sanrensho

Invariably, I find that my fellow Canadians refer to a gas grill as a BBQ. Now, maybe it's because my family never used an outdoor grill (just a tiny hibachi), but I've never referred to it as anything but a grill. Jason, time to drive north and teach these people something about BBQ.

I asked an Italian-Canadian friend (who's been back to the home country numerous times) today about ratios. He's no coffee fiend, but he claims 1:1 for cappuccino and 2:1 for latte. He also made sure to remind me that "There's just something about the espresso in Italy..."

If there's some warm rice left in the rice cooker and the fridge is completely empty, sometimes I'll go for a Japanese staple: fried egg on top of rice, with a little soy sauce poured over the egg. Runny yolks, hot rice, a touch of shoyu. Mmmm.

Just like the spelling: "roo-ee-boss."

Just like it sounds: "roo-ee-boss."

As you say yourself, your latte is really a "cappuccino." Yours sounds much better than the typical x0:1 milk/coffee ratio that is foisted on the majority of the population. Literally, "milk with a bit of espresso." Out of curiosity, what is the typical milk/coffee ratio of a latte if ordered in Italy, etc.?

Thanks Becca, I had found that link but didn't realize until now that registration was free. And thanks for the crust tip.

Thanks, but I'm most interested in hearing where everyone's favorite borscht recipes come from, so I can get a feel for the regional variations. I'll try the Russian Palace recipe this week.

Wow, that looks great. I'm rarely inspired to make a cheesecake (generally too dense for me), but that looks fantastic. Does anyone happen to have a link to the recipe?

Mind-meld moment! That was the first place I thought of. For some reason, I was thinking it was "Sushi Bomb," but Google didn't turn up anything. The restaurant names in Chinese and other non-English languages don't bother me at all, just like I don't giggle when I hear a foreign word that sounds unflattering in English (he said, "Fuk!" giggle giggle). I work in a foreign language too often to get a kick out of that stuff. Poor English renderings of foreign language restaurant names are much worse, especially when it involves butchering the English language.

Great thread. I've also been looking for a borscht recipe to try out. I would be very interested in finding out the regional origins of everybody's favorite borscht recipies, as I understand that there are some differences by country/region.

Stupidest name ever for a restaurant: "Sushi Boy." Also, I found out that there is a "Nagano Sushi" in Kelowna. For those that know, Nagano Prefecture is in the middle of Japan. So this is the equivalent of "Prairie Seafood House." Now, there is a remote possibility that someone named Nagano owns the aforementioned restaurant, but I still wouldn't associate sushi with Nagano anything.

Just to clarify, this means to add a little water each time the water comes to a roiling boil, after adding the noodels. Typically, you might have to do this 2-3 times before your noodles are ready (should be al dente with some bite). This is the way I've always been taught to boil soba noodles.

Bacon is widely available in Japan and is not in any way an unusual ingredient. As she mentioned, price is the issue. To put things in perspective, although the price might be higher in Japan, so are the wages.

Hopefully those feet will go elsewhere, considering that there as so many good alternative options for coffee in this city. If it sounds like I'm slamming Starbucks, I'm not. Starbucks was my introduction to "real" coffee, and I drank a ton of of it for several years. Even developed a hunch, coffee elbow, and burnt upper lip from walking around at all times with a mug/cup of Starbucks coffee in hand. (I must carry coffee while browsing CDs! I must carry coffee while leafing through a magazine at the newsstand!) Starbucks definitely educated consumers and contributed a lot to our present interest in quality coffee. However, the coffee is no longer to my taste and I'm appalled at some of the other crap they sell. The paraphanelia that never sells. The chocolate and candies. The highly sugared drinks (slurpees for snobs!). It's just a matter of time before they add a magazine rack, sell milk and cigs, and take a run at 7-11.

Conceivably, Starbucks could take advantage of its volume and buying power (beans/milk) to undercut local coffee houses, or even sell certain drinks as a loss leader to capture market share and kill off local coffee houses. That would truly suck for consumers by reducing our choices, unless Starbucks happened to be producing a truly superior product (they don't). Starbucks would be smart to keep pushing itself as a premium brand (they're not) and stay above this fray for as long as possible. Eventually, though, consumers will become sophisticated enough that Starbucks will fade as a premium brand and will be perceived as the Mickey D of coffee that it is. For all I know, this might already be happening. I'm not entirely against lattes. They do make for a good breakfast/early meal substitute.

According to this link, "high ratio cake flour" should get you in the range you are looking for. I haven't sought out this grade of flour, so I don't know if it's typically available or where it can be purchased.

By the same token, "Life is too short for lattes." Lattes are a milk drink with some coffee in it. If I want to enjoy some coffee, I'll order coffee. I'm partly kidding, of course. I don't see a huge problem with this so-called "price war." It would be a much bigger problem if Starbucks were trying to undercut local coffee houses, not the reverse.

I'll actually be using sweetened mango pulp, since it's readily available to me year-round. There's a good chance it's already been heated/boiled, so I don't plan to do any boiling.

Ruth, what are the ingredients for the mango mousse you made? (I don't have the "Bittersweet" book.) I'll be trying out a mango mousse this weekend and want to avoid the problems you ran into. Thanks in advance.

Apicio, I thought I had a recipe but didn't find one in any of my books. Also, I finally remembered that this type of manjyu is called a yakimanjyu ("baked manjyu"). Here's a recipe for a chestnut and white bean paste-filled version from this link. Yakimanjyu dough White bean paste 20g Egg (beaten) 30g Sugar 40g Flour (sifted) 80g Baking powder 1/2 tsp Egg wash: Egg (1 tbs), mirin, shoyu. White poppy seeds as topping. 1. Gradually add beaten egg to white bean paste. Add sugar to incorporate. 2. Add sifted flour and baking powder and mix until flour is incorporated. 3. Fold dough four or five times ton floured surface, mixing until dough is smooth. I'll assume you don't need the rest as it sounds like you're a pro?

I'll remember that next time. Also, you were right about some of the dim sum, the siu mai I had was well and truly pink on the inside. Does anyone know if "car wheel cakes" are a traditional Chinese street food? Or are they a carry-over from the identical imagawayaki, a common Japanese street food? I feel compelled to mention the hilarity of the Mini-Donut truck, or the "cop-out stand" as I call it. I didn't see a single non-Asian person lined up at the Mini-Donut truck during the entire time I was there, although we left pretty early.

We went for the first time a couple of weeks ago and had a good time, but won't be going back anytime soon. I did like the homemade empanadas at the Philippino stand, but nothing else really stood out. Although not even remotely comparable in scale or "atmosphere," the Chinatown night market has better food, such as bubble tea made with real fruit. Not to mention the Phnom Penh restaurant and bakeries/grocers in close proximity. At the Richmond Night Market, I kept waiting for someone to give me some Asian currency change, but it never happened.

You might be right. I guess I was refering to the white bean paste filling, which tends to be quite crumbly. I'll see if I can dig out a recipe for this type of manjyu dough. I've never made it before, but now I'm getting cravings...

Is there any chance you'll be going through YVR? I don't really have any info for you, but you could try asking at a Japanese butcher like Nikuya Meats here in Vancouver. I imagine the staff would know a little about the import issues into Japan.