trillium

We ate a ton of yellow curries with all sorts of little oily fishes, skate, a few with water buffalo and mutton, in addition to the ubiquitous chicken, when we were in southern Thailand (but no pork)! For the fish yellow curries, there was usually a lot of kaffir lime leaf added. regards, trillium

Where is the Bullseye glass factory? What sort of food are you looking for? Price range? regards, trillium

Now try the hearts... they're very tasty too. Besides the western European applications (grilled, spreads for breads, pasta sauce, mashed up to enrich a gravy, etc) the livers are super tasty stir-fried with green onions, ginger and oyster sauce or in Nonya style curry. regards, trillium

Ok, I'm going to try and ignore the whole number one son thing, which I find mildly offensive in a Confucius say, Charlie Chan, kind of way. But c'mon people, nearly every culture uses yeast to brew booze since nearly the dawn of time. I find it incredulous that this would come as any sort of surprise. I don't buy the "it's chance" that yeast is dominant argument either, but that could be a long and boring to most biology/anthropology argument, so I'll abstain. However, yeast is frequently used along side other fellow fermenter/flavor additions and not just in those strange exotic Asian lands... for instance, while sake is brewed with both yeast and fungi, many fine Belgian beers utilize both yeast and bacteria, and more then one strain of the wee beasties. There is a very long history of using yeast to brew up something alcoholic in China, and not only that, but there are dessert/snacks based on eating the sticky rice that has been left over from fermenting. All those famous poets would get tanked on rice wine and write some of their best stuff. Rice wine can be really tasty and a good thing, and so can the distilled stuff, but that has been rarer in my experience. Some of the nicest rice wines I've had have been ones brewed at home and then aged. You can buy supplies for it (the yeast cakes and sticky rice) in any big Asian grocery store. Chinese aren't alone in this practice of course, I find Ch'ongju (sp?), a Korean sticky rice wine really tasty and worth drinking too. I haven't bumped into any good hard stuff for sale here, just things that have been brought over. Most of the expensive stuff I've come in contact with has other stuff, like very expensive ginseng roots, stuffed in there too. Beer usually gets it's "funk" from hop aromatics oxidizing, so I'm not sure it's a valid comparison that if there is ok beer, there must be ok hard stuff. Western booze is a huge status symbol and gets drunk in some interesting ways, i.e., XO cognac and Coke, fine French wine and Sprite, etc. Bad, yes, but hardly any worse then some of the shit in a glass that gets served all over the US. I don't think any country can claim the monopoly on bad booze. regards, trillium

Your "lots of rice" comment made me laugh. Whenever we cook Singaporean/Chinese food and have mostly eaters over who are not Asian we always have tons of leftover rice. It's almost become a plan, where we make chow fan with the leftovers. On the other hand, when we'd do LNY dinners for mostly Asian eaters, we'd have to make a couple batches of rice ahead of time, so there would be enough! regards, trillium

If this guy is Singaporean, it would be a surprise to me if he only eats southern Chinese food. Most Singaporeans I know also consider south Indian and Malay food to be "Singaporean" too. I can't help you with Sichuan arrangements but I would guess it unlikely that an ethnic Chinese from Singapore was from that region. On the other hand, if you really want to do this, I suggest reading something like Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen, which will educate you to how southern Chinese dinners get planned in the home (fancy dinners are a different story). Very briefly, for a dinner for two, you'd have 2 or 3 dishes, at least one being a vegetable. For each person, you add another dish. You try to balance the stir-fried foods with steamed foods, the oily foods with more cooling ones, and there is usually a soup. There is no way that everything would be stir-fried. If you live in a large city, and want to do a homestyle dinner, you can make use of a Chinese BBQ place, and supplement some of your homecooking with roast duck, soya sauce chicken or roast pork. If you're trying to do a formal honor dinner, I'd go with Ben's advice. I wouldn't do it at home either. regards, trillium

