anchita

Thanks for the card, Nathan. You had posted the correct info earlier too. And I can imagine what you mean by Mr. Sikligar not being the surfing kind.. I should be calling his shop soon, and will post if I have better luck with that. Btw, saw the pictures from your Japan and France trips. Sumptuous and breathtaking! The gastronomic subjects are gorgeous, and the scenery in the (presumably) rural areas is quite literally out of this world. Also, the doors/windows theme running through some of the pictures is beautiful!

Hi Nathan, thanks for your reply. I appreciate the info! eta: An e-mail to Mr. Sikligar bounced. Apparently his account "has been disabled or discontinued." I'll probably try to reach him by phone or regular mail.

Let me add to the compliments... Fantastic pictures and a beautiful representation of the places you visited. Your pictures brought smiles (Big Tony and the Samosa Racket) and waves of nostalgia (I was born and brought up in Jaipur) and longing (I really NEED to visit Goa!) Can you tell us more about the "Organic Restaurant" in Rajasthan and the knife-maker in Gujarat?

Oh, okay. I get it now. Thanks, His Nibs!

Lucy, could you elaborate on washing-the-leaves-in-one-rinse-of-brewing-water part? Does that mean you "wet" the tea leaves with the hot water first or something similar? For how long and in how much water? How does this process (or the lack of it) affect the tea? Thanks!

Thank you so much for all the suggestions! Upton seems to be a favorite, so I'll definitely be ordering some samples from them. I've already signed up for their catalog. Stephen, I liked the idea of doing a tea-tasting in a group setting. I'll probably use some of your suggestions as a starting point. Thanks! JohnL, I'll definitely look into the book you suggested. From the reviews, it sounds about perfect for my purposes. jpr54_, the FAQsFAQs you suggested have a wealth of info. A great resource! I'm expecting some of the samples in the next few days. I'm looking forward to that, and will be reporting my experiments/expeirences with them. Meanwhile, I'll be reading up on some of the very informative sites you all have suggested. I will probably have more questions as I go along. Thanks for all the guidance, and please keep it coming!

Thanks for all the info and guidance, cdh. I was looking at the Adagio website, and they do seem to have a "tea of the month club" type thing and it includes two teas every month. Looking at the prices though, I think I'd rather opt for the sampler.. Also, SpecialTeas seem to offer comparable value in their samplers. I've seen the website mentioned on this forum, so I'll probably keep it in mind as well. If anyone has had good or bad experiences with them, I'd appreciate the info. On the equipment front, I do have a strainer, but not a thermometer. So I need to get that and then wait for my online purchases to arrive... Meanwhile, I'll also peek into the local Whole Foods. I'm excited about learning more!

My only flirtation with tea has been in the context of milky, spicy masala chai. Some time ago, I was introduced to green/flavored tea, which I found very light and refreshing by comparison. Now I want to delve further into this fascinating world. Thanks to the informative threads and links here, I now have some idea about the differences between the major types of tea. I also understand that they have to be prepared differently. I live in an area where I might have access to stores (ethnic grocery stores, Central Market etc.) that sell tea. Also, there seems to be a decent number of reputed online vendors to buy from. But as a complete newbie, my problem is, where do I start? Do I simply order small quantities of random varieties from a store or website (which one?) and try brewing them at home? Or can there be a more structured approach to it? Should I first concentrate on one major type, say green tea, or jump headlong into a variety? I don't possess a tea kettle or a pot; would that be a pre-requisite or can I work with makeshift equipment till I'm more seriously into this exploration? At this time, I probably don't even know enough to ask all the right questions, but I do want to begin, and am not sure how...

Yeah, running the knife along the curved part helps, but for me, it's simply more convenient not having to do that with the 'flat' version, especially when I'm grating just a small amount of ginger/garlic. Nothing beats the long, thin one for drier stuff though.

ratgirlny, are you talking about this one? I faced a similar problem using it. Lost most of the grated ginger/garlic because it stuck between the curved undersides of the grater. I guess it works better as a zester and for grating stuff like nutmeg and hard cheese. For ginger/garlic, I've been using the Microplane coarse grater and am very happy with it. I find its shape better suited to retrieve the grated material, and it is also available in the fine version.

