morda

No, I didn't know they had moved, thanks for the heads up, galleygirl. I haven't been there in about 5 years, so maybe I'm asking a bit much We would go there all the time when I was in college. But Framingham is closer, so I guess that's a good thing. It sounds like they may have added more Northern Indian dishes to the menu. When we used to go we would get poori baghi, dosas, idlys, etc (sorry if my spelling is way off). Do they still serve these things?

Thanks for the many reviews and the great pictures. Now I have a "to-eat" list for Atlanta. morda

Glad to hear I'm not totally off the mark with my storage... I guess if your bottle wasn't air-tight (and most aren't) then you could get "extra" condensation in there. morda

I've been keeping my vanilla extract at room temp since I heard that cold (i.e. the fridge)can damage the flavor. Where do y'all keep yours? I have to admit that I keep mine in its original brown glass bottle on the counter, which is probably bad because of light and heat from the kitchen. Edited to add that I don't use vanilla particularly fast so I should probably be more careful with it, esp considering the price these days.

Hi folks-- I wonder if anyone has been to Udupi Bhavan in Ashland recently. It was one of my faves while I lived in MA. Is it still good? morda

I haven't been to Blue Ginger in a long time, but as I remember, dinner is much more interesting than lunch (and priced accordingly). Unless you're in the area, I'm not sure would hike all the way out to the 'burbs just for lunch there. Anyone with a more recent lunch versus dinner experience? Also, another thing that I remembered is that Blue Ginger is much more a family restaurant--and I mean that in a good way--than the typical high-ticket establishment. You're as likely to see families with well-mannered children as romantic dinner-for-two couples. I, for one, enjoyed the atomsphere because it seemed a lot less stuffy this way, and as I said, all the children were perfectly behaved. morda

I second the request for this information. I'm in Clemson, so any fish camp between Greenville and Atlanta would interest me. morda

Thanks for the recipes. I don't think I've seen almond paste in the store (then again, I don't spend a lot of time in the baking aisle). Is that the same as marzipan? Can I get that at regular grocery?

Hi all-- I have some friends who are yearning for good Danish kringle, so I'm trying to oblige. But the recipes I've found googling are all pretty different. So this is my plead for a good, home-tested recipe. I think they said they prefer the almond filling, which I believe is most traditional, but correct me if I'm wrong. TIA, morda

I believe the beta carotene in carrots gets activated by cooking as well...making them more nutritious.

When I cook for people, I generally know or try to find out if they are vegeterians, or don't eat red meat, are allegeric to seafood, etc. Just general meat categories. And I try to find out if they like spicy food or not. Then I just cook. In the past, guest would eat what they could/would from what was placed in front of them, and hosts ignored whether the guests ate or not. No one on either side made a big deal out of the situation. That's the attitude I try to take, and I don't get upset if people left things on their plate (unless it's the entire dinner). Then again, I've never had someone give me a laundry list of things they don't eat. I probably wouldn't react very well to that...particular if I am having several people over at once. morda

I just bought some furikake the other day, funny enough. It also has a rather short ingredient list, but there is no corresponding japanese label. The brand is Ajishima and I just noticed it's a product of Taiwan. Anyway, the ingredient list is: sesame seed horse radish shaved bonito japanese mustard plant (wasabi?) sugar seaweed soy sauce (water, soy bean, wheat, salt) salt cooking rice wine sugar Looks pretty innocuous to me...am I missing something? morda Edited to add that the flavor I have is wasabi fumi furikake.

Rock sugar is used in chrysamtheum tea as well, I believe. I'm sure I spelled that wrong, but I'm too tired to figure it out...

I found one of those corkscrew things in a salad bar once. The thing must have been 2 inches long. I didn't care for any compension, but I did tell the manager of the cafeteria for safety's sake. He mumbled an apology and shrugged it off. It was the second to last day that his company would be running the cafeteria anyway. My friend once found a bit of paper in her bagel. She was eating plain, so she hadn't split it with a knife, just took a big bite. As she pulled, the bit of paper turned out to be an entire paper towel! Needless to say she didn't eat any more bagel from that place. I often find a lot of long black hair in my food...but I think it's from my own head

Yah, I guess so. Put it this way, I've never gotten sick from eating one! You can actually just buy salty eggs from an Asian grocer as well. I think those are normally duck eggs. Wow. I can never eat more than the tiniest bit of the white. You must be a saltier person than I!

According to the Creative Loafing review, the price of the tasting menu has gone up to $69! Yikes. I better get there before it goes up anymore...pretty soon I won't be able to afford it! morda

I know how to make salted eggs, perhaps that's a start? Basically, you saturate some water with salt (heat it up so that you can really dissolve a lot of salt). Let the water cool. Then pack some raw chicken or duck eggs into a glass jar (i.e. an empty pickle jar) and pour in the salted water to cover. Put something heavy on the eggs to keep them submerged. Put the lid on and leave that in a dark cupboard for about a month. Then take out as needed. I like to eat them hard-boiled (cook them about twice as long as a regular egg) with rice. Oh, and you only eat the yolk, not the white--the white is wayyyy too salty. morda

You can actually do Chinese-style steamed fish in the microwave (just a regular one, I don't know about these fancy dual convection thingys). Clean a couple of whole, small white fish (butterfish is the best!) Cut some slits in the sides and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper (not too much since you will add soy sauce later) Arrange fish in a dish on top of some microwavable chopsticks (wooden). Put a few tablespoons of water in the bottom of the dish, cover with plastic wrap, and nuke until done (start with about 3 or 4 minutes). While the fish is nuking, pour a couple of tablespoons of neutral oil into a small saucepan with slices of gingerroot and scallions. Heat this till it's really hot and almost smoking. When the fish is done, unwrap and pour the hot oil all over (this will produce the most satisfying sizzle). Top with a tablespoon or two of soy sauce. Enjoy!

By the way, what's a yabbie?

Here's another vote for rice porridge (Chinese, this time). I usually make it with bone-in chicken and more water than usual so it's extra soupy. I like to think it has the benefits of "jewish penicillin" since the chicken essentially simmers in water to make chicken broth. Of course, if I'm home by myself with no one to cook for me and I'm really sick, I resort to canned chicken soup. Preferably Campbell's chicken and stars morda

At the 14th St. Whole Foods, they will cut the cheese into a smaller piece for you. In fact, they will cut a piece off for you to taste first, if you like. morda

I guess they only enforce this in restaurants? Or do the police burst into your kitchen as you throw the live and kickin' crabs into the steamer?

I vote for any cherries at all, Ranier, Bing, Queen Anne, sour cherries for cooking. I never seem to get enough. morda

Careful though, the gills can actually be sharp.

Ah...I was wondering why one of the options wasn't: 1 1/2 Tablespoons = 1 Tablespoon + 1/2 Tablespoon Since I have a 1/2 Tablespoon measure. Here's one: Why skim the foam off the top of stock? What is the foam, anyway? And does anyone have a good way of doing this, since it always is hard to do with onions, celery tops, and parsley floating around the top.