prasantrin

I have always thought that it was a take on chowder. A sort of sad story...a friend's mother was suffering from dementia (though not the kind caused by Alzheimer's), and when she was still living at home, she would sometimes eat curry roux thinking it was chocolate. Those rouxs look a little too much like chocolate, in my opinion.

FYI, Kateigaho now has a regular food/recipe section in their magazines, starting with the 2005 Autumn issue. It's still a beatifully done magazine, and most certainly one of the best I've seen in terms of inspirational photography. I'm happy to see that it has not changed must since it first came out. They also do international subscriptions...

Has anyone tried the McVitie's green tea digestive biscuits? My oh my, I love them! I love McVitie's, anyway, but the green tea cream filling is really scrumptious, as well! I wonder if they have these in Britain, too.

Wow KM! What a great first post. If only my first post could have been so informative! I hope you start posting more frequently...I'd love to read more of your notes, in case I ever get to China (or just to dream).

What do you mean? Don't all Asians use chopsticks?

How about fermented black beans? Sorry, I'm taking random guesses now. But I hate not knowing! And it's almost my bedtime (actually, it's past my bedtime...).

My sister-in-law in many ways represents the "average American." Although she was born and raised in Canada, she was raised with a very typical US-attitude (her father is American--from upstate NY somewhere) and she lives in the US now. She and I once has a discussion (read: argument) and I mentioned something about how many Americans know little about what's outside their own backyard (like a friend of mine who didn't know Canada and the US were "attached"). She said, "Well, why should they?" Her attitude was that they didn't need to, since they had everything they could possibly want and need. So why bother learning about other countries? Or cultures? This really is a very typical attitude amongst not just Americans, but many Canadians as well, and I'm sure many other nationalities can be included. But I do find that the Americans I've met tend to be much more....vocal about it.

Although as others have mentioned, it can often be cheaper to go abroad (especially during low seasons) than travel domestically. I think this is closer to why many people don't travel much, even outside their own state or province. Many people are creatures of habit--they like what they know and what they're comfortable with. Not everyone needs the excitement, adventure, stress, etc. of travelling to an unfamiliar place. However, I've always believed that in order to know your own country, you must experience other countries, as well. Just as in order to know and understand your own culture, you must experience other cultures. But then again, not everyone really cares about that kind of stuff. As James Michener said But again, different people travel for different reasons. Those who go to places like Cancun (or resorts in the DR, Cuba, etc.) often just want to get away and relax. They're not interested in learning about another culture or food. And often, they just like being able to say, "I went to so-and-so" because it makes them sound somewhat important. Different strokes for different folks...

I don't know if it's vital, but I think sesame oil would have been a nice addition. Edited to add: what about chiles?

I agree. Vinegar is a key ingredient. Though I would ditch the raisins and the currents, and do some kind of nut instead. I find that butter tarts tend to be overly sweet as they are, and raisins only add to the sweetness, while nuts balance it a bit.

You could do one of those fake timamisu things made with sponge cake, cream cheese, and lots of sickeningly sweet coffee syrup... It does have cream cheese in it... But even though you're not looking for a cheesecake, I would suggest a souffle cheesecake. It has a very different texture from regular cheesecake, and is so much more refreshing.

I'm not sure I understand your questions...could you clarify? Or are you looking a simplistic answer, like "People from big cities are more likely to travel abroad" or at least "People in big cities are more likely to have passports which would enable them to travel abroad"? In my experience, and amongst my acquaintances, people with passports generally do travel abroad, or at the very least have travelled abroad once. No one I've ever met has gotten a passport just for the sake of getting one. In Canada, passports are much too pricey ($87-92 for a 5-year passport, vs. $97 for a 10-year US passport) to be so frivolous.

It's horrible, isn't it? It's even worse than when people lick their knives. The absolute worst is when they make loud smacking noises when sucking on their fingers. I have to admit, though, sometimes when I'm at home, alone, and eating a particularly flavourful bag of potato chips, I'll use my fingers to get every last crumb of flavouring. But no smacking sounds!

