prasantrin

Search for hzrt8w's sweet and sour sparerib recipe in the China forum, and just make the sauce. His is the closest I've come to making North American Chinese restaurant-style S&S sauce.

We already have a short weekend trip to Musandam planned (to see if I can "go around the bend"). I was thinking of asking my travel agent about changing my Yemen-leg to Muscat, but I hadn't researched anything about Oman, so I was wary. I'll visit my travel agent next week and see what I can do! You may see an Oman topic soon! Thanks again!

I hope this isn't too far off-topic, and I was going to reply to each of you individually, but it's a bit easier this way (and if I get deleted, I'll do the individual replies, anyway). Thank you all for the comments and concerns. I have given great thought to this after reading everything and here's what I've decided. My first choice is if I can find a group tour that I can latch onto, I'll still go to Yemen. I'll be travelling to and from Yemen alone, but all tours around the area, etc. will be in the company of others. My second choice is to do a solo, but guided, tour. It was always our intention to hire a guide in Yemen (we'd never have done a purely solo trip), so I had been trying for a month or so to contact several tour companies, but many email addresses have been invalid, or companies just haven't bothered to reply. I was trying to find a guided 1-day tour outside Sana'a, and then 2 days of guided tours within Sana'a. That's not looking very promising at this time. My third choice is to ask my friend's Yemeni friend to hook me up with her family. I don't think that's very promising, either, but it's worth a try. If none of the above can be arranged (and it seems that may be the case), I just won't go. The Yemen trip was in the middle of my trip to the UAE, so it won't be such a big deal for my travel agent to cancel that leg, or for me just to miss my flight. I really did want to see Yemen, as I've read and been told so many wonderful things about the country. But having to go alone makes me feel very uncomfortable, and my pride (partly the reason I was going to go--I was thinking that just because my "friend" screwed me over, I shouldn't have to give up my dream of going to Yemen) just isn't a good enough reason to risk my safety. Thank you all, again, for the concern! And if it does work out, I'll report back, and if not, well, you'll get some posts about the UAE!

I made the Katharine Hepburn brownies the other day. I used slightly more instant coffee than called for (my instant coffee was very chunky, not fine, so I thought I should use a bit more). I loved the texture, but I thought the brownies were OK. Admittedly, I'm not a huge chocolate fan so that probably tempered my reaction to them. My co-workers, however, loved them. Save a few tiny slices at home, they were devoured. Next will be something with apple... After reading people's comments on other recipes, I wish I had just brought the whole book back with me. I bought it when I was in Canada in December, and just copied some recipes I wanted to try. I may have to bring it back with me next summer!

I actually have one of those! I can't remember the name off-hand, but I'll check and let you know. It's not very old, but it's not new, either (it's probably 4-ish years old). It's made by Pyrex or some similar cooking utensil brand that you wouldn't think of as making timers. It is made by Pyrex! you can find it on Amazon here. The reviews are not good, and quite honestly I think it's more difficult to use than it looks (the buttons on mine don't press easily, etc.), but it has the count up function you're looking for.

That's my kind of magazine! Seriously, I'm not one for suspense, and I read spoilers all the time (I also read the endings of books fairly soon after starting them). So if you want to leak the winner to me, I'd be more than happy to know! (And I promise I won't reveal it to anyone else!)

I've wanted to make Khachapuri for years! What kind of cheese did you use? My recipe is now on a portable hard drive. Still no new computer, so it might sit there for another week or two before I might be able to try it!

They aren't my beans, in case you were curious. If you go during the farmers market (Saturday am), be sure and check out the Primavera stall in the back. They are famous for their tamales and more recently, their chilaquiles. And then come see me! I'm im in the front and it's almost like a food salon with all my foodie and bloggie friends. (Major shill: And if you want to try my beans when it's not a market, check out Village Market in the Ferry Building itself.) ← Yes, do see Rancho Gordo. We were at the Ferry Building last summer, and got some great help from a young gentleman (Rancho's son?). I only recently heard about the beans (they were my mother's purchase) and she raved about them. She said they weren't like any other beans she had ever bought. I think we got the tiger's eye? Or the goat's eye? I can't remember which one. Also posole and one or two other kinds of beans, which I don't remember. Primavera sells out early, I think. If they're the ones we saw, we wanted to get some tamales but they were out. Another missed opportunity!

I've had that problem, but I realized it was because I was cutting them too thinly. I think I was cutting them to about 1 cm, but they really should be a bit thicker than that. It may also have been because of the heat of my oven. Although the temperature is accurate, I have a very small convection oven, so I found that decreasing the temp. by about 10C helped, too.

Then my vote is still PamR. Soup cookbook, snowy location, housing looks like the condos in her area (and in Dec. there was a 30-cm snowfall in one day so all parking lots had snowbanks like the one in the pic). Can the La Chamba pot be a Hanukkah present?

If it's Manitoba, the housing complex looks more like where PamR lives, but the pick-up truck screams Brandon (and therefore Dejah) to me. Clay pot= chicken soup?

Thanks! My mother's kitchen is so small, plus has no windows, so I think we might have to go with a lighter colour. But I generally prefer darker colours (not my kitchen, but I do have input!). I will download the planning software as soon as I get my new computer! Which will hopefully be sooner than later...

