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I have a confession to make. This glass of pomegranate juice was squeezed from the pomegranates I bought last fall. Still good, probably not as juice as when I first bought them!

Padang style food is native to the north west region of the Indonesian island of Sumatra but has become incredibly popular all over Indonesia, and especially in Jakarta. It's no wonder - most Padang food I've had is delicious and incredibly addictive, and is served practically immediately after sitting down since most of it is premade and waiting for customers. Padang food has 2 primary kinds of sambals - sambal ijo (green sambal) and sambal merah (red sambal). This is my recipe for sambal ijo as I've tried to recreate it from eating in a few Padang restaurants in Jakarta. Like all my other recipes, I'm writing this here as more of my own record keeping than anything else but if you decide to try to make it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Makes 2-3 portions 250g big green chillies (cabe hijau besar) - mildly spicy green chilli 170g curly green chillies (cabe keriting besar) - medium spicy green chilli 250g green tomato 200g shallots - sliced finely 20g garlic - medium chop rice bran oil to fry 7 kaffir lime leaves 1-2 key limes or about 1/2 of a standard western Bearss lime ---- 1. Cut the chillies and tomato into roughly equal size pieces, simmer until tender then drain 2. Mash the chillies/tomato in a traditional Indonesian mortar into a rough paste, squeezing the lime juice over while mashing 3. Over medium heat, heat a good quantity of oil - maybe 1/2C, and fry the shallots/garlic until the shallots are translucent 4. Add the kaffir lime leaves and fry until fragrant 5. Increase the heat and add the mashed chilli/tomato mixture and fry until the oil starts to separate and seeps through - reducing the heat as the water is reduced so as not to burn 6. Cool and enjoy at room temp

Grilled bison patties with Padang style sambal ijo (green sambal)

@FrogPrincesse Fwiw, the All Clad factory seconds sale ends tonight. Also, you may be able.to find good deals on MC2 pans on ebay or etsy.

The TV series, The Sticky, is a loosely based account of the Maple Syrup Heist in Canada.

@liamsaunt, I swooned over most everything!

@liamsaunt thank you for sharing. I swooned over both the Dover Sole and the Fish and Chips.

The showmanship of those places is marvelous! I assume the food is every bit as good. Thanks so much for the photos and descriptions!

Interesting. Thank you.

I agree with @gfweb about Calphalon. I have a couple of their smaller saucepans, and they're fine. I actually use one of their 1.5 qt. anodized nonstick pans fairly frequently. They run plenty of sales on the Calphalon website, though the problem there is often items are not in stock, so maybe national retailers are a better source. And of course I'd be remiss if I let it go without mentioning my favorite cookware... Their "try me" classic saucier (or signature saucier) is a bargain at $154. With its curved bottom, it works great for most anything, is practically nonstick, and isn't bad looking, either! I'm still very happy that I bought an almost complete line of original All-Clad MC chef, back when MC was THE cookware to use, and was all made in Canonsburg, PA. I really don't think anything they produced after that approached what was practically perfect cookware.

Chicken kapitan curry with homemade roti canai and cucumber picy

Sautéed literally means 'jumped' or 'leapt' in French too.

Breakfast this morning was poached egg and avocado on sourdough toast

Penne with a ground pork sauce. If I use rigatoni pasta, I call this dish rigatoni saltati, so I guess I could call this penne saltati. I used to think ’saltati‘ referred to the pork but I have looked it up online and ’saltati can mean ‘ sautéed ‘ or ‘jumped’.in Italian. So I guess after all this time, I was wrong about it meaning something to do with pork. I do make this sauce in a pan rather than a pot hence sauteed. ( I guess )

I mentioned the Great British Cheese Heist at the time, but according to this article in the Guardian today, sophisticated food scams are on the rise worldwide. Who stole all the cheese? The inside story of the boom in luxury food heists | Food | The Guardian

