prasantrin

Go to the website listed somewhere on these pages, and sign up. Daniel is still around on other boards, so if you catch up with him on one of those boards, maybe he'll set you up.

Fry it and eat it as a snack (like pork rinds). Personally, I like it sprinkled with a bit of salt and Fiipino-style garlic and chile vinegar and eaten with freshly cooked rice. But if I don't have rice, I'll dip it in ketchup. Then you can use the fat rendered from the frying for other good stuff like making hash browns or similar.

Why exclude members of this board? I find the "endemic pretentiousness" of which you speak just as prevalent here as anywhere else. I've been told by people here, for example, I shouldn't buy certain items because "they're not local", and have dined with folks who insist on offering a play-by-play on every obscure ingredient they detect in their food. For many (including me), those are evidence of the pretentiousness that "foodies" exhibit. I dislike being referred to as a "foodie" merely because it implies, to me, a certain trendiness; I envision foodies as people who jump on the food bandwagon because it's the cool thing to do. Like people who shunned pork for years only to reintroduce it to their diets with relish because Anthony Bourdain loves it, or people who ran out and bought Global knives just because Emeril used them. They don't really put much thought into their actions (or the motives behind their actions); they just do it because they think it makes them "special". I also just don't like labels. I like food; I eat it; sometimes I talk about it. Why I need a single word to describe that?

Thanks! Hope I can find some cheap ones around!

Its similar, but not similar enough. These have a different shape and I think are not as deep. From the pictures, I think the final product has a much thinner (and more well-cooked) dough than what takoyaki produces. (I think takoyaki needs to be thicker to handle all the turning, but since these aren't turned, they can be thinner.)

Not unknown and not unusual in Europe, but what is it called in English and where can I get one? http://cgi.ebay.de/ALU-Backform-NUSS-NUs-Weihnachtsplatzchen-/250726496472?pt=DE_Haus_Garten_Haushaltswaren_Backzubeh%C3%B6r&hash=item3a6076b8d8 The listing is in German, but it says it's which according to my googling, are just different kinds of Christmas cookies. But I found the gadget first on http://laurafrunza.com/2011/02/05/nutty-nuttela-nuts/ and she used them to make filled egg-shaped things that look awfully tasty. Her grandmother has a cool old one made by "gypsy blacksmiths".

Seriously? I can't tell if you're being ironic or not. The government of Iran has far more power over its people than that of Italy. If the story is true, I'm fairly certain the ban will be firmly in place and those who transgress will be punished severely.

To me that just sounds like a symptom of IBS, and even though the external stressors affecting you before are no longer present, there may be stressors present that you don't realize are stressors, or maybe you just haven't been able to let go of the previous stress. I've had the same problem since childhood--whenever I'm under a lot of stress, I can't eat and feel nauseated whenever I'm around food (even when I was very young--like 5 or 6--when I was nervous I used to throw up the most benign foods like plain rice, soda crackers, and stale ginger ale. . . even rolaids). I think doctors are too quick to prescribe meds on a long term basis for things like GERD, IBS, high blood pressure, etc. My symptoms of IBS have never been severe for long periods of time, so my doctor refused to prescribe meds, and just gave me information for managing it. I had to keep a diary for a while to determine what foods were triggers, and also which moods or events affected me. I also had to incorporate participation in some stress-relieving activities on a regular basis. For me, exercising more helped tons (ashtanga yoga and speed walking in particular), but meditation not so much (mostly because I can't seem to do it). The foods that were triggers of other symptoms are mostly foods I really love, so I just try to eat them less because I love them too much to eliminate them completely. An anecdote about stressors affecting digestion--several years ago, a friend started having trouble eating. Any kind of food made her feel nauseated, and she started losing weight (she was quite slender to begin with). I told her about the possibility of stress being the cause, and she said she didn't think that was the problem because she didn't feel stressed at all. And she said the same thing happened to her when she was about 6 years old, and who's stressed at 6? Months later, we met for lunch and she told me she had figured it out. Until she was 6, she attended a Montessori school she loved. But then her younger sister was born and had some medical issues, so her parents didn't have the time to drive my friend to and from that school anymore. She was then put into a public school that she hated. That's when the problem started. And she realized the "illness" ended when she was able to return to the Montessori school a year later. And for the more recent event, her husband had become self-employed and more or less took over the entire house with his work--not even the dinner table was clear. For her, it was very important to have a clear dinner table (it provided comfort), and not having that was the stressor. She discussed the issue with him, and he made sure to always leave at least part of the table clear. Wouldn't you know it, her nausea cleared up a short time later. Your case may be very different, but there's no harm in looking more deeply into what may currently be happening in your life that could be stressful. Who knows. . .maybe your dinner table is too cluttered?

It's telling that of the replies in this thread, all but two are from non-Chinese (and one of those is half) folks. I think Martin Yan has great knife skills, but there's something about him that plays more to non-Asians. I think he fits that stereotype of East Asians that was prevalent in the west (like Mickey Rooney's portrayal of a bucktoothed Japanese man in Breakfast at Tiffany's). He's got the funny accent, repetitive speech (he generally repeats himself at least twice, usually three or more times), and slight overbite that's part of that stereotype. That makes him "foreign" and "exotic", yet "safe" to westerners. And like him, the food in his earlier cookbooks is foreign enough to appeal to people unfamiliar with Chinese food, but familiar enough to be "safe". Can't say I value him as much as others, but I do give him props for bringing a better (how much better is debatable) Chinese food to the masses of North America. Without him, there would be no PFChang's.

