OnigiriFB

I don't think I've seen J Roget around here. Is it anything like Ballantine?

my favorite is napa cabbage and asian style meat balls, fish balls, shrimp balls, squid, and pork balls. I buy them all at the asian market and throw them in a large freezer bag where they all get mixed up. When I want ramen I just toss a handful in the boiling water, wait a bit, and then add my napa cabbage and ramen noodles. Yum. Lately I've been throwing out the seasoning packet and just adding some thai sukiyaki sauce to the bowl. When I was younger and lived above a thai restaurant me and the other kid who lived there would come down to the kitchen right before open and make Mama minced pork flavor with whatever was in the mise en place. Talk about being able to be creative with your ramen! We always got made fun of by the cooks though since we could have asked them to make us any dish we wanted but instead chose to eat ramen. I put it down to being young and stupid

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll keep in mind to buy brut. Katie we were actually thinking of using chambord as she wants to add a fresh raspberry to the bottom of the glass.

Oh MY! I have to try those. Thanks snowangel

I have an old national 5 cup that worked for 10 years. I want to upgrade but I really can't justify it. I only cook rice for me and usually 2 cups (uncooked) is plenty with leftovers. *sigh* one of these days if it dies them I'm buying the super duper models you guys have. I dunno though I think my family uses a national one and its been going strong for at least 20 years now. heh. Marlene - I think the quick cooking feature is used when you want to cook rice now. As opposed to letting it soak for a bit before the cooking mechanism turns on.

Hi, A friend of mine is throwing a new years eve party and I had the bright idea to suggest kir royales. I have no idea what kind of champagne to use. Asti? Brut? I'm not even sure I really know what those mean. Help please!

Lovely! Thanks for sharing your picture, OnigiriFB. Do you like firm tofu better? I like the silken soft tofu to increase the texture contrast between the minced meat and the tofu. ← Oops... I must have missed this post or just plain spaced replying to you. Sorry! I like firm tofu since thats what I'm used to. I really wanted to try it with silken since thats what you had posted, but I couldn't find it at my local asian market wierdly enough. Next time I was thinking of trying a different asian market that caters to more korean/japanese food since I know they have it there. When I do I'll try to remember to post the differences and which style I think I prefer more.

I am by no means Pim or anything (who is? ) but I am Thai and spent 5 years in Bangkok when I was a teenager. From my experience growning up in a relatively wealthy Thai family going out to the ritzy thai places were just a matter of prestige. Most thai food I had at the fancy places couldn't hold a candle to what our cook made or even some of the local street stalls. Also restaurants are cleaner and a nicer place to eat. Most of the time when we went out we either went for foreign food (japanese, vietnamese, chinese, etc) or we went to celebrate. So ambience and the like played a part. If your in Bangkok you'll understand that when your sitting in a imported Prada dress and just had your hair done for $100 the last thing you want to do is go sit on the street corner, breathe smog, and eat dinner. Keep in mind that Thai culture is generally centered around eating. Go to any Thai home and the maid (or lady of the house) will bring you a glass of water and some tidbits to nibble on. One of the first things people would ask you is if you had eaten yet. If you say no, then you can bet that something would be found or even made on the spot just for you to eat. Something we Thais learn young is giving. One of the things I was surprised I miss is getting up in the mornings to give alms to the monks. Every morning our cook would get up at 5 am to make sure there was something (curry, stirfry, etc) and a big pot of rice ready at 6am for the monks that came by for alms. Someone in the household would get up and be at the door to give alms. On my birthday I would plan a special meal and also give some flowers and incense to the monks. In my household at least, all of us (there are at last count about 30 of us) do on our birthdays since we are toddlers. So not only do we learn giving we learn that food is important. Most of my memories of big celebrations are centered around food. Be it going out to eat, inviting monks for rites our house and then eat, catering parties for birthdays, etc. So in essence I really think Thai people are raise to "live to eat" not "eat to live". I moved to Iowa for schooling and have lived here for quite awhile. My friends are all American and most of them do not put any real effort into eating well. They are comfortable going to chain restaurants and shopping in the local super walmart. Part of is just what they are used to and how much time they are willing to devote to cooking. Even my friend who was raised within the same economic background I was hasn't been exposed to the types of food available as I was. Her mother cooked and cooked well for around here. They went out to local higher end restaurants. But until she moved to college and we started hanging out she had never really experienced food from other cultures. She is always willing to go and try something with me though. Now her husband loves to cook and the foodnetwork has exposed her to a variety of things. So she is started to become a bit of a foodie. (hurrah!) Over the years I've dragged all of my friends to different places and made them try new things but left to thier own devices they go to what they are used to. They cook what they are used to. I can drag them to farmer's markets and organic stores but for the most part they wouldn't know what to do with it. From my experience their focus isn't so much on food as the people you would find here on eGullet or in Thailand.

*sigh* we really need a drool smiley! Wonderful. Looks delicious. Wish I could get fresh crab here Love these home cooking threads. Thanks hzrt8w

I've never tried making soup with stuffed bitter melon. Would your cook add the melon shortly before serving? I don't think you'd add the "sweet ingredients" to bitter melon soup. Large piece of ginger, chun pei, rehydrated dried oysters, and pork neck bones if you want gnawing, or pork shanks for the marrow. ← I'm not sure about the broth (for all I know she may have just used bullion cubes) but I know that the minced pork you take the garlic, cilantro root, and white pepper and smash it (she used a mortar and pestle) until you have a paste. Combine with the pork add a bit of salt or soy sauce. Stuff into bitter melon that has been hallowed out. I think the pieces were about 2-3 inches maybe. Stuff it and simmer in broth for however long it takes to soften melon and cook pork. It really didn't take long. Sorry wish I knew more. I just remember watching her make this but I never bothered to pay more attention. I love our family cook and miss her to this day. I had a rude awakening when I move to the States and had to cook Thai food for myself. She always made it seem effortless.

