prasantrin

Is that related to the Oka Wati Hotel? If it is, then it isn't it. We stayed at the Oka Wati Hotel our first night in Ubud, but then moved to a cheaper place (we were poor, and in fact, we're still poor!). I checked my guide book and nothing seems familiar, so I guess I'm going to have to try to find that place again when I'm there. I have a vague memory of it, so I think I should be able to find it if it's still there. I remember it as being very good, but then, it was one of the few Balinese meals I ate in Bali (my friends were more interested in eating at places like the Hard Rock Cafe. )

I was thinking...why not use some of your leftover pumpkin to make your pasta? I was thining specifically of gnocchi (does gnocchi fall under pasta?). I think it would be delicious!

Thanks for the pointer to the thread. The Mukka is a Moka with a compartment for milk. Once the coffee is almost finished brewing, the milk steams and mixes in with the coffee. Kind of like an all-in-one pot. Very convenient, it seems, for people who only drink cafe au lait or cappucino, even if it's fake cappuccino, and I'd only be using a coffee pot for cafe au lait, anyway. I would imagine, though, that a Moka or Mukka would make better cafe au lait than cappuccino, since the coffee produced is farther from the espresso required for cappuccino, and closer to the coffee needed for cafe au lait. Does that seem like a reasonable thought? I don't know much about these things, so I like to make things up as I go along.

Thanks! I'll try the restaurant first. I think I'll probably end up going there, but what worries me is that they require a minimum of 8 participants for the classes I'm interested in. With the recent bombings, I'm not sure they'll have the people around to take the classes. But I'll be there with bells one! And if I can convince my friend to cook on her holiday, there may be two of us! Is Cafe Wayan the place that has a sort of patio-type area, where most of the foreigners sit, and a front area where the locals sit? I ate at a fabulous Balinese restaurant in Ubud--it was the best food I had in Bali, but I can't remember the name. I vaguely remember that it had the name of a woman in it.... I am hoping to do more day trips outside of Ubud. When I was there before, I didn't get to see the rice paddies, the craft-specific villages, the waterfalls, etc., nor did I get to experience Balinese culture and society as much as I would have liked. It was very disappointing to travel with people who are typical tourists (who kept repeating the phrase "abject poverty" when refering to local business owners!). This time, I'm going to do as much as I can, even if I have to do it alone!

You could wrap it in saran wrap and microwave it until tender. Then mash.

I've been studying my guide book...it's been many years since I was last in Bali. Several people mentioned that Ubud is the best place for roast pig. Is there a particular place in Ubud that's good? I'll be there for winter holidays and we're staying in Ubud for the entire time. We'll probably be doing day trips here and there, and we may do one night in Lovina (for snorkelling and dolphin watching). Kristin, I think our trips just barely overlap (I'll be there Dec. 21-Dec. 30). If you and your family are in Ubud early on during your holiday, want to do dinner at Ketut's Place? I had wanted to try their traditional Balinese dinner, but couldn't find anyone else who was interested. One more question, everyone who was mentioned cooking classes has recommended Bumbu Bali. Has anyone tried Casa Luna? Or heard anything of it, in comparison with Bumbu Bali? I'm always wary of cooking classes for tourists (went to the most popular one in Chiang Mai, and I thought the food sucked), so I'd like to attend one that stays true to traditional flavours.

Maybe I'll do both French and Wonder-type! Just to see which I like best! I forgot to ask, as well, should the bread be a little stale, or as fresh as fresh can be? As much as I love greasy food, I want to be able to eat a lot of these, and my IBS won't allow for that if they're too greasy!

Has anyone tried Bialetti's Mukka Express? I don't drink much coffee, but I sometimes get a craving for cafe au lait. I usually use those solo-cup filters with coffee (Mon Cafe) and I microwave my milk. It seems that this machine would produce a better cup of cafe au lait than my present method. I don't drink any other kind of coffee, nor do I drink coffee without milk, so it would seem a waste of space to get a regular coffee maker or espresso maker. I read the Amazon reviews, but I was hoping for other thoughts or reviews of this machine.

Ah, so that's why my local Daiei had bags of mini tomatoes on sale for Y100 yesterday--it was after sports day! My school has Sports Day in June, so we don't have to worry about those Sports Day price hikes. Was the non-cilantro salsa for you friends' kids, and the cilantro salsa for yours? Many of my friends have the same reaction to cilantro that they do to root beer....

I have a craving for shrimp toast (except not shrimp toast, because I'll be using ground pork), and being in Japan, I think I'll have to make my own. But what kind of bread should I use? I could use a wonder bread kind of bread (soft and squishy), or I could use Japanese shokupan, which is still a bit soft, but is more substantial than wonder bread, or I could use French bread. Any suggestions? And if anyone knows the proper oil temperature to prevent super oily bread, I'd appreciate knowing that, too! (350F?)

Went to Costco today, and no Cheetos. But I did find the American breakfast sausages I like--I thought they had disappeared but they had just moved them.

Wow, that looks good! Thanks to you I had to go out and buy some bacon today! Unfortunately, I had to give back the waffle maker I was using, so I guess I'll have to make do with pancakes! What do you do with your bacon grease? I sometimes use mine to make hash browns (of the shredded variety) but I think I should try doing something else with it. I'm going to have to try the yogurt thing tomorrow, too. I've never had waffles with yogurt...and since I no longer have a waffle maker, I'll be trying it with pancakes, instead! I also bought some sour cream today. I wonder if that would be good, too...

