KennethT

Which one of Fairway's blends did you have problems with? I regularly get their 1L jar of unfiltered EVOO (it's basically the same price per L as the 3L can) and haven't had a problem. I probably bought the last one a couple weeks ago.... If you want, I can take a pic of the label when I get home.

@liuzhou I can't really express how much pleasure I get from reading this - although I have to admit there's a twinge of jealousy - I'd love to have been there with you!

Sorry to see this end so soon! Now it's time to relax!

I know it's OT, but the produce industry uses vacuum to chill lettuce in large quantities. Large packers use a walk-in vacuum chamber where a pallet of lettuce can be cooled from field temp to 40degF in about a half hour, which is much faster than can be done with refrigeration, resulting in a longer shelf life.

Not only is it almost the full moon, this time, it's also a Super Moon - when the moon is closest to the Earth in its elliptical orbit - so it looks larger than normal. After tomorrow, the next time it will be closer will be in November, 2034!

I'm loving this, both pics and your commentary. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us!

Wow - that drawing is amazing - you did it freehand?

yay! More hunting blog! I don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but Mam Nem isn't really fish sauce... it's more of a fish paste-y-sauce and is much thicker and more pungent than normal fish sauce (nu'o'c mam) which is thin and clear. They're certainly not interchangeable if making a dipping sauce. If you take a look at my Central Vietnam foodblog (shameless plug) you'll see us eating things with mam nem a few times. While Red Boat fish sauce (nu'o'c mam) is certainly high quality, it is really expensive. When in Vietnam, I've asked people about it, but no one I've spoken to over there has heard of it - it seems that it is only made for export. Then again, most of the brands used over there are not exported, so take it for what it is. Personally, I always have a big bottle of Squid brand fish sauce (it's Thai, not Viet, but practically the same thing). It's good enough to have straight, but cheap enough where I don't cringe every time I use a whole lot of it. We use a 1 liter bottle every couple of months - and it usually costs us maybe $4-5, unless I get it while in Chinatown and then it would be like $3.

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes tourist traps are unavoidable. Is the Argentinean definition of rare/medium etc similar to that in the US?

Looks great! Can't wait to see the rest of the trip!

There are a few places in NYC that do tableside guac and I will say that it is very popular in those places, and commands a high price. Some people enjoy watching it being made in front of them, like theater. The Guac Guy in those places is never standing around.

Thank you!

Is there a discussion in the book about the purpose of adding ascorbic acid? I just saw the contest #2 in which the recipe called for it. I'm curious because a woman I know on the internet used to work in a bakery in Vietnam, and said that to get similar results to the banh mi there, you need to add ascorbic acid. Does it act as a gluten relaxer? Traditional banh mi have a very tender and crisp crust, and a very light and tender, relatively closed crumb.

How are you supposed to read the books if you don't open the box? ha!

@mgaretzIs it possible that kaklaten is Yiddish or some variant thereof? My father and grandmother would use terms that looked and sounded just like that..

Seconded.... Wish this could go on and on!!! Thank you!

It is the traditional Thai style to serve everything at once, that way you jump around between dishes. Ideally, you would have a few dishes with different flavors - some spicy, some bitter, some sour, etc... and eating the dishes jumping around like that can really balance things out. That works great in Thailand where space isn't necessarily at a premium, so a two top looks like a table for 4 in the US. The problem here is that real estate is so expensive that they make the tables really small and put them together to maximize space. That kind of puts a damper on the whole jumping around thing as the table gets overcrowded and there is no room to put anything. I always thought they should use some type of tiered table with plates on elevated racks over other plates... when you run out of space in 2D, move to 3D....

@liuzhou Is cod local (or relatively so) to China?

Loving this... thanks for taking the time to post!!!

Me too!!!

I wonder how people could tell that their knives were magnetized... most food is non-ferrous... hehe...

I've used a mag. knife block for about 12 years now and I love it. I just got a cheap one at the rest. supply store on Bowery and Houston. It doesn't look that great - but that doesn't bother me since my kitchen is very utilitarian, so it somehow fits - plus, it's covered by knives so you can barely see it. I've never had a problem with it "losing a knife" or scratching one - but I make sure I don't slide the knife off when I'm going to get one. Also, make sure you dry the knife thoroughly before putting back - I have heard of some people complain of rust developing between the knife and magnet since air can't get to the stuck side of the knife once it's adhered.

Most nights (especially during the week) my wife and I have very little free time between coming home from work and getting ready for bed. Because of this, most of our weekday meals are a rotation of dishes that we can make the sauces over the weekend in large quantity (say 4-8 meals worth), then once home, quickly fry/bake some chicken thighs, make some rice in the rice cooker, add the reheated sauce and dinner is done. Lately, I've wanted to expand our rotation by adding some coconut curries - like Thai or Malaysian style. I know that the curry paste freezes well, and have done that many times. And I know that raw coconut milk freezes well, as the best quality ones I've seen are frozen vacuum sealed pouches from Thailand - unlike the canned variety, they have no preservatives or emulsifiers and taste as close to fresh squeezed as I've had. I'm wondering if you could pre-make a large batch of curry - either the more soupy kind - like a thai curry, or a relatively dry kind - like a rendang, portion, and freeze. Then, quickly reheat on the stovetop, or seal chicken in a ziplock with the curry and cook in the waterbath over the weekend, then freeze the whole thing for a quick dinner that reheats in the bath while the rice is cooking. Has anyone done anything like that? How were the results?

I don't know how it would fit through the door...

I was under the impression that roti are a form of laminated dough - where there the flour and water are stretched very thinly, then margarine applied , then rolled into a snake, then coiled into a disk. This disk is then fried on a flat top (in ghee or margarine) or sometimes grilled... but any type of dough type thing that is that flaky always has lots of fat - that's how you get that flakiness - during cooking, the fat melts, and the water in the dough turns to steam separating into layers. ETA: Sorry, after some research, I realized that I incorrectly assumed that the roti typical in Sri Lanka were the same as the roti prata found in Singapore - they looked similar from the pictures... but I now realize that they are very different, with totally different ingredients and methods...