KennethT

True... but galangal is not always used in paste form. Many times it can be added in sliced form - like in Tom Kha. But also I can't think of a time when galangal is eaten raw, either in pounded or sliced form. Cooking changes these flavors - like shrimp paste - it smells putrid raw, but cooked it's a thing of beauty.

Galangal, even fresh, is like a woody ginger... and it has a scent I can't quite categorize - almost medicinal

The frozen stuff I get at Hmart in Ktown looks like that... also, when I used to go to Chinatown and the SE Asian store on Mulberry or the Thai store on Mosco. The fresh stuff at Hmart in Ktown can be pretty decent, but sometimes it's not there at all or is old.

I've done it - I kind of saw through it with a big chef knife and shave off bit by bit. Or, if I have a big enough piece to hold on to, I'll use the chef's knife like a cleaver and hack off pieces. It's woody in the best of times.... when I move, I'm considering adding it to my stable of plants - I gather it grows pretty easily.

I never tried freezing galangal presliced - I always worried about it drying out or getting freezer burn. In the Pok Pok book, Andy Ricker recommends freezing the galangal whole (or in chunks of manageable length) adn then slicing while still frozen to add to the mortar. I've done this and it works pretty well. Especially when the only galangal I can get is already frozen...

He is actually stepping away from the restaurant entirely. https://ny.eater.com/2020/8/17/21372260/blue-hill-stone-barns-pivot-resident-chef-program-racism-nyc-restaurants

@dtremit you could also try a folded towel underneath the mortar to reduce vibration...

I've walked by a few places that have beautiful outdoor setups... Scarpetta is done really nicely. I know it's not nearly as nice as you're looking for, but the setup is surrounded by flowers, adn the tables have white tablecloths... it's a pretty pink theme.

Thanks to @Chris Hennes efforts, photos are uploaded!!!! @weinoo's much maligned Bond St.... personally, I love the look of the cobblestones - sure it may be a pita for bikes (women with high heels) but sure does look cool.... Fresh squeezed limeaid with butterfly pea flower shrimp chips with nam prik pao yum pla - the kind of fish salad I can really get behind! The fillets of gourami (a type of fish) are fried in Thai style - which basically means "fry the crap out of it" so that you can even eat the bones in the fillet - they turn crunchy and tasty. Fried fish with cashews and herbs Gaeng khua - snail curry. Snails were super tender and the curry was like a Panang curry with kaffir lime and ground peanuts. Included some raw veggies (including what was billed as green mango, but was really an in-between mango - not green, but not really ripe either). My favorite vegetable... pak boong

@Eatmywords do you add your own shrimp paste? Their paste lacks it (due to allergies probably) so to make it taste right you need to add your own. Also, to the Panang paste, I add more dried spices as well as a few tbs of ground peanuts (not peanut butter) as well as the shrimp paste...

Rose sauce? Made with rose water?

Homemade bun shrimp! 4 different herbs from the garden, plus homemade fried garlic and homemade Viet pickles.

Nice... In my research, it seems that they can typically drop all their leaves when it drops below 40F (as long as it doesn't freeze) but will completely come back once it warms up. My curry plant is very sad - it's one of the few that I'm growing that isn't doing so well... I actually ordered a replacement from Logees - their plants are older (about a year old) than the one I got (about 6 mos), and I gather they really don't start taking off until about a year old... and I'm sick of waiting!

Pai is great. I don't contribute to many Patreon, but I do to hers... I've gone through her site so many times, I definitely get my money's worth.

Thanks - that's what I thought too but it had no problem with other the other photos that are the same size or even slightly larger... weird... I was hoping @Chris Hennes could weigh in when he gets a chance; I'd imagine he would know the exact reason why this happens.

This street is basically blocked off to traffic - that's why the city allows them to put tables in the middle of the street like that - otherwise, they would have to put up barriers at least 18" wide to separate the tables from traffic

We enjoyed the beautiful weather last night at a Thai seafood restaurant called Fish Cheeks. Definitely was not disappointed - it really hit the spot! Tables were spaced nicely apart making us feel safe and once it got dark, eating under the light of the streetlamp brought back memories of Thailand. I'm having trouble uploading some photos, so I'll edit this post once I find out how to get it working... shrimp chips with chili dip Fried fish with cashews,some green-ish mango, lime juice... fantastic.. The rest of the photos failed to upload - all giving me the same "-200" error... I tried doing it from my phone and also my desktop computer... @Chris Hennes Is there something I can do to fix this problem? Thanks!

@Kim Shook The Caribbean lobsters are spiny lobsters. I agree - they're delicious!

Even at the height of my non-smelling (and before that) Sichuan peppercorns made my mouth numb. At the height of it I couldn't deal with eating most things just because everything just tasted bitter. And not good bitter like radicchio but gut churning bitterness that made me just not want to eat. Stay safe everybody - I don't recommend the COVID diet.

Ordered in from our local Sichuan place... Dumpling in chili sauce - a nice dose of vinegar in there Mapo tofu... My wife loves it but it's got a bit too much Sichuan peppercorn - my mouth always goes numb midway through... Pea shoots with garlic

Wow!!! That's quite a lineup! Love Domaine Leroy.... I actually had the pleasure of seeing her specific rows of grapes in Clos de Vougeot years ago. ETA - seeing her parcel sparked a huge debate among us about biodynamics in Burgundy... As we were looking at her plot, a guy was spraying the crap out of his own plot about 15 rows away, and the wind carried it straight at us, past us and beyond!

@heidih I wonder if my aversion stems from being young and my mother would boil or steam it to death, and then cover it with Velveeta (which I also can't stand). Broccoli is barely tolerable if blanched briefly, then sauteed with a ton of garlic and chili...

BROCCOLI!!!!! I am to broccoli like @liuzhou is to corn. I'm trying to find data showing that broccoli is the true cause of COVID-19 and should be eradicated. Other forms like rapini are not so bad, and "chinese broccoli" (which tastes nothing like broccoli) is great and should be saved from the mass extinction.

@heidih I think your phone is wrong... first of all 70C is just crazy - was that a typo? It's currently 70F and raining... certainly not sweating weather!!

@weinoo @TicTac I've made HTK's chicken rice - it's really good - but keep in mind that that is a Thai version.... chicken rice exists in basically every country in Asia (I don't know about Japan/Korea, but definitely China and every SE Asian country I can think of). In each country (or even in a region in a country) it varies - sometimes varying a lot to what's found in other countries. The Singapore/Malay version uses a chili sauce made with lots of ginger and usually a sweet soy sauce is on the table if you want to add it. In Central Vietnam, they typically add a bit of turmeric to the rice, add some black peppercorn, sliced raw onions and some rau ram on top, and there is no chili sauce - but instead, they will use the accompanying soup as a dipping sauce. Pai's version found in HTK is what's commonly found in Thailand - or atleast it resembles what I had in Bangkok - I don't know if it varies throughout Thailand, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.