blue_dolphin

Thank you so much, nikkib, for taking the time to share your food world with us. I just started reading Cheryl Tan's memoir, A Tiger in the Kitchen, about her return to Singapore to explore the family, cooking and culture she grew up with. Your blog photos gave me a colorful glimpse into the world that Tan describes in words. As I read about another new dish in the book, I've been returning to your blog to see if it's one that you've pictured. Thanks!

I wonder if it's this one for Poached and Roasted Turkey in the Style of Bresse? It's a little vague on the total oven time. Says to roast for 30 min, then turn off the oven and leave the bird inside.

You win the nice guy award - letting the girls have the salmon and making a Cutco "mercy purchase" ... Ditto that! The lovely individual chef's menus served to you and your wife at Napa Rose reminded me how you impressed me with the way you've tailored your home menus to suit the tastes of individual family members. Nice, indeed! Thanks for taking the time to share your week!

Hmmm. I like the rosemary idea and I'm thinking a pine nut and chipotle brittle would be most excellent. I know nothing of candy making, aside from making cashew brittle for holiday gifts for years, always with the peanut brittle recipe in James Beard's American Cookery which adds raw nuts fairly early in the cooking process. Salt, baking soda and vanilla are added right at the end. At what point would you add things like ground chiles or rosemary? Would they really flavor the brittle well if added just before turning it out? I imagine they would scorch if added when I add the raw nuts (140-145 degrees F)

Thanks a bunch for the last minute answers and clarifications at the tail end of this very busy blog!

I have a yard sale "3" skillet that looks very similar. Mine says "6 1/2 inch skillet" on the reverse with a letter "P" below and on the reverse on the handle but no other makers mark: I like to use it when a recipe calls for gently warming spices or aromatics in oil. I find it much easier to control the temp and prevent over-browning in this little pan, even if I end up transferring the contents to a larger pan for the rest of the prep.

Thank you so much for the time and effort invested to create this wonderful blog in a slice of the world completely new to me. I've learned tons! For example, I always thought lagniappe, that term for a little extra used in Louisiana came from a French word. Following up on your description of "la yapa" taught me that it actually originates with the language of the Andes, then into Spanish and finally into Louisiana Creole French. Very interesting. You've also made me want to travel to Ecuador to see these places and try the wonderful food. Not sure if you'll have time to answer my question, but a 2008 NYTimes travel piece, "Meals and Wheels on Avenue of the Volcanoes" mentions street food vendors charging one price to nacionales or locals and a higher price to güeros or "foreigners of European decent." Is that a practice that exists in your area and if so, what price do vendors charge you and your family? Thanks again!

I've been meaning to try the recipe that Pierogi in the Recipes that Rock thread for Winter Squash Soup with Red Chili and Mint from the Greens cookbook. I got a butternut squash in my CSA box last week and even bought some mint but couldn't get into soup-making with this weekend's 80 degree days. The flavor combination sounds great.

Mostly a fruit basket : A bottle of Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy, Blume Marillen Apricot Eau-de-Vie (not sure what to try with this), some Cointreau, Bittermen's Xocolatl Mole and Regan's Orange Bitters. I wanted a bottle of Rittenhouse 100 but it's been out of stock for a while now. My local shop told me their distributor's telling them November.

Worth every penny. The more recently available Combier is equally excellent in every way and a few bucks cheaper. Nothing wrong with Cointreau of course but more than a few bar folks I know and work with have found reason enough to switch to Combier and 86 the Cointreau. I was out doing errands yesterday and thought I'd pick up some Combier to compare but Combier was $39.99 for 750ml while Cointreau was $31.99 for a liter so I went with the old familiar.

If that half bottle of Cointreau that's lasted you 2 years is too pricey, you should probably stay away from the Chartreuse ! That said, I've found Chartreuse a most worthwhile investment. I bought it to try my hand at a Last Word as recommended above. I found that very tasty but I really, really like the Final Ward.

I am very much a cocktail novice. After seeing the Chartreuse discussion on the Essential Liqueurs thread last night, I tried a Cat's Pajamas: 1 oz Gin 1 oz Campari 1/2 oz Green Chartreuse 1/2 oz Orange Juice 1/4 oz Maple Syrup The valencia oranges from my tree make a very tangy juice but the peels seem to lack the oil needed to properly flame the peel over the top. I enjoyed it anyway - it was the cat's pajamas !

