Hassouni

It's cold and crappy so it's nabe time. Ishikari nabe from a few nights ago: Sukiyaki tonight with my Japanese-American friend: Man those both hit the spot!

Man, and Melbourne has the best music scene right now....jealous!

Your choice of shopping is quite enviable! I'm looking forward to this. Would you say in Oz there's a greater mixing of food cultures? In the States I feel you can find most things in the bigger urban areas, but most people aren't that adventuresome. Or is it just a case of immigrants from X eat X food, and immigrants from Y will eat Y food, without much crossing over?

After a 24 hour soak, those blobs have swollen and when punctured release mucilage. I'm guessing this is NOT mold now...

It's Japanese, bought from Super H Mart, a store with pretty big turnover

Congrats! So how many Japanese knives do you have now?

Well it turns out I'm not using it until tomorrow so I have a good 24 hours for the real konbu-heads to answer!

Here we are The spot that looks circled The lighter colored bumps

Sea Wynde rum

So I opened up a packet of kombu today, and I saw whitish blobs that look sort of like mold, but I'm not sure. They are separate from the white powder that I take is concentrated glutamates. Is this normal? I've never noticed it before.

Mae Ploy pastes in the tubs are much better than the Maesri cans - I think if you ask most Thais, that's their opinion too. Thai curries are always made with coconut milk (with the exception of so-called jungle curries), and beef is doable but you have to cook it either for a few minutes or a long while so it doesn't come out tough.

Oh man Abdel Wahhab and Cafe Hamra, two of my favorites. The food at Cafe Hamra is decent if not fantastic

My Japanese sucks, but that last pic, the first part says something like "Kromax" or a variation on that spelling, if that means anything to anyone

Cruzan Blackstrap is intense. More than a splash and it will run over, trample, and dominate any drink you put it in, so bear that in mind. Try shooting it, that's an interesting experience...

In my experience, the Za'tar croissant is the big one. The good ones are so damn good...and you never see them outside Lebanon. The other one of note is a saaj (technically a man'ooshi 'al saaj, to use proper Arabic) with chocolate and halawa, which the rest of the world knows as halva, a sort of chunky sweet sesame confection. The chocolate is often replaced with nutella, making it all seem like a Lebanized crêpe. There's also the generic "rosto" which is a common sandwich or man'ooshi filling, which is just sort of western style roast beef cut in big chunks, as well as if memory serves, chicken rosto. There's also man'ooshi with mortadella and Président processed cheese, but these are abominations in my book.

Second Smith & Cross - that stuff is in your FACE. Serve it over an ice cube or diluted. Makes a killer simple cocktail El Dorado 12 is really good, but it's quite sweet and soft. If you like those Pyrat type rums, ED is a much better version. I have to also throw my love for Pusser's and Appleton Extra in there

Serious question, do they sell portable Saajes? and do you know how much for?

I see Jabal Sannine is in full snow cover and the smog is down.... Also, Lebanon's greatest culinary contribution (given that mana'ish and all that kind of stuff is available all over the Levant): THE ZA'TAR CROISSANT. I have an idea to sell em here, I think it'll be a goldmine...

The thing I like about Leila is that they offer some things on the menu that you don't often find, such as grilled rkakat, off the top of my head, as well as proper Arabic ice cream. I think the quality is pretty good too.

As much as I love Leila, that space will forever be Ahwet il Izzaz their new location in Antelias is totally different and nothing special :sad:

Yeeeesss Falamanki, my favorite! Have you had their saj? It's really good, and where else can you get a saj at 3 am? Where exactly is the guesthouse, that yellow building looks very familiar

the Michael Coffee yunomi with black tenmoku and nuka glaze is superb

Have you been to Abdel Wahhab? My favorite place for traditional Leb food. Also, argile and "Mexican" beer sound really nice here in frozen North America!

This seems like the most sensible answer I've heard.

I do make stock a few times a year, but often for small quantities or last minute cooking, TJ's stock does just fine. Also, for stews and Korean jjigae-type things, frozen, in-shell clams from the Korean supermarket are a godsend. And, while I've made pizza from scratch, and done the self-cleaner trick to get my oven up to 900º, 90% of the time I just make pizza on barbari bread (AKA "Afghan bread").