Pan

Yes, after laying eggs, the hens sit on them until they hatch. That was the one time when hens would stay in the coop during the day, in my experience, though they were happy to lay the eggs in tall grass, too (whereupon we would take the eggs and hen to the coop, because some of the eggs were always taken and eaten and others were usually sold).

The age of majority is not 21 and has not been 21 for some time. It's 18.

menon, it's interesting that you say that there's an attitude of xenophobia toward the unfamiliar in the U.S. If that's the case, how did Italian, Chinese, Jewish East European, Japanese (sushi), and Thai food (among others) get accepted? Is this xenophobia you speak of largely a regional phenomenon? I ask because I think it's almost wholly absent in New York, perhaps aside from a few homogeneous neighborhoods in the "Outer Boroughs."

Don't most people who have expensive wines keep them for special occasions?

How about because they could get a lot of publicity for busting a high-end restaurant? I'm sure you can imagine the New York Post and Daily News headlines.

Ghostrider, I was born in 1965 and did indeed have cupcakes as well as cakes at birthday parties when I was a kid. And of course they had icing. But they were not 1/2 icing!

Do you know if nightsoil is used for fertilizing vegetables, as is the case in China?

That's exactly how I feel.

It's interesting to note that when I was a child (probably as young as 9, not close to the then-18 drinking age), my mother could send me to the local liquor store to buy wine. They asked me if it was for drinking or cooking, I laughed and said it was for cooking, and they sold it to me. It was in fact for cooking. I think that part of what's getting lost in this discussion is that there's always a first time for a high-end restaurant to get busted. Clearly, a lot of the Wall Street people and so forth who Elliot Spitzer targeted when he was Attorney General of New York state were quite astonished to be prosecuted for behavior they'd gotten away with forever. I don't see the rational basis for being upset with a waiter or restaurant for refusing to serve alcohol to an underaged individual, period, though the way the situation is handled is obviously a relevant issue. For what it's worth, the idea that the waiter may have been new, asked whether it was OK to serve someone who looked underaged, and was told "No," because no other answer was possible when the question was actually asked, sounds like a credible story. Sorry you were disappointed, Bryan. Work to change the silly law (18-year-olds either shouldn't be able to vote, serve in the military, drive, or be jailed as adults or should be able to drink freely, as far as I'm concerned), but don't take out your objections on waiters.

When considering the total wine consumption in Italy, I would not use the size of the population as a reliable indicator. They pop a few more corks than the average American. Only 8,000,000 bottles of Barolo are produced a year. That leaves 1,600,000 bottles of Barolo for 60,000,000 Italians. Subtract out the bottles consumed in Piemonte and Lombardia and you'll see there are few bottles left for the rest of Italy. ← As Hathor pointed out, Italians tend to support the wines of their region. Is there something you find objectionable about that? And if there is, do you also object to their tending to eat local-style food the great majority of the time? Because when you're talking about matching wine with food, isn't there something to the idea that the wines grown in a region match the traditional food of the region, both redolent of terroir in some sense? I found that Chianti and Montepulciano wines went very well with Tuscan cuisine. ← I have no idea what point you are trying to make. Obviously I love the regional foods and wines of Italy. What does this have to do with this argument? Please clarify. ← It seemed to me that you were criticizing both the lack of variety in wines on sale in shops in Europe and the fact that certain European wines are largely exported, rather than drunk in other regions of Italy, for example. And my counterargument is that if you want to match a regional cuisine with a wine, the intuitive thing to do is to select a local wine, not one from outside the region or country. Does that clarify the context of this discussion I'm having with you?

Yeah, most definitely interesting to people other than you!

Two questions: How did they pick the name for the bar? How much do cocktails cost?

nakji, how's the tap water in Hanoi? And is ice a danger? What about raw vegetables - any common problems from them?

The only thing Dave left out in his description of Magnolia's cupcakes is that half their volume is icing. I like cupcakes to have only a thin layer (no more than perhaps an eighth of an inch) of icing.

