Blue Heron

One more tip on buying dungeness crab in chinatown. If you have a chance to check them out in more than one store, buy from the place that keeps them in the cleanest water tank (obvious, but easy to forget at the time). If the water's so murky that you can hardly see them, move on to the next place. I find the stores with the best overall reps keep their tanks the cleanest. The crabs may cost a bit more, but I think it's worth it.

You're absolutely right... don't want to see *that* part . Glad to hear 4 new episodes are on the way... keep 'em coming...

I think steaming is ok for small crabs but dungeness crabs are always boiled in salt water (at least on the west coast) to my knowledge. Buy the biggest and heaviest ones you can. 2 pounds is a good one. I think it's fine to buy them already cooked as long as they've cooked them the day you are buying them. My favorite way to eat them is just boiled and cracked w/ a homemade herb mayo (tarragon is nice) and homemade cocktail sauce, or dipped in melted butter. Or one can also do a stir fry with it. Crack cooked crab, break into pieces (still in the shell), and stir fry it with ginger, garlic, green onions, lemon grass, add some broth, white wine, w/cornstarch to make a thin sauce (or one can do a garlic black bean sauce), and serve alongside rice. My rec is to buy it already boiled (that day). Clean it (or have the store do it) and serve it cracked w/ the sauces I mentioned.

Ben, glad to hear your larb turned out yummy, too! Alas, my cuisinart is too big to grind rice and my grinder smells like coffee powder, and I don't have a mortar/pestal (it's on my x-mas list), so believe it or not I had to resort to putting my toasted rice in a ziplock and use my hammer on it to get it to break up . After much hammering which also scared my cat, I finally had my ground rice. Snowangel, thanks for the tips on the sweet rice. I even have some, but didn't think to use it. I will next time. (Sweet rice is the same as sticky rice, yes?). Also when you say you use raw pork, do you mean ground pork?

Thanks Jin. What a pity. I think the execs at FNTV are not very in tune with what people want to watch on that channel. To cancel a show like ACT and keep the other crap on there defies logic.

geesh, what a tough group here . Although I don't watch enough foodtv for anybody to get on my nerves anymore. Does anybody know if A Cooks Tour is in a new season or in reruns? Have they shown the rest of the shows they omitted last season (but were seen in Canada?). I would like to watch the new season when it starts, and those omitted (censored?) shows.

larb . I made larb for lunch today. It turned out really yummy and was just as easy to make as tommy promised it would be. I thought mine was far far better than the one I had in a Thai restaurant recently, too. I made mine with ground pork, fresh lime juice, fish sauce, lemon grass, crushed red pepper flakes, chopped serrano chiles, thinly sliced chopped sweet onion, toasted basmatti rice (crushed), chopped cilantro & mint. All combined and topped on torn green leaf lettuce (actually I used the cilantro, mint and toasted rice as garnish on top, not mixed in). I thought the seasoning combo was perfect, very fresh and refreshing, but next time would add even more lime juice and fish sauce to it, so it's a little more juicy. I'd also like to see what adding kaffir lime leaves would do to it (I forgot to pick some up in Chinatown yesterday). I was surprised the recipe didn't call for any salt, thinking that the ground pork would really need it, but as I was eating it, I noticed it had plenty of flavor even without salt. larb larb larb larb larb..... Thanks tommy!

HB... did you by chance ever live in British Columbia? When I lived up there I remember salmon being referred to by the the First Nation names of Chinook and Coho more than King and Silver, and I noticed that you mentioned you also were more familiar with the names Chinook & Coho. It could be a regional thing, or maybe just a change in names over time. Can anyone from BC confirm?

I'm a week late, but I finally made it to Jumbo for dim sum today. I agree with nightscotsman, some dishes are very good and others just so so. Everything was very fresh, but I didn't have anything that really knocked my socks off, or that seemed innovative. However the dish I thought I would like the least (the sticky rice in the lotus leaf thingy), was the best I've ever had anywhere. There were all sorts of goodies in it like shrimp, pork, and chicken, plus the seasoning in it was just right for me. Another favorite of mine were the shrimp balls fried w/tempura coating (although very rich I could only eat 1). I think we ordered 6 dishes in total, and took some left overs home (which I am re-heating right now for a snack). We went at 1pm and they were really busy. Service started off slow, but once they got going they were spot on. I'd go back to try some other things and a couple more of what we had today.

Which one is dumb... 30 minute meals? or the dining on the budget? I would say the dining on the budget is pretty dumb. 30 minute meals... hey, I've actually made some of those meals.

Really, so you guys don't like Rachel Ray? I think she's sweet. I don't think she comes across as fake at all... just rather bubbly, which doesn't bother me. I don't care for the dining on a budget show, but I rather liked the 30 minute meals show (which I haven't seen lately). Actually, compared to earlier, I find I watch very little foodtv anymore. The shows I seem to catch are pretty dumb, and don't hold my interest. Maybe I'm tuning in at the wrong times.

