Pan

Too bad about the mediocre food on Bangkok Airlines. I remember Royal Thai Airlines as probably the best airline food I've ever had (I suppose Sabena would have been second). I recall a savory curried chicken. But times change, and that's a different airline, anyway.

I'm not understanding high or low congener. Here are some definitions of "congener": Merriam-Webster: GreenFacts.org Glossary: Online Chemistry Dictionary/Glossary:

Taro? That coconut baobing looks Chinese to me.

I just listened to this interesting bit of history with cocktail historian Ted Haigh. He discussed the origins of the cocktail and mentioned an early cocktail he loves, the "Corpse Reviver." Starting at around 3 PM Eastern Time, you can listen to the program here. (Haigh's segment was only part of the program.) He also has a cocktail database, which was linked from NPR's "Day to Day" page.

Thanks for that detailed answer, Bux. I see your point now.

No, you didn't miss them. My brother lives in California, so I don't see him that often. As a matter of fact, he went back there today. If he emails a response to your question, I'll relay it. Sorry for reacting to your post as if it were snide.

Morning Glory grows as a weed all over the place. What does it taste like, if that's possible to describe?

My thought exactly. Or why not just use the . . . um . . . bathroom tissue?[...] ← Yes, if necessary. But one has to keep in mind some sanitary questions. As for the other question, wanting to blow or wipe one's nose in the bathroom is hardly blowing one's nose "all the time."

I'm glad you pointed that out. It's a problem when pledges of support are made and not followed through on, and I read today in the New York Times that that happened in regard to relief for Bam. There isn't always a big constituency for "foreign aid," except right after disasters, it seems. You are absolutely right that it is not only immediate aid that will be needed, but funds for reconstruction and so forth.

Sure it's fair. It's certainly accurate, but how the value matches up for you is subjective and personal.

I've decided to divide my contribution between Medecins Sans Frontieres and Oxfam, unless anyone has a better idea. My contribution will be well in excess of what I've spent for any meal for myself and will represent a real bite into my bank account. But with all the suffering people are enduring, it doesn't seem like that much to ask of myself.

I could ask him later if you really want to know. I take it you think that Kee's chocolates are always 100% perfect and no criticism is ever reasonable? Madziast, thanks a lot for the recommendations.

Next question: How frequently is it reasonable to excuse oneself from the table? I mean, do people having sudden allergy attacks need to cancel reservations? By the way, not that this is related to etiquette exactly, but I hate restaurants that have no paper towels (or, if appropriate, tissues in the bathroom). I can't blow my nose on an airstream, and it's even worse when the airstream is cold, as I've experienced a couple of times recently. Melissa, I hope you didn't think I was annoyed at you for posting the link. It's certainly topical.

I was personally affected by the atrocities on 9/11/01, and this tsunami dwarfs that by many factors of ten. Yesterday, I was watching footage from an overflight of the western coast of Aceh in a small plane. Cities of 30,000 completely levelled, with no signs of survivors except a few people camped out on hillsides. The enormity of this disaster is truly unimaginable, though some of that footage helps give it some immediacy.

Jaymes, you could be right about what they were talking about in terms of the direction of passing food. I'll try to pay attention at the next few dinner parties and banquets to see what direction food is passed at the beginning of each course.

My brother and I got six chocolates at Kee yesterday afternoon (for $10). We both enjoyed the experience, but my brother had some criticisms of the chocolates that I consider meritorious. So first of all, we enjoyed speaking with Kee and her assistants, and we respect the artisanal chocolates. Here's what we got: Two yuzu chocolates One each of: Passion fruit Black sesame Coconut Tiramisu My brother liked the yuzu best because it was the subtlest fruit taste and didn't overpower the chocolate. I found the yuzu a somewhat strange taste and would have preferred kumquat or mandarin orange. I loved the taste of the passion fruit, but my brother pointed out that the taste of the fruit overpowered the chocolate taste. I had to agree that the chocolate taste was a lot weaker than the passion fruit taste from that terrific puree. I got the black sesame because it was different. It was very pleasant, but I have to agree with my brother that the chocolate was so overpowered by the taste of the crackly black sesame that the dessert might have tasted pretty similar if it had had a mere cream base. The coconut chocolate was delicious, with plenty of excellent quality dried coconut (all Kee's ingredients are of course excellent). I think my brother may have felt that the chocolate was somewhat overpowered in that one too, but I would get it again. He felt the tiramisu was the most traditional item we got and a good truffle. Another more general criticism my brother made was that there was some graininess in the texture of the truffles, and that in some cases, he would have rather had more chocolate and less ganache. I hope no-one feels that these criticisms amount to any kind of attempt to trash the place. These are high-level criticisms of a chocolatiere who is using terrific ingredients and making a high-quality product. If I had gotten the chocolates by myself, I might have been content to simply enjoy all of them, but I do think that when dealing with this high a level of craftsmanship, criticisms like the ones my brother made are reasonable. I suspect some of you will strongly disagree, but as they say, that's what makes horseracing.

