v. gautam

Regarding food choices, please also take a look at the blog of Austin Bush, a frequent poster in this forum http://realthai.blogspot.com/ 1. Muslim Thai food in Bangkok: biryani, khao mok: khao mok phae =goat biryani, gai =chicken, try the goat Naaz 24/9 Soi Phutta Osot (Charoen Krung Soi 43--opposite the Main Post Office) 02 234 4537 8:30am-10pm Yusup Phochana Kaset-Navamin Highway Open every day, 11am-2pm 05 136 2864, 09 923 8099 Here the real specialty is khao mok plaa, fish biryani, plus "amazing curries". http://realthai.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-face-of-yusup.html Plus there are all sorts of other street food and small restaurants there! Also, the Bangkok Post restaurant reviews, particularly: [for some excellent thai cooking] 1. Thai restaurant picks of 2006: http://www.bangkokpost.com/entertainment/restaurants/ 2. khao chae, a example of "royal" cooking, a special dish of rice soaked in cold jasmine-scented water, served with sides, approx 150-200 baht Baan Prachachuen - aristocratic THAI cooking Address : 37 Prachachuen Soi 33, Prachachuen Road, Bang Sue Tel. : 02-585-1323 Open : daily 11am-3pm read the review many other such places

You could try asking for "sweet bean paste". It comes in little blue and white cans, and its counterpart in the same colored cans , i.e. same brand, is sold as "hot bean paste." Sorry to have forgotten the brand, because I just pick it up by sight. Shape and size similar to the 6 oz tuna fish can. In my limited experience, I have seen Mainland Chinese from Taiwan and native Taiwanese both make and enjoy their version of ja jiang mein with THIS "sweet bean paste": ground pork sauteed with garlic, then sweet bean paste, cook until done, soy sauce; pickled cucumbers/gherkins, Asian style, green onions chopped, over noodles. You can ask in the Chinese forum about Sweet bean paste, also, when inquiring about tenmenjiang.

You could try asking for "sweet bean paste". It comes in little blue and white cans, and its counterpart in the same colored cans , i.e. same brand, is sold as "hot bean paste." Sorry to have forgotten the brand, because I just pick it up by sight. In my limited experience, I have seen Mainland Chinese from Taiwan and native Taiwanese both make and enjoy their version of ja jiang mein with THIS "sweet bean paste": ground pork sauteed with garlic, then sweet bean paste, cook until done, soy sauce; pickled cucumbers/gherkins, Asian style, green onions chopped, over noodles. You can ask in the Chinese forum about Sweet bean paste, also, when inquiring about tenmenjiang.

The "Steingarten Method" actually is used/was used by Baghdadi Jews in Calcutta to make their signature potatoes, aloo m'kallah: whole blanched potatoes, smallish round ones, not larger than a golf ball or just a bit larger, started in cold oil and brought up to a 'high' simmer, kept there until deep golden. These were served with their special "roast chicken." Deliciously crunchy almost throughout, only a small, soft core remained. I have a huge problem with the late Copeland Marks's Calcutta cookery, having meticulously gone through the recipes and tasted the results. Having tasted the originals and lived among the very people, including the some of the specific persons named, I do understand some of the cooking involved, and what the food should taste like, be it Jewish or Anglo-Indian, Bengali, whatever. Since the man is dead, I shall avoid comment on his self-asserted expertise on various aspects of Calcutta cookery, Jewish and non-Jewish, as well as on the quality of the recipes. One South Indian gentleman, I believe, opening a kosher restaurant in NYC, got Mr. Marks to advise him on these same aloo m'kallah and probably prepares them to this day, with what felicity, who can say. I do know several Jewish emigrants from Calcutta, who moved to London in the 70s, and who I can attest were absolute experts in this art. There are many variables, the variety of potato being one-- perhaps small Yukon golds would be a place to start.

There is a mild-to-moderate, [yet sustained] premeditated xenophobia promoted by the "tame" elements of the US press, undoubtedly in concert with trade lobbies, against China in many guises. The latest is impugning its prepared and processed foods industry:stories of soy sauce hydrolysed out of human hair and such! I remember seeing elsewhere on eGullet a member vowing to strip her refrigerator of all China-origin condiments immediately. Washington Post and New York Times are part of the "tame" press and are as clever/subtle as they are insidious in achieving various foreign policy goals favored by the 'establishment". I do hope Japanese food products do not get "slammed" by the type of mischievous reporting that precedes and accompanies trade tussles.

