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Here in Indonesia I noticed that more often than not eggs are left out at room temp in store. I have no idea how fresh the eggs are nor how they were transported to the store (refridgerated or not). When my in laws' staff do large scale baking, they would leave the eggs out at room temp for a day or two until they're all used up. They also buy eggs for daily use and those they just keep in the fridge. I actually find the idea of eggs being out at room temp for days rather disturbing because it's the total opposite of what I learned growing up so if I need eggs for baking or eating, I would just get some from the store or from reputable dealers and hope they're as fresh as my in law claims. Going a bit off topic but it's still about food hygiene, I also notice people regularly here eat food that's been sitting around at room temp (80+ F) for the entire day. Maybe the spices and chili in Indonesian food help preserve the food, but it still scares me. If I cook, I always put them back into the fridge as soon as possible. Wouldn't want to tempt my luck nor want to give anyone food poisoning. Interestingly enough I have not gotten ill eating at home cooked by me or the cook, and the only time I've gotten sick here were eating my sister-in-law's cooking or eating western style food outside.

I picked up this book back in November while I was in the States. I enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading through the book. I thought that it made a pretty nice companion to the series. Bonus is the list of places to eat.

A friend of mine gave me The New Best Recipe from America's Test Kitchen so I'm reading that and testing a few recipes right now. I've been curious to learn how certain techniques work and this is a great book for me. I'm also trying to read some books from this history of food class that I took years ago in college. I hated that class because of the professor, but I'm glad it didn't kill my interest in food and history. At least I got a pretty decent reading list from it. Haha.

Ooooh, I just discovered that line of candies a few weekends ago. At first I thought the texture was a bit odd (like chewing gum) but then the taste won me over. My husband and I scarfed down the whole bag in no time and wanting more. Growing up in Asia gave me plenty of fond memories of Japanese candies, and to this day I love Asian candies. When I talk to other Asian friends, we all remember the same candies, like the Morinaga caramel and the Chelsea.

Loves/Likes Jacques Pepin - Super awesome god-like knife skills and he seemed like a nice person who has very interesting story to tell. His personality shines through in his shows and books. Anthony Bourdain - I love his books and shows, but I wouldn't mind learning more about his cooking since he is chef first, celebrity second. Iron Chefs - they're so creative Ok Alton Brown - He has very good recipes, but I avoid his show because he talks as if he's a know-it-all. That annoys me since I'm a scientist by nature, and while I do appreciate him trying to enlighten people about the science in cooking, he doesn't need to be so condescending. Plus, his humor sucks. Dislikes Jaime Oliver - I don't care about his uber cool personality that his shows try to portray, and his food is all about mushing things together. I do admire what he's trying to do with school lunches, but I wonder what's his motivation. Nigella Lawson - Her posh accent hides the fact that she's a sloppy cook. Plus being a female, I don't find her to be the sexy domestic goddess that people think she is. Rachel Ray - That super perky personality is just too much and The lame catchphrases make me cry. Maybe she's ok in tiny doses, but she's over exposed. How many shows does she have now?! Michael Smith - That "Chef at Home" guy who talks like a greasy used car salesman. Kylie Kwong - Her Chinese cooking doesn't look authentic. Something about her personality grates me but I can't put my finger on it.

Ok, that just made me dislike Rachel Ray even more, but it's like people getting Cornell University confused with Cornell College. Grrrr. One good thing about moving to Asia is that I'm not forced to see any Rachel Ray show. I like my cooking shows to be factually correct. I don't want people around me to spout "facts" that are wrong and claim it's right just because they saw it on tv. They have rather a limited knowledge on food already, and I wouldn't like it if their knowledge is false either.

Hope people don't mind me digging up the old thread, but I figure there's no point of starting a new thread if this one already existed. Anyway, my favorite Japanese "Chinese" restaurant in the area is about to change cook and manager, and I'm worrie the food would taste different once the chef leaves. This has inspired me to try making ramen. I know what I make won't taste the same as the one in the restaurant, but it seems like something fun and different to try. Who knows, maybe I'll make something that I'll like even more than the one in the restaurant. I'm interested to know more about the fish stock-based ramen stock. I've made fish stocks using bonito and such for Japanese cooking, but I wonder how similar or different for fish stock for ramen. I'm assuming that more ingredients are added and longer cooking time is required to get the rich, thick, complex favor and texture of a ramen stock. Also, do people combine more pork based stock with fish stock or the pork stock would overpower the fish stock? The tonkotsu recipes look quite intriguing. I think I'll try those recipes too.

I love cookbooks, but I too have a bunch that I don't bother to use. It seems like the spontaneous buys are the ones I tend not to use while the ones I actually planned to buy I use quite frequently. One exception to the spontaneous buy category of books is my first Japanese cookbook, which I still refer to regularly. I found that with a couple of basic and very good books, I don't need other books except if I'm looking for more inspirations. Since I'm still fairly new at cooking, I still follow recipes from cookbooks, though I'm finding myself improvising more and more. I've even started to "steal" recipes from restaurants (try to figure out the ingredients of a dish I liked and eplicate the dish at home).

