prasantrin

Young coconut meat also makes great smoothies. Give it a whirl in a blender with some coconut juice and half-and-half (or evaporated milk) and ice, and you've got a perfect summer beverage. It would probably be nice with some rum thrown in (not Malibu--why ruin beautiful young coconut flavour with that fake crap?).

Try using the spelling "buko" and you might find more Filipino recipes. I googled, but can't access most of them because they're on blogs (and therefore blocked by my employers)

Which cut of beef in Japan corresponds to the brisket? I've been finding Japanese recipes for beef brisket, so it must exist here, but my visit to the meat market did not turn up anything brisket-looking (not that I really know what brisket looks like. . . )

Mmmmmm, I need to go there! Do they have a cafe, or is it only a take-out shop? It doesn't look how I imagined it to look--is it really in Ginza? It looks so non-descript.

The 6-speed Hamilton Beach mixer received a "not recommended" in Cook's Illustrated's equipment test, as did Dualit Professional and Farberware Preferred. KitchenAid 7-speed, Braun Multimix 4-in-1, and Cuisinart 7-speed all received "highly recommended". Black and Decker PowerPro and Oster 6-speed were "recommended". I'd return your HB and get the B&D or Oster--both should be in the same price range.

If the patron has to give a "dignified reason for an undignified tip", then should the waitstaff also be required to defend (or explain) the crappy service they provided? ← You'd better believe I do. I may be a very well paid server, but I am one of the most hawkishly-watched employees of any business that I know of. (Certain) people pay more attention to what I do and how I do my job than is paid to the person who stands guard over the red button that starts global nuclear war. (Well, almost.) When we have a manager called to the table to question a gratuity, you'd better believe that if the guest says, "Well, the food was good, but the service, not so much. . ." their exact explanation of why they didn't tip well can very well mean I don't have a job the next day, so if I choose to call a manager to the table, you're darned tootin' I know that I've got all my ducks in a row, and no misstep on my part can be used against me. In addition to that scrutiny, my managers regularly watch everything I do, from which hand I serve a table with, whether I provide open service, serve ladies first, crumb a table immaculately, word my "features" with exactly the appropriate and enticing language, offer dessert at the appropriate moment, never pass by an ungreeted or unbussed table, never walk by a piece of paper on the floor without picking it up, etcetera, etcetera. Every move I make all day long, every minute of every day is scrutinized to the nth degree. And there are video cameras so we can watch the replay, just in case there is a question about anything I've done. And in addition to that, sometimes managers sit down at a table to "recertify" me: They sit down to have me wait on them so that they can grade every tiny aspect of my performance as a server. Last year, I fell and broke my arm in a really horrifying way - my surgeon thought it likely that I'd be partially crippled for life - and yet when I came back to work, working through physical therapy and all, my manager recertified me, and she marked me down a point for pouring a bottle of wine with the wrong arm. (Pouring the bottle correctly would have meant that I'd have to use my broken arm, meaning that I'd probably have dropped the bottle.) So, yes, I think I'd say that I'm thoroughly accountable for whether or not my service merits an appropriate tip. ← Do you also need to defend yourself to the customer? That was my question to the person to whom I replied--if the customer is required to explain to the server why s/he left a crappy tip, then does the server need to defend his/her actions to the customer? Then what happens? In your case, it's a little different because it's the management who approaches the customer, but I was thinking particularly about waitstaff approaching the customer. For example, I was with a large group once and I didn't receive my order, while everyone else got theirs. "I didn't leave a tip because you forgot my order." "Well, I didn't hear it." "But you repeated it back to me." "Oh, well, I guess I just didn't write it down." I explained myself, the waitress explained herself, but quite honestly, her explanation just made me (and my entire group) think she was incompetent. And if she had just replied with, "I'm sorry," I would have considered it to be disingenuous. It had already been pointed out earlier that she hadn't brought my food, so she should have known the reason I didn't leave a tip. Why bother asking?

