KennethT

I had one sharpened a couple years ago. It restored it to be like new. I don't think I would do it twice though - mine's getting to the point where it should be replaced.

Thanks so much for taking us along!!!! I really enjoyed this!

Sichuan double cooked mahi mahi

I think this depends on location. Here in NYC, I don't know any place, ethnic or otherwise, fancy or inexpensive that serves outsized portions that could be reduced significantly. Many restaurants have largely abandoned the "appetizer/main course" concept in favor of small plates (that don't have small prices) since the total bill usually winds up higher in that concept. Here, I have seen most restaurants raise prices. One of my go-tos, Yellow Rose, has raised prices a few different times since prices started going up. They're also really popular and I don't think most of their patrons are necessarily regulars who would know the difference. In fact, each time prices have gone up, I've asked about it just to make sure it wasn't an error and the guy (or gal) taking my order said to me, "huh, I didn't realize - no one else has noticed"... then again, there are times I go there once a week and get the exact same order, so I know what the total was.... Oddly enough, my local pizza place hasn't increased prices at all in over a year, and their size is exactly the same - they're probably the only ones I know that haven't raised prices in some way.

Panang curry with chicken

That tomato looks amazing. Did it taste as good as it looked?

After loading up on breakfast (we wouldn't get a real lunch today) we headed back to Skaftafell park, which was the meeting place for our guided glacier walk. Most companies have a couple of different options, we chose the longer one (it's about 5-6 hours) which gives you about 3 hours on the glacier as opposed to maybe 1 hour on the glacier. While they call them glacier walks, they're really ice fall walks, as it's basically impossible to get up on the glacier itself without being dropped off by a helicopter. The company outfits you with a harness (which is unused, but is there in case there's an accident and they need to pull you out of a crevice with a rope), crampons (metal spikes that attach to hiking boots to enable easy walking on ice), small ice axe, which isn't really useful for chopping ice, but is used more as a walking stick and helmet. Walking to the ice fall. The brown semicircle to the right of the white is actually all ice, covered in a thin later of debris. At the first stopping point - we wound up going halfway up the icefall. In the summer, the ice is covered with what they call "mojito ice" which looks kind of like crushed ice, but directly underneath it is rock solid blue ice. But the crushed ice is easy to walk on with the crampons. At one point, the ice we were standing on was hundreds of meters thick. We walked by several fissures - If the walking ever got even close to dangerous, our guide was there to help us across: Sometimes, if he felt that the ice was too steep to walk on easily, he would make some steps with his axe: Once we got as high up as we would go, we had a 10 minute break to have a snack. I brought along a bag of cashews from home, my wife had a fiber bar and of course, our ever present sack of gatorade. At one point, our guide left us for a minute to scout out the route going forward - the glacier is constantly changing, so they can't necessarily take the same route every day... which left us a few minutes... I took the opportunity to demonstrate how hard the ice was underneath the mojito ice. And a view during our rest break: Once we made it back down, it was probably around 4:30 or so, so we split a fish and chips as a pre-dinner snack: Driving back to the hotel showed some Icelandic road hazards... For some reason, with all that space, the sheep liked to eat the grass/moss by the side of the highway. The day before, we had decided to stay in the hotel for dinner after the glacier walk since we didn't know how tired we'd be. This was house made sourdough (they also had it at breakfast), served with room temperature icelandic butter with some lava salt. I loved the butter presentation We got the sheep carpaccio This was really tasty. Great smoke flavor and slightly gamy. Seafood soup. While the description said there were various seafoods in there, we only found langoustine - not that we were complaining about that! This had a great langoustine flavor - maybe the best one we had on the trip. Arctic char... why they decided to pair it with quinoa and kale I'll never know, but the fish was fantastic. The asparagus struck me funny - while they looked heavily cooked, inside they were practically raw - which is fine because they were really skinny. Beef two ways. 2 medallions of tenderloin and some slow cooked beef cheek. Unfortunately, there was only a small amount of beef cheek - it was amazing, although the tenderloin and sauce were really good too. The two large white chunks were celery root - I don't think I've ever had roasted celery root before, but it was really tasty. Usually I've made it into a puree like a potato.

I also used to get them regularly and haven't been able to find them for the past few months. Hopefully they've solved whatever issues they had and will be back long term.

@KeralaHow do people make the batter for dosa/etc. They're ground, right? Is it typical to do it by hand or do people have the mechanized wet grinders like this ?

