mom gave me when I moved out.

I like Vedge too and the not mentioned yet Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "River Cottage Veg", which is less vegan than Vedge.

It does sound a bit glamorous, but I really can't live up to the expectations that seem to cling to being an actual culinary oracle in our kitchen :-P. Especially on the few nights I'm completely off kitchen duty and get pulled into cooking from the couch anyway, because he simply won't read an instruction. It comes across as being a bit too convenient, as he could at least try to figure it out for himself at first imo. From the start I've been very clear about being greatly attracted to handsome men doing dishes Made sure this was really clear and even if we'd jokingly laugh about it, he wasn't taking any risks in the beginning of our relationship Opening up about this fetish, can be really helpful! I guess having him in the kitchen with me, opened his eyes to seeing how much labour (and love) goes into some of his (now) favourite dishes he would never cook by himself or just aren't as good as when I make them (ha!). So that gave him some understanding to why there sometimes is so much washing up to do and he does see that doing the dishes can be a lot less work than making that delicious meal. He also listens to audio books, podcasts or music while doing cleaning and we both enjoy some music during cooking. Not everything is appreciated (broad tastes in music, which luckily does have some overlap), so this might cause a slight bickering every now and then. He must really love me though as he actually seems to enjoy me singing along and off key, while he has a proper musical background. On good days, some dancing might even be included. But yes, you're right about it working out pretty well and appreciating each other for that is very important.

Mission accomplished, so yes and thank you!

A bit late to the party, but I just wanted to thank you guys for letting us join in on another adventure and putting in so much effort! Also, funny to see Verstegen...

Well, there's bacon and there's bacon, so perhaps a description of what texture you are after might help suggestions? In our house, the Dutch variety of bacon bits (spekjes) has been subject of experiments as I don't eat pork. We have tried frying garlic slivers, which gave a nice textural addition to stamppot (pretty much the Dutch colcannon). You do need to watch their colouring though, as too dark means it will be bitter and it doesn't give a nice chew. If you use a smoked garlic, liquid smoke or something like smoked paprika or chipotle, you can get the smokey meatiness, but this might be harder to track while frying due to the colouring. Also, with liquid smoke and paprika/chipotle, you can control the level of smoke. With smoked garlic, it's more about controlling the optimal portion imo. Chopped smoked almonds were a pleasant surprise in boerenkoolstamppot (kale). A while ago, I fried up some leftover paneer which kind of got stuck to the pan. It browned quite a bit and it crumbled, which gave a nice texture and a certain smokiness. This might depend on the variety of paneer though. Tempeh has been a favourite among some of my veggie and vegan friends. I think it came from a recipe of Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who also has a recipe for eggplant bacon. Tempeh bacon recipe came from her first cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance, but Vegan Brunch contains another recipe I think. Vegetarian Times has another tempeh bacon version available online. Tofu is another option, as it's flexible for different textures and easily takes on flavours. There are tons of tofu bacon recipes when you google it. Lisa already gave some great advice, but please do read up on the subject yourself. You can prevent a lot of trouble by eating properly, which is not the same as just not eating junk food. A varied diet is not just great for nutritional intake, it also gives a myriad of options to enjoy. With so many vegetarians, Indian cuisine is more balanced than the British (no) meat-2 veg style. have you checked the India board yet? The Latin American board can be great for bean inspiration, including cheese (if you need 'help' making the transition to eating them more often ) Good luck and bon appetit!

