KennethT

@ShelbyWhat are wild geese like? Are they as crazy delicious as farmed geese?

I wouldn't call them good - they were decent. They're the ataulfo mangoes grown in Mexico. I actually got these 2 weeks ago and they've been sitting in the root cellar (aka wine fridge). They're not even close to when it's mango season and I get a box from a grower in Florida but they'll do when desperate. They definitely needed the dressing though.

Thinking of Saigon..... Grilled fish with mango salad and some durian kuih

lucky kids!!!!

That is seriously unfair. Your hospital has me drooling. I can't get anything like any of those for less than $20 here....

It's doubtful that I am more perceptive. In fact, there are times I think I am down right obtuse!!! (or maybe oblivious would be a better word). But while there were plenty of duck dishes on the app, I think this is the first time he's ordered one. I didn't go back to recheck so I could be completely off base.

It's not day-glo pink!!!

agreed. I think the comment was referring to my comment how I'd try to get into that hospital just for the food.

As @liuzhouhas said in the past, duck is the cheapest meat in that area, but for us the West, it's considered a luxury item...

I'm thinking about checking into this hospital just for the food.

I was actually thinking of this as I was typing before - the photos have nothing to show scale, but for some reason, it seemed like they were about 2.5 inches in diameter. Sorry for the confusion - I was talking specifically about the char siu bao and the fact that every place I've eaten them in HK (at least 10 different times) looked very similar. All the vendors in NYC Chinatown look similar as well, but that could be because the original Chinese people in Chinatown in NYC were from HK. Right - again, I was specifically talking about the char siu bao and the size of the pork pieces. I understand that many bao use a ground/mince filling, but I orignally thought that there was some sort of standard for char siu bao since they were all so similar in my experience. Granted, I have no char siu bao experience in Guanxi or mainland China in general.

The char siu bao looks very different than I'm used to seeing, both in Hong Kong and in Taiwan (in an airport restaurant). In those places, the bao are bigger and the top is snipped prior to steaming so it looks kind of like a flower. There is a lot more filling as well, with pieces of pork measuring maybe 1-1.5cm3.

Oh yeah. This kind of haul was comletely unexpected. I knew she was going to bring back some curry paste - we had discussed how to pack it so it didn't stink up her luggage but I didn't expect 5 different ones plus all the rest!

My friend came back from Thailand and all she brought me was 5 different curry pastes, 2 chilli pastes, 2 shrimp pastes, 2 loose leaf teas, and some impossible to find spices... Oh, and some celadon pottery

Southern style pho ga (hence the bush of herbs in the background - I only had 4 different kinds today), spiced with star anise, coriander and cinnamon. Used very wide banh pho - it was the only thing I had! How did that happen???

I love rendang. It actually originated in Indonesia (Western Sumatra to be exact) but has since moved all over. Yours looks like a good Malaysian version - the Sumatran version is typically drier - like almost no liquid dry.... both are tasty. I'm curious as to the ingredients you couldn't get (I'm not surprised though) and what you used as a sub.

@Duvelthanks for this. And way to think out of the box on the travel/lodging issues!

Don't forget https://forums.egullet.org/topic/158626-stranger-in-a-strange-land/

Vietnamese chicken stew with fresh peppercorns

I don't understand - passion fruit are a lot of work? Cut in half and inhale! I love a really ripe and well grown passion fruit. I'll eat them 5 at a time (if I am in a place I can afford them!)

A friend of mine just got back from Thailand and brought me some fresh peppercorns..... So of course, pad cha grouper

If you want to grow a lot of sprouts, the way to do it is using a capillary mat, which fits in a standard plug tray. I've even seen people use plastic windowscreen material over a perforated flat - the roots grow through the screen and the flat into the water in teh tray below. Tons of videos on youtube

@liuzhousorry for the delay - I took these photos a while ago but forgot to post them!

It's a good thing that you weren't a fan of Wile E Coyote - those Acme products never work as well as they say they do in the catalog...

Joining in the taco Tuesday.... Foot burning red chili chicken tacos.