I've never been a fan of fish maw (just saw some yesterday at Young's and was remembering having to soak it for my dad). What does it taste like? Or is it eaten more for the texture than the flavour? Do you know the characters of sam gna wong? Haven't been to Sun Wah in forever and a day (there's a new market open on south Pembina called Daily Mart or something like that, and another new market opening on Pembina just north of Bishop Grandin called ING--someone told my mother the characters were written the Taiwanese way), so I may have to make a trip out there to check it out!

No one uses that food of the gods, salted fish (especially threadfin!)? Mmmmm. . . salted fish fried rice is one of the best dishes ever! Brought one home from Thailand once. A whole salted fish, that is. Had to wrap it in several layers of aluminium foil (purchased just for that purpose) and a few plastic bags to help prevent the smell from escaping. And dried mandarin orange peels. Those are awfully good, too.

@C. Sapidus--have you ever tried making Thai-style omelette? The ground pork is mixed with the eggs (and other stuff) before cooking. Whenever I see your omelettes, for some reason I think of my dad's Thai omelette. I think it's because of the colour (fat is important!). eta Like this one http://www.tan-kitchen.com/2008/09/omelette.html

Was it from this cookbook? We have it somewhere (probably in storage). The author's husband was a friend of my dad's.

The most recent purchase of shiitake look like what I used to buy in Japan. I like them sliced and sauteed in butter with a wee bit of soy. Yum!

I and my plus 1 would be in

For those of you that have seen Sam cook, the state of the kitchen afterwards is, how shall I put this kindly... uh, a bit unkept. Hello? It's not easy to turn out a 5 course meal in a 20 square foot kitchen with one counter. I thought picture of the copper pots was yours, but second-guessed myself. "Sam likes copper pots, but that kitchen looks too big to be his," I said to myself. (If you've already discussed this, please ignore my question!) Since the three of you are in NY, are you going to meet up somewhere somehow for a meal or cocktails? It would be interesting to read three takes on the same meal.

I've always made broccoli soup that way (mostly because I never have chicken stock around). I also do cauliflower and asparagus soups like that, too. Taste just fine to me.

I hope number 3 is johnder and we get to see some gratuitous chow pics.

You could still go to the museum and make your own Cup Noodle, but it's not as much fun. You decorate your cup, choose the flavours you want, and watch them make it. There are usually some staff in this area who speak English, so it's very popular with tourists. I can't remember how much it cost--maybe Y500? I still have friends in the area, so if you narrow down your Osaka dates (if you go to Osaka), I can see if any of them are free to accompany you (if you're interested in going, but if not, no worries!). The reservations are open 3 months in advance of any particular date, so they're taking up to April 16th right now (they do the ramen making W,Th,F, and Sat, usually 4 times a day starting at 9:30). I loved the Daisen area. It's very pretty, and they've got the best milk in that area. Really good milk in the Hiruzen Kogen area of Okayama, too. If you do the night bus route, on longer routes the buses stop every few hours for bathroom breaks. Even if it's at 4 am, I loved going to the different rest stops. Some of them are very posh, and have great regional foods and milks! (I love Japanese small-producer milks--very rich, and usually non-homogenized!) @Foodietopo--Kohi-kan is really great! I'm glad someone else likes it, too. I prefer the coffee at Inoda in Kyoto (another must-do if you like coffee!), but I really liked the atmosphere of Kohi-kan. (The Okayama Kohi-kan should not be confused with the chain Kohi-kan. Very different levels of quality!)

I like eggs, especially when fried in oil. I like paprika. I think I'd like paprika eggs! Do you just make paprika oil and then fry the egg in it?

I love Kurashiki, and although it's very pretty, it's really not worth more than a day trip. There's a great coffee shop I've been to a couple of times (not that you want to go to Japan for coffee, but if you drink coffee, anyway, it's worth a stop!) called Kohi-kan. Just don't get any of the coffees with whipped cream (like Vienna coffee) because they use fake stuff. Unless you're seriously into pottery, you could pass on Bizen and just look at the style of pottery in Kurashiki. Plenty of stores carry it. I think I forgot to mention Koya. I would highly, highly recommend a one-night trip up there when you're in Osaka. When in Kansai, you can get a special unlimited pass (Y2000 for two days, Y3000 for three days, or something like that) that lets you use all the private railways in the Kansai area, and that would include a trip up to Koya-san. It's a good place to try shojin-ryori. I stayed at Eko-in--there's at least one monk there who speaks English so it's pretty easy to make reservations. And, when you're in the Kansai area, if you happen to have a friend who speaks Japanese fluently, try to get in to make instant ramen (completely from scratch!)at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum. It was probalbly one of the most fun things I had done in all the 11 years I spent in Japan. But you need to book early (they start taking bookings 2 or 3 months ahead), and you need someone who speaks Japanese to translate for you. It's only Y500 per person, and you even get to decorate your own personal instant ramen bag! (I have pics of my experience on flickr, let me know if you want to see them and I'll send you the link)

What means "reality centered"?

Is there a menu or do you just tell them what you're in the mood for and they make something up (or open a can up)? About how much would dishes like the ones you had cost? Sounds like an interesting place, and my mother would love the vermouth!

Is your mother coming, too? I miss my biggest fan. If possible, we'll both be there (but no guarantees for either of us). If she is there, don't be too great, though. She gets super annoying when she raves about you.

Aug 4-7 is ok for me! Dinner on Sunday is a no sausage crawl sounds interesting