insomniac

I made a beef braise last night and used aka miso to season for salt. Deelish

Yam nuea (thai beef salad)

I have been collecting cookbooks since my mid teens and when I'm in the mood I will open some of the oldest and the foodie splatters on favourite pages are as evocative of times long gone as songs and certain fragrances can sometimes be. So I see these cookbooks as a sort of diary of my life.

Hey Doddie - mum used to give us kids crumbed brain sandwiches to take to primary (elementary?) school which were delicious and I swapped them with some success until it became known what the mystery ingredient was

Yeah, you'd be getting a post from a Huli saying the wackiest thing he'd ever eaten was an Australian Seriously, at that time kuru, which is a disease like CJD or mad cow disease was affecting one particular tribe badly, mainly the women, because they would eat certain portions of a just dead relative as part of the burial process.

I spent the whole of my chidren's youth in HK pleading with them NOT to chew chicken/other bones like their friends did as they would damage their digestive system....well that's what I was told by my mother.....the kids are not children any more and not a perforation in sight BTW I love marrow, just not getting at it the way they do

Grabriel, I am referring to the long skinny purplish white ones, not the round ones

well, I don't measure out my ingredients but this is an approximation of what I do Mix a yam sauce using lime juice, nam pla, sugar and green chilis to taste. Either BBQ or char the eggplants, (I use 3-4) until they are soft inside and then put them in a bag to steam for a few mins so it is easy to peel off the skin. Don't worry about a few black spots as they make the salad taste smokey and earthy. Soak some gung haeng in hot water for a few mins and drain. Slice up a few shallots and some cilantro. Shred some steamed crab meat. Slice the eggplant lengthwise and halve (or whatever) Throw it all together, pile the salad on lettuce leaves and enjoy

I use them for yam makeua which is basically roasted or BBQ eggplant in a spicy yam dressing with gung haeng (dried shrimp) and crab

I think it's a cultural difference...all the things SheenaGreena likes to chew on are favourites of most Philippinos, HKers, Chinese, Koreans, etc etc....my kids were born and raised in HK and like to eat all those things too...they even fight over fish-eyes but hate fish fingers

I notice that people here in the U.K.(or at least in my area) cut all the stalk from broccoli and cook only the florets

then pop into the Old Spot in Sadler St. for lunch. Can highly recommend it.

A woman after my own heart Mrs W. ....and unnecessary remarks like 'chav slag' say more about the remarker than the remarkee

The wackiest thing I've ever SEEN anyone eat.......I worked for a year in a very remote region of Papua New Guinea up near the West Irian border in the late 1960's. A lone and intrepid southern Baptist minister from Alabama (I think) opened a small tradestore to sell things like canned mackerel pike and bully beef to the locals, in the hope that they would come to his church. He was bemused when the Heinz babyfood sold out in record time. I asked one of the 'customers' why. Yep, you guessed it, everyone believed that they were canned babies, a logical conclusion given that there was a photo of a fish on the can of mackerel and a cow on the tin of beef. Opinion was that they would gain the white man's 'know how' if consumed. I didn't have the heart to put them right.

The Tandoor used to be in the building I had my office.......unfortunately. Far too handy.

I made rice like that once.....no need for food colouring.....just forget about it in a warm kitchen for a few days,..... and it's hairy too

ham sup lo

My kids loved to eat raw noodles until I told them their stomachs would explode And I guess wah mui and haw flakes don't count. Last year's mooncakes found in the back of the cupboard

Ah Leung, Cantonese not a prob. as lived in HK for 18 yrs (still commuting between there and UK) and as a consumately nosy person it drives me crazy if I can't understand what people around me are talking about I went to Cantonese classes for a year, so sek gong........ (normally HKers are talking about food, the Hang Seng or the property market ) My favourite 'eating' tea is sau mei....I find bo lei a tad strong and the flower based teas really do stick in the teeth

Wasn't he at the Montacute Arms?

hot buttered toast with vegemite and my daughter and I eat the Chinese tea leaves out of the pot (when do-one's looking)...then recommend checking teeth in mirror..........

My thoughts exactly...it was that half profile shot with the big shirt collar...mind you I think Harry Hill is brilliant too

Ladies and gentlemen, my son (commis in a 2 star Mich in UK) and I ate at PG last summer from the carte and suffice it to say that we were so seduced by the food, even after 2 weeks of (superb) Michelin trawling through Spain, that when chef appeared at our table in fresh whites, his head magically backlit by the dining room lighting, his hair gleaming like a halo, the vision was so surreal that we sat like morons with mouths slightly open at this angelic apparition, whereupon PG smiled and decamped to the kitchen where he probably had a good laugh at our expense. Tourists. But OMIGOD the food. Not a very helpful post but that was the best meal we have ever eaten and we still laugh at our mutual reaction.

