KennethT

Don't worry about it. From a bacterial standpoint, there is still way too much oxygen left over using the displacement method to allow c-bot to propagate.

Right Andie, water temp is easy to judge for red/black teas, so steep time becomes crucial to avoid bitterness... Same holds true for oolongs. But green teas are typically steeped much cooler (160-170degF), and the steep time is much less critical. I commonly make a lung Ching (dragon well) green tea - I can tell by the bubble size what the temp is. With the same steep time, if the water is toohot (say 180 to just off the boil), it becomes very bitter, whereas with 160-165 water, I can steep for 3 min or 3.5 min with very little difference in bitterness. This isnot gong-fu style but about 4.5g/8 oz. For gong-fu, the steep time would be much less. To answer the question directly, for green tea, I do usea timer because I find 3 minutes is hard to estimate, and I don't want to forget about it and remember 10 minutes later. When I do gong-fu oolong, I don't use a timer, since 30 sec or so is easy to estimate, and a 5 second differential is not so critical. Leaving it for 4 minutes is another story.

Welcome to eGullet! I'm sure there are others here much ore experienced than I who will chime in, but I find that bitterness comes as a result of water temperature being too high, rather than too long of a steeping time, depending on type of tea, and style of brewing, of course. What type of tea do you usually make? Is it loose leaf or bagged? What style of brewing do you do? Once people have more info,it will be easier to give a more accurate response.

Like your style!

I saw that there was a Guy Savoy there... we have been to the one in Paris a couple of times over the past few years and loved it. I have not been to the Vegas or S'pore and have always wondered how they compare to the original. One of the aspects that I really appreciated was his attention to product and his suppliers. The oysters, for instance, (for the Paris restaurant, at least) come from a specific producer who only gathers oysters for GS. There were many pages at the back of the menu that had introductions/descriptions of the various small farmers and suppliers that in part, made GS what it is. Do you know if he is using the same produce as the Paris branch, or is he sourcing locally?

Amen to that!

I see what you're saying... Like the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" dilemma. I don't know if Danny just gets a bad rap by some, or maybe he was just in a great mood that night or what.... He definitely didn't seem to mistreat anyone that night (I was watching his interaction with other tables out of curiosity). I wouldn't call him chatty, but he spent plenty of time with some tables, and even cracked several smiles. One thing to note that I haven't read before is that there is a decent sized durian vendor across the street. There were times of being momentarily downwind that were, ahem, interesting.

Btw, lunch at Hong Lim food centre was fantastic. Outram Park Char Kway Teow was amazing. I loved the super-light and crunchy little cubes of puffed pork rind. Also had an excellent chicken curry bee hoon (the decent sized line of locals at 2:30PM was a good giveaway). They also had wheat noodles, but most of the people on line ahead of me seemed to get the thin bee hoon, so that's what I did.... There was a Hokkien St prawn noodles shop, but they were closing as we got there. Unfortunately, only one more full day until we have to leave.... Saturday will be a sad day indeed...

I understand your feeling - it took a trip to Rafa's (in Roses, spain - near El Bulli) to change our minds forever about the concept of paying for product and preparation, rather than the service, pampering and other trappings usually associated with fine dining. We had some things there that I still dream about, and Sin Huat was similar, the only unfortunate difference being that Sin Huat's portion sizes were much larger, so we couldn't try a lot of dishes. I wish we could have tried the sea snails and prawns. I was very jealous looking at other tables who were smart enough to come with more than 2 people. Too many times we've had the problem of relatively mediocre food with exceptional service, and personally, if my choice was of the two, I'll take food over service.

Thanks also for the recommendations of Wee Nam Kee, on Thomson... Worth the trip out of our way. Also really enjoyed Old Lai Huat tonight for dinner. They were out of pomfret, and the only sole they had was huge, but totally worth it. We also had the chili crab and not only was it perfectly cooked, but their chili sauce was far superior to other versions we've had. Much more subtle, rich and gelatinous. As reported, they were about half full at 8PM. Also wanted to check in about Sin Huat Eating House on Geylang. We arrived at around 7 and had our choice of several tables. Our order was taken promptly, and, contrary to other reports I've read, chef Danny was very hospitable, as was the rest of his staff. He answered our questions and was quite courteous. Since it was only two of us we only ordered the scallops and crab bee hoon (and of course some kailan). Scallops were probably the best cooked we've had anywhere - and that's saying something. The texture was incredible and you could tell their freshness by their slightly briny flavor. Crab bee hoon was also amazing. As good as you've most probably read elsewhere, and the crab was a monster. While the prices were high as reported, I personally thought they were worth it, especially for the quality of product and prep. Our total (with one beer and 2 water) was S$115.

Thank you! Went out to Lavender to the Hill st. Tai Hwa pork noodle... Waited on line for about an hour but totally worth it...thanks for the recommendation.... Then we went one more stop out and walked to durian culture and had some excellent durian... Great day so far!

Went to Din Tai Fung (@ 313 Somerset) yesterday for lunch as we were in the area... big disappointment. Compared to the two we tried in HK last year, the menu here was extremely limited and the service was inconsistent. The first 4 dishes came practically all at once, and there was about a 30 minute gap between the main meal and the sesame buns we had for dessert, and the only reason they came that fast is that we finally were able to flag someone down and beg them to push it through. The Xie long bao were excellent as to be expected though... I was curious as to whyI there was no line to get a table at 12:30 - whereas in HK, there would be a 30-45 minute queue at least. Where are other well known places to have chicken rice (besides Tian Tian in Maxwell)? We would like to compare different versions

Right - it works synergistically with gelling agents such as LBG so you can get much better results while using less.