I suspect the term "fermented butter" means "cultured butter" which should taste very good, much more flavorful than butter not labelled as such. BTW, heavy cream, 40%, 238 ml, is $1.50 at present. But, dairy prices have been climbing rapidly, registering 12% inflation per year, for the past year and will do so for the next year as well. Last year, 1 quart [roughly 1 liter ] of milk cost 66-71 cents; today $1.14. "A recent article in the Austin American Statesman (www.statesman.com; accessed on 13/10/07) says: ‘This morning, your bowl of cereal and milk probably cost you 49 cents. Last year, it was 44 cents. By next year, it could be 56 cents. It’s enough to make you cry in your cornflakes.’" http://www.newagebd.com/2007/oct/30/oped.html#1 gautam

Not directly related, but the word "ban" jogged my memory of an article: http://financial.washingtonpost.com/custom...}&tid=informbox Has anyone seen similar reports in Japan or is this an orchestrated move in the US media, a prelude to more trade sanctions and such?

Helen-san, thank you so much! gautam

Re: Belle de Boskoop, 1. NAFEX, North American Fruit Explorers, have members who sell an assortment of heirloom apples, including B d B 2. You may request free budwood of B d B from Philip Forsline, Curator, USDA Clonal Germplasm Collection, Geneva NY. Go to USDA-GRIN and find either Apples or Geneva, NY and proceed according to the instructions. 3.Order a tree from Cummins Nursery: http://www.cumminsnursery.com/antiques.htm Prof. J. Cummins, now emeritus, was the pre-eminent breeder of dwarf rootstocks in this country. He has a small nursery that he runs with his older son and wife. Great quality. Very personal touch, ask him to graft your trees on his very dwarfing CG-65 [about 5 feet], or dwarfing CG-41. BdB will require another to pollinate it, suggest this crab from Geneva collection, Uralskoje Nalivnoje, or the Chestnut Crab, both superb eating apples. You can get both free from Phil Forsline, and root them yourself as own root cuttings. Or ask Jim Cummins his opinion. Where are you located? BdB does best in a cooler, moist location; but is flexible to an extent. Let me know if I can help. gautam.

What does the "ordinary" butter in Japan taste like? For example, as a benchmark, let us for argument's sake suppose that "ordinary" butter in the US, e.g. Land o' Lakes @$2-3/lb is pretty neutral to tasteless, however one might choose to describe the flavor. In contrast, Cabot cultured butter, @$11-13/lb is excellent. In the UK, ordinary butter seems to be far more flavorful than the US variety, and not expensive. I don't know anything about the continent. Am curious to know what run-of- the mill butters in Japan (such as the one gracing the potatoes shown) taste like? For that matter, what types of potatoes are best liked in Japan? Thanks much.

It all depends on where an apple is grown, the orchard, the year, the place, the time of picking: orchard run apples are picked at various stages of ripeness to suit the needs of the owner, be it fresh market sales or controlled atmosphere storage. In each case, the stage of ripening will be dramatically different; so if some picked mainly for the latter purpose are offered also for fresh market sales now, then ripening at controlled temperatures, not warm house temperatures would be needed to bring out their best. I have just finished sampling some of the finest lots of Honeycrisp I have seen in recent years, sold at 99cents/lb, orchard run, very sweet, tangy, perfect balance, crisp, fantastic color, shows why this apple is prized. Total WOW, from someone not at all easily impressed. Sold in a farmstand at Dryden, New York. End of that run like lightning! Similar story with Cameos: can be magnificent one year, humdrum the next, in this area. I have spent more than 17 years at the USDA Clonal Germplasm Repository at Geneva, NY, that holds more than 2500 types of apples and have a field book with annotation marking the variations from year to year of the same variety on the same date, for several days each year for those years. That adds up to 24 rows with more than 50 varieties/or trees per row. If one factors in one's experience with several stations in the general area of Ithaca, Geneva and Wayne County, one feels that blanket assertions like Golden Russet is better than ..., or Honeycrisp is overrated, or Macoun is better than X, or so and so said that she KNOWS that Macoun is better than X, need to be viewed with some trepidation, not only because personal taste and preference cannot be generalized for a population of humans, but growing conditions also vary dramatically between orchards, and even between fruit situated on the sunny and shaded aspects of a tree, trees on different types of rootstocks, training systems, trees of different ages, different growing practices, and a hundred other variables.

