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Chorizo, cabbage, and egg, flavored with "super spicy" kimchee, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, turmeric, and a habanero, then mellowed somewhat with heavy cream.

That was my first thought too.

The coconut mousses look so happy

Hi, David, and welcome! Looking forward to hearing more about the food in your life.

Lunch that day was held on the beach as it didn't look like it was going to rain (for a change - they were saying that the weather was really weird this year. July is usually the start of the dry season there, but it was starting later this year). This is interesting - while most of Indonesia is Muslim, and therefore doesn't eat pork, North Sulawesi is predominantly Christian so pork is popular. In fact, on some of the surrounding small islands, there are tiny villages next to a beach but the main building is a huge Christian church that dominates the landscape. The setting... Pork with local herbs along with 3 different sambal. On the left is a local sambal called dabu-dabu. Typically, dabu-dabu is blow-your-head-off spicy - like eye-watering, nose-running, hiccup-inducing spicy. It's made from a lot of chillies, shallots, garlic, unripened tomato and lime juice. All the ingredients are sliced rather than pounded. Hot coconut oil is then poured over the top which just slightly wilts the ingredients. This version was more like a really tasty tomato salad. Over the time we were there, I ate tons of this stuff. The staff kept worrying that it would be too spicy for us, but we assured them that it actually was barely spicy at all and we tried our best to clean them out of it! They also started making separate dishes of it for us so they could make it spicier (they said that most of their guests complained if things got too spicy) but even then it wasn't close to what it would normally be for locals. Anyway, next to the dabu-dabu is more sambal bakar, and next to that is sambal matah, which is typical in Bali. The side station was making sauteed squid to order. They called it squid with galangal, but I thought it was only reminiscent of galangal - it was more turmeric foreward. Very tasty, especially with the various sambal. The pineapple on this trip ranged from fantastic to amazing. We couldn't get enough.

Yesterday, Trader Joe's was on the errand run. I picked up a few items, including which has become one of my favorite frozen entrées. It heats up very well in the microwave, and is quite forgiving WRT time and power range. Add some rice, and you've got a quick, easy, and inexpensive weeknight meal. I think this is the least expensive of TJ's frozen entrées ... $3.69 IIRC. Sometimes I add finely diced or sliced veggies to this entré, such as finely julienned carrot, summer squash, or even Brussels sprouts leaves. A little Piment d'Ville contributes a nice highlight to the dish. Also finding its way into TJ's shopping cart was this feta, thanks to an earlier mention by @blue_dolphin. The last time I purchased brined feta at TJ's, I purchased another style, also with the TJ's brand on the container. It'll be nice to compare the two.

Breakfast the next morning. Pancake (with slices of coconut within) with rambutan honey, and cinnamon roll More fantastic pineapple Chocolate chip muffin

Easy dinner last night. Grilled steaks and served with frites, a wine sauce and salad

Diving interlude..... this is the first time I've used any kind of camera while diving. Since I didn't want it to be too distracting, I decided to use a GoPro in video mode. Visibility was typically around 45 to 60 feet, although sometimes less if it had rained the night before. For reference, this is a map of the area: The large land mass to the East is the mainland of North Sulawesi, the Manado area. Our hotel was located at the white dot on the west side of the island closest to the mainland. Most of the diving in this area is focused around the island of Bunaken, which is known for being home to tons of turtles (both green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles) and also lots of macro life - which basically means small critters like sea horses, shrimp of various kinds, nudibranches, etc. One of the green sea turtles we saw - this one was probably around 4-5 feet long. I finally got to see a spotted eagle ray!!!! I've been dying to see these for years. At the time I was filming, I was actually focused on a turtle, but our guide started shouting (underwater) to get my attention so I wouldn't miss it. It was pretty far away but it looked to have a wingspan of maybe 8-10 feet. One thing you may notice is at the beginning of the video - Bunaken is known for having a sheer wall that drops straight down into the abyss. Cold water from the deep, with tons of nutrients, hits the wall and rises to the surface which attracts tons of marine life. We were really happy to see that all of the coral reefs that we saw were in really great shape. I still have to go through a ton of footage but I've got to make space on my phone first - hopefully I can do that over the weekend.

Dinner that night: Some kind of generic beef curry with western style potatoes In addition to the buffet, they had a live station that changed every meal - this type was some kind of Chinese stir fry with chicken, seafood, etc. or an Italian pasta of some kind. I didn't want the whole stir fry, but I did get some stir fried vegetables. Peanut caramel cake and more amazing pineapple.

a while back , I looked up via google a few Rx's for SV carnitas I noted that several had the same basic template ie author picture , upper R . two line bio underneath same fonts several times . same basic description of method a few minor ingredient changes in one or two and , get this : one person forgot to add the amounts of each ingredient in the ingredient list ! the same list ! so its clear , via very little work , Rx's on the internet are meant to garnish clicks for ads. going way back , Martha Fellow stole an Rx from a previous FR cookbook. verbatim lost suit , paid up. then in a later book , did the same thing taking material from the same author in a later book . lost suit , paid up . didnt bother Felon in any way it seems etc. so plagiarism is not new. its now just on Steriods .

