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Messages - Sim
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31
« on: September 27, 2011, 08:18:45 am »
Haha! Sounds like a good way to ruin a roast! My friend who doubled his serving is also a good friend but a terrible guest. So I just don't cook for him anymore to save myself the heartache. He has a bit of a complex and equates eating large quantities of food with being more manly. In one attempt to prove his manliness he challenged himself, with no encouragement, to eat a 1.4kg roast by himself in 1 sitting. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen! The most disgusting part was that to wash it all down he drank 600ml of pre-made custard. Roast and custard together I can't think of anything worse! Re children learning: I hope to have kids one day and teaching them how to appreciate and grow food will be high on my priorities. The younger you teach them how to cook the more help they'll be! Untapped cooking labour I say 
32
« on: September 27, 2011, 07:54:29 am »
She hasn't said out-loud that she doesn't like the farmers markets because of the lack of labels, but I'm guessing it would make it rather daunting. It's also on early on a Saturday, tends to keep some people away!
Have you guys heard of Stephanie Alexanders kitchen garden program for primary schools? That woman know's what matters! I bet that program is making a HUGE difference to the attitude towards food for the lucky kids who get to be involved in it. I would love to volunteer but that just won't be happening.
I love cultures where food is celebrated and I wish Australia was more like it. I'm 25 and I don't have any friends who remotely care about food. They "don't get it". They just see it as a "filler". I wish I had someone (in real life) to ramble on about food with. I try and get people to come over for dinner but they just scoff and leave, or maybe scoff and play video games not my idea of fun.
One time a made some dinner for a bunch of people and served good sized portions, then one of my guests, before even trying his food stood up and walked back to the stove and doubled the serving size and sat back down without even asking! I was flabbergasted! How rude! I don't invite him over for dinner anymore haha!
33
« on: September 27, 2011, 06:50:20 am »
Yeah, she never would have bought the TM. Never ever ever ever ever... It is easier to use, but way more expensive and she is kind of particular about how she shops. She did mention it that she was considering a cooking class but I'm not sure she'll get around to going to them.
For the next 6 weeks though, one night a week I'm going to come over and she'll pick out 1 recipe from her new cookbook that she wants to learn, and I'll guide her through the recipe hopefully giving her tips along the way. Fingers crossed this is a beginning of a new 'phase' of her life.
I just downloaded the woolworths smartphone app it's perfect! She can search a particular store for items and it says which isle it's in AND has a picture. Brilliant! I hate woolworths but I see the value in that app!
She lives across the road from one of the BEST farmers markets in Australia its seriously a foodie heaven but till now, I never understood why she didn't like that place. Not all the vegies are labelled, so you need to know your vegies before you can shop there. Makes perfect sense now.
34
« on: September 27, 2011, 05:39:43 am »
Yeah that's true my friend bought a thermochef because she saw the value in the TM but didn't want to spend the $$$, especially because she isn't that keen on cooking. Still, it's $800! Still a big purchase in my opinion but a really good way to make cooking easier.
She only bought it though because she had actually seen the TM in action. She probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise.
35
« on: September 27, 2011, 05:24:45 am »
Good idea Judy i'll check it out. I was considering making her a guide bygrouping vegetables in their families. Eg. Onion family, Root vegies. I really feel for her and I hope she can keep it up and continue to learn. It's so much easier when it actually interests you though.
We are all so lucky that we like cooking! Cooking is a difficult thing to 'out-source' and still be at your best possible health. Even the healthiest take-away food is not that healthy, but also hard to find and expensive.
It made me realise how much assumed knowledge the TM recipe book needs. It doesn't specify 'fresh' or 'dried' herbs every time. The best recipes always tell you what the food should look like after each step, eg. blend on speed 7 or until a thick paste is formed. Most of them don't really specify though. "Add salt to taste" what does that mean to someone who has never cooked?
I can see a niche category for a TM recipe book "For people who have no idea what they're doing!"
