Laksa

What they may lack in size they more than make up for in shape. In addtion to being well formed, they are as perky as Rachael Ray's demeanor.

The brain has billions of nerve endings, called axons, but it doesn't have any pain receptors. ← No pain receptors...that's what I meant!

To quote from the Apple Daily article: I have it on not-the-best authority (Thomas Harris/Hannibal, episodes of ER) that there are no nerve endings in the brain. The brain itself requires no desensitizing drugs during brain surgery. So once the monkey gets over the trauma of its skull being removed, it shouldn't really feel anything.

I could find no discernible difference in taste between H-D lite and their regular. That's the good news. The not so good news is... even though they claim to halve the amount of fat, the calories per serving remains quite high... something like 250 vs 290 (comparing lite s'mores with full-cream pistachio -- I know, not scientific at all).

Well, I can understand how it might come out sounding like "gwah" if the speaker were trying to roll the French "r" from the back of the throat and were less than successful.

Chile tailandés? (I'm guessing Thai chilis did not originate in the Americas.)

What are you going to do with that daikon?

Ah! Banh Mi... how do they make a simple sandwich taste soooo gooooood!?!? Anzu, how does one tell from eating it if the banh mi baguette has rice flour? I can describe the texture...soft, airy bread with a very thin, crispy crust that shatters when you bite into it. And don't you love that liver paste and that rubbery, cartilage-y meaty tasting protein? Pan, jalapeno in banh mi? Is Banh Mi Saigon some sort of fusion place? I've only ever found Thai chilis in those I've had. Here's one of the many banh mi threads on eG.

Hot damn! This blog is starting to look like a round-the-world gustatory tour. Great stuff! That tripe soup's making my mouth water. Tripe is one of my favorite foods, and I would love to try the Polish preparation. So far I've only had Chinese style, in pho and menudo.... There just isn't enough tripe on restaurant menus. I wonder if there's any stuffed Foochow biscuits in the future of this blog...

AFAIK, the majority of the population of Brunei are Malays. The Chinese and the native Dayak are minorities. I believe the food would be characteristically Malay. I've had only a few meals in Brunei, the most memorable of which was a sandwich from Dunkin' Donuts. As far as I can recall, there was little difference between the Malay food of Brunei and that of Malaysia. On weekends, the Chinese in Brunei travel in droves to neighbouring Miri (in Malaysia), where -- in sharp contrast -- the Chinese food is better and cheaper, and alcohol is freely available.

Haagen-Dazs ice cream has no equal in the supermarket freezer. That's just my opinion. For me, it all comes down to density. Haagen-Dazs has the least air of any ice cream available at the supermarket. Take a tub of H-D and a tub of I-don't-care-what-supermarket-brand-premium-range-or-not from a cold freezer, and dig in with a spoon. If you apply enough force digging into the H-D, there's a good chance your spoon will bend, but you should have no trouble at all with the other tub. And H-D don't use anything artificial either. None of that *&%# (cellulose/guar/xanthan) gums and no frickin' c*rr*g**n*n. There are some Breyers that are all natural, but they fail to match H-D in density.

I'm going to work a pet peeve into my reply. Great topic, btw. I have gone cheap on baked goods at the supermarket and I have regretted it every single time. Supermarket cakes, muffins, pastries and breads are a trap for fools. How can something that looks so good taste so bad? I could start by looking at their ingredients labels... sodium aluminum sulfate, calcium phosphate, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, sulfur dioxide, sodium propionate... the list is longer than the supermarket checkout lines before a snowstorm. I begin to wonder... how did mother ever manage to bake a cake without xanthan gum or carageenan? Why does the muffin taste like I'm biting into wax? The marble cakes at Wal*mart are imported from Canada! For a few dollars more, the cakes from my local bakery taste a thousand times better. But why do I fall for the supermarket stuff time and again? In a word, convenience. And the fact that I'm clinging on to a futile and misguided hope that maybe this time, they've figured a way to bake a cake that doesn't taste like congealed talcum powder. Also, I can't buy a plain old pound cake at the local bakery. Or any cake that doesn't come with two inches of frosting. The rich and heavily frosted cakes at the bakery taste great, but should anyone really eat that stuff more than twice a year?

In Malaysia, isn't silken tofu commonly called Japanese tofu?

Mosaic? I know them. They're a totally new concept -- a one-stop-shop for all your fine dining and cargo shipping needs (but you have to supply your own pallets). Milagai, I bet some marketing type followed a train of thought like this one when they came up with "chai tea": masala chai - all words are foreign in this term. Will only confuse potential customers spiced tea - too generic and not exotic enough chai tea - exotic, yet familiar. Everyone knows that tea is a beverage! Bingo!

As I read your blog, I am surprised to find so many food items I've never heard of. I hadn't expected Canada to be so... exotic? What are cheezies? Why do you suppose deviled eggs are so popular there? Do they taste anything like curried eggs? Do folks make them spicy?

Don't be scared of durians! They are your friends and they are delicious. To allay your fears, I penned this haiku: Durians are falling! Their flesh is sweet but their shell Makes a bad pillow.

I am familiar with the Vietnamese version with shredded carrots, shrimp, vermicelli, sometimes with Asian basil, in a transluscent wrapper made from rice, usually eaten with a dipping sauce. Never had it with peanut sauce though. I remember having it with the sweet and tangy, clear, orange-colored sauce. I am thinking more of the Chinese version that has a soft flour-based wrapper. The fillings vary depending on provincial origins. They are usually vegetarian but some versions may have lard.

I like to tell people I make my egg rolls six inches long, but they're really closer to four and a half. Is anyone here aware of any Chinese restaurant in the US that serve a version of spring/egg-roll that's not deep fried? I like "soft" spring rolls.

Very nice looking blog Monica. Loved your article in the NY Times. I love champagne mangoes -- they are long and slender, with a yellow skin like bananas. They are fragrant and always sweet, and never tart , even close to the seed. I can't always suck on the seed with other types of mangoes. Could that by any chance be what they use to cook Keralan sambar soup?

What the heck are you talking about? I'm pretty sure duck sauce is an American Chinese invention, or at least the name "duck sauce". If I were to guess, I would say plum, because the Chinese do make a plum sauce. I prefer duck with hoisin sauce.

I don't know my Chinese geography as well as I should, but I sorta considered everything north of Fuzhou as being "northern" I was thinking of Shanghai and not Beijing though... Dejah, I will try to use a perforated pan of some sort. As for the size...I was trying to achieve the best compromise between cooking time and the time I have to spend forming each dainty little dumpling.

Does anyone know if it's vital to steam the siu mai in a bamboo basket steamer or something that has perforations on the bottom? Can I do them on a plate too or will that result in too much collected liquid and a gooey mess? And how large can I make the siu mai before it becomes impractical? The size of a grapefruit is what I would like to aim for. I need a man's size siu mai to satisfy a man's size hunger, damnit!

Glutinous rice siu mai is probably a Northern specialty. Who would expect us Southerners to be familiar with it? But that doesn't necessarily mean you're not a country bumpkin, though. I had this one in a Shanghainese restaurant last year:

I believe the fruit, pickled in a jar, can be found in NY. I had it in a Japanese restaurant, where it made an appearance as the garnish on a dish we were served. The chef called it Japanese mountain berry. It was red and covered with soft spikes, and it had a pip. It tasted unmistakably of haw flakes. The jar it came in only had Japanese writing -- I saw all this because we sat at the sushi bar -- so I couldn't tell you what to ask for in a store. I am willing to believe Chinatown stores might have them.

Would you knowingly eat beef or drink milk from cloned cattle? Link to article at nature.com