prasantrin

I've got a set of batto in my shopping cart on amazon.co.jp for only Y4000-much cheaper than for what another company is selling the exact same set. It's a set of 4 batto, 4 lids, 1 metal lid, and 2 racks. Today at our school bazaar, I picked up a set of 3 batto with 3 lids and 1 rack for only Y600!! Brand new in the box and stainless steel, not aluminium! I'll probably still pick up the other set from amazon, because you can never have too many batto!

Personally, I don't think the tones are particularly useful for anyone that doesn't have a solid grasp of any of the Chinese languages (or tonal languages, for that matter). Even if you know what the diacritics mean, you may not be able to approximate the tones well enough for people to understand what you're saying. Copying the characters is a far more reliable way to communicate when you don't speak the language well. Even in Japan where there language isn't tonal, a lot of Japanese people still have "foreigner block", and if a non-Japanese person speaks Japanese, they still don't understand you.

I found this about the online voting system Do they also have a system to check IP addresses? Because I have 8 e-mail addresses and 4 phone numbers I can play around with to get more votes counted.

Aw man, that looks good! I want to break off those crusty bits of cheese at the bottom and eat those up! I think I'm going to have to make this recipe soon!

True, so true. But it will only have true value if the list encourages you to go to the Philippines and dine at those places. It wouldn't surprise me if many of the Filipinos who voted had never dined at either Antonio's or Aubergine. It's a matter of national pride--despite the very obvious flaws in the voting system, Filipinos can say their restaurants beat out the best in Japan, nevermind that there's a very large difference between "best" and "most popular". Which brings me to. . . The website isn't clear--are people allowed to vote more than once? Is there anything preventing people from voting 100 times for their favourite restaurant? Another issue I have with the guide is the reference to the "Top 20". "Top" implies "best" (in my opinion). Although the website is very clear that placement on the list is based on number of votes, more emphasis needs to be given to the fact that "most popular" does not in any way mean "best food". The average person sees "top" and thinks "best", and I highly doubt more than maybe five of the restaurants on that list belong on a list of the best 20 restaurants in Asia. Why not rename the list what it really is, which is "Most Popular" (and if people are allowed to vote more than once, then the restaurants aren't even that)? Why not scrap the Top 20 list, and just do the "Five Most Popular" for each country (they already do "top 5", so it's not much of a hardship just to concentrate on those and skip the top 20 altogether)?

That's OK, I forgot about this, too! I know that pizza place. I've been there once, and I thought their regular neapolitan-style pizza sucked. But maybe the rugby ball-shaped one is better! The other day I had Super Korean Bulgogi pizza from Pizza Hut. I'm sure it violated many rules, but I liked it. Of course, pizza hut pizza is in a league of its own. You can do all sorts of things with it, and it will still be pizza hut pizza.

Try Chinese grocery stores. Ramen (the noodles) are essentially Chinese, anyway. Just remember they're in the refrigerated section. It would be a shame to go through all that work only to use the wrong noodle again (although to me, unless you're a purist, it's more about the broth than the noodle).

Yes, I'm quite sure those two restaurants in the Philippines top, say, any of the best restaurants in Japan. The Philippines is a hotbed of fine cuisine, doncha know. I can't believe the publishers of the Miele Guide actually think it has any relevance or value. Seriously, why do they bother? Perhaps I should mosey on to to Chubby Hubby's site and ask him. . . edited twice because my proofreading skills suck. Also, do the publishers of the Guide actually make any money off of it? I'm just wondering why they do it, other than the thumbing their noses thing.

What if the collarless shirt guy isn't the one paying? As in our case, the "offender" was our guest. If someone is going to choose to dine at a place with a dress code, they should do their best to follow it. But if exceptional circumstances should prevent them from doing so, then I don't believe they should be prevented from dining at the establishment (as long as they are reasonably attired). If you were flying into Paris the same day as your reservations at a place with a dress code and the airline lost your luggage, would you immediately cancel the reservation knowing all you had to wear were the jeans and t-shirt you wore on the plane? (I'd actually call and explain first, and hope they would still let me dine, but if you don't believe exceptions should be made, then of course you should cancel immediately.) (As an aside, since it was mentioned, I've seen people dine at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in cargo pants. I know L'Atelier is more casual than Chateau, but do you think cargo pants cross the line?)

Yeah, I spent hours making the broth then put in spaghetti. No, you put hours into making the broth and then put in udon. Ramen noodles, if available, are almost always in the refrigerated section. The only dried ramen noodles I've seen are instant ramen ones. Still, the broth looks good, and that's the important part.

Depending on how much you're draining, a coffee filter works even better.

Exactly. There are always people who only want to do what they want, and just as importantly, don't want to be told what to do. But I'm reminded of my mother's surprise almost-70th birthday party. We held it at a golf and country club that had a very strict dress code--no shorts, no denim, no. . . I can't remember the rest. We invited people from all aspects of my mother's life--family, friends, and a few former students. My sister included information about the dress code on the invitation, so people knew to dress accordingly. We were a little concerned about a couple of the students we invited, as my mother used to run programs for at-risk youth who aren't known for even owning dress-up clothes. Just before the party, one of the former students asked me if there was anything he needed to know. I merely reminded him of the dress code, and he assured me he was all set. When my mother and I arrived at the party, there he was, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. It wasn't that he didn't want to be told what to do, but he didn't have anything else. And he wanted to be there to help celebrate my mother whom he valued and considered as family. The club handled the situation wonderfully, and no one made him feel bad about wearing jeans in a place that had an enforced dress code. In most cases, people don't want to dress up just because they don't want to or because they don't want to be told what to do. But in some cases, it's because they can't. The group shots of our party might have looked a little nicer if everyone had been dressed up, but I'm still thankful he showed up, despite the discomfort he may have felt knowing he would be the only one not dressed up.

