KennethT

That is definitely not a low-carb friendly place! Unfortunately, I haven't been to one in a long time - probably pre-pandemic....

Wow... she must have been cooking all day!

What about a restaurant that has those individual igloo type things? I don't know how they exchange the air in those things in between groups though...

It depends greatly on your pressure cooker. I have a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker and they explicitly say that the cooker makes almost no audible noise whatsoever when at full pressure. You should use the cooker's pressure gauge to indicate pressure, not necessarily the noise it makes - unless you have a really old school one with the weighted jiggler....

Can you get maple syrup in Germany?

Is the loose texture on the hash browns typical around there? I haven't had too many, but I always thought they were more bound into some kind of cake...

@shain I was just checking out the entry requirements/restrictions for Thailand. Which entry program are you using, the "Tourism Sandbox" or "Exemption from Quarantine (Test & Go)"? I just got an email from Singapore Airlines with a really good deal to go from NYC to Thailand via Singapore (direct to Singapore) - but reading the entry requirements are a bit confusing. Do you need to quarantine 1 night in a specific SHA+ hotel on arrival (for the Exemption - Test & Go)?

When making the tenderloins, do you remove the central tendon? If so, how do you do it to keep the tenderloins looking whole?

@JoNorvelleWalker@Anna N@Duvel And sometimes you want to use the duck in something else - like cut up in a noodle dish or something and it's convenient to have the precooked duck legs sitting in the refrigerator for a couple months....

wow! That's quite the ordeal to go through have already gone through a totally different ordeal. But I'm glad to see that you both finally made it home safely and hopefully will be back to normal soon.

Kangkong... My first attempt at growing with the Kratky method

Yes! Thanks for this!

What did you think of the texture and juiciness when done this way? I've been looking for a way to make tender, juicy duck legs without getting the confit texture. The last time I did it, it was pretty dry - but I think my temp was slightly higher.

I'm am truly impressed at your gustatory fortitude - currywurst, banh mi and doner!! (I don't count the oysters and fish - they slide right down and take up no stomach space whatsoever - but they're tasty!) Hopefully all that bike riding was uphill both ways... hehehe... I was curious about the doner - here, we have 2 different varieties of something similar - gyro which is basically a giant (doner sized) caseless relatively finely ground sausage revolving on the spit, and shawarma which is thin pieces of marinated meat stacked up on the spit to doner size, then shaved from the sides. It seems like the German doner is more of what I would call shawarma - is that right?

Una Pizza Napoletana (before they closed and reopened - I haven't visited since) made a pie like that using halved cherry tomatoes - I think they also had fresh thyme - it was fantastic.

We go to the OG Shake Shack in Mad Park sometimes when it's nice outside - although we haven't been there in a while. I had the truffle burger last year at some point. It was OK, but nothing spectacular. But TBH, I'm not a huge fan of truffle oil...

Fascinating. I have seen parrot fish while snorkling/diving but never knew that people ate them!

The shrimp are wild key west pink shrimp I get from Wild Fork - like $12/lb - they're really shrimpy. Noodles I get at HMart.

Indonesian mie goreng

fresh rice noodles are notoriously sticky. For me, I think the key is to only stir fry 1 portion at a time and have your wok be really well seasoned. My wok's seasoning comes and goes a bit (a few weeks ago, I made a curry in it that had a lot of tamarind, and it stripped 80% of the seasoning by the time it finished cooking!) so I personally wouldn't attempt cooking fresh rice noodles right now - or maybe I'd coat them with a little bit of oil before the wok, and a bit more oil than normal in the wok heated to smoking so they don't stick together so bad until you can get them moving. And have your stir fry sauce at the ready to pour on top once you get a bit of char on the bottom.

fresh rice noodles don't usually need to be cooked prior to stir frying

We were there a long time ago (maybe 15 years ago) but we loved Chiang Mai. Definitely check out Doi Suthep, the large Wat in that area. And for the chicken eaters, have Khao Soi (a chicken curry noodle soup with egg noodles and coconut milk) at least once if not a lot - it's mainly served at breakfast/early lunch. Back then, it wasn't advisable for non-Thai to rent a car to drive themselves because the laws basically said that if you were in an accident, it was automatically the tourist's fault. I don't know if that's still true. We hired a driver/guide for a day or so - back then very inexpensive - his name was Sergeant Kai (he was a sergeant in the Thai military when he was young) and he was one of the nicest, most gentle people I've ever met and had tons of great stories. I'd assume that you could use Grab or Uber there nowadays. Also, Chiang Mai proper was very walkable - and there were tons of really cheap foot massage people everywhere you went. There was a fantastic Sunday walking market as well. Chiang Mai has (had?) a lot of food that is unique to Northern Thailand - stuff you won't see in the rest of the country - many of it has Burmese roots. Great things to get are a Northern Thai laap - but be warned that it is usually made with a lot of offal - and lots of unique herbs but not spicy - it has no lime juice - it's totally different from the Isaan laap from North-East Thailand. Also, I'm a huge fan of hung lay curry - typically made with pork. If you can get it, Andy Ricker's book Pok Pok is basically only about food from Chiang Mai. I can't wait to see your photos - I'm sure it has changed a lot since I was there - back then, it was almost like a time warp. My wife demonstrating how to drink iced coffee with a straw from a plastic bag. Various insects to snack on. Our guide LOVED the ant larvae and picked up a bunch to bring home later - we couldn't sample them because they had to be cooked. But the crickets and silk worms were really tasty and a good beer snack. Doi Suthep -(there's a lot of stairs to get up there) Back then, there were a lot of Thai cookery schools in Chiang Mai. We hired a new one (at the time) called A Lot of Thai - the teacher used to work at the big name cooking school then started her own. Most of the classes started with a tour of the market, and then you go back and learn to make 5 dishes or so. Her school was small and she ran it out of the back of her house - as was typical back then, the kitchens were outside. I don't know if it would be open now because of COVID, but another big thing in Northern Thailand is celadon. We took a tour of one of the celadon factories, Baan Celadon. You could watch their artisans at work - they even let my wife try her hand at the potter's wheel. Back then, the Baht was really weak against the US dollar so we wound up buying a lot of celadon tableware - plates, bowls, and a gorgeous handpainted tea set. Everything hand made and really unique and at the time, unbelievably inexpensive. They packed everything up into 1 box which we then carried through 3 or 4 airports and 2 countries - everything made it home in perfect condition. Hope you didn't mind my trip down memory lane!!

Pad cha gai - chicken stir fry with grachai, chillies, peppercorns and Thai basil

@Anna N I can't imagine anyone being insulted by you advertently or inadvertently! Glad to hear you're ok...

When you get your monthly box email, make sure you select either the combo box (for salmon + various white fish) or the white fish only box.