36
« on: September 27, 2011, 04:12:21 am »
I made an interesting discovery the other day. I thought when people said "I don't know how to cook", they meant that they weren't very good at frying a steak or other basic things like that. I'm staying with a old friend of mine who has say that phrase to me a couple of times and I just thought she was disinterested in cooking which is fair enough! She loves dancing and I struggle to see the point in it. We're all different! I offered to cook for her during the week as a thanks for allowing me to stay. She just bought the a thermochef so she wanted me to help her learn how to use it. She wants to get healthy so she asked me to go grocery shopping to help find ingredients. Once we reached the supermarket it was then I realised WHY she was 'disinterested' in cooking. She doesn't know where to find ingredients or which vegetables are which. I helped her find leeks, eggplant, fresh herbs, bean shoots, zucchinis. I help her locate things like lentils, nuts, real parmesan cheese, Greek yoghurt. We started cooking together and I found myself teaching her basic things like, how to peel a garlic clove, how to use a knife, how to use scales, how to juice lemons... you get my drift. I was very happy to help her learn because I truly believe that learning how to cooking is the key to unlocking a healthy life. They go hand in hand. My dad can only make his "special spaghetti" and my mother is a pretty basic cook, but I didn't realise just how much my mum taught me growing up. I suppose I used to watch her cook, help out by peeling vegetables etc. Whilst my friend has no memory of her parents really cooking, she said everything came from a packet. They were busy people and it was the best solution for them at the time. I don't think my friend is unusual, and I feel really lucky that I was taught those basic life skills which probably gave me an interest in cooking. I really hope she continues to learn after I leave her house. I wanted to find a few really basic 'how to guides', so i found this: http://www.jamieshomecookingskills.com it looks great. I love Jamies passion. But i want to find an 'ingredients' guide. Does anyone know of any? Something you can printout and take with you to the supermarket that tells you where things are kept and other basic info like that.Has anyone else discovered just how hard it is for some people to enjoy cooking? It's like being told "Go sew your own clothes" when you have no idea about fabrics, sewing machines etc. It has to be the key reason why, in Australia at least, our society is getting so unhealthy. What do you think? Does it concern you?
37
« on: September 26, 2011, 08:38:00 am »
oops forgot my second question, for anyone who has one!
I heard the lowest cooking temperature isnt as low with the TM, so just curious as to whether its still good to use as a slowcooker (ie, leave a dish on for 8 hours and it wont ever boil)
thanks!
Hey Aimee it has the same temperature increments as the TM so that's 37, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. I think it has a separate steaming one too like the TM which is hotter. And yeah, I'm totally bias! haha. My main frustrations with the machine are because I try and use it as though it is a TM when it's not, and when it doesn't work the same way and the buttons are in different places, I get frustrated. A bit like when you use a different microwave etc.
38
« on: September 26, 2011, 04:19:38 am »
Ta  . If I come across any fascinating exotic recipes while i'm away I'll try and post them on here for you guys. Turkey should be interesting!
39
« on: September 26, 2011, 03:29:25 am »
Yes, well, I don't know how long. Me and my boyfriend are going backpacking in Europe & Turkey and we have 2 year work visas for the UK. I've never left Australia, so I'm pretty excited. We don't have a house at the moment and we're staying various friends they all think I'm weird because I bring this 'strange & over-priced' appliance with me where ever I go... but... as you would all know it's hard to live without!
So little thermie is going into storage (although my sister and mother have both offered to 'baby-sit', but that won't be happening!).
40
« on: September 26, 2011, 01:47:53 am »
You're awesome Em! Thank you very much!
41
« on: September 25, 2011, 11:02:58 pm »
Hey everyone.
All my cookbooks are in storage as I'm heading overseas for "however-long" in a few weeks. I'm already grieving that I won't be able to use my TM for possibly 2 years! What?! No!
Anyway, I still have my TM with me for the time being and while back I bought ingredients for her Mixed Bean Salad from her Changing Habits, Changing Lives COOKBOOK. Does anyone have this recipe that they could give me? It's not actually a TM recipe but I thought this would be the best place to ask.
Cheers!
Sim xx
42
« on: September 25, 2011, 10:14:48 pm »
The buttons annoy me too!
Another thing if it's over 60ēC it doesn't go over speed 5. It means that if you're making soup, you have to wait for it too cool down to blend it really smooth. It's a safety thing, which is strange because the blades don't have to been spinning for the bowl to heat up which seams 'unsafe' to me because you can burn things easily!
43
« on: September 23, 2011, 03:01:51 am »
I got a chance to play with the TC last night. I'm a TM owner and my friend has always thought the TM was a great appliance but didn't want to spend the big bucks on it, so a few ago she bought a TC. We made Beef Rendang from the TM book but using the TC to cook it.
It's obvious with the price difference that there is going to be a few differences between the two. I think the TC is still a good purchase and a handy kitchen appliance. If you had never used a TM you would think its a super-duper appliance. It was hard for me because I kept using it like a TM, so I was slow and clunky.
Coming from the perspective of a TM owner, there were a few of things I noticed when comparing it to the TM
The slowest speed is considerably faster not as gentle.
It took a little longer to make the paste from the first stage of the TM Beef Randang recipe, didn't to seem to chop as well.
Unless I was doing it wrong, one thing that really bugged me was if you stop it to check the cooking progress before the timer finishes it resets the time, temperature and speed and you have to re-enter it all again.
Motor sounded very different and was louder more like a standard blender
You can't immerse the jug in water so it's harder to wash
Lid was harder to lock in and I didn't enjoy using it very much. I really like the TM's lid system.
But overall I think it's a decent purchase. I think she'll get alot of use out of it. These differences are relatively minor when you're saving so much money.
I'm still happy I have a TM though, but I'm not so good at budgets hehe
45
« on: August 01, 2011, 08:04:04 am »
Hmmm... I'm a little puzzled myself.
I was thinking of making a paella with it - spanish onion, mushrooms, capsicum and in at the end stir in the truffle. Still, i'm not convinced.
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