KennethT

@ocd That's correct. I imagine the company recommends using at a lower setting because plug adapters are notoriously cheap pieces of crap (even the expensive ones) amongst those in the industry and running high amounts of current through them for extended periods of time tend to make them melt. That, coupled with the liability that a NEMA 5-15 15A outlet should be used with a 15A breaker, which at 1800W for an extended time could cause older breakers to trip.

Thanks... I thought that's what you meant... I've seen advertisements for some hotels that are built that way. It's beautiful, but I always wondered about bugs, critters and such. I'll be curious to hear about the realities of it. One of my customers is a hotel in St. Lucia where the rooms are open air (there's only 3 walls) and while I've always wanted to visit it, part of me worries about waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by various tropical insects, lizards and birds...

@liamsaunt I'm glad to see your tourist dollars going to work there... I'm sure they would really appreciate it! Can you discuss (or just show pictures) the open air house? I'm not really sure what that means...

@heidih I agree that it's very little substrate for either peas or tomatoes - unless the plants are an ultra-dwarf variety. With hydroponics, your substrate size can be significantly smaller than in dirt - but it seems like that Click'n'Grow (or whatever it's called) is growing in dirt, but is kept watered through a wicking system - which isn't hydroponics.

That's a good point. It can often be a LOT hotter in a sunny southern facing windowsill than in the rest of the room...

Did they have enough water? The older growth is completely desiccated and the newer growth on the left has some major nutrient deficiencies, which could either come from lack of water, or rotted roots (if the soil was consistently too wet).

Can you post any pictures?

I could certainly be wrong.... just because something may be uncommon, doesn't mean impossible!

I would be very surprised if they were heirlooms. The variety is beefsteak - but within that variety, there are many subtypes - some of which are heirloom, and some are hybrids... It is very uncommon for heirlooms to be grown in a greenhouse - the costs are too high, and most heirlooms have a lower yield, and are not as disease resistant. Most greenhouse tomatoes are bred for the greenhouse - they are less susceptible to mold (due to the greenhouse's typically higher humidity), plus they are typically more tolerant of a high salt environment, which is needed for the hydroponics.

Indeed, that looks like it. The obvious question is, why don't they put the stores that sell their products on their website?

Are these branded? I can't see from the photo...

This looks like it, but the original recipe I saw also had instructions for making it in a pit in the ground in your backyard... hehe.... I forgot about the habanero salsa.. that salsa makes it!

I love achiote pork... I made my own marinade using achiote paste, garlic, sour orange, etc following Rick Bayless recipe on his website. Then after wrapping in banana leaf, I would smoke it on my stovetop smoker for 30 minutes or so before I put it in the SV... I always enjoyed it... but I think I would also squeeze some lime on the tacos as well.

Can you show us a photo zoomed out a bit? I'd love to see the scale of the tomato plant versus the others...

Many of the places I've seen around here typically par-boil some of the tougher veggies or meats, drain, then stir fry for a few seconds...

In NYC, many restaurants do much more delivery orders (many times through one of the many delivery apps we have: Grubhub, Seamless (owned by Grubhub), Caviar, DoorDash, etc.) than dine-in. Seamless/Grubhub usually caters to those ordering from restaurants in their immediate neighborhood (and usually the restaurant provides the delivery people). Others like Caviar have their own fleet of delivery people, and will deliver borough-wide so anyone in Manhattan can order from any restaurant in Manhattan, with delivery fees typically varying based on distance. Caviar typically is used by higher end restaurants whose primary business is not delivery, and whose higher prices are ok with their customers. I have also noticed that sometimes (for the same restaurant) the dine-in prices are cheaper than the Caviar delivery prices. Some restaurants package their food for delivery very well... others, well, not so much...

I had never seen it outside central Vietnam...

You can definitely fry rice paper wrappers. During our trip to central Vietnam, all fried spring rolls were made from rice paper - but it was the super thin rice paper that is flexible when dry, not the thicker, stiff ones.

There are seemingly constant eruptions in the area - but the Indonesian authorities are probably the best in the world about predicting them, and evacuating danger areas. Last year, we were in Bali when Mt. Agung was erupting - luckily, the winds were blowing away from the airport so there were no problems with flights, and it didn't interrupt our schedule at all.

Is that the same as the Lan Larb on 2nd Ave and 34th st? I was there a few times but was never impressed by it...

Haven't had much time for cooking lately, but had some tonight to make a favorite Viet chicken dish, Ga Xa Xao Ot...

