touaregsand

Yesterday I ran into a Lebanese friend of mine. She and her husband are leaving for Beirut next week to spend the summer there. The are taking the kids. She feels it's perfectly safe. (The whole family cried when they heard about Samir Kassir)

Thank you Ludja. I used to have a small collection of these dolls when I was little. Alas, they went the way of Barbie dolls, headless and naked, lost somewhere. Methinks we have solid group of Koreans here and enough interest in Korean food for a seperate Korean food forum.

Dragon lady? Wiles? I'm a simple porcelain doll. A delicate Ornamental gurl. Mwah!

I've been around here and there. I didn't come back because of the dou fu. I came back for you.

To add to Marco Polo's recipe. Julienne some mu (daikon radish) or cucumbers, season with salt, rub with a bit of sesame oil, Korean red pepper flakes and coat with MP's sauce. A little bit of fish sauce adds a kick.

I assume you mean recipes for sauces and that you have access to packaged noodles. What type sauce do you like? Do you really expect to me list them all here before knowing you preference?

Thank you for bringing up Korea. Because we all know silken tofu was invented there. Sorry the question is a bit weird. I would rephrase it "who invented silken tofu? China, Korea or Japan?" Doesn't sound like something someone invented independently of other tofus. So the anwers is the local tofu maker.

Sounds wonderful. Cheap lobster and sugar cane juice is so great! If you have any Tanzanian or Zanzibarian recipes it would be nice to see them / I need more African inspiration. ← I don't know if you can read French but if you google Cuisine Africaine alot of French langauge websites come up. For Norther African try Cuisine du Maghreb

Completely different circumstances at play here. In "Kitchen Nightmares" he's trying to help people get their restaurants to make more money. Many of the owners are near closing up shop, but are running restaurants. They knew enough about the business to start a restaurant of their own. Their sucess or failure doesn't reflect upon Gordon Ramsay's reputation one ounce. In the American "Hell's Kitchen" some of the contestants work in a kitchen - not all of them though. But these people are trying to win a restaurant of their own despite the lack of any restaurant experience. The premise here is Ramsay's training them and therefore his reputation is more on the line. ← I did a quick read of the bios (because I have nothing better to do or maybe it's because I am avoiding a pile of research that needs sorting) It doesn't look like any of the contestants has much commercial kitchen experience beyond pizzerias. The guy who claimed to be an executive chef is noted as being a "freelance executive chef" and another one is a "freelance chef". WTF?!?!? One of the contestants is a culinary student. The tattoed guy is noted as an executive chef, not a freelance one, presumably he has a permanent position somewhere. Btw, executive chef is more of an American thing or Hotel/Corporate type position. Chef de Cuisine. Most French chefs I know simply refer to themselves as cuisiniers (cooks). Whereas I've heard American culinary students talk about attending 'chef school'. EDIT: Hard to believe the show is about putting his reputation on the line, more about building his brand name in America. The contestants appear to be victims of childhood traumas eager to take abuse. Considering the perfectionist that Ramsay is surely he had a say in who would be chosen to suit the needs of his performance. I know, I know it's only a show. I've already posted regarding what I know about the 'staging' on that show. I went back to read some previous posts that I had neglected. I don't buy the romanticization of a mad tempermental chef/artist strving for perfection. Methinks we have a Scot who is playing a mad French chef in a painfully self-conscious way. He learned this in France? Puhleeze. Maybe the kitchen crew was having some fun with the foreigner. Most high profile chefs have 'a hook' whether it's the "I tippy tippy toe through my organic garden, hunting down heirloom chickens" or "raving, cursing, physically abusive in mad search of perfection" it's all for the dear customer. "Look at me, the hoops I jump through. The depth of my passion for perfection!!!"

I had trouble staying focused on the show so I probably missed a few subtle details. I kept wondering "where's the sous chef? who's leading the kitchen? where is the kitchen line?" My husband and I trained an entire rookie line over a two week period, their shining moment came on Valentine's day. 80 covers, two turns, 6 courses out of a tiny kitchen. None of them could really cook. We pulled off the night succesfully with a menu designed around that but with customer 'perceived value' in mind. It was all in the mise and then teaching them how to put everything together as the orders came in. Even a novice can be taught to stand in front of his/her station and do just a few things really well.

That is certainly what it seemed like when I was watching. Everything just too dramatic to have these be real paying customers at a luxe restaurant. ← The type of people who would respond to an ad like that on craigslist are probably working as extras on other projects. The ads were posted in the "TV/Film/Video Jobs". Chance to be on camera, paid with food. Typical LA way to 'break' into the biz.

