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Post in Chinese Herbs and Spices
40. 罗勒 (luó lè) – Sweet Basil – Ocimum basilicum
 

Balcony Basil
 
Native to SE Asia and parts of Central Africa, basil is actually a group of closely related plants and cultivars, the most commonly used worldwide being 罗勒 (luó lè) or “sweet basil”. Others include but are not limited to “Thai basil - Ocimum basilicum thyrsifolium” and “holy basil - Ocimum tenuiflorum ”. The only one I’ve ever encountered in China, unfortunately, is the sweet basil, and that rarely. With Vietnam just next door and Thailand only three hours away, it is very frustrating.
 
The seeds can occasionally be found in a couple of local supermarkets. However it is not being sold for culinary reasons, but as an insect repellent! That said, I ignore that advice and grew several pots of the herb on my balcony. I also smuggled in a load of seeds from England in 2019.
 
The only time I’ve seen it in any culinary setting or product was in these bizarre beef sausages in the supermarket! Still, they justify it being used here as a Chinese herb. I didn't buy the sausages.
 

 
By the way if your basil goes to seed as you grow it, don’t worry. Leave it alone and you get these rather pretty flowers! They are also edible.
 

 
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Post in Provincetown, the "Outer Cape," and Wellfleet Too
We moved to Provincetown yesterday.  There are a LOT of people here, and no one is wearing masks.  I do not think we will be spending much time in town.  The house we are renting is completely off by itself, with no neighbors in sight.  It's quite overcast right now but I will share some pictures of the setting at some point.  
 
We were not smart enough to make dinner reservations for last night (I quickly wised up and booked tables for our remaining nights), so we tried walking in to Mac's Fish House at 5PM, figuring the earlier we got there, the better our chances.  They seated us at an outdoor table all by itself over in a far corner.  It was perfect for our paranoid selves haha.
 
Drinks.  My delicious sparkling water 😉, a gin spin for my sister, and both guys got a special drink of the evening that I forget the name of.  I do know it was tequila based.  Bad drink reporting again.  
 

 
Second drink for husband's brother.  This was a sweet heat margarita.  Basically a margarita with chiles.
 

 
For appetizers we shared a couple of things.  Shrimp and grits.  I liked the grits, they were very creamy.
 

 
Steamer clams
 

 
The biggest hit was the halibut and striped bass seveche.  This was terrific.
 

 
Husband's brother got lobster gnocchi.  He really liked this.
 

 
I got a special of blackened scallops over pea congee.  This was really nice.  The scallops were so sweet and tender.
 

 
My sister got a plate of fried clams.  This was huge.  Husband's brother helped her eat it.
 

 
My husband got the fisherman's platter.  I could not believe he ordered this.  It was gargantuan.  It had shrimp, scallops, whole bellied clams, and cod.  He managed to eat all of the fish, but most of the fries and the slaw was left behind.
 

 
After dinner we decided to drive to town.  The plan was to walk around for a bit while the car charged at the pier, but it was just too crowded for our comfort level as there is no way to keep your distance from others in town the way you can at the beach.  I guess I am just not ready to fully reenter society yet haha.  We did find a section of Commercial Street that was not too bad, so we walked down here a block or so before turning back.
 

 
We walked over to the town beach to look at the boats for a few minutes.
 

 
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Post in Chinese Vegetables Illustrated
Another new one (at least to here) turned up in the supermarket this morning.
 

 
南非冰草 (nán fēi bīng cǎo), literally 'South African Ice Grass', Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, is known in English as 'common ice plant', 'crystalline ice plant' or just plain 'ice plant'. Native to southern Africa and southern Europe, it is a succulent, now naturalised (sometimes invasively) in North and South America and Australia. It is a popular vegetable in Japan where it was first successfully cultivated on a commercial scale. Now it is grown in northern China, especially Shandong.
 
The ice name comes from the bladder cells or water vesicles resembling ice on the leaves and stems.
 

 
The leaves and stems (and seeds) are all edible. I'm guessing the locals here will just stir fry it. In its native South Africa, the leaves and stems are often pickled.
 
As to taste, it is slightly sweet, with a fresh herbal taste; the texture is pleasantly crisp. The plant has the ability to absorb salt, so be careful with seasoning.
 
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Post in Breakfast 2021
It was a frozen item from Trader Joe's and most pre-made foods like that are saltier than I prefer.  Listed at 300 mg sodium/serving, it wasn't awful or inedible.  I just didn't want to accent it with even saltier things like the olives and feta. 
 
