trillium

Sorry to be off topic for khao soi... If you go to Nakhon, do make a point to go to the restaurant accross the street from Nakhon Garden Inn (a really nice, economical place to stay). I don't remember the name of it, the signage is only in Thai, but it displays the seafood on the sidewalk and is a little way past the water purifying place. They specialize in southern dishes that my friend who grew up in Bangkok wasn't familiar with. We put ourselves at the mercy of the proprietress and ate extremely well. If you have a tender tongue, beware, it was hotter then some of the very hot food we ate in the kitchens of the national parks we visited (where they don't know how to change the food for farangs) and it even made the SE Asian in the group pant a little. The bitter herbs and nutlike root things (would love to know what that was)served with one of the sour curries had a way of erasing the burn that was astounding. On it's own it made your mouth pucker like an unripe persimmon, with the soup/curry, it was pleasant. regards, trillium

I think India Direct is what I meant too, not Apna Bazaar (hey, they're close to each other). There can't be more then one located in an industrial complex. regards, trillium

How do they look? What is it that you don't like? I would guess that it is too soupy and not fine enough? Or is the balance off, and you don't like the taste? N. American shallots and garlic tend to be much wetter and bigger then the ones in SE Asia. If you don't want to go by look, it's best to go by weight, not quantity because of this. I find that buying grey shallots from one of my favorite farmers gives me a much better paste then the supermarket shallots. One thing that helps with consistency, besides the tips mentioned, is to make sure your gkapi is roasted/toasted nice and slow before you add it. The other thing is to not over load the morter. This is pretty important. Ours can't hold all of the ingredients at one because we nearly always make a double batch. So we do things in batches, and really make sure the lemon grass is truly pulverized, same with galanga. Lastly, I assume you know this already, it's a pounding up and down, not a grinding motion. This helps break the fibers down into shorter pieces, instead of just pulling them apart and your paste will get, well, pasty. regards, trillium

I like Apna Bazaar the best of all of the dedicated South Asian grocery stores. It's a little tricky to find because it's in one of those industrial type complexes, but worth getting too. Uwajimaya is, of course, the easiest option. regards, trillium

I think you're probably right, and it probably sells more in N. America then the country of origin. I tried it twice in nearly a month of constant eating, just to make sure I wasn't missing out on something. Both times I really didn't like it that much and thought it was a waste of stomach space. In one night market in Nakhon I was the only farang (well, besides the spouse, but at the point he was tan and flinging around Thai like he knew what he was doing so they took him for my Chinese Thai tour guide!), and the sign was only in Thai so I thought that was probably as good as it got. Her booth was pretty tiny though, and only had a few customers. Now Singapore/Malaysia's take on "Thai" noodles I'll take any day. I think it's time to make mee siam soon. regards, trillium

Nuh-uh. Sorry. Ti Kuan Yin is an oolong, and can be used in kung fu tea, but doesn't have to be. It's an oolong in that it is partially oxidized (in between black and green). It is a specialty of Anxi (Fújiàn province). Oolong just describes that in between state of oxidation, and there are many, many different kinds, not just one or even four (think Si Da Ming Cong). The lightest ones that are the least oxidized get called pouchongs, and they're mostly grown in Taiwan these days. Just for you, I found some characters to go along with what I'm saying, but since I can't read, I hope they're actually correct! Kung fu tea, the Fujian tea ceramony, is usually done with oolongs (any kind) and a Yixing teapot set (宜兴) , although at our house, if we're having bat kut teh, it has to be done with bo-lay/pu-erh (普洱茶) and our set is probably a fake, it was cheap. Fengyi, I see dried chestnuts on the same shelf with the dried lotus seeds and various dates. Maybe you'll see them there? regards, trillium

I bought the Jan edition of "Food and Wine" because it declared 2006 to be the year of the cocktail and I had to laugh when one of the 4 cocktails in the article was a vodka, olive brine and squid ink "martini". Hmmmm. Let's hope it's not a trend. It was weird, the west coast was very well represented, but not the east coast (or even middle!). And there was more hype/propaganda from Michael Hebberoy, a local restaurateur, about his new line of "gins" including one you sip warm (carob root anyone?). I was disappointed overall from a cocktail standpoint, but it's worth a flip-through at the check out stand. It's been years since I read a Food & Wine, but when did they start giving you fashion information about the dresses being worn in the pictures???? regards, trillium

From what I could gather last time I looked into it, grass jelly is made from a grass like member of the mint family, Mesona chinensis. The cans of stuff where you have to cut it up or grate it yourself are much tastier then the premade drinks. I think our favorite here in the US is from Taiwan, but I don't remember the name of it. The stuff in chendol is made from mung bean flour and flavored with pandan (well, it should be, but lots of places in the US cheat and use rice flour and fake pandan flavor, but they're all bright green). The other squiggly stuff varies, and can be made from nearly any sort of starch you can imagine. My favorite ?why? topping is the fake pomegranite seeds. And don't forget hearts of palm, corn, etc. etc. Whatever you do, Ptipois, avoid the green Hale Blue Boy syrup and you should be fine. regards, trillium

