SuzySushi

I'm going to run with this idea, too. We have a friend whose husband is deployed in Iraq (we live near one of the military bases in Hawaii). I discussed the cookies with her. She's going to try to get a list of names, but also suggests that if I send a batch of cookies wrapped as individual small packages c/o her husband, he can distribute them to other soldiers in his regiment. Although the recommended mailing cut-off date is November 12 for packages to arrive in Iraq in time for Christmas, she says the current transit time is 10 days.

Oooh, oooh! That reminds me of another idea - Korean stuffed cabbage. I actually have a recipe in my computer files from an out-of-print Korean cookbook, for cabbage leaves cut into diamond shapes and stuffed with oval meat patties. I don't remember if it was in the original recipe or my description of the photo, but the words in my notes read: "Fold up point of leaf from the bottom to cover the meat halfway, then roll sides over. (The top should be open to show some of the meat filling, and the back of the leaf should come to a point—the package should look like a baby wrapped in a papoose.)" Maybe add black sesame seeds for the eyes, a little shredded nori for hair and.... Edited because the cabbage should be "stuffed," not "suffed."

Thanks, Bob! Your link didn't work because of too many "http"s in the code. The correct link is: http://www.sacbee.com/161/index.html

You have a sick mind, I tell ya'!

I'm so happy to see this book has been published. Andrea Nguyen is one of my favorite food writers and I've been following her work in the LA Times and on her website for some time. Congratulations!!!

Milagai, There was also this thread on silver dragees last year. IMO, they're being labeled that way now to prevent another "potential injury" lawsuit. I've eaten them before, and I wouldn't worry about eating them in the small quantities they're used for decoration.

That opening date has changed many times so I wonder if it will actully open at the end of 2006. ← To me, this sounds like it'll emphasize the restaurant... I can't see other restaurateurs flocking to Ala Moana Center at 5 am for a fish auction! (Or consumers making a special trip there to buy retail.)

We also fill our largest cooking pots with water, which is for cooking, drinking, and brushing teeth. That's in addition to having 5-gallon jugs of bottled water. We also keep a case of 16-ounce bottles of water in the car.

Nice shots! Brings back happy memories!

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Sandy, Happy Birthday to You!!! (...and many more!!!)

Sounds like a plan to me!!!

My husband and my 10 year old daughter both have Type 1 diabetes, and we eat (and I cook) Japanese food quite often. As Americans, we probably eat a lower proportion of rice or noodles than most Japanese, so a high carb count for us is less of an issue from those foods. As for sweetness in Japanese foods, I don't know if it's ever used in Japan but... recently I began experimenting with substituting the artificial sweetener Splenda (sucralose) for sugar in some Japanese dishes. It won't work in recipes where sugar is required to glaze the foods, but I did use it successfully in goma-ae dressing.

Very good advice from FistFullaRoux. After last week's earthquakes in Hawaii (when we suffered no major damage on Oahu but electric power was down island-wide, for 12 hours or more in most areas), my husband and I decided that the one emergency item we were missing was a means of cooking indoors. We had flashlights and camp lights, a transistor radio, plenty of batteries, stores of food and water, etc., and were able to use the gas grill at our condo's pool complex to cook lunch, but what my husband really wanted during the day was a cup of hot tea. Our solution for the next emergency was to buy a portable tabletop stove that uses butane cartidges. It was on sale for about $12 and the cartridges cost 99 cents apiece and are supposedly good for about 2 hours of cooking. It can be used indoors with adequate ventilation and is, in fact, what a lot of Asian-Americans use for cook-at-the-table dishes.

Are you thinking of writing a Japanese cookbook, Kristin? What I'd really like to see in English is one on Japanese snacks and desserts -- anpan, melon pan, Japanese cheesecake, yatsuhashi senbei (fresh and baked), some of the more common wagashi items. I'd write it myself, but I don't have the wherewithal to live in Japan to do the research.

I absolutely use potholders. I have a couple of silicone ones that double as trivits, but the one I use the most often is a thick Ritz square terrycloth potholder that slips over my hand. When it gets too grubby to wash, I replace it. For removing casseroles and heavy pans from the oven, I also have a thick quilted two-handed oven mitt that wraps around the pan and has saved me from countless burns. I threw out the old one after it got singed around the edges. Better it than me.

Can't give you an answer on fresh rice noodles as I've never frozen them. Fish cakes freeze well (and in Japanese markets are often sold frozen). How to thaw depends on use. If you're going to serve them cold -- e.g., just slice & eat -- I'd say just thaw'em overmight in the refrigerator. If you're planning to use them in a soup or liquidy noodle dish, no need to thaw -- just add them to the boiling liquid (since they're fairly porous, they thaw pretty quickly).