Hold on a minute... I like your reasoning overall, but I don't like that anology. There is a very long tradition of making soups with water and vegetables in several cultures (I'm think French, Italian and Spain). It's Americans (and maybe English) that think you can't make soup without stock and if you do skip the stock put in lots of cream. Not so. Don't compare vodka to water, water has more going for it. Something left out of the discussion is that all spirits have a significant component of ethanol in them. This reacts with nearly everything in your mouth and nose and digestive tract, and most people don't find it that pleasant especially before they're conditioned to like it. But almost all like the effect of ethanol on the nervous system. I think vodka tries really hard to erase that ethanol reaction in your mouth when consumed, where gin plays with your senses, distracting and teasing your tongue and nose with other flavors, bitter, sweet, spicy that can complement the reaction of your mouth to what is a pretty noxious substance all on its own (the ethanol). regards, trillium

I just have to interject here, that I've made or offered things that have been similiarly rejected at public gatherings (pearls before swine as the saying goes... a crowd was once convinced the nasturiums I added to a salad would poison them) and it sucks. But don't just blame the Cacausians...this female one would have been really happy to chow down at your party, and I've been at parties where everyone but me was ethnic Chinese and anything that wasn't Chinese was treated with deep suspicion. You find non-sophisticated or non-adventurous eaters of all ethnic backgrounds, don't let them get you down! And enjoy the leftovers...my stomach growled reading the list. regards, trillium (always wanted to get invited to a traditional dor)

What temperature and humidity are you hanging at? I ask because I have one at the salt crust stage (ok, two, since hogs come with two hind legs) and the guy who taught me how to do it just hangs 'em up at room temp with their salt crust, no rubbing of oil or anything like that. If you rub them in oil I'm wondering if they need to be kept colder. regards, trillium

Travis Potter is the one growing that veal. It looks very similar to the stuff they sell in Italy. He is also selling pastured Berkshire pork. I'm pretty excited he's here, and I'm hoping he'll start selling more braising and roasting cuts and less stuff cut to look like a pork chop (don't do that to those beautiful legs and shoulders!). The first new potatoes of the season showed up at that corner stand that used to be called Rojo. Can't remember what their new name is. Anyhow, they're always earlier then everyone else because they do so much cold framing and greenhouse growing. I think it makes for a terrible strawberry, but I can't resist the potatoes, even though they cost a small fortune. They're best steamed, I boiled some this weekend and way overcooked them. Asparagus has been very tasty too, and I bought some really beautiful and tasty French breakfast radishes from Square Peg farms. They are so wonderfully grown, crisp, little, and tender, that you can even eat the green tops. regards, trillium

I think all of the "home-made" stuff is just herbal infusions not distillations, right? I would think if one were to distill one's "home-made" Absinthe it might be worth the effort. Have you experienced otherwise? regards, trillium

While we're correcting termonology, let me point out that it's a girly drink not a girl drink. Thank you. I have a friend who loves girly drinks. I try and try with him (Aviations, mojitos, rum punch, etc) but what he really loved best was the pina colada I made with that disgusting stuff from a can. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. regards, trillium

I just got a notice that my copy had shipped. Yippee. regards, trillium

You can expect a lot of greens, root vegetables, and things that are cool season crops (like broccoli) right now, the stuff you think of as midsummer doesn't really hit until August around here. New potatoes and peas haven't showed up yet. It took us a few years to get used to waiting that long for good tomatoes, in Chicago they started in early July. From a mobility standpoint, I don't think you'll run into too many problems, but I suggest you come when the market starts at 8:30 if crowds are a problem. It starts getting crowded around 10:30. regards, trillium

