KennethT

I actually have 2 different types of fabric pouches - I'm not sure which I like better. I have the standard felt ones but I also use these. I have found that many times, marijuana growers are at the forefront of growing technology, probably because it's such a high value crop. The Radicle bags are a woven pvc mesh. My kaffir lime and curry leaf plant are both in them and they love them. I moved my lemongrass from a fabric to Radicle bag and its growth exploded, although I'm going to move it bag to fabric because I want to change it from a round pot to rectangular to make it easier to harvest some of the inside stalks. Right now it's in a 3 gallon radicle bag which has become filled edge to edge with lemongrass.

Sorry - I didn't know if I was clear. From my research, what's needed for air pruning is the presence of air (or the lack of media or water). I don't think it needs to be fresh air. I think most of the fresh air to get to the roots comes during watering - as the water goes down, it creates a vacuum and air comes in to fill the space. Plus, I keep my nutrient reservoir chilled to about 65F and have a 24 hour pump which waterfalls to provide good aeration. Room temp water doesn't hold much oxygen, but chilled water holds much more.

No - the planter is just decoration. The fabric pot will sit inside with an inch of space all around between fabric pot and the planter.

Amen to that. All of my plants are hydroponic in coco coir, in fabric pots which works great for long term plants. The outside of the fabric pots are pretty ugly (and they all practically live in my living room) but I'm planning on making some concrete planters (designed to look like natural rock on the outside) that the fabric pots will be able to fit into with maybe an inch of space between the pots and the planter. The pots will sit on a metal rack about an inch above the bottom of the planter (which will be sloped to a drain port). The runoff will be collected, analyzed and potentially added back to the reservoir to eliminate any wasted water/nutrient. I grow my kaffir lime tree for the leaves - I don't really use the fruit, so I pinch off the flowers which leaves my fingers smelling amazing!

I love fabric pots. My kaffir lime tree's roots completely filled the space with tons of lateral branching. When I dry rooted it, I was amazed to see the completely root structure and how it basically filled the complete pot!

@liamsauntthanks so much for this - I really enjoyed vicariously living your trip and happy anniversary!

When cooking a small quantity, I assume there would be a lot of binchotan remaining. Can you quench it and let it dry and then use it again later?

The last time I looked at the Kanoyama's menu, it was actually a kampachi collar rather than hamachi.

I'll have to check it out next weekend when I'm there again. I haven't paid much attention to them as I can't imagine they'd be very good. One day when China opens up we'd love to get back to our list of Chinese destinations - quite a few of them are in the south - maybe we could take a detour!

I now see a couple different brands of Luosifen in my local HMart, a large Korean (and other Asian) grocery store chain.

Speaking of which, since it was a long holiday weekend, of course we stopped by to pick up some snacks... Kuih Angku with mung bean filling. I don't know why we got this one. Every time we've had it in SE Asia we've never really been fans. The outside always reminds me of those wax red lips candy that was a big thing when I was a kid. And I'm not a huge fan of the mung bean filling - I wish they had the peanut ones. Serimuka gula melaka - palm sugar and pandan flavored custard with coconut sticky rice. This was amazing. Serimuka pandan - pandan flavored custard with coconut sticky rice Talam gula melaka - palm sugar custard and salted coconut. I love how the occasional salt in the coconut offsets the palm sugar.

I've never been down to Kuih cafe. One day, but it's a schlep and Lady Wong is dangerously close to me now. I agree with you though - I've been there now every weekend for the past few weeks, getting progressively more each week! I don't know why they hide their address on their website, but if you look at their FAQs you'll find a Google Maps link. Why they couldn't just put their address right next to it?

Very nice! You need one of those mini-peels for rotating in the oven.

We had the soft shell the last time we were there, but I haven't yet pulled the trigger on the hamachi collar, not that it hasn't called to me but I'm afraid C may not be into it, even though many times she surprises me. What did you think of the sushi you got?

I really dislike it when people try to be helpful and "clean up" an area that only I use. That's when I can never find anything!

Very nice. what was the sauce with the mahi bites and shrimp? It looks to be the same.... The blue and white bottle is tequila - Clase Azul.

Can you get candlenuts in your area? They're great for adding texture to curries and soups. What is the Oaxacan hot chocolate? Is it brewed from roasted cocoa beans like coffee or made with melted Mexican chocolate?

I'm sorry to hear about that dinner - it's always disappointing when you're there and have a limited number of meals and one goes really wrong - not to mention the expense. I love watching and listening to parrotfish crunching the coral!

Beautiful photos - thanks so much for taking us along on your trip! I don't know if you know the answer to this but I'm curious - I've seen escargot on a few menus now - I assume they're imported rather than local, right?

One day I will be making this - I am sore missing a really good Katong Laksa... Do you make yours from scratch or like a premade paste? Also, where are the laksa leaves?!? (j.k. - I know they're not easy to find!)

I'll definitely check this out at some point...

@weinoo I second @Shelby - those potatoes look great. Can you be more specific with the method?

Vietnamese lemongrass chicken, made with chicken thighs marinated with lemongrass/garlic/ginger/black pepper/thai chilli/fish sauce/soy sauce/MSG/turmeric

I'm curious to check this out: Who knew Ornellaia made olive oil? The packaging is ridiculously nice - the box it came in is heavy textured cardboard.

Let me know how it goes - I'm not used to writing recipes - I wrote this just to keep a record for myself for the next time I make it, but I'm curious how an outsider will find my sometimes nebulous instructions. Also let me know if something isn't clear before you get started....