
prasantrin
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Everything posted by prasantrin
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Do not use old vanilla beans to make vanilla sugar, and then use that vanilla sugar to make leche flan only to realize upon tasting said leche flan that you didn't make vanilla sugar, but vanilla salt.
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If I don't have a stand mixer, and have a very bad hand mixer, would I be able to make marshmallows in a food processor? I can probably guess the answer, but one can dream...
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They may have relaxed a teeny bit since then. Four days I go I flew from Sacramento to Winnipeg (Canada) via Chicago. Up to Chicago, I had cookies (both filled and unfilled--commercially-made), fried pig ear strips and chocolates (homemade, both filled and unfilled) and had no problem going through Sacramento security. In Chicago I added some left-over pizza to my carry-on, but got rid of the fried pig ear strips, and got through OK there, too. I didn't have to go through security there, though, just the pre-boarding security (which was, I thought, incredibly lax--they don't even check ID!).
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Bringing Stilton back to the States
prasantrin replied to a topic in United Kingdom & Ireland: Cooking & Baking
But the freezer packs do rather well in check-in. I'd avoid carrying anything on-board that doesn't need to be on-board (and I think, but am not sure, that if you're flying out of Britain you can only bring the barest of necessities on-board, anyway). I flew from the US to Canada a couple of days ago, and had some freezer packs in one of my check-in bags, along with my perishables. The bag they were in was opened by security, but everything was left intact, and the stuff was still cold by the time I got home (roughly 12 hours later). -
My mother and I had breakfast at Bouchon a couple of weeks ago. We arrived around 10 am--a bit late for breakfast, but within their breakfast hours. We were seated near the patio but inside the restaurant. The patio was not quite full, so I'm sure we could have been seated there had we asked, but we're too delicate to sit out in the desert heat so we stayed indoors. We ordered the quiche, the french toast and a side of pomme frites. The quiche (florentine) was as good as I expected it to be. I had made the recipe twice before, so I had an idea of what it should be like. Their quiche was, of course, much better than mine and I thought mine was pretty fabulous. I particularly liked the salad that came with the quiche. I'm not much of a salad eater, but the dressing was very light and who would have thought salting a salad would make it taste better! Well, perhaps y'all might have known that, but I sure didn't! The french toast was rich and sweet, but delicious. It was a little closer to lukewarm than warm, but we still enjoyed it. The pomme frites were the disappointment. When fresh, they were great, but after cooling slightly (maybe 5-10 minutes after being served), they became soggy and not-so-tasty. They reminded me a lot of, dare I say it, McDonald's fries. I would have liked a side of mayonnaise to go with them, but no such luck. I would have even settled for ketchup, but there was none to be seen (and I didn't ask, for fear of commiting a faux pas). As for the bread, it was delicious, but "we" didn't get any. My mother, who technically ordered the quiche (we ordered with the idea we would share everything), got it along with butter and some kind of berry jam. She was gracious enough to let me have some. I wanted to sneak the leftover bread in my purse, but it wouldn't fit. I'd definitely go again, but I actually prefer the breakfast I had at Jean-Philippe Patisserie. edited 'cause I'm not so good with names
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Thanks to eGullet, I made it to the BevMo location in Stockton (just a 30-minute walk from my uncle's house) and picked up some styrofoam shipping containers--my two bottles of wine and one bottle of olive oil made it back to Winnipeg safe and sound! I was going to go the bubble-wrap/plastic bags/old clothing route, but I have some very bad memories of broken glass in luggage from previous trips (no foodstuff in them, luckily). For anyone flying within or from Canada, I just heard on the news that they are allowing Duty Free alcohol (and perfume) purchases on board for flights other than to the US or Britain. Any duty free items purchased at the airport will be picked up after going through the boarding gate, rather than before. If you made your purchases outside the airport, you'll still have to pack them in your check-in bags, I guess.
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Alinka?
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Turns out Harris Ranch was farther down I-5 than we were to drive, so we missed in entirely! I was really looking forward to it, too! But I found the Mad Greek (after I had already eaten my measly sandwich) so it's on th list for the return trip. I did find some very good flautas (taquitos?) at a very sad looking place in some town that starts with B (but not Baker). Brownsville? Bakersville? Bakersfield? I think the place was called Tom's Charbroiled Burgers or some such thing. That was our only outside the car food, and thankfully it was very good!