Today, I had a BLT+A

 
Yesterday's breakfast was something called Exceptional Scrambled Eggs from Alex Guarnaschelli's book Cook with Me.   It uses soy sauce to season the eggs and crème fraîche to add richness.  They tasted fine but the soy sauce turned them an unpleasant khaki color.  I should really post them in the regrettable foods topic but I'm too lazy to look for it, so here you go.  Squeamish types should look away.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I nibbled on the toast for quite a while before I could make myself sample the eggs.  As I said, they taste fine but eeeeew - they don't look so good!
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Post in Gotten any fun stuff lately?
This arrived today. I only bought it for a bit of fun.  A can / drink chiller.
 
I tested it with a warm can of tonic water (35℃ / 95℉ ambient temperature in kitchen). Took a lot longer to chill to a decent temperature than it would by my usual method - chucking the can in a freezer for 15-20 minutes.
 
However, I can see it being useful to keep already cooled cans or other drinks in that cool state as I work at my desk, sipping away. It might also be useful for people in offices with no other cooling devices, but I work from home (a little) and have two freezers.
 
I need my cold beer.
 

 

 
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Post in Preserving Summer
Used the method from the National Center for Home Food Preservation and I was very happy with the results. 5 1/2 quarts of peach pie filling!

 
Used 1.5 quarts of filling to make some small peach pies.

 
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Post in Food Funnies
Post in Food Funnies
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Post in A short travel blog of Greece: Pelion, Meteora, and Athens
Last evening in Athens.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A couple of local craft beers.
 

 

 
And a late night snack. This is an extremely popular bakery bakes koulouri - Greek sesame bagels. Even at around midnight, they still bake fresh one, mostly of the classic sesame covered type, but also some specialties.
We opted for a couple of more interesting kinds, both fresh out of the oven, and pleasantly warm on a chill night (chill in Greek standards). One is sesame and raisins, the other with sunflower. Both are slightly chewy, quite sweet as far as  bread goes, with a nice nutty flavor from the seeds. Can't think of more perfect post-drink snack.
At this late time, they still made Wolt-style deliveries of bagels, as well as preparing larger deliveries for shops.
 

 

 

 
We also got Greek doughnuts, with chili-honey syrup. Crisp and not too sweet. But the sauce was strangely artificial tasting.
 

 
 
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Post in Breakfast 2021
I made two Tiramisu yesterday, one for our Anniversary dinner and one to take to work today.   We didn't have room for dessert last night so I finished piping on the whipped cream this morning and Moe had Tiramisu at 5:00 AM this morning with his cappuccino.
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Post in Lunch 2021
Mushroom burger.
 

 
And a pretentious little video putting it together.
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Post in What Are You Preserving, and How Are You Doing It? (2016–)
Whole-fruit fig and lemon preserves from Deep Run Roots
 

 
And, I got brave enough to try another batch of kraut from This Will Make It Taste Good.  My first batch was perfect.  The next one, done the exact sam way, spoiled.  This time worked though.  
 
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What Happened to Wheat Germ?
In my teens I always had a jar of this in the fridge. Kretschmer I think. I see Bob's Red Mill when I google as well. I added it to baked goods for its nutty flavor and loved it on plain yogurt with fruit as a snack or mini meal. Must re-visit. Anyone using it? 
 
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Post in Cerveza, Cargols i Covid - a summer in Catalonia
Because the house in which we are staying was mostly empty, we went to a local (larger) supermarket. It is not very photogenic, so you’ll have to cope with my selection of points of interest (or oddities, for that matter) …
 
In the entrance, where the special offers are placed, they had a stand of Salsa Espinaler. This is local condiment used to spice up tinned clams, sepia etc. They make fantastic tinned products as well.
 

 

 
A similar, but less fancy version is made by Dani, a company featuring other items for the very important aperitif (for e.g. Sunday lunch) as well …
 

 
I would have loved to get this Vermouth bottle, but then again I prefer other drinks for aperitif …
 

 
This visit I want to stock up on two or three paella pans. Just maybe not here, although the selection was decent …
 

 
These 1.5L bottles contain a mixture of red wine & lemonade, premixed for your convenience. I like the idea & it is cheap …
 

 
Some pork rinds (which I had to purchase, of course) …
 

 
The cookbook section was a bit disappointing, although they covered most regions. Plus all of them were in Spanish. I’ll need to look elsewhere …
 

 
Got a nice whiskey for the vacation: Chivas Regal Mizunara 12. Decent price as well, although …
 

 
… in Spain, Gin & Tonic reigns supreme ! This is just the “pink section” of their products.
 