Diana, When you do try a full blown oden, i would like to add this suggestion [subject to emendation by the experts on this thread]. To the chikuwa, at least please also consider adding slices from "tempura", flat, golden, fried cakes in the cooler section of the oriental grocery. They go by that name and come in several very similar types with slightly varying compositions. They should not be more than $4/lb, much cheaper than the frozen assorted fish balls also being sold as oden accessories. So the chikuwa, tempura, potato, radish/daikon, konnyaku, maybe boiled egg, will give you a basic oden. Tempura is to be cut into slices. That combination is pretty frugal at USA prices and very good. Most of my Japanese friends love their daikon cooked very soft. I like it when it still has a bit of a crunch in it. You can also play around with the potaoes. Idaho Russets with the skin on will give a different texture as tiny bits of their edges disintegrate off into the broth, and the skin adds its earth flavor which some relish. Then the potato cuts, wedges, quartes, etc. will themselves make a difference to mouthfeel and your enjoyment of the accompanying tidbits. Yukon Gold with its skin on will add yet another different taste to the finished oden. Boiling potaoes yet others. So you see how small changes with the basic materials can change the final product. Something small like Korean radish [widely available, and often substituted for daikon] for daikon will slightly but measurably influence the texture and final result. These are just an amateur's experiments with US ingredients. Shocking things like freezing konnyaku, and adding the thawed frozen slices, like koyadofu! No doubt the experts here will have better advice for you. gautam

Depending on the size of your steamer, I have found that you can use the glass turntable of your [largish?] microwave if it is a smooth one, for a heatproof, large, flat surface to make such noodles and other things in quantity. Great for sticky rice as well. I have one large smooth one dedicated for steamer use alone, saved from a discarded microvave oven. gautam

I kid you not, so strange or interesting have we become here : were that picture to receive widespread publicity, say in a David Letterman show, you may be sure of a major storm in a teacup. At least some heads would roll at KFC USA because it [Pepsico?] is connected to too many other fast food brands, and potential losses would be large. g

Thanks for the wonderful photographs and commentary. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the Col. Sanders in a kimono and a watermelon slice. I laughed till I cried, then looked carefully to verify if I had really seen right:: WATERMELON, southern fried chicken, Col. Sanders! I know that all this is very, very innocent in Japan, where the subtext is missing, but in the US, the proximity of these particular cultural+gastronomic tropes ---- a few sensitivities would have been trodden upon!!! In these days of globalization and increased cultural sensitivity, maybe the management of KFC Japan can find something more striking and less fraught with cultural baggage than a watermelon slice to place in the Colonel's welcoming hands? gautam

Helen-san, Thank you very much for that last bit of information. Perhaps when you have a minute, you might add a brand name or particulars. I find small-town Chinese groceries sometimes are ble to find stuff that they don't normally stock if one gives them a definite piece of ordering information. Here is one little item of great historical interest: a monograph on brewing sake, mirin and shochu writtenby R.W. Atkinson, B.Sc. (Lond.) Professor of Analytical and Applied Chemistry in Tokio Daigaku (1881). The dawn of biochemistry when the word "enzyme" was unknown, posited to be a "hypothetical substance". A great historical look at Japanese brewing history. "Starch is a substance insoluble in water and incapable of undergoing fermentation directly, that is, of being converted into alcohol. In beer-making countries the conversion of the starch into a sugar from which alcohol can be produced is effected by the use of malt, a body formed by allowing the embryo of the barley grain to become partially developed, by which a change in the character of the grain occurs, as the result of which it becomes possessed of certain properties attributed to the existence of a hypothetical substance known as "diastase". The peculiarity of "diastase" is that it is a body containing nitrogen and having the power of rendering thick starch-paste liquid owing to the formation from it of the sugar maltose together with dextrin. Other kinds of diastase occur, as for example in the saliva, and in the pancreas, and these forms, although they resemble in some respects the diastase contained in malt differ from it in other particulars. Thus, the diastase of malt is not able to cause maltose to take up water and so be converted into dextrose, but both the diastase of the saliva and of the pancreas effect the hydration of maltose and change it into dextrose. It is evident, therefore, that different kinds of diastase exist, and that it is not one substance only which possesses these properties." http://brewery.org/library/sake/cover.htm g

