KennethT

Strong black pepper is common all over Asia. Several Central Vietnamese dishes revolve around it. Soak the dried shrimp before using!

I've been thinking about this concept of trinities a bit lately (not the humorous diversions). I think an interesting trinity is the Singapore/Malay version - shallots, garlic and dried shrimp. It's the basis for quite a few dishes - including a whole category of dishes labeled "belacan" (pronounced bla-chen) which is basically a sambal made with the trinity, plus belacan (hence the name) which is shrimp paste, and chilis plus seasonings. Tonight, I made a black pepper prawn dish that is very common in Singapore - most of the time it can be sickeningly sweet and one note, but the way it should be is the trinity, along with a lot of black pepper, maybe some curry leaves and a touch of sweet soy sauce + oyster sauce + rice wine.

Also, how high is your ceiling?

Yes that's it. Cuisinart recently discontinued it, but some stores are still selling what stock they have left.

Indoor garden update.... Some plants are doing great, others not so much. The rau ram6 is unstoppable. It's going to take over the apartment soon! Both basils are doing really well and the mint that I cloned from the supermarket is rooted nicely - although the basils are getting shaded a bit by the rau ram! Every time I move them, the rau ram just encroaches that much more.... I'm having problems with the curry plant. It's definitely showing iron deficiency - which it is prone to. I think my nutrient pH was a little too high for a few weeks which limits iron uptake. I've since adjusted it and it's getting a bit better but I think I'll prune some of the stems that have lost leaves and see if that spurs some new growth. I also don't know if I'm watering it too much or not enough. It is prone to root rot and typically likes to dry out a bit between waterings, but in theory, coco coir holds such a large amount of air that root rot shouldn't be an issue. Indeed, I unpotted it a week ago and couldn't find any sign of rot - the roots looked great. I'm not so happy with lemongrass either. A while ago I had excess nutrient build up in the coir because when watering, I didn't use enough to flush the excess. I've since corrected that problem and it's no longer dying but it's not growing either. I also don't know how moist I should keep the coir for this. Maybe it likes to be more moist and I need more frequent watering? Kaffir lime is doing well. The new growth is greening up nicely. I'm going to make a Panang curry soon as it needs a pruning - hopefully that will stimulate a new flush and it will fill out more. Sawtooth is doing really well. It's growing well and the leaves have great pungent and texture.

I'd hate to be the guy who had to schlep all those plants in and out...

@scamhi Happy birthday! How did the crab hold up over delivery? It looks great. I'm always wary of ordering fish/seafood for delivery because I'm afraid it's going to overcook itself on the trip over.

@liamsaunt Sometimes I think you're running a high end restaurant when you're making 6 different meals for 6 different people... you have my utmost respect!

The height of the water table has to do with flooding concerns. A high water table means that your place will flood with less additional water (like rain or storm surge) than a place with a lower water table.

Bob Marley would have been proud

BER is caused by a lack of calcium - but the reason for the lack of calcium can be quite complicated. Some varieties are prone to BER... one thing that I found is that the root system can cause BER because the roots may not be capable of delivering enough water/nutrients to the tips of the plant, causing BER. Professional growers will sometimes graft a known BER plant to a strong rootstock to give the plant more available nutrients/water. Or, if the roots are prone to root rot, that will also cause a decrease in uptake. You can do a foliar feed of a Cal/Mag product which will help BER - but some of the more recent research shows that BER actually starts as the flower transitions to fruit, although it doesn't present itself until later... so maybe spray with the Cal/Mag starting at flowering?

2nd attempt at udang arsik tapanuli...a type of Indonesian curry

what temp did you use?

6 oz of dried bay leaves? Wow!

I steam the fish on a plate rather than the baking sheet. Most of the time the fish goes in diagonally -but I also clip the tail fin

I'm really happy using the CSO to steam whole fish. Today I had one steaming for 20 minutes, but when it was finished I hadn't finished the sauce or vegetable yet so I started a steam cycle at 120F and the fish sat that way for over 10 minutes... The result? Perfect! Not overcooked and super moist as if it had just finished.

Genovese basil and Siam Queen Thai Basil transplanted into the coco coir after the appearance of the first set of true leaves

Happy 4th of July!!! Cantonese steamed black bass done in the CSO with hon shimenji mushrooms and Red bok choi

Just an FYI, if you aren't near a place where cuttings are easily available, most seed sellers sell feminized seeds - they basically guarantee 100% girls...

It does look like a baking steel, but those are really expensive (like the CF isn't? ha!) - what about a small cast iron griddle? https://www.lodgemfg.com/product/chef-collection-square-griddle?sku=LC11SGR - $40 rather than $175.... Edit: or $93 from McMaster Carr... https://www.mcmaster.com/6544K32/

Or get a big tent in the middle of your living room ETA and a big fan and carbon filter

Many small growers still grow from seed. There are many online retailers that will ship all over. But I don't really know anything about these things...

Did you have any issues with the mushrooms that were in contact with the plastic?

true. But the ones who know what it is are likely to pay a high price for them - in NYC, they have no problems selling at $40-$50 per pound. I'm not saying they will replace white button mushrooms, but I definitely think there's a market here for a predictable annual supply.

I've heard of it being done in China but I heard that the flavor isn't the same as the wild ones. Wish I could try them (or know someone who has).