A Sad tale Being of the Scottish persuasion by birth and upbringing, I am extremely partial to smoked fish. Kippers, Finnan Haddie, Arbroath Smokies, Smoked Mackerel and, of course, Smoked Salmon etc. Here in China, I have a problem. A lot of “smoked” fish has never been near smoke other than perhaps the vendor’s cigarette in its life! Probably the most famous dish is what is usually described as Shanghai Smoked Fish, 上海熏鱼 (shàng hǎi xūn yú). I enjoy this but smoked it ain’t. Shanghai Not Smoked Fish - Image Mietuan Online Shopping App This misnaming isn’t dishonesty or deliberate fraud but a linguistic / translation problem. 熏 (xūn) can mean ‘smoked’ but has other meanings such as to fumigate, to assail the nostrils, to perfume. I suggest the nostril assault meaning is the correct one for the fish, which is usually carp. This Mala Market piece goes into detail as to how it’s actually made, although it doesn’t mention the linguistic confusion. Another word for ‘smoke’ is 烟 (yān), which also mend cigarette or tobacco. This is slightly more reliable but still no guarantees. It is often combined with 熏 (xūn) to give 烟熏 (yān xūn). Which still tells you not very much. More reliable but far from infallible is 熏烤 (xūn kǎo) which means ‘to smoke or cure over a wood fire’. The only decent, actually smoked fish I’ve found here was rather expensive smoked sturgeon from the world’s largest caviar supplier. Smoked Sturgeon Recently, I recently found some smoked herring, made in China, but described as Russian style. I tried to have it delivered from Heilongjiang Province, China’s most northern bordering Siberia. As soon as I placed the order they announced it had been withdrawn from sale. 😭😭😭

There was no dinner Friday night as we were too full from the tea. We attended a magic show since my nephew is into performing card tricks. Here are some pre-show mocktails and a cocktail And more cocktails that my husband and nephew ordered at the interval. Martini and Manhattan, I believe. After the show, we went around the corner to a pub so interested parties could obtain a beer Saturday we went to a breakfast spot around the corner from our hotel on our way to touristy stuff. Goat cheese croissant and iced latte Avocado toast We did the guided Globe theater tour for my niece. She loved it I took a picture of this band we heard playing on our walk along the river, because their name amused me. The Chalamets. I guess they do have his floppy hair 😂 A truly terrible iced latte before braving the British Museum Then my sister and niece split off to go get fish and chips and attend a musical (shiver). My niece sent a picture of her fish and chips for this report My husband, nephew and I went to a nearby Indian restaurant at my nephew’s request, Tamarind Two cocktails and a mocktail Chaat Paneer cooked in the tandoor A spicy green Goan chicken curry, methi paneer, and a lamb curry, with naan and rice Nephew ordered a coffee jelly for dessert. Husband and I were too full Post dinner coffee (me) and espresso martini (nephew) Then back to the hotel to wait for my niece and sister in the lovely lobby Crazy drink my nephew ordered that came in a smoke filled dome and a ginger mocktail for me Niece and nephew loved their quick visit to London and have asked to return already. We are off to the airport to fly to Paris. Will continue this report over on that board.

Hi ... All-Clad's MC line was, for many uses, my go-to. I still have and use the original (well, early -1978-9) MC saucepans and a 3-quart sauté pan from that era as well. I later bought a couple of MC2 skillets which I love. A 1.5 quart saucepan practically lives on my stovetop. It's a great size for all the things you mention plus hot cereal, polenta, and reheating many items. The All-Clad D5 has been my choice, and I've been using it for years. Unfortunately, it's spendy, but it was the one that had similar cooking characteristis to the MC. That said, another good choice, on the opposite end of the price spectrum, and one which has served a relative well for several years, is the 1.5 quart Cuisinart: (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) Heck of a value for the price. HTH, good luck in your search.

WTF Potato Salad from Edward Lee’s “Smoke & Pickles” - the salad has potatoes, soy sauce sautéed shiitake mushrooms, sugar snap peas, diced country ham, red and yellow bell peppers, celery, diced hard boiled eggs and cornichons and a dressing made with mayonnaise, sour cream, garlic, lemon juice, sriracha, paprika and cumin. Served with some wiener wuerstchen

good to know

I was waiting to hear about your stinky nuts!

Thanks. I looked at eBay and other resale sites but haven’t found what I am looking for. I will check out Calphalon.

I'm putting this here, instead of in the Cocktails thread, because of his approach, but it would fit just as well over there. https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/is-there-a-grand-unified-theory-of-cocktails-maybe/

I've bought several AllClad original Master Chef pans on eBay. Great price and in great shape. I'd do it again. If you want new, Calphalon makes a small pot that I'm very happy with too

Well, some cheeses are sold whole, so they cannot easily give you a sample.