For the most part, I'm not big on little fine points of etiquette, but I want to know the answer to this question, and the link isn't working now ("The page cannot be found," etc.): How about if you need to simply wipe your nose? And how do people feel about wiping one's nose on a cloth napkin, if that's all the restaurant gives you? An ex-girlfriend always felt that you should take your own paper tissues to restaurants to use for that purpose, and that it's really rude to blow or wipe your nose with a cloth napkin that the staff has to handle. She also got me in the habit of generally throwing away my own used napkins from restaurants (as opposed to letting the staff be responsible for that), especially if I had wiped or blown my nose into them. I think she's right that there's a sanitary and just plain "yuck" issue there. But stuff like this doesn't mean anything to me: I have yet to see a napkin that's large enough not to fit on my lap and part of my waist fully unfolded. Folding it on one's lap defeats the purpose of protecting as large as possible a surface area from the possibility of falling food. Of course, if you have perfect manners, no crumbs or sauce ever fall on the napkin, right? This one bothers me: Actually, it sounds like something that would have happened in repressive Victorian households, except that they might have been more likely to relegate children to a separate table and make them eat at a separate time from all the adults. I'm glad I didn't grow up in a household like that. And this one is just stupid to me: And, if I'm in the next seat left of the other person, when I ask that person to pass the potatoes or salad, the food has to be passed all around the table instead of directly to me? Life is about living, not about some arbitrary, archaic rules about the "proper" direction for food to be passed and standing up whenever a woman leaves a table (I feel pretty sure that anyone I know personally would find that weird as hell). I agree with the observation that there's a huge difference between manners -- that is, consideration for other people -- and etiquette. People who violate many of the "rules" of etiquette that are explained in the given link (thanks, as always, Melissa!) may be very polite or very rude. One would have to know more than where they place their utensils on the plate after meals to determine that.

OK, just as long as you aren't generalizing . . .

I hope your loved ones are all safe, too, Anil.

I went back to the ~50th St. location tonight with my folks and brother. Having become a regular customer (mostly delivery and takeout) from the very good St. Marks Place branch, I forgot just how good the Midtown location is. It seems to me, it's still clearly better. In particular, the Aui Zhou Chicken (fresh killed) is even better than I remember and may have improved. It seems less salty than it used to be. Everything else was good, and in particular, we liked the Sichuan Cold Noodles (non-spicy version) so much we ordered a second bowl. I believe this branch of Grand Sichuan is comparable to Spicy & Tasty in Flushing, though a shade under it in quality. Most of the difference is probably down to the differences in clientele, with Grand Sichuan's being very heavily non-Asian and Spicy & Tasty, at least 80+% Chinese. But given that, the amount of taste the dishes at Midtown Grand Sichuan have is truly commendable.

Thanks, zeitoun.

OK, then. What objective standards? There are probably some pretty clear objective standards about ingredients. Are the lettuce leaves turning brown? OK, that's a problem. But generally, I would answer that there are plenty of qualitative things one can say about a restaurant's food, but that the difference between two meals is fundamentally one of taste, unless perhaps we're dealing with something egregious like obviously spoiled meat.

Ya-Roo, do MoMA members get any break on the prices at The Modern?

Impressive list there, Pitchblack! A few comments: Sura (bubur asyura) as I know it is much more viscous than a rice porridge as you'd probably know it (congee). Pisang goreng/goreng pisang are simply fried bananas and, though sweet, are not a kueh. Keropok lekor wouldn't be called a kueh in my experience but is a savory foodstuff made from batter with fish in it, so it has some things in common with kueh.

Agreed. Which is why, when I saw SobaAddict's link to the review, I scrolled through it until I saw the star rating. I don't have any faith in anything much that Bruni has to say, so I don't pay attention to his prose anymore, but the star rating is newsworthy.