Laksa

Water crackers have little to no taste on their own, so they are a perfect accompaniment to cheeses or dips that have flavors that you want to taste without the interference of other flavors.

For some reason, I have the impression that he had spent a long time in Japan. Wasn't his father, Chen Ken Min, the person who introduced Sichuan cuisine to Japan?

Do you by any chance know if he spoke Japanese or Chinese?

Are you by any chance talking about kecap manis? This website sells it. I'm sure Froogle will yield more hits.

Yes, that's right. Hilarious! I can remember that look on the mother's face. It was an anger no words can express. After all, what could she say?

Gary, do you eat only Chinese food? I'm Chinese yet every so often I get cravings for ciabatta dipped in olive oil, a good gyros, or aged cheddar and water crackers. How does that saying go? Man does not live on rice alone.

That reminds me of the scene from the Joy Luck Club (the movie, never did read the book) where the American husband of one of the characters agreed with his Chinese m-i-l that a dish she prepared was "no good", not realizing that it was customary for her to criticize her own cooking, but a major faux pas to agree with her!

Are restaurants in DC generally more expensive than in NYC? I'm a little surprised to read about those prices. Malaysian restaurants in NYC are generally cheaper than what I'm reading here. Then again, Straits could well be at a different level from the Malaysian places in NYC so it's not a fair comparison.

cinghiale, thanks for the pictures and the description! I wish I could've been there. It makes sense to me too that they wouldn't be serving Iron Chef level food, but it would've been cool just to meet Chen Ken-ichi.

Wonderful! I love the flavor of asparagus, but don't eat it because of the effect it has on my piss. Perhaps NZ SB is the answer.

Please pardon me but Godzonese is not my first language. I take it that "pissy" is a good attribute for a sauv blanc to have? I'm guessing you mean 'alcoholic'...

I've never made wor nay and I've only had it in restaurants. Googling for it came up empty. I'm guessing that you make it just like mashed potatoes but use lard instead of butter, and add enough sugar to your taste. Might want to go with castor sugar as that'll probably melt easier? Traditional recipes will probably call for dissolved rock sugar. If you ever try to make it let me know how it goes! I might want to try it myself. Miss that stuff.

I sincerely believe we can settle this argument satisfactorily if all of us can agree that, really, Fuzhou food is the best.

You can get a lot out of a wine tasting by just smelling the wine and moving it around in your mouth a little. After that you have the option of spitting it out. If you can drink a little, what little alcohol that you might ingest should not pose a problem. I think a lot of "professional wine tasters" do just that.

Rosie, what are someof your favorite dishes from Hunan Cottage?

The foochow version of or nee, or wor nay in foochow, is a dry dessert. It's sweet mashed taro with lots of fragrant lard... ohhh lard...hmmmm. I've never had the teochew version. Does the mashed taro hold together in soup? Or is it like a porridge of mashed taro?

Sorry for taking this away on a tangent, which Poughkeepsie Mexican restaurants do you like? I've always wanted to dine at the CIA restaurants, but reservations are hard to get during the holiday seasons.

That's interesting, because when I was younger, and hadn't yet been exposed to Chinese foods from all the different regions, I thought of hong shao as something that's dry and grilled or barbequed, like hong shao pai gu. It's possible that I thought of hong shao that way because hong shao pai gu was one of my favorite dishes as a child. It's interesting that hong shao only has one meaning in Shanghainese cooking. So we now have different meanings because at one time chefs in different regions used the same words to describe methods of preparation that are unique to each region?

Could the problem be that large American dairy food companies make lousy cheese? My parents used to tell me when I was a kid that if I eat too much bread -- more bread than rice -- my (Chinese) eyes will turn pale and become shades of blue or grey.

The monthly newsletter from my local wine store has a list of recommendations from their panel of experts. This month's list has a few wines under $10. Anyone here have any experience with these? Red: 02 Corrina Sangiovese (Italy, Tuscany) $9 03 Peace Red Bled (S. Eastern Australia) $8 01 Val de Paniza Tinto (Spain, Carinena) $9 01 Nieto Senetiner Don Nicanor Red (Argentina, Mendoza) $10 99 Monte Majone "Il Palagio" (Italy, Tuscany) $10 (sale price) 03 Dom du Pavillon Cote Roannaise (France, Loire) $10 White: 03 Fairview Goats do Roam White (S. Africa, Paarl Valley) $9 02 Bouchard Aine & Fils (France, Burgundy) $10 (sale price) 03 Marques de Vizhoja (Spain, Galicia) $10 There's two more on sale that are not much over $10 but might represent good value. I've enjoyed an older vintage of the Trimbach at a restaurant: 01 Trimbach Gewurtztraminer (France, Alsace) $13 02 Dom des Echards Hautes Cotes de Beaune (France, Burgundy) $13 Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Right, they start out as pork fat, and after most of the oil/lard has been rendered out of them in the pan, they become rather crunchy. There is nothing better! What's GBD? Are the cockles and fried fat pieces being left out because that's what the Singaporean diners want? If I go to Singapore, I'm gonna request that they add them to my order.

As I understand it, taro and cassava are two different tubers. I think taro is Colocasia esculenta from the Araceae family and cassava is Manihot esculenta, from the Euphorbiaceae family. As for the Malay names, my memory (and some "research") tells me: cassava is ubi kayu taro is ubi keladi sweet potato is ubi keledek What I know for sure is that they're all delicious! I don't think I've ever had true yam, or tubers of the Dioscorea genus.

Never order sodas, no matter how thirsty you get, because it'll just take up valuable room in there. When the need arises, take small breaks and eat a small piece of acidic fruit to refresh your palate before attacking the mains again. Like GG said, avoid starches if you can help it, but food at buffets can be on the salty side (they're so sneaky!). Only have sweets and desserts at the very end because sugary foods will hamper your performance. Myself, I like to go slow and steady. I'm not a sprinter, but a marathoner. Think of it as a competition. You don't go to buffets to enjoy yourself. You are not eating for sustenance. The buffet owners have arrogantly issued a challenge to you. They defy you to prove your eating ability. The only way to defend your honor is to show them what you are capable of. Just like athletes, a successful buffet eater needs to have a conditioned body. It is important to maintain physical fitness, and to avoid building the Belt of Fat that can restrict the elasticity of your stomach area. Take a cue from the world of competitive eating where there's a recent trend towards competitors that weigh less than 150lbs. Eating when you're hungry is easy. Eating when food disgusts you is hard. As you probably already know, there will come a point when you are no longer able to enjoy the food. I like to the borrow a term from the long distance runner's vocabulary and call it The Wall. Know your own body and be prepared when you hit The Wall. Summon every last ounce of will in your body and break through it -- no, eat through it, brick by brick. How far you can advance past this point will ultimately be the measure of your success at the buffet.

If you're talking about the same thing that I'm talking about (daufu fa in Cantonese), the only version I've had is the sweet dessert you can often find at dim sums. Edited to add: I love that stuff!

Ah, this thread is made for me. I hope to get ideas as well as contribute. My last bottle of $10 wine is the 2002 Campos Reales Tempranillo. I liked it a lot but I don't recall enough to write a tasting note. Strong fruit aromas.