I used Horlicks to make the chocolate malted cookies (or whatever they're called), and they were awesome!

I just attended a buffet dinner for about 150. My favourites: tempura station teppanyaki station Those might not be do-able for you, as they were cooked onsite in front of the guests. Other people's favourites: Roasted meat plate--kobe steak, roast chicken, roast lamb, all served on a bed of roasted vegetables shabu shabu station (vegetables, scallops, pork) sashimi plate sushi station (these last two were in completely different areas of the buffet, and the sushi was prepared onsite just like the tempura and teppanyaki) There was a lot of other stuff--ikuradon station, some kind of lobster thing, grilled seafood (shrimp, scallops, etc.), salads, soba station (also prepared onsite), dim sum station (only two items--cute little chimaki and siu mai), pizza (least popular), spaghetti bolognese, gratin, some kind of fish in puff pastry (shaped like fish!). There was also foie which was interesting--it was served on a slice of daikon and the sauce was soy sauce-based. The dessert table had a mix of French and Japanese-influenced desserts (shochu tea jelly!), and fruit. I'm sure there was more, but I can't remember it all. I don't normally care for event buffets, but it was quite well done. There was enough variety for everyone to be satisfied--from the pickiest eater to the more adventurous. And although the food was all over the place (French, Chinese, Japanese, Italian), as I was eating I didn't feel any one dish was out of place (I didn't eat everything, though).

My aunt and her family used to love it as a sauce for roast chicken.

Day 4 Part 2 We spent quite some time at the market, and only came out with a big bag of chicos, but we got lost a lot (it’s not as big or confusing as a market like Chatuchak in Bangkok, but it’s big enough to get lost--at least for us to get lost, but we aren't so good with directions). By the time we left, we were hungry! Lack of planning, and being plain tuckered out meant. . . back to the hotel for lunch! We decided to eat indoors this time. Look at my mother. Why is she so happy? She’s got her chico! She couldn’t even wait to open one—as soon as we sat down, she started munching on them. Her lunch was loc lac. It was like Thai beef salad, but not spicy. And I don’t remember any toasted ground rice in there, either. It was quite salty because they used rock salt—pretty, but unnecessary. I had chicken with kampot peppers. With pasta. It turned out to be stuffed! It was OK. Chicken breast is never high on my list of things to eat, but the kampot peppers really packed a punch! I love Cambodian peppercorns! We went out again that afternoon, but I can’t remember where we went. Oh well, not so important. For our Christmas dinner, we went to Comme a la Maison, just a short walk from our hotel. My mother ordered an appetizer plate. What’s on it? I can’t remember at all. For her main she had. . . Duck? Chicken? Quail? Something with grapes, anyway. I had butternut squash pasta. I expected pasta made with butternut squash, but it was butternut squash cut like pasta. I don’t remember caring for my main too much. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t interesting to me. For dessert, my mother had the coffee roll cake. And I had the strawberry roll cake. Loved the little plastic Christmas tree on it. It was actually really good—very moist cake, the icing wasn’t cloying at all. I wanted more. I also met the cutest guy here. He even sat on my lap for a short time. I don’t have a picture, but it really happened! OK, he wasn’t even a year old, but for some reason he took a liking to me, and his parents let me hold him while they ate their dinner (we were already done). That’s one thing I like about SE Asia (in comparison to the US and Canada)—raising children is really the responsibility of the community, and parents are not so “How dare you touch/talk to my child!” But that’s another topic. . . The next morning we were headed back to SR, again on our luxury bus. Just a few more days and I'm done!