Thank you very much, Hiroyuki-san. As you note, the price of real mirin is the issue, and the impostors are quite exasperating. Even the stuff that is produced in 40-60 days is not "real", merely extraneous alcohol added to koji at the outset, which then gets boiled off in the traditional manner. Did you notice in one product that out of the 60% sugar, 55% came from elsewhere, i.e. not from koji saccharification? That was just what I had mentioned, about the relative proportions of native sugars to added sugar. I think to myself: Why am I paying $$ for raw alcohol and cane sugar (with some label attached) combined with a small fraction of actual "mirin" in the fond hope that I am cooking with mirin? Which is why I thought of using either using more sake and the natural rice sugar, amazake (?) for the alcohol and glaze; Or, trying to brew a small batch of mirin in a 5-gallon carboy during the winter when regulating temperature becomes easier . In our area, we have an organization called FreeCycle, and I notice, occasionally, home winemakers trying to get rid of their appurtenances, probably strongly encouraged by their spouses, hence the altruistic urge!!! It might be interesting to do a brown rice koji and see what happens. Or a mixture of brown and white. Nowadays good quality koji cultures are available here. What do you think? gautam

Con(?)-Fusion Chaat: Are you adventurous enough to try this recipe tucked away among several interesting chaats in the address below: http://www.dawn.com/weekly/review/review11.htm For the sake of academic investigation, the entire recipe deserves publication, it is that unique! "With egg-macaroni Ingredients 4 eggs, hard boiled 1 cup macaroni 1 cup grated cheese 2 chopped green chillies 4 tbsp chopped coriander 1 tbsp chopped mint Salt to taste 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp chaat masala Chili-garlic, tomato sauce Method Boil macaroni till soft, and then cook with grated cheese until well mixed. Put aside to cool. Cut boiled eggs into small pieces. In a large bowl slowly mix together the cooked macaroni-cheese, eggs, coriander, mint, chaat masala, salt, pepper and ketchup. Serve cold." Check the site out: there is another zinger. g

I have a question about the dashi in the proposed chart. Hiroyuki-san indicated that his daily go-to dashi is the commercial powder, in 600 ml of water. I find that this powder itself has glucose, sugar etc. in its ingredients list [ Hon Dashi powder]. Therefore, if people were using plain kombu, sardine, or kombu-bonito dashi, i guess the chart would need to be adjusted a bit? Also, would the chart be standardized on mirin-fu, and does it really make any difference if any other mirin is used? I know this is a really really stupid question that has been brought up before, but still continues to vex me somehow. The beauty or ingenuity of both sake and mirin, especially the latter, is the tandem saccharization and fermentation: this is the original "right on time" concept of assembly line manufacure later made famous by Japan! one set of microbes breaks down the starch to sugars another set ferments the sugars to alcohol For Mirin, additional alcohol is introduced to regulate the process towards the saccharification half: at least that is the traditional method, giving rise to the complex range of sugars and flavor components. Today, industrial HON-MIRIN, to say nothing of Mirin-fu, is actually a one-step process where the koji and distilled grain spirits (actually, the cheapest 40% ethanol available, from potatoes, tapioca, whatever) are simultaneously loaded into fermentation vats and held for a short period to create a mirin-type material containing sugar and alcohol that satisfies regulatory requirements. This process sort of precludes the prolonged saccharification cum fermentation that defines mirin, and forcibly creates a MIRIN product just as hydrolysis of soybean proteins creates commercial shoyu. So, other than the very expensive organic traditional mirin, I remain quite confused as to what MIRIN actually is nowadays. 'Good' quality hon-mirin is sold with 6-8% alcohol and a relatively high price, reputable brand names, but to my taste, it is an industrial product smelling like wood spirits. Cooking with it is fine, but not really distinguished, expect to those Japanese expatriates in the US conditioned from infancy to fear the absence of mirin, perhaps? Reputable comapnies (Kikkoman) in the US sell something called Kotterin-mirin, the first ingredient of which is corn syrup! I have used it, and cannot say anything more about it. The good quality Mirin-fu used by Hiroyuki-san is not readily available in the US. When we follow the traditional japanese prescription of boiling off the alcohol, using the "good" Kikkoman hon-mirin, we are merely boiling off some extraneously added raw alcohol and are left with a tiny fraction of native rice sugars plus a load of added sugars, none of the latter from koji fermentation. A bit of a hoax, some would say, no worse than adding your own sugars, including amazake, to sake? gautam