Thirded!!!! @Dejah Will you be spending any time in Yogyakarta? My wife and I will be spending about a week in that area in the summer so we'd love to see some specifics about there - but I'd love to see all of it! Malaysia is high up on our list, and there is so much of Indonesia left to see....

I think trying to make a chocolate mold out of most normal items may be problematic because most things are not shaped in the way a mold needs to be. For plastic molding, the design needs to be slightly tapered so that the molded item comes out easily... so trying to vaquform using a standard household item will create problems.... I wonder if you can modify the item (like the tools) with some modeling clay or something to fill in the holes, but also to fill in the area that needs to be tapered?

Yeah, that place is definitely not for the carb conscious!

So my wife and I finally made it to the new incarnation of Kopitiam. We went there once when it was in the old space, which was basically a closet with 4 counter stools about 2 feet from the register and were underwhelmed, but now that they have moved into a much larger space in the LES and have received TONS of great press, we decided to give it another try. The new setup is quite nice - it's a lively room with a good amount of seating - there are both tables for 2 and 4, a large communal table, and some counter seats at the window. The ordering scheme is similar to the standard kopitiam (coffee shop) in Singapore/Malaysia - you order at the counter and tell them where you are sitting, and then they bring you the food when it is ready. Once nice thing is that they won't let you order at the counter until you have a seat - and people waiting to sit don't hang over the diners like vultures - the very nice staff will help with the seating arrangements. Once seated, they don't rush you out either - in fact, there were a few times when I was about to ask the wait staff if they had forgotten to bring one or two of our dishes. There's also a decent amount of space between tables - it's nice to be in a casual place and not be on top of your neighbor or hear their conversation more than your own. The new menu is quite large - much larger than in the previous space. It is broken up into snacks and larger dishes and then a selection of kueh which are like sweets. Some items are made in batches - like the kueh and the curry puffs. When they sell out, it can be a long time until they are refilled. It's hard for me to judge this place as a typical New Yorker would - as someone who loves Singapore and its local food, my expectations of both flavor and value don't necessarily translate here. If I had never been to a typical kopitiam, I would think this place was excellent and might return often. But as it is, it is a little hard for me to reconcile my idea of value - but then again, real estate prices in SG/Malaysia are not NYC either... Otak Otak - this is a mousse made with fish, egg and curry paste, then steamed in a banana leaf. The texture of this version was much looser than we've had anywhere else - like it wasn't quite set yet. The flavor was ok - but very strong on the chili which basically overpowered everything else. It was ok when had with the rice, which you had to add for $2 extra. (sorry for the view of the eaten chicken wing!) Pulut Inti - this is my wife's (and mine too) favorite kueh... It's made from sticky rice stained blue using a butterfly pea flower, cooked with coconut milk, and topped with dried coconut shavings cooked with palm sugar. The rice should be slightly sweet and slightly salty. This one, the rice had almost no flavor of it's own, although the palm sugar coconut shavings were good. Curry puff - this was the best thing we had... I went back on line to try to order another (or two) but they were sold out and it would have been at least 20-30 minutes for them to come back into stock. This was probably the best curry puff I've ever had, anywhere. The crust was delicate and flaky, and the potato filling had a great curry flavor. When ordering, you can get it room temp or heated - I opted for heated. Belacan chicken wings - if you didn't tell me, I'd have no idea that belacan (fermented shrimp paste) was anywhere near these wings. You could barely get a sense of it... I was hoping the belacan would come through a lot more. Plus, it was like $6 for 5 tiny wing forearms... Kaya toast - in Singapore, this would be called "Bread Toast". The bread here was a little too dense for my taste, and the butter was completely soft and melted. To me (and many Singaporeans I have talked to) a proper bread toast should have ice cold pats of butter, in the warm toast and room temp kaya (coconut egg custard). I love the contrast between the cold butter and the warm kaya and toast. The kaya here has decent flavor (they also sell it by the jar), and the butter is really good, albeit too warm to the point where it almost squirts out when you take a bite. Teh tarik - black tea pulled with sweetened condensed milk. This was reminiscent of what it was supposed to be, but I was longing for a much stronger black tea, and a bit sweeter condensed milk flavor. This one was on the watery side. Total cost was about $35 before tip. In SG, this would have probably cost $10 if that, but again, NYC real estate so I understand... All in all, while we were a little disappointed that the dishes didn't live up to our expectations, we enjoyed ourselves there and would go back again. I am also curious to try some of their larger dishes - it looks like they had a shrimp laksa (but they didn't call it laksa so maybe it's just a shrimp noodle soup) and a beef rendang that I'd like to try. I also need to have another of those curry puffs!