KennethT

@Anna NFWIW, I have never met a cripsy, non-greasy sweet potato fry - even conventionally fried, or in restaurants... I've had some start out ok, but after 5 minutes at the table, all crispiness has left the building.... maybe just my luck, but I tend to avoid them now.

Thanks for sharing, again!!!! Always enjoy your trips....

@liuzhouAs others have said, thanks so much for sharing both the food and experience!

Yes, it grows very easily. You can basically take a cutting, plunk it in a glass of water and it will start to root. As long as you keep the growing medium moist, it'll be ok - which is convenient since I'm growing it hydroponically. I saw it all over the place when we were in Saigon - commonly served with Pho, and various other types of dishes.

I cook salmon once a week or so, and I use a torch to brown the top when I'm done. Adds a nice flavor dimension as well as appearance.

This is rice paddy herb (ngo om in Vietnamese): I was in a thai restaurant that had some on the side... So I took a couple sprigs home to propagate. I love this herb - a little citrusy with notes of cumin.

The green papaya should be dressed just prior to serving. Having it "rest" in the refrigerator after being dressed made it limp. Also, try adding some fish sauce... makes a big difference!

My cilantro hasn't been doing well. An interesting study in plant physiology.... It's been 95degF with no clouds for so long, and my windowsill garden faces S-SW. Even with the A/C on full blast, it's just too hot and humid and too sunny... so the plant has been suffering. Because it's not as healthy as it should be, it is much more vulnerable to pests. I saw today that the cilantro was infested with mites. What is interesting is that the plants on either side of it (that are much more tolerant to heat and sun) and are touching leaf to leaf, have practically no pests at all. Needless to say, I removed the cilantro plant and trimmed any leaves that had even 1 or 2 mites on them on the other plants.... But look at those roots!

I'm not that knowledgeable about cocktails, but I've never heard of a "generic spirit"... even at the low end, don't they all have brand names of some kind?

My wife and I were there for a long weekend in October, 2014.... a hurricane arrived shortly after we did!

I have mixed them in the past with no issues - although I typically use a combo of sugar, isomalt and glucose. The isomalt doesn't like to melt as readily as the sugar does, but it will eventually. I have never noticed the humidity resistance (I always keep my sugar stuff in sealed containers with a few packs of desiccant thrown in), but the mixture is certainly less sweet than sugar, which is the primary reason why I use it as I like it for savory applications.

@huirayVery nice indeed! What do you do with them in winter?

That prawn and tomato curry looks great... can you include an Rx or list of materials?

Check out this basil! The size of my hand!

Lime flower... Pretty and smells great - and will turn into a lime!

@huiray - no I've never seen that before... interesting

@liuzhouYou've hit the nail on the head... I can't think of any 100% original, indigenous, American food, but as kayb said, most people here aren't "native" anyway. But, I don't think the OP was asking about native, indigenous foods.... but rather, foods that are popular in the US and are commonly known as "American" that may have started off as something somewhere else, and then was later modified/adapted.... like some of the examples in that wikipedia article. So, I think for the purposes of the OP (who is seemingly not American - or is only a recent American or resident, based upon the language in the post), I think the wikipedia article fits the bill. Many years ago, there were a lot of restaurants that served "American food" - the menu consisted largely of grilled or broiled proteins - steaks, broiled chicken or lamb chops, broiled flat fish (like fillet of sole), along with some form of potato (mashed potatoes, french fries or hash browns) and an overcooked vegetable or two - usually string beans, peas&carrots, etc. There were very few sauces or seasonings aside from salt & pepper, or Heinz' ketchup. Thankfully, these types of restaurants have gone out of fashion (and out of business), at least in the NYC area (with the exception of the steakhouse, which is as or more popular than ever).

I don't see how Epsom salts can help BER, as it is a calcium issue, and Epsom salts are magnesium. If the problem is with heirloom varieties (non-hybrid), the answer is that we just have to deal with it... many heirloom varieties root structure is not sufficient to bring in enough nutrients for the plant once it gets really going - this is (one of the reasons) why heirloom tomatoes can be expensive in the store since up to 50% of the crop can wind up being not saleable. Also, since Ca is not very mobile (it is moved by the plant with water flow due to transpiration, not actively by the plant itself), conditions that limit transpiration like high humidity or cool temps can exacerbate the problem. In order to fight this in a garden, you can make a foliar spray using CaMg, a good source of calcium. Spray on the leaves closest to the fruit - maybe you can even spray the fruit - I'm not sure if that works or not... but you have to spray before BER takes hold - it is irreversible. ETA: the crushed eggshells are a source of calcium, but are not directly absorbable - it must first be broken down by fungi and bacteria to the salt form so that the plant can take it up. So it will take quite a while (maybe for next year?) for the eggshells to make a difference.

no sauerkraut???

I don't know if this is the proper topic to put this up, but my wife and I were wandering around in the nice weather tonight and I picked up one of these French little beauties, in NYC... Pistachio financier... I know it looks more like a muffin, but it had a really intense pistachio flavor, and the inside was a nice pale green color. Very tasty!

Is that right??? Or one-time-use-only!

Excellent timing indeed. The one you have in your hand (I assume that's your hand!) is the size of what we had...

I don't think I'd do anything in it that required washing the inside afterwards (like rendering fat) - hard to wash through the small neck!

@liuzhouVery nice... it seems your rougiamo was a big one cut into quarters. Most of what we saw were small - about the size of a traditional hamburger, but made with that flatbread. Do you know which is more traditional?

I don't know what caused the haziness... it was beautifully clear our first day, and then proceeded to get progressively hazier as the days went on (with no rain)... Beijing is known for bad pollution, so I wouldn't rule that out, but I can't say that we were uncomfortable or had any issues breathing, and not that many people were wearing pollution masks...