Thanks for the replies! I wish I could find Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, but I'm going to an Irish pub (in Japan, no less) and all they have are Guinness and Kilkenny, and a number of whiskies, but I like whiskey even less than I like beer. I think I will try Kilkenny first--it's the higer malty after taste that pushed it into first place. And then if I have room, I'll hit the Guinness. Having never finished a beer in my 36 years, though, that might be too much for one night! Thanks again, and I'll let you know if I enjoy my first foray into beers!

There's a surprise party in the works for an aunt. They'd like to hold it at a restaurant, probably at brunch or lunch time, preferably one with very good food. I think the budget is about $50/person, including tax and service charge. Not sure about the alcohol, though. Any suggestions for a Portland-area restaurant or country club that can accommodate such a party? Really, the only qualification is that the food be good. It could be Chinese, Continental, Japanese, PNW-type food with local ingredients...anything goes at this point. The party isn't until August, so there's plenty of time to do tastings if necessary. Too bad I won't get to be in on that! Oh, I did do a search, but I think my e-Gullet search abilities are limited, at best. If this has been asked before, feel free to direct me to the appropriate thread, or merge me!

Chai and milk tea (made with earl grey). I've had both, and I liked them.

I once made a variation of Savoury Vegetable Crisp that was very well received. Living in Japan, I had to make a lot of substitutions--I left out the apple butter and the oats from the topping, using more butter and panko instead. For the vegetables, I used carrots and kabocha, and I used more chicken stock to make up for the lack of cream. It was still fabulous, and I'm planning to make it again for Thanksgiving. Maybe this time, though, I'll be able to use all the right ingredients.

I've never been too fond of beer, but I have to admit, those were the ones I kind of liked. Now that y'all know I have no taste in beer, for a non-beer drinker, which would you recommend: Guinness or Kilkenny? Those will be my only two choices, and I feel I must choose one. Either that, or go for water, and I'm in the mood to stretch my horizons. I'm not very fluent in beer-speak, but I don't care much for bitterness. I do, however, like that malty aftertaste that can be found with some beers. Are either Guinness or Kilkenny low on biterness but heavy on malty aftertaste? Help this neophyte, please!

They have cheetos at Costco? I don't remember seeing them at my Costco! Maybe I'll have to check it out again. Haven't been there in a little while, and I think I need more grapes. It seems, though, that our Costco stores carry some different products. They still don't carry Thai rice at my Costco. And I'm almost out of the bag I bought in Thailand last year! (I don't eat a lot of rice, anymore, so a 5kg bag lasts me a loooooooong time!) I can just imagine the looks on people's faces! Actually, aside from Filipinos, I haven't met very many Asian-born people who like root beer. Except my dad, but he's was an exception in many ways. A case of root beer from Costco lasts me almost as long as a 5kg bag of rice, which is a good thing, I think. It's so much cheaper there, too! A case is equal to about 8 cans in an import store.

Narrowing in...do you find that Japanese-made cheetos taste a bit...weird? They remind me of creamed corn (the canned kind). And speaking of snacks, do you children like root beer, at all? I've noticed that most Japanese people don't like root beer. Not necessarily a bad thing, as that leaves more for me, but it makes it a bit harder to find!

I've only had Gedney's peach raspberry (raspberry peach?) jam...a gift from a friend (whose picture is on the jar--she does the cherry one, too). Next time I'm in MSP, I'll have to try relish and sauerkraut, too! I also have a picture of myself wearing a Gedney's pickle hat. Gotta love Gedney's!

I want it! I want it! Pleeeeeeaaaase! You could put it in recipe gullet to preserve it for life!

Whew! I was going to try making muffins, just to test it out as torakris suggested, but now that I've read Helen's post...no way! I've noticed in my baking class that they usually use canned bartlett pears. I wonder if that's a more economical way to use Western pears. Well, perhaps I'll just stick to apples for now. Thanks!

I'm feeling the need to do some fall baking. Aside from pecan pie (which I made more than a month ago and am still eating) and some appley things, I want something with pears. Like a nice free-form pear tart, or perhaps these pear and ginger muffins (note, recipe available for a limited time, only). I know I can find western pears in Japan, but I can't bear the thought of using a Y200+ pear for baking. If I'm going to pay that much, I'm going to eat it as is! So, are nashi and yonashi interchangable in baking recipes? It seems to me that nashi have a higher water content, so if I use them in the muffin recipe, for example, should I add a bit more flour? And what about in a pie recipe? Can it be done? Has anyone tried subsituting one of the other, without altering the recipes?

How funny that the regular digestive biscuits are newer in Japan than the baked apple ones! I've seen all of them except maybe the vanilla ones. I'm sad to see that the green tea ones are only available in 54g packages! Why oh why are there no large boxes of them? The cookies, themselves, are pretty small, too. They're about the size, or maybe a bit larger, than those snack-sized cheese-filled ritz crackers. Also interesting, on the website it says the green tea ones were available from October 4, which was Tuesday. But I bought my first bag on October 1! I feel just like those people who managed to get the latest Harry Potter book earlier than everyone else!

I've only seen the green tea ones at Asna (I don't know if they have Asna in the Kanto area, but in Kansai it's a combini usually located in Hankyu train stations). The bag didn't say "New" or anything, so I don't know how long they've been around. I looked for them at Daiei yesterday, but they only had regular, bitter, apple, and a chunky kind (mostly chocolate, but it might have nuts, too. I didn't really look). If I could remember where I put my smartcard reader, I'd post a picture of the bag (I kept it, because I loved it so much...). It's green, and the cookies on the bag don't look very delicious. But I really liked them. The bag does say it's made with Uji Matcha, so maybe that's why they taste so good? I lived on McVitie's when I was in Morocco. McVitie's and the cow cheese (the processed stuff that comes in triangles). I can barely even look at the cow cheese now, but I still love McVitie's!