Beebs

I've only had durian once, and I didn't see it being opened. It certainly didn't taste as foul as it smelled. Anyways, I Googled how to open durians. Most searches say that if the durian is ripe, it will crack and one should be able to pull it apart along the seams with relative ease. I'm thinking protective gloves might be in order?? Question on frozen durians: Are these frozen in their ripened state? And if not, would they continue to ripen after they've been thawed? How does the taste of a frozen durian compare to fresh ones? Jamie Lee, you are inspiring me to get one of my own and having another go at it!

You can also make it Moroccan style, with green tealeaves, sugar, and the fresh mint.

A couple fingerfuls of honey. A couple fingerfuls of Nutella. A spoonful of powdered Ovaltine mix. A spoonful of apricot or blueberry jam.

I don't cook professionally, but I can't stand rubber gloves so my hands are chapped year round. I find slathering on extra-virgin olive oil (or sweet almond oil, not bitter almond) is very soothing. Just the regular everyday EVOO is fine. 1-2 teaspoons is usually plenty. It takes a while to absorb, but you can put on cotton "beauty gloves", if you do the treatment before going to bed. Nice for the feet, too!

Cheesecake chunks Pralines Chocolate chip cookies, crushed

I wouldn't say Timmy's is the best for coffee or doughnuts by any stretch, but there is something very comforting & warming about ordering double-double's and Timbits. The coffee tends to be inconsistent - when it's good, it's pretty good; when it's bad, it's...well, you get the picture. I'd rather have a Timmy's doughnut any day over a Krispy Kreme, though, specially if it's for breakfast. Toss up between Timmy's and Dunkin Donuts. My S.O. can't stay away from Timmy's - he's gotta have his daily fix of a double-double and honey cruller....

Wedding cake. And the fondant that comes with wedding cake. Bleeeaah. Although there was this one time that the wedding cake tasted as good as it looked, but that was the first and probably the last such encounter. Chinese-style cheese cake. Gorgeous to look at. Tastes fluffy, bland, made with tons of gelatin and no cheese. Ick.

Love 'em! We've been eating a lot of salmon kama (collars) lately, grilled on the bbq, seasoned with nothing more than salt + lemon. They are so delicious, oily and flavourful. When I was little, my grandma used to dig out the brains of a steamed fish head and told me that fish brains make you smart. She also told me that fish eyes will make you see better.

The chocolate cake at Capers is a surprising find, and I've been particularly partial to it lately. It's not overly sweet, made with organic ingredients, and reasonably priced.

Wow! These chili vodka suggestions sound great, keep 'em coming! Thanks!

Anyone have suggestions for what to do with a Thai chili-infused vodka? Bloody Caesars & Marys come to mind, but any non-savoury drink ideas? I messed around with adding it to a Cosmopolitan, which was pretty decent though a bit boring. The chili vodka definately needs to be diluted -- we tasted it on its own and it was rather painful....

Yummmm! I saw this thread at work an hour before closing, and all I could fixate on was getting home asap for a tomato sandwich. I'm eating one right this minute while typing this reply. It's the most delicious thing I've put in my mouth all week. Now I have to wipe the tomato juice dribbles off my keyboard....

When we were kids, Mum used to do sweet red bean soup and sweet mung bean soup freezer pops. It's a very popular Asian frozen treat.

Yum, those look good - send them to me! I guess you could freeze them and heat them up in the oven whenever anyone wants one. Or slice them up thinly into rounds and toast them till crispy, sort of like bagel crisps or crostini?

Hell YEAH!!! I'm as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve! What a fun topic for HP fans!

You'd be hard-pressed to find US-grown tealeaves from tea gardens in the US (aside from what cdh mentioned). A number of factors in North America in general are simply not conducive to widespread tea cultivation here, such as climate and cost. Do you perhaps mean teas that are blended & packaged in the US by American tea companies? Harney, Republic of Tea, Mighty Leaf, etc. are all widely available, but the actual tealeaves would be imported from places like India, China, & Sri Lanka.

Did you check out post this post of mine here? I browsed through some yakisoba sauce recipes, and found they were mostly combinations of any of Worcester sauce, chuunou (medium dense) sauce, tonkatsu sauce, and oyster sauce. Another type of yakisoba that has become increasinly popular these days is shio (= salt) yakisoba, which is usually simply seasoned with Chinese chicken broth and salt. Here is an example (sorry, Japanese only). I think tonkatsu sauces are generally spicy, while okonomiyaki and takoyaki sauces are rather sweet, and I think that yakisoba sauces are more like Worcester, chuunou, and tonkatsu sauces than okonomiyaki and takoyaki sauces. ← Thanks, Hiroyuki! I've got everything except for chuunou sauce, but I'm sure I can find it. Can't wait to try it!

Szechuan green beans with lots of garlic, ginger, and chili always floats my boat!

I'm making yakisoba for dinner today -- yum! I'm putting leftover steak and Chinese lapcheung in mine. Does anyone have a recipe for yakisoba sauce? I've been using the pre-made Otafuku brand sauce, but would love to try making it from scratch. Also, how different is yakisoba sauce from okonomiyaki and tonkatsu sauce? Could I use them interchangeably? Thanks, awesome eG'ers!

My mum used to make congee that had a mix of rice and amaranth. She cooked the two grains together to make a soupy porridge.

Haven't entertained any chefs myself, but my parents often have their restaurant-owner friends of a well-regarded fine dining spot over for meals. I happened to be over at the 'rents this weekend and we had a simple casual grill -- grilled whole prawns, fresh BC salmon, lamb, ribs, plenty of bread and a couple salads. Fruit, cookies, ice cream for dessert. All washed down with copious amounts of wine. Messy, delicious, and enjoyed outside on the deck. Sometimes my parents and their restaurant friends will cook a meal together. Other times, the friends will cook. But it's always simple food family-style, and we always have a blast together.

I like Minerva's on 41st & Larch, especially the sauce. It's run by a Greek family, I believe. They also deliver but I think it's only within a certain area.

Yum! That looks like it would be delicious next to a side of drunken debauchery!

Haha! I have Rachel Ray's "365: No Repeats" -- and I, too, use it! I hang my head in shame.....

There's also an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown uses avocado to make a frosting for cake.