KennethT

You need to get some dwarf citrus trees!!! They make very nice houseplants as long as they can get enough light, and even without enough daylight, an inexpensive LED plant light and 24 hour timer is really all you need... just in case you don't have enough to do, check out fourwindsgrowers.com

Thanks for this... you're not kidding that it's really dry! I'm glad to hear that things are coming back though.

@Shelby I concur - that is some fine looking chicken... did the chicken cool between the SV and buttermilk bath? How long did it fry for and what was your oil temp?

For that kind of money, you'd think there would be slightly less uncomfortable looking chairs...

@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...