Heathen! Don't you know? You're supposed to use your finger to wipe up all the sauce. Wipe...lick....wipe....lick. That's the order. Sometimes you can suck instead of lick, especially if the sauce gets under your fingernails.

When my mother first got married, at 29 years of age, she couldn't cook. That may seem hard to believe, but a life of household servants, boarding schools, and then boarding with nuns prevented her from ever having to learn. However, she loved food. And not just any food...she loved good food. And it wasn't even just that she loved good food, she really appreciated it. She still savours every bite of whatever it is she's eating (if it's good). She appreciates the work that goes into the making of the food, and sometimes tries to dissect it (the ingredients, etc.). She still reacts with awe at a new flavour, or a new technique a chef has used to make a dish. Could she replicate it? Not on your life. Though now, as an almost-70 year old, she is much more capable of trying to do so. If your palate is trained well, and if you have been exposed to, and educated in, the joys of food, you don't need to know how to cook in order to appreciate the flavours of good food, or the skill in making it.

When I was in junior high, we used to go to a creperie called, "Garden Creperie." My all-time favourite savoury crepe was filled with some kind of chicken in bechamel sauce mixture. I've had crepes with a similar filling at Czech restaurants, too. They also had a crepe filled with ham, rolled, breaded, and fried. I didn't like that one so much. My favourite sweet crepe was always fresh strawberries with whipped cream.

I heard from someone that some small-scale farmers may also have been pushed out of the rice business by a certain non-democratic terrorist group (can I call them a terrorist group?). Do you think there's any truth to that, or should I not discuss that in a public forum...they're everywhere, doncha know! My mother remembers Miracle Rice, too...and not fondly! Another rumour...during Marcos' time, there was a rumour that some non-food substances were added to rice to make it seem more volumimous when raw. Seems sketchy, to me. But most rumours are.... Still very off-topic, I laughed when I read the above. Supposedly, one of my great-grandfathers (or maybe great great grandfather?) was a Spanish priest. A mark of shame in the Philippines, but one of my mother's Spanish friends told her that it would be considered an honour to have a forebear who is a priest in Spain!

Are you anywhere near Pangasinan? My uncle is thinking of moving back to the Phil. with his wife. She's from Pangansinan, and her family used to grow rice, but the land has been sitting unused for many years. My uncle thinks they should start up again. I passed the names of those varieties on to her. She won't be stopping in Manila, though, just passing through. But I'm sure some family member will send some to her if she can't find it in Bacolod. She's still planning on bringing some Japanese rice and basmati, though! The rice she remembers the most is called Magsanaya, and it was grown in Negros. She said that since the farmers in Negros went more towards rice, that particular variety got lost. She said the fragrance was especially nice. Maybe Los Baños can help her find it again.

Taking this on a slight tangent, does anyone have comments on the quality of rice in the Philippines? My mother, during her last trip there (which was also her first trip there in about 20 years), commented on how horrible the rice is. She claims that when she was younger (she's almost 70 now), the rice was much better than now--softer, better flavour, etc. She also said there were a number of varieties, one of which starts her mouth watering whenever she thinks of it. It seems that almost all the good varieties have disappeared (though one of my SIT-mates has started a program planting heirloom rice varieties). Would anyone like to confirm or contradict my mother's thoughts? Or does anyone know where one can get good rice in the Philippines (preferably somewhere around Negros). She was thinking of bringing some Thai rice over, or even Chinese rice, when she goes next winter, because she can't stand the thought of eating that crappy rice for 3-6 months.

They use French keyboards in Morocco, too. At first it was a big pain in the butt, especially when using internet cafes. But then some friendly guy (all guys in Morocco are friendly to foreign women, I think) showed me that there's a button on the keyboard that switches the layout to QWERTY (i.e. you can type as though the keyboard were a QWERTY layout). It's a button somewhere in the bottom right, I think. Or maybe in the top left??

