prasantrin

Interestingly, Chateau de Charmes was the only winery in Niagara that charged us for tastings. The others that we visited were either completely free, or gave 2 or 3 tastings for free, and any above that had a charge. I found, though, that if you did a tour that included a tasting session, you were generally charged a set rate (at one winery, it was about $5 or $10 for the tour and tasting, but you could go on a free tour, and just walk over to the retail side and get free samples). Odd. I should add that this was a number of years ago. I don't know how things are now.

Do you have a link for them? I did a search, but did not find anything. Is is Morioto or Morimoto or???? OK. I think I found them. But it's Iwachu, from Morioka, Japan. I was curious, because the tetsubin I've found outside Japan seem to me to be of lesser quality, but still quite expensive. If I make it to Iwate sometime in the next little while, I'll see if I can find some Iwachu to compare. I've always wanted a tetsubin.

Penzey's sells dehydrated bell peppers, so I imagine you could dehydrate them, yourself. If you don't have a dehydrator (sp?) maybe you could oven dry them?

Would you care to share your recipe ...please... ? I adore gingerbread, but have never made it, and would love to give it a try. I even brought a bundt pan back to Japan with me (all the way from Winnipeg) and have not used it, yet. This would be a great chance to break it in!

How many days is a few days? It sounds like you'll have contacts there. If that is the case, perhaps you could snag an invite to their homes...Moroccan restaurants do not hold a candle to home-cooking. They are worlds apart. While not about food, you might also ask one to take you to a djelleba-maker. When my friend and I were there (albeit in Rabat) we had djelleba custom-made so we'd be able to wear them outside of Morocco (we had them done hip-length rather than full-length). Beautiful embroidery work at a very reasonable price.

I got the joke, but I don't know that I would qualify it as funny. That being said, I think the direction this thread turned is much funnier...however predictable

Thanks so much for the help. I was so anxious to try the cookies, that I just couldn't wait any longer to bake them! It was torture just waiting that one hour! But the second roll has been sitting in my fridge for at least 24 hours, and will probably stay there until tomorrow, when I run out of my first batch. These cookies are absolutely delightful. Because mine spread out so much, they are almost like tuille, which makes me love them even more because they're crispy (yet somewhat chewy right now since it's so humid in Japan!). And might I add that I am not a chocolate fan whatsoever. In fact, chocolate is one of my least favourite (though not hated) foods. But these cookies....I just cannot describe how much I like them. I even refrained from bringing any to work, because I didn't want to share them! And I almost never eat what I bake! I think I need to by Paris Sweets for more gems like this one! Edited to add: I also bought some very special rich milk (Y130 for just 180mL) to go along with these cookies, and it's a perfect match! I can see these cookies are going to be my downfall

Help me, help me! I made the Korova cookies--my, the dough is delicious! But...just look at them! Granted, they look quite a bit uglier since I took the picture with my cell phone, but I don't think they're supposed to be so flat. Or are they? My thoughts right now are that the dough was still too warm (I waited for just 1 hour, no more), or I overworked the dough when mixing it. I don't think it was the latter, though, because I tried to be very careful. My butter was quite warm, though, so that may have been a problem, as well. I used a 170C oven--a tiny Japanese gas convection one, and baked them for 12 minutes. I'm thinking of freezing the other roll I have, and then baking them at the same temperature for the same time (rather than increasing the baking time by a minute, as suggested).

Oooooh! You are so evil! I can't get cocktail buns in Japan...or if I can, I haven't found them, yet! Doesn't anyone want to have a cocktail bun demo/cook-off/whatever they're called? I need a good cocktail bun recipe (googling has turned up nothing). Are they better than the non-fruit Boss Swiss Rolls? There's a Chinese grocery store in Winnipeg that brings in Boss roll cakes. We only get the coffee flavoured one, and I think it's divine! I think I'm going to have to make a trip to Vancouver sometime soon. Or maybe Hong Kong...it's closer!

That was going to be my first suggestion, as well! I love pastitsio, but it seems that too few people know about it. Sure it's similar to lasagne, but it's oh so much better! Mmmmm...must make some soon....