Husb. leaves the house to go away working for 10 days......tuyu magically jumps out of the airtight tin and into the frying pan. Need at least 8 days for the smell to vanish as he has the nose of a foxhound. Kids used to love eating those packs of dried Squiddy in Thailand....ditto

As a reformed lurker I have had the genius idea of using this wonderful thread to introduce myself to you all (gulp, a bit more intimidating than I had imagined)...so, here goes. Be gentle with me. 1. What was your food culture growing up? Grew up in Sydney, Oz, one of 4 kids, with a mother who's forebears were almost convicts and a dad who was the firstborn of Russian Jewish immigrants. An unusual marriage at that time. The expression 'Australian food culture' in the late fifties was a contradiction in terms to put it mildly.My dad's mum lived with us and my earliest memories are of helping her in the kitchen as she chopped and cooked and turned out stunning food that was totally different from the stuff I was eating at my friend's places (thank god). And her baking was sublime. My mum's parents had owned butcher shops so we also ate things we thought we normal, that grossed out my friends. Oh, how I laughed after swapping my crumbed brain sandwich at school which was thoroughly enjoyed until I spilled the beans about the contents. 2. Was meal time important? Pretty well. And we all had our set places around a large table in the kitchen my dad had built especially to fit us all. Breakfast was wonderful. Our parents loved the water, so every morning, except for the colder winter months we would get up early and go to a nearby beach to swim for a hour, just at that time when you can feel the promise of the heat of the day to come, and the cicadas are already singing their song. Back ravenous and our bodies sticky with dried salt, and mum would cook us stacks of pancakes and scrambled eggs and sausages. 3. Was cooking important? Supremely. I didn't quite realise how well we were eating at the time but I was drawn like a magnet to the stove, and picked up prep and cooking skills quite young, but also didn't realise it. I just remember that I loved the rhythm and routine of creating a meal with the adults. 4. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? Nothing said specifically. Us kids were just expected to sit up, use our implements properly and never talk with food in our mouths. However mealtimes were fraught with danger in our house. Dad was a practical joker. You ate your cereal with care in case you bit down on a small plastic diver swimming submerged in the milk, freshly baked cakes had mysterious animal footprints across the icing, and on one memorable occasion dad hid a small firework we called a tom thumb in mum's mashed potato and lit it when she had her back turned. Years later there are still stains on the ceiling and I still have the image burned in my mind of mum's eyebrows looking like twin snowdrifts. But I was horrified to hear my best friend's mother burp loudly one mealtime at their place and I am afraid I rather disgraced myself by bursting into hysterical laughter. 5. Who cooked in the family? Mum and Nana and me regularly, dad when he was in a creative mood. A bonus was being entertained by nana's stories of her life in Russia, and then England and the States while we worked in the kitchen. Probably why I left Oz when I was 19 and have had wanderlust ever since. 6. Were restaurant meals common or for special events? We NEVER ate out. Was uncommon then and, unlike now, no local restaurants, especially ethnic ones. Was only much later when a Vietnamese family moved in next door when I was about 13 and passed us titbits over the fence that I had eaten Asian food. Amazing, in retrospect. We have lived as adults for many years in Hong Kong and Thailand and before that in New Guinea, Fiji, Nigeria, Bahrain and I couldn't imagine not eating out. 7. Did the children have a kiddy table when guests were over? We would normally eat first, although I do seem to have a sort of memory of a wobbly card table at some stage. Probably when we had nana's brothers and sisters and families visiting from the States. 8. When did you get that first sip of wine? Beer, actually, now that's a surprise; I must have been quite young, it was another very hot, blue day and dad gave me a sip of what he was drinking when we were having a BBQ. Blech. Wine, I was 15 and got supremely drunk on crappy liebfraumilch on a double date, whereupon the poor bloke I was with propped me at my front door, rang the bell and ran. Dad held my head while I was sick most of the night and never said a word. Never again. (sort of) 9. Was there a pre-meal prayer? Surprisingly, given our mix of religion we did say simple grace when we were very young but it petered out. I know mum and dad only sent us to Sunday School so they had a bit of peace. 10. Was there a rotating menu? Sunday roast lunch, with chopped herring or chopped liver to start. Soup and sandwiches Sunday night. 11. How much of your family's culture is being replicated in your present day family life? The children are away (uni and work) now but we always sit at the table and we always eat pretty damn well. Kids have inherited a love of food and respect for ingredients. We eat a huge range of cuisines. I do 90 percent of the cooking. Husb. just uses the excuse that I do it so well. Son sometimes cooks (just turned 18, left school at 16 to follow his dream to be a chef, now commis at 2 michelin star, working 18 hour days with half-hour mealtime, skinny as hell, and no social life but loving it. I admire his dedication totally. And we do occasionally still find plastic toys in our food. Yikes, very long, promise other posts will be the soul of brevity.