Pan

Yeah, thanks for the descriptions, you two.

As I mentioned before, if you correct it, you'll just get the cashier in trouble. For that reason, I believe it's morally superior not to correct it.

I agree with the daiquiris. I used to indulge in those with a friend in the summer of 1986.

TP, I'm totally unfamiliar with the dishes you mentioned (at least by name). I'd love it if you'd describe them further.

It is an advertisement:

Those hanging ducks and chickens are indeed delicious. Where I get an order of the chicken, it's hacked up for me and I'm given some hot sauce and thin-sliced radish (daikon and some carrot) on the side. Look for Soy Sauce Chicken (or Soy Sauce Duck) on the menu.

Date wine? Do they make wine from dates in Shandong?

Lemme guess, Irwin. Was it Maxim's?

Monica, if you feel up to it, go to an Ayurvedic store and take photos of herbal medicines and powders, with explanations. And I also have an odd thought: If there are posters advertising dishes in McDonalds or KFC that aren't available in the U.S., get pictures. In Malaysia, I recall that they were selling some local-style dishes. I didn't go in but did see signs when I passed a McDonalds in KL. Curry puffs, I think, and something else - asam chicken or something? I can't remember now.

From the article: Sounds right to me!

If they really did get a corked bottle, I'm sure you'll agree that they deserve a free replacement. If by "comped" you mean not charged for the replacement bottle, of course I agree. That would be a totally absurd expectation by the customer. Am I allowed to call such a customer a putz? (Probably, since no-one is named.)

Rock the Casbah cous-cous?

Other things for decorations: A Rubik's Cube and any of those halographic things from Star Magic (remember them? They survived way past the 80s). Bonus if you have a huge pencil from Think Big.

Gotta hand it to you, mktye; you really know how to handle The Politics of Dancing... You have to serve a flourless molten chocolate cake; those were all the rage in the 80s. To hear Amanda Hesser tell it, seafood with citrus was also an 80s dish. I agree with sushi, especially California rolls. Too bad you can't bring back some Haagen Dazs Elberta Peach for the party, but you could get some Rum Raisin. I used to get a buzz on that in college. If you want Reagan nostalgia, jelly beans are of course essential. And if you want to get really creative, make something in the shape of Pac-Man. I was in high school and college throughout most of the 80s, and when I wasn't living at my folks' or eating stuff I cooked at my hard-won on-campus apartment, I was mostly going to diners and having roast beef sandwiches of various descriptions, french fries, onion rings, and pizza. And of course, Chinese food. Which brings up an interesting idea. At least here in New York, the late 70s were the beginning of the Hunan-Szechwan craze, and it was going strong in the 80s. Of course, those weren't real Hunan or Sichuan restaurants and didn't really cook dishes like you can get at places like Spicy & Tasty in Flushing or Grand Sichuan in their two 9th Av. locations in Manhattan nowadays, but if the trend was national and not just New York-based, it might make sense to offer some spicy Chinese food. One dish I used to like very much at the original Empire Szechwan Gourmet was Sesame Chicken, which actually was tasty without being very spicy. I don't have a recipe, but I do recall that it included some small puffed noodles and had a brown sauce. Or maybe some Ma-Po Tofu or Hot and Sour Soup.

My brother and I had the job of doing the laundry (with my mother folding stuff because she was never satisfied with how we did it, and sometimes helping take stuff out of the dryer) from the time I was 7 or so. Now, I often pay the laundromat to wash my stuff for me, but if I have the time and inclination, I do it myself.

Do they get an allowance?

That makes sense, Adam.

Thanks for all the recomendations, chengb02! Pardon me for the naive question, but is Lao Beijing JiaZhangMian Wang on the grounds of Tiantan Park? Also, it would be great if you would include Chinese characters for some of these places so that when I print the names out, I'll have a better chance of getting specific directions to them, when necessary.

I'd find it interesting to see step-by-step photographs of things requiring fermentation or culturing. For example, dairy is so important in so much Indian cuisine; it would be interesting to see how dairy products are made in villages and so forth.

Adam, you aren't volunteering to infest yourself with whipworms, are you? At least until recently, some degree of worm load was considered normal in rural Malaysia. On the whole, I'd rather not have any, myself.

I like Sambal Oelek (the variety without shrimp paste in it) and use it as my standby hot sauce. If that counts as a condiment rather than sauce, I can't pick a favorite sauce as such.

huien, is your grandma from Kelantan? It wouldn't surprise me at all if Kelantanese Chinese people cook any kind of local food also cooked by Malays. I think that most of the Chinese people who have chosen to stay in Kelantan and Terengganu (i.e., haven't moved out) are comfortable living among a Malay majority. Many of them have family with pretty deep roots in those states and speak the local dialect. I actually think that in Terengganu, the Chinese people are eating and cooking Malay food much more now than in the 70s. The restaurant I ate at a couple of times in the Chinatown in Kuala Terengganu last August served many dishes that, if they were halal, could have been ordered at Malay restaurants like the one I had lunch at once that was across the street from Mydin and down the block from the Pasar Besar. But I'm doubtful that makes those dishes Baba-Nyonya dishes.

My father cooks almost everything for himself, my mother, and guests, when there are some. It wasn't always so, but it's been like that since 1992. Back in the 70s and 80s, my mother did something like 70-80% of the cooking, I figure.

Joanne, I doubt I'll keep a complete food log, but I'm sure I'll post about some of my meals.

Yeah, I had forgotten that actually Sifton was the one who wrote that Diner's Journal, and that does change things somewhat for me. Still, we both agree that Bruni should have waited longer before reviewing the place. As bpearis points out, it's not exactly jumping.