As far as I was aware, Xanthan isn't a thickener, technically speaking, it's a stabilizer. So, it's really meant to keep particles (like spices, etc.) in suspension so they won't settle out. That's why it's commonly used is bottled dressings and sauces so from the time of filling to the store shelf it shouldn't separate. Xanthan creates sauces that are thixotropic - meaning that the fluid at rest tends to stay at rest, but will move easily under shear. Like ketchup - you can mound it and it stays put, but it spreads easily with a spatula. While it's doing that job, it will thicken as well, but if you use too much it gets a bit of a mucous-y texture. It also works synergistically with other hydrocolloids like LBG and will help it do its job and using less of it. For true thickening, I'd consider an ultra-tex or ultra-sperse starch based thickener by National Starch. If thickening cold liquids, the Ultra-tex line works great... it tends to clump in hot liquids, but for cold liquids, you just whisk it in a little at a time and it thickens, with no heating required. It's flavorless and has a nice creamy mouthfeel. Ultra-sperse is better for thickening hot liquids. They're both heat and reheat stable, freeze stable, etc.

What do people think of Sin Huat Eating House? Is it worth the hype?

I buy Gulf shrimp online - I think it's freshfromtheboat.com.. The shrimp are IQF and very high quality with great flavor. I can also get them head-on which is a big plus.

dcarch has it nailed down pretty good... what happens with a rooftop farm (a commercial one at least) is that you need to get permits to do anything. Before you can get permits, you need an engineer to assess the situation and make sure that it will be safe for the roof and also any possible wind loads that might blow anything off the roof and injure someone below. What happens when a non-commercial enterprise decides to plant their roof? That's the main concern. ScottyBoy - that is my concern for you! I applaud your decision to get a new place because of the roof potential. I just hope your roof can handle 1600 sqft of dirt!! I'm not that up on soil stats, but it seems like a bag of topsoil weighs about 50 pounds, right? How much does that cover? Maybe 1-1.5 cubic feet? (1-1.5 feet long, 1 foot wide, 1 foot deep). With a 1 foot soil depth, a 1600 sqft roof would use about 1066 bags of soil to completely cover (at the rate of 1.5 cubic feet per bag) or about 53000 pounds! And when it rains, it'll gain all that water, so it'll be much heavier than that!

It depends on the roof, I guess. Here in the northeast, buildings are designed to handle at least 2 foot heavy snow loads which adds up to a lot of weight. I have some structural engineering experience, and a quick back of the envelope calculation told me that my roof would definitely hold the weight of a hydro greenhouse. Keep in mind that a hydro greenhouse is much lighter than a standard soil based greenhouse because soil is very heavy, especially when saturated with water. Also, hydro farms require about 30% of the water required for a standard farm, and there is no fertilizer run-off that is bad for the environment.

I've done quite a bit of research on this topic. At one point, I had a fantasy of turning the roof of my workplace in Yonkers (just north of the Bronx in NYC) and turning it into a hydroponic greenhouse focusing on high quality produce for restaurants. A lot of the stuff I was/am growing in my living room was a test bed for a potentially larger project. I also don't think it's the "future of agriculture" just yet. In theory, it's great, but the reality is the cost. It's VERY expensive to set up a decent sized greenhouse, which will then have to be amortized over how much produce you think you can sell. A plus of the hydro greenhouse is plant density and number of crop cycles per year. Even still, you need to get a very high price for your crop to amortize the greenhouse. There are more expenses than jsut the setup though - at least in the Northeast, during the winter you need to provide heat and supplemental light. Lighting is really expensive - especially in this area where our power rates are not so friendly. In the summer, you have to cool the greenhouse, which is also expensive. Then labor, of course.... And with hydro (as with all farming) you have nutrient cost, which is actually a lot less with hydro than traditional soil based farming and probably the least expensive part of the whole thing. An interesting read is: This work by Dickson Despommier

I do something similar and it reheats just fine (microwave or stovetop), even without retrograding (although doing the process does make it even more bullet proof). I boil until tender, drain and reserve the starchy water, then rice, then add riced potatoes back to a warm pan and stir around until you drive off quite a bit of the moisture. At that point, I turn off the heat (or turn it to very low), and start whipping in the cubes of cold butter. Once completely incorporated, you can refrigerate it, making sure any exposed surfaces are covered with plastic wrap. To reheat, I take a little of the starchy water and heat to about 160F in a small pan, and whisk in chunks of potato over medium-low heat. If it's too thick, I'll add starchy water as I go a very little at a time - it's much easier to thin as you need than to get it too thin and have to thicken. Don't get it to boiling or it might break. Once completely reheated and rehydrated to the consistency you like, then I season and serve.

Maybe slkinsey? He's talked of travels to Italy, and has been active with the sousvide set from the beginning.

So, in anticipation of impending travel, I cut down my basil and Thai basil and donated them to friend. My friend usually buys a few bunches of basil at a time, purées, then keeps in the freezer. My3 basil plants yielded 8-9 CUPS of basil purée!!! I think he'll be set through the winter....

hmm... that looks like the tram station going to Roosevelt Island from Manhattan...

Thanks, Julian - exactly the advice I was looking for.

Thanks.... Not yet, but stay tuned.... I don't want to start anything fast growing right now as I have a vacation coming up and won't be around to take care of it. Hydro is a bit different than growing in soil as changes in pH and nutrient concentration and reservoir levels can happen very quickly with quickly growing plants. And since I haven't had time to automate a lot of it yet, the new stuff will have to wait. But, since I'll be headed to Singapore, I think I might be able to find some really interesting seeds that might be hard to come by here. Holy basil is surely on the list.... No worries!