NPR did a paw paw piece during Morning Edition yesterday. I knew the song growing up but always thought paw paws were a made-up thing, not a real fruit!

Looks like pretty much the same method that hummingbirdkiss posted here a while back. I tried it (not the hand smashing, just the shaking ) and it indeed worked great with older garlic but not as well with really fresh stuff - maybe I just needed to shake those longer, I dunno.

I used to just use a ziplock bag and wrap with my clothes but after an unfortunate incident with some red wine, I do the same as Lisa. It's worth checking with the airline. Most have their policies available on-line. United's says: Sometimes I just check a case of wine as a piece of luggage and haven't lost any that way yet.

Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to blog. I've really enjoyed following along all week and am sorry to see your blog come to an end.

Too late, and maybe not the sort of cocktail you are thinking of, but I've had the liquid nitrogen caipirinha on the cocktail menu at The Bazaar in Beverly Hills (Description of the technique here). In the video on that site, he pours a single mix into the bowl before adding the LN2, but I recall separate bottles of cachaça, lime juice and simple but I doubt that makes a difference. Sounds sort of like the cachaça sorbet I've read about from elBulli rather than a liquid cocktail. Tasty, though !

86 for me. At least that's what I have entered in Eat Your Books. Someday I'll count up the others and post back.

A great article here about Eastern NC hot dog chili (and a recipe!). Regional hot dogs and sausages are so interesting! I thought the Snoopy's dog looked amazing similar to a hot dog that's popular where I grew up in Northeastern NY, where they are curiously called "michigans." They also feature a snappy red dog and the cooking method in the sauce recipe you linked to is quite similar to the michigan sauce recipe I've used, though mine uses more chili powder, cumin and cayenne, the texture must be similar. Mustard and onions are the usual michigan garnishes - no coleslaw. Also thanks for answering my questions about the Durham restaurants mentioned in the NYT travel section article last Sunday. I think it's always interesting to hear a local perspective on those things. And thanks again for blogging.

I was getting a lot of kale earlier this year that's what I did with most of it - served on its own or tossed with pasta. I always thought a CSA would be overwhelming for a single person, but after reading Pierogi’s excellent blog earlier this year, I decided to give it a shot and have been getting a weekly box since March from a CSA that offers a choice of a large or small box. The farmer’s market closest to me is OK, not great and often seemed down to the dregs by the time I could get there after work. I felt like I was getting in a rut of cooking the same stuff all the time and thought the CSA box would be a good way to get myself cooking more often and with more variety. It’s been successful on both fronts. I get the small box and usually do pretty well, except for an excess of salad greens and more radishes than I knew what to do with earlier in the spring. Nothing too exotic in this week’s box: Bi-color Corn Pomelos 1 Lemon Green Leaf Lettuce White Carrots (which look yellow to me) Texas Sweet Onions Assorted Squash Mizuna Red Norland Potatoes The corn’s gone. A good bit of the lettuce, carrots and mizuna has gone in salads. I think I’ll try grilling the onions and squash. Not sure what to do with the pomelos. This CSA runs year round. I’d like to stick with it for the full year just to see how things change through the seasons.

Love the ballpark bull! Did you see today's travel section article in today's NYT on Durham Dining? Any thoughts on the places (Scratch, Toast, Rue Cler, Revolution & KoKyu) mentioned? Or the "wildly popular" Saturday farmer's market in Durham? Thanks for blogging!

For kitchen towels I use normal detergent, bleach and the hottest possible water - the "sanitary" cycle on my current washer and they seem to do OK. I try to minimize the use of paper towels but will use them to wipe up really greasy spills, so maybe my towels don't get as oily as some,

Wow! Beautiful, beautiful job with the photos and descriptions of your restaurant meals! Thanks so much for taking us along on this traveling blog!

Peanut butter & banana on whole wheat bread would have to be my most often made sandwich. Sometimes open-face on toast. Plain old egg salad sandwiches are comfort food for me. I love them as is but for a treat, I love making myself the Egg Salad Sandwich Perfecta Mundo from Luna Cafe. The little bit of blue cheese, crisp bacon and peppery arugula elevate my childhood favorite to a new level. After Thanksgiving, turkey sandwiches with little bits of dark meat picked off the carcass and held together with lots of Hellman's-Best Foods.

17.25" My last place had more space and I miss it.