herbacidal

They're still there. Tai Lake served dimsum before? Hmm.

The fact that it is in a shack bodes well for its resemblance to Walt's. But its menu seems too pricey and varied for Walt's, although I don't really remember much about the rest of Walt's menu other than mussels, clams, and oysters.

I would film me going around everywhere eating turducken, fermented fish kidney, mountain oysters. To keep it lowbudget, I'd keep it in the US and do it as a road trip. For housing, I'd set up a website and try to stay with people for free, for one night each. (Some guy has already traveled around much of the world that way.) I'll see if I can find the site. Hmm, I wonder if I'd get along with Bourdain?

Any new suggestions? I'm going Sunday to the Phillies game. May get something to eat inside, but I don't want to depend on that wholeheartedly, so I want to eat something nearby beforehand. Between Celebre's and Primo's, I'm gonna lean towards Celebre's, but I'm not sure. I want a place somewhere below Snyder.

You must be a youngster, Liuzhou. I think it was under 6 RMB per dollar in 1992 when I first started going to China. In those days, actually, foreigners could only buy "FEC", not real RMB, legally, but you could sell them at a premium on the street for RMB. But what does this have to do with food? It means that you can buy the world's best xiaolong bao for about 7 cents per baozi Well yea, to the best of my knowledge, it's still pegged, despite indication they'll be changing that within the next few years. I was using what I saw here as accurate. Interestingly, I did the conversion again today, and they used the 8.28 rate.

I think he deserves an A+++ for the job he's done so far. From where he was starting from, he's done an outstanding job. Here Katie's referring to Moore Bros, where the entire shop is kept at refrigerator temperature. For those unfamiliar, Moore Bros is what I'd call a boutique wine shop, and sells wines with production runs too small to market themselves well in the US. Google it. I'm lazy and don't feel like linking.

Isn't it fun?

I don't think the RMB has been that high in 15 years; it would be more like $2.20 now. Yea, you're about right. Evidently, the current rate is about 1-8.28, so that'd be about $2.17.

Well, if you're okay with going to go back to places you've been, I'd go back to Yunnan and check out Dali, Xishuangbanna, Kunming and Lijiang. Although I'm curious if you've been to some of these places already since you've been to Tiger Leaping Gorge. But I'm guessing there's at least some of those you haven't been to.

Really? That's interesting. I wonder how that info was kept from Fields, assuming it was.

Hmm, don't know about that. For me, it's usually a diner.

The only place that I've been to of your picture log is Chengdu, and I recognize none of it! #@%$@$!! All the pics look good, but I'm reminded of what I thought when I looked at the pics I took of my travels: looks nowhere near as good as it did when I was standing there

Wow, this is the first time I've seen non-Chinese refer to it as the train. Glad you had a good time.

I'm wondering how traditional mixed nut mooncakes are. Anyone know? I don't doubt they've been available for years, but I don't like any but the plain kind. Hell, until ten years ago (roughly), I wasn't aware any other kind existed.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is closed? Permanently? Dammit, I was going to check that out when I came back to China. Please elaborate on what you saw these few days.

Yea, and I think there's so many other smaller regional burger chains. Steak and Shake, to some extent. Backyard Burger. Carl's. There's others I can't remember.

Has it really? I don't know of anything there before. I do know of 5th and Bainbridge's history, but that's a different story.

You ate 2 in one sitting, and didn't lay down the rest of the day? And on top of that, you had room for about half of another one later? Whoa.

You rang? I agree about L'Hexagone. It was okay at the beginning. Then after about two weeks, it got boring and annoying. Haven't been in a while. Don't expect it to have changed.

I agree with Ralph's, or perhaps another red gravy place. If she likes it, then you can extend her experiences a little further with more real Italian stuff. I've heard Bomb Bomb (1026 Wolf) is pretty fun too, and you'd have the backup of ribs if necessary. I've never been there and all I know nothing about their food is that it's red gravy Italian and BBQ, Citysearch profile here.

Actually, I would modify that. I would say that the system is biased against good ol' fare from anyplace. I'd say ONE OF THE REASONS that the only four-stars in NYC have been French is that the leading edge of French cuisine has been making its mark in NYC for the past few decades, and I don't think you could say that about any other cuisine, except to some extent Japanese, and that still is only starting and has not come close to fruition yet. Of course, many would argue that Gramercy Tavern is the leading edge of new American cuisine, and does so in a way that deserves four stars. Being nowhere close to familiar with the restaurant, its trappings and nuances, I leave that for others.

What adult wouldn't? A believer in the religion heretofore known as Atkins.

Wow, talk about being on the sweet side! That IS quick and dirty. Where's the bitterness that tonic has?

That's okay. I've known servers who have eaten spaghettios after a party, uncooked.

You can make your own if you like. The quick and dirty method I use to make tonic water when catering is 9 parts club soda, 1 part 7up. Try that way and see how you like it.