Thanks so much for your response, fifi. I forgot to mention that I do have rosemary; it sits in the big top opening of the strawberry planter. I'll definitely look around for Mexican Oregano and Mexican Mint Marigold. Good to know about the not-so-'full sun.' I guess I can move the planter from the balcony to the front door, which faces east, so that it can have some shade during higher day temperatures. For the pots that are going to have to stay in the balcony, the urethane foam pots sound like a good idea! Let's see how I fare through the summer; I'll report my progress as I learn new things about my plants, and as I have more questions.

Hi all, first time 'gardener' here. All I have in the name of a garden is a tiny balcony and some pots. I'm also a novice to most herbs, so please forgive my ignorance. I was, however, desperate to have herbs in my gardenening-space this year, so I recently bought some tiny plants. I've put a sprig or two of each in a strawberry planter, which seemed like a good idea to begin with, but now I think the individual openings/spouts are too small to provide much room for vigorous growth (which, I'm wishfully thinking, might happen ) We will see... Anyway, my actual questions are regarding the varieties of herbs. I would love to get to know the 'classic' varieties of herbs first, and I'm not quite sure if the varieties I have belong to this category. I've added the botanical names if that'll help (you can obviously tell that I'm new to this!) Here's what I have: French Lavender (Lavandula dentata) I really like its flavor, but I've read (somewhere on eG, where else!) that Provence lavender is the one to have.. Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis) Greek Oregano (Origanum vulgare hirtum) English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Spearmint (Mentha spicata) Also, I'd appreciate if someone could give me pointers to local sources for the other varieties that might be suggested (plants rather than seeds, as I think I'm late enough in the year and early enough in my experience to begin dabbling in seeds.) I'm in the Richardson area of DFW and the herbs I have now came from Calloway nursery. As if I haven't already asked enough questions, I'd (shamelessly) also like to ask if specific herbs/varieties do or don't do well in Texas summers. As of now, all my plants get full afternoon and evening sun; should I shift some of them to shadier spots as summer progresses? I really appreciate all the knowledge and enthusiasm here. That's how I got bitten by the bug to start with, and am I thankful for that!

I like ketchup, but I love its variations.. Maggi offers ketchup in flavors such as garlic-chili, tamarind-chili, hot-n-sweet, etc. Garlic-chili is my absolute favorite!

if i understand your question, i think it's because when you are making the Chai you are boiling the leaves/spices directly in the water to incorporate the flavors. When you are making loose leaf tea, you boil the water first, then pour it into the warmed teapot with the leaves. this steeps the leaves. You do not boil the leaves in the water. depending on the kind of tea, you also do not always want to add boiling water to the leaves, but need to use water below the boiling point. The recipe i have for making chai includes adding the milk to the boiling water/tea/spice mixture, in order to cook off some of the milk and concentrate the flavors. But i know there are many different chai recipes out there... ← I appreciate your response, twiggles. I've been reading further and I understand that different types of tea (black, green etc.) should be steeped at different temperatures. I'm wondering why one cannot wait for the heated/boiled water to come to the right temperature by taking it off from the heat source, and then steep the tea leaves in this same vessel which had been used to heat the water. Or will the heat capacity of the heating vessel interfere with the process? In other words, is it necessary to have a teakettle as well as a teapot to prepare tea, or can one vessel serve the purpose of both? Also, what would that vessel be made of, ideally? And yes, I've known chai recipes to vary by the household, sometimes even by the members of a household!

Another beginner with a question here. The only tea I've had so far is 'chai,' which involves (at least in my experience) boiling water along with spices, adding tea leaves to the boiling water, waiting a minute or two, and straining directly into cups to which hot milk is added later. There is no separate brewing vessel involved. However, procedures for preparing all other types of tea invariably mention a teapot (brewing vessel) as distinct from the teakettle (boiling vessel.) How come it isn't advisable to brew the tea in the same vessel as has been used to heat/boil the water while preparing most types of tea?

That's one I've heard from my Japanese friends. You're supposed to rub the two cut sides together until you produce white froth. Is your mom Japanese? ← That's true. In India, most cucumbers had to be rubbed at the end, sometimes with salt, otherwise they'd be too bitter to eat. From my grandma: Don't eat melon on an empty stomach.. will make you want to throw up. Don't have milk with anything sour.. upset stomach. Don't have yogurt at night.. this is really weird.. will weaken your brain!!

milk and cereal

Cilantro/fresh coriander and cardamom were commonly used in our home in India. Growing up, I disliked both enough to fish 'em out when I could, or refuse the dishes if I couldn't. As far as I know, no one else in my family had the problem. The weird thing is that I started tolerating them when I came to US and am well on my way to actually loving them now! I can't explain it 'coz it wasn't as if they were used in profusion back at home; in fact I use them in far greater quantity now. On the other hand, cinnamon used to be something I was indifferent to, but I've slowly developed an aversion toward it, probably due to similar reasons as stated by zeitoun -- its (over)use in (over)sweet things.

