prasantrin

I say go for it. I love mine. I'm not a frequent coffee drinker, but when I do drink coffee it's always cafe au lait or something similar (note, the Mukka doesn't really make capuccino, just as a Moka maker doesn't really make espresso), so the Mukka is perfect for me.

No way! I don't even get fresh mochi at my Costco in Japan! I wonder why...

But it's very relevant! When the banana guard first came out in Japan, one of the news shows did a test using 20 different bananas of various shapes and sizes. The only ones that didn't fit, were the deformed bananas (their odd shapes wouldn't fit into the guard) and what I think was really a plantain (it was too big). So...unless Mr. Kim is carrying around a deformed banana, or a plantain, I'm quite certain the banana guard would be fine for his bananas.

Business lanes would be nice (we still have a business membership, though we no longer have a business). I would actually like express lanes, because I often only buy a few things--usually fewer than a dozen. One thing I like about the Costco in Winnipeg, which they don't do in Japan, is open up an hour earlier during the week for business members only. I wish they'd do it on weekends, too. I usually prefer to get in and out as quickly as possible since I only get a few things.

I'm talking to my mother right now, and I asked my mother if she ever made this dish. She gave a resounding, "No way!" When she was very young, until she was 13 years old (that's when she started boarding school), she had to eat it every Friday during Lent for lunch, and back then she hated tomatoes and cilantro (which they used to garnish it). But she's curious about it now (she now loves tomatoes, but has developed an allergy to them), so I'm going to forward this to her. I'll let you know how it goes! (BTW, longganisa and adobo are both marinating in my fridge!) My mother is making me correct the cilantro bit--no cilantro in Negros way back then. She meant something else...

Ribbed for your pleasure! I think yellow is taken care of with the clear one--the yellow of banana shows through making it look, well, yellow. I prefer the banana guard, and they do seem to be catching on in Japan. The last time I was at Tokyu Hands, they were running low on them. Interestingly, I've never seen any of my students or anyone else bring a banana to school (other than me, that is), which makes me wonder who's buying them...

I just, literally, put mine in the fridge to marinate. I was going to have it for dinner, but since it's already almost seven, I'll wait until tomorrow to cook it. Chris--you made the full marinade recipe but only used 4 drumsticks? I have two boneless leg/thigh combos, and I wasn't sure how much marinade to use, so I used just under 1/2 of the original recipe. Maybe I'll go back and add the rest--the sauce is the best part, after all!

Even though I still haven't made the longganiza, would you care to share your adobo recipe, too? I have a craving for it, but I haven't liked any of the recipes I've used in the past. Yours looks yummy! Or at least Chris' version of yours looks yummy!

I wish we had plastic bags at Costcos in Japan! I don't think they even have plastic bags for the meat. There are some plastic bags at the dry ice machine (Y50 for a bag of shaved dry ice), but they're only supposed to be for the ice. The boxes at the Amagasaki Costco are usually pretty good, but because I take the train and shuttle bus there, I never use boxes, but bring my own bags (usually a large backpack, a cooler bag, and a few plastic or paper shopping bags). In Winnipeg the boxes aren't very useful, but at least they have the meat bags in which you can put smaller purchases (they usually put magazines and clothing in the meat bags at the check-out). No handled bags, though. In fact, not even the Costco stores I went to in Northern CA and Oregon had handled bags. I do like the delivery service offered in Japan, though. I wish they would do cold delivery, though, so I could get my meats and cheeses delivered. They're usually my heaviest items, and I usually have about 5kg or so of those things in total. It's a PITA to haul them home on the shuttle bus and usually packed trains.

1) Make your own curry pastes. That's the best way to get the flavour/heat combination you like best. 2) If you insist on using prepared curry pastes, buy a few of the non-heat-inducing ingredients of the curry paste (lemongrass, for example), and blend them with the instant curry paste. use a food processor if you have one, or a good mortar and pestle. 3) You don't say whether you are using the same brand of curry paste each time you make it. I would imagine that if you did, your curries would be more consistent in flavour.

It should be noted, however, that not all Costco stores carry the same stock. John's best bet is to get a guest pass (I think there is a 5% surcharge on non-member purchases), or a membership (a very affordable Y5000, and if you decide to cancel your membership they prorate and refund the rest), and check out the nearest Costco himself.

I found sausage casings at Ikari Supermarket! They were expensive--more than Y600 for 5 metres. But it's good to know that if I ever start making my own sausage, I can casings locally.

Well, for us the beans were even more expensive (we're Canadian, so once the exchange rate was factored in, they were outrageously priced for us), but according to my mother, the flavour and texture more than justified the price. She used all hers up, but she still thinks about them, and dreams of when we can visit SF again, just to buy some beans from Rancho Gordo.

Now it's just mean....just plain mean posting a picture like that!! I wish I had some fried chicken skins, sprinkled with coarse salt and dipped in a wee bit of ketchup....one of my favourite snacks (or sometimes even dinner, eaten with a bit of freshly cooked rice).