How could you possibly write something like that and not post the recipe?!??!?!?! How cruel! I should add, before the moderator does, that if you do post the recipe, someone might tell you to put it in recipeGullet and then link to it. But I'd be willing to take it anywhere in any form! (it was the that really peaked my interest!)

The recipe I posted gives very soft buns, at least when still warm. They reminded me of the buns Kentucky Fried chicken used to serve in Canada--the kind you could squish in your hand. The buns are also very buttery-feeling, even after being baked. I don't know if that's a good thing or not--some people might consider them greasy, but I liked them. Anyway, you'll never know until you try and the recipe only makes 9 buns, so it's not like you'll be wasting a lot of ingredients. And even if it's the not what you're looking for, at least a) you'll be able to rule one recipe out and b) you'll have some buns that are good in their own right.

I just posted a milk tea bun recipe (for the dough, only) to the thread on coconut buns. If you use straight milk instead of milk tea (the milk tea in the recipe is made from steeping tea in milk) I think would meet your needs. The bun is very rich, even without the milk tea custard filling (which is also delicious). This is a Japanese recipe, from ABC Cooking School.

I love coconut buns, as well. They're often called cocktail buns in English, and gai mei bau in...Cantonese? Last week in my breads class I made a recipe for milk tea buns. When I ate one, I remarked on the dough's similarity to cocktail buns, and thought I could try making cocktail buns with it (cocktail buns are also scarce in my part of the world!). I need to work on the filling, though. Just sugar, flour, coconut, and butter? Anyone have any idea about proportions? Here are the ingredients for the dough: 230 g flour, divided into 2 parts Into one part, add 1/2 tsp. salt 60g butter (don't mix in the butter, just have it ready with the flour/salt mixture). Set aside. Into the other part of flour, add 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast 3 tbsp sugar 170 mL warm milk tea (just use straight milk for the cocktail buns) Mix mix mix. Then add the other part of the flour with the butter. Use a wooden spoon to cut the butter into smaller pieces, then mix mix mix. When the dough forms a ball, turn out onto a work table. Knead for a long time. The dough is very wet and greasy. Knead until it becomes heavy. Form into a ball, put a bowl, let rise. When doubled in bulk, form into 9 round balls, cover and let rest for 10 minutes (as a guideline, we use a 40C proofing box, and put it in for about 30 minutes). At this point, you would form each roll around your filling, then place in your pan. Let rise (20 minutes at 40C), then bake. This recipe makes 9 round buns, and uses a 9" (or maybe 8") square pan. Bakes at 200C 12-15 minutes in a convection gas oven, 210C 20-23 minutes in a convection electric oven. These temps are for Japanese ovens, so you may need to adjust baking times and/or temperatures for larger, American-sized ovens. Note: You're not kneading in the way would knead an ordinary white bread dough. Because the dough is so sticky and greasy, you sort of stretch the dough onto the kneading surface to knead it, then use a scraper to bring it back into a ball, then repeat. Eventually you'll stop needing the scraper to bring the dough back into a ball. At that point, it's almost done. But it's not, so you'll need to spend a few more minutes kneading in this manner. You really have to make sure all the butter is worked into the dough as you're kneading it.

One other advantage of small-batch baking, is that ex-pats currently living in Japan (and perhaps other parts of the world) can bake US-type sweets without constantly adjusting recipes. During one extended stay in Japan, the largest pans my oven could accomodate were a 9-inch square, or a 10" round. It was a pain in the ass making cookie recipes--I could get 5, maybe 6 cookies per pan, depending on the size of the cookies. Most regular US recipes will make several dozen. If had known about this book way back then, I'd have bought it! (My current oven can accomodate 12-16 cookies per sheet, I'm happy to say, and can even accomodate a 9x13" pan if the lips around the pan aren't too wide!) edited to fix redundancy and improve on grammar.