Jason Perlow

I certainly would not advocate go and buying ground spices from your supermarket (aka McCormick) and using them as convenience shortcuts in making indian food at home. However, I think it is reasonable to say that if you live in a community with Indian groceries and the like that have heavy turnover of this type of thing, pre ground spice mixes make a lot of sense.

Here is a revamped Julia's Kitchen website at The Smithsonian: http://americanhistory.si.edu/kitchen/index.htm

Thought this older thread would be of interest.

Bringing to foreground as a result of today's news.

Bringing this back to the foreground with today's news of her passing.

eGullet Interviewed Julia back in December of 2003.

BTW Toast N Serve has a new site: http://toast-n-serve.com/ They also have another new product, The Magic Liner, which is used in your oven. It sounds like a Silpat, but for use with savory items. EDIT: I realize Silpats can be used for savory items, but apparently these can be used in a microwave and as a thinner type pan liner which is nonstick.

Joe is already doing a lot of work over at Mo Pho, he is frequently there making sure the place is stocked up correctly and the deliveries are occuring and working with the suppliers... that's 90 percent of managing the place right there.

I don't think KT is going to have any lack of demand for her product in Fort Lee. Koreans and Japanese (I.E. 90 percent of her customers in Fort Lee) are crazy for that kind of food. Saigon R in Englewood succeeds primarily as a result of her excellent food, the place otherwise is highly undesireable as a location and for comfortability factor for diners. Yes, Joe is a huge asset, I agree -- but its mainly because of his great personality -- which for the most part is going to be wasted on the clientele in Fort Lee if he moves there.

Slice thin, eat on dark pumpernickel bread with a shmear of salted butter. Cold shots of potato Vodka or aquavit.

You guys didn't meet on eG, did ya? I wonder how long it will be until 2 people find themselves on this site and get married.

Irwin always knows the answer to these things.

Apparently its rather difficult to import stuff from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines now. The lady at the Filipino/Pan-Asian grocery told me that the inspection process is a major pain in the ass now, there are huge delays in shipments, they are having trouble getting certain items such as Sarsi, which is a popular Filipino root beer.

You can get the rare beef at Mo Pho. You just have to request the beef on the side.

You can make Falernum -- and I actually think it tastes better than the real one: http://www.egullet.org/tdg.cgi?pg=ARTICLE-flaminggully See the Flaming Orange Gully recipe for a recipe for it.

Actually, Joe has been begging KT (Who is now cooking full time at Mo Pho -- Benang and Eng are running the kitchen at Saigon -- Benang was trained by KT's mom, so thats why nobody has noticed) to work at Mo Pho for some time now, its a much more comfortable restaurant to work in. His presence may be needed to smooth things out in the new place for a while. The menu is smaller at Mo Pho - and actually, I've pleaded with her to make it even smaller, because 90 percent of the orders at Fort Lee are Pho. In fact, there is so much call for Pho at that location, that she has to get 4 more burners up front with a steam kettle to accomodate the demand now. She's going to have to simplify even more to make things more manageable there.

The Bertolotti company in NJ, which used to have a gelateria in Cliffside Park for many years, makes superb gelato. However, they primarily supply grocery stores and supermarkets and restaurants. http://www.bertolottidesserts.com I just spoke with the owner, here is a partial list of where you can find it: In Fort Lee at Fairview Market under the Fairview private brand label In Edgewater at Sweet Street dessert shop in their gelato case In Holmdell in Delicious Orchards at Francesco's on RT 71 Additionally they supply a lot of restaurants, I'll be getting a full list of that shortly. John Camisa is the owner of the company, he can be reached at drgelato@aol.com

I think some of the commercial marinades used for Char Siu use a lot of ketchup, they also use food coloring to get that really bright red color. This is a traditional marinade, but it wont make it that bright red unless you add ketchup or red food dye: For the Marinade: 1 tablespoon soft brown sugar 1 tablespoon yellow bean sauce 1 tablespoon light soy sauce 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce 1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 2 tablespoons brandy, whisky or rum 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Yeah, the Elite chocolate bars are remarkably good.

Cashews are awesome no matter what country they come from. Have you ever had the crazy spicy ones from India? India is another country with "interesting" junk food... but most of it is not to my taste. The crazy spicy cashews though are fantastic.

Mo Pho may not have Joe Insinga, but it has powerful Air Conditioning. While I agree that the 24 hour meters sound aggravating, the parking is quite ample. You cant say the same necessarily for Saigon, its currently a pain in the ass to park near there. Frequently we end up parking in the supermarket lot behind the burned down Mcdonalds -- and we have been going for lunch, because its a bitch to get into Saigon in the evenings. Mo Pho has plenty of seating. So I would say Mo Pho is an excellent alternative.

The kosher Israeli Cheetos and Doritos produced by Elite under license are also very good.

I agree with you on the Ka-Me crackers. In addition to cheese, I really like the Shrimp and Wasabi flavors, actually, but I am not sure if they have been imported in a while.

I don't know what it is about chips and munchies from foreign lands, but I love 'em. Whether its the weird flavor combos or alternative starches and preparations that you don't normally see in the US, or their more assertive and bolder spicing , they are both fascinating and tasty. I must say my current favorite chip-producing country is the Phillipines. Why? Well, we have a lot of Filipino groceries in this area, and by far I think they produce some of the best and most varied junk food of any nation -- and they aren't afraid to get serious with the spices. In particular, I really like those crunchy coated peanut poppers called "cracker nuts" that have various MSG-laced flavor powders on them, with flavors like "Adobo" and "Hot and Spicy" and "BBQ". http://www.pilipinomart.com/addcart.asp?pr...lse&39JFS=False I also really like these Clover Chips, which are an addictive tapioca starch and corn blend: http://www.lesliesnacks.com/products.clover.html In particular I have a bag of the "Ham and Cheese" flavor ones open now. Second to the Philipines I think I would have to say Japan and Korea, simply because of their huge variety (the Japanese/Korean LOTTE and Meiji corporations are utterly gigantic, and have a product list on the scale or RJR/Nabisco and Beatrice/Unilever combined) , but they tend to focus on fishy flavors for a lot of their chips, so I am much more selective when choosing from them. I particularly like the Wasabi and soya flavored stuff. Meiji's PRETZ line is also one of my favorites, in particular their corn flavor. Third on my list is Israel -- with Kosher dietary laws for producing most commercial food, it seems an unlikely country for such good junk food, but nevertheless, they do have some good stuff, because they have chips flavored with Zataar, sesame and cumin and Israelis arent afraid to be spicy -- the OSEM company in particular produces "Bissli" and I like their Felafel and Smokey flavors a lot: http://www6.ivenue.com/holonfoods/productCat2832.ctlg http://www6.ivenue.com/holonfoods/item38780.ctlg http://www6.ivenue.com/holonfoods/item38783.ctlg What are your favorite International chips/snacks?

Aside from quiche or fritattas, Rostis.