 
Combined with myriads of tonic waters …
 

 
… and the odd “dry add-ons” that are immensely popular to doll up your G&T.
 

 
Seemingly white canned asparagus is a thing, too. My wife was a bit puzzled …
 

 
Beans are very important to the Catalan people. One of my goals for the vacation is to prepare the prefect pot of beans. They have great varieties, but I am looking for the elusive “Mongetes de St. Pau” variety. I might drive up there …
 

 
Cargols (or snails), precooked. I’ll get them in the restaurant instead …
 

 
Callos (or tripe) …
 

 
And (befitting maybe the products that @liuzhou can find imported into China), the “paella” section.
 

 
This I found cool: the “broth” section - essentially all meat products you want to make a good broth (sausages, fat, bones, feet, …) wrapped conveniently in packages. And many of them. I got some for my beans …
 

 

 
Lamb - baby lamb at that. Look at the size of that leg …
 

 

 

 
On the lighter side - fuets (a kind of salami) …
 

 
And this you know …


 
The meat counter, where I purchase some nice ultra thinly sliced head cheese …
 

 
And the fish section …
 

 


 

 

 
We purchase goods for about 300€ and went home happily …
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Post in Cerveza, Cargols i Covid - a summer in Catalonia
Because the house in which we are staying was mostly empty, we went to a local (larger) supermarket. It is not very photogenic, so you’ll have to cope with my selection of points of interest (or oddities, for that matter) …
 
In the entrance, where the special offers are placed, they had a stand of Salsa Espinaler. This is local condiment used to spice up tinned clams, sepia etc. They make fantastic tinned products as well.
 

 

 
A similar, but less fancy version is made by Dani, a company featuring other items for the very important aperitif (for e.g. Sunday lunch) as well …
 

 
I would have loved to get this Vermouth bottle, but then again I prefer other drinks for aperitif …
 

 
This visit I want to stock up on two or three paella pans. Just maybe not here, although the selection was decent …
 

 
These 1.5L bottles contain a mixture of red wine & lemonade, premixed for your convenience. I like the idea & it is cheap …
 

 
Some pork rinds (which I had to purchase, of course) …
 

 
The cookbook section was a bit disappointing, although they covered most regions. Plus all of them were in Spanish. I’ll need to look elsewhere …
 

 
Got a nice whiskey for the vacation: Chivas Regal Mizunara 12. Decent price as well, although …
 

 
… in Spain, Gin & Tonic reigns supreme ! This is just the “pink section” of their products.
 

 
Combined with myriads of tonic waters …
 

 
… and the odd “dry add-ons” that are immensely popular to doll up your G&T.
 

 
Seemingly white canned asparagus is a thing, too. My wife was a bit puzzled …
 

 
Beans are very important to the Catalan people. One of my goals for the vacation is to prepare the prefect pot of beans. They have great varieties, but I am looking for the elusive “Mongetes de St. Pau” variety. I might drive up there …
 

 
Cargols (or snails), precooked. I’ll get them in the restaurant instead …
 

 
Callos (or tripe) …
 

 
And (befitting maybe the products that @liuzhou can find imported into China), the “paella” section.
 

 
This I found cool: the “broth” section - essentially all meat products you want to make a good broth (sausages, fat, bones, feet, …) wrapped conveniently in packages. And many of them. I got some for my beans …
 

 

 
Lamb - baby lamb at that. Look at the size of that leg …
 

 

 

 
On the lighter side - fuets (a kind of salami) …
 

 
And this you know …


 
The meat counter, where I purchase some nice ultra thinly sliced head cheese …
 

 
And the fish section …
 

 


 

 

 
We purchase goods for about 300€ and went home happily …
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Cerveza, Cargols i Covid - a summer in Catalonia
In these challenging times, a full summer vacation is not an easy task. For the last 1.5 years we have been mostly at home with the clear plan to visit Catalonia (or more precise my wife’s family) latest this summer. And it looked good for a while. Unfortunately, the recent rise in case numbers in Spain have resulted in …
 
OK, let’s skip this part. Long story short - my wife and me are fully vaccinated, as are >90% of the people we care about in Catalonia. After some discussion (after all, Germans tend to prefer to be on the safe side of things) we simply fueled up the car, got each a test (for the transit through France) and started to drive …
 
After a leisurely 11h drive we arrived at a small fishing town somewhat north of Barcelona around 3.00am. We unloaded the car and my wife an the little one went straight to bed. 
 

 


I found an expired beer in the elsewise pretty empty fridge and enjoyed the cool breeze on the terrace. Holidays, here we come …
 
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Post in Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )
Mango kulfi (mock) soft serve. Mango, frozen and blended with some cream and a bit of cardamom.
 