Oh no, the words "soapbox", "rice cultivation" , "biodiversity", "preservation of local races" and bioengineering got me on my soapbox on my favorite subject, Rice genetics and yield physiology! Just today, received an email from a young rice researcher from India to our university: "My advisor ..... is a stalwart in aromatic rices in india in colloboration with IRRI and he is currently working on the preservation and characterization of aromatic rices in this region (tarai region). I think you are refferring to those tiny aromatic rices ....we have over 100 accessions of these quality rices. These rices have been classified as aromatic rices but not basmati because the term basmati qualifies several specific parameters. These Kalanamak rices have some peculiar characteristics like high salt toelrance, low nitrogen reponsiveness (30-35 kg/ha) and therefore low yield. I am also working on these lines in the area of manupulating nitrogen use efficiency by a unique class of plant specific transcription factors. the area in which I' m working is fantastic ...i have every facility and funds here but the only thing i miss is a never tiring far sighted enthusiastic group. Please send me the reference you have mentioned." In order to keep this biodiversity viable, these rices must become economically viable. They need to return economic yields. Moerover, if you have read his words, salt tolerance, certain biotic and abiotic stresses like deepwater growth, flash-flood tolerance, certain endemic disease tolence etc. can only be maintained on site. That is, these tolernces can remain only when these rices are actively cultivated by farmers over large enough areas in the problem zones so that natural selection remains strong and active. Such rices cannot be effectively stored in gene banks. From 55,000 landraces and cultivars collected from India alone we have managed to isolate very important breeding genes from as few as 1 or 4 parents! And this was of worldwide importance! From a single plantain variety from Bengal came the gene that helped eleiminate an enormous problem for a huge swath of Africa. Coming back to genetic "engineering" these terms are mischievous and risible. Many of these rices, outside their core areas, in order to remain economic, need to be bred in particular ways within a time period. For example, right now, scientists have have extracted a gene that senses shade and spectral quality of light in a particular manner. It comes from a small family of such genes and is widespread in higher plants. Just because it is technically convenient and doable by present means, that gene from Arabidopsis, a model plant is more easily extracted and available for insertion into other crop species, including rice. When lanky Basmati rices are transformed with this Arabidopsis Phytochrome A gene, it tends to grow a bit shorter and not collapse, leading to higher yields. (That makes basmati economically viable. it will make these other aromatic rices which beats basmati hands down,the ability to yield well. They now cannot, if with only 30kg of Nitrogen per hectare they keel over and lie flat.) What has happened? Has this transformed basmati turned leprous? Will it kill? You can eat Arabidopsis without harm. Why can you not eat this rice? There ARE potentially VERY harmful biotechnologies. Even more harmful are the malafide uses to which perverted organizations might/will put them to. But that is what Enron essentially did: hey, let us cheat our shareholders, and major banks said, we'll help you in your scheme. How can you guard against this? The point in being modern, educated human beings is to become sufficiently well-informed to be able to make judgments as to which to condemn and which to embrace. This wholesale dewy-eyed romanticism that has overtaken a country that is built upon technology and technical excellence is dangerous, to say the least. OK, off my soapbox.

I generally agree with your vast culinary store of culinary knowlege and experience, and here I shall agree with your argument that when it comes to taste, personal preference rules. However, I would also like to emphasize almost the pan-Indian dislike, extreme dislike, for the flavor that rice develops when cooked and held at warm-hot temperatures such as that created in rice cookers. As also the texture that arises from this holding period, as opposed to the method I describe below The method liked best is washed riced placed in excess of boiling water, cooked to desired texture, drained, placed back on heat briefly and served steaming hot. I have grown rice, many, many varieties spanning 4-5 breeding groups for over 44 years and am profoundly intimate with each aspect of its genetics, growth and processing; familiar perhaps with a greater range of varieties, cooking methods, combinations of foods, tastes and other minutiae associated with rice than many cooks in the US. Rices commonly sold available in the US span only the japonica, indica, aromatic, and mixed parentage breeding groups [excluding the African rices]. But as you said, taste is personal and none has a monopoly on knowledge.