Easily the most assinine statement of the year The author obviously hasn't spent any time in Canada. We really want to be Norwegian. A. ← Agreed. Well, maybe not about the Norwegian part, but definitely European over American. In fact, Grover Norquist, the sanest of sane Americans , would agree: "[America] is filled with people who decided not to live in Europe. We had people who really wanted to live in Europe, but didn't have the energy to go back. We call them Canadians." ---Grover Norquist in Newsweek, November 22, 2004

I also have more figs than I need, but a question...do you peel figs or eat the skin, as well? Like with the fig and gorgonzola sandwich thing. I'd be using bleu cheese, but I'm sure it would be just as tasty! As long as I knew what to do with the skin....

My sister-in-law's mother makes a salmon casserole that is a special dish in their family. Something to do with canned salmon ("It's better with Sockeye, but it's so expensive"), bechamel sauce, macaroni, and peas. It's the bechamel sauce that makes it a special occasion dish.

With lactose intolerance, yoghurt is often OK, but if he's indeed allergic to milk (milk proteins) then yoghurt will be out, as well. But soy milk yoghurt has become more and more available. One must be careful to get the unsweetened kind, though, if there is an allergy to sugar.

I love the Herbis group--Herbis, Herbis Ent, and Herbis Plaza! I've passed the new Blue Note many a time, and have wanted to see many a concert there, but it's so hard to schedule around work--a lot of the interesting concerts are on weekdays, and I'm afraid I'll fall asleep during the concert....But now I know the food will help keep me awake! At Herbis, you'll find my favourite bakery called Burdigala. They have the best Croque Monsieur I've had in...ever...and their cafe latte is quite good, too. But for vegetarians, they always have one or two quiche options that would do. Their very reasonably priced lunch set is priced at about Y700 (maybe Y800) which includes a few small samplings of desserts!

I think it's a stretch to assume that any other food in Hong Kong, other than Chinese, is sub-par. And when I dine in non-Chinese restaurants (other than Thai, Filipino, etc.), I do just order one entree, except that entree is usually sized to feed just one person. Even plates of chow fun and chow mein (thanks for the translations, however unnecessary they were) tend to be too large for me. And at the time, I was unable to find any place which would sell me less than half a duck, though if I could have, I'd gladly have partaken. And if I had known the best place to order a bowl of wonton noodle, I'd gladly have partaken in that, too, but no one offered any advice (and I did ask). Why would you assume I was eating at American-chains? Or eating things I could have had at home? Or that I was even from America? Those are huge assumptions, and all are false. At the time (6 or 7 years ago), I was living in Japan, and had been there for a few years. While in Hong Kong, one of the two non-Chinese restaurants I visited was, from what I could tell, a highly-regarded restaurant/bar that catered to ex-pat clientele (from the decor I would have assumed British). I had French onion soup and fried calamari, both which are ubiquitous in places like Canada and the US, but were virtually impossible to find in Japan at the time (and still rather difficult). And both were excellent versions of what they were. The other non-Chinese meal was afternoon tea at the Peninsula Hotel. Only because my father had reminisced about afternoon tea at the Peninsula, so I felt I should experience it at least once in my life. I did manage to visit with a local family who took me out for Peking duck at a highly regarded Peking duck restaurant. Peking duck may not be one of the foods "best in Hong Kong", but that is where they took me, and I was pleased to be taken there as I love Peking duck. Unfortunately, in my opinion it was sub-par (very fatty, which I was told was preferred there, and as a result, the skin was not as crispy as I like) and I was forced to order some divine Peking duck during a subsequent trip to Bangkok. Oops. There I go again, eating at a restaurant which does not specialize in foods local to the country. Except the Peking duck at the right places in Bangkok far outstrips Peking duck anywhere in terms of flavour and value (though I suppose it depends on your frame of reference). There will be little to no visible fat on the skin, and the skin will be perfectly crisp. And if I could find decent Greek food in Bali or Singapore (or Bangkok, depending on where I am) in December, you can bet I'm going to have some, as there is none to be had in Japan. Back to topic, I also really enjoyed going to the bakeries in Hong Kong. They were great for snacks and breakfasts. There must be some better than Maxim's, but I can only remember going to that one and it was good, or so I thought at the time. So I must add Maxim's to my list of places to visit, but if anyone knows a better bakery, feel free to recommend!