Not married, although it does feel a bit like it Nowadays most of the time we are both in the kitchen, but at first I cooked more frequently (and) solo, although he'd always ask if he could help. It started out as a fun thing to do together, as he is interested in the subject of cooking and it's a slight obsession in my life. If you'd ask him, he'll tell you we cook together, but it's more me asking and explaining him what to do. Most of it is prep, like washing and cutting, while spices and things at the stove are more my department. Later on in our relationship, due to medical reasons, he had to help me out more. Luckily, he really likes our sometimes quite elaborate dinners and me staying as intact as possible, so this was never much of an issue. He knew about my situation beforehand and in general he kindly stays pretty well out of my clumsy way. In our small kitchen, this is not an easy task and I love him extra for making such an effort. I'm used to cooking in small kitchens, but he tends to get a bit claustrofobic as he never cooked such elaborate things/meals. This means he will clear the kitchen as much as possible before he starts prep and he also cleans more as he goes than I do. This does piss me off sometimes, because he never sees my system of leaving things in a certain place and asking me if I still need it, is not always happening. But then I think about all the washing up afterwards, which he mostly tends to and then I shut up while counting to ten (my blessings obviously ). I think it's safe to say he doesn't like my system of leaving stuff around and I'm pretty sure my timing, or rather my lack of it, is annoying him as well. I dislike cooking on the clock with a vengeance, my memory is a bit off and I'm also not as quick or as multitasking anymore as I like to think. I'm still better at multitasking than he is, so I've got that going for me. Another thing that annoys me is his lack of reading packaging for directions. Even when he has it in his hands, he'll rather ask me like I'm the culinary oracle of Delphi. I think it's also connected to him disliking being send out to get something 'special' from somewhere ''special', unless I have specificly shown him what it looks like and/or where in the store or the market he should be able to find it. Asking a shop attendant for help is not in his system. In his defence though, he has come quite far from exclusively shopping at the regular supermarket with the occasional "Mexican" burrito pack or a jar of Patak's when splurging. He got quite a shock from my eclectic repertoire and it wasn't just the heat of the chilipeppers. My stock at his pantry was a thing too at first, but he's now converted to my believe of it being a luxury of possibilities. Even if it does take up a proportionally big piece of our humble home... Good thing we both like eating a lot, so sitting down to eat is generally as much therapy as we need if it got a bit snappy in the kitchen. I still get a kiss and a heartfelt thank you after every dinner, which I reciprocate...

As posted in the Chinese cookbook thread: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148273-chinese-cookbooks/ Perhaps a separate topic will attract some knowledge about authentic recipes with celery? Not that I'm an expert on this subject, but here are some recipes I've come across online over the years. Placing the recipes under just one country or people might be completely wrong, but it's meant as a nudge into the somewhat geographical direction and not meant as a definitive in any way. I've skipped the ones that just use a bit of the leaves, so this is mainly about stalk and root type and not always as the main attraction either. Iranian: - http://turmericsaffron.blogspot.nl/2009/05/celery-stew-khoresh-karafs.html - http://persiankitchen.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/khoresht-karafs-persian-celery-stew/ - Vegetarian version: http://mypersiankitchen.com/vegetarian-khoresht-karafs/ - With artichokes: http://www.hungrynomad.net/2011/10/26/khoresht-kangar-karafs-artichoke-and-celery-stew/ - Pickle: Torshi - Yoghurt with celery: Borani e Karafs Afghan: - Shorba Yavron - Pickled veg: Tsarska Turshiya - Mashawa: Black and mung bean soup - Chickpea&Chicken stew: Chelo Nachodo Dubai: - Ginger Infused Strawberry & Celery Chilled Soup (Scroll all the way down or the recipe) Saudi: - Kabsah: http://arabicfood.blogspot.nl/2006/10/kabsah-or-saudi-arabian-rice-and-meat.html Syria: - Celery Musakka: http://en.aleppofood.com/recipe/musakka-celery-musakka/ Turkish: - Zeytinyağlı Kereviz : http://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2011/11/celeriac-with-winter-vegetables-cooked-in-olive-oil-zeytinyagli-kereviz/ - Yoğurtlu Kereviz Salatası: http://almostturkish.blogspot.nl/2008/12/celery-root-salad-with-yogurt-yourtlu.html - Portakalli Kereviz: http://www.turkishfoodandrecipes.com/2011/12/celery-root-with-orange-portakalli.html - Kereviz Kökü: http://mediterraneanturkishfoodpassion.blogspot.nl/2010/01/celery-root-kereviz-koku.html - http://www.azcookbook.com/2011/05/19/chicken-salad-with-celery/ - Etli Kereviz: http://www.yemek-tarifi.info/english/recipe.php?recipeid=336 - Terbiyeli Kereviz: http://www.yemek-tarifi.info/english/recipe.php?recipeid=177 - Spiced celeriac with lemon and celeriac soup: http://seasonalcookinturkey.blogspot.nl/2011/02/two-more-celeriac-recipes.html - Taze Kereviz, Rezene Salatası/Fresh Celery Stalks, Fennel Salad: http://www.mytravelingjoys.com/2012/08/taze-kereviz-rezene-salatasfresh-celery.html - Etli Kereviz Dolmas: http://www.mytravelingjoys.com/2014/01/making-turkish-etli-kereviz-dolmas-meat.html - Hindi Etli Kereviz Yemegi: http://turkishkitchensecrets.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/root-celeriac-cooked-with-turkey-hindi-etli-kereviz-yemegi/ Kurdish: - Green Hamousta Kubbeh Palestine: - Red lentil and squash soup: Shorabit Jarjir Israeli: - Latkes: http://food.lizsteinberg.com/2010/12/01/latkes-with-leek-celery-and-baharat/ - Sour spearmint sauce with meatballs (or soup): Hamud - Poike: Galilean Beef Stew - Stewed celery - Burekas Stuffed with Celery, Fennel and Potato Maroc: - Harira soup Any comments, suggestions and/or more/better recipes are obviously more than welcome