Daniel normally I would totally agree with you but those 'customers' know it is a tv show and a reality one at that! I think they are looking for it. Why else would they go up and complain to the chef about a wait for food? On that track, who would wait 2 hours for food??? These people know what is going on and are obviously willing to play the game (IMO). I actually think Ramsey likes women, you can tell by the way he treats Elisa or whatever the turkey taco women's name is. The show scares me! ← I thought the "go back and get more plastic surgery" comment was hilarious! Otherwise the show is a disaster. It's way too over the top for me. But then again I'm not a fan of these types of shows and I barely watch TV. Elisa (AKA taco woman) was on the verge of tears or fainting most of the time. The contestants are just too fookin weird. Basket cases. They always look scared.

I know two people who auditioned for the show. One of them made it into the final round for consideration. Some sample questions: CD (Casting director): "Have you ever worked with a chef who had a wild temper?" MF (My friend *cough*) "Yes in France he yelled and screamed all the time at everyone, except me" CD: "Why not you?" MF: "Why do you think?" with a look in his eyes like I would have smashed the guy. CD: Ha ha ha ha!!! CD: "Have you ever gotten into a physical fight with someone you worked with in the kitchen?" MF: "Yes, in England with an Irish line cook. The guy was always getting in my face and one day he he tried pushed me." CD: "What happened next?" MF: "He put his hands on my shoulder, I kicked his legs out from under him, as he was losing balance I slapped his face down and he crashed to the floor. End of fight. He never bothered me again." CD: laughing, "You SLAPPED him?" MF: "Yes, I slapped him. He wasn't man enough for me to punch. He almost cried." CD: "You're fantastic. You're career, you're story, fascinatin!" After that he started to make stuff up because he didn't really have anymore examples of arguing with co-workers. He's not really the type to argue. So they told him he would get a call back in a week or two. He received a call the next day, "The casting directors love you, please fill out this 30 page (something like that) application and a final decision will be made within a few days. He wasn't chosen which is a good thing. He was thinking that maybe he was overqualified, it looks like he's correct. It also looks like he's not neurotic enough. But man that 2 million dollar restaurant as a prize was a bit tempting. I have a feeling that's fake too. Anyway, they posted on craigslist.org for people to 'play' customers "attractive 30's-40's with upscale wardrobe" something like that. The customers on the show are not "real." EDIT: Most of the questions during his audition were related to arguing and fighting.

I've seen them for sale at the Korean markets in LA. They aren't much more expensive then what they cost in Korea. So there is an importer, you could probably get some at wholesale prices for your site. EDIT to add: A few years back William Sonoma used to sell the stone grills too, it was in their catalogue

Wild guess. OCTOBER.

like this Schadenfreude EDIT: crosspost with ludja

Food writing comes in so many modes that across the board standards are nearly impossible to make. Food scholar/historian Cultural Anthropologist (Traveler or foreigner living in another country) Restaurant Reviewer Professional Chef Food personality Home cooking (cuisine of choice, usually refers to a mother, preferably a grandmother, immigration and assimilation) A journalist who might be called a generalist but also writes about food occassionally I have to go pick up my daughter now, sorry to cut the list off... I have to mention The Ghostwriter

"Receptive" is an interesting word. I think most of the Western World still looks upon vegetarians as "weird" or, at the very least, "eccentric". The disclosure of one's vegetarianism means raised eyebrows and a whole line of questioning. (Why?) (What is there to eat?) And things like that. The main differences among Western countries is just how daunting it is to find food acceptable to eat. For a really vegetarian-UNfriendly environment, Eastern Europe probably is close to the top of that list!! ← Reminds me of the scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when the vegetarian says he doesn't eat meat and the response is "have some lamb!"

I've never heard of a "religious" reason for this. Do you have a reference? Most places I've bought eggs in the ME also happen to sell chickens so there's a lot of stuff flying around. It might just be good common sense. ← I've never heard of a religous reason for it either. My reference is my husband, not a very good source for knowledge about halal.

Is there a way to ritually slaughter an egg? I do have a question regarding eggs. Muslims rinse them quickly with water. Is there something in Kashrut about this?

Excellent list! I'll add stone ground sesame oil roasted salt stone ground apricot oil for the skin myung nan jeot (pollack roe) wild sesame seeds (my mom added some to ssam jang. It can be added to light soups as well. I had a duck broth with noodles and a mushroom chongeol with it) (maybe a few bags of rice )

Of course not. He attended New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier the very heart of France.

Is there a well known Canadian with the last name Bourdain? I know everybody is nicer up there.

Where did I argue that it would not help? I argued that the degree it would help is arguable. ← Ok so now you understand that they are financially tied.. Now you are on to questioning how financially tied.. I really dont know the answer to that.. ← No, I still think 'financially tied" is an overstatement. Maybe his endorsement will help sell 50 more books. Not a huge royalty windfall. Even bestselling authors write sales losers.

Where did I argue that it would not help? I argued that the degree it would help is arguable.