prasantrin

Clearly, Costco is much more worldly than the rest of the US. rona

For mail order, if you can keep the total (including postage, I think) under CA$20, you don't have to pay duty, taxes, or anything else. That's IF it comes through regular mail. If it comes through UPS or Purolator, you usually have to pay the brokerage fees (I'm not sure about other fees). If you can get stuff shipped to you to a friend in the US who is willing to re-ship, then "gifts" under CA$60 are exempt from any duty, taxes, etc. In this case, the value of the package is reported by the sender, so they can undervalue an item to help you avoid paying duty. However, that would also limit the amount of insurance you could get on the package, if you get insurance. Just something to keep in mind.

After reading this topic, I had been craving a good burger for weeks. I finally made it to my favourite burger place in Japan. I noticed that their burger looks a lot like your burger, Magus. It has a homemade look to it that makes it all the more mouth-watering in anticipation. But after eating my burger, it brought up a question. Where do you put your condiments? Do you have the customer dress his/her own burger, or do you do it? If you do it, do you put the condiments under the top bun or the bottom bun? At this place, they use lettuce and grilled onions (there might have been tomato, too, but I can't remember) under the top bun. But then they also put the condiments (mayo and bbq sauce--though I always ask for ketchup instead) under the top bun. This makes for a slippery burger, and most of my onions always fall out (which isn't so bad, because I only like a taste of onion in my burger). For me, the ideal burger should be bottom bun, condiments, burger, veggies, top bun. Cheese should go between the burger and veggies, but bacon should go between the condiments and burger. Cleaner eating that way. I know burgers are messy, but I have this inner voice telling me not to be so messy when I eat (my mother ingrained good table manners in us from a very very young age). Edited to add: Next time I go there, I'll take a picture so you can see their idea of B&M. It's a little shack next to gas station, but they do very good business (mostly take out, because they only have 6 plastic lawn chars at a very high counter--I feel like a kid whenever I eat there!). It's such a cute place, with a lot of character. And though I think you're looking for something bigger, I sometimes envision your B&M place to be like this place.

I think the roast looks great! But it did bring up an important point. If the seniors are only provided with butter knives (hope they're at least metal ones and not plastic!), then a roast, especially one cut that thickly, is not a great choice for a meal. Remember, too, we lose strength as we age, so even if you could have cut it with your butter knife, it doesn't mean they would have had the strength to do so (hypothetically, of course). Pot roast might be a better choice for them. But then they'd probably complain that the meat were too soft! Did they at least like the cheesecake? I'd like some of that cheesecake. And I assure you, I would definitely appreciate it!

Did you happen to notice what kind of food they had at the cafeteria? In Japan you can get bulgogi bake (like the chicken bake but with bulgogi), and other things you can't get at Canadian Costcos. And the hot dog here is 100% pork, not beef. I wonder if you can get a side of kimchi for your hot dog, instead of sauerkraut. That would be nice.

Wow! You certainly did better than I did when I was there! I can't believe you managed all that food. We could only eat 2 meals a day--any more and we'd be rolling back to our B&B. Question...is that tomato in your tom kha gai? I've never seen tomato in tom kha gai. Seems very unusual to me for an "authentic" Thai place. Are the owners Isaan? They do use more tomatoes in Isaan food, but still...in tom kha gai? And red curry paste? Odd.

I love that video! I think it's hilarious! My Japanese friends and I watched it at work, and we got into a bit of trouble for laughing so much. Most people who know anything about Japan (and sushi) don't take it seriously. But I can imagine there are some rubes out there who don't know any better. OK. Next time I go, I'll call him "Goshujin" since both he and his wife are there. Coming from a woman, though, wouldn't that be like my calling him my husband? Maybe I'll call him "Oyakata". Seems a bit safer.

Make some kind of vermouth jelly? (The jell-o type, not the stuff to put on toast.)

I'll look for them. So far, the best I've found have been Johsonville from Costco! I like the spicy ones, though, and Costco doesn't carry those.

Bolding is mine... I sure as heck hope it was crab and not crap! How did you make the shape. Do you have a picture of the innards? I'd love to see the middle (as long as it wasn't really crap).

Not quite: From the CBSA website: They made the change in the 48 hours or more allowance last summer, I think.

I would be offended if I were a sushi chef and someone called me "Otosan". I call the chef "Goshujin" and the chef's wife "Okamisan". I will never call him "Taisho". ← I'll let her know. Or maybe it's a Kansai thing? What does "Taisho" mean? I normally just say, "Sumimasen" because I don't know what else to say, and I figure "Sumimasen" is pretty safe!

