KennethT

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?

Haven't made this in a while, Sichuan mahi mahi with cucumber salad.

That's interesting. I've never ordered the ground beef but get the ground elk and bison regularly. Both of them come in 1 pound vacuum packs. For one person, that would be a pita, but for two of us, I use 3/4 of it for 1 meal and then the remaining 1/4 I usually turn into mapo tofu within a day or two.

Thanks so much for this. I've taken some e-cookbooks (Dishoom, Fuchsia Dunlop) out from library in Overdrive (I don't have a kindle yet) but one thing I noticed is the lack of photos in some of them. Like you, I also like the stories/background info not just recipes. Do photos come through in the Kindle versions?

Bumping this thread..... I've had a sudden interest in Ebook cookbooks but don't know where to start. Where do most people buy them? What is the typical price you would pay for one (not including a sale or anything like that)?

Thanks - I'm more interested in the squirrel-ing process, rather than the sweet/sour aspect.

After my first order or two, I joined their "club" which gives me free shipping for 1 year, plus access to their "VIP" email address if there are any issues. Since the club is like $25, it pays for itself after just a couple of shipments. @lindagI don't know if the club is available in all locations though.

Yes, in the store there was that flavor as well as a few others. I've never seen flavored chips in Indonesia - not that they don't exist, I've just never seen them in my limited experience there. Usually they're served with meals and dipped into some type of sambal, of which there are typically a few on the table.

I recently watched a YouTube video where a Sichuan chef showed how to make squirrel fish. Can you do that treatment with any fish or is it species dependent?

These are the same as we had before. They're great. I will say that once the bag is open, they don't last long. For one reason, we eat them way too fast, but after a several hours outside, they did absorb some humidity. We have one more bag that I've hidden away for a nice surprise for my wife... she loves them!

OK - that is definitely NOT camping. That's a hotel for sure. I would definitely be into that.

A man after my own heart... I mean, I love the idea of it - sleeping under the stars, peace and quiet but the reality is often quite different - hot and humid, bugs, no bathroom, bugs and did I mention bugs?

Singapore national Day is coming up so Teochew Bak Kut Teh with Argentinian red shrimp

Has anyone seen the videos online of people growing root type things (like potatoes) in bags of soil and the ridiculous yield they get?

Did you premake the reddish sauce at home and bring as part of the frozen food? What is the white sauce? Did that come from home as well?

I'm opening the bag tomorrow and will let you know.