KennethT

Usually, oysters at happy hour are offered by the half dozen and dozen. Some places that have more than 1 variety usually have 1 type (the least expensive, 'commodity' oyster) for the $1 or $1.25 each (sold by the half or doz) but the special oysters - usually local Long Island or West Coast, small production types, go for $3-4 each and can be purchased by the each. When the Mermaid Inn was open in our neighborhood (soon to return I've heard), we used to get maybe 3 dozen of the happy hour oysters (and maybe 4 of the special ones for dessert) plus a couple other appetizers and have a nice dinner.

Yes. $3.75 each, 22 for a half dozen, 40 for a dozen

I made this dish again last night, but rather than elk, used bison. I missed the slight gaminess of the elk. I also added some beech mushrooms (shimenji) and they were a great addition. Love this dish.

Actually, the CSO has firmware. So does your InstantPot. Anything with a digital display that can change with response to external stimuli - turning a dial, for instance, is run by firmware on a chip. Even most "dumb" ovens have a controller (hence firmware) now. It's just that some firmware is rewriteable and others are fixed. The CSO's firmware is most probably fixed - why pay for a rewriteable chip when the device in whole has no connectivity to be able to rewrite it? But appliances with WiFi or Bluetooth have a way to contact the Mother Ship. So, the company can go the typical software route which is to release the first version before it's actually truly finished. It may have bugs. Not as much functionality as it could possibly have based on teh hardware inside, etc. But because it is updateable, it doesn't need to be perfect on release. They can release patches at their leisure and work out the problems over time, making sales all the while.

That beef roast looks amazing. I rarely ever eat beef anymore, but I would gladly have yours as my "once or twice a year" indulgence! Your story of the Chinese food in a can cracked me up and reminded me of the awful lunch we had in Beijing in a very pretty tea house in a park. The tea was ok (way overpriced) but I could have sworn that the meat/gloppy sauce came out of a can. Basically the only thing edible was the rice.

Yes, pruning is very important. I am often amazed how cutting a plant back (some of them quite severely) result in a bigger, bushier plant! I initially found it counter-intuitive.

Interesting that they tell you to put it in bright light. From what I was to understand, mushrooms don't really care about light - other than being in direct sun which will overheat it.

Where does one get Caesar salad, dumplings and chicken strips all in the same place?

whoops... Nai

It seems that the chef/owner is from Barcelona but spent a time in Japan and loved it. PX hoisin was some sort of thin, syrup textured sauce - evidently made with hoisin and Pedro Ximenez (a sweet sherry made from VERY ripe grapes then sun dried before pressing then aged oxidatively). It was really tasty.

Last night we tried a new to us place in our neighborhood. I actually never knew they existed and had never heard about it. We actually passed it by on the way to a dim sum restaurant recently written about, but declined it after seeing A) their outdoor dining was COMPLETELY enclosed with nary a window and B) they had a sign saying that they did not discriminate and would allow unvaccinated diners to dine inside (which is currently illegal in NYC). So we went back to this other place that we passed by and thought looked interesting. It turned out to be a Spanish tapas place - I can't remember the last time I sat down in a restaurant that wasn't Asian of some kind! Sourdough with olive oil (complimentary!). The sourdough was quite dark - tasted kind of like it had molasses or something in it. Jamon Iberico and a glass of white sangria (made with Verdejo) Salmon on a bomba rice cake with garlic aioli and saffron Bravas - potatoes with chipotle aioli Octopus from Galicia with EVOO and paprika Lomo Iberico with corn nuts, PX-hoisin, shiso

That makes sense. Growing things is fun - that's part of why I have my indoor jungle of herbs (soon to be expanding). Mushroom cultivation is supposed to be pretty easy, not very labor intensive (compared with what I do) and certainly resource friendly - no need for expensive lights/fertilizers/etc so I can see the appeal. If I didn't already have a lot of my free time taken up with the herb plants I'd be doing it also.

Lately on my Facebook feed I get tons of ads selling "grow your own mushrooms at home" kits. Unfortunately, most of the offerings are versions of oyster mushrooms which are readily available and pretty inexpensive here. If I could grow my own maitake, shimenji or especially chanterelle I'd be all over it!

What types of potatoes are common in China? Are they more waxy or starchy? Any non-Chinese equivalents you can think of?

Wow... I'm in shock. I never knew him well, but his recipes always impressed me and he always seemed just so nice. I feel like I was just commenting back and forth with him the other day (although it was probably a week or two ago).

Congrats!!! Hope we get to follow along...

huh - so you just send the wings through the mail? Doesn't it stink?

you could always replace your bed with a captain's bed (which has drawers) - lots more room for storage!

@liuzhouThanks so much for this!

Yes, and I will say that the texture was great - each individual grain was distinct, yet you could pick up a chunk of it and roll it into a ball.

Cleanup was easy - although I didn't do it. In general, I cook, my wife cleans... but I specifically asked her about it and she said it cleaned up really easily. This makes sense because there wasn't really much to clean - when I removed the tamis from the CSO, I put a plate over it and inverted - after a bit of a jiggle, the whole mass sort of plopped off with only a couple grains remaining that weren't too difficult to remove.

Yay!!! Do you prune the suckers of your tomato plants? So much vegetative growth! I'd be worried about mold in the middle, but that's just me thinking indoors where mold is probably much more of a problem.

Thanks! Sticky rice in the CSO is super simple. I started soaking the rice in a bowl of cold tap water in the morning. Just prior to steaming I drained and washed several times. Then I spread it out on a 9" or 10" tamis (I didn't measure it) evenly in about a 3/4" layer leaving a border around the side and poked a few holes around with my finger to allow steam to circulate easier. I have a few of them from when I used to make the Bouley/Robuchon potato puree. Thinking back, I probably shouldn't have worried about poking the holes or anything since the whole chamber is filled with steam - it doesn't come from the bottom.. duh... Anyway, I set the CSO to steam at 210 for like 30 minutes (that's what it was set previously) and turned it on without adding the rice yet - once the chamber was full of steam, I put in the rice for 15 minutes, then changed modes to keep warm at 150 without opening the door and let it sit for another 15-20 minutes or so. That's it.

I made the traditional Yunnan "beef with mint" (as discussed here) tonight. It was really tasty and addictive - it will definitely be in heavy rotation! I assume that the cows from that area would traditionally be quite lean, so I used some ground Elk that I got from Wild Fork; 3 of the 4 herbs (sawtooth, laksa and thai basil) came from my garden and I had the garlic chives left in my fridge for the past 2 weeks left over from another dish. I can't get fresh Heaven Facing chilies too easily here, so I used 3 Prik Chee Fah (spur chilies) and 1 Thai chili since my wife doesn't have as much of a tolerance for spicy as I do and I wanted to make sure that she enjoyed it. Served with Thai sticky rice (made in the CSO - which worked amazing for it, btw) and some smacked cucumbers.

Slightly OT but I couldn't find anything else close to it. After the move, I discovered a glass jar with Thai sticky rice that is of an undeterminable age. It's old. I was planning to make a Dai beef with herb dish discussed on another thread. When I opened the jar, I noticed a slight rancid smell. Can rice go rancid? I was planning to throw it out just because it doesn't smell good, but it got me curious...