trillium

Yeah, come up with some other names, that's half the fun (the other half is how good sour oranges make cocktails taste). For marmalade I've always used Delia's recipe, I figured her credentials were pretty impeccable for this sort of thing and the marmalade always has turned out great. I've made the darker she gives too. regards, trillium

They have several different spots in town, here's theirwebsite. The Sevilles come and go pretty fast, so you if want them, get them now! regards, trillium

The nicest thing for me about having them at New Seasons is that they are right here in the neighborhood, within walking distance. The other nice thing for the citrus is that many are organically grown. If you're using the peel, like I do, that's nice, because citrus are something that get treated quite a bit. Frozen tumeric rhizomes are also usually available at many Asian grocery stores too. Fresh kaffir lime leaves are almost never available at the Asian grocery stores I frequent, but you can find them in the freezer section fairly regularly, however they aren't always there either. For instance, in the last month I looked for them at An Dong, Pacific Supermarket, Uwajimaya, Nam Phuong Market and the big store off 82nd a couple blocks south of Holgate. None to be had. It seems like they run out all at the same time. A cool find for me at Pacific Supermarket was a frozen package of caul fat for $3. I'd been looking for it to make pates and I was going to have to special order it, which sucks because you have to buy a lot. I don't like Uwajimaya for SE Asian groceries because I think they're horridly overpriced, but I do like how they carry all the pig parts that are hard to find at "conventional" grocery stores. They are also the only place in town that carries belecan. My favorite place for East/Southeast produce is usually An Dong. What South Asian grocery stores int he western 'burbs do you like? The two I went to when I first moved here were very disappointing. regards, trillium

I know. Nasty. But it's a nice drink with a rather unfortunate name. I make it with cheapie anise, Herbsaint as a matter of fact. regards, trillium

Just a friendly reminder that Seville or sour oranges are in season and are fantastic for making cocktails. Some favorites to make with thes are the Bronx, the Petite Zinc, Satan's whiskers, the Monkey Gland (perfect for the year of the monkey) and a Delilah made with sour orange juice instead of lemon, which we then call a Dolores. It's a great match with marcona almonds. regards, trillium

here's a link to a picture on Gernot's website (which is a great resource, btw). They're golf ball sized and knobby on the outside. The rind is very pungent and is used in a lot of different Thai curry pastes, but we also use them or kalamansi limes in Singaporean stuff too. Their insides are green, like the limes we have here. They don't have much juice, they're very pithy, but I use the juice left over from making curry pastes to make a salted lemonade if I don't use the juice for a sambal or noodle dish. If the hard green things you saw were smaller than a golf ball, smooth skinned and orange inside, then those were probably kalamansi limes. They get used more for juice then rind. regards, trillium

I really love the produce that New Seasons manages to bring in. Right now, in the produce section, besides all the regular good produce they have Seville oranges, regular and buddhahand citrons, limequats, fresh kaffir lime leaves and fresh tumeric. Last year they even had fresh kaffir limes, which I'm still hoping for, even though we still have a few left in the freezer stash. Let's hear it for great neighborhood grocery stores. Anything else notable going on at people's favorite places to buy produce? regards, trillium

Yes, Mr. Kinsey, you should (imagine very ominous and commanding tones). regards, trillium

I've had some godawful ones at functions and even cabbie restaurants. I make my friend's mum's biryani. They're Gujarati by way of Bombay and it's the raw spiced lamb baked with rice version. I don't know if that falls under the curry with rice section. It's pretty damn good, but a lot of work because I fry the crisped onions you mix with the meat myself instead of buying them pre-made. The Singaporean in the house waxes nostalgic all the time about biryani in S'pore. It's some south Indian chicken version and comes with a seperate thing of "gravy" that he's wondering if it's some sort of riff of off eggplant sambar. Every Indian Singaporean recipe we've tried hasn't been "it". regards, trillium

That's the thing about Caffe Trieste. I've never had a bad cappuccini there...ever (10 years and counting, 4 of them when I was in school in SF). I gave up on Intelligentsia after 3 attempts. When I lived in that 'hood I loved their beans though. Anyway, I'm with you on the full fat milk and foam. The crappiest cappucino I ever had was in Sicily and it was for sure due to the canned milk. regards, trillium