You might enjoy this thread from 1998 on rec.food.cooking where we were discussing this very thing (including roti prata vs. canai): How the prAta was murtabA'd. regards, trillium

Maybe you're right, that would be funny that I'm mixing you up with her! Sorry Rona. Anyhow, I guess I don't think it's fair to compare Kasma's recipes to pizza served with ketchup. Kasma is Thai. She grew up in Thailand and every year spends half of it in Thailand. It isn't spent eating at touristy hotels in Bangkok! If you don't like her recipes fine, but I still say that doesn't mean they're not the "real deal" . I find some of them to be quite good, and others not to my liking. I don't use a recipe for something like basil chicken, I just make it, so I can't comment. I like all of her curry paste recipes, including the one for choo chee (my favorite). I also think many of her recipes are really useful starting points for things like khao yam, kao moek gkai, or som tom (I use the salted black crabs back here, they're my favorite, we ate them as far south as Songkla!). We'll have to disagree about basil chicken in Thailand, I found it to vary from vendor to vendor almost as much as the kanom jeen did, mostly in the sweetness level (I don't like it sweet) and amount of chilies. However I only ate it 3 times or so for quick lunches, so it's not like I did a big survey. I was more interested in eating things I can't make at home. And again, I'll make the point that she never claims her recipe is set in stone or the only way to do something. I'll stop defending her now, she really doesn't need it, I guess it's just that her husband and she were so generous about sharing their knowledge about good night markets, spots to eat, beautiful places to visit through email, and then doing research on the latin names of the herbs I ate in the south for me when I got back, that seeing her getting dissed by people that don't know her credentials tends to bother me. As for the smack-down, you gotta do your own paste! Otherwise the farang wins. regards, trillium

Thank you all for your help. I swear I searched the forum for St. Pauls but I guess I suck at using eG's search engine (I used quotes, I swear!). The partner is Singaporean, and opinionated about food, so it's probably better for him to stay away from Kam's, but a jook and noodle joint sounds just perfect. Thank heavans for free high speed internet at the hotel! I'll pass along the urls for the threads and let him peruse. Please give a hollah if you ever need help in Portland, we'd love to help, 'tho Daddy-A seems to do just fine when he's in town! regards, trillium

Hi all, The spouse has to make an emergency visit to Vancouver tomorrow, his granny is at St. Pauls and he'll be staying at the Holiday Inn on Howe while he visits her in the hospital. All the food he really wants to eat seems to be in Richmond. I've given him the name and address of the Cambodian restaurant everyone seems to love in Chinatown, but are there any other suggestions that are easy to get to from this location? Comfort food for him is SE, South or East Asian, but really, anything tasty is appreciated. thanks a bunch trillium

If you read the article that is linked in the recipe you'll see that she discusses the history, and the particulars of the style she likes the best (heavy on the cardamom and fresh tumeric), which is what she provides a recipe for. Given that it is a fusion dish, it's not surprising there will be many different styles, no? I think I remember Pim saying (when she used to participate in eG) that her family's style was more palatial, but I could be misremembering. Kasma is a talented teacher in person and through her books, but she would be the first to encourage someone to make dishes according to their taste. She tries to make the point that there isn't just one right way to do a dish. I found, when I was eating my way through Thailand, that this was very true. "Classic" dishes would change from city to city. I hardly think that preferring another style makes a certain recipe "off" (I guess I'm not sure what that means), just different from what you prefer. Happy cooking! regards, trillium

Kasma Loha-unchit has a recipe for kao soi on her website. regards, trillium

Like I said, I'm refering to "Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen", not "Breath of a Wok". Just to be clear. They are a collection of her family's home-style recipes, including a whole section on tonic/soups and helpful hints on finding things in herb shops. It has a lot of what I call "PoPo cooking". Stuff I ate from grannies' cooking or friends who learned it from their grannies. As for mango, it's funny you mention that. One of my favorite "classic" cookbook authors is Yan Kit So, (who btw, had a doctorate in 19th Century Chinese border issues). Her most accessible book, The Classic Chinese Cookbook, has a recipe for mango beef something or other. I always thought it must be some fancy HK thing (her biases are HK and Guangdong based). I wonder where the mango is coming from? If you get a chance, her " Classic Food Of China" is worth a look. She lists in the bibliography several Chinese language cookery books she used as references, some of the quite old. I was very sad when she passed away. Yan Kit So Guardian obit regards, trillium

