dcarch

A few dishes with foraged Mother Nature's gifts. dcarch Ramps and shrimps Wild chive scapes and tilapia Hosta shoots and shrimps Ramps omelette Lambsquarters and lambburger fiddlehead fern and chicken

It tastes like WD-40. dcarch

This is the place? Very north indeed :-) dcarch

That's it ! The Eiffel tower in the background! and the River Seine! LOL! Some guys here use the ultrasonic thing for mixing drinks. (infusion) dcarch

There is no sure "rule of thumb" way of cooking rice. Too many variables. The same cup of rice if you shake it a little, the volume decreases. The "knuckle" method, whose knuckle? What is the diameter of the vessel? This is a more or less sure way of making rice, any rice, if you don't have other "sure ways" that consistently work. 1. Put rice in a small pot that fits in your pressure cooker. 2. Add water to rice; use less water than you think it needs. 3. Pressure steam the rice for about 20 minutes and take a taste of the rice. 4. It the rice comes out good, you are done. If the rice is too tough, add a little more water and pressure steam again. 5. Keep doing it until the rice is cooked to the exact consistency you like. This works with any rice, except this method will not give you any crispy browned bottom crust. dcarch

OK, I can understand why you are such a good cook because you had training, but how did you also become such a great photographer? dcarch

Thanks Darienne. Chicharrones making: 1. Get pork skin and trim off as much fat as possible. 2. Marinate in flavor of your preference overnight. 3. Cook in boiling water fro many hours until skin is very soft. 4. Scrape off any fat you find, and cut into small pieces. 5. Use a dehydrator to completely dry out the skin. Must be absolutely dry. 6. Pre-heat oven to 400 F. 7. Bake and keep watching while skin is being baked. It only takes a few minutes. dcarch

First, let me thank all of you who are so generous in your kind words for my last post here. I don’t feel I deserve them. I don’t think what I do is anything special, different? Yes. Better? No. We are in an age in which multiplicity of ideas in creativity is the reality. If you go to a museum today, you will find art styles from Salvador Dalí to Norman Rockwell, from Keith Haring to Grandma Mosses, from Jackson Polack to Paul Cézanne ------ There is no one style that is better than the other. You all have different styles and they are all have meaningful stories to tell. I enjoy viewing all your creations and discover diverse inspirations from all of them. Keep cooking and keep making your dishes in your own style. There are plenty of people who appreciate your creations. Anyway, I just came back from a business trip and can't tell you all the good things I see in all your wonderful dishes. I did manage to cook up a few things which I have posted in this thread: http://forums.egulle...yo/page__st__30 Thanks again. dcarch

Although these were made on 05/05. Since I never tried to be authentic, I can’t really call this a Cinco De Mayo dinner. Nopales – Fun and interesting taste, with Tilapia and gulf shrimps. Sea Scallops ceviche – You can’t make bad ceviche if you start with super fresh quality scallops. Chicharron – Pork skin cracklings. Actually a very healthy snack. No fat, and baked only, not deep fried. Cherimoya – heavenly tropical fruit, which tastes like bananas +strawberries + pineapples dcarch

"---we are an American/Chinese/Italian family---" Do you have big fights about who invented noodles/spaghetti first? Who invented ravioli/wonton first? dcarch

Looking forward to be in your kitchen. Do you have a garden? dcarch

There are many sites where they will pronounce many foreign words and sentences for you electronically. They seem to be pretty good. Google Translate for instance. dcarch

I did find out at one point that picture was Boulevard des Moulins in Monaco dcarch Hotel on top of the hill Store on bottom of the hill

I think you nailed it, Monaco fits. dcarch

I think there is a hint given? That's a restaurant on top of the hill. dcarch

Typically not for urban commercial buildings. Also this city probably has not much rain fall, based on the size of the drians (also the balcony drain) nand the low sidewalk height. dcarch

Note: 1. the security cameras on the lamp post. 2. exterior roof drains on buildings - no winters? 3. roll-down sun shades - brutal summers? dcarch

White asparagus is very popular in Germany. They even have white asparagus museums. I don't know if anyone would grow asparagus inside a greenhouse. Judging from the squash blossoms, they look like home-grown. If I have a greenhouse, I would grow early red tomatoes, not black ones, which are generally mid to late-season, I think. dcarch

Wrong! I hate white asparagus. dcarch

I don't think anyone can verbalize the taste of morel mushrooms. I can only say they don't taste like chickens. Buy some and try them out. dcarch

The only veggie thing (for me) that really adds umami to meat stock is mushrooms. I don't use carrots, onion, and celery. dcarch

mm84321 and avaserfi –Very innovative food designs. FrogPrincesse – Very nice grilled corvina seabass. SobaAddict70 – That’s one perfect combination of calamari, with herbs and polenta. Kim - teriyaki pork burger with pineapple souinds great and looks fantastic. I have to give uyour recipe a try for sure. Also, tell Mr. Kim that he is almost as good a cook as you are. :-) Shelby – Those beautiful strawberries would go so well with the asparqagus pizza. Kouign Aman – I admire your great repurposed customized frittatas. Fine looking jiaozi. What’s in the filling? Hassouni – Very nice dinner you had there. EnriqueB – "Pularda” with Heston Blumenthal's "Pommes Purée", just perfect. rarerollingobject – I always look forward to you great dishes. The Vietnamese lemongrass pork neck and nem nuong have not disappointed me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - - Nothing fancy, plain chicken dishes. dcarch Stir fried chicken with black garlic Chicken with Lime sauce

They also roast chestnuts in sand. I would consider this if I was going to use sand for food: Using a sieve to filter out all the smaller grains of sand, and then have a jeweler’s tumbler with very fine grades of silicone carbide powder to tumble the larger grains of sand. The sand will be polished smooth and all sharp points rounded off. We don’t have gizzards and have no use for sand in our system. dcarch

Meh. It's a pretty traditional method that has been used for quite a while now. If it was hugely contributing to cancer, then I would have thought there would be high levels of lung cancer that someone might look into and find the link? I could easily be wrong, I am no scientist. And traditional does not equal automatically good for you, it is true. And of course, everyone is welcome to consume what they wish, so it's up to you if you'd like to use a different method. I was merely sharing about how puffing is done here I should have underlined "any" in "any sand". The sand they use will have no sharp edges and no microscopic particles. After many uses, the sand grains more or less are round from abrasion and all microscopic particles have been used up in many uses. I don't know if there is danger in having sharp particles in you digestive system. dcarch

I will not use any sand. Sand is almost like glass and may have very sharp edges. There may be many other impurities as well. Microscopic sand particles can cause cancer in your lungs (silicosis). I have never puffed rice, but I have puffed pork skin a lot (cracklings). I get perfect puffing of pork skin in a high heat oven. No frying in oil at all. I will try puffing rice in a hot oven and see if that works. dcarch