miladyinsanity

That's right. You only eat the roe of the horseshoe crabs. I saw them when I was in Sai Kung, and my dad says he used to catch them and his mom would cook them. I eat practically any kind of seafood, but I put my foot down on the horseshoe crabs. Though to be fair, I don't even eat crab roe.

Tuesday is Pancake Tuesday. I have plans involving cheese and broccoli and chocolate--but not together.

It is my understanding that chickpeas are the only ones that you definitely need to pre-soak. ← That's what I thought after I read 7 pages, so thanks!

I need help. I'm not quite sure why I do this to myself when I can buy them canned, but I've several bags of various beans lying about at the moment. For chickpeas: Should I pre-soak? I always have before, but since I have a slow cooker I can just stick them in there for the whole day so in theory, it's like pre-soaking and cooking combined, right?

I had a Lemon Meringue pie. (I personally think of them as tarts, but Selfridges says it's a pie, so it counts.)

Mark, I know that, it's just that I don't know why you're not supposed to give knives to people. Any ideas?

I was told in Germany that one always gives a token payment in exchange for a knife. As a pure gift, the knife might "severe" the friendship. The transaction evidently prevents this. ← This is another one my mother follows. When a friend of mine gave me my Heinckel knives for a shower gift, my mother insisted I give her US$0.07 per knife. Asked me everyday till I gave in. Of course, my friend's not superstitious at all and thought it very silly. I think she tossed the coins back in the spare change jar I got them from. ← It's a Chinese tradition too, that you can't give people sharp objects like knives and scissors. Once my mom picked up a Henckels set for one of her sisters as a gift, and my aunt gave my mom a dollar. Don't remember the reasoning behind it though.

Nutella on cream crackers. I put on like 3-4 kilos thanks to that. Now I no longer buy cream crackers or Nutella.

One bag of Sensations Roasted Chicken with lemon and Thyme crisps One bag of Mars planets One sweet potato worth of oven fries I did have a healthy breakfast (cold cereal with milk) and healthy dinner (farfallini, cannelini beans and baby corn in chicken soup) though. ETA: Add a Nissin Chicken flavour cup noodle to the list.

I'm going to be in Amsterdam for a weekend starting the 31st of this month--it's all rush-rush, because I wasn't planning to go, originally. I don't know where I'm going to be staying yet, but I do know what I want to do: 1. A good rijstaffel 2. Home-style Dutch meal 3. Good patisserie 4. I need to buy stroopwaffels. They should be fine if I send them through the post, right? And which ones should I get? For the first three, I'm just going to run through what's already in the pages here (thanks to everybody who's contributed so much!), but I could use some specific help regarding the last one. Thanks!

In 2008, I will eat better. I will make curries and soups and things that are warm and soothing to the soul. I will find a place where I can buy dry goods in bulk. I will learn to make a reasonably good vegetable stock. I will teach people that cooking involves cleaning the kitchen afterwards too. I will read something other than economics textbooks.

Interesting. A friend of mine is a lifelong vegetarian--ever since she was born--and she can't stand the smell of frying bacon.

Rolled up because it's freezing in Manchester--not quite, but I'm a tropical flower here. I think it's more 'my thing' than just a 'cooking thing.' I don't like doing stuff in general with long sleeves either; I roll or push them up. I may have to adapt just because of the cold though.

Ah! I think you are talking about "Gai Dan Tsai" (the literal translation is "little chicken eggs"). They are sold everywhere. They are made like waffles, with an waffle iron and charcoal-burnt. When they first come out of the waffle iron, they look like honeycombs. You twist one off as you go. I think you have asked about this in some other threads. (Or am I making this up??? ) They are sold everywhere, really. What would you like to know more? (I don't think I had taken a picture of them during this trip...) ← I hope that you are making that up, because I'm too young to have a good excuse for asking a question, getting an answer, forgetting that I got an answer and asking again. I am so totally going to make use of the recommendations you have in here when I get there this weekend, so thanks!

Sweet? Or savory? Did you have it in a restaurant? Or roadside vendor? What's there besides the pancake? ← Sweet. Roadside vendor. And it's just a pancake--sort of. You basically pluck off one bubble (I should add, the bubbles are quite big) at a time and stuff them into your mouth.

Green & Blacks has a ginger bar that I plan to try.

The first one from the left, or the renge, is what I know as a Chinese (soup) spoon.

I've been to Hong Kong twice, but what I remember is a pancake (kinda) like thing that looks sort of like bubble wrap. Am I making this up?

First, take a glass of cold water out to the grill to dip your finger in before you poke the meat. I do this because I am a wuss. Best way I ever heard this described was the 'face' method. Dip your finger into the water, then poke the steak. If it feels like the middle of your cheek, it's rare. If it feels like your chin (soft but with some bounce-back), it's medium. If it feels like the tip of your nose, it's well-done. I've heard the same thing about using your face for reference, but I've always used my earlobe to judge a rare steak - I find it works better since my cheek feels different every time I poke at it. ← ← I think the photo may seem misleading. ← Misleading indeed. I looked at the photo and was thinking, "shit, how did this person burn/scald his hand like that?"

If you make eyeball stock, I don't care how you do it, but you must, must post photos!! ← Yes! I second Judith!

My girlfriend bought a bag of the raspberry one at Selfridges today. I might have to steal a piece off her if she has any left. ETA: It's addictive! Grr.... And it's Harvey Nichols, apparently...

Oh I'm leaving for Hong Kong the Saturday after this one--though I'm actually arriving on Sunday--because my dad's working there for awhile, so the family's meeting up there. It's evil. I've deadlines to meet before I can leave, and instead of working I'm drooling over the pictures.

Frozen chips. Why? Why? Is it so difficult to skin a couple of potatoes, slice them up, toss 'em with oil and then into the oven? Or to parboil them for a few minutes before tossing into the oven?

Those latkes look amazing. I think I'm going to have to make some. It has potatoes, and they are fried until they are brown and crispy. They have to be good. Pity I don't have anybody who can tell me whether mine are good or not.

Melt it down and puree everything for a sorbet?