I understand what you mean now and agree that she did seem to go out and collect this stuff from her father, grandmother and cousins rather then acquire it over a lifetime. Her first book really focuses, for the most part, on simple Cantonese home cooking as it's done in her family, and those are the recipes I think make the book worthwhile. If you're not interested in that style of cooking, then I can imagine the book would be very disappointing. regards, trillium

I understand where you're coming from on the half way there stuff, but I gotta say the ethnic Chinese(Hokkien) dude in our house doesn't like the "Wei Chuan" series because he says the food taste is "too Taiwanese", at least the ones we've checked out and cooked from. There really are plenty of regional differences in how different groups cook a similar dish. In the reaction against silly dishes and cookbooks being slapped with a "Chinese" label, I would hate for the baby to get thrown out with the bathwater. I would argue that the Wei Chuan has a serious overseas Chinese style bias (I'm thinking HK or Taiwan), I have friends from the mainland who aren't that crazy about all of them either. I'm not saying they're bad books, but they do have their own biases, which someone with the same biases may not realize. My Sichuan friends like Ms. Dunlop's book better, although a friend from Lanzhou says the same book is full of "typical Sichuanese inaccuracies/exaggerations". I think my point is that everyone might agree that flank steak on spaghetti with oyster sauce is not Chinese, but I don't think you get get everyone to agree on what is "classic as can be". Food seems to bring out the most opinionated streak in people! regards, trillium

Very poor, emasculated recipes, in my experience. The author is no kind of cook. ← Hang on a minute. I haven't looked at Grace Young's latest book, but her last one is fantastic. Many of the recipes in there are classic Cantonese home cooking and not the stuff you usually find in "Chinese" cookbooks. I know a couple of friends who bought the book and love it because it teaches them how to make the dishes their PoPo's never did before they passed away. No book is ever perfect, but I think you're way out of line to claim she's "no kind of cook" and I have no idea what an emasculated recipe means so I can't really address that part. There are several different layers of classic Chinese cuisine, from home cooked to banquet, and then there is the newer HK style stuff. Plus you have huge regional variations on a theme. I would think there is room in the universe for all of these approaches. regards, trillium

The Portland Farmer's market has lots of jam and some nut vendors, in addition to local cheesemakers. regards, trillium

Yeah, the one I was dealing with was about 12 kg! The proportions don't seem that unreasonable to me. regards, trillium

Bumping up this thread to ask if anyone has ever frozen headcheese. I've made a fairly nice one with the head and trotters from our communal hog project (using the recipe in Chez Panisse Cafe), but some of the other families aren't sure they'll be able to eat it all before it goes funny. I don't want them to freeze the terrine I made, because I think it will break the emulsion, but I wonder if the headcheese can be frozen. thanks trillium

I'm a big fan of Tra Chang, I find it much more robust and complex compared to say, Squid brand (which seems harsher/bitter and more watery but salty and sweet to me). Fish sauce is so inexpensive it's easy to buy a few different brands and find your favorite. When I was in Thailand, whenever I was in a grocery store I would check out the fish sauce. I saw Golden Boy, Tra Chang, and Squid, along with other brands not available here in the US, but not Tiparos or Three Crabs. I was in the south, it might change by region. regards, trillium

I just read in my French charcuterie book the guidelines for "canning" terrines, it seems like you don't really press it, just cook it in the jar, making sure it reaches a certain temp when you process it. I'll try to take pictures of the hams and post them to flickr next weekend (along with other piggy adventures... ). regards, trillium

Couple of things to add, especially while it's still fresh in my mind (having spent a great deal of time with a pig's head (and other parts) over the last 3 days). The other major meat spot is the very end of the snout, yes, right where the holes are. It makes sense if you've ever seen a hog in its natural environment, it uses its nose to root around. The second thing is that usually when the hog (or pig in your case, it was little) gets parted into primals, a lot of the jowl gets left on the belly piece. You might get jowls along with the head for your next adventure, if you like, make sure to clean out the glands. Lastly, if you plan on making a habit of dealing with large pig pieces, a meat blade for your hacksaw (you do own one right?) comes in awfully convenient. Of course, unless you shell out the big bucks for a butcher's saw, you'll have to drill the blade in order to take off a few inches so it will fit in an ordinary hacksaw instead of a butcher's saw, but it is worth the effort. It makes doing a rib roast much more pleasant (where you crack the ribs at the vertebrate so carving is easier), and comes in handy for doing stuff with the head. Here's to swine and all their lovely parts! regards, trillium

My kalamansi limes (we use them green, and call them limes, even though they are an orange) are in pots. I bought the 3-4 year tree from Four Winds Growers in CA and they're in a 3 gallon pot. They're on a dwarf rootstock, and are very happy and prolific, so if you really want one, don't let lack of a space in the yard stop you. I have to bring them in for winter, and the smell of the blossoms in the house is really nice. regards, trillium