torakris

Dinners have been picking up. Fri night Thai style coconut curry with shrimp, cauliflower, red potatoes, and spinach Jasmine rice cucumber salad Sat night butternut squash risotto spinach salad Sun night leftover curry, risotto, and pasta (Sat lunch)

I too have made Suvir's version and it is absolutely wonderful! Suvir I have a question about removing the whole spices from the dish, especially a dish like this because there are so many. Does the cook remove them before bringing it to the table or does each diner remove them as they find them? Is it impolite to swirl your eating utensils around in the curry looking for them before you eat?

Dinners in the US haven't been as exciting as I was hoping. Maybe once I get all of my shopping out of the way I can concentrate on food. It is also not easy feeding 7 kids and 6 adults, 2 of the adults are just as picky as the kids and my brother doesn't eat beef or pork! The past 2 nights have been request nights, Monday (at my sister's 4 year old's request) sweet and sour chicken salad Tuesday (at my sister's 9 year old's request) bourbon chicken (just like at the mall!) tortillas, shredded romaine lettuce and julienned scallions for rolling jasmine rice cucumber and red pepper salad boiled corn with butter (had to get some veggies in the kids somehow!) Tonite we are all going out to Chuck E Cheese (sp?) Yum,Yum can't wait!!!

This really is a great thread! I always thought that kiddy tables were a given at any dinner party,and am very surprisd at how few people actually used them. Of course my family had 8 kids,so unless the dinner consisted of a lot of adults who were childless any table would become a kiddy table! My parents never "entertained",the only get togethers were with family at holidays and no one had a table big enough to seat all us kids! Since most of my cousins were older than me,they filled up the adult table before I could get there and I think I was close to 20 before I actually made it tothe adult table. I didn' t realize it at the time but the adults had a great idea to keepus out of the room for a long time. After finishing our meal all of the kids were sent to the basement to prepare a play that the adults would watch after their meal. It would take about an hour or two to come up with an idea then practice enough times to remember our lines. This was always the hilight of the evening. As the kids got older my Aunt would arrange "murder mysteries" that everyone would participate in.Everyone got a slip of paper designating people as the murderer,dead person,detective and various other people.The dead peron would die at the beginning and then lie on the floor until the detective figured out who did it. No one knew what any other person was. I can't wait until Christmas this year,it will be the first one with my family in 9 years!

Yes I am! In blistering cold Cleveland with a foot of snow already and more on the way! And Thompson's book along with the 23 others I have ordered are keeping me very busy. Now back to Thai food!

My first meal cooked since I have arrived in the States. I went shopping yesterday neglecting to check out what was in the freezer of my parent's house first and thus decided to buy only veggies,since I didn't know what kind of meats were there or how much space. Came back home to find a freezer packed full of frozen veggies and three small chicken breasts. so we had: stirfry of chicken with broccoli,red peppers and onions with a tangerine sauce Japanese rice simple salad with lettuce mix and carrots and cucumbers variety of ice creams for dessert

Thai Food by David Thompson was the very first book I ordered before going to the US.I ordered a lot before I even left Japan so they would be there waiting for me! I love it! By far the best, and most comphrehensive, book I have ever seen on Thai food. I can't wait togive some of the recipes a try, unfortunately my parents house isn't stocked with Thai ingredients and I will probably have to wait until I get back home. An absolute must for anyone who enjoys Thai food!

I love ginko nuts, called ginnan in Japanese. These are very popular in Japan and are always found at the bottom of chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) they are also often found in braises and stirfries.My favorite way of eating them is roasted in the shells in a fry pan and then eaten while still hot.

I will come out of the closet and admit I used to be an under-salter. The day I discovered what salt could really do was the day I really started cooking. Because I am cheap I also used to hang on to things like spices forever, now I do an annual order from Penzey's.

Okay here come the stupid questions! How big is one scoop? is that the same as the coffee scoop of 2 tablespoons? And is that 9 scoops of whole beans or 9 scoops of ground beans? Is there a difference between Thai coffee and Vietnamese? I have Thai coffee and one of those metal filter thingies on my shopping list, is Vietnamese coffee better? Are there any good online sources for both the coffee and the filters?

Thanks for the info, I will check them out.