Peter kicked my little patooty, but I must still complete my task. I'm leaving for another trip in two weeks, after all! Day 4—when we booked our tickets to SR from Singapore last May, Jetstar didn’t tell us they were going to add a stopover in Phnom Penh on the way back. That sucked, because we had to do Singapore—SR—PP—SR—Singapore, with the intra-Cambodia legs by bus. We could have just gone Singapore—SR—PP—Singapore! Just goes to show you, the early bird doesn’t always get the worm. But the bus trip was certainly an experience. On our deluxe bus (we only travel first class, after all ), we got a little snack and some water. Fortunately, our water was “disinfected”. We got a big kick out of that, and my mother kept saying, “Oh, it’s even been dis-in-feast.” But then I said, “No! It’s been dis-in-fee-ceed. Get it? They took the feces out! Ahahahahahaha!” If looks could have killed, my mother would have committed infanticide. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was so disgusted that she couldn’t drink that water after that. You may remember from the Malaysian portion of our trip that she comes from a long line of germaphobic hypochondriacs, and she won’t even eat street food much less drink disin-feced water! Her trip to the nasty bus toilet didn’t help matters, either. . . We didn’t arrive in PP till mid-afternoon, and I think we had just enough time to do a tour of the Royal Palace compound. Not so interesting for us, but we thought we should go. Then dinner was at our “boutique hotel”. I’m not really sure what makes Villa Langka, a boutique hotel, since the rooms were quite sparse, the hot water wasn’t hot (in fact, it stopped completely for several hours one day), and I could actually twist the water faucet to a complete 180 (could have probably made it go 360, but the taps were in the way). But the rooms were clean, the staff was friendly, and the food was mostly good! The chef was the owner of the hotel—a Frenchman who had moved to Cambodia. The restaurant is by the pool, and they do accept reservations from people not staying there (I think), so if you happen to be in the vicinity of the Royal Palace (it’s quite close) and are hungry, I’d recommend stopping by if you don’t have other plans. The next day was Christmas! And what says Christmas more than a genocide museum! Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a place no one really wants to visit, but everyone should. It and the Killing Fields (which we did not visit) were the only reasons I wanted to go to Phnom Penh—not because I enjoy the macabre, but because I believe it’s important to confront all that we are capable of doing to one another. It’s probably best not to say more, but could someone tell me what this little boy did to deserve to be at that prison? After our visit to the prison, we needed something lighter, so to market we went! Central Market, also known as Psah Thmay, has everything you could possibly want. Need a new pair of shoes? A fake Rolex? Silver handicrafts? How about that ubiquitous Cambodian snack, clams? These were teeny tiny clams, like asari that are used in miso soup sometimes. All over, we would see carts or trays full of these little clams, which as I understand it are uncooked, but tossed with flavourings (chile, garlic, etc.) and left to dry. People buy a bagful and just suck away. We didn’t try any (I’m sure you’re not surprised). Raw clams sitting in the mid-day heat of Phnom Penh? Don’t think so. The market is fairly large, and they have tropical fruits galore! We wanted to buy mangosteen, but they were rather expensive because they were out-of-season, and there was no guarantee that they were ripe. Somewhere in the women’s underwear section, I found a little tiny cart where they were selling these weird little pickled fruits. At first I thought they were pickled cherries, but they weren’t. I tried one and didn’t care for it, but I could see how it could become an addictive snack along the lines of li huing mi (dried salty plums—salty sweet and sour all in one little dried fruit). One thing I found odd was that meat and fruit were often sold at the same stall within close proximity to each other. Sometimes the raw meat would be hanging right above the fruit, and the fruit wasn’t always of a peel-able variety. Cambodians must have very good stomach bacteria to fight off all that possible food poisoning. Chicos! My mother loves chicos (also called sopadilla), and she got very excited when she saw them. She even deigned to taste a little unwashed sopadilla cut with the vendor’s unwashed knife! I was very proud of her. And then she even bought some! I think she ended up with about 10 of them. More fruit and meat. I wanted the mangos. Are these what I think they are? Kidneys? Brains, very prettily displayed on some kind of leaf—no wonder my mother wouldn’t use the banana leaf at The Banana Leaf Apolo! Lunch for someone! I don’t know what it was, but it sure did look good (not that you can tell from the blurry picture). We didn’t try any, though (again, not a surprise).

