prasantrin

Another question regarding miso quality--does it ever go bad? Last year my grandfather gave some of the "farm people" some miso with which to make soup, but they claimed they felt drunk after having some. It made my grandfather think the miso had "gone bad" and fermented (but it's fermented, anyway, isn't it?). I didn't know what to say, so if someone else can put the correct words in my mouth, I'd be grateful.

Oh but you must tell. This one seems hard to top. ← My sentiments exactly! If there are more, they must be absolutely fabulous, and they most definitely belong in print for the world to see!

The upside down cranberry cake (not the official title, I think) from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours is absolutely fantastic. And it uses a lot of cranberries!

For any KL-based fans of Cilantro, head to Sage tonight for New Year's Dinner! It's a 6-course set of favourites from Cilantro's menu: Wagyu Tartare with Anchovy Toast Pan Fried Unagi with Foie Gras Angel Hair Pasta with Mentaiko Glazed Seabass with Shirauo Grilled Wagyu Beef with Garlic Rice Chocolate Cup Cake with Early Grey Ice Cream Coffee or Tea I think they said it was RM215++. I'd go if it were more convenient, but it's so far from KLCC (and traffic is a b**** today!).

I spent a year in VT, and my sister lives in NH, and I haven't had good pizza in either of those states. The pizza there pretty much sucked, actually, and the sauce was painfully sweet. If you can't put pineapple on pizza, then you shouldn't be allowed to put sugar in the sauce.

Once in a great while, Costco has Vita-Mix promotions for a very good price. The last time I saw it (which was probably about 2 years ago or more), it was priced at about $250 Canadian and included several bonus pieces. If you check their website, or Costco's website, you can find out if they're doing a promotion at a Costco near you.

We have arrived...Is it just me, or is KL a little expensive? We arrived in the afternoon, and just browsed a bit. We're not quite used to the money, yet, but is seems Singapore is cheaper for a lot of things we've been looking for (bags of cashews, for example). No guide book, not much planning done (though quite a few KL-based blogs are bookmarked), and hotel internet is unreliable at best. But will hopefully get a few good food experiences out of this trip!

Young coconut juice! In Cambodia we were doing the same thing--getting a coconut from every place we could find one. And if we were at restaurants, we'd have them chop the coconuts open after finishing the juice so we could eat all that delicious meat! I'm very jealous of your continuing coconut consumption. The ones in Singapore were tiny, and we've just arrived in KL, so we haven't found any, yet. We're very hopeful, though! I'm surprised dim sum is so new to Mumbai. I would have thought something like bao would have done well there as street food (easy to eat out of hand, just like samosas).

Some Cambodian Kampot peppercorns and Cambodian wild honey. OK, I bought them for myself, but it is Christmastime, so can it still count as a gift?

capers, olives, anchovies, and oregano. I like it! The oregano isn't part of the sauce, but an add-on, so it would technically count as a fourth topping, wouldn't it?

We probably passed each other in the night! Or day... (you didn't fly Jetstar did you? We just arrived in Singapore on the 28th, too!). No free wi-fi at Swissotel, so I'll be writing my reports after my return. I don't have very many pictures of food, because it was often too dark to take worthwhile photos. We're leaving for KL tomorrow a.m., and am returning here on the 3rd for a couple of more days of eating! I must confess, we tipped again yesterday. There was no service charge, but we made a special request for a future take-away (they probably do take-away, anyway, but we weren't sure), so I thought we should tip so they'd be nicer to us when we return. I know I'm a wimp, but I couldn't help myself!

French onion soup and real hot chocolate (none of that cocoa stuff). I don't really need either right now, however, since it's been in the high-20's in Cambodia this week, and it will be about the same or hotter when I arrive in Singapore tomorrow! If it makes any of you snowed-in people feel better, it's not a dry heat...

That's the kanji I know! But I always thought it read as "tansan", because the boxes usually have tansan in katakana, too. http://www.kyoritsu-foods.co.jp/news/tansan/001.htm http://www.kyousei-nara.jp/tansan-juso/index.htm (the orange box on the far right is one of the brands I see a lot). What's the difference between "juusou" and "tansan"? I completely understand! I often e-mail myself at work to remind myself the next day if I need to ask someone about something, and then if I still forget to ask, I get really annoyed with myself! Luckily, I usually only need to ask for unusual things (like "My mother's family has a history of thyroid problems"), so it doesn't happen as often as it could. Plus my cell phone has a very handy dictionary on it (if he has a cell phone, have him check if it has a dictionary. One of my co-workers only recently realized her 2-year old cell phone had one!).!

