KennethT

I'm not familiar with the Big Mac, but personally, I'd put the pressure reducer after your RO system and before the Big Mac. You could also put a check valve before the RO system to keep anything from getting back to your cold water supply.

It's everywhere. I see it in my business, and I hear it when I talk with both my suppliers and my customers. When my wife and I were in Indonesia last month, we wound up chatting with a German couple - the man was saying the exact same things about his business and what he hears from his suppliers and customers as well.

This is really sad, but not uncommon. Practically all businesses worldwide are facing similar issues.

Dabu dabu is a sambal originating from North Sulawesi, Indonesia, and is one of the few "raw" Indonesian sambals. The only other one I can think of is sambal matah, from Bali. It's funny, I've heard that sambal dabu dabu is popular all over Indonesia, but I didn't realize it made into Malaysia as well. There are a few areas in Sarawak that are on our list of destinations but we haven't made it there yet. In any case, the traditional dabu dabu is pretty simple - green and red tomatoes (they should be unripe and a little sour), shallots and a LOT of chillies. Everything is chopped (that's what dabu dabu means) and then a little bit of hot oil is poured over the top - not enough to cook it but to bring out the flavors. I used a combination of coconut oil and rice bran oil. The Minahasa people (those who live in North Sulawesi) pride themselves on having the spiciest food in Indonesia. One time I had this while we were in Manado and I could barely eat it, it was so spicy. This mango version is very non-traditional - I never saw mango anywhere near a dabu dabu while there, but we like it so I add it anyway. I used 5 long red chillies (my local store calls them Holland chillies or something like that, but they're similar to a prik chee faa in Thailand) that were deseeded and mostly deveined, plus 2 Thai chillies, 3 plum tomatoes (I can't get green tomatoes here), 2 shallots and 1.5 Ataulfo mangoes (one of the mangoes was only half good).

Barramundi with mango dabu dabu.

I like the Key West wild shrimp, but I'm an even bigger fan of the Argentian red shrimp. I'm curious what you think of their smoked salmon and gravlax once you have them. I'm assuming the smoked salmon is cold smoked, not hot smoked, right? Once you defrost them, how long do they recommend they'll keep in the refrigerator? Although, to be honest, it's been so long since I've bought smoked salmon or gravlax that I don't know how how long those would last either.

I don't know if making the roux would be that much of a non-starter, but to me, much more complicated would be making the ingredients that most people down there buy at the market - yes, andouille as posted above, but also sourcing tasso ham (a highly seasoned and smoked ham mostly used as a seasoning agent than a protein) as well as a good hot sauce, like Crystal. I know there are Tabasco lovers out there but as one of my favorite jambalaya joints used to do, they kept their stash of Crystal behind the bar for people that asked for it, even though the bar was seemingly sponsored by Tabasco with their neon signs all over the place.

I wouldn't be surprised if Citarella had grouper, but I'm sure it would be a lot more expensive than WF and it's a bit out of my way to go there on a regular basis. Plus, I like having everything frozen - it gives me more flexibility. Sometimes I wind up getting home from work later than I originally expected so we wind up ordering in otherwise we'd be eating and cleaning up at bed time. Buying it "fresh" (possibly previously frozen) means it needs to be used ASAP so it gives me less leeway.

I was (and still am!) exhausted after taking a long walk this afternoon, so it was fortuitous that Jamrock Jerk happened to be in our neighborhood and we passed it by. You could smell the smoke a block away!

Is O'Brycky's (sp?) still around?

I haven't grown any rhizome myself yet, but supposedly you can do either - harvest the whole thing and save a seed piece to replant or just break a piece of the rhizome off and let the rest keep growing.

I love their grouper and order it often. I can't get it here any other way.

They're not bulbs, they're rhizomes - like ginger. So yes, as the plant grows, the rhizome will extend, making more rhizome. If you think of a big clump of ginger from the grocery store, it kind of looks like a hand - each finger is new growth with one piece of it being the original "seed".

I leave mine in the bag and let it sublimate. CO2 is heavier than air so whatever gas escapes will sink to the floor. As long as there is some kind of decent ventilation, it's fine.

A quick update about some recent projects.... Actually found some decent looking grocery store mint and Thai basil, so those are now in the rooting process.... Also saw some good looking turmeric that I'll try to sprout. Not that I want to grow it for the rhizome, but more for the fresh turmeric leaves which are used in a lot of Indonesian/Malaysian/Nyonya preparations and are impossible to find here. I just noticed a kaffir lime that has escaped my sight. I usually try to pinch off the flowers as I grow for the leaves but this one must have been hiding. Since it's already gotten to this stage, I guess I'll let it go to maturity... the question is what to do with it? The only thing I know to do with it is use the zest in making Thai curry pastes from scratch (no other country's pastes use it as far as I know) but I almost never make Thai curry pastes from scratch.... Maybe I'll just wind up giving it away.

As usual, my thanks for bringing us along again - I always enjoy your trips. I'm sorry to say that I actually cracked up laughing at that plane situation although I'm sure it wasn't funny while you're sitting there. And 26 hours?!? That's insane....

Southern Vietnamese summer rolls with a bush of 5 different herbs (2 from the garden, but soon to have 4 more) - garlic chives, Thai basil, mint, rau ram and sawtooth coriander.

I have these too and love them - I don't use the spoonula often, but I love the spatula. It came with a thermopop I bought. I can attest to the stain resistance, even when using with things with turmeric, maybe the worst stainer there is, and not washing for a couple hours, it comes out fine.

Trying to get back into cooking more often.... Singapore Nyonya sambal udang (shrimp with chilli sauce) with stir fried baby bok choi.

Kencur is used in a variety of Indonesian spice pastes (called bumbu) in a similar way that you would use galangal or ginger. So this means that it's typically ground up with a variety of other spices including shallots, garlic, chillies, turmeric, etc. One example would be here. I actually just made this the other day for a little get together we had on our building's roof... The kencur has a totally different flavor/aroma than galangal - much more floral and less piney, but still very hard to describe. Even among Indonesians, some people love it, some dislike it and would always sub galangal.

For those who were following along here, now 5 out of 6 pieces of kencur that I experimentally planted have sprouted!!! Back to front are in order of sprouting.... fingers still crossed for #6. At the rate this stuff grows, maybe in 10 years, I can have a small kencur farm!

I could probably find them here in a specialty fish/seafood place, but who knows how far I'd have to hike to get there and I'm sure their prices wouldn't be nearly as good. But yes, I'm also a big fan of their ground elk and bison. Great inexpensive, lower fat beef alternatives.

I'm particularly fond of the Argentinian red shrimp, their mahi mahi and barramundi, all of which I can't get easily or nearly as inexpensive, and I live in NYC!

Thank you. I had never heard of Swabia. I was only familiar with a couple regions in Germany.

Swabian?