Laksa

You will see some stalls shut down in KL around Chinese New Year. Not to say you will starve, but your dining choices simply won't be as wide.

Very interesting project. I have a few questions. How much is 4 lbs of water in volume measure? I'm guessing it's around 2 quarts or 2 liters? Is that the smallest amount one would reasonable make? How much soy sauce do you end up with after evaporation?

I've read the same thing on a food blog. Personally, I've only ever eaten snakefruit in Malaysia, and it was a highly unpleasant experience. It smelled of sweat socks and bad cheese, dry and only faintly sweet.

Ma Ling luncheon meat kicks SPAM's butt - any way you slice it! There's simply no comparison. Please don't mistake one for the other, unless you're trying to make trouble. Luncheon meat was the beloved processed meat of my childhood. A meal (the luncheon, invariably) would not be complete without it. Whether diced and stirred into fried rice, or sliced and pan-fried until the outside is crispy while the inside is still moist and juicy, it is the meat-product-in-a-can sans pareil. The only way you could improve it is by renaming it luncheon and suppertime meat, so that I could eat it twice as often.

Hey, thanks for taking the trouble! Did you think I was hoping to see the waitresses? Sorry for not being clear earlier, but I'd just assumed you knew that I was asking for photos of the food. (Must be the difference between our cultures. LOL!)

I don't see how a server saying "Have a nice day" is any different from saying "Good evening" or "Good afternoon". The server is merely following prevailing social protocols. Don't be hatin', start participatin'. "Have a nice life", on the other hand...

Why do you think there isn't a bigger market for wine in China? Is it simply because imported wine is more expensive, or is there another explanation? Do higher prices pose a problem for other imports like beer, hard liquor and cheeses? How about designer goods and luxury cars? Curious to know how big the "silly money" class is. Big enough to make the import businesses profitable? How common is it to see wine lists in restaurants? How about in those serving Chinese food? What are your thoughts on pairing wine with Chinese food? Hooters in Beijing? I don't believe it. Please provide photographic evidence.

Hmm... there's no mention in that entry of any part of the coco de mer being edible. Could the common usage of 海底椰 refer to the palmyra palm fruit instead?

Ah, I stand corrected. For some reason, I thought it was nata de coco. Wonder what that's called in Chinese...

What translates from the Chinese as bottom of the sea coconut is nata de coco.

Wow, a lot happened over the weekend. As a big fan of Japanese snacks, this is the post I've been hoping to see. I might've missed it in an earlier post, but what is the brand of your favorite peanut senbei? I hope to be able to find some of these at my local Japanese grocery store. My selections have often been hit or miss - I am not Japanese literate. Sometimes, I can make out a few of the Kanji characters. The last bag of senbei I bought has - as I believe it claims on the bag - 6000 seseame seeds on each cracker? Really enjoyed your blog.

煎 - http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi...ch.php?q=%B7%CE (sound file) 堆 - http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi...ch.php?q=%B0%EF (sound file) ← Fantastic, thanks. I'll never be jeen dui deprived again. Love the pronunciation site. Took some fiddling to bypass the quicktime activex install but it was well worth it.

I never say no to "jeen dui" either. Lotus or red bean paste, bring them on! I can never remember what these guys are called. (In Foochow, we call them something else). I've tried to order them in restaurants with less than successful results. I've made up names for them - "zee mah kao" was what I tried last time and I usually get blank stares in return. The mistake is often compounded by my poor Cantonese pronunciation. The better waitresses sometimes are able to read my mind (or can see where my fingers are pointing) and bring me what I want. What are the Chinese characters for "jeen dui"? Also, can you help with the pronunciation tones? ;-)

How interesting. Why is that? Let me guess: instead of filling up on rice, let's make more room for the alcohol?

I'm curious to know what the reason is for avoiding imports, if you care to share. Is it something most people in Japan would try to do?

Has anyone mentioned Roy Roger's? They're not "chicken-only" but their fried chicken is my favorite. Here in the north east, I've only ever seen them at highway rest stops. However, the quality is not consistent across rest stops. The best chicken I've eaten was at the Plattekill rest stop on the NY thruway. I will gladly eat Popeye's, however, when I'm not on the interstate.

Yes, I do. Today, where else can you find mango pudding as readily as at a dim sum restaurant or a Chinese bakery? I think the fact that it is called a pudding (布丁) is a dead giveaway. Otherwise it would be a 'goh' (糕) of some sort. ← Mango pudding might have originated elsewhere, but my point is - I can't imagine eating mango pudding today in a non-Chinese context. I can't even find this dessert easily in a non-Chinese establishment.

Back in the 60's, did they ever push out a cart with a burner and wok? I've seen this at a few places, and the wok usually contains stir-fried clam or some other mollusc. I wish they would stop trying to bring the kitchen into the dining area.

Yes, I do. Today, where else can you find mango pudding as readily as at a dim sum restaurant or a Chinese bakery?

I think there's some confusion here. The literal meaning of CKT is indeed fried rice noodles. But in Malaysia and Singapore at least, CKT has a more precise definition. It specifies a set of ingredients and a method of preparation that are unique and instantly recognized. The room for variation is limited. If the recipe is altered beyond a certain point, it can no longer claim to be CKT. Would you make the argument that mie tiao goreng is the same dish as pad thai?

The picture doesn't look like the kalamansi I know, which is almost always green, sometimes with patches of pale yellow. Here's a picture of it in imagegullet, not mine.

I'm very surprised to read that. Kalamansi is readily available at most Asian grocery stores I've been to in NY and NJ. I'd been under the impression that they came from California!

I like to add my own MSG to instant ramen. Does anyone else find that the flavor packets just aren't what they used to be?

Are you sure it never has any flavor? The one time I had it, it was in a dish with lettuce (at least, those were the only two ingredients I saw) and some kind of typical-looking brown sauce. The maw (yu tou) had the most awful flavor... very reminiscent of a tropical fish tank that needed cleaning. I never tried it again, assuming that was a characteristic flavor. Maybe it's worth trying again... ← You're not the only one to have had an unpleasant experience with fish maw. I've had some that were good, and some that tasted awful. The bad one I ate had a stale, musty odor, not fishy though. I put it down to inferior quality maws that were probably fried in re-cycled oil.

There are several ways to prepare CKT -- Penang style, KL-style -- heck, even my home town has its own version of CKT. However, I believe Penang style is the one that has gained the greatest popularity outside of its birthplace. When one orders CKT in Penang, one would naturally expect to be served a plate of the local version. In KL twenty years ago, I'm guessing the same would've applied. Today, given the ubiquity of Penang-style CKT vendors at hawker centers and food courts throughout the city, you stand a better chance of getting the Penang version. If it hasn't already happened, I think that the de facto CKT everywhere ought to be Penang style, such that if someone refers to it with no qualifiers, it should be understood that he or she is talking about the Penang version (the superior version, in my opinion ;-). Incidentally, in every Malaysian restaurant I've been to outside of Malaysia, the only version of CKT available from the menus is Penang style.