When you want to get the chef's attention, what do you call him? I was really surprised when my friend called the chef, "Otosan." Her husband told her it was OK. Is it? Or is there another way?

I think you mean that people who are loyal to Rob Feenie or put off by the drama going on will be less likely to dine at Feenie's/Lumiere under Mackay's leadership, so they won't get to sample what he's capable of doing. I think that's a very valid point. People who are also more interested in name value ("I dined at Rob Feenie's place"-type people) would also be less likely to dine there now, too.

Is the Tokyu Food Show just Tokyu Department Store's version of depachika? Or is it some kind of special event? Do you know the brand of the sausages? They look really good, but I'm always afraid to buy sausages in Japan. I don't like most Japanese sausages, even the ones from the local German delicatessen (Tor Road Delicatessen, which is supposed to be quite good).

OK, I've been putting this off long enough. But I've been too embarrassed to post my mother's dim sum experience! My mother and neighbour had often discussed dim sum places, so when neighbour invited my mother to a "new place", of course my mother had to go. They knew all the same places, and though they seemed to have different opinions on which were good, my mother loves to try new restaurants, so off she went. Turned out it wasn't new at all! It was Victoria Seafood. They had talked about it before, so my mother assumed neighbour had been there before. But no... If it's any consolation, they ordered dishes my mother had never had before. The only winner in terms of flavour was the sparerib rice one. She said the spareribs were very flavourful, but were sparse. She complained about the "Victoria Seafood special spring rolls". She expected something with seafood, since that's what VS is good at, but it turned out to be mostly vegetables, with a very little minced pork (she didn't think there was any meat in it at all, but the waitress insisted there was minced pork in it). The "special" is that they use sweet potatoes instead of carrots in the filling. $3.60 for 3 small rolls. Not worth it at all, she said. Sorry to get everyone's hopes up! I'll try to be less hasty with my announcements in the future. I was just too excited!

My plan is to use it for half a loaf of no-knead bread. I only ever need half a loaf of bread, and the 5qt one is too big. It's also good for smaller stew recipes. I'm single, so I usually halve recipes since even half gives me much more than I want to eat (even with leftovers). That size is pretty good for a 1 1/2 lb pot roast.

As others said, it really depends on your friend's interests. Gourmet has too much talk, not enough food, in my opinion. But if your friend likes that sort of stuff, then he might enjoy it. I like Fine Cooking much more than Cook's Illustrated, because it offers a wider range of food styles, and more recipes. I also prefer Bon Appetit to Food&Wine, because the recipes are usually more accessible to the average home cook. Why don't you go to a large bookstore and spend some time around the magazine section? You know your friend best, so you can decide which magazine would be best for him based on his interests (as opposed to ours).

Make sure you have access to good staff before expanding. If it's difficult to get good staff in your area, you're going to be in trouble if your business expands as much as you think it will in the new space.

How do you hold it? Over a double boiler? I think that's the question--what's the best way to hold it at temperature for a few hours, not necessarily for any longer.

I know! I didn't think he'd ever quit (though I must say I'm glad he did). In his reply, it sounded like he did it because of his 6-month old baby girl. He also said, though, something like "Smoking is cool, and chicks dig it when guys smoke," and it's sort of true. I love watching men smoke--it's very sexy. I just don't want to be near them or kiss them when they do.

As I mentioned here, 90% of mizuame is made from corn starch in Japan. If you want to know more about mizuame, click here. ← I had already read the Wiki article, but it didn't tell me if it was the same as, or interchangeable with, corn syrup, and that's what I really want to know.

Another sugar question...what is mizuame? Is it the same as glucose? Or corn syrup? From the Tomizawa website If those are the ingredients, is it more like corn syrup? And can it be used in place of corn syrup or glucose for candy making? And why is corn syrup so frickin' expensive in Japan? More than Y700 for a 473mL container of Karo corn syrup? I don't think so!

Time Magazine (Asian edition) had a little Q&A with Bourdain to promote his newest book. I can't believe he quit smoking!!! My favourite quotations: and for those of you thinking of changing professions...

I love Kua'Aina, too! But I find the one I frequent tends to be inconsistent. Sometimes it's juicy and scrumptious, and other times it's dry and cardboard like. The one in Omotesando is the original one in Japan (can you believe they have more Kua'Aina in Japan than they do in Hawaii?), and I've never had a bad burger at that one. I wonder how Katsukura would have compared to the tonkatsu places you tried. They don't have one in the Aoyama area as far as I can tell. They're still my favourite, and I much prefer them to Kimukatsu (though to me, Kimukatsu isn't really tonkatsu). No cake shops visited? I'm always on the look-out for good cake suggestions!