SuzySushi

No, I don't mean that only regular customers should have had the entrees deducted from their bill, but that if they didn't recognize you, they might not have valued your patronage as much as that of people who dine there regularly (not having the foresight to consider that you'd be telling others about your negative experience there).

My experience as a restaurant patron is that if we've sent back food because it's improperly prepared or inadequately described on the menu (e.g., something that's spicy with no indication of being so), the waitstaff either offers to exchange it or deducts it from the bill. No discussion with the manager is involved, unless s/he stops by the table later to say s/he's sorry that the food didn't come up to our expectations. It's policy. I have a question for you, seeing that you'd tell family and friends about the poor food: Is this a place you've been to before, often enough that they know you've been there before? If so, they definitely should have deducted the entrees. Comping a dessert, in my experience, is usually for delays in service -- diners' food not being ready at the same time, restaurant overcrowded and the waitstaff having to take longer than usual to serve our table -- not because of something wrong with the food.

Welcome to eGullet! What a nice first post decribing a wonderful cross-cultural experience!

Living in Hawaii, I can really appreciate that! I've also had people from various ethnic cultures strike up conversations after looking in my shopping basket at the checkout stand because they can figure out from the groceries exactly what dish I'm cooking for dinner that evening!

Why just one? It really depends on what type of cuisine interests you (or the person you're buying a gift for): Indian food, vegetarian food, Asian food? And do you prefer recipes with a lot of travelogue and personal anecdotes, or more straightforward?

Besides using pomegranate molasses in Middle Eastern recipes, you can dilute it with ice water (about 1 tablespoon per large glass of water, or to taste) and add sweetener to taste (I use 1 packet of sugar or Splenda) for a refreshing beverage.

That's strange because the pomegranate molasses I have in my fridge is imported by IndoEuropean, which is headquartered in Glendale. And I know I shopped in an Armenian store last time I was in LA -- I'm sure it would carry sumac and Aleppo pepper.

Not exactly from a non-coastal city as I live in Hawaii (suburbs on Oahu, to be exact), but of your list, I can get everything except duck fat and Mexican crema. Most of the items are available in large supermarkets and/or Whole Foods and other natural food stores; pig parts at Asian grocers. There is nothing like the traditional butcher shops in NYC. The handful of butcher shops here are more into selling 1/2 cow cut to order, rather than a small quantity of a particular cut.

We went the vinegar route after someone burnt popcorn in the microwave, but the only thing that really got rid of the burnt popcorn odor was when we cooked bacon in the microwave! The bacon odor was pretty pervasive but at least it smells better than burnt popcorn.

An interesting premise. I'm not sure that it's true but... I'd save my wok. I can always replace a knife but a perfectly seasoned wok???

It happens in Hawaii, too. We have a mix of many different cultures, so it may not be strictly followed by all cultures. For instance, the Japanese and Chinese custom is to give the family money (always wrapped up or in an envelope) toward the funeral expenses, then immediately after the funeral, the family holds a banquet that people who attended the funeral attend. When my husband died last year, Filipino friends immediately came over with food, and over the next few days, people sent gift trays of sweets. After his memorial service on the beach, we held a picnic on the beach.

Good in soups, too. Add at the last minute and cook just until wilted.

Maybe next trip (don't know when, but there's bound to be a "next"...) we'll get more toward your neck of the woods! Japan isn't that large a country, but we had a lot of places and people to cram into only a few weeks (and over the holidays, yet)!

Same user name. Here's a direct link to my Japan set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzysushi/set...57612431673408/

Just a brief note since some of you may have spotted me around browsing eGullet: I'm back from a fabulous 3-week trip to Japan. We (my 12 y.o. daughter and I) were there over Christmas and New Year's, staying at the homes of (and traveling with) friends. We visited Tokyo, Chichibu, Kyoto, and Yokohama -- the latter where we met and stayed with Kristin Yamaguchi (aka Torakris) -- always eating well. I've lots to tell, but not enough time to post and link to my photos on ImageGullet. (I'm on deadline till mid-February.) All my food photos (about 40 of them) are on ImageGullet but about half are in the wrong folder (they were all meant to be in my Japan folder). For any of you who are impatient, you can view them under my name on ImageGullet -- or you can see all 435 of my Japan photos with titles and captions at my Flickr account (same user name).

