trillium

Well, I'll take what I can get, maybe they'll do ok with cocktails too. What are a couple of your favorites? thanks trillium

I put this in this forum instead of the geographically specific one because I'm hoping to hear about places that have good to great cocktails (real fruit, no xtini everything), not which have the hippest scene. I used to know these places back in the day, but it's been years since I've lived in the city. I'll be back this weekend for some hanging out time with a friend who is also coming from out of town. My friend isn't usually super comfortable in places like the Starlight lounge, so I'm hoping for pointers towards friendly, laid-back bars that pour good drinks. Help please! thanks, trillium

Nothing. The cucumber was enough. But a lemon twist probably would be good. It was 95 F and I was too lazy to make one. regards, trillium

It's the cucumber and tonic I think. We ran out of tonic last night and I did one with half tonic, half soda. Not so good and oddly bitter (and I like bitter). I find the combination of cucumber and tonic very synergistic. But for the record, I'm a big melon fiend, from loofah and wintermelon to cucumber and charentais, so I like the green in cucumber. regards, trillium

Have you tried the new green "natural taste" can from Chaokok? It's not bad. Not fresh, but not bad. The canned stuff from Thailand suffered some quality issues in the last year, but I think they're better now. The frozen coconut available around here is a Filipino product that is also ground with sugar. Very disappointing. All the times we've tried to make our own coconut milk here in the US (San Francisco, Portland, Chicago) we go to a lot of effort and end up with inferior, flavorless milk. The coconuts here are just not good enough. regards, trillium

We eat straight from the farmer's market all summer long, and take a break from any really elaborate cooking. Right now cucumbers and tomatoes are in full swing. Once you get used to the fragrant and down-right melon quality of a fresh, grown for flavor cucumber, it's hard to eat any from the grocery store. I was making an herb and vegetable plate for some Vietnamese bbq, and seeded a long "English" cucumber. I hate throwing anything away, and had just successfully infused some vodka with black raspberry "seeds" left in the food mill. So I decided to throw the cucumber innards in a jar and covered them with Bombay Sapphire. Left it in the fridge overnight and had it with tonic on ice the next night. It's unbelievably good. The melon and astringent tastes from the cucumber really round out the tonic, which in this country is too sweet for my tastes. It turned a common gin and tonic into something so refreshing and fragrant it was hard to believe it had alcohol in it. It also gave a very velvety feel to the liquid. We did it at my mum's house with a peeled, grated "normal" cucumber and it worked really well. I tried it with some sliced up Boothby Blondes and it turned out too bitter. So I think next time I'm going to avoid the skin. regards, trillium

My 2:1 syrup that was heated properly got moldy last week. I'm going back to using alcohol in them. regards, trillium

Oh. Well, I ate tons of curries with coconut milk in them in Thailand. All over the place, and mostly in places with no farangs besides me and mine. The word curry itself is a bit of a muddle anyhow, so "authenticity" arguments would have to start somewhere in India, right? Where they don't even call it a curry unless they're speaking English. So I'm not really sure what your friend is getting at. regards, trillium

Many things you and your friend might call curry don't contain coconut milk. Jungle curries, for instance use a very fiery curry paste and water. No coconut. regards, trillium

That looks a lot like the fried chicken we ate in southern Thailand with sticky rice and som tom. We've been trying to figure out how to make it at home, but can't find many recipes... is there any way we can convince you to translate some of the Malay recipes out there, since you were so cruel as to show us these photos? regards, trillium

Oh, but then you'd miss out on the equivalent of rabbit bacon. The stuff hanging down off the ribs (rib flaps) after it's salted and left to dry in the fridge for a day or so, is really tasty grilled or fried (thanks Judy Rogers). Rabbit makes a nice sugo type sauce for pasta too. regards, trillium

I think there is a note somewhere in the book about it? Anyway, I think she mostly means just-picked, tree-ripened, and near-by, since we all don't live near vineyards with peaches growing in them. I think any preserve made with fruit from where you live will be different then hers, because different varieties are grown for climate and taste reasons in different parts of the world. I don't think that is always a bad thing, if you choose with care. For example, I think some of the old berry varieties I can buy from my local, dedicated and slightly nutty farmer are much tastier then the ones that she recommends (like the Meeker). regards, trillium

You're right about the texture penalties, you always lose some with freezing. Sadly it's really hard to find good fresh shrimp a lot of places in the US anyway. And even if you get the tasty gulf shrimp, they're already a couple of days old. Don't the preservatives have to be labeled? I always use what I think of as a Cantonese trick whenever I cook less then perfect shrimp, whether or not they've been frozen. I sprinkle them with a little salt and an even smaller amount of sugar. It keeps them crisp after cooking. If that was all that was added to the frozen shrimp I wouldn't mind, but if it was something nasty it would be good to know about, huh? regards, trillium

