dcarch

Induction cook top does not heat up the pot. The pot heats itself up by converting the magnetic field to heat. Therefore the design and construction of the pot have a lot to do with it. dcarch

Oil atomized and mixed with air is EXPLOSIVE; that's how an internal combustion engine works. You may be able to blow your house apart if your pressure cooker fryer valve errupts. dcarch

Amazing read! I have decided to live another 100 years longer so that I can enjoy all the wonderful food and visit all the remarkable places in your part of the world. Thank you. You are a great writer and a very creative cook. dcarch

Posted by Pedroinspain “ ------ I did a birding trip to Costa Rica last year. 14 out of the 17 were Americans. At the end there was a discussion as to what to tip the tour leader. "10% of the tour price" was the consensus. What!!?? --------------“ I was travelling to Costa Rica sometime ago, at the end of staying in a hotel, I was going to tip the fellow big-time, who served me so well and took care many things for me. He refused to accept the tip. As it turned out, he happened to be the former President of Costa Rica, Mr. Rodrigo Carazo Odio. Mr. Rodrigo owned the hotel, he came in to help out because a few staff got sick. Anyway, I feel the tipping system is morally questionable. I do tip, but I am not comfortable tipping. The financial relationship between the tipper and tippee is the same as prostitution. Using money to buy smiles. A good waiter brings more business to the restaurant, and the reward to the waiter should be given by the owner of the restaurant. A waiter is forced to be very pleasant to a nasty customer because he is a very good tipper. That is so wrong! dcarch

Many cultures eat dogs, cats, horses as well. Many animals are meat eaters. Animals die in nature in excruciatingly horrible ways. A deer killed by a hunter is a very lucky deer. Most butchering methods by humans are extremely humane. A free-range chicken is a happy chicken, but a caged chicken is not a miserable depressed chicken. I respect vegetarians, I think vegetarians should respect meat eaters as well. dcarch

... and the rings are squid, and the round, flat breaded things are... scallop slices ? The rings are onion rings and the flat round things are potato. That makes this dish nutritionally balanced? Not really? I never deep fry scallops. Thanks. Yes, typical mix, except bread crumb was homemade. dcarch

Thank you. Those are Chinese deep fried shrimp chips. dcarch

Percyn – Love that lobster with tomalley. Great looking Crown’s fried chicken and juicy looking Juicy Lucy. Kim – A well cooked steak should be simple. That’s one amazing bacon wrapped pork loin, pork on pork, how interestng! Bacon jam! It seems to me you guys like pork a lot. Zeemanb – fantastic first duck. Norm – delicious ribs. Italian sausage with rib trimmings sounds like a great lasagna . robirdstx – Slipper Lobster Tails was plated beautifully and that is a superb looking Carnitas and Avocado salad. Rarerollingobject – I am enjoying your blog. Thanks you. ---------- Nothing special, just fried oysters. Dcarch

There is one way perhaps has some scientific basis: It is not advisable to drink alcohol to keep warm because it increases circulation and sweating and actually cools you down. Hot alcohol increases body's absorption of alcohol. Therefore drinking hot alcohol can in fact cools you down. It's hot here in NY. I think I am going to heat up my bottle of 1995 Opus One. dcarch

Interesting with so many people not buying Chinese, in addition to all the Chinese stores already there in Flushing NY, there is a new store just opened; it is a 200,000 square feet store! And it is packed. For reference, the impressive Eataly is only 50,000 square feet. Another one equally as big is on the drawing board to be open next year in Queens, NY. dcarch

Not too long ago, I saw ¼” reversible variable speed electric drills for sale for $5.00. I was very curious how it was possible that anyone can manufacture an electric drill, paid middlemen/dealers/shops/tax and transportation and still make a profit. I bought one just to see. Well it felt apart in about 10 uses. I think China probably still makes cheap low quality drills to fill that segment of the market; however, it is difficult to find high quality drills that are not made in China. Those of you who have been to China will be stunted to see the advancements in China. Already the second largest economy, she will overtake USA in the next few years. As President Obama pointed out more than once, they have the tallest buildings, longest bridges, fastest trains, most powerful super computers. Stinky NYC Chinatown represents still the first generation Chinese immigrants into our country. The impressions you get from visiting there cannot be compared with the developments of what is happing in China. Have you seen the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing? If not, you should. To compete, you must know your competitor’s real strength. Alas, many of us still think China is only good in make toxic dog foods. Soon, I don’t think we have to worry about cheap goods from China anymore. As their economy is getting wealthier, they are consuming more. I have notice many Chinese items have doubled prices in the past couple of years. Still, razor clams in Chinese stores are about $4.50 a lb, and $9.50 a lb in Eataly. I recently ran into a fellow who is a representative of a major steel manufacturing corporation in China. He is in NYC to organize a new business for his company, to get into food business. The company already operates 2,000 supermarkets. His assignment is to get into luxury/upscale foods, such as wine, olive oil, etc. He was in the middle of negotiating to buy up the entire supply of Kobe (Wagyu) beef here in the USA to ship to China. Enjoy your Wagyu beef. dcarch

