larrylee

Try an H Mart in Fort Lee, NJ, or the nearby areas (in NJ). You should be able to find the country of origin on the label of the bag or on the sign at the supermarket. @liuzhou: with all due respect, if you're in China right now, as your location status indicates, it seems like you'd have a better time getting fresh mangosteens than in @cdh's location, Philadelphia. I recall buying these fresh in either Vietnam or Singapore (memory is a little hazy at the moment), and it wasn't terribly difficult to eat them. If you search for "mangosteen in us," there are some interesting results. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/05/meet-the-mangosteen/ The article above references mangosteens cultivated in Puerto Rico, and difficulties growing them closer to the US. https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2181747/us-demand-for-mangosteen-strengthens/ The piece above talks about mangosteens being grown in Mexico and Guatemala. https://www.thekitchn.com/mangosteens-52332 This says the import ban on mangosteens was lifted in 2007. Could be my hazy memory again, but that seems to coincide when Kesar and Alphonso mangoes were allowed to be imported into the US.

Probably about 6 years.

Hi Stephen, I posted the "parts store" link in my reply earlier. https://www.zojirushi.com/app/spare_parts/category/list They do carry accessories for discontinued models. However, note that some of them have sold out over time.

There's a quick cook mode, definitely less than an hour.

It depends on your use.... ours is used daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and sometimes (frustratingly) metal implements have been used inside. And possibly rice dried on the outside of the paddle. I just ordered a replacement inner pot for my rice cooker. Zojirushi has a "parts store" that you can browse here: https://www.zojirushi.com/app/spare_parts/category/list

Thanks for the feedback... touches on some other thoughts I had about flexibility, durability, etc. I can understand the sweaty hands thing (especially if you're washing in a lot of hot water). Apparently these things are machine-washable, which catches my interest. Then I saw a comment about the fingers falling off of a Casabella glove which, while different from the True Blues, just made me pause. It's true that $10 isn't a lot if they're durable. I had visions of buying $10 gloves at the same frequency of the yellow gloves, which would then become sort of an expensive proposition.

I admit this is kind of a mundane topic, but I've had one soggy finger too many this week and I have to ask. We've been using cheap thin yellow dishwashing gloves in our home for a while. They get the job done, but you know they eventually get stabbed by a fork (or worse) and soon you have a finger full of slimy dishwater. I used to keep several pairs of gloves for those emergency punctures, but I've run out and I'm re-evaluating my options. If you stroll around say, Whole Foods or Broadway Panhandler, you find very pricey options like Casabella gloves or True Blues. Casabella True Blues These things are $10-ish, which seem outrageously expensive to someone used to buying cheap $1-ish gloves. I've read most of the Amazon reviews, but wanted to get thoughts from the audience here. How long can one expect these to last under basic kitchen use? How durable are they against light jabs from forks and knives? Are there any other options?

My wife introduce me to PDH many years ago and we've always enjoyed it. I'm glad to hear it is still doing well and feel like making a return trip. I also agree that ordering anything else besides the eponymous dish is not worthwhile.

They need to be seasoned (as mentioned) and they are very light, easy to manuever, quick to heat and will brown meat very nicely.

BTW Noodle - the vitamix/blendtec comment made me laugh when I realized I didn't even consider them to be blenders. Not because of function, but out of cost. I saw a Vitamix at Broadway Pandhandler and thought, "Oh hey, there's that nifty variable-speed blender I saw on Good Eats." Then I saw the $500-ish price tag and my jaw dropped. Way more blender than I need, but thanks for pointing it out!

Hi everyone, thanks for the quick responses, which are very informative and fascinating! I was a little concerned that there had not been a shaved ice topic before, leaving me wondering if I was the only one with a hankering for the stuff. I thought about the raspado/hand crank method but I'm kinda lazy and impatient, so I'll pass on those for now. The Little Snowie looks awesome - my eyes were round as saucers watching the video demo. I'm glad to hear good things about the Hamilton Beech, but I have a small freezer and not many ice trays, so the sheer effort of getting enough ice could be troublesome. I think the machine that Lisa Shock pointed out is in the sweet spot. The price is right, I don't mind using ice molds, and having a few extra molds will help as I will need to make at least 3 at a time. If we become a bunch of shaved ice junkies at the end of the summer, maybe I'll take a closer look at the Little Snowie. :-) Thanks everyone!

I've seen that as well... the challenge is getting a chunk of ice that large. Maybe freezing ice in a square juice carton, resting it on a pad of no-skid kitchen liner, and a paint scraper?

I've had a hankering to make some bing soo at home and started looking for ice shavers. You can get cheap models which are hand-cranks or what look to be very weak electric-powered machines, or you can spring for a 4-figure commercial model (http://www.1-800-shaved-ice.com/ine110vocuic.html). Is there anything in the middle range? Is there some other device that can be used to achieve the same effect? I'm not looking for crushed ice, ice pebbles, etc. I'm hoping to find something that will create powdery ice flakes (or something close to it). I think blenders are summarily disqualified because of their design, but I'm open to ideas. Conversely, if the hand-cranks or weak electric models are "good enough" for occasional use, I'd be happy to hear about that, too. thanks!

Too bad there's not a picture of it.

Definitely a fan of air conditioning. I think Kampuchea's a/c units are intentionally broken.