I wouldn't freeze it for a long time; but making it ahead even a couple of weeks would come in handy when I wanted a quick soup. The idea to use it in rice dishes etc. is also great. Thanks for all the tips and ideas!

Thanks, Malawry! I knew I should've looked harder at the stock-making class! Can you also tell me how to make a vegetable veloute? A search for it resulted in recipes that use it as an ingredient rather than telling me how to prepare it. (As you can probably tell, I'm pretty much a novice to the world of cooking.)

I'd appreciate knowing more about 'vegetarian' stocks. (The "hot soups" thread in the Indian forum got me thinking about this.) I assume basic vegetable stock-making would involve simmering cut vegetables in water and then straining the mixture. But what about the specific combinations and proportions of vegetables, addition of herbs and spices, length of time for simmering, reduction etc. Beside its obvious use as the base in soups, what other uses could one put this to (assuming that it doesn't possess the thickening property of the meat-based stocks)? edit: I did try to see if this topic has been covered elsewhere, but didn't get a specific result. I'd appreciate any pointers to previous discussions, if any.

I meant cutlery to be mostly knives etc. I read the article about 'bonti/bonthi' from the link in a previous post.. Very informative and interesting. I hadn't seen one in the households I was familiar with in India (suburban Rajasthan) so it was particularly intriguing. Also, the word 'katar' and its variations mean the same thing in Hindi: some sort of a heavy knife, though not always used for cooking. We call it 'sil batta.' Amazing how similar these names are! And that is called 'sandasi' in Hindi, though some people simply call it a 'pakar/pakad' meaning 'grip.' The clay pot would be a 'ghada' or 'matka.' Numerous similarities here too... Well, we ARE from the same country!!

Thank you for all the responses and info! I really appreciate it. Andiesenji, those are great deals! Thanks for the links.. Judging from the responses, Boos and Michigan Maple seem to deliver on all their promises. I'll keep that in mind. I'm extremely tempted by Andiesenji's last post, but the original Boos is also on my list. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a more informed decision now. Or maybe I'll simply spread my shopping over some time and get both, or get both at once and give one away as a gift! The discussion here has definitely helped me know more about my choices and their quality as percieved by long time users.. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for that! Anchita Edited to add: I agree with slkinsey there.. at least as far as I am concerned. In fact, it was actually my quest for a better knife that led me to the search for a better cutting board!

Thanks for the responses! hwilson41, thanks for the ideas. But I live in Texas, so I don't think that'd work for me. Also, a year is more than what I'm willing to wait for my cutting board at this point. The reason I wanted end-grain was that I've heard they're much more forgiving on knife blades than edge grain. Thanks for the links, andiesenji. I don't want it to be more than 2" thick because it will make the cutting surface uncomfortably high for me. As for the bamboo, I have been thinking about that too. Again, I have heard that they can be harder on knives than end-grain wood, though I don't have any personal experience with them. I also have my eye on an end-grain bamboo board at Sur La Table but that seems to be out of stock..

Hi All, I've been researching the past posts regarding cutting boards, and have found a lot of useful info about this topic. I've finally decided to go for an end-grain wooden board, not more than 2" thick, and as far as possible, not too expensive. I've narrowed my choices down to these: A chef depot-John Boos 12"*18"*1-3/4" end grain maple cutting board (fourth from the top,) which will cost me around $75 with shipping. The other board I'm looking at is Calphalon 14"*16"*2" end grain hardwood which sells for $60 (free shipping) at amazon. The Boos board, of course, has a name (and hopefully the characteristics) which is well-respected in this field. I do prefer the measurements of the Calphalon board, but that is a minor point. The Calphalon is also slightly cheaper and has a "limited lifetime warranty," but its description states it is made of "premium hardwoods" without specifying maple, which if I understand correctly, is the golden standard for cutting boards. I will be using the board for vegetables only, as I'm a vegetarian. I'd really appreciate it if someone can give me feedback regarding their experience/knowledge with any of these, or general tips which might help me make my final decision. Thanks, Anchita