dcarch

An automobile reciprocating type of inexpensvie tire inflator pump can probably give you a good enough vacuum. A cordless vacuum pump for sealing FoodSaver bags is another option. dcarch

I wish that people in this country (USA) would eat more animal parts like the rest of the world. If we did, the need to farm animals would be drastically reduced. Animal parts are delicious. We have learned to eat chicken wings only recently. dcarch

ScottyBoy - Boy Oh Boy! You have out done yourself this time. That’s no pot luck dinner, that’s a feast!. Percyn – very nice bacon jam. Indeed, you used the jam properly. What a burger! Parmhero – I like your TV dinner very much. Kim – that’s one enormous chicken and it looks enormously delicious. The grilled ribs plate with baked beans, slaw and spoonbread is totally comfarting. FrogPrincesse – I will hire you to make me that grilled veal chop. Beautiful fresh basil angel hair pasta & mozzarella. Dejah – That’s another BBQ chicken I will have to try. Shelby – Fried green watermelon, wow! I will need to grow my own because they don’t sell green watermelons. Lovely smoked pork roast. David Ross – It is your grilled game hen that inspired me to make my sous vide / grilled game hen. robirdstx – It is your pizza that inspired me to make a pizza. ---------------------------------------------------- - - - - -- - What can you put in between the layer of dough and mozzarella cheese topping? I have a good supply of cherry tomatoes and squash blossoms from my garden, so I made a blossom/cherry tomato pizza. The blossoms were stuffed with blue cheese and chopped mushrooms. Every time I sink my teeth into a cherry tomato, it just burst like caviar with sweet jell. My apologies to pizza purists. After the pizza, I still had more blossoms. I quick-boiled the blossoms in concentrated juice from my sous vide Cornish hen. As you know, squash blossoms have a delicate perfume, which disappears after most cooking, but boiled quickly the blossoms seemed to have retained some of their floral fragrance. My apologies to all those who insist that deep frying squash blossoms is the only way. Dcarch

This just happened to me a few days ago. Four of us went to an up-scale midtown restaurant in NYC. After we were ushered to our table, the waiter gave us the menus. The reason we went to that restaurant was because they were a participant of the NYC Restaurant Week. But the waiter did not give us the discounted Restaurant Week menu. I asked for that menu, and got a little subtle dirty look from the waiter. We didn’t get much service through the whole meal. Yes, I still tipped at the end. 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 Not sure if you're playing with semantics here, but the cooktop does heat up the pot. It runs AC through a big-ass coil which in turn produces a rapidly-changing magnetic field which causes Joule heating in the ferromagnetic (for cooking) material. So, in effect, what I am asking is if you had a flat sheet of iron on the cooktop, turned on the cooktop, and looked at the top with thermo-vision, what would it look like? No need to lecture me about how conductive certain materials are, this isn't about that. Not at all playing with words. I am sorry if you feel that I am lecturing. Induction cooking is very unique that it really does not heat up the cookware. The cookware, by the effects of hysteresis energy and eddy current generated (two of the most undesirable effects in transformer design are being taken advantage in induction cook tops), heats itself up. How the heating distribution menifests, as I understand, depends a great deal on the design of the cookware and not the cook top. dcarch

"------My main issue with dcarch is the notion that a waiter is FORCED to wait on a "nasty" customer. And the idea that the server/customer/tip relationship is the only other sales relationship that smacks of "prostitution." And that waitstaff are the only ones that have to put up with unpleasant, disagreeable, demanding customers. And that if it were not for the current tipping policy, they wouldn't have to. -----" I am not advising not to tip in today's reality. I am just finding the fundamental concept of the tipping practice very troubling. A waiter has a professional job to do just like a doctor. He should not be bribed to do a better job. Do you tip a surgeon after a surgery? Most corporations have very strict policies of no gift accepting and there are no examples of gift/money accepting permitted in all political systems. I am a good tipper, the waitstaff in my usual restaurants always give me bigger servings of desserts, free drinks (without the management’s knowledge). They wait on me before they wait on other customers who were there before me. Don’t tell me that is not bad. 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