Baking powder is baking powder pronounced in a katakana-way--if he can speak Japanese "pretty well" he should be able to ask for it (it's also written in katakana, so if he can read, he should be able to find it pretty easily). Baking soda is "tansan", I think, and is usually in kanji. The problem is less the names, than the familiarlity of the packaging. Both are most often found in the baking section in small boxes with individual packets (usually 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp each) insdie. It kind of throws North Americans off, because we're used to seeing big boxes of baking soda, or fairly large round containers of baking soda. I think the most common baking powder I've seen is in a pink box and it says baking powder in katakana. The baking soda I've purchased is, I think, in a orange-yellow box. Just out of curousity, why doesn't he ask a Japanese friend/co-worker to go to the grocery store with him? Before I could read Japanese (and even now when I need something I'm unfamiliar with), I would ask a friend to write down what I needed (along with the furigana if the item were written in kanji), so I could just show it to someone, or I could look for it myself. It would be a lot faster than asking his mother to ask someone, then having his mother wait for a reply, then waiting for her to reply to him. . . Or he could join eG and ask the questions himself.

Are they putting something in the water out in TO? First Renka's mouthwatering assortment, then Candy's! Y'all are being very cruel to this cookie-deprived reader. No good cookies to be had in Phnom Penh (good croissant and baguette, though!).

Jaymes--I was thinking of that. I need to bring back some gifts for my department, etc. and coffee is always appreciated. The only problem is that someone (who isn't me) has been buying up a storm in Cambodia and I'm already worried about our check-in allowance! We're now only allowed a max of 20kg total each (just a couple of years ago, I was still allowed 2 20kg bags), and we still have two short stays in Singapore, and one short stay in Kuala Lumpur left! This is putting a serious damper on my purchasing of food items, and I'm not sure if I'll even get my Cambodian honey now! Julian--Thanks for the info. I promise I will not spoil anyone's fun anymore. And the info certainly did not spoil my fun, and will only add to it! More money for food! I still can't believe they not only charged a service charge, but even 30 cents for each moist towellete! Had I known there was a charge, I would have refused them--we always carry our own, anyway.

Another wonderful travelog by Percyn! I must ask about the Indo-Chinese dishes. Is there a large Chinese population in India? Or is it just that Chinese food is the most popular "ethnic" food in India (pretty much everywhere in the world, you can find a Chinese restaurant--good or bad).

Ya Kun is on my google map for Singapore. Don't know if we'll make it there once we return to Singapore (we're in Cambodia now), but it's on my list! There are a lot of locations, so there's a good chance we'll at least drop by one. Will try the coffee--I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I do like a good cup now and then).

Question about tipping--when dining in a real restaurant in Singapore (as opposed to a food court or hawker stall), do you tip? We had a quick meal at a Chinese restaurant tonight. Although there was a 10% service charge (in addition to small charges for the boiled peanuts and even the moist towelletes), there was also a space to add a tip on the credit card slip. I wasn't sure what to do, and since the waitress was standing right next to me, I gave about 10%. Can I not leave a tip, or will the waitstaff chase me down while calling me rude names? Does the tip actually go to the staff (I assume the service charge does not)?

I've never been to France, but Abra mentioned Les Cafes d'Antan on her blog. It doesn't look like they're set up for online sales, but if you e-mail them, you may be able to work something out.

The most complete I've found is Gourmet Sleuth. According to them, regular dry couscous is 6.1 oz or 173 grams per cup, but they don't have a weight for Israeli couscous. Does it have another name? I'd go with bringing my own measuring cup, but be very sure it's super clean and disinfected, and try to use it discreetly. Although the scoops at WF and other grocery stores are probably much dirtier than yours, they (and you) could get into trouble for using outside scoops.

Thanks! I'll pass on the leeks (Y700! I need to save that money for Thai rice!), and look for shimonita negi first, and if that fails, I'll go for the naganegi and just sweat them a bit longer. I wish I had a nice little farm nearby that would sell cheap vegetables--they've all sold out to build apartment buildings. When researching shimonita negi, I found http://washokufood.blogspot.com/2008/07/naganegi-leek.html . It'll give me some options for other leek substitutes if I ever decide to look past naganegi.

They only have the 3L size of pots. They may get more sizes in, but I've noticed Costco usually only carries small sizes of enameled cast iron. I went through the online shopping links for Thai food that you posted eons ago, and there was still one website (the first one, I think) that had 5kg of Thai rice for Y2700 (or something like that--maybe Y2400). But I'm leaving in two days, so there's no way I'd be able to order and receive it before then (plus shipping is Y1000 to Kansai, so it's almost the same as paying Y4000 for a bag). It was the first link, I think, if you want to try to get some. I went through all of them (some are broken), and the only other place that had rice online was also Y4000 (Y3900).

Carrefour--the only thing I ever buy there (that I really need) is Thai rice, and it's now a whopping Y4000 for 5kg!! I just paid Y2400 in September. What the heck happened? Costco has some nice Cuisinart enameled cast iron pots (3L size) for only about Y7000. Much cheaper than le Creuset, and I really liked the colours!