Isn't that a great book? I love my copy and I've given away at least 4 copies to 2nd gen friends and so far, no duds reported yet. I'm debating between woo tul gow and loh mai gai (with taro) for tonight's project. I made char siu this weekend for the loh mai gai but last night I started thinking about the cake... regards, trillium

Thanks for the headsup! That sounds like an awful experience. regards, trillium

Caffe Trieste in North Beach makes great cappuccini, consistantly, and their price is a bargain. They were the first place I ever had a cappuccino and the standard to which I hold all others (even in Italy!). They use Berkeley Farms Extra Rich milk. I didn't find Intelligentsia to come close. regards, trillium

Ok, thanks for the vote of confidence in the Dundee Bistro. I won't cross it off the list! regards, trillium

I'm going to be taking some friends visiting from out of town to a few wineries on Sunday. I'm thinking Argyle, Archery Summit and Lange. Is there a good spot for lunch around there? It doesn't seem like the Ponzi wine bar really has much food from what I can tell from the website and the Dundee Bistro is raising my "oh god they're trying turn into Napa" hackles. Is there something worthwhile (we're all on budgets, so if it's pricey it needs to be good) or should we pack a picnic or just plan on visiting after lunch? thanks, trillium

Neither actually. Right now Portland, OR is home base, but I visit friends and family in SF and Sacto often. I don't, sorry. The best guides I've found have been for vegetables, not seafoods. Beef, bitter melon and black beans are a classic combination. I think it's more much more common to eat it on rice than with noodles. You can get beef and black bean chow fun all over the place in SF, but you have to ask for fu gwa (bitter melon) to be added. You'll only get it about 50% of the time. I don't have an exact recipe for it like I did for the dishes in the lesson, but I can tell you briefly what we do and if you have specific questions I'd be happy to answer them. The beef (usually flank or tip sirloin roasts I've cut along the muscle lengths and then thinly cut along the grain) is marinated in dark and light soya, shaoxing wine and a little potato flour. The bitter melon is cut in half, the seeds and pith scooped out and cut crosswise (a little thicker than the beef) and very briefly blanched in boiling water. You could skip this step if you're a diehard bitter melon fan, the blanching removes some of the bitterness. I think we use about 1 large or 2 small melons per lb of beef. We basically want equal weight from each thing, but that's personal preference. Prepare the black beans as mentioned in the lesson for the clams, except I like to smash them up with garlic and a little minced ginger instead of leaving them whole. I think for 1 lb each of melon and beef I would use around 3 - 4 tablespoons of dau see (black beans) because it will end up on 1 lb of rice noodle, but again, it's to taste. I like to have two pans going to cook the noodles and the stuff that goes into them in seperate pans at the same time. My stove sucks and I don't have enough fire power to do it all together and get that nice smoky wok hay going. Frying fresh rice noodles at home can be a little tricky, there are good tips in this thread. The noodles hit a really hot cast iron or steel pan/wok with some hot peanut oil, get stired around a little and some dark and light soya added. The bean/garlic/ginger gets stir-fried in another pan (very hot, again) and then the beef is added, tossed around, and little more shaoxing splashed into the pan, more tossing, and the the bitter melon. This happens really quickly, and before you start the noodles, your aim is to have the noodles slightly fried and softened at the time the beef is done, then you toss 'em together in one of your hot pans to let the noodles finish cooking. Hmmm. I guess I better try this one of these days. regards, trillium

It really pisses me off if I've ordered the wine and my partner is brought the taste. My reaction is exactly the same as yours...this 2004! We've been voting for 75 years and nowadays "they" even let us get advanced degrees, own property and have our own checking accounts. I think we can taste the goddam wine we ordered. As to the wine list being automatically assigned by gender, I do think it's more than a minor service error and the argument that "with all the problems out there...blah blah blah" is lame. Er, done now. regards, trillium