Sanrensho, I added the Japan & Bengal comparison as an estimate of the quantities of rice cooked daily in a typical household, and hence the relative convenience of each appliance. It was not meant as a rude comaprison, but a significant one, because, watching Hiroyuki's blog, and my long fascination with Japanese foodways, I would estimate a Japanese urban household to be happy with a 5.5 cup rice cooker and not use that amount per meal. Whereas the 3 quart Corningware can hold at least 2.5 cups [American] raw rice and its cooked form, and this would suffice 2 per meal, "raw" or FOB from Bengal or Bangladesh--quite a heavy load on any appliance if multiplied 2x365. However, a microwave shrugs off this amount of usage, plus is able to cook more food without easily wearing out. Yes, I do know about the original post, and you may kindly read my first line. I wrote of my experiences hoping that they might suggest to others thinking to buy investment an expensive rice cooker when they already had a perfectly serviceable one sitting in their kitchen. You of course need not bother. However some others not quite so wise or knowledgeable in the ways of rice [many Americans new to rice cookery still remain a bit apprehensive of this grain] who also might read this thread might benefit and save money on the more expensive types of rice cookers. It is for them that this is written, including the quantum of use that a microwave will endure perhaps more easily than the smaller sizes of rice cookers.

This might be a really foolish response, but I have been cooking exceptionally great rice in a variety of microvave ovens and the same set of Corningware 1, 2, and 3 quart covered rectangular ceramic containers for over 20 years. A variety of rices, from jasmine to converted, sucessful every time. One can control the degree of moistness, from dry to soft. Sometimes I pre-cook basmati very dry for later incorporation into pulaos, essentially steaming the rice in scant water. At other times, I make congee. Glutinous rice can be cooked well for later use in lotus leaf wraps fpor steaming. One needs to establish the settings for each oven, i.e. the heat and water level for each pot and rice type/later use, whether to soak or not, and then it is the press of a button or two. The Sears microvave oven even has a special rice cooking function built in. Before purchasing a dedicated rice cooker, please re-evaluate your microvave. [i am from Bengal, where we consume far larger quantities of rice per day per person, than anyone from Japan, 365 days a year!!] gautam

Insomniac, Forgive me for saying this: born in that unspoilt paradise on earth, Australia: from Tasmania to Q'land, any climate worth living on the globe is yours ! And with clean air and nice people too! Sunlight! Clean seas! Friendly dolphins, even! Great purebred Wagyu, and not just that, but having the bulls Monjiro and ShigeShigenami as their sirebloodlines! Many avocado cultivars, including the incomparable Sharwil grown to perfection. High commodity/mineral prices will see a good economy for the future. The greatest cricket team on earth that never rests on its laurels; look at Greg Chappell and his coaching philosophy. Smart people that cracked the USAF radar codes for own legitimate defense needs. Among the absolute best agricultural/horticultural scientists in the world from a continent whose population equals that of Bombay . [i know about the scientists because that is my field] Strong academic research program in Chinese noodles and steamed buns by West. Australia wheat interests! You can have your cake and eat it too, and only in Australia! Relatively safe from any nonsense, nuclear or otherwise, launched by you-know-who supported by "tagalong" at wherever. OK, how many superlatives must i catalogue? How soon are you going back? England: Brogdale, Kent: repository of apple germplasm. English apples, Claygate Pearmain, Adam's Pearmain, Roxbury Russet, St. Edmund Russett, Pitmaston Pineapple, Asmead Kernel, Cornish Gilliflower, Ribston pippin. Irish:Sam Young. Most not allowed in by Australia. Only advantage of living in England. Turbot equalled by many Australian marine fishes, no Murray River cod, burbot no comparison. gautam

Ce'nedra These folks from less-favored climes are just jealous because you can grow a Thai lime tree outside all year round and have fresh herbs and cilantro from even a tiny herb patch out back, or pots at will, every day of the year!! Plus, and this is going to drive them so wild, you have the best wild barramundi, pla kapong kao, at your doorstep; not just one, but at least 3 different populations. They probably have not tasted fresh wild barramundi anyway, which is why God truly is termed the Merciful and Compassionate!!! And your yabbies!! And your great mangoes!!! Pineapples from Fiji whose taste is beyond comprehension! So, C, although i love my good friend the the Tasty Crab very much, show no mercy to the others!!!! Re: Univ., in my native tongue, Bengali, a well-known saying emphasizes: study hard and you will perish in sorrow; learn to catch fish and live happily ever after! See, Bengali todayis one among the seventh largest languages spoken on earth; so there is something to be said for that! g