Thank you everyone for your excessive compliments. percyn, I got my salt blocks from eBay. I think I only paid $35.00 Panaderia Canadiense, For myself, cleaning the salt blocks is easy. I just wipe them with a wet paper towel. Salt prevents microbe growth. For inviting friends, I wash them well in the sink. I also use the heated blocks to cook food. Very nice. dcarch

I am in no position to agree or disagree with anyone. It seems to me that none of us has solid data for the statments made. I am merely pointing out that this is an international forum and there are many member from China as well, let's be fair to them. One thing that is interesting to me, to digress, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, have the the longest life span. These are the areas where they practically import 100% of their food from China. dcarch

Please understand that this is an international forum and be fair with statements you are presenting. It is a fact that many food products from China had problems, but I believe that is a very small percentage of the total scope of what they are supplying. On the other hand, based on another forum I also visit, food recalls here in the US happened practically everyday. Keeping in mind that agriculture exports to China is one area we are running a surplus. It is not a good idea to start bad feelings based on bias. dcarch

Slate is not very porous, but it is more absorbent than ceramics. I don’t know if it can accumulate food odor from a previous dish, like fish. How do restaurants wash a heavy slate plate? Slate can also flake, being a relatively soft stone. dcarch

I apologize to all in advance, but there is another great way to eat bagels (beigels). Bagels are made by going thru a boiling process. I enjoy (and I am not the only one) steamed bagels. Steaming bagels intensifies the bagel-ness and chewy-ness. IMHO, a crispy crusty bread-like exterior after toasting is not what a bagel is all about, but if that's what you like, go for it. dcarch

Here is one by a non-professional: dcarch

Shelby – Very interesting pizza pot pie. Looks very tasty. What a treat, your pawns with roes. Kim - I am with you. I like my ducks well-done also. Next time you make duck, don’t forget to invite me. I also like shrimp tacos, invite me for that too. LOL! Norm – nice looking tilapia plate. Genkinaonna – your roasted chicken looks as good as Kim’s duck. rarerollingobject – You are making life difficult for me after seeing your incredible scallop crudo. I went to the market to look for scallops. They were $30.00 a lb! and not very good looking as yours. gfweb – Lucky dog! Great cook out. SobaAddict70 – as usual, very beautiful plating for all your dishes. I like the gambas al ajillo very much. ScottyBoy – Everything looks good, especially the monkey bread, especially the scallop, especially the tomato soup, especially ----- robirdstx - Mapo Tofu may be too hot for you, but it looks mighty good to me. Very gorgeous lamb chops. C. sapidus – lovely Fish soup to look at, and I can tell, as many who have done some cooking can, it probably tastes better than it looks. Mjx – Very nice orchestration of seasonings for the rabbit dish. -------------------------- As in many parts of the country, it’s over 100 F here in NY. So I made ice cold sashimi for dinner. The sashimi was on a refrigerated Himalayan salt block, which kept the meal cold for the entire time. darch

quantity of food consumed = calories spent If you don't move around much because it's too hot, you eat less. dcarch

Again, other than the experiment I did as stated above, I don't have enough heirloom tomatoes yet from my garden to conduct more tests. I am not sure if there are chemicals in the tomato that are more active in a colder environment, causing the taste to deteriorate more rapidly. I think possibly if you eat a tomato right out from the refrigerator, the taste buds are less sensitive due to the cold, therefore the refrigerated tomato may be less tasty. Also, it is possible that tomatoes can ripe significantly in one or two days.(Sungold cherries can ripe in a few hours) If you have tomatoes that are not totally ripe and you keep them in a refrigerator, they will be less tasty than the ones kept at room temperature. dcarch

I had done a side-by-side test with serveral tasters. Tomatoes refrigerated 30 hours vs. same tomatoes not refrigerated (75F). The tomatoes were cut in halves. Half went in the refrigerator. No one could tell the difference. I only used one kind of home-grown tomatoes, so it might not be a conclusive scientific test. dcarch

There are geoduck farms. Expensive seafood. $30.00 a lb. dcarch

:-) dcarch

Large blueberries are sweet. They are for eating. Small blueberries are sour. They are for making muffins. A blueberry sieve. dcarch

Don't underestimate that lowly WEB Cam. With a little focusing, it can do amazing close ups and enlargements. dcarch Close up enlargement of a surgical blade Salt [ Seasme seeds