Ninjai Fanatic

I love her shows and tips, etc etc.. I must get my hands on her cookbook! :) Btw, this thread is hilarious!

I'm here in the PI right now...- in my motherland, and I'm sorry to say that I think Filipino foods aren't very well known in other countries..however, all of the foreigners who I know who've come to the PI just LOVE the food here.

I'm far Latin America and am also far from being an expert on empanadas, however- here in the Philippines there also are a huge variety of empanadas. But the most common ones I've seen and eaten have a pastry like- flaky crust and meaty(plus some carrots and raisins type) filling- and most of them are fried although some people also bake empanadas. Some people just put different kinds of cheese, - sometimes just curds with butter and pepper or cayenne.

serrated knives work best for me, and while blades work well also, - they're pretty dangerous to use because- well, yeah, accidents can happen, wouldn't exactly want to feed any of your "clients" or something blades.

i usually have to take food to work.... i usually just bring bread.

I'm a vegetarians.. and so.. well, I guess durian's the worst I've had. I didn't like it. I guess it's an aquired taste.

rasagullas, gulab jamuns, beans, peaches, blueberries, corn(both kernel and cream) tomatoes, cucumbers, tofu, um.. i think that must be about it.

it reminds me of the "submarines" my dad used to make for us.. the largest I've made was about a foot and a half long by around 8 inches. I put okara(sp) mushroom and squash burgers, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, 2 kinds of cheese, butter, mustard, pickles, and ketchup. Personally I like to use the much softer breads for these gigantic sandwiches because it's much easier to eat- not you know, jaw breakers.

Augh, that's the thing I really don't like about most Chinese dishes. I get really bad headaches and allergies from MSG- and so early on in my life I learned not to eat it.. thankfully my parents don't like it either, so we never used it at our house.

The scary thing about slurpies in 3rd world countries is that you can't ever be sure if they actually used purified water or if the water is contaminated with amebiasis or some other nasty parasites or something. Anyway, Happy 40th anniversary! :)

It was a very interesting article, thank you, first of all, for posting it. I think I would be able to live on the "100 mile diet" easily because-well, I live in the tropics, so I have no problems growing food during those hard but beautiful months of autumn/winter. Just right here in this apartment that I live in which has a little garden, I already have choco, sweet potato, potato, and bok choy growing easily. It'd actually be pretty fun to do that, but where would I get my wheat? I LOVE breads and pastas and do and can make my own, but I don't know of anyone growing wheat within a hundred miles of my location. :o! That'd be the hard part.

Congratulations on the book Sir! I hope to get my hands on a copy sometime soon.

My mom can cook, but now that you ask me, the only thing i remember her making that my dad didn't make also was banana cake.. it was good, but that's about it. Pop's the chef in the family, and he taught us almost all we know about cooking- and we just added onto that and learned/branched out and learned what we seemed to like doing/cooking more. .. but I can tell you all about my dad's spaghetti, his Korean dishes, curries, all the different fried rice and noodle dishes.. mmm :)

I think there should be a stronger push to teach people- chefs/pro cooks or just any other person who cooks, about the food safety rules. I've been cooking almost all of my short life, and yet I never really knew about the extreme dangers of not preparing or keeping food corretly until recently when I joined a seminar on HACCP and bread making.

After wrapping them with paper just put them on top of the fridge since it's pretty warm up there.. they should be ripe enough by the time you need them. Good luck!

Thank you very much for all of the ideas, I'm going to try the sorbet, jam and the curd tomorrow. ^ that's pretty cosmic! Thanks for sharing that. I'm checking out kartuz right now. 9-10 inch passion fruits :o.. I want to try ordering some of those plants for my dad.

we had samosa, dahl, some pasta, coconut burfi, scones and a sweet potato-squash filling and a few other things.. *phew*.. that was pretty tiring to eat. :p

I live in Asia.. our lychees are just imported from China.

definitely a must try! :0

Since I moved out of my parent's place and lived with a whole bunch of other pmsers, my PMS- has, miraculously, decreased in intensity in that I don't get bitchy anymore. I just much more and want more sweets than usual.. those kraft caramel candies.. mm

A farmer-friend of ours just came by a few days ago and brought us a whole sack of passion fruit - this type: We've been making cakes, muffins, cookies and juice with it and have been giving some of it away. Dp any of you have any other ideas on what to cook or make with this stuff? thanks!

I know they have this really nice yogurt/honey comb mix + all sorts of nuts for breakfast in Greece (at least in some parts).. in the Philippines people like to eat fried rice (with garlic) and some dried fish (usually).. I've always eaten fruit with a little bread/cereal for breakfast.. we don't get very good milk around here, so i seldom drink milk anymore :(

i usually eat 3 rows at a time.. :)

the only place i ever saw and used those things were at my grandma's house when i was a lot younger.. i love roasted corn (boiled then roasted over the fire until some of the kernels turn dark brown/black and some of them pop open) rolled in sugar.. the sprinkles of spices/salt is optional.

flax breads are really nice..just make sure you do'nt put too much (the ground up type okay) or you'll end up with a scratched throat. as for just .. plain eating, etc, you can mix a tablespoon or so with your coffee/chocolate drinks as long as you won't wait too long before drinking it as it expands. yummy stuff. :)