Gastro888

But the problem is I won't even have a few hours to salt and air dry the chicken. I'll be heading home to cook after work with said chicken in hand. Unfortunately, I don't work near my house, otherwise I would've taken the chicken home at lunch and done the quick salt and air dry. So I'm wondering if I should take my freshly killed chicken and just roast it tonight or should I salt and let it air dry overnight? Would there be a marked difference in taste?

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it! Is there a particular type of tool I should use? I don't have a mandoline and currently my budget doesn't allow for such a nice toy. What do they use in Thailand? In a pinch, can I get away without the tamarind? I forgot to purchase some! Oops!

I figured I'd use the veggie peeler and then julienne the strips.

I'm going to attempt to make sum tom tonight but the problem is I don't have a special gaget to shred my green papaya. Does anyone have any helpful hints? I have the fish sauce, the palm sugar and the lime - am I missing anything else? Thanks in advance for your help!

I live near an area that has a live poultry market and will be picking up a bird tonight for dinner. The joys of living in a culturally diverse area! I've never had great success roasting a chicken at home and was wondering if I would be alright if I picked up the chicken tonight and roasted it without the overnight air drying in the fridge. Or should I be patient and wait to air dry the bird? Thoughts? Thanks!

Where in China are you, Fengyi? I went to China 5 years ago and I noticed that things in the major cities (I did the Ritz tour so it was all the major "must see" cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Huangzhou, Suzhou, Xian, Guilin and HK) the portions were smaller than what we have on the East Cost in the US but the food in the northern parts were much greaiser than what I was accustomed to eating.

How adventurous are these diners? If they're not so much and since you have a big kettle, why not do wonton soup or "water dumplings" (dumplings in soup)? I wouldn't suggest stir-frying in a kettle as the dimensions of the kettle are not similar to the wok - you might end up boiling/simmering your food instead. I don't know what your labor or cost budgets are but wonton soup is relatively inexpensive when compared to a protein rich dish (say beef with broccoli) and can be made in advance over the course of a few days. You can add blanched greens and/or noodles to each bowl to make it more filling or have plain wonton soup, sesame noodles (cooked Chinese egg noodles dressed w/ soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sesame seeds, julinenned scallions), blanched Chinese greens with oyster sauce on top and fruit for dessert. With 300 people eating, I'd try to keep it as simple as possible so you don't kill yourself.

I thought Per Se was $250 per person?

Kopi means coffee in Malay. I don't know what Putih means. I just remember that when I ordered at the hawker stands, kopi meant coffee with sugar and milk while kopi-oh meant coffee with sugar, no milk. The instant white coffee is v. good!

I don't know anything about wine so I'm looking for some help on wine toppers. I broke my friend's resin wine topper this weekend - it looks like a big golden orchid. I've no clue where to start looking for something like this and if anyone could help me, I would appreciate it as I would like to replace it. Thanks for your help!

No, seriously - do.not.go.to.Jin.Fong. It's not a good dim sum restaurant. Just don't. It's not worth it. Go to Great NY Noodletown, Big Wong's, New Big Wong's or or Congee Village.

My mom would make butter and sugar sandwiches for us as very young kids for fear that we were too thin. She liked to fatten us up and did an excellent good job... ← AIIII! OMG! So I'm not weird that I do this! Yes, I feel vindicated! I loved doing the whole butter/sugar combo on bread. Oh my goodness. YUMMY! I love taking squishy white bread and running it through a frying pans that contain the dregs of just-fried bacon. A bit o' grease and alot of crispy bits. Is this bad?

Ai. All these great restaurants in the area and I didn't have a clue. I thought the only places around that area were in the Meatpacking district. Next time...

Thanks for the recs, Nathan. *sighs* I know, I know! My knowledge of that part of the city is rather limited and I felt like a complete boob when I got my meal. How does BLP stay in business? After having ribs from the BBQ place upstate (Big W), I don't want to have subpar BBQ. Oh God not Pastis. No way. After being to Cafe D'Alsace, I don't want to return to Pastis. It's not bad food but I don't do well in those huge restaurants. Ick.

::rolls eyes:: Seriously, those people need to get a hobby. If they haven't examined and explained the difference between Chinese-American and authentic Chinese cuisine they need to get *kok'd* in the head. Ai.

Last night, the two of us grabbed dinner at Bone Lick Park. We're not too familar with the restaurants in the area so we were at a bit of a loss. We've eaten at Tea and Sympathy and enjoyed it. I've noshed on the tasty fish and chips from A Salt and Battery. Blind leading the blind, I decided to go to Bone Lick Park for a quick nosh. Ugh. Why? No no no. It was very "industrial" - Sysco like, if you will. The fried chicken platter consisted of three pieces of cornmeal dipped chicken that lacked taste and flavor. They were dry on the outside but curiously greasy on the inside. I had to use catsup and hot sauce to give it a kick. The mashed potatoes were stiff and not creamy and buttery. The gravy was just liquidfied fat and not in a good way. The plus one's brisket platter was dry and not really flavorful. The mac and cheese was good but not ohmygodthisisawesome good. Don't get me started on the cornbread. It was a yellow slab of nothingness. Oh well. At least I only spent 30 bucks. But still! It was 30 bucks on mediocre food. Ai. Does anyone have any good West Village recommendations? Any type of cuisine, just reasonably priced and tasty? (I like Tea and Sympathy but spending 60 bucks on one app, two entrees and one dessert with tea is a bit overpriced, IMHO. It is after all, simple English food. No chicken and leek pie is worth 20 bucks.)

Tabascco - the GREEN one. YUMMY!

It's because the water of the whey has been strained from the yogurt, which concentrates yogurt and the proteins. In regards to the feta, I personally like it because it's moist and not dry and crumbly like alot of feta in the US marketplace. But that's just me, I prefer that type of texture.

What about a hot dog at Grey's Papaya or Papaya King? Or stopping by a halal cart? These are very NYC for me.

Ah, but you know that Chinese noodles never taste as good as when they're served hot and fresh. The appeal of e-fu mein is the "al dente" texture. I'd still take it home but you know how it is.

The suckling pig here is quite good. Their noodle dishes are ok. I really want to try their version of e-fu mein with lobster. It looks great but I don't think I'd be able to finish it off by myself!

I prefer milk with sweet foods (pancakes, waffles, cakes, etc) and I only drink milk with spicy foods as an antidote to the flames in my mouth!

Don't start a cursing contest, Ben Sook. I don't want to shock people with what I know (and am still learning!) It's true, no matter what you ask, they're going to say that everything fresh b/c they want to get the items off their cart. Trust your senses and make sure you get a seat close to the kitchen. On the proper side of the dim sum trail. Nothing worse than sitting next to the kitchen only to find out that you're on the opposite side where all the carts go back INTO the kitchen.

Please take lots of photos! And enjoy the lovely scenery in Guilin!

Photos from The Wandering Eater blog of different egg tarts. (OK, only a few but it's a start. Notice the difference in the crust and the fillings.) Egg tart with a quasi-shortbread style crust Portugese egg custard tart and traditional flaky crust egg tart God, I'm craving one now!