rmillman

There are many dining options in Budapest which we enjoyed on our recent stay. In our eternal search for artisnal pork products, we were directed by the excellent chefs at Onxy (wonderful meal, well worth a visit) to Mangalica es Tarsai http://huspatika.hu/ An easy tram ride from Pest to the Buda side we could tell from the outside, this was the place Entering romoved all doubt Fresh pork, simply cooked on a grill, nice wine, great cheeses and, what can only be described as mangalica salami heaven. It is well worth a visit Final score: Rob 15, custom dogs 0

A sunny Wednesday in Prague found us at Jirak Farmers market http://www.farmarske....cz/en/jirak-en Farmers markets at enjoying a resurgence in Prague and are being supported by numerous organization. While I enjoyed a local beer my wife could not resist a snack we were hit by aroma the of perfect cheese. Meet David a local cheese maker, living 90 kilometers from Prague, making French inspired cheeses. Although we sampled all, we purchased and devoured on the spot a small piece of his aged wash rind goat cheese (top right). Wow, this could win awards. The smell and taste stayed with us all day in a very good way. If you are in Prague, try and find him as you will not be disappointed.

If it is nota game day: go to Bleacher Bar at the Fenway. Great burgers and a view onto the open Fenway field.

lunch at Mike and Patty's for their pork torta or egg fancy is a MUST. Short walk from Westin

Tiki Monday was spent with a suffering bastard and a happy fellow who knew who his father was, the former my drink, the later my drinking buddy: Gin, brandy, lime, ginger with a soda top.

A Suffering Bastard: my opposite in a glass since i was quite happy and know who my father was. http://wiki.webtender.com/wiki/Suffering_Bastard I used St. George Terroir gin, a local made ginger syrup, fresh lime, simple and soda. Tall in a tiki mug was a much needed treat.

Roasted brussel spourt leaves last night in convection oven: lite oil and salt only using leave taken from coring brussels. I needed to take out and shake pan many times throught the last 15 minutes to ensure even browning and crispyness. Near the end, I removed leaves from the pan that had more "core" and were not roaating evenly. A lot of work but the smell throughout the house and taste is hard to beat.

In Kunming, we have had hot pots with over 20 varieties of mushrooms being added. Not to be overlooked is my favorite the matsutake mushroom which were in season the last we visited. The following is not my article but very similar to what I have experienced. http://www.gokunming.com/en/blog/item/1696/a_trip_to_kunmings_mushroom_district

Rusty Blade gin negroni: wow. Probably a little overshadowed one of the best sipping gins I have ever tried but I needed to try it as I brought several interesting bottles from The Cask in SF that do not make it into the draconian state of MA.

Nothing has been posted for quite some time on Panama. We will be there in two weeks. Anyone been recently, anything worth seeing food wise? Thank you

Drove to RI to buy some Thomas Tew Rum: what an amazing product. Hats off to Newport Distillers http://newportstorm.com/thomastewrums.asp

We ate very well in Siem Reap: the public market food stalls were excellent for a local feel and we highly recommend Meric. We had the $31 7 course Khmer tasting and it was wonderful.

We went several months ago and really enjoyed it. The noodles had a clean fresh taste: not the dish watery taste many lower side noodle houses can get. The toppings were also quite good and we did not have to questio the origin of the proteins used. It is not the $5/bowl noodles that you can get in China town but for any Westerner who worries about food quality, it is a great place to eat.

A loud bar and a mistake in hearing lead Kevin at Eastern Standard to make me: Muddled mint and cucumber with Bluecoat gin, shake with ice and top with ginger beer: hit the spot, refreshing yet spicy.

In Shanghai, both Alchemist and Apothecary are in the same location and both worth a visit. Alchemist has moved more away from "molecular" and has a nice blend. Even at Hotel bars, cocktails in Shanghai tend to be on the sweet side and those made with chinese spirits can be a little funky on the palate. I would also say grab a drink at 100 Century at the Park Hyatt, Vue Bar at Hyatt Bund and Flair bar at the Ritz for the views and scene.

Bi Luo Chun. Bought from an owner of a small tea farm on an island in Taihu Lake that has eight families who live on the island and no cars. Perfect little thread like leaves/shoots coated with a powder sugar like dusting when dried. When wetted, perfect little shoot tips. I have included his card is anyone happens to be in China next March when he harvests.

One tea I brought back frokm Shanghai that I am not fully sure what variety it is since it was obtained when my Chinese speaking wife was not present. This particular tea dealer we had gotten to know quite well said it was a tea a friend of his grows and is not often available. It is from Huang Shan and related to Mao Feng. What is amazing is that the leaves align pefectly vertically in the bottom of the glass and play the fishtank diver game going up and down ever so slightly for over 4 hours while drinking. The tea is amazing in both sweetness and coolness at the same time.

We are back from Shanghai and are please with the many new teas we tried as well as some of our favorites (we got a gift of Shi Fung Longjin from the deputy mayor of HangZhuo which others have said is of extremely rare quality). One of our favorite tea shops was in a new tea market, Laoximen Tea City, 1121 Fuxing Lu, a multifloor building with ~100 tea vendors, and dealt mostly Wuyi oolong. 2011 wuyi will not be out until later in the year and we tasted many 2010 and older aged teas. By far, our favorites were varieties of Da Hong Pao and Rou Gui. One Da Hong Pao was described as being from first generation clones of the original Da Hong Pao 4 tea trees while more affordable versions were from thrid or fourth generation clones. The shop has a Taobao site which is in chinese and not particularly user friendly but I have included the link (http://shop63022586.taobao.com/)

Leaving shanghai later today To go back to Boston. I wished I could stay until the 25th when there will be a big tea expo with what one tea vendor described as the best of what you can get. On this trip we were introduced to many teas, mostly green preQiming picks. One of our new favorite is hou kui. We met a tea dealer who's family was relocated to HaungShan during the cultural revolution and the family now runs several tea plantation in tai ping. Much of his families tea is selected by the regional government and what is left he deals with other types in one of the tea market stalls in shanghai. We tasted many hou kui on this trip yet this one stands out with long lasting strength in brews not generally found in early picked green teas. Anyone who has not tried hou kui should do so.

I have been in Shanghai for the past week and we have visited three "tea markets" where there are anywhere from 50-100 small shops of tea vendors. This time of year, the premium tea being drunk in Shang hai is Pre-Qingming Longjin green tea. The best I have had was "reported" as being from Shi Feng from a plantation around 800meters. A very lovely tea with a long lasting nose that is sweet but not overly green.

If you want a really hot fast sear using a charcoal chimney try leaving the coals in the chimney and using it from above the meat like a salamander. Alston Brown has a video of this technique being used to cook a steak (not with sous vide)

My Amazon order page now shows SHIPPED!!! Delivery on Monday, so much for doing any work next week.

If you are ever in the need to quickly degas a liquid such as in making solution for spherification or making clearer ice try using an clean old wine bottle and one of the wine vacuum pump sealers ($10). You can rapidly apply a decent vacuum to a liquid: do this a couple of times and alginate solutions become earier to work with.

I have used my centrifuge less since joing the agar clarification gang but in some instances such as in separations invovling solid, aqueous and oil phase, there is nothing like a quick spin in the fuge though I tend to spin slower and longer since it is an old machine and there is no telling how much abuse the rotor has dotten since it was an ebay purchase (I spin no more than at 50% of the rated limit for the rotor).

I generally used Anson Mills: I like the yellow quick grits and the pencil grits have a corn-nutty taste that my wife likes.