Hey, you guys have forgotten Japanese fried rice, made with short-grain rice. And Korean kimchi fried rice. And the smoky fried rice served at my wedding reception at a local Chinese restaurant. Its secret ingredient was bacon fat. I'm also of the never-make-the-same-fried-rice-twice school. It's an adventure that raises leftovers to gastronomic heights.

I think you win! I've never even heard of spiced masala soda. Of course you know this means I'll have to go to my Indian market just to try it for myself.... er.... to see if they have it!

Roast them - either in the oven or a skillet, until they smell like chocolate - then cool and caramelize with sugar. The recipe is adapted from Recchuti. 175 grams roasted nibs, 100 grams sugar, couple of tsp of water. Cook in a large skillet until caramelized - sugar will melt, then go sandy, then melt again. It goes brown as the nibs give up some of their colour - then the sugar starts to brown in a second stage. Add about 10 grams of butter to split them up, spread on parchment, breaking up as much as possible. Great on ice cream. ← Too late for that -- they've been thrown out. He didn't roast them. He nibbled them as-is and blended them in shakes. Must've been part of the raw food craze!!

Raw cocoa nibs. I'm a confirmed chocoholic. A sucker for anything chocolate. Until a year-and-a-half ago, while on a trip to San Francisco I bought raw cocoa nibs on the advice of my stepson. Not just one brand, but three different expensive brands. Can we say sawdust, with not even a hint of chocolate flavor? What was I thinking???

Grown here... and marketed as "sea asparagus." Blanch in boiling water first to leach out some of the salt. You can also soak them in several changes of cold water it they're still salty. One way I like them is chopped and mixed with chopped fresh tomatoes, kind of a lomi-lomi sea asparagus.

Nothing unusual about that (although I'm tempted to go with Ben Hong's comment LOL!) -- I know one half-Korean, half-American kid who refuses to eat PBJ and mac & cheese! There's no accounting for picky kids' tastes! I'd say give it a rest until she's older and grows out of it -- or place some enticing dish on the table that your niece doesn't know is tofu and don't try to push her into eating it. My daughter (who is thoroughly American but was exposed to all kinds of ethnic delights when she was a baby) went through a "white food" phase for years. Then suddenly, since she turned 11, she's been trying everything, the weirder the better! I asked her what suddenly made her so adventurous. She shrugged and said, "Tastes change." Hey, it's not as bad as my Chinese friend in high school who hated rice!!!

Thank you, Chocomoo. I don't recall if I've been to Arashiyama. On previous trips to Kyoto, friends drove me/dragged me around so my mental map of the city is confused! I love Kiyomizu-dera and the little street of pottery shops leading to it. Both are places we'd like to visit this trip.

Actually, I think we'll skip Tsukiji this trip. Our friend lives in the western Tokyo suburbs, and we really don't want to get up in the wee hours of the morning to travel there. Plenty of other things to see!

Licking the tuna??? My God, where do these people get their manners???

That's a shame! I hadn't realized it had become such a popular tourist attraction. When I visited it with a Japanese friend about 18 years ago, I was one of only a handful of foreigners there. This coming Saturday, my 12 year old daughter and I are off to Japan for a three-week vacation. (For those of you who might not know, my husband passed away in July and we don't want to spend the holidays at home, where there are too many memories.) We'll be spending Christmas with an American friend who lives in Tokyo, then will travel to Kyoto for several days (including an overnight stay at a Zen temple), and spend the New Year's holidays at the home of a Japanese friend who lives near Mount Fuji. Along the way, we'll also stay overnight at a ryokan that has a rotenburo (outdoor bath), and meet Torakris in Yokahama! Food, of course, will be a major highlight of our travels. I hope to have lots of photos to post when we return.