I had nettles the week before. This week I bought fiddleheads from the mushroom guys. We ate them last night. They had less flavor then last year, and a yucky (to me) okra-like texture! Oh no. Seasonal variation? Maturity? Species? Dunno. Tried the raw milk Gouda from Willamette Valley cheeses. Disappointingly bland, compared to similiar ones hauled back from Amsterdam. Oregon needs a good cow milk cheese person who makes something other then the blues. Oregon Gourmet Cheeses and their Sublimity hasn't been the same since they lost the guy who was also making those transcendent raw milk Camembert style cheeses. Beautiful Chez Panisse grade tiny white turnips from Deep Roots and so-green-it-hurts-your-eyes spinach from Square Peg Farms. Dandilion greens from the backyard. regards, trillium

I'll let Jim answer about what markets he'll be at, but I can tell you it's LOW BBQ, cuz it stands for Laid Off Workers (get it?). Rodney and Kyle are doing their BBQ thing on Monday nights only at Apizza Scholls, no markets. Hopefully you can stay through till Monday? I'm guessing if Jim won't be there he'll tell you you can pick it up at his house, but if that gets too complicated I'd be happy to stash some for you, I go shopping at every farmer's market and could meet up with you. regards, trillium

Park Kitchen Wildwood Higgins clarklewis would be a good start! If you wanted to get into guys making salumi from pigs raised in Eugene then you could move on to Viande as well. regards, trillium

I have friends who love Liner & Elsen, so I've checked them out. I think the Italian selection at E&R has more interesting options, but I'm not a hard core wine geek, I just like to drink it every night with my dinner. They've won some award from Food & Wine a while back for their Italian selection, it really is fantastic. You could even get my favorite Sicilian white, Dona Fugata, for the 5 minutes it was imported to Oregon (sigh)! E&Rs' quarterly newsletter is so well and wittily written that we keep them all. When my partner and I talk about what we'd miss about pdx E&R is high on the list. Not that Liner & Elsen is bad, mind you... regards, trillium

I've been singing their praises for a while, and I'm happy to see other people appreciate them as well. Their critical list usually rocks. They've made me lazy about wine they're so good, I just go and buy what they suggest. Sometimes when I show up I get asked "what's for dinner?" because I also like to go in and get help for a particular meal. They're good at that too. regards, trillium

I was experimenting last summer with Campari and Charbay's Pink Grapefruit vodka. I think I came up with a 1:1:1 with Campari, the grapefruit vodka, and gin topped with soda water in a tall glass with plenty of cracked ice. regards, trillium

Unless something has changed, ecr is in SE Asia. I'm not so sure the Corti Bros. will ship there, but I could be wrong! regards, trillium

About high tea... high tea is basically a hearty tea with meats that functioned as a lunch/dinner replacement for poor people where tea was the featured liquid. It was called high tea because you ate it at a high table, like a dinner table or a restaurant counter and you weren't lounging about drinking it from low tables in a sittting room. Afternoon tea is the fancy finger food stuff, no matter what ignorant hospitality people at hotels call it in the US and Canada. Which exactly are you looking for? For your inlaws, it might be nicer for you to just stock the house with some decent loose tea and a teapot, most places don't prepare tea that well. Peet's Coffee is actually one of the better places to have a pot of tea but I don't know if they're in Seattle yet. Teacup in Queen Ann used to have a really nice selection of teas and would also brew you a pot. I don't know if they serve afternoon tea, but it's worth a check if that's what you're looking for. regards, trillium

Yes, sorry for the confusion. I've never actually tasted it, but but filed it under "bitters" when I saw it at a friend's house. She said their friends have a shop in BC and that's where they got it. I don't think you can buy it anywhere in the US. From the description it almost sounds Lillet-like, doesn't it? Now I wish I had at least smelled it. regards, trillium

Yeah, after all there are all those so named "Occidental martinis" so it seems only fair, right? Sheesh...sorry... the mind just boggles on that one... regards, trillium

Oregon is worse then Washington, believe it or not. Mailorder and haunting booze stores when I travel are my best options! But I think you can get some good stuff in Canada we can't, like Cinzano orange bitters, can't you? regards, trillium