Gastro888

Oooh, looks yummy peony! How do you make black sesame paste? Can you make black sesame baos, too? I've this new obsession with black sesame ever since I tried "gee mah gow" here in NYC. Oh so yummy.

Bring durain to work. That'll show 'em!

Maybe I have misunderstood something. Are we talking about the fermented bean curds? They are heavily salted. And you need to add salt to improves its flavor? ← Yeap. Trust me, it was soooooooooooooooo bland. It was like eating a "phay" as my mom says. ("Ho chee sec a phay". Oh so unladylike of her but it's funny as hell.) To a very small 2oz jar, I had to add like a tablespoon of salt. The next day, it was soooo good.

So seriously, can I make fu yee on my own? I would just take regular tofu, rinse it and put it in a clean jar w/ salt & rice wine, right?

I understand your point but when in Rome...

You can try it but I'll guarantee that it will not work. I did it before and it just isn't the same. It was better than the conventional yogurts but nothing like Fage's yogurt. It's not just the straining process that makes it the way it is, I believe it's the actually production along with the straining that creates this great yogurt.

It would be nice to find authentic Laotian cuisine. What *is* Laotian cuisine? I have heard that Issan food is much spicier than other regions - that it's the "soul food" of Thai cuisine. It would be great is somehow we could have hawker stands in the city ala SE Asia. Imagine on Sundays when the Greenmarket isn't open...

How do you feel about your father's ire? ← Just my two cents: I can understand why he was (if albeit melodramatically) furious at the SIL. It would be incredibly disrespectful not to serve the head of the family tea if you're serving everyone else. Sounds trite but that's how the Chinese culture is and how deep the traditions run. He definitely should've known better. ETA: Sorry if I sound a little preachy, I apologize. I could imagine it wasn't a pleasant situation for anyone involved but I can see where the father was coming from and that it could've been an innocent mistake on behalf of the SIL.

Hey, it's a revelation to me! I grew up with cows, not rice paddies so heck if I know. I also added sesame oil, too. The ginger tea works very well. I think I'll have hot and sour soup tonight.

Holy crap! I can't believe that happened! Wow. Those would be serious offenses in my family. I am surprised at such behavior. Especially at the girlfriend's. What the hell - you're dating a Chinese person, what makes you think they don't eat Chinese food?

Oh by the way, I learned that rice wine plus salt greatly improves the flavor of a bland fu yee! It actually works!

I thought Zaab was Issan? Do they have Laotian food as well? That would be interesting to try. Go Zaab and then have UFC for dessert.

I tried and it does work. I think it's not only the milk and cultures, it's the process they use.

This question has been nagging me for a while. Is it alright to use your hands to eat the rib bones off a lamp chop? Just curious.

There's a good number of Malaysian restuarants in the area in Manhattan & Queens. Penang can be found all over the city and each outlet in the chain varies in terms of decor, service, food and sometimes quality. Personally, I like the Penang in Elmhurst, Queens because it's the only one of that has mee remus (sp?) - a really tasty seafood egg noodle dish that has this thick seafood-sweet potato-chile gravy and is served with a prawn cracker. You squirt some lime juice on top and you get this happy, messy, tasty bit of carb heaven. Granted, it's not the same as the hawker stalls in Penang but it's as close as I'll get without having to fly. I have a hard time finding the kuehs that are so popular in Malaysian cuisine. Sanyur in Chinatown (Manhattan) carries some but they're very limited. I would think given the demographics here, it would be easier to find.

Can I post that I made bak jook and fu yee last night? LOL!

I wonder if the Chinese vegetables and the conventional Western vegetables are grown in the same manner. As I previously mentioned, a part of the low cost could be contributed to the low overhead. Their profit margin per sale might be lower but the overall sales volume could explain why they're still in business. In regards to fake foods in China unfortunately, that's something you need to look out for. Fatt choy (a seaweed consumed during the Lunar New Year) has been replicated using who knows what. The lack of regulation in China scares me and I question how their regulations ensure that product is grown organically. Then again, I think the same thing about the regulations here in the US.

I believe that because the Chinese are extremely picky about freshness and price they're forced to deliver what the market wants. It would be one thing if there was only one stand around but there's so many that they have to be competitive and address all the needs of the market (ie freshness, variety, quality, and price). Not alot is spent on overhead - this ain't no Whole Foods. Also, if you look carefully all those cardboard signs have a different price on the opposite end that the vendors display towards the end of the day. So those baby bok choy that were 1.50/lb in the morning would be 1.00/lb night.

Is L'Ecole good? I've heard that the quality of the food varies due to students working the line - hit or miss.

All that HFC (high frutose corn syrup) in Coke scares me. I'd rather stick to the old-fashioned methods of using soy, honey, etc. Chinese broccoli has its own distinctive taste that's very good. It's not the same as broccoli rabe, however, it's very good steamed with some oyster sauce.

Hi everyone, thanks for all your help! Everyone's been so nice and helpful! I ended up making bak jook with fu yee (turns out my fu yee had NO FLAVOR - again - so I added more salt and yup, rice wine to the mix. Hopefully it'll get more flavor later on.) and the ginger tea. I took a small hand of ginger, chopped it up and added water with bing tong. It took me a few times to get the right ratio - at first it was too sharp in taste. Ultimately I ended up using alot of honey as well. Now I've got this ginger tea "base" in the fridge which I use 1:1 with plain water. Hot and Sour soup...yum. I think I'll get some later on this week.

Oddly enough, I found the brand that my mom used to buy up here in NYC. I brought it home to her and it tasted so flat. UGH! My parents added more rice wine and just let the thing ferment its way to happiness. Thanks for the advice, Ben Sook and Dejah Jeh! I would prefer to "oon" a chicken but there's no superfast way to do that. Shoot.

Is the taste worth the price?

Please DON'T go to Jin Fong. Their dim sum is so poorly done. I've heard Dim Sum Go Go is better. If you want soup dumplings, go to Goodie's. Very tasty, not too fatty, and well-priced. You could try the following in Chinatown: Congee Village Egg Custard Tart King Great NY Noodletown (Lobster & E-fu mein is good there) New Big Wong Big Wong's Mei Lai Wah Vosges Chocolate and Grandaisy Bakery (formally Sullivan Street Bakery) are near Kee's Chocolate and they would be worth taking a gander. If you're on the UES, why not try Cafe D'Alsace? That's a great little bistro with wonderful food. I love the marrow bones.

Thanks Dejah Jeh! I will make jook tonight and a cold compress as well. It's ok to add fu yee to the jook, right? Man, nothing tastes as good as plain jook with foo yee. Off topic - can you make homemade fu yee? The bottles in the store nowadays seem so bleah compared to my childhood memories.