KennethT

I've bought frozen fish that said that on the vacuum pack. The reason the company gave is that the fish is first flash frozen without the packaging, and then sealed under a hard vacuum once frozen solid. The company said to remove from the packaging first because they thought that the pressure would damage the fish once the fish was soft and have a bad texture when cooked.

Ha!! Here's a pic looking at the bottom of the machine... It can only go one way! Here's it in action You can't see the motor but the bottom of the spit looks like a flathead screwdriver and the motors shaft has a slot to accept it. Notice the chicjen grease on the spit - I expected it to run off onto the drip pan, but some just ran along the underside and down the shaft into the motor... unbeknownst to me at the time!

It can also be supremely frustrating - a couple months ago, I got a vertical rotisserie... after 2 uses, it died... the autopsy revealed that the design was really stupid - the spit motor is located directly under the spit, so as you're roasting away, some grease or juices runs down the shaft and gets into the motor. Just as I discovered this issue, the 30 day Amazon return expired... I've been trying to find replacement motors - I've looked everywhere - I can find many similar motors with the similar speed, the same mounting, but the end of the shaft shape (where the spit plugs in) is wrong so I'd either have to remachine the spit or the motor shaft... It's a shame because the heating elements and reflector work great. Making a new spit myself, or redesigning how the motor interfaces with it may wind up costing more than the rotisserie did!

$5 is certainly a challenge here in Manhattan where everything is more expensive... Also, lots of dishes that I make use things like fish sauce or whatever which can't be bought in small quantities, except for Red Boat, which is extraordinarily expensive and I haven't had the nerve to pull the trigger on it yet. But even still, my $3/liter of fish sauce works out to like $.001 per serving. Also, many of the curries I make may cost $20 worth of ingredients (many of them have to come from who knows where, and there isn't a lot of competition for it) but that batch of curry is good for usually 4 meals for 2 people (so 8 servings) - I can't justify doing all work for 1 meal. While I understand weinoo's philosophy, I looked at the OP as a challenge of how to eat well for very little money, not just to eat for sustenance. I would hardly compare beef stroganoff to rice and beans. I was pretty impressed he could pull off a stroganoff for $5. Exactly munchymom - I think that's a great idea!

Yay!!

I haven't made any of the recipes per se yet, but she is engaging to watch and her food certainly looks good: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/

Great! Rather than just twisting with electrical tape, I would rather use wire nuts - they're self insulating and make a better connection than just twisting wires together. (Actually, personally, I would use a crimped connector, but that's just because I have access to them and the appropriate crimping tool - but the wire nuts would work fine). BTW, if you don't want to purchase wire strippers, in a pinch, I have used a knife - just be careful not to nick or cut any of the stranded wires

It looks like you will need a set of metric hex keys for the screw with the hex shaped indentation... Metric keys are a little hard to find in the US, but I've seen sets bundled with Imperial measures at the Home Depot. You can either hold the nut with a socket wrench, nut driver, or even a pair of pliers.

@Kerry Beal Wow, it sounds like your husband and I have a lot in common!

Tonight's chicken thigh variation... Fennel som tum with kumquat...

H2O2 definitely has good use as a sanitizer. In hydroponics, it's very commonly used to fight anaerobic bacteria that could be living in root systems or the reservoir. I used to keep a gallon of 17% H2O2 in my fridge at all times - I'd basically add 8ml per gallon and that would take care of any bacterial issues. I've since stopped using H2O2 in favor of hypochlorous acid - it lasts longer in the reservoir and does just as good of a job initially. The problem with H2O2 is that it is unstable at low concentrations - which is why the drugstore stuff at 3% needs stabilizers... At 17 or 35% it is stable, but should be kept refrigerated. So once it's diluted, it doesn't last long.

did a little more reading - it seems like this restaurant is unrelated to Borobudur which used to occupy that space. I gather the owners are different.

@Duvel When we were in HK, there were only 2! This was the Causeway Bay location..

can't wait to see more of it!

Yes, probably... I had never been to (or even heard of) any other Indonesian places, but that's where it is...

I don't think I've ever heard of Huli Huli before... what is it? Is it Polynesian? Hawaiian?

Here's a shot of those awesome xie long bao being made... dtf in hk...

Just went to Bali Kitchen in the East Village for lunch. I think it's a great addition to the neighborhood. Everything was really tasty and fresh, and really well cooked - it's a fast casual type place with only a few seats - I think most of their business will be takeout. It's run by two older Indonesian guys - both are really nice. As we were enjoying our lunch there, they even brought us over a little basket of various crackers. Shrimp chips (nice and shrimpy) next to a canister of sambal Fish sate lilit Rendang Ayam (chicken) Dabu dabu - turmeric marinated broiled fish with mango pineapple salsa Crackers on the house... I think the white and colored ones were some kind of fish cracker - and the bubbly ones were barley/oat crackers... more shrimp crackers on the bottom. The cost including tax/tip was $42 - which included the sate lilit, shrimp crackers, rendang and fish... We thought everything was really well prepared - we felt like it was a good value. We will definitely be going back.

love DTF... we were there in Hong Kong... awesome!

Those wings look great... I imagine they'd be really tasty with just a squeeze of lime...

@OkanagancookI was being serious!!!

Can you reuse the chilis after ferreting out all the chicken and greenery?

Wow... that looks great!

Welcome... can't wait to see some of the things you make, and read discussions of different cuisines you like

I haven't been to BKK in a few years, but Suvarnabhumi is HUGE... but I don't know what kind of food options are there or how good they are. We the vast majority of the time in that airport running from one gate to another as the distance is quite far. You can probably look up on their website what the food options are - I don't remember if there is anything once you get out of the security area - but most airports have an online map where you can see what's available. Are they staying in BKK at all or are they going to be picked up straight from the airport? If they're meeting the person at a hotel, it's best to stay in neighborhood of the hotel, unless the hotel is right by the skytrain, then you can go anywhere also near a skytrain stop. Once you get away from that you need to figure on needing a lot more time, depending on time of day. In BKK itself there are tons of options, but BKK's traffic is horrible - you can sit at one traffic light for literally 20 minutes not moving an inch. Years ago, while in BKK, I posted this thread: https://www.fodors.com/community/asia/bkk-for-a-couple-of-foodies-982949/ It starts out asking questions before our trip, and then is a food trip report which I posted while we were there. Also, that fodors community is very BKK centric - lots of the regulars on that board go there once or twice a year.