Abra

It's been great fun hanging out with you on your home turf this week. Thanks so much for all the neat food! Hey, none of the women in that picture looks like your avatar. Which one is the real you, the one in the middle???

Host's Note: I've split this off from "In France.....Proper Manners" because a quest for a good food area seemed worthy of its own space. Thanks for your encouragement, everyone. After all, I'd much rather be known as "l'Americaine toute a fait gentille et charmante" than "cette Americaine qui manque completement du savoir faire." Or whatever they might say. We haven't yet decided what part of France, so if you have any suggestions about a great village, not too small, not too big, not too many ex-pats, and with fabulous food all around, fire away!

Here's a slightly different question. My husband and I are on the verge of heading off to live in France for a year. Naturally, we would like to get to know and make friends with as many French people as possible. Here, when I meet someone I like and want to know better, I usually invite them over for dinner, even if I don't know them well yet. I like to cook for people, and find the dinner table to be a great way to further an aquaintance. Would this be considered normal in France, for an American one doesn't know well to extend a dinner invitation? And if not, what would be more appropriate? Unless no one in France will ever speak to me because I'm definitely going to pee at least once during every social occasion.

Ok, I'll stand up in favor of juicy, dripping-sweet mangoes! They're one of my very favorite fruits, and so hard to find here. Those we get are all too often woody, or mealy and not very sweet. I love that sharp rich sweetness that you so deplore. Yunnermeier, could you just post all of your recipes here instead of PMing them? I'm sure others would like to see the sambal belacan recipe you so nicely sent me, and now I want your spekkoek recipe that you're sending to Chufi, and your chili garam chicken...and probably any other recipe that anyone else will want. Oh, and the sauce for the rojak - is that sweet potato? And also, I have a bak kut teh packet but never imagined putting so much garlic in it. Now I can't wait to try that. Probably you should just write a cookbook! That snakehead fish was a huge scare story here a couple of years ago, when some made it to this country. It got probably as many front page headlines as a space alien attack would have. I'm glad to see someone's putting it to good use! Oh, and thanks for the chile photo. We don't seem to have that exact chile here but it gives me an idea how to find some substitute.

Thank you very much for the rojak, it looks so good! What is sea coconut?

Robert, is that a warm pour over?

How about if you only have dried ground sumac? I've never heard of sumac lemonade, but I love sumac and would like to try it. No berries here, though.

That's an interestingly shaped pan you used for the spekkoek - is it designed exactly for that purpose? And it looks like you did yours under the broiler just as Chufi did, which makes the oven-only recipe Iused seem ever more unlikely. It's cool to see pandan growing. The leaves sure don't look all shiny and beautiful like that by the time we see them in the store here. Will you talk about breakfast habits? For example, I'd happily eat any of those foods with the banana leaf for breakfast, but they'd be leftover "dinner" food from the night before. The idea of having all that prepared fresh first thing in the morning is mind-boggling to me. Would everyone have a big spicy breakfast like that, or do a lot of people have the Malaysian version of "just coffee and toast," which I guess is more like what your family ate?

Who could ever get tired of street market photos from any country? These latest ones look like the market is in a very suburban area, as opposed to the intensely urban markets I usually think of in Asia. Or is that just a trick of the photos?

I totally want to come to dinner at your house! And that peanut pancake looks so good too. Would your dear Dad share his recipe for sambal belacan with us? It looks like I need to have some at home.

Arrggghhh, you guys are killing me! I can't say when I'll be able to smoke - right now I'm living on leafy greens and salmon and sardines, trying to see if dietary changes can cure the inflammation that's been plaguing my wrists. But I'll be lurking and admiring, that's for sure!

That ikan bakar looks so good, better than the lunch itself! I'm curious about the tapioca. Here what we call tapioca is a pudding of little balls and bits, like in Thailand. But it looks like in Malaysia it's the root (manioc?) itself, boiled and sweetened? I've never had those crispies in bak kut teh. That looks like a really good addition.

You know that slow food is mostly in your mind Cookin' that slow food Takes up all of your time Dissin' our slow food In kangaroo court Jivin' bout slow food Well, life is too short Now eatin' that slow food Is what we want to do And to be even cooler We eat it where it grew

I think people want to watch and talk and help because high-end cooking has become fashionable, and people who don't cook much themselves find it exciting and unusual to be surrounded by cooking.

Nice to see you home and blogging! Is there any chance you'll have some rojak this week? I get an "Indian rojak" at the Malay restaurant here and it's so weird and good. Shaya, be sure to go to Malay Satay Hut when you're in town!

As a slow cook but not a Slow Cook, let me just say that this thread is very educational. I thought the Petrini spin was rather vicious, and RG's reply was eloquent. Personally I'd love to tell Petrini "I don't mind paying the high prices, because the farmer should be able to live at least as well as I do!

That was a beautiful dinner, Klary! I love that book and do use it, but haven't made a single one of the recipes you did for us here, so now I will for sure. It's been fun to hang out with you this week, but not as much fun as if you would take a sabbatical here. I still vote for you to spend a year with us here! Oh, do I get to vote?

I've had that nettle cheese, and really wished for a more pronounced flavor. On the other hand, the potato skin gouda is one of my all-time favorites. And we recently has a wedge of Graskaas that was fantastically good. For a tea treat, how about this? It give you lots of flexibility, since you can use it with fish or meat. Adapted from Cooking with Tea Tea Rub 4 T black tea 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 cinnamon stick 1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds 1/4 tsp black peppercorns 1 T brown sugar 1/2 tsp salt Grind all together in a spice grinder or by hand with a mortar and pestle. Oil fish or meat of your choice and pat rub on - let stand about 15 minutes to form a crust. Pan sear or oven roast. I'll be interested to hear how this comes out, if you try it. The book mentions using Kenya, Kanyam Nepal, or Ceylon Uva tea, but since I've never seen any of those, I wouldn't hesitate to use whatever tastes good. I thik I'd also brew up a bit of the chosen tea and use it as a liquid to make a little pan sauce after the fish or meat is cooked.

I've done several of those "gift certificate" dinners, and my solution was to make the cooking part of the event. Chat while rolling out pie dough (you'd be amazed how many people don't even know that a human can make pie dough), see if they want to help thread the skewers or some equally easy task. In my experience people love that, and after a couple of glasses of wine, i.e. right when you're really ready to push out the major food, they all feel like chatting and relaxing and are happy to get out of your way.

I like that kneading in a towel thing! Can you post the rest of Shaya's recipe? I usually stick to ricotta gnocchi to keep them light, but I'd love to master the potato ones. What sort of tea recipe would you like to have? Milk Chocolate Torte with Assam Tea Ganache? Something savory?

Oh yeah - I've had my eye on that Batali recipe for quite a while. It looks scrumptious.

I want that lunch! For some reason, those hearty, seedy, grainy Dutch and German breads are my absolute favorites. And the cheese and sausage look so right. Hey, I just remembered that I have a book I've never cooked from yet - Cooking With Tea. It has appetizers, mains, and desserts, stuff like Jade Shrimp in Lung Ching Tea, Tea Poached Plums, Cold Tea Noodles, and Assam Lemon Tart. Feel up to trying something new?

That Bols museum looks so fun! Did you two develop your own cocktails, or were those house specialties? They both sound unusual. As to vin de noix on ice? If it's good, it's good. You need to get rid of that sore throat.

I'm just starting to use it myself, but recently I drizzled it to delicious effect as a finishing sauce over some spiced, roasted pork tenderloin.

That dinner looks gorgeous, and it was a great surprise to see the vin de noix. I hope it traveled and saved well!