insomniac

great news Ce'nedra, my niece is going to study there from next year, will sneak in as I am a laksa fanatic....I only know the book buying shop ps, the food at HKU was pretty good, the usual suspects, but filet and frites for $HK38!!!!, didn't cook much at home...

he's got the 'I must keep my fingers off the lens' stance perfectly....too bad about the purple strap what a handsome young man!...love the hair...

you were looking out????

hey doc, can you buy the galangal online? if so, get a delivery and keep it in the freezer...I prefer that way altho a Thai friend dries it and keeps it in an airtight jar...I don't think there is a substitute unfortunately for my mieng kum sauce I use: 2 tbs unsweetened coconut 1/2 tsp kapi (shrimp paste) 1/2 tsp sliced ka (galangal) 1/2 tsp sliced shallot 3 tbsp chopped unsalted peanuts 2 tbsp chopped gung haeng (dried shrimp) 1 tsp sliced khing (ginger) 6 oz. nahm tan (palm sugar) 20 fl. oz. water roast kapi, ka and shallot til fragrant in 350 deg. oven (around 5 mins)....cool Put them in a mortar or blender with peanuts, shrimp and ginger, pound til fine Put it in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with the sugar and water, mix well, bring to the boil, simmer til reduced to about 1 1/4cups....cool. oh, having just reread yr. post it has dawned upon me that you already have a mieng kum recipe, so for others who may be interested I've left it in....brings back very fond memories of sitting with our friends and the kids in Thailand...my daughter just looked over my shoulder and exclaimed that she had totally forgotten about mieng kum and has decided to whip it up tonite...thanks!!!! darned spelling again

I spot Koalas in your wall of Pocky boxes and 333 spells beer to me... particularly identify with the black rubber glove reaching for the Yebisu...your paper mess in the apartment is amateur night...no knickers, no empties, wrappers etc, you are actually quite neat for chaps... damned spelling

ditto ...then let it rest

hmmm, not sure Roger...I think the hurdle you would have to leap is not the machine (great idea) but the customers...I've lived in lots of countries round the world and enjoy a cocktail but I am in the absolute minority in the UK, I mean really absolute, so there would need to be some sort of major readjstment of habit to get the machine off the ground (a few large cities excepted)...the sort of booze one drinks is so intertwined with the culture I think there would be serious resistance in many quarters...and that applies to the nationality of airline customers as well... I mainly fly Cathay Pacific and its customers are mostly Chinese....huge market but more into wines in business and first and you are up against the lack of alcohol processing enzyme there in many people...now if you could make it a product that is perceived to be linked with wealth or sophistication you might have a chance in Asia...BTW I was lucky enough to have a few first class trips in the old 747s when upstairs wasn't business but a lounge and bar and drinks were certainly mixed there...excellent fun...I remember on a very long flight I suffered 2 hangovers

you might be disappointed....from my limited experience (twice) Elisha's food deserves much more than the mediocre surroundings and service in which it is presented. IMO he should find a better sponsor for his obvious talents...

I have heard of cooking au foin (with hay) with ham or cheese and also using a hay box to insulate and cook already heated food but have never attempted it myself....good luck...why not

re Chris Horridge, had one gorgeous meal there then one totally marred by waitstaff just round the corner whining about treatment by the kitchen, however on a personal note, our son was 16 three years ago and after a day in the kitchen Chris gave him a job...later that week son was told he had a place at a 2 star mich. resto....he rang Chris and told him, said he didn't want to let him down...Chris immediately said that if he gave away the michelin job he would boot him up the arse as it was a chance in a lifetime.....seems like a pretty decent guy to me...

but doomed does have a certain ring to it....

gorgeous as usual Hiroyuki...must have been a very special family meal for you all together, bet the kids were delighted...I hope your wife manages to keep well...

