Kouign Aman

Some recent meals. Last night was grilled chicken, corn and poblano chilis, sliced tomatos and macaroni/cheese on the side, and strawberries for dessert. Very summer American. No pix. <politically incorrectly named> hotdogs & tator tots, served with this souvenir from NZ for me, and sriracha for our guest (himself & the munchkin prefer catsup & French's mustard ) There were more customized frittatas but the pix are out of focus. and the first caprese of the season, under wraps for a few minutes travel to a friends'.

Haha! very interesting reaction to my plate. As it was said, "it's in the eye of the beholder". I of course will not tell you the hidden subliminal symbolism which I schemed to play games with your subconsciousness. I suppose, If you were an astrophysicist, you might behold that that circle represents the Black Hole in which it sucks in all matter with a relentless force, so powerful that no electromagnetic energies can escape. No electromagnetic waves means the absence of color and the absence of color equals black. However, the mystery of this Black Hole, dark matter and anti-matter could be explained by the new String Theory, which is represented by the stringy scallions. dcarch Not with it surrounded by gulf shrimp. You'd need crab, for the nebula.

I'm thinking that if a person cant get a meal ready in a reasonable time, they also dont think of snacks. Plus, who wants their guests to fill up before the meal? I have a family member who suffers from both sides of the issue - serves meals 2-5 hours late, and shows up for them 1-3 hours late. This is not because she cant do the math, its because she cannot accurately estimate how long things take, nor stay on task. So in her head, its 10 min to make fettucini carbonara. She's forgotten she needs to cook the bacon, and that the pasta alone takes 15 min to cook, plus she'll start the pasta, then realize about the bacon, then decide to use a specific pan which is in storage and must be retrieved and washed, and oh that's all going to be so quick when it cooks that she better go now and pick the veg for the salad (takes 3 min right? except for the washing and chopping parts, and the making a vinaigrette and finding a bowl and ....) She could get this entire meal ready in under 30 min, if she truely could figure out how much time each part takes, but she cant, and she apparently cant learn from that experience either. She consistently expects to frost a cake within minutes of its leaving the oven, for example. So, we eat before we go over for dinner. Generally we're empty enough to do the final meal justice when it is served. And when she's coming our way, the only snacks are vegetables, so that no one gets too full to eat before she arrives. (We have eaten when the food is ready and just served her when she got there. Depends on the event and the menu).

dcarch, your food is so deliberately presented that I have to assume the hilariously funny oil-spill-on-a-plate is intential. Looks delicious, unlike the original.

LOL. :laugh: Tho it does meet a later poster's suggestion for calorie density.

Also used for making nachos, brulee-ing the creme, cinnamon toast, and reheating battered fried foods (until the countertop convection oven joined the family).

peppers, fish, steak in years past. Himself likes to use the outdoor grill, and that puts clean up in his court not mine, so steaks are not broiler fodder any longer.

A kind person once sent me a jar of Dukes. Hands down the best mayo I have tasted for bacon tomato sandwiches. In general, Best Foods (aka Hellmans). Nothing 'low fat', because for some reason they all get sweet. <ick> Himself likes Miracle Whip on sandwiches and stuff, poor benighted fellow.

Yes, of course let him know why, politely and privately*. He needs to know that the behavior had a cost. * Since he's show a short pattern of hostility, perhaps by letter rather than in person.

I did it!! The great candy experiment has been successfully concluded. I dont have a hosting site, so no pix this time, but they were beautiful purple oval lozenges, shiny and dimesized. I bought dried hot peppers (like those for kung pao chicken), chopped 5-8 of them fine, and extracted them by soaking for several days in 1/4 vodka. I made a basic boiled sweets recipe, and subbed in blackberry juice for some of the water. When the syrup reached softball stage, I started adding a bit of the vodka. Each time I used the cup of cold water to test doneness, I tasted and added more vodka til the spice level was right. It didnt take much. When the syrup was ready, I did low-tech shaping - dropped from the wooden spoon onto a piece of foil. The result is a sweet berry flavored drop at first, with the warmth of the pepper coming in after a few seconds, in concert with the berry. I kept these to a reasonable level of hot and they were very well received at work today. I'll be tempted to make them again next time I have a sore throat.

