What are you been cooking today

[kezza]

Wow JulieO, the ravioli is very impressive 

[quirkycooking]

They're so cute, JulieO!  You must be pleased!!    My kids would LOVE to be able to make these - I never buy them because they're wheat.  (I make spelt pasta, or buckwheat.)

[CreamPuff63]

they look very 'shop bought', and i bet they taste superb 

we're off to a Xmas in July dinner/party tonight and i offered to make croquembouche. i am feeling so deflated because it was a lot harder than what i thought. i went to Nico's demo and he made it look 'relatively' easy (but mind you he had lots of assistants). it actually looks like a crumbling, leaning mess  the toffee wasn't cooked just quite long enough, and i think i will invest in a thermometer. i have decorated it with some icing flowerettes and gold wrapped sugar coated almonds and it sort of distracts you from seeing the obvious pitfalls.

one good thing has come out of it though  , and this is a hint you should write down in the EDC. After cooking profiteroles, quickly take out of the oven and make a small slit in the side of each puff, leave in the oven with door slightly ajar for at least 20 minutes to dry out. (this will stop them from collapsing)

[Cornish Cream]

You could win prizes with such great looking ravioli JulieO.
Is Christmas in July a public hoilday in Oz?

[quirkycooking]

Profiteroles are difficult, aren't they CreamPuff!  Mine were a bit leaningish too - never mind... I'm sure they'll taste great!  Wish I could go to a Nico demo - are they only in Perth?

[JulieO]

Thankyou for your nice comments, I was really pleased with them 

i could so go a cream puff right now!

[judydawn]

Cornish Cream, no Christmas in July is not a public holiday it is just something some bright spark came up with so that we can have a roast turkey dinner in the middle of winter and not the middle of summer. 
I found this which might explain it better than I can.
http://www.santaswarehouse.com.au/history_of_christmas/christmas_in_july.shtml

I went on a boat cruise on a nearby lake recently with the same theme and we sang Christmas Carols 

[Cornish Cream]

Thanks Judy.Do the Santa's give out presents as well

[judydawn]

Ha ha, not in this house. That would be taking things too far - one lot of Christmas presents is enough 

[judydawn]

Julie, you have to be the gadget/attachment Queen and it is so nice to see what you produce.  You must really enjoy cooking to put so much time and effort into trying different things.  Lucky family.

Yes, Mum is very appreciative - she loves her food 

[faffa_70]

i really want to try rough puff pastry faffa - did you make it for the sausage rolls? how did it turn out?

CP63 I will reserve my judgement on this until I have a chance to make another batch with out the help of little fingers 

They were so desperate to help that I couldn't say no, but I think all the little fingers and heavy hands didn't do it any justice. Certainly tasted good enough for me to want to give it another go next time we make sausage rolls 

[JulieO]

Thanks Judy, yes I love spending the time (which I have) on trying new things and for some reason have really taken to making pasta, I love the whole process. 

In a couple of weeks my dtr leaves home, she is setting up home with her boyfriend in Port Lincoln and though there will only be the 2 of us left at home, my cooking won't lessen any, I tend to still make enough for 4 and the extras get frozen for DH to take to work.

I do have a lot of gadgets,     but they do get used thankfully. 

[maddy]

Your ravioli looks superb Julie!
I bet they would taste divine.
You must have oodles of cupboard space too! 
How many KA pasta attachments are there?

[JulieO]

Thanks Maddy.

When my son moved out in February, my dtr moved into his room leaving her room free.  It's not a big room by any means but nice and square.  My DH put shelving in and I've also put another fridge and a freezer in there. Literally a walk in pantry which I've put all pantry items in, in labelled containers, plus there's room for all my crockery, gadgets etc.  I've even got my coffee machine & grinder set up in there. The room is only about 10 steps away from where I work in the kitchen so not a hassle to get what I need.

The only thing that needs doing is the floor needs sanding and polishing it's just bare floorboards at the moment, but my dtr leaves home in a couple of weeks so we will be doing the floors of both rooms then.

The KA pasta attachments available are:

Roller, for making lasagne sheets and for getting pasta ready for cutting into fettuccine, spaghetti, ravioli etc
fettuccine cutter
spaghetti cutter
wide fettuccine cutter (tagliatelle)
angel hair pasta cutter
ravioli maker
plus the set that makes the little shapes (comes with 6 dyes to make into diff shapes).

I've got all of them.    and use all of them. 

[judydawn]

Your pantry sounds great JulieO, I have a room opposite my kitchen too that sounds like yours but my DH would think I was bonkers if I suggested turning it into a pantry especially as I have just managed to get him and his huge computer desk out of it so that I could turn it into a little bedroom for the grand-children to use when they sleep over. My DD has a huge walk-in pantry in her new house like they do with new builds these days and they are great.  Love to see a picture of it .  You will notice a difference just cooking for 2 and will always have too much - it is so hard to do 1/2 quantity when we are used to cooking for more.