OnigiriFB

I love this thread! Hilarious. Here's a dish I was going to blog about but after looking at it....um... not sure if people would what wonder "what the hell is that s**t brown stuff" I figure the people here would appreciate it It's kind of a kiddy dish in thailand. Hard boiled eggs, tofu, and pork belly braised in five spice broth. It tasted great but umm... looked a little funky huh?

potato and leek soup. Good cold (vichyssoise) or hot (cockaleeke).

Hrm... okonomiyaki? I learned to make it when I was older but I think it would be fun for her to get all the things together, rough chop what needs to be, stir with flour and stuff and then watch it cook on the griddle.

I like Granite City. I've been there a few times for both dinner and it's sunday brunch. Do I go there expecting to be wine and dined as if I were going to PerSe or the French Laundry? No. I go there to grab a blue cheese peppercorn burger and a beer or eat brunch with a few friends. Have I waited in line? Yes, I have. Why? Because the food isn't too bad, there's good selection of american dishes that a picky person or non picky person could choose from, it's in a good location, and it's has a fun atmosphere. Like any restaurant there are dishes they do well and some they don't. I love the local eateries just as so many fellow eGulleteers but I think we are a little different than your average diner. I will go out of my way to find the local dive ethnic restaurants (a ghanian one just opened up by me I'm dying to try out) or make something thats going to take 4 trips to different stores and 3 days to make but will my friends? Nope and there is nothing wrong with that. Quite a few of them go with me to various locally owned ethnic restaurants too. Just different strokes....

Yummy looking as always. I make this when I'm feeling homesick. We always did it with marinated ground pork, scallions, and garlic oil on top. I think I'll have to make this soon!

Great blog Helen! I adore Japanese food. I second the tempura request, do you make a variety? If so could you include yams? Those are my favorite. Thanks

Ooo I bet these would be great for a superbowl party.

I could tuck into 2 dozen oysters by the time I was five.

Fruit and veggies. I usually over buy since I know I'll be nibbling as I cook. We made blue cheese grapes rolled in crushed pistachios for a new years eve party and grapes and pistachios kept going missing for some reason!

I think this is the key difference here: Much different than a litigious letter. And part of the reason for the uproar, at least in DC circles, is that this plays right into the reputation Chef Greenwood has and has earned and, for all accounts, takes great pride in. ← No difference in my opinion. If fact, one might say this was expected from Chef Greenwood and not from TK so does this make TK a little less California......a little less laid back, perhaps a little more like Chef Greenwood. No telling if a litigious letter would have followed if he had not stopped taking the picutres. Further, this thread is not really about Chef Greenwood. It has turned into a thread about the rights of the consumer or eater to photograph the food we are purchasing. In that light, I ask the question of whether TK and Per Se have gone to far in asking people not to take pictures their food that notwithstanding quality costs a ton. It is the same thing that Chef Greewood. Why would the reaction be any different from the people on this board? RM ← I disagree. I don't see this so much as a matter of not being able to take pictures in such and such restaurant as it is with the way this matter was handled. I think any restaurant which is a privately owned business that can for whatever reason refused business with you can dictate what it likes IN the restaurant. I personally would not villify any restaurant/chef that did not wish pictures taken. BTW I wonder if the Per Se request was due to disruption of other dining patrons since they did allow pictures in the kitchen. If it were that important to me then I would simply cease to frequent those restaurants. What stands out to me it the cease and desist letter sent to the blogger. I think in doing this the chef went overboard. As far as I see Jason stopped when requested and did NOT post any pictures. So why the letter? IMHO the chef is an ass and I hope they lose business because of this. I don't care how good the food, if I were treated this way there are many other restaurants I could frequent.

Same here! I had to make coconut bonbons for christmas cookie boxes we gave away this year. Everyone else liked them but I thought they were disgusting. *shudder* sweetened chewy plastic wrap dipped in chocolate and rolled in more plastic wrap... yum... NOT!

Once again that looks terrific! Can't wait to try this one. So far I've done your Ma-Po Tofu and Chicken Chow Mein. Both are keepers. I have a feeling this one will be as well. Looks to be a nice hardy meal perfect for Iowa winters.

Wow. Thank you for all the good suggestions and links. I love eGullet and knew there would be so many people with good suggestions. Everything sounds lovely. Actually I took the term high tea from what was always served in Thailand in the fancy hotels. Thinking back you are all right there were more heartier dishes served. What I am thinking of is a afternoon tea where a bunch of us ladies can sit around and nibble while gossiping about the latest news. Looks like I have a bunch of sites to look through. After I do that I'll be sure to post what my menu is and see what you all think of it.

I've been foraying into the wonderful world of gourmet teas. We've tried oolongs, white teas, earl grey, english breakfast, chamomile, and floral blends. All have been delightful but drunk sans any food. If you were to host a high tea what would you serve and with what tea?