That's my feeling exactly! Hong Kong is the capital city of the best Cantonese cuisine. So why try to find subpar Indian food, Italian food, steak, Korean, Japanese, whatever... during a limited-time visit? As one of those who has visited HK and eaten things other than Cantonese food, one reason (other than variety) for eating other foods is because Cantonese food is often served family style, with large portions meant to be shared. As someone who traveled to HK alone, it was very difficult to find good Cantonese restaurants which could accomodate a single diner (in terms of food portions). That meant when I ate at a Cantonese restaurant, I had to eat a lot of just one thing, and deal with left-overs. Granted, I could have chosen to order more dishes, and just had a lot of left-overs, but I was only there for two or three days and was much poorer back then. Dim sum was the one thing that I enjoyed alone in HK, since I could order more than one thing and be able to finish everything. My only recommendation would be to find Luk Yu Teahouse. I really enjoyed it, even though at that time I could only order by pointing to pictures of dishes that looked good (at that time, they only had carts until 11 or so, and after that you ordered from a menu, only written in Chinese). If I ever go to HK again, I'd try to find Luk Yu again. edited to fix an open quote

There's one in Naha, from what I can tell. At Okinawa Appuru Town (Apple Town?) which is at Omoromachi 3-3-1. Open 11am-10pm. There's one in the Carrefour next to the Costco in Amagasaki. I think I might try it my next trip out there....if I can tear myself away from the Bulgogi Bake!

Perhaps not so much now, but when I was younger my friends used to grimace at the idea of my mother's avocado "ice cream"--just frozen mashed avocado, sugar, and cream. I don't know why, but they just couldn't grasp the idea of a sweet avocado dish.

Hee, hee. My mother insists that it is Brazo de Mercedes (arm of Mercedes), because that's what her hoity toity Spanish-speaking aunt used to call it. She was one of those daughters of the rich, educated in a Spanish convent school (Assumption), and was taught her recipe by the nuns. My mother said that her aunt's recipe was the best she had ever tried, but unfortunately, no one in the family still has the recipe. I had thought it might be Spanish in origin, but wasn't sure. I'd like to try making it for my co-workers. I think it would go over well in Japan. Interestingly, cabellos de angel, is the same as (or is very similar to) the Thai foitong (foythong, etc) except I think the Thai version comes from Portugal. Which came first, the Portuguese or the Spanish version? (That could be a rhetorical question, but it might be interesting...) What's canonigos? Does it have a different name in the Visayas? It doesn't sound familiar to me at all. My all-time favourite Filipino dessert (probably also Spanish-influenced) is Sans Rival. But it's so time-consuming to make, that I haven't made it in years (literally...the last time I made it was in 1999).

Is Brazo de Mercedes (sp?) another uniquely Filipino dessert? I've been told that it is, but have never investigated it.

Lunch is not much cheaper than dinner. At the main restaurant, lunch is Y22 580 while dinner is Y25 000. Have you ever had a kaiseki meal, or very traditional Japanese food before? I was talking with my co-worker today, and she said that if you really like traditional Japanese food, then Hyotei would be a good place to go. However, if you're not really familiar with it, then there are more affordable places that would (at least for the average diner) also provide good food. I've had kaiseki before and have enjoyed the experience, but not so much the food. I find traditional Japanese food to have much too much of a delicate flavour for me to really enjoy it. I would much rather have a more reasonably-priced kaiseki meal, and be able to spend a little more on my other meals--like really good sushi or teppanyaki. That being said, if I had the extra money to spend, I would definitely try it, if only for the full experience.

We might have to hold off on that! I'd be too embarrassed to do yoga with a yoga queen! It's been more than a year since I practised regularly (and more than a year since I've done more than one or two sun salutes in a row!)! However, I'd be more than happy to do depachika and lunch without the ashtanga (at least until I've regained some of my flexibility)!

I've never seen anyone buy the whole pizzas from the store, just from the food kiosk where they cook it for you. I wonder if anyone ever buys the store ones! Maybe they just put them out for looks... I was afraid of that. A friend had the mixed berry one, and said the same about it. I was tempted to try the mango one, but avoided it...and now I'm glad I did! Exelsior Coffee, by the way, has a not too sweet frozen mango drink that's pretty good!

I had read it was re-opening, but didn't know it was opening so soon! I'll have to stop by in a couple of weeks (when an Ashtanga yoga studio is opening at Namba Parks!). I've always prefered Daimaru or Takashimaya, but the Daimaru stores in Osaka are a bit...sad...So maybe Sogo will be my new favourite department store!