I've done that, too! In my case, just before I burned myself, I thought, "Gee, I hope I don't burn myself." Then I heard the hssstttt of the hot element burning through my flesh.

Actually, from what I've been told, this line is more attributed to Colonel Sanders than McDonald's. Apparently, he was an absolutely *miserable* old, um, "gentleman" to work for, and this was just one of many things he'd come up with over the years. Not that it's a bad saying, mind you, but the story goes that no one wanted to work when he did, since he was just so ornery. A great businessman? You bet. Great boss? Not so much, apparently. Holly used to work for McDonald's (product development, I think), so I have faith people used it say it there, too. Either way, it's annoying.

Is that. . .spaghetti in there? If so, I think that would be tonkotsu spaghetti. The broth looks rich and milky. How did it taste?

Being the smarty I am, I went straight to your website to look for the brown sugar bacon recipe, and it's not there!! I googled, and found a bunch, but I'd love to know which one you used! Or did you do-it-yourself? (just sprinkle brown sugar and broil?) I just made bacon yesterday, so I'm itching to try it.

A former student now living in the UK uses Japanese Kitchen. I took a look and they don't have furikake in bottles or jars, just in pouches.

Funny, I made a nice dark chicken stock the other day, then decided I should reuse the bones to make more stock. I figured there would still be some flavour left since I only simmered the first batch for a few hours. The second batch (using less water--I did it in a slow cooker overnight) was much lighter, but still had a chicken-y smell (I didn't taste them). I combined the two batches. Was that a mistake?

Not necessarily. A less than 1kg small package to Israel would cost about $35 in postage (if sent by "small packet air). That's probably less than the cost of cards plus shipping from a retail company.

Deep-frying is pretty clear in meaning to me--the oil is deep, so it should be deeper than the chicken. How much oil you need will depend on the vessel you're frying the chicken in, and the size of your chicken. As long as the oil is deeper than the thing being fried, for all intents and purposes, you're deep frying. Figuring that out isn't about skill, in my opinion. Even an instruction like "julienne the spring onions" doesn't require great skill to understand. You don't even have to be able to do it, you are just required to you know what "julienne" means, and if you know what it means, you can probably figure out how to do it. I've never julienned a thing, but I could probably do it, and I'm really not that skilled a cook. I've always said that if you can read, you can cook. I have RCC and like I said, I'm not that skilled a cook. If you put me in a professional kitchen or in a cooking class, people would think I were a beginner in terms of my actual skill level. But I'm pretty good at figuring out instructions, and more importantly (in my opinion), I'm not afraid of the style of food or cooking in this book (and I'm pretty familiar with a lot of it).

-with following instructions on draining the chicken and the oil. Now, I know what she means by deep-fry the chicken, and enough oil, but if I handed this recipe to my husband to cook from, I'd be called back into the kitchen every five minutes from the start of cooking until the dish was done to consult on each step. It's not really meant to be a beginner's book, though, so I don't really have a problem with that. But it's worth keeping in mind before choosing the book. To me, that's not about cooking skills, but about reading comprehension--specifically how to read recipes. It could have been written more clearly, but if you've got decent reading comprehension, you could figure it out. It could also be about comfort-level in the kitchen, but again, that's not about actual cooking skills.

Despite the high price (even higher for me, as I don't live in the US), Fine Cooking is the only magazine to which I subscribe. I used to subscribe to more (Cook's Illustrated, Bon Appetit, F&W, etc.), but found that FC was the only one which had recipes I wanted to make in every edition. It also has a much higher recipe ratio than other magazines since there aren't any travel or lifestyle articles. And baking recipes generally include weight as well as volume measurements. That being said, it's starting to repeat topics--I can't count how many times I've seen roast chicken in the magazine. Sure there are hundreds of ways to make a roast chicken, but still. . .

For the first time ever, shio to caramel mini kitkats!! Someone had mentioned finding shio caramel pudding kitkats before, but when I did a search on the site, there was only caramel, no shio caramel (they used to have a retrospective of their kitkat flavours). So I can't wait to try it! Ume Pure has a bit of shiso flavour (to my taste buds). Not so great. Bought the yuzu, but haven't tried it, yet.

Here's a picture. In this version, the dulong is minced, but you can also find it served with whole dulong. At this party we went to, they had this dulong pate and a duck and chicken liver pate as appetizers. The duck and chicken liver pate was amazing, but everyone raved about the dulong. Apparently it's difficult to get good really fresh dulong, so it's extra special when it's served to you. I'll keep an eye out for the chirimen in January. I wonder if I'll have better luck if I go out to Nishinomiya port to the fish wholesalers. It might be an interesting trip!

It isn't really a pate, but in the Philippines they call it "pate". It's more like a dip (but not really a dip, either). From http://bucaio.blogspot.com/2005/09/blog-party-tiki.html , you cook some garlic and ginger in a little vinegar (Filipino coconut vinegar, preferably), then you add the chirimen. Cook them for a bit, then put in a container and top with olive oil. It's really very delicious, but the woman I met in the Philippines who makes it says the chirimen ("dulong") have to be very very fresh--practically translucent.