KennethT

Most places around the world (other than the US) call them prawns regardless of size. What we in the US would call prawns, I've seen overseas called scampi, even though, to those in the US, scampi is a preparation, not an ingredient. but then I've also seen langoustine called scampi also (not in the US) so who knows!

Sorry - I wasn't clear. I was saying that cookbooks in Asia (not written by western people) commonly have MSG as ingredients, but like you, I've never seen it used in a western cookbook - US or Europe. so I wasn't surprised that you've never seen it if you don't have any cookbooks from Asia.

That's not surprising. My Nyonya cookbook (I got from the NY Public Library but is from Singapore) has MSG in maybe 3/4 of the recipes.

When I go to Indonesia in July I'm looking to bring back an Indonesian bay plant - it's a different plant to Turkish or CA. I love it and so many dishes need it. It also gets really big, but with pruning it'll be fine. Also if you keep it in a container it will limit how big it gets.

Yeah, the Knorr stuff is REALLY salty. I much prefer the Lee Kum Kee Premium Boullion powder which is not very salty (it does have some salt and sugar) so it doesn't really factor into how much additional salt I add - or maybe it does and I factor it in with it subconsciously?

I do this for stir fried vegetables - I use a combo of salt, MSG and sugar. It's amazing that people can eat vegetables cooked any other way! Also - to make EVEN BETTER - add some chicken powder! I have some chicken powder that has no salt or MSG so I don't need to adjust my combo - I don't know exactly what it is, but I love it - makes basically everything better.

Vietnamese chicken on rau ram

I use it regularly as well. Don't need much.

Tokaj is known for its sweet wines. My wife was brought there to visit Oremus which is a sweet wine made by the same company that owns Vega Sicilia in Spain. https://www.temposvegasicilia.com/en/presentation/wineries/5/tokaj-oremus I have no idea what I'm going to do with either the sweet paprika or the chilli paste - I have literally zero experience with Hungarian food - eating or making. I'm open to any and all ideas!

Yes please!!!!

Kaya toast is tasty and there are lots of places to get it. My favorite place is the original location of Killiney's Kopitiam - unlike just about everyone else, they toast the bread over charcoal which is nice. But personally, I think the best breakfast there is the chicken curry with roti prata!

Sambal grouper with Chinese broccoli

My wife brought this back from Tokaji in Hungary: Too bad she couldn't bring back a bottle of Oremus!!

Over 20 years ago, they used to have an appetizer on their menu that was a shrimp ravioli (there were 3 of them) in a foie gras truffle sauce. The shrimp ravioli were basically just a vehicle for that sauce which was so good I had no shame in licking that plate clean so there wasn't a drop left over. Ridiculously delicious but was probably the sole reason my cholesterol shot up like 40 points. Years later I made it a few times for dinner parties - there's a lot of raw foie gras that blended in, and a lot of whole butter whisked in at the end!

Ha! Seriously, literally every store I've seen it in in the NYC area has it without the crowns. There have been times that I bought some with the express intent of planting. No matter what anyone online tells you, no matter how much rooting hormone you use, culantro ribs (without the crown) won't root.

This only works if the store's inventory has crowns not just leaf and a little bit of rib

Yes, here in the NY/NJ area it's quite expensive - but like just about every other herb or vegetable, in SE Asia, it's ridiculously cheap so it can definitely be used as a vegetable... Or like in southern Vietnam, part of a giant bush of multiple herbs that comes with so many different things.

I don't understand what I don't understand. Is it not called culantro in Mexico? Why do all the Mexican markets near me call it that? Or do you mean that it's not only called culantro in Mexico but other parts of latin america as well?

Is that green Hanukkah gelt?

I love culantro - but I commonly refer to it as they do in Thailand and other parts of SE Asia - Sawtooth herb. From what I am to understand (and could be completely wrong), culantro is the name for it in Mexico. I gather is is pronounced with a hard c - like koo-LAN-tro which would be how you would pronounce it in Spanish. I agree with you - I personally don't see that much connection to cilantro - although if I really stretch, I guess you could think it was a much more intense version of cilantro. I used to grow it as it's not easy to come by in the stores near me. I can get it in Chinatown or in Mexican markets. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as lucky as you and can't get the crown/roots - here they usually snip the stems at the crown so the plant continues to grow and put out more. If I could, I'd get a few crowns and plant them. I've tried growing from seed, but it's notoriously difficult with a ridiculously long germination period. Once growing, it doesn't like a lot of light, similar to cilantro, but it is more heat tolerant before it bolts. What is interesting is that the texture of the leaves varies with light proportion. With the proper amount of light, the leaves and teeth (for lack of a better word) are nice and soft, but with too much light, the leaves can be much more tough and the teeth are REALLY sharp!!! Don't ask me how I know... hehe. One day soon I'm going to order a few plant starts (I just hate to pay all that cost for shipping) for some sawtooth and some other herbs that either only propagate via cuttings/division or are difficult to germinate.

Something similar happens in NYC - tons of people come in from the suburbs on the weekends, so many NYers go out for dinner either during the week or on Sunday. Most NYers want to avoid what is called teh Bridge & Tunnel crowd - as in people who don't live there. Personally, I appreciate the B&T as well as foreign tourists - we need their tax revenue!

As I'm sure @liuzhou has as well, I've spent a decent amount of time in SG - basically, EVERYONE speaks English. There is no language to learn because there are so many different cultures there - if you were to walk around getting snacks everywhere, you'd have to learn like 20 languages! Which is why they all speak English. More important that the actual words are where you plan to spend your limited time there! So much great food, so little time!

Wow!!! That is insane!

It's gonna get nice and steamy in there!

In my neighborhood, most of the hot dog carts are actually Middle Eastern carts that also do kebab, etc, so yes, those dogs are grilled. I haven't noticed a true dirty water dog carts in my neighborhood in a long time.