When my fiancee found my raspberry brownie recipe lurking in the desk drawer, I gave in and said I'd make it.

I read it through, and saw that it called for 250 grams of couverture chocolate.

"Couverture" is not an easy word to translate into Chinese.

It's a type of chocolate that cooks use, because it's very high in cocoa solids, and melts properly. It's the sort of chocolate that you see pastry chefs making decorations out of for cakes, and you can't replace it with ordinary milk chocolate.

In Australia, I go to the local supermarket, wander down the aisles, and find something that will meet my needs rather easily.

In China, it's not quite so simple.

When I go shopping for ingredients here, it's like an Indiana Jones quest.

Into my trusty shopping bag are thrust tattered recipes and dog-eared business cards, along with labels cut from packets previously procured. If I'm after something heavy, my much-battered trolley is wheeled out.

A list is painstakingly drawn up, amounts penciled in next to the names of things I need ...

And I'm off, weaving my way across Tianjin.

For frozen raspberries, I catch a bus and wander through a set of alleyways to a small shop, surrounded by other shops that sell dresses. I'm not even sure how I found this shop in the first place, but it's the only place I know I can get raspberries and fresh parmesan cheese. In this shop, I'm lucky, because everything I need is in a freezer or fridge, and I can just pluck it out.

With my flour, I'm not so lucky. It's a trip to a different shop that stocks the "strong" flour I like to use, and the owner doesn't speak any English - nor I any Chinese. A former student introduced me to this place and I don't see the student very often. So, for the flour, I haul out a label cut from the last bag I bought there. It's the same for the cake mixes I buy from there as well.

Cheese is a commodity I can't do without when I cook, whether it's for pizza, pasta sauces or just putting on a sandwich. These days, local supermarkets are stocking more imported cheeses, so that makes life fairly easy.

But it's the couverture chocolate that is the "Holy Grail" of my quest. I must make my way to a small shop that operates out of a first floor window. There, I rummage through my bag, and find the wrapper that I carefully saved from the last time I bought some. Holding it up to the window, I gingerly pass my money to the lady inside, who then gently hands me a kilo of the dark brown gold that I seek.

If I need really specialized ingredients, I must take a companion on my journeys, be it my fiancee or some hapless student who has volunteered for the task. There's nothing that will make someone scurry for a dictionary faster than saying: "I need some whole vanilla pods, whipping cream, unsalted butter and creme of tartar!"

Gathering the ingredients for my recipes is one big adventure.

So next time you see me, bag in hand, trolley in tow, don't try to stop me - I'm off again on another perilous adventure to find elusive ingredients for the freshest of flavors!

?