I'm all for different perspectives and discussions, it's why I love the internet as a resource (eG doesn't have the monopoly that...yet). It's just that, while I like hearing from opinionated cooks, I don't think the pressumption that my way is the only way to do something "right" is the most instructive form of discussion! regards, trillium

We use our le creuset frying pan that has matte black enamel (it isn't acid reactive but doesn't scratch up like the ivory) or an all-clad saute pan to do all of our stir-frying. We had a wok (please...it was the real kind) for a while but found we couldn't cook enough food in it at a high enough heat, and you lose that nice smokey flavor. The deal with woks is that they are really easily overloaded. And before I get a lecture on what all the grandmothers do, it was an grannie that told me not to bother with a wok on a US stove, she didn't. I'm not saying you can't use woks on them but just that the volume of food you can cook in them is trickier than when you use a big, flat pan that has more contact with the flame or burner. I hate to sound like I'm from Northern California, but not every solution is right for every person. What works for you may not work for someone else. There's more than one way to stir-fry a chicken. regards, trillium

I think a good indicator of a good place comes down to both the fish and the rice. Sushi grade fish is expensive and then you don't usually use all the meat for sushi, some is better suited for being minced for rolls. A lot of these cheap places with huge portions are using both lower grade fish and the lesser cuts for their nigiri and sashimi, which I would rather not bother with. The quality of the rice is important too, but so is the craftsmanship involved in making the sushi. It shouldn't be sloppy or fall apart when you pick it up. The rice should have a nice texture, be well seasoned, and you should be able to get the piece to your mouth (with hands or chopsticks) without fish sliding off or nori coming undone, etc. Bigger isn't necessarily better. All that being said, a Japanese colleague loves Saburo because it's huge and cheap and completely unlike anything you'd find in Japan... OTOH, I have friends from Tokyo I'd never take there because they'd hate it. I think Syun and Murata are the best places for sushi in Portland. I've had some really cosmic stuff that wasn't sushi at Murata too (Matsutake soup...heaven) but it's very pricey and I wish you could place your sushi order directly with the sushi chef instead of having it translated to him by the waitstaff. If you sit at he bar and make an effort, you actually can communicate, even if it means using lots of hand gestures. regards, trillium

Thanks for the tip. How cheap are we talking? I think the most replaceable ones we have are a couple of Sabatiers that were sold under the Cuisine De France label (not the elephant and stars or running devil like our others). One is a utility knife (mini 6 inch cooks knife) and one is a paring knife. We were thinking of starting with the utility knife...it's that or a swiss army knife, but after watching the video it seemed too small to learn on. regards, trillium

We half-heartidly looked around and didn't find anybody that made us feel comfortable handing over our 100 year old sabatier knives to. What to do? We bought one of these after reading about them for years on rec.food.equipment. Yeah, maybe we're control freaks. Anyway, we haven't had the time to use it yet, what with working until 8 and then trying to finish all the various cooking projects we have going (ba ku teh, lamb briyani, candied citron, kimchi, etc..) but we plan on trying it out this weekend. If you like, I'll report back on how it does. regards, trillium

Thanks for the help. I tasted them and they don't taste the same, like SG said, (cincalok and the koreon ones) but it's nice to have a near substitute for cincalok, which isn't always easy to find in the US. Herb- we use cincalok in sambals (erm, condiment sauces that usually have chillies in them) or when we're stir-frying seafood S'pore style (not Cantonese) or we eat it like SG mentioned with chilli, lime and shallot on rice. Good ones have a very pungent but creamy and almost floral taste in addition to the shrimpy taste. regards, trillium

I've used buddhahand citron to make a limoncello type of drink. I cut strips of the zest from the fingers and main body with a really sharp paring knife. It isn't terrible bitter, but I actually like bitter, so who knows. You might try your simple syrup idea. I've also used it as part of the biscuit dipping syrup when I was making a tiramisu type dessert but with citrus curd and marscapone. regards, trillium

I have to have an olive in my martini. I use the queen size olives from Star that I buy at Costco. You get two huge jars for around $7 and their quality is pretty good, but I'm not picky about hardness, I just don't like them soft and mushy and I like the pimento to be a piece of pimento, not mushed up stuff. The Stars fit the the bill. regards, trillium