Holy moly! And I thought Martha Stewart's "finger" cookies were creative when I first saw them a few years ago!

We're all fine. The quake woke us (well, the dog & me, anyway!) up at 7 am. We live in the suburbs in central Oahu, about 150 miles away from the epicenter. All electric power on Oahu went out a few minutes later. It wasn't restored in our neighborhood till after 10 pm -- 15 hours later. I heard a deep rumbling, then felt the house shake, dishes rattled in cabinets, and I knew immediately what it was (I'd been in earthquakes in Japan). Luckily it occurred early on a Sunday morning, when most people were still home and traffic was light. There were no fatalities or major injuries and no tsunami following the quake. Since our cable TV (if not the TV stations themselves) was off the air till the electricity was restored late last night, I'm just catching up with accounts of damage in other parts of the state through the newspaper now. We're always well-prepared for emergencies, had flashlights & batteries, a transistor radio, and a pantry full of food (and 5-gallon jugs of bottled water, which we didn't need). Our 10 year old daughter got pretty bored as the day dragged on, however. She's so much a child of the 21st century, tuned into the Internet, the TV, and her Nintendo (which she couldn't recharge when its battery went low). What did "civilization" ever do for entertainment without electricity! Last night, my husband and I discussed what changes we'll make in preparation for the next emergency (since we live on an island that's subject to hurricanes and tsunamis, it's not a question of "if" but rather "when"): 1) Attach a railing to the cabinet that holds the TV, so it can't slide off and crash to the floor. Luckily, all our bookcases (6 foot tall) are tilted back and bolted to the wall, so none of the books or knickknacks fell off. Everything on top of my computer hutch did and was scattered all over the floor! 2) Keep a stock of "D" batteries for our two camp lamps. We have plenty of "AA"'s for flashlights and the radio, but if we'd needed to use the camp lamps for more than a few hours, the batteries would've run out. 3) We hardly ever let the gas tank in car get more than half-empty, but this is added impetus for us to stop and fill up on the way home, even if we're "too tired." 4) Buy a portable tabletop butane stove -- e.g. cassette-feu. At lunchtime, my husband took hotdogs over to the gas BBQ at our condo's pool (it was raining, but my daughter and a friend who was sleeping over wanted to go swimming anyway!), so we all had hot hotdogs and buns for lunch. But what he really wanted during the day was a cup of hot tea--and no way to make it. By nightfall, no one could cook outdoors because it was pouring.

How about chimichurri, particularly if pronounced with rolling r's?

Strange as it may seem -- or maybe not! (given the large Asian-American population in Hawaii) -- very few supermarkets on Oahu have Chinese fast-food available for takeout (although every supermarket has a sizeable "Oriental foods" aisle with Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Thai, and some Vietnamese ingredients). In fact, about the only places I can think of offhand that do this are the food courts at Ranch 99 (the Taiwanese-owned supermarket chain) and Don Quijote (the Japanese-owned chain that used to be Daiei). The restaurants are owned and operated independently (or as franchises).

Oh, golly.... I haven't had a frozen dinner in years. When I was single, I used to love Stouffer's macaroni & cheese. I do (mostly for my 10 year old and her horde of friends, but also for an occasional quick lunch) keep a stock of frozen items like chicken taquitos, bean burritos, and Lean Pockets. Occasionally I'll succumb and buy Marie Callender's frozen pot pies. Mostly our freezer is stocked with frozen plain vegetables, meat/poultry/fish that I freeze, various types of bread (including right now bagels, pita bread, German black bread, and some Indian paratha), espresso coffee, and ice cream!

Interesting! But I wonder how edible a creampuff dress that took two months to construct could be! In case no one recognizes its historic antecedents, here's a link to a print by 17th C. French artist Nicholas de Larmessin II from his series of depictions of fanciful costumes of tradespeople.

I treat it like orzo; recipes and cooking methods are interchangeable.

To all you cilantro haters, Are you all aware of I Hate Cilantro - an anti-cilantro community ? I love the stuff, but a close friend and food buddy can't stand it. Cheers, -Dan ← Hey, all of you guys who hate cilantro... you can send it to me!!!

Yum, yum, tropical fruit! But unavailable here And what is Chocolate dobash torte? ← A Chocolate Dobash Torte is a white layer cake with a creamy chocolate filling and frosting. Here's a link to a recipe I found online.