Chris Amirault

Actually, this is considered very good manners for a host in Saudi Arabia!

We'll be in Bisbee in early July, and I'm wondering if folks would stand by these comments here or recommend any new restaurants in the Bisbee or Nogales area.

Oh, yes. Exactly. Genius. After all, what if those ants climbing the tree are feeble, tasteless ants? Or if General Chow is having a bad day? Best to have at least one or two backups for each dish. Excellent: yet another reason that over-ordering is in fact the sane, rational thing to do. This is why we all need in-house dim sum kitchens.

While the spider comment that Grub gave probably works extremely well on the kinder, it isn't likely to keep a reasonable tone between management and diner. Here's another suggestion. At our preschool, when parentas pick up children and the little ones immediately start running around the office and screaming, our standard approach is to walk up hurriedly and say with concern, "Is everything ok? I heard your children running around screaming and was worried that something had happened." Gets the point across nicely -- without mentioning, you know, insects in orifices.

Sam, those pix are astonishing. The first shot of the topping larder was breathtaking, and they got better from there. When you answer Jason's question, can you also give brands? Do you have a preferred AP and cake flour?

"Accomplish your objectives," huh, Melissa? And what exactly would those be? Hmmmm?

Does this sound familiar? You go out to a restaurant with your partner or friend. You are handed the menu, and many things look very nice. There are, say, three appetizers that really cry out for you to try, and a couple of entrees that demand to be ordered. Of course, you assume that your dining companion is a flexible person and will agree to share everything... and since you're sharing everything, you might as well grab a bowl of that soup to see what it's like (it's only $5 after all). Wouldn't want to leave without trying that, would you? And who knows when you'll be back there. The server arrives, you confirm your order with your companion... and just at the tail end of the order, you sneak one more thing into the order -- "Oh, and why don't you bring one of those great garlic and honey naans, too, just to munch on?" Because it may be a while before that first app comes out, and, after all, that naan is to die for. Cut to mid-meal. The table is covered with food, other folks are staring at you, wondering where you're going to put all of that food -- enough food, you have to admit, for a famished four-top, with enough to bring home to granny in a doggy-bag. Ever since I was a little kid, my mother has told me that my eyes are bigger than my stomach. I have argued against this for decades, but I'm ready to admit: I'm Chris A., and I over-order. I don't do it to stuff myself full of food, really. Rather, I do it to be sure that, at any given meal, I can try as many things as possible. In so doing, if I happen to stuff myself full of food, well, that's the price I must nobly pay. And you? Do you do it? What's your excuse??

Oooh! Oooh! I have the solution, purchased last weekend at the wonderful New Batambang Market here in Providence: a bench coconut grater: It's just like the grater that andiesenji recommended above, except you kneel or sit on it (depending how big your keister is -- ) and use your weight as leverage against the coconut shell. Here's what it looks like in use: I had been struggling to get my grating under 30 minutes; with this gadet, I'm down to five minutes max. I also found frozen meat, too, but honestly, the cream I got from that wasn't nearly as thick or voluminous.

Bravo!! Just to solidify my amazement: how long, total, did this take?

What do you make when you get a couple of fresh bulldog steaks?

Getting a cheap weekly lime supply is one of the main reasons we shop at Southeast Asian shops every Saturday, and Rose's Lime Juice (for mixed drinks) is the only non-squeezed citrus in our house. But I know that some folks get the other crap because up here it's actually a lot cheaper than the real thing. Elie, in northeast supermarkets limes can be two for a buck, and lemons three for two bucks -- with no guarantees that they actually contain juice!

Makes sense to me. One thing I've learned both as a parent and as a principal of a preschool: if a kid is losing control with a parent, you do not want to be offering advice or intervening to "help"!

It's about $4.50 a tin here in RI, I think -- we tend to buy it in bulk at a remainder store here (Building 19, for those in New England).

Gentle Readers, This thread is years old, and many heated points have already been made. If you have something new to contribute, please do. However, referring to year-old posts as if they were written last night makes no sense. Discussing kids at restaurants can easily settle into nasty little camps (see above). Let's face it: the same child can be seen in two very different ways, with parents enjoy their child's babbling and gestures with love and devotion and diners across the dining room watching that tender scene with annoyance and frustration. Neither is right, and neither is wrong. So let's try to resist that moralistic urge and instead talk about how we might think about solutions to these dilemmas, shall we?

Grub, that is just fantastic! Your photos and directions are impeccable. As for your "rolling pins," I guess you'll have to keep a good stock of empties around, huh?

Does anyone here have Cracking the Coconut: Classic Thai Home Cooking by Su-Mei Yu? I just got it as a gift and I'm wondering what some good recipes are. Thanks in advance!

If it's handy, Bourdain has a detailed manifesto on pommes frites in his Les HallesCookbook.

Folks, before you post your recipes on this thread, be sure to check the eGullet Society guidelines for copyright as it pertains to recipes. Basically, you can't paste in text from other web sites, nor can you type in verbatim instructions or descriptions from cookbooks. Recipes that started with someone else's ideas but that you have revised are perfectly fine -- just make the source and the changes very clear. Keep in mind that this post is short-hand; it's best to click on the guidelines and give them a read. Meanwhile, keep slingin' them pies!!

Andie, any chance we can get you to snap some photos of your amazing salt collection?

Folks interested in CSAs would probably be compelled by the small farms thread!

Photos, if you please!

Yes, do try McCann's sometime. Get the metal tin -- and swallow hard when you see the price tag. It will be worth it, trust me!

Thanks, Rochelle! I think we're going to try this recipe out. Chewy-crisp: The Holy Grail.

Excellent thread on dough sticking, with a particularly useful post, here.

Like he said.