dcarch

Looks like a perfect butter slicer. dcarch

It really depends on what you are cooking. You will have splatter if you are cooking oily and fatty stuff. If oil or fat is heated at over 300F, it will create a little explosion when it meets water. dcarch

In theory the heat pipe sounds great, but in reality no. I have been playing with heat pipes for cooking for many years and have found that there are issues. The heat collecting end is too small to collect heat, and the contact surface between the pipe and the meat is also not big enough to be of any significance. The biggest problem is without the heat pipe, you always insert your thermometer into the center to check temperature, but if you cook with the heat pipe, where do you insert the thermometer to make sure that you have reached safe temperature? Heat pipes have been in use for many years, in practically every laptop computer to evacuate CPU heat. They are very inexpensive. dcarch

In General Physics 101, to illustrate the theory of inverse square law, they use the butter gun to show how butter gets sprayed thinner on toasts as distance increases. It would be so wonderful if they actually have a butter gun that can spray butter. dcarch

Make your own? I made mine. dcarch

Finally, cordless vacuums are useful now with rechargeable lithium batteries. Also very good for sucking up ants and spiders in the kitchen. dcarch

Goosenoodles? dcarch

I did not SV with the sauce. The vegetables were cooked in the sauce. dcarch

Fire And Curry Fire And Curry, sounds like Michael Wolff's explosive new book. No, I am talking about Cold Weather Food. Made SV chicken thighs with Thai green curry, prairie fire pepper, coconut milk, lime juice. Hot, hot, hot! Good, good, good! dcarch

Unless you are a sushi chef or a knife hobbyist, there is no need to spend a great deal of money for kitchen knives. It's not practical to have "scary sharp" knives in the kitchen, It's good to have "very sharp" knives in the kitchen. It's expensive, time consuming and lots skills to achieve "scary sharp knives. Anyone can sharpen very sharp knives. It should not be expensive and requires a minimal amount of skills. A $10 aluminum oxide two-sided stone, and a few sheets of fine grit wet/dry silicone carbide sand paper for $5.00 will get you knives sharp enough to shave paper. dcarch

I have not follow this thread until now. I wish I had earlier. I could have given you some unique suggestions, which may or may not be of any use. There is a place in NYC called Tiro A Segno (77 Macdougal St, New York, NY 10012). It's an upscale private lunch/dinner club, frequented by many top business and political figures. As a magazine article called it, "The privatiest of all private clubs". They are always looking for great pastries vendors with an Italian connection. Many political functions look for interesting pastry suppliers. Two weeks ago I was in one with Bill De Blasio complaining how lousy the pastries were. And he was being kind. But you will be moving to Florida. dcarch

Persimmon as a fruit is not a very strong tasting fruit. unlike apples, bananas, strawberries, oranges, mangoes, pineapples etc., any spice can easily mask it's taste. I would not use any strong flavored spice, and certainly very sparingly used if you must. I do like to buy dehydrated persimmons from an Asian store, chop them up and add to my persimmon recipes, kind of like raisins. dcarch

Cooking! cooking! cooking! Everyone expects me to cook dinner for them for the holidays. Well, enough! You come to my place, you gonna have to cook your own food. Had a hot pot dinner. Everyone cooked their own food. dcarch

taro roots. dcarch

No. That's the right side up. That's how the hen walks. . I like to roast birds this way. Breast meat gets less overcooked. dcarch

Dishes cooked before the holidays, just to test out various combinations of seasonings for the main meals. dcarch La Vie En Rosemary (Roasted Cornish hen, rosemary, 5 spices) Rosemary & a little lamb (rosemary, black garlic sauce)

I have often said, "Great cooks are bad photographers, and great photographers are bad cooks." I will, however, make an exception in your case. dcarch

I have no idea. I don't remember not seeing live crabs in the Korean store near me and other Asian stores. Of course every time I travel to Canada, winter or summer, it's carbs and crabs as often as I can fit in my schedule. dcarch

All Asian stores in Canada and USA have live Dungeness crabs year round. dcarch

Asian stores often sell crabs (and lobsters) with one or two missing limbs at 1/2 price. Wonderful deals. dcarch

You can get King crabs, and snow crabs live in many Chinese restaurants. dcarch

Are you sure you are not talking about blue crabs? Are you sure the last time you tasted was cooked live crabs? Dead crabs taste not too good. dcarch

Shortage will be permanent. Most of the supply will be ship to China. dcarch