I absolutely loved Eat Drink Man Woman. Everytime I see that movie, it always made me so hungry. It also brings back a lot of fond memories of Taiwan. When my grandfather had his 90th birthday art exhibition in 1991, the organization threw a huge banquet at the Grand Hotel (Yuan-san). I still remember the roasted pork with very crispy skin and the frog soup that were served at that banquet. Another interesting note about Yuan-san is at very close to the hotel is the huge mosaic made by my grandfather back in 1969 (Taipei's first large outdoor art work). What I found interesting that Ang Lee's first couple of films before Eat Drink Man Woman (Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet), food featured quite prominently as well.

Thank you for the reply, achevres and tristar! I wanted to reply earlier, but we had to make preparations for Christmas gathering and then the earthquake near Taiwan knocked out internet communication between Asia and other parts of the world.... Achevres: Thank you so much for offering recipes from your Puertorican cookbooks. It sounds like an absolutely perfect solution to my problems with high temp and humidity! I'll definitely send you a message in a day or two. I managed to catch the Indonesian episode of No Reservation when I was in PA a few months ago. It is full of very interesting foods and people, but the show made it seem that Indonesia totally rural. Then again, the craziness of Jakarta (mainly the terrible traffic congestions) might scare peopel away. Hahaha. I'm actually a bit envious that you're from Puerto Rico. My sister is absolutely in love with the place, and she's been down there visiting friends for years now. Tristar: Thank you so much for the warm welcome and advice!! It's great to hear that you had success with various pastries because I'm thinking about baking a pie and I'm worried about not getting the flaky crusts. I also tried to make sponge cakes and they seemed to be ok. My last one had a coarser texture, and now I'm suspecting it is because I didn't use the Bogarsari flour. Thanks for the link to Bogarsari website. I've occasionally used that brand of flour, and it does seem to be better than flour I get else where. When I was browsing the site, I noticed that some of the recipes used emulsifier. I'm surprised that one can find that ingredient here. I'm learning Bahasa Indonesia slowly, but I can figure out bits and pieces of the recipes (at least I can decipher most of the ingredients). I would definitely be interested in trying some of the recipes on the site once I'm more comfortable with the language (or I bug someone for translations).

Ooooh, I had Fage yogurt and their feta cheese when I was working in Greece years ago. I actually ate more of the locally made goat yogurt, which was divine (made tons of tsaziki with that). I haven't had any Greek yogurt after I left Greece, and I do miss it and the dishes that could be created with it.

Haha, or stick a pair of chocksticks straight up in a heaping bowl of rice. My parents didn't really teach us manners and food taboos, but I did get scolded for that one when I was around 5 or 6 years old. I didn't know about the fish flipping taboo even though mom's ancestors were fishermen. I should ask my parents about it.

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I don't know if this question has been addressed in detail in the past so please excuse me. I love bake goods and while I was still in US, I used to bake fairly regularly though I still consider myself an amateur (mostly cookies, brownies, pies, and, I admit, cake from a box). Moving to Indonesia, I noticed that locally made "western" style cakes are not like the moist and fluffy cakes (creamed type) that I'm used to in the States. These "creamed cakes" seemed heavy and oily (yes, they leave oil stains on napkin). Even others that are supposedly sponge, chiffon, or angel have heavy density and some are pretty greasy again. Even when I try to make my own cakes from good and well tested recipes, they just do not seem as good as the ones I tasted from US though look and taste better than the locally made western-style cakes. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to make the cakes using the same recipe in both US and here so maybe my observation is a bit faulty/biased (grass is greener and all...). I suspect one possible reason for the not so good cakes here is bad recipe or technique. I'm pretty sure the quality of the flour available here plays a huge role, but I'm interested to know what other factors are in play so I can adopt my recipes and techniques to the current environment. I would like to know what kind of effects high humidity (70-100% all year) and high temperature (80+ F) have on the baking in general, and I'm curious if and how high humidity and temperature affect the chemistry aspect of baking. I know that condition like this make candy and certain bake goods (puff pastry, pies, etc) a lot more difficult if not impossible. What kind of recipes can work well in this kind of environment? Unfortunately, I work in an open kitchen so there is no way I can install air conditioner and dehumidifier. I hope someone understands what I'm trying to ask here and any suggestions/ideas will be appreciated greatly. Thanks in advance!

I second that and it has to be smeared thickly on the bagel so when you bite into it cheese oozes out of the bagel. I was a fan of the cream cheese (and the bagels) used in Collegetown Bagels in Ithaca, NY, but I'm really not much of a schmear connoisseur.

Thanks, Pan and ecr! Ecr, thank you for mentioning substitution for palm sugar, and I really didn't know that there are different kinds of palm sugars. I'm a total newbie when it comes to SE Asian ingredients. Next time I come across some kue, I should take some pics. I'm not a huge fan of kue, but I really like lak-lak. The little, flat, round, white ones sprinkled with coconut shavings and brown colored syrup. For some reason they reminded me of silver dollar pancakes even though the texture and taste are totally different. spaghetttti: Kue ku reminds me of the Chinese glutinous rice cake that's shaped like a turtle. I love the photos of the kue maker.