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Busboy, gout has to do with an excess of purines in the body (for example, in the case of people with kidney problems who have trouble filtering large quantities of purines out of their blood), so it's very possible for some people to get that by eating too much chicken, no matter how it's prepared. But I get your point.

Coming back from work today on the 7 train, I observed and overheard a conversation between a young mother and her toddler son. My favorite part of their conversation: [Mother:] "You want some pizza?" [Toddler:] "no, No, NO, NO, NO! [Mother:] "The anchovies are gonna get bigger than you!"

Didn't the Phoenicians colonize Sicily? I think they did, and the fact that Malta was a Phoenician colony and Maltese speak a Semitic language descended from Phoenician today strengthens the argument (if there is one). If I'm right, does this complicate the issue?

Wendy, you mentioned you "change up the frosting or icing." To me, frosting and icing are synonymous, though I use only "icing" in my spoken dialect. Do you differentiate between these two terms, and if so, how are their meanings different to you?

I would also note that splitting the atom -- certainly not an indisputably positive development -- was also a big advance in technology. I would think that after all the horror of the 20th century, we'd be beyond a belief in the inevitability of Progress and a blind faith in the positive value of technology. Human nature hasn't improved with advances in technology, and the Law of Unintended Consequences is no fiction, for both good and ill. And if it's possible for customers to use their wallets to slow or stop some technological advances they're suspicious of, why not?

I can only echo what others have been posting: This is anything but a boring blog! Many of your creations look almost too beautiful to eat. And I have a question: What is luster dust?

In Malay/Indonesian, arak is the generic word for liquor as opposed to bir and wain. Bir and wain are of course from English, and arak is from Arabic, so there you have it. Touaregsand, I think the words airag and arak seem too similar, given that they both describe alcoholic drinks, to not be somehow related etymologically, but the question is How?

I've followed this thread from the beginning, so it's incorrect that no Americans are looking. I'm tempted to post a snide suggestion that the US government should ban imports of US beef -- not in order to insult responsible ranchers and farmers but because of the irony of what the US government did to the Canadian beef industry. Otherwise, I don't have much to say, and I have to wonder whether those who haven't posted also don't have much to say about this sad but unsurprising story.

Given the low percentage of successfully-cloned animals vs. those that had to be destroyed and the sped-up aging process that's been observed in cloned sheep, e.g., I would not want to do anything to support cloning of animals. Where cloning has been really successful is at the unicellular level.

There's an interesting-looking taqueria on Roosevelt Av. around 78 St. or something in Jackson Heights. I haven't tried the tacos there but noted Lengua as one of their regular offerings.

Try Indian stores if there are any in your neck of the woods.

I'm loving this blog, Wendy! I can only second what Chefzadi wrote, that it's amazing you can upload so much stuff, given your schedule! This would be impressive even for someone who had plenty of free time all day. The link above doesn't work, though. Click the following link for the yogurt panna cotta recipes: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=34919

I find that their cold noodles have an acrid bitterness to them, perhaps from the chillis. I think some people prefer this. ← I don't think of it as acrid or bitter but I do like them. Those ain't no insipid stuff.

So haw is not in fact hawthorne fruit as it is known in other countries? jackal10 in England has hawthorne trees in his back yard, I recall, and I believe they produce small apple-like fruits.

I have favorites I get repeatedly, and they're just for me, as I have yet to go to that branch with company. That said, here are some recommendations, including only dishes I have tried and particularly liked at this branch: 18. Sichuan Dan Dan Noodle 19. Sichuan Cold Noodle 23. Ox Tongue & Tripe w. Spicy Peppery Sauce 24. Beef w. Spicy Peppery Sauce They also sometimes have beef tendon that can be made in the same style. If you want the tendon, ask whether they have it. 111. Sweet & Sour Lotus Roots Any of the Steamed Spicy Dishes (my favorite is the turnip) 140. Fish & Sour Cabbage in a Little Hot Wok (I get this more often than anything else) 147. Diced Lotus Roots w. Spicy Black Bean 158. Sauteed Chinese Red Spinach There are a bunch of other dishes I assume are good because they're excellent at the two 9th Av. branches.

The capital of the province is Xiamen (aka Amoy). Fuzhou is in the northeastern part of the province. Both of those cities are ports.

I may just be the St. Marks branch's best customer, at least for deliveries. The cashier has memorized my name, address, and telephone number already. So you know I'm really happy they're there, but my impression is that the ~50th St. location is still the best.

Justin, your posts have been much appreciated and I look forward to more whenever you have the chance.

My parents' household was like that. In fact, my mother even insisted that if I had hated a food a few years ago, I try it again. Sometimes, my taste had in fact changed after a long while.

Why would you decide you don't like it without even trying it? There ain't nothin' wrong with the back!

I actually find the beef balls OK. I hope you had them with Worcestershire sauce. Keeping in mind that this is by no means great food compared to what you can get in places like Malaysia and China, I like their spareribs with black bean sauce, fried scallop/shrimp/chives dumplings, the big plate of shrimps fried with strips of jalapenos, the fried agar agar with waterchestnuts when they have it, and the kaya buns and coconut gelatin for dessert. The vegetable dumplings also are fairly good. That's what occurs to me at the moment.

Godspeed on your quest, and please keep us posted! In addition to Two Little Red Hens, you might want to try S&S Cheesecake in the Bronx, discussed in this post and the succeeding one.

One day, my grandmother found her younger daughter (now my mother) stuffing food into an envelope. She asked the girl what she was doing. "Sending the food to the starving people in Europe." Of course she got in trouble for that! But my mother has always been a smart person, and obviously was never above needling authority figures with pointed questions and comments. The fact that other people are starving is not a reason to stuff yourself if you're full. It's an irrelevant fact. If you want to help starving people, money is probably the quickest way to do that. But I can see where you would want your slim daughters to have energy for work, play, and growing. I don't have children, but my parents didn't make either my brother or me eat things we hated. We both generally liked our mother's cooking (and our father's, when he cooked). I hated peas (still don't like them much unless they're blanched for 30 seconds only) and brussels sprouts (still don't like them unless they're boiled to death or seared pretty harshly), but my brother loved creamed spinach and both of us liked broccoli. Both of us would eat steak or roast beef happily. Both of us would eat pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs or meat sauce. Both of us liked potatoes, though I've always preferred sweet potatoes; there was room in the oven for both. Lamb chops were a special treat. It concerned my mother that when I was little, I would eat no part of chicken except the skin, so she snuck little bits of diced meat into soup. When I found out she was doing that, I didn't care because the soup was tasty and I think it was the texture of the chicken meat that bothered me. My mother's always preferred white meat; my father and I have always preferred dark meat (ever since I started eating chicken meat at all, around the age of 7 I guess); my brother was happy to eat either; so between us, there was enough to go around. I don't believe my parents ever told me I had to eat everything on the plate, but unfortunately, I used to make eating a competitive sport in that I would finish first, and nowadays, I usually finish whatever I order in restaurants. Why is that?

Sounds like you may be the next avant-garde chef in New York. I don't know how everything will go together, but it's pretty interesting-sounding. Good luck, and let us know how it comes out. By the way, I wish my students were even 1/8 as diligent in planning things in advance as you are.

You think that most consumers would prefer to spend three times as much for a superior product? Just what income level do you think most consumers are in? It seems to me a vain hope that people currently buying farmed fish will stop en masse in favor of a very expensive product. If anything, you might have a better chance persuading them to stop buying salmon at all.