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Thanks for the interesting definition, but I would say that it was chick-pea. I suppose that it may still be hyphenated in Britain, but not in the U.S., as you can see in Merriam-Webster. Many of us don't remember that to-day and to-morrow - for example - also used to be hyphenated.

Thanks for that report, Amy! Two comments: (1) I believe it's capitalism and not communism that makes service good in Shanghai. Shanghai is a very capitalist city where a lot of money is being made. (2) I don't think you don't like Cantonese food. You loved all that Cantonese dim sum. Hu Tong sounds pretty Cantonese to me, too, though I'd describe it first of all as Hong Kong-style. If I'm acting on a misimpression, I'm sure someone will correct me.

How much pepper did you use? And how much wine? Maybe it might help to add more of both? I'm not sure. Bay leaves are also good. Also, if the meat isn't tasty, could it be possible to make the pieces smaller, so that it gets more of the sauce around it?

North-Chinese style. It's really too long ago for me to remember specific dishes much, but it was quite distinct from the Cantonese restaurants that predominated in New York in those days.

I forgot that. Thanks for reminding me, but yes, let's wait for the review.

We add chrein (horseradish/beet sauce). But you know what's interesting about this thread? I now know what those antique glasswares with compartments that I saw so often at fleemarkets and antique stores my father dragged me to when I was a little kid are.

Please fill us in on why that would be predictable.

Not in terms of seafood. Southeast, East, and South Asian Muslims overwhelmingly consider seafood halal. I have had delicious Indonesian, Malay, Indian, and Chinese dishes of crab, shrimp, crawfish, squid, octopus, and other types of seafood at halal Muslim restaurants in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and China. In parts of Malaysia (such as Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bharu as of 2003), only restaurants that have signs saying "Makanan untuk orang bukan Islam" ("Food for non-Muslims") serve food that is not halal, and religious Muslims in Malaysia wouldn't go to such restaurants to have vegetable dishes even if there were no pork in them. And when students from a Chinese school were temporarily invited to study at a Malay school while their school building was fixed, they were forced to eat on paper plates, lest any haram food they may have brought from home should contaminate the dishes (and there were even some suggestions that if they had simply eaten haram food for breakfast, the contamination could still be in their saliva at lunchtime). But I also know Muslims who eat pork and others who don't eat pork but eat most anything else at restaurants that serve pork. So I guess standards vary from person to person and place to place.

This New York Jew never heard of a relish tray. My parents sure never had one. On Pesach, my uncle's household and then my cousin's provides filberts which we can crack with nutcrackers while waiting around for things to be finished (for those not in the kitchen or dining room helping out, which I tend to do), but that's about it. Everything else was part of the meal - gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, etc.

JJ, I'm glad you and your friends had a good first visit to Congee Village. I've never had razor clams there but will keep in mind your recommendation. Another place you might want to try ordering razor clams is Fuleen.

Thanks for your report, Oakapple. I think I learned more about the place from you than I did from Bruni's review.

Very intriguing, and thanks for the great pictures! Just how casual is the place? Do you think it would be kid- and baby-friendly?

Welcome home, Amy, and thanks for checking in. I look forward to your fuller reports.

Sue-On, I really recommend sumac. I think you'll enjoy it, so it's worth it for you to search it out, within reason (or accept Behemoth's offer to mail a bag to you). Some Muslims consider some kinds of seafood haram, but evidently, that doesn't apply to Saudis. I believe your plates and pots and pans might be a problem, though, if he's strict, since they've held haram food. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned that. It is true that plates, silverware, pots and pans, and glasses have to be halal themselves, isn't it?

Back in the early 70s, there was a good Mandarin-style restaurant called Chun Cha Fu on Broadway near 92 St. on Manhattan's Upper West Side which made honey apples and bananas in more or less the same manner, with the addition of sesame seeds. My brother and I, as children, really enjoyed both the steamy dousing in ice water and the taste of those desserts.

What's in the Greek seasoning, Linda?

I go to a Fuzhou-style eatery every week before work. They feature sesame buns (e.g., Spicy Chicken, Eggs and Chinese Chives, Spicy Beef, Cabbage with Dried Shrimps, Pork with Cabbage), congee, and soups like Beef Tendon Soup with celery and cilantro as herbs.

Actually, I did feel I should have used the word "mould" instead of bacteria. <<<Sheepish Look>>> ← Oh, well that explains it! But I'd still like to know what makes simple syrup no good. A mold infestation only?

Not to be smart with you, Tepee, but I'd be willing to bet you a large sum of money that if you looked under a microscope, you'd see bacteria in your simple syrup. Even double-distilled water gets contaminated by bacteria in short order, as my brother found out when he used to work in a lab. But more to the point, without resort to a microscope, how does one know when simple syrup is no good, and what makes it no good?

Thanks. I understand the basis of the discussion now.

Steven, could you fill us in on the general outlines of the argument about the pork dish? You've explained the con side, but what about the pro side?

Oh. And if everyone refused to eat anything grown in or fertilized with manure, I wonder if they'd all starve to death.

Please elaborate. It can't be the dead tree stumps that do it.

Sure, chefs are human. But life's too short and there are too many other places to go for me to want to return for more punishment. It's one thing if I have a flawed meal that shows evidence of potential and another if I have a meal that sucks. If you serve me a sucky meal on my first visit, you never see me again.

I'm trying to think of any restaurant where the first time I went, I had a bad experience, yet I returned. I'm drawing a blank.