One of my favorite soups is bitter melon soup. Somedays our cook would stuff it with minced pork seasoned with garlic, cilantro root, and white pepper. Other days she would simmer it with one inch pieces of pork ribs. Would you use the same method? I'd think simmering the ribs that long would make the meat fall off the bone. The best part (to me at least) was always gnawing the meat off the bone.

I'm thai and grew up in thai restaurants (my dad owned two and a family friend I moved in with when I came back to the states alone had one) and what we used was loose leaf jasmine tea. You can by it in the asian markets. It comes in a blue canister with chinese on it. Inside is a plastic lid and under that is a bag of loose leaf jasmine tea. I have no idea what the name is. It's very distinctive and ubiquitous to asian groceries store. Every one I've been in has it. It's brewed pretty strong and then sugar and sweetened condesed milk is added. That's the only way I know how to make it. When I lived in Thailand I used to just walk over to the cart and order. They used this long cloth brewing bags (not sure how else to describe it) to brew the tea. I have no idea what they used. Hope this is somewhat helpful. Sorry I don't know anymore. If I get to an asian store soon I'll try to get a picture of the canister.

I'm an omnivore but I really like MorningStar's Prime grillers. They are tasty. If you in an area with a large asian grocery you may want to try looking for gluten "meat" products. There's a vegetarian chinese restaurant that I adore out in LA that makes "meat" out of gluten. I had this chinese "chicken" dish that was amazing. It was actually made out of deep fried batter coated mushrooms. A little off topic but you may want to check out indian or chinese vegetarian cuisine. They have a lot of different dishes. I was dragged once to an all vegetarian restaurantwhen I was younger and didn't miss meat at all. Now I enjoy going occasionally.

What a cool thread! I was just thinking I wanted to do "artisanal" gifts this year. Jaymes' Caramel Corn sounds awesome. Every year I usually do a cookie box. This year, with the help of a girlfriend, we went a bit fancier than I normally do it. Cookies: almond shortbread with raspberry thumbprints peanut butter blossoms sugar cookies snickerdoodle pinwheels white and dark chocolate covered pretzels chocolate covered coconut bonbons almond brittle Doggie cookies for 6 dogs Much appreciated by all who have received thier boxes.

I grew up on Mama and Myojo brand from Thailand. Every once in awhile I get a craving for some. I throw just about anything I have on into it, but my favorite would be fish balls, shrimp balls, asian meatballs, sliced napa cabbage or frozen veggies (green beans aren't bad in it). I can't eat too much of it anymore I think I OD'd on it when I first moved to Iowa and hadn't figured out how to cook yet. Now I just make my own ramen with fresh eggs noodles and broth. It takes me about the same amount of time and it taste better. Snowangel - whats your favorite flavor? I grew up eating minced pork or shrimp tom yum flavor. I saw a new one called creamy tom yum and picked up a box of that. Went crazy over that one for awhile. Ya gotta love those grease packets!

Someone asked earlier in this thread about the tea served in dimsum restaurants. I believe it's chrysanthemum tea or jasmine. At least thats what I've had at the Empress Pavilion in Los Angeles. I'll ask my chinese foodie friend that I make take me there yearly to make sure. My favorite is either jasmine tea or Earl Grey.

In Thailand we also eat communally. Everything is placed at the same time in the middle of the table with serving spoons. Everyone has thier own plate of rice and takes one bite-sized portion from the communal plates at a time. That was one of things I found hardest to get used to when I moved away from my family and now live in Iowa.

I love rutabagas. An old farm lady turned me on to them. I haven't had them in years though. Think I need to make a trip to the store today...

Since hrzt8w was nice enough to spell out how to upload an image to me I thought I'd upload a picture. I made this last thursday and have been loving my leftovers. Thanks Ah Leung I can't wait to try some more recipes!

Oh.MY! That looks scrumptious. I have to try that. Hrm... I was thinking of doing corokke maybe I should throw some tonkatsu into the oil too. Make one heck of a fry up don't you think?

I love corokke. I used have them in lunch sets at a japanese restaurant in Thailand. I think it was the crab version. I've always been a bit scared to do them at home since it requires deep frying. I guess if you just make a huge batch for the week it wouldn't be so bad. Do they keep well then?

Oh my! I love this place! Other tripe lovers..... I like tripe cooked the chinese way that you would have in a dim sum restaurant. I believe it's braised/simmered (?) in a five spice and soy sauce broth. One trick a chinese foodie friend told me is to scrub tripe a few times really well with baking soda. Helps get rid of that funky smell. I'd post a recipes I have no idea where I put that one. I may have to go dig it up and make a trip to my asian market. It's also wonder blanched in pho. Did you use the honeycomb kind or the other? I like the honecomb kind the best.

Are there observation windows where you can watch them? Do you ever go fishing when the boat is at the surface? That would be awesome. "Join the navy, see the world and eat all the seafood!" ← That would make me want to join!

I made ma po tofu today using your recipe and I have to say YUM!!! I think I goofed a bit and had too much bean sauce and not enough hoisin but other wise it was great. Definately going to be something I'll be making often. I'm thinking my chinese delivery restaurant is going to miss me from now on. Next week I think I'll be trying some more of your nummy recipes. Thanks I'd post a pic but I kinda forgot how to again.

Thank you so much for taking your time to answer our questions. I love hearing about what its like aboard a sub. How cool!