Miss J

Amen to that. When we bought our flat, it came with no appliances whatsoever and we had to wait 3-6 weeks for everything to show up. Fortunately the fridge came first. Appart from that, we headed straight over the road to our nearest DIY emporium and bought a big gas grill, on which we then cooked everything until the cooker arrived and we found someone to wire it into the wall.

How bizarre - there's still no problem getting these in the UK. Must be our lack of commercial citrus crops. I wonder if they're banned in places like Spain and Israel?

I found this in the Waitrose Food Glossary: "About the size of a greengage, lychees have rough, pink, leathery skins surrounding pearly-white, translucent flesh. The skin should be firm and dry without any bruises. Inside, the flesh is sweet, smooth and really juicy, like that of a grape. Lychees are grown in Madagascar, South Africa, the Far East, Spain and Israel." (Emphasis mine.) Could it be that there's more easy-access lychee importers for the UK and France? Since moving to the UK, I've been quite aware of the different food import sources (South Africa, Israel, Spain) than those commonly seen in Canada (Mexico, California, Florida).

Yes they're quite common - it was a very casual gift, as in "Look, I've brought you a box of lychees! They were only £2.50!" They're really good. As you describe, they have small pits and swollen, juicy flesh. I noticed that the ones in Chinatown have been better than those in the supermarkets, although apparently my gift box came from a cornershop somewhere in Essex.

All of these ideas sounds great. And as I have eaten lychees for dessert three nights running and again for breakfast and STILL have loads of gorgeous lychees, I've no doubt I'll by trying most of them. (My lychee dessert tonight is frozen lychees - and torakris is right, they are a little trippy to unpeel.) But I will HAVE to do the red duck curry, if only so I can have a Balic Gewurztraminer moment.

Which one? Er - embarrassingly, I haven't noticed its name. I was taken there by a Cantonese-speaking friend before her company sent her back to Toronto, and she told me that if I ever wanted takeaway roast or BBQ meats I should do it from there. It's on the same side of Gerrard Street as ECapital, it has a white facade, a slightly sunken dining room floor and a counter right by the door over which a large sign proclaims that takeaway cold meats are cash-only. I can point it out.

Have been both busy and lazy lately, so apart from my huge Chinese New Year feast on Saturday I've generally been keeping things simple. Like this: Sunday: fried leftover rice with dried shrimp, Chinese pork sausage and choi sum, lychees Monday: leftover clear stock with pork and ginger meatballs, dried lillies, spring onion, lychees Tonight: picked up a portion of cold roast duck in Chinatown (my new favourite takeaway) and have just consumed it with rice and stir-fried spinach with garlic, and - you guessed it - lychees Tomorrow I will cook with the lychees. Stay tuned.

I have been very kindly gifted with a very large box of lychees. Now, I love lychees. I eat them whenever I can. But I have to say, there's only so many lychees that two people in a small London flat can consume. I've done the cocktail thing with them, and while lychee cocktails are nice it's no way to go through a very large box of them. So. Ideas. Savoury or sweet, I'm up for just about anything. Help?

The frightening thing is, when I first scanned through your report I took on board the "poached pairs" thing and rationalised that you were into eating poached things in pairs of flavours. So as I read that paragraph, I kept thinking, "Yes, but what was actually poached? What was the first thing, and what was the second?" It was only then that I clued in about the fruit. Okay. I had a couple of lychee martinis last night. I'm a little fuzzy-headed today. What of it?

Great report, Andy. Now, this thing you have about poached pairs: you are talking about pears, yes?

So Matthew, what did Mr Peng make for New Year?

It was very cold and wet at Borough Market yesterday morning, so due to the weather and Jonathan Day's recommendation I decided to spring for the hot choc at L'Artisan du Chocolat. OH. MY. GOD. Do you think there's a such thing as chocolate rehab? JD, you have a lot to answer for.

Gavin, I shall never think of them otherwise.

Do they heat them up for you to eat on the spot? I thought they just packaged them up and gave them to you to take home and heat up yourself. I have never eaten any of the Ginger Pig's prepped products. (I have also never tried their faggots. Or any faggots, for that matter - an English delicacy beyond my ken, I'm afraid.) Any good?

Do you mean hoisin, or plum sauce? Or is duck sauce different again?

Personally, I use a wok (stabilised with a wok stand) and a comparatively small amount of oil for the deep frying so things don't bubble over, and I open ALL the windows. Still, things do get pretty steamed up.

Dunlop's recipe (in Sichuan Cookery) for "Fragrant and Crispy Duck" says to marinate the duck overnight, steam for an hour and 30 minutes, then deep-fry for 10 minutes on each side.

Konditor & Cooke: I have had only one experience with them, which was when I bought a plum and almond tart to take to a friend's place for lunch. It was divine: buttery, good balance of sweet & tart, fine pastry. I was impressed. It was very definitely not French (which I believe can be a good thing). I've never bought a sandwich from them, though.

Adam, I'm afraid that before I can give proper attention to your question I'm going to need a sample of these Italian sausages. For scientific reasons, you understand.

You mean she died in poverty after her job ended abruptly and she couldn't find another? Sounds a bit like what's in store for the current workforce. Damned pensions.

She seemed to do pretty well for a victum. () Although it's true her ambition was greatly helped by her celebrated beauty - damn men:

Well, if you're going to describe him that way you should also mention that Lady Hamilton was no lady.

There's the oyster stall as well - oysters priced "take home - closed, take home - opened, opened & eaten on the spot"

Oooh. Now I'm curious. I am SO tired of watered-down-chile-everything here. Does anyone know if Nahm has a more affordable lunch menu?

...with her blessing, as her dad's shift to Protestantism was a direct attempt to produce a son and disinherit her. She never quite got over the slight. Edit: hey, did someone say road trip to Edinburgh? In period costume?