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.

I was discreetly informed by the server that the restaurant is asking all patrons to refrain from photography. And in fact, the chef in front of us seemed rather stiff for about half the meal, until perhaps it seemed clear we weren't going to be complete jerks about it. The reason was that it was "distracting to the chefs." Chang's "it's just food, eat it" comment is disingenuous and at best reflects his unease. Quite obviously it's not "just food," as all the awards, press, and blogging show. What I find somewhat ironic about the situation is that Chang more or less built a mini empire around the notion of fine-ish dining in casual circumstances, and now he's coming down stiffer than Jean-Georges. However, to be fair, I can see how this could be a problem in a restaurant the size of Ko. Who knows? Maybe they tried to be nice, and then it just became unmanageable. Except for the two seats in the front, there's about 8 inches of space between the diner's back and the wall. The servers are constantly going through that tight area, and most people are bound to lean back to take their shots, causing problems. Even the smallest restaurants I ate at in Vietnam (3 concrete walls and a roof) had more space. And I'm sure that annoying newbs with flash photos flat-out annoyed the chefs while they were cooking. If you've been shooting in restaurants for a while and have half a brain to observe your surroundings, you can be considerably less intrusive than the annoying couple next to you who won't stop yapping. I mean, if we're going to ban photography, why not ban stupid, loud conversation? Or people who linger forever at the end of their meal, holding up everyone else? You don't have to be taking pictures of your food to do that. Taking photos during a meal is neither the first nor only way to ruin a pleasurable meal. In the end, it's Chang's business and he can run it how he sees fit. And I still had a fantastic meal. There will still be enough buzz to keep people coming. As for people who make a fuss about photography and argue we should just type it all out, I say that some people are better photographers than writers. (and some are good at both) Let people express their pleasure as they will.

That "rock" reminds me of a similarly sized enormous cube of ice used in The Violet Hour's Old Fashioned. It's a nice touch. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulteriorepicu...57604133872863/

foodhunter, Just had a meal there last week. I also noticed the dour faces behind the bar, quite a contrast from the waitstaff. There was differentiation in almost all of the dishes between my wife and I, with the exception of the amuse (home-made chicharron, and the English muffin) and... I believe the pasta. Every other course was different.

We were there early, and Nathan even earlier. (Unless he went back for seconds!) When we left, I think the waiting area was predominantly Asian.

There was also a discussion of whether different cuts of pork were used for the basic and Modern bowls.

Sorry, can't help you there. Come to think of it, I have no idea if Asian markets will have duck eggs, but I don't see why the quality of Asian markets in the DC area would be questionable. There's a sizeable Asian population in that tri-state area.

An Asian market, farmer's market, or butcher's shop?

I would have liked a pinch of pickled ginger. I appreciated the sliced scallions. As for the chewy vegetable that's in the bowl, they should either add more or in or take it out altogether. It seems more like an afterthought. Ultimately, though, I'm glad just to have another ramen shop in town.

I had a feeling someone was going to ask me about that. The hostess told me on Friday night when I dropped by for a quick look. I asked if they took reservations, and how big the place is. Well, it was. As you pointed out, you can't live on that pork broth alone (*pauses while hearing a distant howl from sneakeater*). I just wish I had the option of adding some additional flavor in there. One's mileage, obviously, varies. Some like their burgers plain, others like toppings, right? :-) We did have the obligatory photo op, but it was certainly less than 5 minutes. Still, I'll keep that in mind for the next time I'm there.

Hmm, responding to a message nearly 3 years old... when I asked for this cut at Ottomanelli's, they referred to it as a "kosher" cut.