KennethT

Months ago, while planning the trip I'm currently on, I had asked one of the hotels I had been corresponding with if they use kencur, aka sand ginger, in the cooking of that specific region and if she thought I'd be able to find it in a local market while there. This stuff, fresh, looks mostly like ginger and tastes kind of like galangal but is definitely not galangal, if that makes sense. In the US, it also might as well be called unobtanium as I have asked EVERY Indonesian grocery in NYC and all I received were longing looks as if the shopkeepers dreamed of being able to have it since being in their homeland. Internet searches didn't prove much better. So you could have knocked me over with a feather when we checked into our room (for only 1 night) and there on the bed was over a pound of it, just waiting for me! What kind of service is this?!? Amazing! Freshly washed in my hotel room sink (it was already clean but I wanted to make sure there wasn't a speck of dirt or a single bug that could cause the USDA to reject it at the airport) and drying on a bath towel.

Does your canteen deliver to NY?

Wow, I am really jealous that you can get that via delivery. You find a lot of things in NY but good quality chuan'r that isn't abhorrently expensive is not one of them.

It's the only reason to eat the quenelle! I think La Cote Basque did them in a nantua sauce. They were fantastic back in the day.

Looks great! But, um.... paprika?

ugghhh... that sucks. sorry to hear it. But, you're certainly not the only one - I think we've all done something similar at some point or another!

I'm a huge proponent of fabric pots. I've been using them for years now (indoors, hydroponically in coco coir) and have never looked back for any of my long term plants. Laurel's heirloom tomato plants are great. I did buy an amazing Goose Creek tomato start from her many years ago and it was incredible, even when grown indoors in my apartment under lights.

Most NYers I know avoid San Gennaro like the plague....

At 55F, onions/garlic have no detectable aroma that I can tell. Plus, they're on a different shelf so proximity, dispersement etc

I agree. And if in such an emergency, a better ingredient, imo, than a GBP is a green goat horn chilli - only mildly spicy but a lot more fresh flavor and none of the unattractive GBP stuff...

What's in what looks like a toothpaste tube?

Just an update - I've been back a couple times now and they've been consistent. I went in tonight and the lady taking my order remembered me from the first time I was there back in May! They weren't busy so we wound up chatting - everyone working there is from Singapore - and when I mentioned how I'd be there next week, she slipped back into speaking Singlish with me which I enjoyed. I asked for extra chilli sauce and she gave me 6 containers for the 2 orders, which wound up being a decent amount. Also, they must not be that busy in the evenings as they have a new promotion - after 7PM week days and after 5 on weekends, it's buy 1 chicken rice, get one 50% off. Also, starting next week, they're also going to be featuring a chicken curry noodle dish which I'm curious to try. The lady I was chatting with said she tried it already and she really liked it.

This could be a cultural thing though. Like SE Asian meatballs that are 'bouncy'....

Wow, that's an amazing price for not actually being in SE Asia. Are they fresh, frozen or irradiated? Where do they come from? I'd ask if you could ship some down to me, but I'm going to be in Indonesia next week - hopefully I'll find them at the market and gorge myself on them.

I am so happy to hear that you're finally in a place that has a possibility of a proper diagnosis and treatment. Hopefully the stay will be short and the treatment will be long lasting so you can get back to your normal life soon!!!

I'm surprised you don't have a root cellar. They're really hand for storing, ahem, root vegetables for a long time... and apples. I made a (very small) root cellar out of a corner of our wine fridge - 55degF and slightly humid - onions, garlic, ginger and limes last a lot longer than anything else I've tried.

@BonVivantThanks for yet another amazing trip! So glad I could experience it through your lens.

Made a couple dinners this past week, we've been busy with work right before vacation. Grilled barramundi in the Lombok style - barramundi bakar taliwang. Grilled mahi mahi in the Manado style with a raw sambal called dabu dabu, which means chopped, made with mango. Mahi mahi bakar dabu-dabu (that's fun to say)

There's lots of greenhouse grown tomatoes available here - I don't know if they're necessarily the Mucci brand - it seems they have quite a few brands under their umbrella. Campari tomatoes are an example of greenhouse grown tomatoes (I don't know if they're Mucci or another company though)

The grower of these is Mucci farms - a large greenhouse grower in Canada. Over the last several years, there's been great strides in greenhouse cultivation - primarily due to the decreasing cost of LED lighting that is used as supplemental lighting in greenhouses. Now it can be summer all year long in the greenhouse with much less energy expense and lot less excess heat. There have also been a lot of advancements in breeding cultivars that grow really well in greenhouses that have more flavor, as well as being more resistant to greenhouse issues like mold and rot.

@blue_dolphin When I did them deep fried, I split the shells, removed the vein and then sliced from the back almost all the way to the other side but stopped before I got to the tail. That way, the meat is even thickness all over.

oh yes, we've been gorging ourselves on the Chinatown ones. My wife has been been going back there every other day. Last week at our preferred vendor (SE corner of Mulberry and Canal), the Thai mangoes were $1 each, and then a couple days ago, there wasn't much left and they were $0.50 each!!! Needless to say, we cleaned them out.

I am soooo jealous of those prices!!! Pompano for 3.88/#???!!!???? <<<feints>>>

I have no idea. I'm not a fan of social media either. The only people I'm 'friends' with on FB are people I know in real life - so like 12 of them! But I do belong to a few groups - one being this fruit group, the others are gardening/hydroponic groups which have been very helpful to me over the years.

I'm trying to look them up but I can only find an Instagram, etc. no website. Do you mind giving me an example of the prices of various dishes - or at least a range of prices?