Pan

Very interesting stuff! Here's an excerpt: Is millet still used much in China today?

From my standpoint as a former resident of Malaysia, I'd answer your second question "Yes." Gulai telur, gulai ayam, gulai ikan [insert name of fish], gulai daging [or, more common, gulai kambing = goat curry]. Also, gulai terung (eggplant), gulai udang (shrimp), etc. Gulai and kari are words for "curry" in Malay, and the words do have a meaning that can be roughly defined by the ingredients and methods used in making the dishes.

Not to mention that quite a bit of the bottled water for sale is simply municipal water that has been filtered. I've never had bottled "spring water" that comes close to the NYC tap water I run through my massive plumbed-in under-the-sink water filter.[...] ← You might change your mind if you go to Mount Shasta, California, and try some of the water that comes straight off the glaciers. Best-tasting water I've ever had!

That looks like a Malay kueh, but I was expecting the recipe to include sweet potato. Still, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something that looked like this at a night market in Malaysia.

Fascinating. I had no idea what the origins of kuih lapis were.

Josh, have you been back since then? I'd like to know whether that did wake them up.

Happy anniversary, Chris and Andrea! I was going to ask you to talk more about your teaching and how you work food into that, but you already addressed that. It's been raining all day here and figures to rain continuously through tomorrow at least, I think. Has the rain made it up there, and do you eat differently when it's chilly and rainy than when it's mild and sunny? I think I do; I probably have more carbs to try to get more energy.

Sounds great! I've never had woodcock or gone hunting.

Ah, so there are two branches of the place! I suppose Dong Cheng is right. It's not very far from Wangfujing; in fact, my brother and I later walked home from the restaurant to the Novotel Peace Hotel. What is the name of the restaurant, and what are the addresses?

I'm loving all these photos! Much of the food is vaguely -- or more than vaguely -- familiar. My mother's mother's parents were from Wilno Gubernya, or Vilna (Vilnius) District in imperial Russia. Of course, the vibrant Jewish community was wiped out by the Nazis and collaborators, but Jewish food in any part of the world is in many instances kosher versions of local non-Jewish cuisine. Anyway, as a side note, Karaim in Hebrew translates into English as Karaites, unless there's another meaning. I don't think that Karaism has much to do with the Khazars or Turks, but rather is an ancient schism in Judaism. However, this page on the Karaite Korner explains that: So it is these people to whom you are referring. Thanks for inducing me to learn something really interesting I had no knowledge of.

Ben, sorry I didn't get to wish you a happy birthday on your birthday, but did anyone give you an actual banquet (I mean, other than this lovely cyber-banquet) on that day, or is that coming this weekend? If there was a banquet, what dishes did it consist of?

Just what exactly does jet fuel taste like? Seriously, I like a good grappa but haven't tried that overproof rum. Sleep well.

Alright, then I'll say that on the East Coast of the Peninsula, no-one I knew would have ever called a sayur dish a gulai (=curry).

What does it say? I was guessing it had the name of the dish on it or something.

These 3 dishes are surprisingly similar to Cantonese style cooking. Are those shrimps fresh water shrimps? They look a bit small in size. ← I wouldn't have known how to ask, if I had thought of it. I you haven't been to Beijing in 20 years, you couldn't even imagine how drastically the city has changed! I visited in 1987 and 2004, and the changes were so immense that the city was practically unrecognizable. And of course, since so much wealth has been generated by the very rapidly growing economy, the food was much better.

[raising hand] Me me me! Actually, I keep away from it most of the time, lest I should eat too much and regret it. But man, that stuff is good!

I thought you'd be the next blogger, but I was too polite to guess publicly. Have a blast! Looks like I will, as usual.

Worse, it may have adulterants like preservatives.

The powdered resin is not difficult to find here in New York. I guess the Indian community in Berlin is very small?

I can best approximate it as DOO-ree-ahn. Duri=thorn Durian=thorny fruit Similarly, rambut=hair; rambutan=hairy fruit The word is Malay. I disagree that the smell doesn't bother people who grew up with it. Durians are prohibited from mass transit systems in both Singapore and Thailand, where durian-lovers abound but people don't want the smell in an enclosed place. A lot of Malaysians find the smell terrible, but love the taste. Some don't like the taste, either, though I think they're a distinct minority. Me, I used to hate them when I was a kid but found on my last trip to Malaysia that I can really enjoy a very high-quality one, even though the smell is bad. But I still can't eat more than one section in one sitting. Durian is very rich and filling.

You two have been real troopers. I salute you, or better yet, bow to you low, in Japanese style.

It's a long story why these photos weren't in my possession until recently, but ever since we found this place in Beijing during the summer of 2004, I've wanted to let you all know about it. As you will see, their business card is only in Chinese: This restaurant wasn't listed in any of our guidebooks, and no-one recommended it to us. We found it because we looked in while passing by it in taxis and noticed that there was a large and happy-looking crowd there. One night, we had planned on going to Liqun for ka ya. Our cab driver had a lot of trouble finding the place, which is at the end of a narrow hutong, and got lost twice, ultimately having to ask a couple of people for directions and make a phone call. Once we got as far as he could go, we saw an entire large busload of American students heading there. Now, it's possible that the best ka ya in the city is to be found at a restaurant unknown to many Beijingren but on the tour bus circuit, but we didn't believe it and got another cab ASAP, directing him to the place on the card above by using our rudimentary Mandarin to tell him to go in the direction of our hotel (the Novotel Peace Hotel, or Heping Fandian) and then told him to go straight, turn right, etc. Anyway, once there, we found we were the only foreigners in the room. We got a warm welcome, the waitresses worked hard to understand us and make us happy (there was an English-language menu, which helped), and we got a terrific meal. This restaurant was better than any other place we ate at in Beijing except for the Li Family Restaurant, and we thought it was a very good value. First, we got some terrific sweet/sour/spicy pickles: Next to arrive was this bak choy with little dried shrimp: We then had this excellent shrimp dish: Following that was this eggplant dish, which three of us liked (my brother doesn't like eggplant in any context): This was a lovely mixed vegetable dish: And especially after seeing so many of these cute duck-shaped dishes being delivered to other patrons, of course we had to have their Beijing ka ya (Beijing roast duck), which was excellent: We had another meal a few days later which didn't include ka ya and was equally good. Do any of you know this place?

Congratulations, Magus! Did you mention your exact location, so that more people can wait on line?

The West Coast has such great produce. Was it different for you when you were living out east?

Hi, Kevin. So, I miss this thread for a few days and come back to a bunch of great photos! They use candied citron peel and melon in it, from what I remember the proprietor of a store on a corner of the Piazza del Campo telling me. I don't remember raisins or prunes. Then again, it's a secret senese recipe. For the record, the name of the confection is panforte, and to my knowledge, it's made for sale only in Siena and Monteriggioni. All panforti on sale anywhere in the world, unless based on reverse-engineered recipes, come from those two places. The most widely available brand is Sapori. Where did you get your panforte recipe from? I see some other recipes on the internet, such as these on About.com, this one on chefs-help.co.uk (coriander seeds?), yet another here (1 stick of butter???), and this one at Cooking.com (candied apricots and pineapple?). It looks like a lot of people have rather original takes on this venerable old Sienese tradition. But the most important thing is, did it taste good? Panforte is very dense but it shouldn't be so chewy you really risk losing teeth.