jimgeralds

Try to get your hands on fresh Pecorino, sheeps milk cheese, from Tuscany. The Tuscan variety is quite creamy and not dry like Pecorino from some other regions in Italy. It has a wonderful flavor and goes great with just some nice olive and rustic bread. Chianti classico (also from Tuscany) goes extremely well. Also, some parmesan shavings over fried wild mushrooms (Italian Porcini (Ceps) if you can find them), rocket, black pepper and olive oil would make a gerat starter. Have a great dinner. Jim

Branston Pickle!!!

My favorite fish sauce (nam pla) is the Tiparos brand. I get mine from Thailand but I have seen it available online. Fish sauce is potent stuff and will always smell strong-but it has such a deep savory flavor that makes Thai food come alive! Be careful how much you use and make sure to put other flavorings like lime, tamarind juice or sugar to take off the harsh edge. Also, if you want to make a good larb make sure to use roasted and ground rice. Larb is not larb without it! Hope this helps. -Jim

Borough Market - London Large meaty field mushrooms Herbs (Parsley, Basil, Rosemary, Thyme) Artichokes Parsnips Dry cured bacon Fresh butter Lots of raspberries Italian roma tomatoes Rocket Garlic Shallots Tomato Chiabatta and Sticky Toffee Pudding ..yum! -Jim

I think Thai food is the spiciest and consistently spicy across all their dishes too. The thing with Thais is that they use chilies in everything- soups, salads, noodles, curry and even in desserts. Often Thais eat ground red chilies and sugar with sour mangos. Also, something unique with Thai food is the way they pair the spicy, perfectly to my taste, with sweet and sour which I think makes Thai food amazing. The hottest dish that I have eaten in my years Thailand would be a very fiery som tam (papaya salad) or a larb gai ( spicy northern chicken salad). I love chilies and those two particular dishes had me sweating. By the way the best way to get rid of the heat is to drink dairy, milk or yogurt like the Indians do. The Thai serve lots of steamed rice or stick rice up north with their meals to help dissapate the heat. -Jim

I like heavily caramelized onions with a bit of balsamic for acidity. Grill a nice firm round of goats cheese, and put the onions and the cheese on top of a piece of toasted walnut bread. Very very nice!

High-carbon steel knives that are just slightly stainless are by far my favorite. I regularly use two of such knives, a Chinese cleaver and a Japanese santoku knife. The cleaver is a Hong Kong made knife that I picked up in Thailand. The laminated santoku I bought from a Japanese knife importer in London. They do tend to discolor but so what, I think it adds character to your knife. If you really don't like the coloring just take a high grade wet/dry abrasive paper (600 grit) and remove it. I also have a bit of a sharpening fetish so I enjoy having knives that I can get really, really sharp very quickly. A few swipes on the 220 grit waterstone and then bit more on the 1000 and a final polish on the 6000 and my knifes will cut through anything! The henckles knives are great but to get a keen edge on them takes a lot of work. Jim

Jook (pronounced joke) is a Thai rice porridge. It is usually made with left over rice, boiled with some light chicken stock until it is a thick porridge. The hot porridge usually has flavored ground pork meatballs and just before serving an egg is poached in the hot joke. It is then garnished with coriander and green onions and thin strips of ginger. It is one of the best breakfasts you can have...tastes great and keeps me quite full until lunch. Hope this answers what joke is. Jim