Back to the Knorr Tom Yam cubes for a minute. I have been looking for these at quite a few online sites and have been unable to find them, does anyone know an online source for these? Also what do they taste like like? Is it basically a chicken flavor or is it already spicy, sour, sweet, etc?

I have tried 3 times now and to no avail, they just don't like me! I don't particularly care for them, but they are my husband's favorite. It has been a couple months now, maybe I will give them a try again.

What he said! If it tastes buttery or "of the sea" it isn't the good stuff. I buy it as often as I can afford to and have found that even in the same crate there are inferior pieces. I usually give those to my husband!

I can not make cream puffs I can not make cream puffs I can not make cream puffs There I said it!

Well we ate Suvir's Kurma last night and it was wonderful! All 3 kids loved it and my husband who rarely comments on food, must have said "this is pefect" about 5 or 6 times. I served it with a yogurt sauce and quick braise of the only veggies I had in the house (carrots, shishito, Japanese mildly hot peppers, and tomatoes) with cumin seeds, s and p and a squeeze of lemon juice at the end. dessert were chocolate filled coconut cups, actually I made these the day before, put them in the freezer to harden them at forgot about them until last night. I must be really busy if I forget about dessert!

Having lived 8 years now without a dishwasher (and a family of 5) I actually find washing the dishes relaxing. I wish I felt the same way about hanging up the laundry! No drier either.

I have never had a dry kabocha similar to what Foodman has described. I often stirfry it usaully with lots of garlic or with cubed chicken thighs and a sauce made with soy, sugar and tonbanjian. It is at its best when braised or pureed. I did have a very dry acorn squash a couple of weeks ago, this may have been due to the fact that I bought it at a florist shop along with a butternut they were selling as decorations. The butternut was wonderful but I wonder how old that acorn squash was. Last night I was planning on making Suvir's Murgh kurma, but I neglected to read the recipe thoroughly and missed the part at the end where you are supposed to let it sit for at least an hour to let the flavors infuse the sauce. I didn't have enough time, so i made tonjiru, a miso soup with pork (ton) and anything else you have in the house, Japanese rice with umeboshi and nori, and mekabu with a ponzu sauce. Suvir's Kurma is infusing as I type this and I should probably go and get my basmati rice started.

I love to cook! I love to read about food, I love to shop for food, I love to cook the food, and I even enjoy washing the dishes afterwards. I probably spend more time in the kitchen than any other room in the house, and think about food as much as my husband thinks about sex! My kitchen has a big open counter that looks into the living room, so I am never far from the family. I also have a lot of friends who don't want their husbands to know how well I cook and that I make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my husband everyday, because their's might be jealous.

If the white ones are "bleached" green ones, then what are the black ones?

My version is exactly the same as Suzanne's and always served over rice for the husband and kids. I eat it with a big chunk of bread. I like the idea of pasta or polenta. I make a Greek style dish that is similar except for the additions of kalamata olives and feta, I serve this over orzo and it is a great combo. I bet cacciatore would work with orzo as well.

It has been a boring week, foodwise that is. Monday: ground beef and tofu patties, Korean style various side salads (namuls) clam and mistuba soup Japanese rice Tuesday: Pork and garlic stem stirfry with oyster sauce roasted kabocha tomato salad Japanese rice Weds: Cream (white) stew not really sure what this is called in English anymore used the leftover Kabocha as a base turning it a gorgeous orange color, added carrots, potatoes, cabbage, and salmon cucumber and red onion salad Japanese rice (fro husband and kids) baguette (for me) looking very forward to making Suvir's Korma curry tonight!

Just had this conversation on another thread. I am hoping to buy some knives while in the US for a visit and then bring them back to Japan with me. It was kindly pointed out to me that I may not be able to get them on the airplane. I have know decided to mail them ahead to avoid any hassles. At Tokyo's Narita Airport they check every car that enters (and have been doing this for atleast the 12 years I have going in and out) and last year and last year (pre 9/11) as they were looking under the car and in the trunk on guy noticed that the key in the ignition was hanging from a Swiss Army knife key chain. I had to reclaim it on my trip back.

Green are the only ones that are readily accessible to me. I did see the white ones at Penzeys.com but they were quite expensive and I wasn't sure what to do with them. Black? I have heard of it but never seen it.

What about Phirni (Rice Pudding) Rich with cardamom and sprinkled with almonds and pistachios I make this often using a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey, Ia m drooling now just thinking about it!