prasantrin

At the beginning of September, almost immediately after returning from Canada, I'll be chaperoning a club trip to Kurashiki. I'll only get one lunch and one afternoon free, so I'd like to make the most of my time. I've done a brief search, and haven't found anything really interesting about the food. Peaches and grapes are famous (will peaches still be in season at the beginning of September?), but is there anything else I can bring back as omiyage? Any restaurants that serve interesting food? The Frommers website just has a few places in the sushi/Japanese category, an Italian place, a steak place, and a coffee shop. I'll definitely hit the coffee shop for some cake, but there must be more restaurants out there! At this time, I think a place called Kamoi is my first choice because they have tempura (anything fried is good), but I'm very flexible! (Except I'd prefer to avoid udon and soba.)

I have one more question which will make me sound like such a girl, but hey, I am a girl! What's the dress code for these events? I assume Saturday and Sunday are casual, as are the Friday workshops, but do Blackbird, the Violet Hour, and LSC have dress codes? Smart casual? Jeans OK? I'm leaving Japan in a couple of days, so if any of the places are beyond casual, I'll need to pack appropriately.

Maybe if one had a sense of humour, one might have appreciated the comment for what it was...

The moisure from the ice cream should help soften the cookies, but it helps if the cookies isn't too hard to begin with. Making your own cookies would help. Tons of recipes out there on the net if you do a search.

Was it your first time at Dosa King? If so, . How can you live in Bangkok and not have eaten at Dosa King? That's terrible! I suppose your second visit so soon after the first makes up (somewhat) for the transgression... The first time we went to DK, we also did a follow-up visit just a few days later. It was that good! (I can just hear the "purists" saying, "Why would you eat Indian food when visiting Thailand?" but they've never eaten at Dosa King, so they couldn't possibly understand!)

Yay! Finally! Dosa King! Did you enjoy the food? I won't be offended if you say no, but I do like their dosa! I think, but am not sure, the green pasty thing was made with cilantro, and the white mushy thing was made with coconut. I don't know their names, though. I liked the white thing. Was the wet and tangy not some sort of daal? I remember getting daal with my dosa. Were there other korma, as well? I don't remember ever getting chunks of pineapple and even a maraschino cherry with the korma! We were robbed! Or not...I can't imagine it would have improved the korma at all. Was it weird? Mmmmmm...garlic naan. I'm having some of that next time! And paneer dosa! I love paneer! Thanks for indulging my desire to live vicariously! eta: Damn right you should be scared! Especially now that you've met me and know what I'm capable of (I knew my tenacious whining would get you there eventually)!

It's still close to Union Station. We've decided to forego having a car in Chicago, and are taking the Megabus from MSP. We're also leaving Sunday night, so we can hang! (Hope no one mistakes us for streetwalkers or something!) Our bus leaves at 10:30pm, though, so you'll still be alone for a bit. But you can still tell your mother someone you know will be there, too. Just don't tell her we won't be there for the whole time.

I've come to the conclusion that my caper capers aren't working out too well because my current jar of capers sucks. I've been trying to use them up in a lemon caper dressing (just lemon juice, olive oil, and capers) which I've been using on salmon. I think that's why my hamburger with capers (which were whole, and there were a lot of them in the burger) tasted like a plain hamburger. As soon as I get back from holidays, I'm getting a new jar of capers. I'm going to try the salted ones next! I know there must be hundreds of brands of capers out there, but does anyone have a brand they particularly enjoy? The brand I liked was Mas Portell from Spain, but I can't remember the brand of my current jar which I don't like.

I was supposed to be in Singapore during the Singapore Food Festival way back in the spring of 2003, but SARS interrupted my plans. I'd still like to go one day, but now that it's in July, I'm not sure my delicate constitution could take the heat!

Pictures from Dosa King? I know, I know...I'm waiting!

white lotus--there's a branch of Ten Ren in Chicago. I wonder if they do tea tastings.

Thanks! I pretty much expected I'd have to pit before freeze, but I was just hoping to hear the answer I really wanted! Now I just have to wait till the cherries come. I sure hope they arrive before I leave!

I love the millefeuille (sp?). It's much better than the tiramisu (which tastes burnt, imo).

When you freeze cherries, can you freeze them after pitting, or do you have to pit them before? I only ask because usually around this time, I get a box of cherries, but I'm also usually about to leave town. Since I can barely make a dent in them before leaving, I'd like to freeze some, but probably won't have time to pit them.

FWIW, I've kept shiitakes in my fridge for more than a week. I like shiitakes sauteed in butter or just grilled. Simple is best, imo.

Wow, he actually fries whole races? With garnishes, at that! I had read about Jok's some time ago, and thought I wanted to try it. But now I think I can give it a pass. It's not that the food doesn't look good, but it doesn't look good enough to go through the trouble of making a reservation a couple of months in advance, etc. Boy, I really wish I had some dosa, though!

How did you find Luk Yu compared to other dim sum places in HK? I've only been there once, maybe 10 years ago, and I think I went to the other branch. What I had was good, but I don't remember it being spectacular (possibly because I kept ordering the wrong things...).

Wishful thinking?

They still fry them in Japan! And they're only Y100! McD's also fries their apple pies in Morocco, or at least they did 7 years ago. I wish they'd bring back their cherry pies.

Triple berry? I saw those, in both bags and regular-sized bar, but was not tempted to try them. I'm still waiting for my beloved Cafe Latte to come back!

I have only found them in individual mini bars so far (about Y40 each!). I'm on the look out for a bag of them. The only regular-sized bars I've seen have been regular, white, and adzuki. No more matcha.

I did a search, and Don Pedro's seems to be located in the same space as (or next to) a Mexican-themed club with a bad name I can't bring myself to type up here. So far I've read it isn't very good (plus the club has a detailed dress code, which may or may not apply to the restaurant). But it will go on my list, along with Pollo Volante, in my search for Mexican in Winnipeg (I'm prepared to be disappointed--Ciao calling food "authentic" is like Marion Warhaft calling food "authentic"). Any other new places I can try?

Kurozato KitKat--if you like kurozato, this stuff is awesome! I'm about to try some Mango Little KitKat (the round balls in a bag). I don't have very high hopes for it... ETA: At first bite, it's not bad, but it's more citrusy than mango-y, and the aftertaste is like most white chocolate-based sweets (i.e. not very pleasant). Plus the smell is overwhelming--the open bag is sitting next to me, and it reeks. Oh, they're not balls, but little squares. Kind of cute, I think. They look like over-sized orange TicTacs, but without that great baby aspirin flavour.

I'd like to help out, too, but I don't have good knife skills, and I'm slow. But I'm organized! I really can be quite helpful if you ignore the slowness and lack of good knife skills. And if nothing else, I can just stand around and be comic relief. I feel like I want to make something, but have no idea what and am a bit daunted by the logistics of the whole thing. I'd like to make sausage rolls (which I suppose fall under the amuse category), but I would need a source for puff pastry. (Is there a Trader Joe's in Evanston?)

Do they have a pizza with anchovies, capers, and olives (the good kind, not the flavourless canned kind)? Was the crust thin and crispy in texture, or crispy but with some chew? This summer, my two quests are Indian and wood-fired oven pizza. The latter is most important, because I know once I move back to Winnipeg, it will be one of the things I miss most.