Chev

claudia roden has interesting write-ups in her book and i use her recipes with great results. it's a bible of sorts for me on middle eastern cuisine while [Tunisie : La Cuisine de ma mère by Odette Touitou and Isabelle Rozenbaum ] is a beautiful book with photos and recipes on Jewish Tusnisian food.

with all respect, while m. piege is the exec chef at les ambassadeurs and runs the cuisine kitchen with a tight hand, he is quite clueless as to pastry and merely directs what is to be done in the pastry kitchen. when i say tight hand, i mean a real tight hand which involves steps such as physically shaking a junior chef by one shoulder while simultaneously screaming at the top of his lungs into the latter's face; well, if that what it takes to keep a one-star award and to earn another one....no thanks mister. i also think the overall quality of pastry at the restaurant has taken a nosedive after m. christophe felder, the former pastry chef, left. presently restaurant desserts and mignardises at les ambassaduers tend to be inventive at the expense of taste. i worked in pastry at de crillon and have seen both the abovenamed chefs as well as the present pastry chef in operation. i have also tried the food from both cuisine and pastry sides and there are way more misses than hits. while the setting is certainly luxurious, paul, you will have a better dining experience with better food elsewhere such as gagnaire. in any case, i second gagnaire as his food is way more interesting, delicious with exquisite presentation.

lap cheung is just one of a whole array of wind-dried goods which were traditionally winter staples, hence the strong fat salty and sweet elements. the duck liver ones are actually called yun cheung. when i was a kid, i would lap up the lap cheung slices but pick on the yun cheung ones which i found too strong for my liking. i consider both luxuries now, just thinking of them with plain rice cooked with their juices makes me drool. i think lap cheung dishes represent cantonese cooking at its best - a good balance of both savoury and sweet at the same time. both pork and liver sausages are quite actually versatile and are quick foods steamed and served up. i like lap cheung steamed with chicken, chinese mushroom and spring onion, especially for its rich winey gravy. we have also have a 'home version' of thai fried rice with pineapples lap cheung eggs and peanuts.

gary soup grass jelly is distinct from turtle jelly, as aprilmei calls it, also aka guilinggao which traditionally had turtle shell ground and added to it. Both do come served with jelly and look like dark quivering masses. i think now the latter just has different assortment of herbs, hence its bitter taste. certain blends of turtle jelly are prized for their 'ginseng taste' but i'm not sure what goes into it. ice-cold grass jelly is best when snozzled through a straw with the accompanying syrup on a hot day but i won't touch turtle jelly voluntarily for its bitterness. funny enough, never thought grass jelly or what everyone calls chin-chow here had much taste to it by itself.

oops, here's more ice-cream flavours again, crossing my fingers it works this time.

here are more unusual icecream flavours courtesy of boing boing - hooray for the inventiveness! unfortunately, as my neighbourhood meidhi-ya supermarket offers limited choices, i can't say i have been adventurous. so far, besides super-strong green tea, i have also munched down on black sesame ice cream - pretty darn good feeling the little bits against the tongue on a hot humid day here.

hi gibier can only help you with some dublin great eats:- the mermaid cafe and guru, both on dame street, and fitzers restaurant on dawson street are fantastic places to drop in for lunch- the mermaid cafe has especially good food with a good buzz in a . fitzers also does great dinners. if you are on a lookout for a very good steakhouse, shanahans at st stephen's green will be your thing or go to elephant & castle along temple bar for good gastropub grub. dublin has a great drink culture so drop in at a pub and chat up the locals too. have a great trip and let us now about the meals you enjoyed!

My dad is wild about ngau lam meen (cantonese noodles with beef brisket, tendon and stomach lining optional, all served in a luscious almost gelatinous soya sauce gravy with star anise etc) so i grew up sampling that and will have a plate any day now! i will gladly skarf down pig trotters in vinegar, beef tongue (japanese grill-style), duck tongue, chicken feet, bone marrow in osso bucco or tulang, liver from just about any animal (even tho i hated liver as a child) but will avoid at all costs blood cubes, brain, fried or stewed intestines and pig fallopian tubes which some hawkers will supply! talk about irrational food preferences!

while you're collecting recipes for foo yu, you should store the jars in the fridge for anything up to 6 months but you may want to check on those white spots.... here are a few ideas, mainly stews: chicken marinated with foo yu for an hour, stir-fried with shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and ginger, then left to stew gently in its own juices for another hour pork cubes similarly marinated with foo yu, cooked with taro cubes, garlic and sping onion yummmmmm!