@liamsauntIs that a man o' war or a jellyfish? I always thought the man o' war were much smaller and/or orange colored...

Thanks! I try to learn as much as I can about a place before going there - I am not a huge fan of surprises, especially ones taht cause problems! Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach when it comes to scheduling activities, which I learned at several times during our New Zealand trip, so I tried to learn from past mistakes.

Some people have asked how 2 relatively unathletic people can go hiking every day.... here's our secret: These are what the hiking backpack companies call "hydration packs". It's quite a good design. Each pouch holds 2 liters of liquid. On the back side (not visible) is a rigid plastic which helps insert it into a special sleeve in the backpack even when the pack is fully loaded. The pouch does not leak no matter its orientation or how hard you try. The top closes sort of like a heavy duty zip lock bag and another hose with mouthpiece (that you bite in order to allow liquid to flow) stays attached to your pack's shoulder strap with a magnet and connects to the bag's hose. Most people fill their pack with water... ours are filled with gatorade. When you're tired and thirsty, it is like nectar! This is what I brought from home: I made a whole bunch of premeasured zip lock bags full of powdered gatorade - each bag creates 2 liters of gatorade. Very convenient! Anyway, the next day, after a similar breakfast, we packed up and checked out of this hotel. Our next hotel is about an hour to the West, close to the Skaftafell park and the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon posted above. The plan was to go to the park and do a short hike on the way to the hotel, then check in after that. The short hike turned into being a lot longer - we decided to take our time a bit more and go at a really slow (dare I say glacial?) pace... This is the scenic route to the famous waterfall called Svartifoss. The hike starts in the Skaftafell parking lot where there are some interesting signs. This map shows how much area the main ice cap takes of the whole country. The hike clings alongside a glacier ice fall for the first section... lots of good views ending up here: Svartifoss is interesting because it was formed via volcanic activity. The waterfall is surrounded by basalt rock, formed into geometric shapes (mostly hexagonal) formed during rapid heating and cooling of the rock. This closeup shows the hexagonal shape of one of the rocks which has fallen off: When we got back down to the parking lot, it was pretty late - around 5:45PM and we had not had lunch... it was nice to find this food truck right there in the park: We both got an order of the fish and chips... with a nice view. This is one order - the fish is local cod, perfectly cooked with good fries as well. It came with some kind of tartar type dipping sauce. This really hit the spot, and we wound up checking into the hotel around 7:30PM or so and spent the rest of the night relaxing. Breakfast the next morning at the new hotel... The horizontal black strip in the middle of the green is the main highway. Farther out is the ocean. Behind the building are mountains. My wife loaded up with more of the chia porridge that she was addicted to, some skyr that she buried in nuts and poppy seeds and some smoked salmon. I chose the significantly less healthy route with some bacon, sausage, croissant, roasted potatoes and smoked salmon. The smoked salmon in this hotel was so salty. I finished it anyway (need to get my Omega 3s to counteract all the pork products!).

I've seen those oishii berries - never tried them though. Lots of tomato/cucumber greenhouses uses bee hives - manual pollination doesn't work for large scale growing.

I've only made popcorn once in that wok - it was a complete disaster. The wok is thin carbon steel and it burnt (or I did rather) the crap out of the popcorn.

Do you do anything with the flowers/seeds?

Happy birthday @Kim Shook! Looked like a great mini-trip. It's so hard to find really good onion rings - I'm drooling over those (among other things!).