I usually do the open oven, grab pan with mitts, take off mitts, do something, grab pan routine. One landing me in the emergency room with a bottle of percodin to take home. According to a friend a phone call a little while later ran something like this: Me: Hello, oh yeah I'm fine, doc put me on percodin... Friend: wow at least you got the good drugs. me: blah blah blah friend: blah blah blah me: (silence) friend: hello? me: hello? Julie, is that you? Oh hi how's it going? Totally as if we hadn't been talking for 10 minutes already. She teases me to this day about getting burned and being drugged. Every once in awhile I do the bump arm onto hot oven door thing too. Foodwise a friend of mine nuked whipped cream for a minute. I believe she was trying to thaw it faster. Mmm yum lets all pour melted I have no idea whats in this shit (that whip stuff in the blue tub found in freezer aisles) all over our dessert. Um...no lets not!

I have very few food items that I absolutely abhor but uni, magosa, and water beetles are three that come to mind immediately. Before all you uni fan say anything yes I have tried and it yes it was in a very good sushi restaurant. I can't stand it ... not only does it have a funky taste I can't stand the texture at all. It's the only thing that I almost spit out in the middle of a restaurant and the only sushi I refuse to eat. Magosa is this asian vegetable thats just nasty. I believe it commonly used in southern Thai cooking. Our cook always stir-fried it with something or other, after the first time I refused to eat that dish. The water beetle is commonly used in the northeast part of Thailand in somtam (papaya salad) and unbelievabley disgusting. I'm sorry bug guts really do NOT add a good flavor to anything. But offal, blood, fish eyeballs(fried), shrimp paste, fish sauce... yum! My favorite way to use shrimp paste is nam prik plaa tu. First time I ever smelled our cook making it from scratch I almost threw up my lunch. You think it'a bad when you buy a container. *shudder* Just think about that smell 100 times worse as it wafts through the air and seems to permeate everything. I told her there was no way in **ll I would eat that. Course then she made nam prik plaa tuu and that was really good. After that I just made sure I was never home an a day she was going to make the paste. Edited because things don't make sense when you leave words out!

No no this is great! I tried googling chinese teas and that did give me a headache! Seems like most of the sites just wanted to sell me something so I gave up. I'm finding this incredible interesting so thank you. I love eGullet. Well I'm definately going to put your teas on my list and see if my store has them. To backtrack a bit what makes an oolong an oolong again? Is that the one where it is a mix of black tea and green tea? I know white tea not oxidized and black tea is fully oxidized. What green tea again? I've heard of pu'er but I've never seen it nor tasted it I believe. That isn't the one that comes in balls is it? Umm... dragon balls ? dragon pearls? It was either pu'er or dragon whatever that my friend was telling me about he used for his chinese wedding. All I know is that its incredible expensive and the highest quality he could get in LA.

The problem I had with the first brewing of the white tea is that as it tasted a bit grassy to me and gave me a headache. Do you think I just brewed it too long? I'm still getting the hang of temp and timing my brewing. Oooo new terms. <-- tea dummy. I know I've had good tea. I can at least recognize good tea when I taste it but don't ask me to name any of them or know what kind of leaves are used. Could you translate?

Thank you for all the information. Wow I never knew tea was that complex and I grew up drinking some decent stuff! Joel - I have three different teas I purchased from GongFu Tea store. One is a white tea called silver needle, an Earl Grey Darjeeling, and a blend called Ancient Happiness. The last one is very floral and I think mixed with a green tea. The brew if fairly light. So far I've found that I like the second brewing better. I tried rinsing it (poured a small amount of water in and let sit for 20 second pour out) and really like all of them now. Can you OD on tea? God I hope not!

We are doing Kir Royales with Chambord instead of Creme de Cassis. A nice touch will be the raspberry dropped into the glass.

After all the christmas food of the past couple of week I needed some rice. But all I had in my fridge was some leftover bamboo shoots and some mushrooms about to go bad. I remembered this thread and threw them in the rice pot with some soy sauce, mirin, and shiaxing cooking wine. Talk about delicious! I loved it and I'm definetely going to try this again. Hopefully I can pick up some aburage and hijiki at my asian market soon. Thanks for such a great thread. I'll upload a picture as soon as I get them uploaded to the computer! Wonderful stuff!

This thread made me request this book from my secret santa and he sent it!!! Can't wait to try out some recipes.

What does gong fu style mean? Thank you for the suggestions.

Hi, I just bought some loosed leaf tea from Gong Fu Tea here in Des Moines (see my blog for a review) and the 2 teas I've purchased I've like the second brewing better than the first. This is my first real foray into gourmet teas and I was wondering if this is a common thing? I purchased a white tea called silver needle and a earl grey darjeeling. Both teas have a slightly acrid aftertaste. The white tea was grassy and gave me a slight headache (i'm allergic to grasses) the first time around but the second and third time it mellowed out into a wonderul if subtle tasting tea. The earl grey was similiar but actually seemed to devolop more of the bergamont scent each time. What causes that anyone know? I'm I just crazy? I am using the time frames giving to me by the tea store. It brewing in a pot loosely. What do you think?

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what you're talking about but I really don't recall such a thing. Umm.... is your friend from Bangkok? Or another part of Thailand? I'm just wondering if this is a regional treat. How long ago had she eaten this treat? It's been 10 years since I've been back so could be a new thing I'm not familiar with. Or if it's been awhile it could be something that not offered anymore? Good luck looking for it Austin. I like the blog, keep up the good work.