Good to know beforehand, as I would probably have to leave this task to my SO. He'd better be in good mood before I make him do another PITA task, especially when he knows and has enjoyed these babies out of a convenient can I'll keep my eyes open for jicama then, although it's not that common here either. Thanks Melissa!

Thank you for starting this topic, very interesting read! If you would like to compare, I can take a picture of the recipe in this book and email it you?

My leftovers are from stuffing wontons, I really like the texture in those. Never thought of using them for egg rolls or potato salad, thanks! Especially since I already wanted to make a Japanese inspired potato salad this week. I do see fresh waterchestnuts around sometimes, but I wonder how hard to handle they are?

Oh that looks delicious! Is this the recipe you used? http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/quick-braised-eggplant-with-coconut-milk-and-scallions My favourite eggplant dish is fried eggplant and red bell peper, stewed in a coconut sauce with lemon grass and lemon, called terrong. (Yes, generic name I know, just got the family recipe of a friend) You need the longer and bigger variety for this dish though. It takes some time and effort, but it is one of my favourite comfort food dishes ever. Anyone has any suggestions for using leftover waterchestnuts (from a can)?

So basicly, you want opinions from people who can vouch how authentic these places are?

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/06/cookware-shops-in-paris-dehillerin-copper-mora-baking-supplies/

247 views, but no response.. Well then, if I don't report back I've burned down my house while trying

You lucky bastard, please report your experiences http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/en#/ and http://www.alain-passard.com http://www.lepassageoblige.com has seitan in bourguignon and http://www.legrenierdenotredame.fr is completely vegetarian. Have an awesome trip!

So the other day I got really excited when I saw something I never knew existed: Condensed chocolate milk! I could see fudge, dulce de leche and other chocolate goodies on the horizon, so I eagerly brought the can home thinking that I could skip a step. But when I got home, I noticed that I actually can't read the print on the can as it's written in Indonesian... Luckily with the help of an online translation service, I got a confirmation that this actually is condensed chocolate milk. However, it contains loads more ingredients than I expected from a condensed milk and the can also gives a recipe to use 4 spoons to create a chocolate milk. They do give a level for the fat, but not for the sugar. It's the first on the ingredient list as sucrose however. (sucrose, water, nabafi fat, whey powder, cocoa powder, skim milk powder, butter milk powder, vegetable stabilizer, calcium carbonate, artificial chocolate Flavor, Natural Flavor identical chocolate, vitamins (C, choline, chloride, E, A (antioxidant mengadung tocopherol), B1, D3 (mengadung antioxidant tocopherol)) mixture of lactose) And now I wonder if this product (Frisian Flag Cokelat) is suitable for a water bath procedure or perhaps should be used in a different way? Any experiences or recommendations are very much appreciated