Those who've read my Singapore (and other) food blogs might know how much I love (Old) Lai Huat's sambal pomfret. They take the whole fish and fry it, then cover it with this crazy savory sambal. The fish is basically just a sambal delivery mechanism. I'd be happy eating their sambal with just some rice, or even just licking it straight from the plate like a dog. Needless to say, I've been trying to recreate it at home for years and never really been happy with it. This is the closest I've come - it's pretty close. Makes 2 meals for 2 people 100g medium size dried shrimp 10-15 (depending on size) dried puya or prik chee faa chillies - or other mildly spicy chilli 160g shallots, chopped 1 head of garlic, deskinned and crushed 200g spur chillies - mildly spicy long red chillies, deseeded 2-3 Thai chillies 30g belacan (shrimp paste), toasted then crumbled Rice bran oil or other high heat oil for frying 1) Soak the dried shrimp for about 20 minutes, then drain 2) chop then pound them in a mortar and pestle - you don't want it too fine 3) Destem the dried chilli and snip into short lengths removing the seeds and soak for about 20 minutes, then drain discarding the soaking water 4) In a food processor or blender, grind the shallot and garlic together to make a paste 5) Separately, grind the drained dried chillies and fresh chillies together to make a paste 6) In a wok, heat about 1/4 - 1/3 C oil, then fry the shallot/garlic paste until quite fragrant - about 3-4 minutes 7) Add the chilli paste and stir to combine, fry for a minute or two 8 ) Add the pounded dried shrimp and crumbled belacan, stir to combine 9) Keep frying over medium heat, stirring to prevent scorching 10) When the oil first starts to come out of the paste, turn the heat to medium low and keep going until the sambal is quite dry It should look kind of like this - or maybe even a little drier.... Try not to splatter your wall like I did... 11) Season - it should only need a little salt (both the belacan and dried shrimp are salty) and maybe a little sugar, then reserve and keep warm 12) season your fish (I used mahi mahi which worked well) with some salt, then coat in 50/50 cornstarch/rice flour... or all rice flour... or wondra flour.... 13) Heat some oil in the wok and shallow fry the fish until done 14) Drain the fish, then top with a generous coating of sambal. Serve with rice/stir fried veggies Edit: increased the amount of dried shrimp

Here here!!!!

Broccoli is a vile weed and should be eradicated. KennethT is to broccoli as @liuzhouis to corn.

More cooking.... Sambal mahi mahi. Sambal made from scratch to be like Old Lai Huat in Singapore. This is the closest I've come and is pretty close. I was really happy with it.

Great example of a fibonacci sequence!!!

More light SE Asian as we're drying out from our vacation. Bak Kut Teh noodle soup with 2 types of shrimp (I didn't have enough of either)

I've made black pepper shrimp in one form of another occasionally but it's never been the same twice. Last night's version was a keeper, so I'm putting it here so I can do it again. Black pepper shrimp exists in both Singapore and Vietnam (and I'm sure elsewhere as well) - this version is basically the Singapore version with added herbs. Recipe is for 2 people, to be had with rice. The sauce is really thick and strong, so you only need a bit with the rice - it goes a long way. 12 Extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined, then sliced 3/4 of the way through from the back. You could also use shell on shrimp (how it's done in Singapore) but then the sauce clings to the shell rather than the meat. Season with a little salt and let sit while prepping the other ingredients 1 T whole black peppercorns (I use Vietnamese) pounded or ground coursely, dry fried to release the aroma 1 small handful medium size dried shrimp, soaked for 20 minutes in water, then drained, chopped and pounded - not to a paste, but small pieces 1 normal size shallot, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 Thai chilli, minced 1 sprig curry leaves 2 garlic chives, cut into 1/2" lengths 2 t oyster sauce 2 t sweet soy sauce 1 t dark soy sauce 1 t light soy sauce Pinch salt slightly larger pinch sugar small handful cilantro, chopped a few sprigs laksa leaf (rau ram), picked and chopped 10 Thai basil leaves, chiffonade Rice bran oil (or other high temp oil) for frying, plus maybe 1 t butter later 1) in a hot wok, at a few T of oil and sear shrimp on both sides, then reserve saving the oil 2) in the same wok with same oil (add a bit more if needed) on low to medium heat, fry the pounded dried shrimp until golden brown and crispy. Drain, reserving the oil. Clean the wok to make sure you don't get any burnt bits 3) Heat the wok over medium heat, add back a couple T of the shrimp oil plus the butter and sweat the shallots until translucent and just starting to brown 4) increase the heat a bit and add the garlic/chilli/curry leaves/chives plus the dry fried black pepper. Stir fry until fragrant 5) add the fried dried shrimp and mix thoroughly 6) add the sauce and mix to combine - it should boil pretty furiously when added and turn thick and syrupy fast 7) add the seared shrimp and mix to coat evenly and just reheat 8 ) turn off the heat and add the herbs

Hence the importance of trusting one's butcher.

After the last week of eating practically nothing but arctic char, lamb and langoustine continental style, then a week of takeout, it was nice to have time to have a home cooked meal. Sing/Viet black pepper shrimp. The secret ingredient is soaked/chopped/pounded/fried dried shrimp!!! I could put that sh!t on everything.