I had read about this in one of Nagi's columns some time ago. She even showed a recipe of hers side by side with the one Bellamy had in her book. The were indeed identical, save for a word here and there.

The next morning, we were in a bit of a rush to eat breakfast (starts at 7), go back to the room to get our equipment, then get back to the dive center by 7:30 so we didn't take any breakfast photos. We had more time the next few days since the dive center held all of our equipment, and we didn't have to get there until 7:45. Lunch that day: Chicken curry, kangkong and sambal bakar. The curry was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary - a standard turmeric heavy coconut curry. The sambal bakar is interesting though as I had never heard of it before. Evidently, it's something only done in North Sulawesi. It's a typical fried sambal made from chillies, shallots, garlic, etc, but once finished, it's put in a bowl and a piece of charred, smoking coconut husk is dropped on top and the whole thing is covered so that the smoke aroma gets into the sambal. I'm thinking about how I could do this at home - I have a Cameron's stovetop smoker and I have a lot of coconut coir that I use in my garden that's already ground up (looks like coffee grounds) so I might be able to smoke a dish of sambal. It would be quite a bit of effort to do, so I'd like to do a big batch, and freeze most of it, but I don't know if the smoke aroma would get lost once frozen.

Very, very interesting situation for basically the entire published recipe industry.

Just for reference, this is a partial map of the region showing where we were (Jakarta on the island of Java) and where we were going (North Sulawesi): To the North-West of Jakarta is the island of Sumatra, home of the wonderful padang food we had been enjoying for the past few days. After landing on time around 1:45 in Manado, the main city of North Sulawesi, our hotel picked us up at the airport. We were told it would be about a 45 minute drive to the "marina" to get the boat to the island, but midway through the drive through the city, it started pouring rain. Like biblical torrential downpour kind of rain. Localized flooding kind of rain. Anyway, by the time we got to the marina, which really isn't much more than a concrete space for a small boat to dock to, the ocean had at least 6 foot swells and we were told that it wouldn't be safe to either board the boat, or be in it on the way to the island. So, they were sending a larger boat to a different pier - so another 45 or so minute drive and by the time we got there, it had pretty much stopped raining. The swells weren't nearly as bad in this area so we had no trouble boarding and it wasn't too rough going once we were underway. About midway through the trip from Manado to the island, we encountered a pod of dolphins!!!!! There were probably 20-30 of them! Some of them were porpoising in the distance, others were swimming along side the boat having fun swimming in our wake. Dolphin swimming alongside the boat Dolphins, dolphins everywhere!! If you turn on the sound, you can hear our (and the people we were on the boat with - other guests who were on our flight) excitement. Once we got to the hotel - much later than expected due to the weather delays and the fact that the boat stopped in the middle for us to hang out with the dolphins for a bit so it was probably around 4:30 in the afternoon by the time the boat "docked" at the beach. The hotel doesn't really have a dock for the boats - the boat pulls up to the beach. Normally when used for diving, you just walk in knee deep water to get to the boat, but since we were coming from the airport, they put down a maybe 8 inch wide plank of wood for us to walk on to get to the dry part of the beach. Like the other dive hotel we stayed in a couple years ago (scroll down quite a bit to get to the island portion), there's really nothing on this island other than the hotel and a small village that has no restaurants or stores - just a collection of small homes, most of the residents of which work at the hotel, so all meals are included in the hotel rate. Meals are at set times, and our arrival was in between those times. But unlike the previous hotel, where we arrived around 3:30 and had to wait until 7 to get something to eat, here, once we got to the main building for check-in and orientation, they provided us with a choice of "snacks" - either some kind of sandwich with french fries, fried rice or fried noodles. My wife and I got the noodles and it was like a main lunch portion, complete with sambal on the side. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of it since they were also talking to us about the hotel at the same time. After getting settled in our room, we headed to dinner as soon as they opened at 7. Like the other hotel, this hotel provided both Western food as well as local Indonesian dishes (as well as other Asian things) but unlike the other hotel which varied by meal time (lunch was Western, dinner was local), this hotel provided both options at every meal which I was happy about. All meals are buffet style. Since we had a pretty big snack just a few hours before, we weren't that hungry. Fantastic pineapple and dragonfruit. Dragonfruit is relatively flavorless, but it is really juicy and great for hydration - and tastes great with a small squeeze of lime juice! Although I found out a few days later what happens when you eat a lot of the purple dragonfruit. Hint, it doesn't stain just your clothes! Cumin lamb. This isn't really Indonesian, but it was pretty tasty. Passionfruit mousse