Speaking of Wild Steelhead ... The best piece of fish I ever recall tasting in my life was a fresh piece of wild steelhead that my brother's friend had just caught. I prepared it by basting it with butter flavored with garlic & herbs, S & P, and broiled it. The memory of that wild steelhead flavor has never left me. I would choose it over Copper River Salmon, too.

Good list w/ descriptions. Thanks HB. A few more, or salmon wannabe's? Kokanee - lake version of Sockeye Cutthroat Trout - aren't these almost like salmon? Steelhead - trout or salmon, or salmon-trout? It looks and tastes like salmon. Any others?

Black Velvet on the rocks? Klink, I forget whether you did a side by side taste of your Kielbasa with Hempler's Kielbasa? Other than your own, do you know who makes the best Kielbasa product in Seattle? (Hi klink's mom and family if you are reading this! We love klink! He's the best. ) Ben, please edit your post, klink's mom & grandparents might be reading this!

Your dinner last night sounds amazing. I've loved reading about it and viewing the pictures so I could enjoy it vicariously from way over on the west coast. I wish I could have been there.

"A full refund is given with 30 days advance notice. With less than 30 days notice, the full charge may apply if we are unable to re book your table." The thing is the Herbfarm *didn't* have to re book the table since she was there sitting at it. They charged her full price for her guest that didn't show. That's crazy. I think their cancellation policy is very deceptive, and all that business about not presenting a bill at the end of the meal for your convenience, blah blah blah... but just sending the bill straight to amex... it's deceptive because they don't want you to know at the time that you are being charged extra. Plus charging for wine not drank when another wine is bought instead... I don't like their policies.

SG- so sorry to hear this news. I can't believe it. Especially that the BBB would close the case on such a deceptive and outrageous cancellation policy. I would never recommend the Herbfarm to anyone based on your experience with them. Not because of the food, but because of the management.

I see I ate there exactly 1 year ago. I didn't order correctly either, and have almost gone there a couple different more times to try their hakka cuisine, but one time the parking lot was so flooded after a rain I decided not to get out of the car, and I forget what happened the other time. These were my remarks from a year ago...(from the thread on where to go for lunch in the northend)... "I was up in the north end this weekend, and hubby and I stopped at Doong Kong Lau for lunch (thanks for the tip, mamster). We liked this place. We shared a bowl of 'Roasted Duck in Soup Noodle', which was good, especially the nice large pieces of roast duck. We also ordered a couple of things from the cart that came by. One was a side dish of gai lan w/oyster sauce and the other was an adventuresome plate of small whole fish (anchovies) fried with peppers and garlic. We realized after we ordered that the specialties of this restaurant are the Hakka cuisine items, so we will return to try some of those, ie. Hakka Salt Bake Chicken, or Prawns in shell, or the Tofu Seafood Hotpot, which is also supposed to be really good. The service at this family run business was friendly and good."

I don't think I can make it to dim sum tomorrow. However, if you see me, then I will be there though. NSM - I have never seen anything like that before! (And, you may continue to post photos like that).

nightscotsman, awful news to hear you were laid off . The economy in the PNW has been so bad... no wonder our restaurants are hurting too. But I'm very glad to hear you are going to persue your Cooking School dream. What fun! Keep us posted. If you are at SSCC I'll be over to visit. I love their pastry shop! For anyone who didn't see the picture of nightscotsman's delicious desserts at our PNW potluck, here they are. And as beautiful as they are, they tasted even better. mmmmm...

Thanks to Priscilla for direction on tommy's bio where to find pics of Vinnie & Sophie. I'm not much for pudding pops, but I can't resist Vinnie & Sophie. They are adorable.

I just realized I haven't been out for dim sum in almost a year. The last place I went to was Top Gun, which I liked. I didn't know House of Hong had been remodelled. When I was there quite awhile ago it was ok, but my best memory of that place was while we were eating our dim sum, at the table next to us was an extended asian family, and one or 2 of the men were taking a nap after their lunch. Jumbo sounds promising. I've driven by it, too. Here is a link to a discussion we had on dim sum about a year ago, which also includes some more recent updates. Click Here for more dim sum

Thanks malarkey! Did you get to sample when they finished? Who else did you see cooking? I checked out their website and there are a lot of good recipes... thanks! Did any other egulleteers attend?

Adam, out here on the west coast (Seattle) we pound our geoduck strips first to tenderize them, before frying. Do you need to pound yours or are they already tender? I haven't tried it as tempura but it sounds delicious. The way we do ours is just cut into strips, pound them, bread them lightly with egg and cracker meal w/ S & P, and sautee or pan fry quickly in oil for a minute or so each side, or until lightly brown (do not overcook). Serve w/ homemade tarter sauce for an appetizer, or one could make a wine sauce w/the pan drippings. They taste sweet like abalone this way. I'm curious to hear how the tempura goes as I'd like to try that sometime. Good luck!

Thanks for the review Laurie. I think this is the same restaurant that used to be in W. Seattle, but then moved? We never went, because hubby is not keen on real spicy food and I just never got there on my own (although I do like spicy). Was the food very spicy as in Cajun or Creole hot spicy? I'm guessing the fried things were just fried and not spicy?