KennethT

To me, the berries look like pink peppercorns (which are not true peppercorns at all)... here's a crappy shot of that plant - it seems to look similar? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schinus_molle

And now, the NY Times is getting into the food delivery business themselves!!!! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-05/new-york-times-to-start-delivering-meal-kits-to-your-home

@JoNorvelleWalker Sorry - you are completely correct... I had gotten myself confused - it's the difference in temperatures that is to the fourth power, not the distance...

Is it possible to move the rack with the tiles closer to the top of the pizza? Infrared radiation (which is what is coming off the tiles to heat from the top) decreases by the distance to the fourth power, so the closer you can get it to the top of the pizza, the more effective it will be. If it's too far away, it's almost like it's not there at all.

I agree with Lisa - on my own tree, I've experienced limes turning almost a yellowish-green when they get very ripe (meaning I've left them on the tree too long!)

Just got a new plant light for my bucket nursery.... holy crap is it bright!!!!! Hope the neighbors don't complain!

hilarious!

Please cross your fingers for me.... after 4+ weeks, my sawtooth coriander finally sprouted and is in my bucket nursery! Unfortunately, my daylight CFL died in the middle of the night last night, but I think it'll do fine in the ambient light for a few hours until I can pick up another one.

I would use raw rice and cook it like a pilaf - first sweating the aromatics in a little oil, then toast the raw rice and then add water or stock, cover and cook like normal rice. Or, you could do it like a risotto, and add water/stock gradually, simmering away uncovered.

@Pham Tat Thanh Thanks for your comments. I try very hard to learn the names of different foods before we travel to any place. Besides, I love the food in Vietnam, so it is easy to learn! I am sorry if I mis-named the beef stew. I can only blame the hotel, as they called it Bo Kho on their menu! Thank you for the fried noodle dish link. Very interesting! It seems like it is a pancake made from noodles. Looks very tasty!

I still dream about that last banh mi... the flavors were explosive - everything so fresh.. and the bread there was incredible. There have been a lot of people trying to figure out how the bread is done - some people add some rice flour to the dough, but I don't think that is traditional.. according to Graham Holliday in his book, the dough uses just plain commercial flour (no rice flour), which has some kind of additive (called 'dough conditioner') already added. I think he discussed the additive a bit, but I forget the details.

hi Pham, and welcome! My wife and I recently had a wonderful holiday eating our way around Saigon, which I wrote about here: I look forward to your comments!

I love quail - typically I will partially debone them (removing the rib cage) which renders them flat. Then I'll cook SV to 140 for enough time to pasturize. Then I'll chill it down to about room temp before torching or searing because they're so thin, they overcook quickly.

@Anna N I understand you completely... but I think these packaged meal companies don't have eGers in mind as their model customer. I think their model customer is someone like my friend who I described upthread - someone who does not consider his/herself a cook in any sense of the word, and has limited time for shopping. To us, a thin pork chop is not very agreeable, but to many Americans, it may be a good choice as we have been victims of the years of advertising pork as "the other white meat" - so it is perceived as healthier than beef, lamb or other red meats, which appeals to many people, but it is not as 'boring' as chicken... it is something different, and maybe something people who don't cook often wouldn't consider on their own.

@Anna N I agree with you completely... a thick pork chop is awesome - but, I think it's much harder to cook 'safely' than a thin one. I'd imagine that these boxed meal companies have to assume that their customers don't have sv at their disposal... so to do it traditionally, you'd sear and then pan roast in the oven, which A) would take a lot of time and B) would require the use of a thermometer at some point to make sure that the chop is cooked through, which these companies probably assume their customers don't have either. One thing to consider for these companies is food safety and liability - they'd much rather err on the side of a meat being overcooked than undercooked and getting someone sick. That would be horrible for their PR. And kale is just horrible... whoever started the kale trend should be strung up by their toes...

My wife took this picture and posted it to Instagram yesterday... this is the yu choy - ready for harvest!

I have been researching making some Nyonya dishes at home... one of the dishes is kari ayam - curried chicken. I have looked at probably 8 different recipes recommended by Mr. Google. They're all pretty similar with a few exceptions - some use a curry powder and make a curry paste, some use a curry paste but incorporate a few pre-toasted and ground spices, some use galangal, some leave it out, etc etc... 6 of the 8 have used shrimp paste (belacan) in the the curry paste, and I am sure that that would be traditional.... but some of the recipes instruct to toast the shrimp paste before adding to the curry paste, and some do not. So, the question is, to toast or not to toast.... keeping in mind that the curry paste will be fried in a little oil prior to the addition of water/stock/coconut milk. Previously, I have always heard you had to toast shrimp paste prior to using it... but, if it's going to be fried anyway, does it really make a difference?

For those of us without chamber vacuums, you can also fill zip lock bags with water, seal them using the displacement method, and freeze them. Works just fine....

Can you vac/seal and freeze them for a longer shelf life? If so, take out a small amount, that would last a month or two, then freeze the rest.

Make curry paste!!!! I was under the impression that kaffir limes don't have much juice, and are mainly used for their zest, which is used in thai curry pastes.. I don't know if it's use in curry pastes from other locales...

One of my friends has been using this service for a while now and loves it. She is a single, NYC lawyer working ridiculous hours and is sick of eating restaurant delivery every day. She doesn't really have time for grocery shopping, but this way, she gets delivery of just the right amount of ingredients so she can cook a couple times a week (healthier than restaurant delivery) wihtout that much added time or effort. With regards to packaging, for her, it's not much different since she'd be getting all that packaging associated with delivery anyway.

I haven't made ice cream with LN, but I have done small quantities with dry ice (the ice cream comes out carbonated, which is what I wanted), and I made the small quantities with a hand mixer. But I was thinking, for larger quantities, you might be able to get good results from an industrial paint mixer - which is sort of like 2 helixes (helixi?) on a stick that you attach to an electric drill. We use it industrially to mix several gallons of thick epoxy, so I'd imagine it would work well for ice cream as well.

@btbyrdHave you tried using NO2 charges instead of the CO2? We had a discussion about this back in 2012: If you've tried both, I'd be curious as to your opinion on how they compare....

I've been looking to get back to growing a tomato plant in my apartment - specifically, a Goose Creek heirloom variety. I grew it once many years ago using a start from Laurel's and had pretty good success - the fruits were probably the tastiest I've ever had, but I lost about half of them to blossom end rot (BER). A couple years ago, I tried again but started the plant from seed since Laurel's didn't carry it that year. Unfortunately, I lost every fruit to BER and after a month or two, I just decided it wasn't worth the effort. Most people say that BER is caused by a lack of calcium - which is technically true... but in my hydro environment, I know that there is plenty of available calcium - I think my problem came from my root system not being able to supply enough of the calcium to the plant as the plant was rapidly growing. So, now I've been thinking about grafting a Goose Creek scion to a more efficient rootstock... It seems that there are quite a few rootstock seeds on the market, and they all seem to have similar claims to vigor, mold/mildew resistance, disease resistance, etc... Can anyone recommend a specific rootstock plant for me to try? Rootstock seeds seem to be quite a bit more expensive than standard seeds, so I'd hate to just buy some at random to try....

Rau ram rooting update: check out these roots! (also, btw, check out the thai and genovese basil... these guys are ready for the main garden whenever I get around to putting them there!)