I don't know what your price range is, but if it were me, I'd take them to Wildwood. Plenty of local and seasonal, done well. My second choice would be Higgins, but I haven't had as many great meals there as Wildwood. The restaurants in the ripe empire have good food, but the atmosphere/menus/vibe might be a bit too intimidating to make your Missouri relatives comfortable. Pix is nice for desserts, I always take visitors there, and there's something for everyone. regards, trillium

The easiest definition is that it is Italian for ice cream. If you wanted to stretch yourself, you might say that it is, in general, more intensely flavored, has much less air beaten into it, and uses less dairy fat (cream) then traditional American ice creams. The farther south you go, the lighter it gets, in fact, and you can end up with starch thickened gelati. regards, trillium

Completely agree with trillium on that one. That would be like saying "worcestershire sauce" is a good substitution for "balsamic vinegar". It wouldn't be, they're too different. ← Comparing worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar is like comparing apple and orange. Worcestershire sauce is not even vinegar. ← How about saying balsamic vinegar is to Chinkiang black vinegar what worcestershire sauce is to soya sauce? Somewhat similiar but still different enough. regards, trillium

In northeastern Thailand, Issans eat a lot of raw fish, including a lime juice cooked "salad". Kasma Loha-unchit has a recipe for it in her book Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood. You can buy it from the author at her website too. I think if the prawns were frozen properly, there is less danger eating them raw then prawns that were never frozen. Freezing at low temps for long periods of time can kill many parasites. regards, trillium

And why did the nasi lemak that a fellow student brought to sell at my primary school taste so much better than the stuff at the school canteen? And why did the pedantic killjoy of a headmaster stop him from selling them? ← You didn't follow Tepee's link or you would have seen the beautifully wrapped bungkus. I'm not a ikan in the sambal eater so I can't answer the rest. That reminds me to say that after the partner makes the coconut rice he lines a bowl with banana leaves, puts it all in there and lets it steam for a few hours or overnight in the fridge and them rewarms it by steaming (right, like we can wait that long) or microwave. It gives a nice banana leaf scent to the rice, and that way you can use the hard to work with frozen banana leaves which is all you find here in the non-tropical parts of the US. As for your last question, that's easy... anything cooked in a home will almost always taste better then something cooked in a canteen. It's a Universal Law. And the headmasters tend to be pedantic killjoys, I believe that's in the job description. regards, trillium

Not really. It's a little more specific then just "tits". It makes sense actually, in a funny way, because the "bubbles" kind of do resemble nipples. It also makes you understand why the drinks started out such a huge hit with teenagers in Taiwan. regards, trillium

I know what you mean! LOL! Using a tortilla press helps. but I gave it up and would rather eat them out. ← Yeah, I tried that too. No dice. I think it's one of those things I'll just eat from the hands of masters. regards, trillium

No way. They're completely different. regards, trillium

Cheapskate French aperatif makers rinse the whatever (oranges, nuts etc) after draining with a bit of red or white wine to rinse off the last bits of flavor and drink it as a "vermouth" of sorts. But it isn't infused, just rinsed to get the last flavorful liquid. Honestly, ethanol is such a powerful solvent I don't think you're going to have much of anything texture or flavorwise that is worth much more trouble then that. If you want an aperatif, next time, try making vin de noix instead. My grandpa is Sicilian, but I have to say I think the French are ahead when it comes to making something tasty to drink with green walnuts and booze. I like it much better then either of the two nocini I made. regards, trillium

Chez Panisse Desserts. Bonus is, you get other recipes too. But about 1/3 are for icecreams and sorbets. regards, trillium

Portland Nursery here in Portland (duh) sells the plants, I think from Log Cabin Gardens? I could check my label at home to be sure. Funnily enough, the partner thinks papalo tastes similiar to what he calls laksa leaf, or polygonum odoratum in latin. It's pretty tasty used similiarly to epazote. I like dry frying field corn with some onions and garlic and sprinkling it on top with lime. Can't get field corn here, so we make do with sweet corn. We not only use it in a Mexican context, but a Southeast Asian one as well. It's very nice as part of the herb and salad plate you bring to the table with nearly every Vietnamese dish, or sprinkled into anything you might use laksa leaf/rau ram in. regards, trillium

If your sambal olek is of Indonesian or Dutch origin, it would be fine with nasi lemak. But if it's the kind that they sell with about 5 different languages on it (plastic jar, green lid) made in the US (usually California) it wouldn't be my first pick. I don't mind explaining it to you, nasi lemak is too tasty to keep to yourself. Everyone needs to try jasmine rice oily with rich coconut milk and scented with voluptuous pandan at least once in their lives. regards, trillium