 
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Post in Dinner 2021
One of my favorite pastas: shellfish in a light sauce of shallot, tomato, white wine, sorrel, basil, and, well yes, butter.    I swap out the protein and pasta for variety.
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An amazing lunch at Bokos Ouzeri in Volos.
 
Ouzerias are restaurants that specialize in serving drinks and food that accompanies them (mostly ouzo and tsipouro, in the latter case they are sometimes called tsipouroias).
It's a bit like an izakaya, but with more of a restaurant vibe than a pub.
In more traditional old-school places, the dishes can are simple tapas - e.g. pickles, fava spread, patatosalata, cheese, octopus legs- served with little fanfare. More commonly noways, the places are full fledged restaurants, serving an often expansive menu, with a strong focus on seafood, fried items and less-basic tapas. Here's an image of some tapas style dishes from this restaurant.
 
In Volos and Pelion area, where tsipouro is at least as loved as ouzo, it is common to have it served in miniature bottle (i.e. airplane bottles). Guests are served a bucket of ice, empty glasses and array of bottles. It is common to see the tables filled with empty ones. I'm not sure why is this practiced, as we ordered the more economic single larger bottle of ouzo. A common sight.
 
Drinks first - a medium (single) bottle of ouzo and a Greek pilsner.
Raw clams.
Greek salad.
Shrimp saganaki in bright sauce.
A tower of plump mussels steamed with garlic and dill.
Fried zucchini with tzatziki.
Grilled bread.
Complementary ice cream. Nothing fancy, but perfect the late noon heat.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
I can't help but apologize  again for taking whole months to post about a 10 day long vacation 😅 Busy times.
 
 
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Post in A short travel blog of Greece: Pelion, Meteora, and Athens
An amazing lunch at Bokos Ouzeri in Volos.
 
Ouzerias are restaurants that specialize in serving drinks and food that accompanies them (mostly ouzo and tsipouro, in the latter case they are sometimes called tsipouroias).
It's a bit like an izakaya, but with more of a restaurant vibe than a pub.
In more traditional old-school places, the dishes can are simple tapas - e.g. pickles, fava spread, patatosalata, cheese, octopus legs- served with little fanfare. More commonly noways, the places are full fledged restaurants, serving an often expansive menu, with a strong focus on seafood, fried items and less-basic tapas. Here's an image of some tapas style dishes from this restaurant.
 
In Volos and Pelion area, where tsipouro is at least as loved as ouzo, it is common to have it served in miniature bottle (i.e. airplane bottles). Guests are served a bucket of ice, empty glasses and array of bottles. It is common to see the tables filled with empty ones. I'm not sure why is this practiced, as we ordered the more economic single larger bottle of ouzo. A common sight.
 
Drinks first - a medium (single) bottle of ouzo and a Greek pilsner.
Raw clams.
Greek salad.
Shrimp saganaki in bright sauce.
A tower of plump mussels steamed with garlic and dill.
Fried zucchini with tzatziki.
Grilled bread.
Complementary ice cream. Nothing fancy, but perfect the late noon heat.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
I can't help but apologize  again for taking whole months to post about a 10 day long vacation 😅 Busy times.
 
 
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Post in Liquor Shortages
Here's a photo from a news story of an ABC store in Charlotte. Things are no better here in Winston-Salem.
 

 
Their selection sucks even in the best of times, but this feels like shopping for groceries Soviet Union. 
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Post in Provincetown, the "Outer Cape," and Wellfleet Too
I am not sure what this means, but if it means my family is weird, eccentric, or opinionated about food, then all of that is true.  It will get even weirder next vacation, when my brother joins us.  He eats no vegetables other than onions, garlic, and carrots, and one piece of lettuce on his bun if he eats a hamburger.  I have no idea how he is still alive.  
 
We are back home now, so here's the last post for this visit.  We decided to drive into Chatham because we wanted to see the "Whales in the Park" display.  It used to be "Sharks in the Park" but they changed it to whales after someone was killed by a shark at one of the Wellfleet beaches a few years ago.  Local artists paint whale forms and they get auctioned off for charity.  The display was too crowded, so we ended up not going.  It was early enough that people had not really started going to dinner yet, so we sat outside on the patio at Bistro on Main.  Scallop seveche.  I was not a huge fan of this.  It needed more seasoning.  My brother in law ate it without complaint.
 

 
Fritto di misto.  This was cod, scallops, and calamari.  My nephew could not eat it because of his allergy, and my niece hates cod and calamari so my husband, brother in law and I shared it.  There were only two scallops.  My husband and I ate them without sharing as revenge for my brother in law eating all of the appetizer the prior evening.  Haha!
 

