
Pan
eGullet Society staff emeritus-
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Everything posted by Pan
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I'm sure you'll let us know what you think if you go there. Thanks for the address, Suzanne.
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But that was the glorious Penn Station, right?
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I'm a city boy, but I did go on nature walks when I was in camp in upstate New York years ago, and I know how to recognize wood sorrel really easily. It has a nice bracingly sour taste. Of course, wild strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are nice, too.
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I'd say it's worse than that: There are many professional opera singers who suck, some of whom used to be better and abused their voices and some of whom probably were never good. As an instrumentalist, I can't tell you how - well, some combination of annoyed, angry, sad, and insulted - I feel when I'm put in the position of accompanying singers who substitute a tremolo of a minor third in place of a vibrato. What am I supposed to do to accompany them effectively, insert a tremolo into my music? Well-trained singers don't have uncontrollable wide vibratos (listen to some great bel canto and verismo singers like Nellie Melba, who recorded in the first half of the 20th century, for good examples), but it is clearly very hard to find a really good vocal teacher - and to be a really good student of such a teacher (furthermore, really good vocal teachers usually charge amazing fees for lessons). So when you hear a great singer, know that that person really deserves your appreciation and respect. The voice is probably the hardest instrument to be a master at, certainly the hardest to care for, but to me, in the hands of a master, it's the greatest instrument of them all.
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If you want to meet up some Thursday around 7:30, let me know. They used to spell their name "Restorant Malaysia." The word for restaurant in Malay is "restoran."
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My heartfelt sympathy to you. Breaking up is hard whether you were the one to break up, he was, or even if it was a mutual decision. With some exceptions, no doubt. (I do know of cases where people were delighted to break up with someone they had decided was a poor excuse for a human being...)
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I think tonight may have been my first sort of mediocre meal at Restaurant Malaysia, but I think that's because I ordered something they don't make interesting: Mee Goreng (fried noodles). I also ordered the Ipoh Bean Sprouts, which were good as usual, but the Mee Goreng was just OK and not something I'm going to rush to order again. It came with a sweetish sambal udang (udang=shrimp; sambal is a kind of sauce that includes some shrimp paste and hot pepper, but this was a red sauce, not just a belacan sauce) and actually reminded me somewhat of the mee goreng (or was it nasi goreng [fried rice]?) they served for breakfast at the Shah's Village Hotel in Petaling Jaya, where I stayed last summer. And that is not a compliment, as the breakfast at Shah's Village was insipid and uninteresting compared to most any other eatery you could go to in the area (that is, the Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur area of Malaysia, to put things in perspective). So snausages2000, you can consider this as corroboration for the proposition that there are dishes that aren't really worth ordering at Restaurant Malaysia. I don't feel deterred from returning, but I did take a little walk and noticed some other interesting restaurants I haven't been to yet. Spicy and Tasty came in for high praise on this forum some time ago, and it's on Prince just north of Roosevelt, and a block and a half further north is a Thai restaurant called I think Green Papaya.
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The long distance bus station in Siena is right near the church of San Domenico, and yes, it is inside the walls. The walk from there to the Piazza del Campo would be about 15-20 minutes if you did it straight. But since you're basically right next to San Domenico, you might as well look at the view from just outside the church and then look inside the church, if it's open.
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"Ya got a bag with handles?" "Yeah." "Gimme one, please."
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K, one question about the ferrets, if you don't mind: What would happen if you just let them fight it out?
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Yes, there still is a Grand Central Station post office.
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Point well taken. But I'd say it's likely to be more a matter of taste caused partly by conditioning than prejudice. Of course, I really can't know whether I would or wouldn't like the cuisine at a place I haven't been to. If I claimed to know I wouldn't like it, that would be prejudice!
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Anyone think Amma is not fine dining? I'd tend to think that any restaurant that gets 3 stars should provide fine dining. I'm aware that Amma got 2, but I'm not sure it shouldn't have gotten 3.
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I got that. Is his mother Malaysian Chinese or Thai Chinese?
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? Do you mean the reverse?
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I would argue that, without question.
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Thanks for that report. What avenue?
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Oh, another obvious thing would be any sweet with dark chocolate and flour - marbled cake, pie, cookies of certain descriptions, crepes.
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Don't ignore the obvious: Black and whites. You know, those big cookies that are glazed with half chocolate and half vanilla. When they're done well, they're excellent. You also might consider some poppyseed bagels if you have the right setup (a big if). Or any other kind of baked thing with poppyseeds - strudel, cookies, or how about hamantashen for the seasonal effect?
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I take it you work near there?
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You don't warm up at all before singing a service? You've got balls! Don't you at least show up early enough to sing a few notes before singing for real in the service? I would never choose to perform without warming up beforehand! What do you have against lox, or is it just that the idea of lox already combined with cream cheese is disgusting to you? I'm enjoying this blog. In print, you're coming off pretty much just like you do in person - lively, funny, smart, talkative, interesting. And I'm sure your breath smelled fine, for us garlic lovers.
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You also set the table fancily.
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Could be. Performers are all different. I find it really hard to perform if I haven't eaten anything (I can get lightheaded under those circumstances), but other performers throw up before every concert.
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That dinner was quite a production! How many people? Very enjoyable blog!