Did you ever mention which Ikea cabinets you chose? I browsed through, but only saw mention of Ikea, not the specific ones. I'm helping my mother choose kitchen cabinets, so it's between yours and C. sapidus' if we go with Ikea!

Which kitchen cabinets did you choose from Ikea? My mother is redoing her very tiny kitchen, and we're thinking of going with Ikea. I quite like yours, and MelissaH's, too! Decisions, decisions...

I made a grilled cheese sandwich using butter cheese and gruyere--an equal (almost) amount of each cheese. I did use a little butter in the pan, but very little compared to how much I usually use (I only used about 1 tsp in total)! I used it because my bread (the no-knead bread from the NYT, with about 25% whole wheat) was a bit dense and I thought the ooze from the cheese wouldn't penetrate it as much as I like. Pics are a bit blurry. I forgot my camera at work, so I had to use my cell phone. It was perfect, by the way! I think it's my new favourite grilled cheese combo!

I made my first recipe from this book--the cranberry upside-down cake (not the correct name, I think). It was perfect! Well, maybe not perfect looking, but the flavours were perfect. I had to use brown sugar in the topping, because when I tried to use my white sugar, I ended up with browned butter and burnt sandy sugar rather than a caramel-like substance. That was more because of my white sugar (I use Japanese white sugar--not granulated), than the recipe, though. Next will be the Katharine Hepburn brownies, I think. I had to use a smaller pan (about 7"), but I made a full recipe, anyway. I think my pan was a bit higher than 2", so everything worked out OK. A few of the cranberries migrated into the cake, but no harm done!

I'd go to Sahagun for sure! I was gifted with some of their chocolates last summer, and I really enjoyed them--particularly the salted caramel, the pepitapapa (?) and a similar chocolate to the pepitapapa but with roasted something else--corn? I'm not a big chocolate fan, but I'd go out of my way for Sahagun chocolates.

I ordered petit fours (which included the opera, framboise, pixie, and chocolate nougatine) and a tart citron from Pix for a party. The petit fours were a big hit, with many of the locals requesting details of where to buy them. I especially liked the framboise, and I don't even like raspberries. As for the other stuff, I thought the sweet/tart balance of the tart citron was a bit off, and the crust was too thick. I also got a dacquoise (the marjolaine?) to eat in the car, and there was something a bit off-tasting about it--it was a bit stale, I think. I think maybe for Portland, Pix is quite good. But I don't think I'd go out of my way for it on my own, although if someone were taking me there, I'd gladly go and try some of their other desserts. I should add that I think the people at Pix that I dealt wtih were wonderful. There was some confusion about the price of the petit fours, so they gave me a larger amount for a much lower price, even though I was more than willing to pay what I thought was the fair (but higher) price. So in terms of customer service, I'd deal with them again (for eat-in customers, the day I was there they were having some trouble with staffing, though, so that's another story).

Mmmmmmm....I need adobo! Still haven't made longganisa, because I forgot to defrost my ground pork (which may actually be ground beef, but I forgot to label it). I did make tocino which is very good! Don't forget to make adobo sandwiches for lunch. My mother has fond memories of those from her short short stay (a year or two?) in Manila. Or was that Baguio?

I'm wondering about Tsukiji--is the auction still closed to the public? I have just one early morning in Tokyo, and I'm thinking of finally going to Tsukiji (after 8+ years living in Japan, I've never been...). If it's closed, can you still take pictures of the fish? Is Daiwa easy to find from the market?

Thank you, Corinna! I copied and pasted in case it gets deleted, but your post will be of big help! I'm still trying to work out my travel schedule, and am trying to find a replacement companion for that leg of the trip. A friend has a friend in the area, so I'm hoping something works out, because I really want to go, especially after reading your post! Thanks again! rona

Thanks, all, for the advice! I got back a week ago and I made mac & cheese over the weekend. I used a mixture of parmesan, gruyere, cheddar, and the butter cheese. When I tasted the butter cheese, I was surprised that it seemed to have more flavour than the cheddar I was using (some generic white English cheddar from Costco in Japan). After baking, though, it seemed to have lost any flavour it had. Considering the lack of flavour of the cheddar and butter cheeses, I should have added much more parmesan and gruyere! However, I used some of the butter cheese in the topping, and it was nice and stringy! I'm going to use it in grilled cheese, and perhaps on French onion soup. With the french onion soup, I mostly use cheese more for the ooey gooey stringiness factor than flavour, so the butter cheese will fit perfectly! I quite like the cheese plain, though, and can imagine that a good chunk of it will end up eaten as is! Or maybe with a bit of jam on a cracker...

Do your children have a say in the meal planning, too? They seem to be very involved in cooking at your house--an unusual sight! I don't think I've seen young boys so involved in food/cooking since Snowangel's foodblogs! I want to see dogs! I'd rather see cats, but dogs are OK, too.

I just made another batch of caramels. I stirred more, so I didn't get as much dark brown stuff (I did get a little), but I forgot the vanilla again! It still tastes good, though. I just finished cleaning the spatula! I can't wait until tomorrow morning when I can cut into them!

The fork? I don't see anything else except a fork. Am I missing something?