 
My niece and nephew shared a prosciutto plate
 

 
and a burrata salad
 

 
For entrees, my brother in law got seared scallops with a risotto cake, lobster sauce, and asparagus
 

 
I had tuna with an unfortunately bland jicama and cabbage slaw.  The tuna was good.
 

 
My niece had a steak with mashed potatoes and asparagus.  It was supposed to have a mushroom-veal demiglace but she asked them to leave it off as she hates mushrooms.  It looked meh to me but she said the steak was perfectly cooked medium rare and very tasty.  My husband tried a piece and agreed.
 

 
Nephew had a wedge salad
 

 
My husband just wanted some steamed clams
 

 
Niece had a chocolate mousse for dessert
 

 
Nephew had key lime pie
 

 
Chatham light
 

 
And a shot of the final sunset of our trip.  It was kind of crowded so we hung back behind all the people.  
 

 
We'll be back in Provincetown for Labor Day, assuming they get the Covid spike under control.  Until then, see you on the dinner thread.
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eG Cook-Off #87: Potato Salad
When I think of Potato Salad, I think of my mother and paternal grandmother.  Summer picnics and backyard parties are the first memories that come to mind.  But I came to realize that not all potato salads are the same.  My grandmother kept her recipe basically the same.  Usually russet potatoes off the ranch and farm she and my grandfather owned in Central Oregon.  She would add mayonnaise, out West "Best Foods" was her mayonnaise of choice if she didn't make it from scratch.  She would add a bit of yellow mustard, some vinegar and chopped canned pimentos. (Today we'd do something she would have called "fancy" and add fire-roasted red peppers).  Sometimes Grandma would add chopped, hard-boiled eggs to her potato salad. 
 
My mother was more adventuresome with her potato salads.  She usually used Russets since she grew up in Idaho potato country and my grandfather had a small business that sold burlap sacks to potato farmers.  On occasion she would use "new potatoes," either red or white.  We didn't have potatoes called "baby" or "fingerlings" back then.  Sometimes she added chopped dill pickle, hard-boiled eggs or diced celery.  If my father had his way, she would make his potato salad with Miracle Whip.  I wouldn't touch the Miracle Whip potato salad. 
 
One thing my mother and grandmother always agreed upon was the potato salad had to be on ice in the metal ice chest so the mayonnaise wouldn't spoil and make us all sick at the picnic.  
 
Mother didn't limit her potato salad cookery to the summer months. In Fall and Winter she made a hot German potato salad and served it with sauerkraut and German sausage we bought from a German butcher in a small farming town. 
 
She boiled russet potatoes and cut them into thick slices.  The dressing was made by frying bacon, then draining the bacon and crumbling it into bits.  Into the skillet with hot bacon grease she added onions and apple cider vinegar and tossed the potatoes with the hot dressing. Instead of diced celery she seasoned the salad with celery seeds and lots of cracked black pepper. 
 
It seems as though potato salads are uniquely tied to family, yet cross borders in terms of variations and ingredients.  Let's join together and share our family memories, present old favorites and create some new variations of potato salad.
 
See the complete eG Cook-Off Index here: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143994-egullet-recipe-cook-off-index/
 
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Heritage and Heirloom Foods - Do The Words Now Mean Nothing?
The other day a second venture into our local Trader Joe's happened. Taking my time, enjoying the uncrowded, heavily air-conditioned store, I stumbled upon these (which evidently have been available for quite some time)...
 

 
Somewhat intrigued, and at $2.99/lb. a relative bargain compared to some other "heirloom" birds, I took one home and gave it the Cook's Illustrated from a long time ago poule au pot treatment...
 

 
It's quite simply not much better (if better at all) than most battery birds. I find the best chickens to be the Sasso, freshly slaughtered ones purchased at a place in Brooklyn, D'artagnan's free-range poussins, and when they appear, a true favorite, Joyce Farms Poulet Rouge.
 
Others tried include D'artagnan's Green Circle, Cooks Venture's heirloom chickens, Snowdance Farm's heritage, and others surely forgotten.
 
Heritage and heirloom sure seem to be words thrown around willy-nilly, from chickens, to turkeys, to apples and pears, and on and on.
 
What's your experience, if any, with these words and how they relate to what we put in our mouths?
 
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Post in What did you buy at the liquor store today? (2016 - )
New to me: Amaro Lucano (Anniversario), Brandy Sainte Louise, Bittercube Bolivar bitters.
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