Pan

I'm almost tempted to say that the Indian cuisine I prefer is one I haven't had yet. I love both South and North Indian cuisine, but to my knowledge, I have yet to try anything Assamese, Rajasthani, Pondicherry-style, Baluchi, or from several other states.

Okra on steamed rice is untraditional? You have to have it with roti or pilau??

Unfortunately, there's that small matter of airfare....As the Italians say "magari." I suspect I'll see Yetty in New York before I have a chance to go to Bogor. But thanks, Hon. And now, back to our show.

Chick pea, AKA besan flour is common for pakoras. I'll let others describe the method of making the batter, as it's been quite some time since I've made pakoras. They're not hard to make, though.

Zeitoun, what do you think of Tanoreen? I've been once only but loved it and plan on going back some time this summer (it takes me about 1 hr 20 min to get to Bay Ridge on the subway).

Do the guests bring gifts?

I'm sure they were! It's amazing that you did all that cooking on your birthday, a day when most people would rather have someone else cook for them.

I haven't been there, but if I were you, I'd just go and try it. Otherwise, would you be able to live with the curiosity of not knowing how it would have been? (And let's not joke about American Chinese restaurants serving cat, please.)

Kara (alacarte): Curry leaves have a wonderful fragrance that's pretty indescribable because I can't compare the taste to anything else I can think of. But think fragrant rather than peppery. I've had curry leaves fresh, frozen, and dried. I share others' opinions that dried are way inferior to fresh, but they're also way inferior to frozen. In my experience, pace Monica's love of fresh leaves, curry leaves do freeze pretty well, and if you don't use them up fast enough, that's your only recourse unless you grow your own curry leaves. Monica: Do they make things like curry goat and curry-puff-like patties in St. John's? It's really fascinating to me how influences from various European countries, West Africa, India, the Native Americans, China, etc. have mixed together in the Caribbean. I was going to mention the influence of Indian food in the Caribbean as part of the Indian diaspora, but that would ignore the fact that Trinidadians of African (or mainly African) descent make good potato and chicken curries and also just how big an influence Indian food has had on places like Jamaica where people of Indian descent are much less of a presence. One of my best friends (and a dear former girlfriend) is an Indo-Guyanese, and her relatives make really good Mulligatawny Soup (which they pronounce "Mooltani"), curries, sweets, and so forth. There was an article in the New York Times some months ago that compared and contrasted the Indian and Indo-Guyanese immigrant communities in Queens, New York, talking about the degree to which they do and don't interact and see themselves as part of the same community or even from the same heritage. The two communities tend to live in different parts of Queens, go to different temples, and have pretty different customs in several ways. Do you have Indo-Caribbean friends? If so, when you compare notes with them, do you find yourself mostly finding the differences interesting or nodding your head at commonalities?

Jammin, we can discuss Singapore Cafe further in another thread if you like, but I can't resist asking what the Chinese characters on their sign say.

A state that reportedly will shortly overtake New York as third-largest in population in the US deserves its own forum. I'm glad it has its own now, and I know you'll do a great job as host.

Michael, I really enjoyed your post about Siena, which brought back a lot of lovely memories. I spent a good deal of time as a student at the Accademia Chigiana in the beautiful Palazzo Chigi on Via di Citta' (just up from the Antica Drogheria Manganelli) in 1991 and 1994 and returned to that beautiful city for a brief visit in 1998, and I have been to Manganelli and Nannini many times. One thing you didn't comment on was the great gelato available in Siena, but I guess you couldn't eat every sweet thing in town on a short visit. My favorite gelaterie in Siena back then were a bar/gelateria on the Piazza del Campo that made excellent macedonia di frutta con gelato and the Gelateria La Costarella just above the Campo. There was another good bar-gelateria by Piazza San Domenico that also served good cantuccini and various other sweets. You'll also be happy to know that I did a web search on Via Pellegrini, 17 and came up with the name of the pizzeria on this web page:

If it's noted either before or/and after the show that, say, Contessa Shrimp was a sponsor, then I don't see any grounds for any complaint. No-one is obligated to disclose during a sponsored program how much they were paid by an endorser.

Akiko, in case Arbuclo is too modest to mention it, I'll suggest that you look over her foodblog, subtitled "Dubai is a long way from Montana, baby!", if you haven't already. Though I don't think there are any pashminas in it.

The beginning of Monica Bhide's foodblog reminded me of another great thread she started: 20 reasons to fall in love with India. Check it out! I do agree about Ellen's travelogues. They are the creme de la creme (eGullet Society-approved food metaphor ).

Fortunately, it hasn't stopped you, and this blog has already settled into a nice rhythm, but I'm surprised that someone who's contributed so much great content to this site and started one of the all-time best threads on eGullet was so terrified. If any of you missed 20 reasons to fall in love with India, you owe it to yourself to look it over. I feel sure that this will be one of the best in a long list of great blogs, just by virtue of your being yourself.

Tonight, I'm just making a brief trip to this thread to note a spectacular thread in the Pastry & Baking Forum: professional pastry pix The eGullet Society is blessed to have such impressive bakers as members!

My understanding is that wait staff have to pay taxes on the basis that they make 15% in tips per transaction, anyway, so if you pay them in cash, at most, it's possible that they're safely getting away with paying taxes on only a portion of the tip. But then again, consider the jerks who are stiffing or undertipping them. They have to pay taxes based on being tipped 15% in those cases, too. Would anyone please correct me if I'm wrong in any respect?

Buzz? What is "Kopi Sua Da"? It has some kind of alcohol in it? I never heard of it, nor is "sua da" anything I recognize as a Malay word (it's probably an expression from one of the Chinese dialects commonly spoken in Malaysia).

As I mentioned in another thread (which, I can't remember right now), when I was living in rural east-coast Malaysia in the 70s, that was not the case. The chicken was slaughtered and then prepared and cooked right away. Since they had electricity only at night in those days, there was no refrigeration, and chickens could be boiled plain on the first day and then reheated with seasonings (e.g. as chicken curry) the next day, but they were not left raw for the insects and other stuff to eat up. They were all free-range organic chickens and, because they ran around all the time, they were much tougher than most any chicken you're likely to find in the US and had to be cooked a long time, but they were good!!!

Before shows on the Public Broadcasting System here in the US, there are announcements stating who funded the show. What would be the harm in having such statements regarding frozen shrimp, beef, etc. precede the shows we're discussing? ("This show was brought to you by ADM, frozen shrimp, the beef industry, and viewers like you.") Just as viewers are never told just how much ADM "contributed" to have their ad shown at the beginning of a show, we needn't be told how much the beef industry contributed, but it escapes me what the harm would be in announcing them as sponsors. That is, unless the stations and networks showing the food shows would require direct funding from the beef industry for such a mention...

What's siu-yook?

Nice photos, Tepee! What's on top of the asparagus? Butter?

Wait a second; I got confused. The chicken livers are a regular appetizer, no pasta.

Cuttlefish, I presume? It can be hard to get a perfect one because the texture can be rubbery, so I think that a place that serves a really good one is a real find.