It's difficult for me to remember (no notes, remember ), but I don't think it took more than 30 minutes to drive out there. Maybe 40, but I think more like 30. It most definitely wasn't most of a day for the trip, Agreed! The first, second, third, fourth. . . .

Fresh is pretty common in SE and South Asian countries, but at least with Indian recipes, I've mostly seen dry turmeric used.

No problema. I do it all the time! (along with more embarrassing typos) Have you made any of the recipes, yet? I read the article Dave linked to, and I'm now intrigued. I really shouldn't buy books right now, so I will have to bake/cook vicariously through others! (BTW, you wouldn't care to PM me your caramel pound cake recipe, would you? I'm on the lookout for the perfect recipe!)

They look like Japanese kusamochi. I don't think kusamochi are steamed, though I could be very wrong (I've never made it). Kusamochi is made with mugwort, aka huang hua ai in Chinese, or Artemisia princeps (according to Wiki). Any relationship to maiqing?

If the patron has to give a "dignified reason for an undignified tip", then should the waitstaff also be required to defend (or explain) the crappy service they provided?

It is very much like that. I've had Thai haw mok that isn't ground, too, but it was white, and less spicy than the red haw mok that's ground.

In any good restaurant I have worked in (in a major US city that is), the waiters are quite educated. I have worked with many waiters who have a masters and even higher degrees, so I would be careful to assume that waiters are uneducated. ← We're already off-topic from the original question, so why not go further? The highly-educated waiters to whom you refer--is their education related to their employment? And do they think of their employment as their life vocation, or at least their profession? In my limited experience, waitstaff at high-end restaurants in the US and Canada are not as highly trained as those in Europe or Asia. but I also think the guests don't expect as much, or perhaps expect different things, from the waitstaff. I would be far more willing to tip a larger percentage to someone who was educated (or well-trained) in the job, and who considered the job to be their profession (and behaved accordingly). But I see that kind of attitude far more outside North America than within, yet I am expected to tip more in North America than elsewhere. Aside from having to boost their low wages, why is that?

From what I remember, it was less spicy and more citrusy than the Thai version. We had it at Khmer Kitchen in PP. I've got pictures, but I haven't gotten around to finishing my report! (Yes, you kicked my a**! But I'll get the Philippines done before you get your next long trip done!)

I know a number of Jewish people who will make a big deal about not eating pork, but then will go ahead and eat shrimp, scallops, etc. It's not uncommon.

The USA (which is what I assume you mean by "America") is a large place. You might be better off posting in the forum of the area where you live (for example, in Pacific Northwest: Cooking and Baking forum), and asking for pointers to Korean grocery stores. Then you can try asking the grocery stores if they carry them, or if they don't, if they can special order one for you.

As a "PassionateChef", surely you must have some wonderful ideas up your sleeve. Please experiment and let us know what you come up with, and perhaps you can put a video on YouTube, too. Are you looking for a cream of mushroom soup, or a non-creamy version? It's good to be specific.

Beautiful! I still can't believe you got them so soon, and I'm glad your daughters enjoyed what you made with them--perfect timing! I didn't have anything for Hina Matsuri this year except leftover pizza, as my neighbour gave us Setsubun treats this year, instead.

Is there any place in YVR that does tableside-carved Peking duck with skin only? It really shouldn't have meat, but it's getting harder and harder to find it without (even in Hong Kong, where I thought I'd be able to get it without meat!).

I saw that book when I was in Cambodia, and considered getting it, but there was another book I thought was a little more interesting (though not as pretty). I didn't end up getting either of them, though. Our bags were already too heavy! Is there a recipe for the Cambodian version of larb in there? That was the only Cambodian dish we ate that we really enjoyed.