KennethT

Amen to this. Regular broccoli is a vile weed and should be rendered extinct.

Gai lan is Cantonese, which, up until the last 5-10 years or so, was the predominant language of Chinese immigrants to the US as most of them came from Hong Kong. Years ago, on a trip to Hong Kong, I found the term gai lan used and understood everywhere we went. A few years later, on a trip to Beijing, we found that literally no one understood what gai lan meant, and we found out halfway through the trip that in Putong Hua (Mandarin), it's jie lan, as @liuzhou wrote up thread. We even had a waiter (who moonlighted as an English translator) write it down for us on a card so we could show service staff for the rest of our trip to avoid further confusion. So, Liuzhou is correct when he says that 95% of Chinese in China don't call it gai lan - but since the vast majority of immigrants to the US came from Hong Kong years ago among whom Cantonese was the predominant language, it's called gai lan everywhere here.

Many years ago on a trip to France, we went to Alain Chapel and had his famous Poulet de Bresse en vessie. Holy crap was that good - but then again it's hard to go wrong with tons of butter, foie gras and truffles....

Not all of these are food, but they're all food related. This year, we (actually my wife) got quite a few "gifts" from some companies she knows through work.... First, a cookbook/spice company sales pitch. The book is filled with recipes from lots of well known chefs, each using one of the company's proprietary spice mixes. The book even came with 5 sample containers. While I'll probably never make anything out of the book (or use the spices) I think it's an interesting way to sell your wares - make a cookbook that people buy in order to get them to buy more of your products. This Sicily book is less self serving and came from a totally different organization than the stuff below. As books go, it seems actually really good - there's a whole section in the front describing the most common ingredients used in Sicilian cooking as well as common aroma/flavor profiles. While I probably won't make anything from the book, I would like to read through it when (if) I get some time. Every year for the past several years, Donnafugata (a well known/respected Sicilian wine company) sends us (her) a box with a bunch of stuff. In the past there was a bar of Sicilian nougat filled with pistachios, chocolates made with chilli (these were awesome), wild capers from their property in Pantelleria, raisins made from the same grapes that go into their amazing (and crazy expensive) Ben Rye sweet wine (too bad they didn't include a bottle of that!), as well as a small painting on a wood base that is actually quite pretty. This year included capers (now in a branded jar as opposed to just a plastic bag as in previous years), wild oregano from Pantelleria, some ancient grain linguine and a recipe card. I've got to find some decent anchovies - one day I will definitely try to make this as it sounds like nothing I've ever had before. Last but not least, this came from the Rhone valley in France - I don't know when I'll use it but I am curious to try it on something.

Gorgeous wings. What type of dipping sauce is that?

Really looking forward to this. My wife and I have been looking into Lanzarote for some time in teh future

Some tomato varieties can grow over 30 feet in length!

Hmmmm... simple is relative, no? It's not a difficult dish to make, but there's certainly no shortage of ingredients. Mine is modeled after the fish head curry we had in Singapore in a well known South Indian restaurant. See the post here. One day when I get some time I'll upload my recipe to RecipEgullet but in the meantime, heat some coconut oil (I cut it with rice bran oil to make it healthier) and roast some fenugreek, mustard, cumin and fennel seeds. Once popping, sweat like a whole red onion chopped fine, then add several tablespoons ginger/garlic paste and a couple sprigs of curry leaves and sweat some more. Then add the powdered spices (a big teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder, a half teaspoon hot chilli powder, a teaspoon each coriander powder and fennel powder, and maybe 3/4 teaspoon turmeric). Stir until the oil separates back out, then add about 3 plum tomatoes either chopped really fine or blended, about 1 big tablespoon tamarind paste (25g tamarind with 50ml hot water, then strained), and some water. Season with salt. At this point, you'd add any vegetables (I just had potatoes) and then I used mahi mahi at the very end.

South India by way of Singapore fish curry

I don't know about in this locale, but I've seen old people all over SE Asia comfortably squatting way lower than I ever could on my best day. I think if you do certain movements continually throughout your life, it doesn't stiffen up like it does for us who do them only occasionally.

@BonVivantThank you so much for this. I never thought of these islands but now we might put them on the list!

An old favorite, ayam buah keluak.

I read about this too and, like you, am a big fan of his. I hope he is ok and that nothing sinister has happened to him.

They're diploid? Hmmm. Definitely not what I had in Vietnam then.

Can you upload a higher res photo that I can zoom into? Years ago, on our Saigon trip, we made a day trip that included a local restaurant - one of the dishes we ordered came with a large bush of herbs - there were probably 12 different types in there and a couple I couldn't identify but really enjoyed and have been hunting them ever since! The shape of my favorite looked a little like the pomelo leaf, but I'd like to see the vein structure if possible as that would clue me in better. It had a nice almost lemony flavor - but very different from a makrut lime leaf.

I thought of you yesterday when making the mapo tofu. I was out of c0rnstarch and used potato starch instead...

salad? In China? Also, how was the mango? I wonder where they're getting ripe mango from right now....

Dai style bison with herbs (7 herbs, 5 from the garden) with sticky rice.

Bison mapo tofu with Korean leeks (like a giant scallion) and cucumber salad.

@Duvel Thanks! That's my belly laugh for the day!

How does one drink from the funnel? Is the bottom sealed?

This is so sad. I remember her talking about her son Matt, so I am pretty sure it's real. She had so much to deal with near the end of her life - from issues with her aged father and his wife to son's medical problems as well as her own. I will miss her interactions - she always had something interesting to say and I will personally miss discussing plants and gardening with her of which she was passionate and very experienced.

Last meal of this batch of kapitan chicken curry with homemade roti canai. This is definitely the best roti I've made - even though the dough was made in a batch of 8, after stretching they were all frozen. When frying, I think less is more when it comes to heat for a relatively slow fry which left the inside chewy and moist with a crispy exterior.

How common are lemons in China?

Love these. As I'm sure you've done, I remember buying them from a kid on the beach in Thailand. They were usually mounted on a stick for easy eating. How they'd peel and eye them in front of you in around 30 seconds continues to amaze me.