Hi - I made a double batch today and cooked for longer - originally planned to double the time but stopped it earlier. Upon reflection I think it should have had double the time. Or at least longer than I did - however I didn't keep track of the time...
I put the jug in cold water in sink to cool down and then indented the cling film by pushing the thin end of ice blocks into the mixture. I had four little (or not so little) girls waiting desperately to ice a load of fairy cakes!

If you do decide to hold a birthday play date with an attraction  of lots of cake decorating, my suggestion (based on experience...!!!) is to pre-make a lot of small baking paper piping bags (not non-stick if you're wanting to Sellotape the bags closed!), then colour the icing in small bowls, and transfer small amounts and hand to the kids to decorate. I found that small snack bags with the zip closures didn't give as 'clean' an experience as i had hoped..... 😱

Also don't bother with the purple queen colouring - it looks more grey then purple.

To be honest, what might have been better would have been to buy a few multix disposal piping kits and some extra flat clip type things (for those kids who can't push down the bag!)  and use those.

And have a pack of baby wipes handy...!!!
Gillian
 

Ummmm
I'm not sure about not missing what I never had... But then again my mother did always tell me that I had a very active imagination as a child... !!
And you are right - it is good to have the munchkins - though to be honest - they'd have found me if I'd taken too long - they did in all the other shops today.... ;-)

But it was their shopping day, not mine (too much like hard work to traipse round shops...) (well with the exception of sewing and kitchen-related shops.....)

We managed nearly five hours... I think that constitutes some form of exercise and I should be let off for good behaviour....

...

Thank you for the comment about jam making - to be honest if that's your primary use then I won't miss it... I need more jam in my life like a hole in my head.............😳

And TMX has pride position over the hob/under the extractor fan (on a glass cutting board thingy) - so there's no other spot for another steam-producing item....

...

But if you do get one.... Please let me know what you use it for, and what your thoughts are, on it!!!!!
Gx

Dear all - I'm standing in Hornsby target now and they have two of these machines on clearance price... With the cutting tower included... If *one* was to say that there are *seven* days in the week but only *five* of them are working... Would that give you all an indication of the financial outlay you'd need to make...?
I'm sorely tempted but have no storage space and would really prefer double glazed windows and gas-fired central heating (hydronic heating)...
So will try to be restrained and go to find my children instead!!!
Rgds
Gillian ;-)

Is there a version of her wraps recipe on the forum anywhere? All references I've come across lead back to a dead page on her blog...
Thx
Gillian

Thank you!! It did - it wasn't as swotty a result as the midterm (in the 90s) but it was a respectable mid 70s (aka I'm not really that boring, honest guv'...!!!).
So now I can legitimately say that I have a small amount of understanding of the Aussie income tax system!!!

Now I'm focussing on sewing... And walking.
Less brain work and more physical...

To offset the devastation that the TM has wrought over the last two years...!!!

(I'd like to find the inner me.... Rather than the outer Michelin man) (well, woman) and as I now know my brain works, I just need to prove that anatomy does (regularly... As in walking....)

Haven't made a cake in weeks.........
;-(

Gx

Thanks Judy - bit of a silly question in retrospect!
But have my nose in a book revising for exam on Wednesday... So a little silly all round really.
Back to reality after Wednesday!!
Gx

Just a quick response as am supposed to be asleep!
Grape juice concentrate = grape juice with less water (!!) = fructose solution.
Fruisana = powdered fructose available OTC in supermarkets.

I imagine - as I've not tried it - you use the fructose rather than sugar to make the jam.

However, there's some controversy about fructose - which you might want to investigate first. The effort to use fructose might be better spent just using normal sugar.

Fructose apparently does not affect your insulin but does affect your liver and goes 'straight to your hips as fat'.
Google it.

Google also diabetic jams and jam-making - as the diabetic jams use fructose to avoid the insulin spike.

The MWOC cookbook has a recipe for using agar agar * I think*.


Anyway - I hope that has given you some food for thought. Google may well be your next best friend!!!
HTH
Regards
Gillian

Welcome!
from a house of girlies and one chap...

The corned beef in the varoma is a steam dish and a good one.
I too am not au fait with the linking!  Here it is for you Gillian.

If you can take a look at 'in the mix' there's an Asian beef and stir fry recipe in that , that I've tasted and it's excellent... though I've not made it myself.

In the full steam ahead book there's a recipe for a kilo of tuna that you steam with veges and a lot of olive oil I seem to recall... I have done that a year or more ago for a dinner party... but the tuna was prohibitively expensive and although tasty, it did use a lot of olive oil!

I have discovered that organic or free range chicken just steamed in the varoma is surprisingly tasty - I do realise that i'm a little slow to join the whole steaming party here!!!

Not sure if anything there helps... good luck!

Gillian
PS re converting recipes - I'd suggest that you tell your household that you need some expert taste-testers and give them score cards and a league table. and then work your way through the dishes in the EDC... you could even jazz it up a bit... and have them score not just taste, but texture, visual appeal, repeat-ability (ie how often could you make it and they'd eat it... not how often or how quickly it repeats on them!!!) etc...
this way you're working your way through the book, you're developing/challenging your tmx-skills, you're getting direct relevant feedback from your 'clients/audience' and you're expanding their taste palates....

sometimes this works in my household (primary school girls here)... and sometimes not...
on the other hand, my mother and husband have often compared notes about how I could talk the hind legs off a donkey and then convince them to walk off somewhere....