I wouldnt go the 'descend to his level' route. No one benefits. Just consider not returning to the restaurant. 4x a month is a solid customer to lose. Or if you are feeling forgiving, try the place once more, then decide if you want to go back or if the food has gone for the worst.

Nutella 'chip' icecream.

I had one in NZ that was pronounced "perfect" by the person who took it over from me. To me, it tasted like rotten meat smells, plus sour. It was horrible.

We havent got places to stay yet for when we're out of Taipei. Agritourism sounds good - I'll look into it. Our daughter speaks some mandarin, but not business oriented. My husband and I can count on our fingers the number of words we know. In addition to the cities named in the title, are there specific places to go when headed to the southern beaches?

Will, thanks! Great suggestions. The mention of sushi made himself smile. I hadnt seen this thread, but with its links, I prefer it to the one I did see. Excellent choice. So far: Din Tai Fung, Shilin market (esp stinky tofu and ô-á-chian (oyster omelette)) , fruit stands, sushi :! (Kitcho Sushi (吉兆割烹壽司) and it’s at 忠孝東路四段181巷48號 (#48, Lane 181, Section 4, Zhong-xiao East Road), Da-an District).), & Wisteria house oare on the list. We'll give Chinese style breakfast a try or three (Street carts for fantuan (rice roll) and sweet soy milk, and Yonghe Doujiang), but I suspect we'll default to mantou brought back to our room the night before. My family is not at its most adventurous in the morning. We're much better at lunch and dinner.

We are going to spend a couple of summer weeks in Taiwan. We'll mostly be hanging out with a couple of friends, but at least one of them is very interested in food, and would be happy to schlep where-ever for a special meal or extra good snack. We've got a bit more than a week in Taipei, and the same for the rest of the island. We'd also like suggestions for Taipei, but there's already a topic for that. We're planning on getting to every night market we can. Recommendations for specific markets and items would be awesome. In addition to where to go to eat, we could use suggestions for breakfast. I think we're going to want to grab something in our hotel room many mornings, to save both money and time. Also, coffee. Should I plan on making my own or can I stagger out and drop too much money in a coffee house most mornings? Thanks!

Cream soda, perhaps?

Try Kim Shook's chocolate bar recipe. Good cupcakes!

I can let you have half a box of Hagel from The Netherlands. Not the right shape,but you wont have to py shipping. I think the brand I have is the one in the picture I linked here

So delightful, the chicks in eggs, and the ladybugs in the foreground of a photo in Prince's Tea. Are they marzipan? I second not wanting to make multiple meals most of the time! Frustrating as it is, your picky eater eats more vegetables than many will. I hear the same thing about grains - from both the offspring and the spouse. Thanks for sharing a 'day to day life' foodblog. So nice to see your delicious looking food, especially as your repertoire (sp?) is so different than mine.

What has the little guy learned from all this? This could be written up at so many levels, including introduction to factorial experiment design. Whats the 1st grade level take away lesson / message?

this seems made to be a tag line.

Until we moved 8 years ago, it was always 2:1 water:american long grain rice, on the stove, 20 min, and it was perfect, for 30 years, at several addresses. Basmati needed less ~ 1.67:1. Here, its more humid, basmati is running about 1.3:1, jasmine rice is ~ 1.5:1, and the last time I tried american long grain it was a bit soupy at 2:1 so will try 1.75:1 when I cook it again.

No time on Saturday to take pictures. We had caprese & rye krisp with chili-fortified cheddar for starters, then stirfried bokchoy/onion/mushrooms, glazed carrots, grilled steaks (courtesy himself), mashed potatoes, baguette. Very good. S'mores for dessert, using those GIANT marshmallows. They hold enough heat to melt the chocolate properly, when the s'more is put together, but oh golly, they drip everywhere. We went thru a pile of washclothes, cleaning everyone up!

If its what PC ends up wanting, yes. Reply by pm if its of interest, because that a) follows da rools, and b) gets me an email notification. I might miss a post. Also, Kerry, can you provide a link to the listing you saw, please? I am not finding it in your original post. Ta.