They have a term for that: The Calorie Restriction Optimal Nutrition diet ← Oh no I would never say that! LOL..way to serious!... and it would not leave room for home made cookies if I believed that! ....just put less on your plate ...and as Dianabanana said waste less! composting to me is a huge solution for waste ...I am stunned at how much compostables take up in the trash! ..even if you live in an appartment in a city and only have house plants ..you can compost in a bucket and recycle into the houseplants...(I swear this is an option ..does not smell and works for the best free house plant soil you can imagine! I have done it!) as individuals people can and should consume and waste less food (as well as packaging, plastic wraps, foil, paper plates, bags ect ect ect) this will help the bigger picture... this I truly believe ← composting is brilliant....we have a house-full and only put out a small bag of rubbish once a week after recycling bottles and paper... the one thing that does concern me with food flown in from round the world is its nutritional value....I think that most of the goodness has leached out by the time we get to eat the 'old' fruit and veg, even tho it may still look pretty good...

I guess you missed my post...we do recognise that there is a semantic difference and that some trifles contain both jello and jelly in the UK and Oz, just maybe not in the States

...but the international produce we are getting now isn't arriving by camel....and yes we would be worse off, product-wise, however, looking at the recent food riots in Haiti, for example, if subsidised imported grain hadn't supplanted their own crops more cheaply maybe their problem would not have been exacerbated...globalisation has a lot to answer for....and I recently watched a programme on Mexican corn producers really screwed by Nafta...maybe the cross-border illegal immigrant problem wouldn't be so bad if Mexican farmers could grow crops profitably....all so political, no-one wants to lose a voter by abolishing subsidies..

got to have jelly...

I guess that we as consumers now expect to go to the shops and be able to buy what we want when we want it 24/7 but I think that we are paying for that flexibility in pollution. Food that is flown or shipped in needs heavy duty packaging and often requires refrigeration. Freight is cheap because under the Chicago Convention fuel used for both sea and air freight is not taxed. There are some really stupid consumable swaps, eg. the UK imports around 20 tonnes of bottled water from Australia and vice versa! I know that the issue is complicated and emission trading is bound up with politics and economic interests. Food production is much cheaper in certain countries but I do wonder how much profit actually flows into the local economy of those poorer food producing countries? I for one would be quite happy to forego exotics and revert to the produce of the seasons, home grown and fresher. I was amazed to discover recently that the UK imports 95% of its fruit and around half its vegetables while much agricultural land here lies fallow under agricultural subsidies. I jokingly asked someone what has happened to the European wheat mountain lately and they replied that it was probably lying at the bottom of the sea of milk. (dumping food makes me very uneasy) However there are certain products that I couldn't live without (well, I could but I don't really want to, where is the hypocrite emoticon?), tea, coffee, spices, rice etc, but perishables I could work around...and have done in several countries in the past

normally an Oz trifle has a layer of jelly (jello) over stale cake smeared with jam (jelly!) and sloshed with sherry....I make up the jelly (jello) using fruit juice and booze instead of water and spoon it over the cake when it is quasi-set, then custard, fruit etc etc..sometimes crumble macaroons in there somewhere ...

you know you're an eGulleter when your kids know intimate things about eGullet

that's interesting Hiroyuki, I wonder what was the reasoning behind that strange attempt??

I think I can just begin to imagine what sort of effort you had to make to tell us about your Passover Becs.....thanks for sharing with us, your daughter is a real star (the shining brightly in the firmament kind)

I hate when I misplace the big cock! Takes days for him to get over it. So, what exactly where you looking for?? ← and I did think later that I should have mentioned that it was cock brand fish sauce I was looking for

I share your pain

aha CY, thanks for the post, I had read a message posted on a bit of paper in the window of the Chinese food shop I use when I'm in Bristol announcing a new Sichuan resto there but it was written in Chinese, didn't have the name or address of the place and just gave a ph. no. to ring for info....you have solved the mystery

was preparing various Thai last dishes last night and wondered why I got a look from my friend when I stuck my head in the sauce cupboard muttering, 'I was sure I had a huge cock in here.'.....alas no fish sauce.... or anything else for that matter. Took a while to realise what I'd said...