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Kent Wang

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by Kent Wang

  1. How big of a deal is Chanukah in Israel? I'm told in America it's hyped up a lot to compete with Christmas. I noticed some of your molds are a bit Christmas-y: the pine tree, reindeer and stocking.
  2. Are the camels strictly for milk? Do they ride, race, or wrestle them? Or eat them when they're too old?
  3. Would you say this is typical Guangxi cuisine? I was in Guilin recently, and it seemed they liked it a bit spicy.
  4. Well, if you think avocado then perhaps a guacamole.
  5. WSJ blog on Singapore: This sounds pretty neat. Has anyone been?
  6. Egg tarts. The dimsum kind. Those always seem very yellow and the best ones (e.g. from Lillian Cake Shop in Shanghai) have a very eggy flavor, leading me to believe that they're all egg yolk.
  7. Thanks for a great tour of Singapore! I'll be in touch in late January.
  8. Mmm... Tuscan sausage. Is domestic turkey available where you are? Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to be in China, which you would think produces everything. Maybe it's available at the industrial level but not at retail. Mexico: I think a mole would be a great alternative to gravy. I don't know how much you want to deviate from tradition.
  9. This Saturday, my girlfriend and I had Erin (nakji), her husband and a few others over to celebrate Thanksgiving. This is my first time doing Thanksgiving in China so some compromises were made. Pressure-fried duck from Palace Duck - With turkey at $6/lb (imported from America), duck was the much more affordable option at only $5 for a whole duck. Roasted mutton ribs from Friday Muslim market Taro "pulling threads" - My friend made this. He was originally going to do candied yams but couldn't find them, only found taro. Blue cheese mashed potatoes - Affordable good cheese is hard to find in China but this New Zealand blue was surprisingly cheap Salad - Made by Erin. Mulled cider - I tossed a bucket of apples into my electric juicer along with some ginger, heated it, then added a lot of dark rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, and bitters. Walnut pie (not pictured) - Just like a pecan pie, except pecans are hard to find here, so I used freshly cracked walnuts from the Muslim market. Xinjiang province produces a lot of nuts. Included 6 oz of bourbon. Any other expats celebrating Thanksgiving outside of North America?
  10. The problem with Indian and Southeast Asian restaurants in Shanghai is that they aren't spicy enough, probably because most Shanghainese can't handle spice—yet there are many seriously spicy Sichuan restaurants. Anyway, is that the case in Singapore where you specifically have to ask for extra spicy? I was just looking at the Tippling Club's menu and their drinks are about $23. Ouch. New York and nearly everywhere I've been is around USD 12, including Berlin and Shanghai (yes, there are good bars here). I've only heard of Japan as being that expensive. Is this all because of the sin tax?
  11. Indians and Chinese are a pretty huge part of the population right? What about Malays? Wouldn't their food be as pungent? So that leaves only foreigners? I also live in place where it's affordable to eat out every day but I don't because I find it's not very healthy. Do you find that to be a problem? Do you try to eat some of the more healthy options?
  12. Bar Kode looks pretty decent. Have you been to the Tippling Club? I hear good things about that place. Yikes! I can understand curries leaving a lingering smell but what Chinese food does?
  13. I'm very excited to read this as my girlfriend and I are coming to Singapore right before Chinese New Year. I'll definitely be in touch. Are the wine import taxes quite hefty? How are prices for wine at retail and in restaurants, compared to Europe? What about the prices at the international restaurants like Guy Savoy and Mozza? With the current slide of the USD against the SGD, maybe not so good compared to New York prices?
