KennethT

@Anna N was the beef stew called bo kho? When we were in Saigon, our hotel had a choice of 3 or 4 Viet dishes in the breakfast selections (out of like 15 choices) included in our room rate. After trying their pho and bun bo hue, we settled on getting their bo kho every day - but what made it so great was the banh mi they served with it for dipping. After the first couple of days we requested it with only a little meat and lots of the sauce and an extra banh mi!!!

@scamhi Who was the producer of the Burgundy?

I don't know if he was around when I joined, but I definitely remember spending a lot of time reading his posts! His stuff looked amazing.

No, I can't wait!!! I've watched more Patrick Blanc videos on YouTube than I care to admit.... I've also been researching the idea of putting a few orchids in there... but I need to undistract myself.... first focus on getting the renovation done and moving. Then think about vertical garden... damn. That's surprising to hear about Richters... they usually have a good reputation. I did a little more virtual digging into lemongrass in its native habitat. According to nurseries selling lemongrass plants in Singapore, lemongrass likes full sun (even down there) and moist, but not wet soil. So maybe photobleaching is not my problem. I just changed the nutrient solution to provide a bit more nitrogen - hopefully that will help... I should know more in a few days.

Coir is fascinating. It's free draining but like a sponge - the surface of each coir particle dries fast so it promotes good aeration, but holds onto a huge amount of water in its core which roots can access.

My tent is only 5x5 and I'll be moving in a few months (hopefully). Once I move I'll have a lot more space to spread.... And have another type of garden in the works once we're settled!

Nice looking fish and greens. Your baby bok choi looks almost like a yu choi to me - the stalks are so nice and slender... looks tender too. Home grown I assume?

@heidih Actually I have 3 variables I can adjust: nutrient formula/concentration, light intensity and watering frequency (aka how dry do the roots get between waterings). Lately, I've been treating lemongrass like most other plants - when you grow them in coco coir you let the pot get to half the weight between full saturation weight and the wilting point. But, maybe it is like my soon-to-be housemate, morning glory (aka water spinach) which you want to keep wet... obviously not puddles wet, but wet for coco coir - which is already very free draining.

When my wife and I started collecting a little over 10 years ago, we bought a few bottles that could be looked at as "investments"... at the time, I said that even if the value doesn't go up, at least we could enjoy drinking it!

well, I'll have my new curry tree to keep me busy while I see if I can revive the "old" one. BTW - I know you have experience growing lemongrass - mine isn't doing so well. The foliage is kind yellowish, but the stalks are green, and it's not putting out new shoots... I don't know whether the yellowish foliage is being caused by photo bleaching (the light above it is really powerful) or if it's a nutrient (namely nitrogen) deficiency. I'm using a well balanced nutrient formula, but most grasses are strong N feeders, so I just changed my nutrient balance to give it more nitrogen... if that doesn't help, maybe I'll move it so it doesn't get as strong of a light - but from all I've read, it loves full sun (even in the tropics)... although this is contrary to what I saw in Indonesia - one of our hotels had a whole herb garden on their roof and it seemed like they kept their lemongrass in the shade and it looked nice and healthy... so I'm kind of at a loss. Thoughts?

Going to germinate and plant a bunch of this this weekend... Fresh greens in a few weeks! The only problem is that I'm running out of space under the lights!!!

I've decided that I'm going to keep the old curry tree - I'm going to replant in a small cup and prune all of the branches off. Maybe it'll reset itself that way.

I don't know if it's a NYC code or if it varies by building. I know my building allows it for some apartments (those with a window in the kitchen also have an exhaust in the plans - but I've only seen the plans, not the apt) but most apartments in the building (whose kitchen does not have access to a window wall) must have a recirculating fan with carbon filter.

I actually wasn't thinking about making the push motor go faster - The pull motor creates negative pressure so that the push motor is more efficient - the air that it's pushing has less resistance. Loss of CFM isn't necessarily due to a fan's speed changing, it's because of the pressure created in the fan's path by resistance due to turbulence, etc. Like you said, the standard induction motors used don't change speed as the speed is determined by the line frequency - but the amount of air they move per revolution varies depending on the pressure behind it.

@liuzhou We need a drool button... Do you make the wrappers or are they easily available where you are?

I don't know if that's completely true, depending on the fan arrangement. I think if there are 2 fans in a push/pull arrangement (one at the hood pushing, and one at the final exhaust pulling) you might get more CFM since the extra fan will help compensate for the losses created by elbows/turbulence/etc. That's my theory - I have no proof...

Sorry - I didn't mean to say to get rid of the tops, I just meant that I separate them to make stir frying and eating easier. In our markets from tip of leaf to bottom of stem they can be 2 feet long which is hard to deal with.

@Kim Shook Thank you! I love those bowls... they're celadon - we got them at a celadon factory in Chiang Mai on our honeymoon about 15 years ago. Each one is hand carved, then glazed and fired at a ridiculously high temperature. We even got to tour the factory, and they even got my wife to sit at the potters wheel and get her hands dirty. She made a horrible piece (which was remade) but it was a fun experience. Back then, things were really cheap there, made even cheaper by a weak Thai Baht exchange rate. We carried a big box through at least 5 airports and nothing got damaged!

Yeah I do this with lots of different greens. One day I have to add chicken powder...

Or you could stir fry the Thai way - make a sauce of 1T oyster sauce, 1T fish sauce, and 1T light soy sauce and a little sugar. Stir fry in oil with garlic and chili briefly and add sauce. Or the Malay way with belacan, garlic, shallot and chili

No, I grow the rau ram. It grows so fast I could sell some to them! I haven't been down to Chinatown since they closed the 6 train on the weekend - I wouldn't want to walk all the way there and back! For the water spinach, I cut the leafy tops off and then cut the stems into 4" sections. Wash well - it can be sandy. Then spin dry. I typically stir fry it with garlic very briefly, assuming they were not harvested too old - they can get tough if they're too old.

Wow... these look great. What did you use for a wonton skin? Bought or made?

Nothing, I dare say nothing is better than rau ram smothered in chicken juices. CSO chicken thighs with salt/lime juice/black pepper dipping sauce.

Everything is better with a little MSG

@CeeCee I wish we had a wow button.... thanks for all this info - fascinating!