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I've printed out the Harris Ranch info--my mother loves corned beef hash, so hopefully we'll make it there for breakfast! We're bringing along some Mexican take out for along-the-way snacks, too, so we can avoid the regular fast food places. As long as we can have one decent meal out that's not in the car, we'll be happy. But any other suggestions are welcome!
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I think we're doing I-5 south most of the way, then onto SR-58 and then I-15 to Vegas. I'm not really sure, I'm just copying from msn maps which says that's the fastest way. I bit geographically challenged (as you may remember ).
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In fewer than 24 hours, we'll be making our way from Stockton, CA to Las Vegas, NV. We're planning to do the 8-hour drive straight. Anyone know of any good must-eat food places along the way? I think the drive is mostly through CA, so I'm asking here, but if anyone knows of a similar topic elsewhere (I did a search, but could not find what I wanted), lead the way!
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Portland farmer's market
prasantrin replied to a topic in Pacific Northwest & Alaska: Cooking & Baking
Ooooohhhhh...I love bleu cheese! I'll search for the Rogue Creamery, and get some nice crusty bread from Ken's Artisan to go along with it. What a great breakfast that will be! And tamales! Some of those are definitely coming back with me. I haven't had a good tamale in 4 years! Trillium--thanks for the Sahagun and BBQ insider possible hook-up! If it doesn't happen, I'll be OK, but if it does...words cannot express! Who says it doesn't pay to know people who know people? And lamb sticks and the smoked salmon will go on the list, too, along with the salt and olive oil from Jim. So much to buy, so little time to eat! But I'm sure I'll manage... -
Where are you getting your chicken and lamb? Costco? Or elsewhere? For chicken, I find that Costco chickens are huge, and definitely require a larger oven. But I used to get chicken at Ameyokocho in Tokyo, and they were quite small. My oven at the time (the one that wouldn't fit anything more than an 8" square pan or 9" round) did a good job of roasting them. I find that most whole chickens in Japan are pretty small, when you can even find them. I would suggest looking at the whole chickens in your area--you may not need a larger oven if the chickens are pretty small. That goes for leg of lamb, as well. The stuff from Costco is big, but elsewhere they tend to be a lot smaller.
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I think most people in Japan have combo microwave/convection ovens. I've had two different ones--one was an electric convection/microwave that didn't fit anything larger than an 8" square pan, and the current is a gas convection/microwave oven with two levels. I had no complaints about either of their oven capabilities (but I still wish that even my bigger one were even bigger), and I do quite a lot of baking (savoury and sweet). The microwave of the gas one, however, sucks big time. I only use the microwave to reheat food sometimes (I prefer to use the stove top for that), but I usually use it for heat packs, and it usually takes a few minutes just for one teeny heat pack (my microwave in Canada gets a heat pack hot in just 15 seconds). But since you wouldn't be using the microwave, that wouldn't affect you. Go for the combo--it'll be just fine.
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Since returning to Winnipeg 2 weeks ago, I have treated myself to 3 1/6 frozen beverages. The 1/6 frozen beverage is the left-over avocado bubble tea that was waiting for me in the car when I walked out of the airport upon return! Except I don't really like the avocado one, so I really only had a couple of sips (which was fine with my mother, because she wanted it all!). The end of that first week, I had a slurpee from Mac's (is it a Frostee? Froster?). Pure Pepsi. It was great, but it left me with an unpleasant side effect. Anyone know what's in a slurpee that might give a person stomach upset of the runny kind? I'm trying again today with a Slurpee from the 7-11 of my childhood/teenage years. It's one of the dirtiest 7-11's I've been to, even though it's in a pretty good neighbourhood, but I had to get a grape/pepsi combo. Unfortunately, after I filled my cup I saw that they had....Barq's Root Beer slurpees!!!! Crap! I debated throwing out what I already had, or getting an additional small-sized one with just root beer, but I couldn't do it. And I'm leaving tomorrow for 3 weeks in the US! Edited to add: I also had a frozen strawberry daiquiri last night to go with my nachos at C&M! Yum! I hope they still have the root beer ones when I get back next month!
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Are you still flying Continental? I know United still allows 70lbs for flights to Japan. If you don't have that many air miles left with Continental, you might want to consider switching just for that! But at least with a 50lb limit, you'll end up spending less money when filling those bags! I have an AMEX card, so I get free porter service with my bags. I love it! When leaving Japan they carry your bags right to the check-in counter so you don't have to touch them at all. And I get to ship 1 bag home for free. Those perks make the service fee worth it, in my opinion. Back to food, I was thinking about your kids. I know they eat a diverse diet when in Japan, but with all the fatty, salty, greasy stuff in the US, do they have a day or two of stomach upsets? And not about food, when in the US, do they still speak Japanese with you, or do they switch to English? They look like they've grown quite a lot since December! They're still as cute as ever!
