KennethT

I think it's a combination of factors - genetics and amount of UV the fruit gets. Some varieties of tomato have thicker skins than others. The more you go down the rabbit hole of heirlooms the more variation you'll find. Years ago, I grew an heirloom Goose Creek tomato plant in my apartment under lights. The variety is prized for its flavor and rightfully so - best tomato I've ever had hands down. Thin skins, but I've never had one grown outdoors getting a lot of natural light. But, in general, fruit will thicken their skins when exposed to more UV light. In many places (including California), wine grape growers will shade the fruit so as to prevent excessive ripeness and skin thickening.

Can't wait to see what you do in a foreign kitchen! If it's available near you (and allowable on the plane - I think it is) you can use dry ice rather than freezer packs. That should keep everything frozen for at least 24 hours. You can put it in a paper bag and lay on top of the frozen food in the cooler - you don't want to touch it with your bare hands.

I find that a lot of traditional curries always taste better than they look! BTW - I think yours looks great!

Or it was a plane that had no one else in it!

Is this your stovetop smoker? Can you provide more info about it? What type of wood do you put in the bottom? Does it get covered during cooking?

We have similar tracking with our delivery services. My question about the crispy shrimp shells was more due to the fact that I find the shells start to get a little leathery maybe 10 minutes after cooking them as the hot meat steams the shells from the inside, and if they're in a pile (like in a serving bowl), the ones in the middle steam even faster. I was curious how the crispiness survived being in a sealed plastic container (our common delivery packaging) which traps in the steam.

I like watching YouTube videos of various Aunties, Grandmas and the occasional Uncle making similar dishes to get an idea of ingredients and technique. I prefer videos made in the country of the dish I'm looking to make so that it wouldn't be already modified. Google translate and closed captioning is my friend.

After the south Indian restaurant in Singapore, time to do some experiments. First crack at chicken curry. It was tasty but not nearly as intense as I'd like. More trials needed.

I assume the shrimp were deep fried in order to become crispy. Were they still crispy after the time in transit and covered in sauce? I find that the crispy fried shells become kind of leathery over time, hastened when covered in sauce.

Do you know the cultivar name of the chillies you grow? I was looking to grow something like them.

@Chris HennesThanks for this. I share your love of really good gumbo. Years ago, my wife and I used to go down there once a year or so. I would get gumbo at practically every meal!

Are they raw or precooked? I've only seen them in wet markets, already deep fried and salted, ready for snacking.

Thank you - you've cracked me up. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at a classic recipe and said, "you know what this needs?? Furikake!!"

I just saw this! Thank you very much for posting your travels. Lithuania (and the other Baltics) is somewhere I may never get to. Do you speak any of the local language or do you find that English is widely spoken?

I had to use up the remaining elk from last night and keeping with the Chinese theme.... mapo tofu

I haven't done any serious cooking since before we went on vacation.... soooo sick of takeout and delivery (ours doesn't look nearly as good as @liuzhou's).... I haven't made this dish in a long time - Yunnan style elk with herbs, with 5 different herbs (2 from the garden). With sticky rice and cucumber salad. BTW - the CSO is probably the greatest tool for making sticky rice!

For me, it was vegetables. One evening, my mother decided she would make the (dreaded) spaghetti squash. I was wearing jeans, and since I found the spaghetti squash vile, I decided I'd be clever and bit by bit, put it in my pocket. I then excused myself to go to the bathroom and emptied my pocket into the toilet. Unfortunately, my pants were soaked in the pocket area in the process so I thought no one would notice when i changed pants on the way back to the table. I also wasn't very thorough in getting every bit of string out of the pocket or off the toilet rim....

I wish you and Moe were my parents! I can't say how many times I sat at the dinner table as a kid, for hours, because my parents wouldn't let me leave until I finished everything. I could have sat there all night!

Yes, that medication is no fun.

If you take a medication called methotrexate, the next day, 1 shot of anything will provide the Mother of All Hangovers. Don't ask how I know....

I don't know about this garlic, specifically, but mine lasts a LOT longer than normal when I keep it in the wine fridge. It's got the temp and humidity just like an old school root cellar.

Is it common to mix other grains with rice? I don't know if I've seen that before, other than in parts of Indonesia where they will have a few different types of rice, layered in a cone - but they're not intermixed with each other.

What are the bits of yellow in the rice?

When I was young, they would always give me flat ginger ale when I was sick. Probably why I'm not a fan of ginger ale now!

Just for completeness, the reasons I added quite a decent amount of sugar were two-fold: 1) When I'm not feeling well, I find that slightly sweet is soothing, but 2) sugar can help ease nausea, according to the Cleveland Clinic. You need to scroll down quite a bit, but the essence is: