KennethT

They've been serving crab/seafood boils like this for as long as I can remember. As a kid, we went to Baltimore, partially to have the steamed crabs, and they put newspaper on the table and dump the steamed crabs on top. No one was ever concerned about it being unhealthy since you're not actually eating (or even licking) the outside of the shells that contacts the paper. This has also been a common thing to do in a classic Louisiana crawfish boil.... Just dump them on the table and let everyone gather around and go to town! It's been like that since my grandfather was a kid and who knows how long before that! ETA: for something like spaghetti, hell no! That's just gross...

Yeah, I imagine it works like a bunch of arc welding tips creating arcs to the bottom of your pan. What happens when you lift the pan from the stove top? Too far away and you won't get arcing from the "burner" tips to the pan also, when not touching whatever the pan rests on (which I assume grounds the pan), the circuit is disconnected and the arc stops also.

Interesting, but I do have thoughts about the longevity and safety. Typically, plasma is produced by creating a very high voltage (thousands of volts) which is high enough to ionize the air (in this case), creating the plasma. I worry about how long the emitters last before needing maintenance/repair/replacement as constant arcing like that can cause carbonization (covered with soot which will damper performance). Also, the constant ionizing I imagine would create a lot of ozone - I don't know how good it is to breathe that in on a regular basis....

Southern India via Singapore headless fish head curry with masala potatoes

Please post about this!!

I thought the Kraken Burger was hilarious... first of all, how much food it is (and how much fat is probably in it!) but also, why is there no seafood in it? I'd expect some calamari or something in a Kraken burger...

Jesus... I'm drooling at that last picture... you could frame it... I'm a huge fan of the CN Batman trilogy, but the 2nd is by far and away my favorite. I find myself always watching it on a plane since my wife doesn't like to watch it - she finds Heath Ledger's performance too realistic and it freaks her out and gives her nightmares... his performance makes that movie.

Enjoy! I look forward to seeing your adventure here. How is the weather there this time of year? When I was a kid, my parents would take us during Presidents' Week to Miami (to visit the grandmothers) and then to an island in the Caribbean (to make up for Miami which was commonly 60 degrees and rainy until the day we left and then it was beautiful). We usually tried to visit the more southerly islands (like Guadeloupe and South) since it was practically guaranteed nice weather, as opposed to the windward ones which could be as dicey as Miami. Have a conch fritter for me!

Also note that different bags of shaved katsuobushi (at least that I've found in NYC) vary in price depending on how much blood line is in the shaved block. More blood line = more fishy flavor/smell. Smokiness would be similar.

I'm no expert on Japanese cuisine. Hopefully members like @Duvel will chime in... but in my layman's study, it is quite common to give dashi a smoky flavor by infusing katsuobushi flakes into the dashi briefly. Miso soup uses this technique. So it is not an uncommon thing for dashi to have a smoky flavor - but traditionally is done by infusing dried, smoked fish flakes.

We get the bison regularly - I usually either make burgers or Indonesian patties to have with a couple of sambals. It tastes like beef, but is very lean - but still juicy as long as it's not overcooked.

Practically the only other thing found in my local Wegmans supermarket, ground bison. We had received a couple avocados from our online supermarket for free last week. There were no rolls so I used a frozen English muffin. Also chipotle puree I keep in the freezer. My wife opted for the low carb version:

More done with chicken wings.... Indonesian chicken soup with ridiculously spicy sambal cobekan using my home grown rawit chillies.

Being in the NYC area, I had grown up with pizza, but the idea of the cheese was intolerable so I would pick off the cheese!

This probably would have been me. I was the pickiest kid on the planet when I was growing up. There's hope for them, yet!