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Thinking about coffee, have you ever considered bringing some of those 1-shot brewed coffee things with you from Japan when you go home? It's the kind that comes in a filter--pre-packed to make just one cup, and you pour hot water over it. Or those little packs of coffee concentrate made by Nescafe and available at Costco (or at least they were, I don't know if they still are). I'm not a big coffee drinker, but instant coffee just gives me the shivers!
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HELP, just sliced good chunk of thumb off
prasantrin replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
It looks pretty freaky as it's healing, doesn't it? My stuck-on flap was blue for about a week and it looked like there was no blood circulation going through it. Very frankenstein-like, I thought. I was worried that it was going to become gangrenous (I have an over-active imagination, I've been told), but it eventually became "normal'. It would still bleed around the edges once every so often for the first week, and I had to trim the dead skin around the edges, but it seems to have healed very well. I'm very glad I decided to stick my flap back on instead of ripping it off (it was just hanging by a little bit of skin). -
The consomme flavour is available in Japan. The World Pringles site doesn't have a Japanese link, so I can't even show you the tin. It's in an orange tin, and looks very much like the Cheezums ones (some of my friends bought them thinking they were the cheese ones!). When I get back, I'll take a picture of them if I can get up enough courage to buy them. On the Pringles Germany site, they have ones called "Light Aromas". Three different flavours make up the line--Greek style cheese with a touch of avocado oil, Spicy Thai with a touch of coconut oil, and Red Paprika with touch of Olive Essence. I think they're 30% less fat, too. I think these aren't German-specific flavours (the pictures on the German website have English on them), but I've never seen them in Canada or in Japan. I would imagine they might be available elsewhere in Europe, though.
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I think you did a great job of showing off your area and your cooking! I wonder how many eGulleters want to move to or visit, now. And that blueberry pie...what a great ending! And I don't even like blueberry pie!
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Not necessarily simple, but some might think stupid... What can you do with powdered goat's milk? I may have to start a new topic for this one.
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I love pork rinds! But I like the Vietnamese/Thai kind that still has fat and a bit of meat attached to it. They never come in different flavours, and are very lightly salted (at least where I buy them), so I always add more salt. Sometimes I eat them with a bit of rice and...dare I say it...ketchup! I can eat a whole can of Pringles in one sitting. But I probably shouldn't admit that. They recently had a limited edition Grilled Cheese flavour, but I didn't much care for it. It wasn't as cheesy and the White Cheddar or Cheezums ones. A lot of my friends love the French Consomme flavour, but I've not been daring enough to buy an entire can to try them. I wish I lived in Germany--they seem to have pretty amazing flavours!
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HELP, just sliced good chunk of thumb off
prasantrin replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Not two weeks ago, I sliced into one of my fingers while washing dishes. A small section of my finger (about 0.5cm diameter, maybe 2 or 3mm deep) was hanging by a bit of skin. I was lucky enough to still have that bit of flesh, because I stuck it back on (my homemade skin graft). While it was healing, I didn't use any Neosporin at all, or any other kind of topical antibiotic. I washed it with some Cetaphil and when it dried I covered it with a bandaid. I kept it covered most of the time, but I took off the bandaids after doing any kind of wet activity (to let the skin dry). I had some new skin growth and I think letting my finger go naked sometimes helped prevent any sticking. It hurt like hell for about a week, and still feels a bit weird (looks almost like a wart), but I'm just happy I don't have a funky looking gouge in my finger! -
Portland farmer's market
prasantrin replied to a topic in Pacific Northwest & Alaska: Cooking & Baking
I read your post about that, that's why I'm bringing a cooler! -
I'm not sure about their delivery area. I didn't even think they'd deliver to my area--I'm probably just under 10 minutes from their place, but I'm on the opposite side of Pembina Highway from their place. You're probably 15-20 minutes away, so I would think it might be a little far. Not the Moosehead. Just their regular crusts. I'm not that interested in the Moosehead (I don't even like beer, so I don't think I want the flavour of it in my pizza), but I would like to try the whole wheat crust next. They also have a thin crust that doesn't use yeast which seems interesting, but I think it might be like commercial thin-crusted pizzas in Japan. They're sort of cracker-like, and they just don't float my boat so I'm wary. But if you give it a try, let me know how you like it!