I wonder how they would be with Krathong Thong filling. Not the traditional chicken one (which would be rather dull-looking, I think), but the lighter shrimp one with some finely diced red peppers and celery. I think they'd be yummy on their own lightly sprinkled with salt, though....Do you ship to Japan?

Mmmmmm....that looks good! Now I feel the need to eat something battered and deep-fried. I wouldn't call it tempura, though, at least not in the Japanese sense of the word.

I got lots of homemade treats for Valentine's Day from my students, although I did better last year... Luckily, White Day falls around exam time, so I don't really have to reciprocate!

As someone who hates confrontation, as a customer I would probably be annoyed if someone kept contacting me, even if I had told them to do so (I may or may not have been sincere when telling them that--sometimes you say things just to be nice, or because it's expected, not because you really mean it). In fact, something similar happened to me recently, where when I requested contact, I had thought it meant receiving information in the mail, but in fact, it meant several phone calls and e-mails a week, for more than a month. It completely turned me off, and even though I was interested in the service, I decided against it because of the person's importunacy. I did actually contact the person to let them know I did not want their service, but he had all the pushiness of a door-to-door salesperson. And I'm a wimp...it's hard for me to say no, so I just ignored any future calls (until I got really pissed off and sent off an angry e-mail). That being said, as a business owner, you have every right to be annoyed and just plain pissed off at the chef. However, the chef is not necessarily the owner of the restaurant, and he does not necessarily have final say about ordering from you. Perhaps you should also contact the owner (if the owner is not also the chef) if you want to pursue it further. Another option is if you do eat at the restaurant for Valentine's Day, ask to speak to the chef to thank him for the meal. Then when he comes out, casually bring up that you were sorry the restaurant decided not to order bread from you, but you hope they will keep you in mind for future business. A little graciousness will go far in this case, I think, and if you still feel angry, Valentine's Day can be your last meal there.

Sorry, yes, it was Martin Yan. Thought I had quoted, but I guess I either forgot, or I accidentally deleted the quote. Oops...

For baking, I want the weights of ingredients. You don't have to give me weights for every recipe, but it would be nice to have a page somewhere that gives equivalents, like "1 cup all-purpose flour=4.8 oz". I have baking books that have glossaries explaining different ingredients (also helpful), but they don't include that basic information. I'd also like a list of substitutions, if possible, so if I can't find a particular ingredient, I can still make the recipe using something I might already have.

I never thought his accent was fake or put-on, though I do think it's a bit annoying (and I do know other HK Chinese who act the same way...). I even once asked my mother if he was married. Not because I wanted to marry him (as my mother thought), but because he kept repeating everything he said, making me think he must be lonely... "First you chop the vegetables. Ya, see that? Chop the vegetables like that. Just like that. Chop the vegetables...." For those that have used his cookbooks, are they any good? I have this image that they are more "Americanized" that "Chinese", but I've never really investigated them. (And I do like some Americanized Chinese food, like S&S pork...).

The length of time the rice has been in a store is not necessarily indicative of the age of the rice. Rice can also sit in a storage facility for relatively lengthy periods of time before even being packaged, for example. You don't mention if you're buying the same kind of rice or switching brands. Buying a good brand of rice will help you get more consistent results--Golden Phoenix from Thailand, for example, will pretty much always give you good rice, if jasmine rice is what you're after (just make sure you get the hom mali kind, and if available, get the premium). Be careful, though, because I've found more than one "Golden Phoenix" brand Thai rice, and I bought a pretty crappy bag in Singapore, once (the packaging was different, but I thought it might just be a regional thing). One more thing...The amount of water you're adding could just be due to personal preference. I always add a wee bit more water than required (my ratio is about 1:1.25 rice:water), because I like my rice a bit moist, and soft. But growing up, we usually had dry, kind of hard rice, because that's what my dad preferred. If I cooked the rice the way I liked it, he would complain about it being too wet. His ratio was more like 1:1.

Percyn, what's the dish second to the left in the bottom row? How was the food in terms of quality? It's hard to tell from the pictures, but some of the dishes don't look all that well executed (the cha siu bao, for example--the bao part looks dry, and the lotus-wrapped sticky rice looks like it barely has any filling--but like I said, it's hard to tell from pictures...).

I want Kristin's fridge, too! I *do* live in Japan, and that makes my wanting worse, knowing it's within my reach yet not. My employers (who rent and furnish my apartment) won't let me get a new fridge till my current one breaks down--and it's not even 5 years old! Anyone know how I can discretely (can't leave any marks on it, or anything like that) make a fridge age prematurely?

Harvey's...I love Harvey's burgers. Unfortunately, most of the ones in Winnipeg (all located in Home Depot stores) closed, as far as I know. The only one I know that still exists is at the airport. It's a long way for me to go to get a good burger!