Laksa

Oledy lah. You lap wid the bean curd skin then you fly lor. If not then how?

The mind boggles - a new aromatic, not to mention tasty, inflight skin treatment! All the glitterati will want one! ← That's the best TYPO and response I have ever seen! ← I don't get the joke. Laksa (whose favorite dish is flied lice)

Patin, siakap, lala, la liu har.... you guys are driving me crazy!! I'm ready to do anything for some good seafood. Me: "Your honour, they posted pictures on the Internet and all. Of course it was very much provoked" Judge: "Oh, why didn't you say so earlier? You're free to go"

Oh man....bamboo clams... they are my all-time favorite tubular molluscs. Uhm.... they're the only tubular molluscs I know.

You guys ROCK!!! (You pea-puh very know how to enjoy har?) *sigh* Panicking because you have too much food? What a predicament.... you guys suck! Next time call me!! (like, maybe a couple of months in advance)

Cassava cake - yum! All time fav kuih. The ones I get from the only place I know in NYC are sweetened with palm sugar, and palm sugar is one of those tastes that you grow tired of after a while. I gotta get myself a taste of Filipino cake. It looks baked - would make a nice change from steamed kuih. I wonder if Soba knows where in NYC may have some. BTW, Ginataang bilo bilo looks suspiciously like bubur chacha.

Fascinating. Not knowing any Tagalog, I am surpised that I recognize three words out of four in that name. Manok means chicken in the Iban language. Now, what does "Iban" mean in Tagalog? I guess the Phillipines are closer to Borneo than I'd thought. It will be interesting to find out what culinary links exist between the two places.

Tepee, great photos and even better description. Sounds like you guys had a wonderful feast (or several). Oh, mua chee... (what dialect is that? We call them see yang). It has been too long since I had them. Don't know how to make them, and can't exactly get them from the seven-eleven here either. Will have to persuade my mother to make some while she's visiting, but I think we used to eat them only during a particular jie (festival). Anonymous tauhu bakar eater, interesting to see such an unorthodox method of holding chopsticks. Is it effective? Dejah, they cut off the narrow ends of the balitong so that with openings at both ends, the air flows easier. Perriwinkles are a lot like balitong but the shells are round. I liken sucking on perriwinkles to when your vacuum cleaner hose accidentally catches on a plastic bag and makes a godawful sound. Not the most pleasant experience, for the diner or the vacuum cleaner.

Already clicky and salivaty. When will you sendy?

Thanks Jack, for an amazing demonstration. I'm sure making mooncakes isn't in actuality as easy as Jack made it look. Remember, Jack's the guy who made shrimp crackers from scratch (!)

Woweeee! I think somebody has a rich friend with expensive tastes. The mooncakes I usually buy have only one of the ingredients in that list. Okay, two if you count "coloring".

Uh-oh... here we go again.... For your future reference... that's no sex, politics, religion, or who has the best mooncakes in SF.

Dejah, wouldn't you agree that boiled jiaozi are also dumplings? Wait till we start discussing what a "noodle" is.

There are a couple of eG threads on xiaolongbao. Soup Dumplings Sampling NY Xiaolong Bao

I think a major difference between homestyle and US Chinese restaurants is that at home, an individual is not likely to eat an entire "entree" that has enough sung to serve as the accompaniment to five people dining from large bowls of plain steamed rice. After several years acclimating to American portion sizes, I could, if I really tried, finish an "entree" in a Chinese restaurant by myself. But I would feel really bad afterwards -- heart racing from too much sodium, and feeling quesy from too much fat. Nobody I know eats that way at home.

Even though the name for Shanghainese juicy buns, xiaolongbao , contains the Chinese word for bun (bao), it's technically not a bun -- the dough is not leavened. It's really a dumpling. Sometimes it's called xiaolongtangbao (tang meaning soup) Of course, if you've seen it or eaten it, there wouldn't be any doubt in your mind that it's a dumpling and not a bun. However, I have seen actual buns (typically mini buns) in the U.S. labeled as xiaolongbao, so bear that in mind when shopping. hzrt8w gives a nice listing of dumplings, to which I would like to add a couple of my favorites. Not sure if everyone will agree if all of these can be classified as "dumplings". Yu jiao (woo geok in Cantonese): ground pork wrapped in mashed taro and deep fried (all time favorite. Dumpling?). Thick layer of glutinous rice dough wrapped around stir fried ground pork with gravy, deep fried. (What do you call this, guys?) Are sweets like sesame balls (glutinous rice around lotus paste or bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds and deep fried) and tang yuan, and tang yuan's close relative, boiled glutinous rice balls rolled in crushed peanuts and sugar considered dumplings too?

Bobmac, there's the possibility that the people running your Thai restaurant are really Chinese.Edited for clarity.

I have received through the mail lots of food packages from family without any trouble and none of the parcels showed any evidence of having being opened for inspection. However, the food had by and large been commercially packaged and contained no animal products (well, okay...swallow spit may be a bit iffy). I was fairly confident of getting them through customs even if the boxes were inspected. The website gives some examples of prohibited items, but I bet that list is not comprehensive. Knowledgeable inspectors may know that mooncakes could be made with pork products. Perhaps specifying "vegetarian" in the customs form will improve the chances of getting them through.

I'm willing to wager that they probably filed a prior notice with the FDA. There's some information here and here on what foods may be admitted by US customs. It's interesting that they appear to make a distinction between food brought in by travellers and food sent into the country. I think the courier companies are probably taking a conservative approach. They probably don't want to go through the hassle of returning a possibly perishable international shipment to the sender if it doesn't pass customs inspection. There may be ways to get around the courier companies, but if you're not sure about customs, it's probably not worth risking the disappointment and anguish.

jo-mel, give me some of that mushroom you're eating. I want to see that elf too.

...or haven't played enough full contact golf.

ori, your credit card details will be available for download from a server in Kamchatka before your meal is over. Kids in Tuvalu will be putting the downpayment to a yacht on your gold amex. Just a quiet word to the captain to the effect that you're the host, and under no circumstances should the bill go to anyone else but you, should suffice. I had a very enjoyable meal at Hakka restaurant. Excellent steamed fish (chiekak) with ginger sauce. Enjoyed all the Hakka favorites. The decor is not your glitzy michelin starred joint but Malaysians generally don't care too much about that stuff. Seemed to be popular with foreigners/ex-pats. Saw a lot of wine being served. Can someone tell me if the restaurant keeps a wine list or was it more likely BYO? If you like fish, Malaysia has some good eating fresh water fish.

What makes you think they're gonna let you pay?

Ramen is offered to ghosts who prefer a simpler fare. What? Do you think all ghosts like that gourmet stuff?

If your picture were all I had to go by, I would've said that it's a taro. Isn't the shape of malanga elongated, more like a carrot or cassava?