  14. In about a month I will have some friends coming over from America to bring some bottles of liquor. Last time I did this I put each bottle in a gallon ziploc bag (in case of breakage) and then lots of bubble wrap. This is safe enough that you can drop the wrapped bottle four feet from the ground and it just bounces like a ball. This may seem overcautious as some people have told me they just wrap the bottles in clothing but I have also heard of people doing this with red wine and the bottle breaking and ruining all their clothes. But this technique is a less than ideal as you have to buy a bunch of bubble wrap and then it seems wasteful to just toss it away. The gallon ziplocs actually don't fit most bottles, you'd need an even bigger ziploc. I wonder if there was some sort of specially designed ziploc-type bag that's designed to fit a bottle and would be padded too. Then you could reuse the bags on future trips. The Carpano Antica canister thread has a good tip of using the canisters to transport 750ml bottles, but I wonder if transporting Carpano Antica itself in just the canister is a good idea?
  15. I've made lots of pickled cucumbers by just putting them raw in vinegar, salt and sugar, and storing them in the fridge for about a week. I bought some okra recently and have done the same thing, but all the recipes I can find on the internet of pickled okra involve either boiling the liquid then pouring over the okra or the entire jar. The techniques seem to have a focus on sterilizing for canning, but I'm going to eat these as soon as they're ready so am not worried about that. Raw pickled cucumbers I can understand, because raw cucumbers taste good, but would raw pickled okra taste good? I've never had raw okra.
  16. Yeah, that looks really nice. Have you used it for grilling other things like burgers and steaks? I'm also wondering if this replaces the need for a toaster? I only toast bread for sandwiches, not to make, uh, toast with eggs or anything like that.
  17. Oxyclean is pretty magical stuff. I'm not sure if there's any other brand that's similar (or one that's available in China). I went on a quest to buy Oxyclean in Shanghai and only once found it at CityShop, which then stopped carrying it. I read that Metro has it. I ended up bringing some over from America in my luggage.
  18. How do you do the sniffing? Do you lift up the bowl or plate, or bow your head down, or do you put it on your fork and bring it up to your nose? I had a roommate that would only sniff food that he was uncertain of, like whatever dish I was cooking, and he'd do it by bringing the fork up to his nose. That left a bad impression with me. I also hated that guy.
  19. Tickets looks all booked up for the next 90 days. I'm looking for a reservation somewhere in July 21-27. Has anyone had much luck trying to get reservations from cancellations? In other words, should I keep checking their reservation site, or not bother at all?
  20. Glad you posted this. I went to Tim Ho Wan and West Villa. Both good. Was Tim Ho Wan the best dim sum ever? Maybe. I think Crystal Jade in Shanghai (I think they have HK locations too) is just as good, and has a wider menu. But honestly I think dim sum is a very uniform cuisine. At the top range, they are all quite similar. And to throw another shocker out there, dim sum in little ol' Austin, at a restaurant called "Shanghai" was 90% as good as Tim Ho Wan. Erin: For non-Chinese options, I liked Pastis a lot, French bistro. Also went to Press Room, a Western seafood restaurant. Fairly pricey, reasonably priced wine. Kinda like McCormick & Schmick.
  21. I've been to Franklin and thought it was pretty good. Snow's twice, once was bad, once was a bit better than Franklin. But I think Franklin has changed quite a bit since I went there about a year ago. Louie Mueller and the Lockhart places still my favorite.
  22. In Nanjing there's an Indian restaurant Himalaya that has a pretty good Belgian beer list. Other than that, can't help you.
  23. Kent Wang

    Making soy milk

    I use a Joyoung soy milk maker, which essentially blends it, cooks, and repeats for a few cycles. I don't add sugar; just water and beans. The taste is quite different and I think superior. I really hate American soy milk that has tons of emulsifiers and sugar to make it taste more like milk. But even soy milk without additives from the store doesn't taste as good as fresh from the maker; fresh tastes richer, more "full-bodied".
  24. I'm all in favor of technology, so bring on the cans and tetrapaks. I drink primarily crown corked Belgian ales. Just to be clear, are you saying that those beers would not be the same in cans? Then again, many of those breweries make the same beers in smaller bottles with a conventional bottle cap.
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