Wednesday was pretty relaxing. We went to Francis beach for swimming. We did not snorkel and I did not take any pictures. We were feeling lazy so headed back to the house to swim in the pool while nephew made dinner. We saw a little rainbow (by the time I grabbed my phone it had mostly faded) Nephew grilled some flatbreads. Tomato, bacon (cooked and brought from home, because cooking in the oven indoors here is generally not a good idea), and one with the leftover steak from the other night. We found a big package of basil from the farm on island so covered the flatbreads with it and called it our salad. They looked funky but tasted good. Yesterday was our boat day. I did not take too many above water pictures, and haven’t processed the underwater ones yet, so not many photos to share. My niece and nephew really wanted to visit the British Virgin Islands, and my husband and I have not gone over since 2008, I think. We rented a larger power boat to get us over there quickly. I don’t prefer this kind of trip because you lose time clearing customs. Our boat is the second one in this picture. It was a very smooth ride, and the crew was great. Morning fruit tray on the boat We went to a couple of snorkel spots and then to Norman Island for lunch. There is literally nothing on this island but the beach restaurant. Here it is from the boat dock. A summer camp from a neighboring island was there for swimming lessons and lunch. That’s the big group of little kids you can see in the water with their instructors. Menu We were done snorkeling so the imbibers ordered margaritas We had to get the conch fritters Nephew ordered the mahi seveche. He let me taste and it was really good Niece wanted mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders. She never eats like this at home haha sister and I had fish tacos made with mahi husband got the mahi sandwich and nephew got the chicken roti. He said it was delicious. I should have taken a picture once he cut into it. After lunch nephew really wanted to go to Jost Van Dyke, which is where many of the famous beach bars in the BVI are located. Niece grumbled a bit but perked up when I pointed out they would have smoothies. The captain warned my husband and I that it looked really different since the last time we had been over, as all of the structures here were completely leveled in the hurricanes. There were more bars, and more people, but it was not too different, really. Nephew got his painkiller drink from Soggy Dollar, and niece and I went for a beach walk and found her a smoothie. There are little bars up and down the entire beach. One of them had a huge sign advertising that they sold “magic mushrooms.” I did not know that was legal in the BVI haha. We got home and the power was out on St John, so dinner was cancelled. We just scrounged some bread out of the dark refrigerator and called it a night. Luckily power came back around 9pm, just in time for going to sleep with the AC on.

Hi David, eGullet is a great place; you'll soon make piles of friends. Welcome!

Delish! the JW Jackson Recipes, by Philip R Craig and Shirley Prada Craig ISBN 0-9771384-2-9 ©2006 Smoked Bluefish Pâté 5-6 oz bluefish, shredded 8 oz whipped cream cheese 1/2 tablespoon finely diced red onion (or sub with chives) 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish 1 teaspoon lemon juice Dash of Worcestershire if desired Mix all ingredients together by hand. Serve on your favourite chips or bread.

Nice campfire grill!!! Also, where did you get the anti-gravity grill for the chicken? I didn't know they were invented yet. Do they work any better than standard grills?

Thanks again. Didn't get delivery of the ingredients so I'll have to to the "classic" way today. Will be a nice comparison. :)

Welcome! You'll find a lot of friendly and helpful people here. If you have any questions about using the forums, feel free to contact a staff member (I'm one) by the PM (Personal Messaging) system. Tell us a little more about yourself. Do you cook only for yourself, or for a family? What sort of baking have you started? My own baking odyssey began with cakes and cookies and is now more about bread...but compared to the most active bakers on these forums, I don't know much. 😀

Hi everyone! I’m new here and really happy to join this forum. I enjoy cooking at home and trying recipes from different places. I especially like making Indian and Italian food. Lately, I’ve also started baking and it’s been fun. I’m excited to learn from others and share my love for food. Thanks for having me!

The difficult thing about doing these mushrooms is identifying what the hell they are. I only have the Chinese name for most. The Chinese rarely do scientific names and even when they do often get it wrong. One specimen was given a name that turned out to be a common houseplant; not anything fungal. Another led to a totally different mushroom. But mostly, I just don’t know. I can translate the Chinese name and search for that, but some names are rather cryptic, while others bear no relation to any real English name, so lead nowhere. This one is less opaque than most in that there is some information on it but I have still been unable to find any Latin name. It is 龙爪菇 (lóng zhuǎ gū) which translates as ‘Dragon’s Claw Mushroom’. It is native to Chinese but not specifically Yunnan. In fact, it was first found by commercial concerns in Fujian province, far from Yunnan. Most are foraged but they are successfully cultivated in very limited amounts in a few places. They rarely get exported. It is a type of clavarioid species, the coral fungi (in Chinese 珊瑚菇 (shān hú gū)) but that is an umbrella term covering many unrelated types. They must be cooked and the taste is mildly sweet and earthy. The texture is crispy and meaty.

I searched the library and found books by Philip Craig, no cookbook though. There was a cookbook titled Delish, but by a different author. If you have the pate recipe, how much fish and how much cream cheese?

I had a similar situation last week with 1 1/2 pounds of frozen meat. The meat went into the fridge early in the day, then removed to the counter for an hour or so, then back to the fridge. While I didn't temp the meat, it remained cool, but was very soft. When ready to cook, I just put it back on the counter fro 30-40 minutes to warm a bit. Worked like a charm. All times are estimates and approximate.