KennethT

Last year when in Beijing, we had a salad at a donkey burger restaurant - at the time, I had no idea what the green was - I thought some kind of romaine lettuce, but it looked just like your photo of the celtuce tops! I'm sure that's what it was! Thanks!

I don't know if this is the proper forum to put this, but I saw an interesting article talking about how blockchain technologies, like Bitcoin, are helping to track food shipments and find sources of fake food... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-06/spies-blockchain-and-alibaba-beating-china-s-fake-food-scourge

Growing up, we had a few different fruit trees... a couple different apples, peaches, etc. I seem to remember that we'd have to give the trees some kind of fertilizer every year, otherwise they wouldn't really produce too much fruit. I have strong memories of driving a stake about 1" in diameter into the ground about 6-12" from the tree trunk, angled inwards, then, once in about 6", moved around to widen the hole. We then poured in about a handful of some kind of gray fertilizer that looked like small gravel. I know that's not really helpful, but I was a kid. We stopped fertilizing the trees after I was about 12 years old or so because the neighbors would wind up stealing most of our fruit before we could pick any! This was back before you could set up a video camera to watch the thieves in action....

Thanks for taking us along!

Getting ready to put the yu choi and cloned herbs back in the main windowsill garden... but first, I have to give it a proper cleaning and sterilizing!

@liuzhou I could go through those mangosteens and one or two of those mangoes in one sitting!

@helenjp Try a little chili and salt with it!

I loved the wonton noodle soup in HK... we had it every day for breakfast!

Noooo!!! Don't end yet!!!!

It's funny - your photos of Maxim's Palace look almost exactly like mine from 2011! We enjoyed our meal there, but dim sum is much more fun with more than 2 people so you can try more dishes without leaving tons of food. While we thought the carts were a lot of fun, we thought the quality of food was better at places where you ordered off of a menu...

Someone put this link on one of the gardening forums I belong to on FB... I don't know if it's BS or not, but worth a look: http://theplantguide.net/2017/06/08/7-important-reasons-use-cinnamon-garden/

Loving this... those were really nice sized mantis shrimp! I think the ones I had were little toddlers or something... and were so overcooked, the meat stuck to the shell and you could barely get anything to eat once "peeled".. unlike yours which look like they came out cleanly.

That's got to be the fanciest plate of conch fritters ever.

The mystery stuff looks almost like tripe... I don't want to distract from the new photos... I'm loving them... but I did want to say that I agree with you - I've seen lots of rare/medium beef in pho bo in Vietnam, now that you mention it.

@gfweb I've seen this same thing in wet markets all across SE Asia - even recently in Hoi An where it was 100degF in the shade. It doesn't seem like people there are dropping like flies.... but, at one time, I was told that the reason why it's ok that the meat sits out like that with norefrigeration is that it was just recently slaughtered - probably just a few hours before, and will probably be cooked shortly after it is purchased - so it's very different than in the West where the meat has to survive long transit times, and sitting around days in the case before being purchased. Also, most preparations I've seen THROROUGHLY cook the meat - even beef... I don't think I've ever seen rare beef (or any other meat) anywhere in Asia.

In Western cultures, as far as I am aware, only the legs are eaten... but in China, I can't imagine them wasting the rest of the frog like that. Do you know if they eat the whole thing, or just the legs? And if the whole thing, what does the body taste like?

Have you been to Motorino in HK?

@Duvel Awesome! I'm loving this!

No, I was talking about the yellowing leaves and the black spots.

@HungryChris I just noticed, what's going on with your tomato plant... is that a fungus I see?

@Anna N There are - they are indeterminate tomatoes! Most heirloom varieties are indeterminate. I grew one hydroponically in the corner of my apartment for almost a year until its roots finally clogged my system and caused a major flood - I had about 20 gallons of nutrient in a pond in the middle of my living room floor! It was the best tomato plant ever, for the two of us that is... it just kept giving... maybe 4-5 tomatoes per week... the caveat is that while the plant keeps producing, the vine keeps growing also - so you wind up with a vine about 30 feet long. In fact, most greenhouse tomatoes are indeterminate as well, as they provide steady production for a long time. Those are usually hybrids though, typically bred more for fungus/disease resistance than for flavor. Most greenhouses train the vine up a string tied to a truss of the greenhouse's ceiling. Then, as the plant grows towards the ceiling, they let some string out and lean the plants over to take up the space. @DiggingDogFarm - I have never seen those... I wish I could try one before trying to grow it... I've got pretty limited space (I'm on the 21st floor in about an 800 sq. ft. apartment) - so unless I want a pepper plant in the bathroom or bedroom (which would be an issue because of lighting), I need to be selective as to what I want to grow in the limited space my living room provides...

That's the problem with habaneros... I love their fruit flavor, but the heat is just way too intense. I wish I could grow the red, long hot peppers I've seen in SE Asia - they're usually about 4-5 inches long and about 3/4" wide at the widest point, tapering to a point. They've got great chili flavor, but aren't very hot. I think I've seen seeds for them from time to time, but I don't know what I'd do with a flush of peppers all at once... there's only two of us, and once frozen or pickled, it's not the same as if you were using them raw and sliced thinly. I wish there was a such thing as an indeterminate pepper plant that would keep growing for a year putting out a few peppers per week.... that would be awesome...

@ShelbyI think that's the point!

Was that lunch for 1 person? It's a feast!

I imagine that that supermarket is a very upscale version catering to expats, no? I'd be curious as to what supermarkets in more local areas might look like...