When considering the total wine consumption in Italy, I would not use the size of the population as a reliable indicator. They pop a few more corks than the average American. Only 8,000,000 bottles of Barolo are produced a year. That leaves 1,600,000 bottles of Barolo for 60,000,000 Italians. Subtract out the bottles consumed in Piemonte and Lombardia and you'll see there are few bottles left for the rest of Italy. ← As Hathor pointed out, Italians tend to support the wines of their region. Is there something you find objectionable about that? And if there is, do you also object to their tending to eat local-style food the great majority of the time? Because when you're talking about matching wine with food, isn't there something to the idea that the wines grown in a region match the traditional food of the region, both redolent of terroir in some sense? I found that Chianti and Montepulciano wines went very well with Tuscan cuisine.

We're in agreement.

I get panini at Tarallucci e Vino in the East Village from time to time, and they have the good grape tomatoes you're talking about. I've wondered whether people are growing them in hothouses.

Oh, vegetables. Well, have you had Thai pumpkin custard? I suppose pumpkin is really botanically a fruit, though. Ditto for avocado.

If you were to bake or braise lotus root for a long time, it would soften considerably. If you have a chance, get some candied lotus root at a Chinese store and taste it. If nothing else, you'll probably enjoy it.

I really enjoyed dumplings both times I was in Beijing (summers of 1987 and 2004). I also really enjoyed the sweet/sour/lightly salty pickles that I had in both dumpling houses and restaurants. So while it's probably been too long since I've been to Beijing for any recommendations of mine to be reliable, I would definitely recommend ordering different kinds of pickled vegetables.

Bryan, I seem to be the only one on this thread (I think?) who was not that impressed with Chef Humm's food, though I admit the service made me (and my family) more critical, and if you read my report, it sounds like a positive report on the food. Positive, that is, but not enough to go again and blow another large sum of money. At least a few folks have posted on Chowhound that they were underwhelmed, though. What can I say? We all have different experiences and different reactions, and I'm glad you had a good time.

Which means that almost 20% of it is consumed in Italy, and considering what the population of the rest of the world is vs. the population of Italy, that is a pretty substantial percentage. But getting back to the main topic: I've really enjoyed pairings on a few occasions but don't do them much. One occasion was a trip to the New York branch of Chanto, an upscale Japanese chain, where Sethro was the Pastry Chef at the time. I had sake pairings that were listed in their menu. Another occasion was a trip to Al Di La in Brooklyn, where my friend and I had the bartender/sommelier select half glasses to pair with our appetizer, primo, and secondo. I was getting tipsy and didn't order wine with dessert, but he gave us more pours, anyway, and I had a hangover the next day, but it was worth it. But when I drink wine, I usually either have a glass or two with a meal (not necessarily paired to courses as such) or share a bottle. I always consult with the sommelier, or failing that, the waiter, regarding what will go well with what I've ordered. But I digress. My main point would be that on the one hand, pairings can be very pleasurable, but on the other, a bottle can itself pair brilliantly with all the savory courses in a meal (one memorable such occasion was when I had a meal with a friend at Union Pacific, not the most conventional food). Craig, you seem militant about this, in a way that I don't understand. Then again, you're a wine-producer and I'm only an occasional wine-drinker.

I loved this blog, Suzy! Thank you, and have a happy, healthy, and delicious new year! One question I didn't ask is whether there are Malaysian or Indonesian restaurants you like in Oahu.

Yes, there was salt in the dish, although it wasn’t particularly salty. Should it have been?[...] ← I really don't know, because I've never before heard of a dish called "gulai masin." Indonesian and Malaysian curries I've had shouldn't be particularly salty, because the salt should never stand out from the aromatic rempah (spicy mixture) profile. If I hadn't seen a recipe, I would have wondered if the curry was meant to be made with salted, dried fish (called "ikan kering" [dried fish], at least in Malaysia).

In some ways, Hanoi looks like the Malaysia of 30 years ago, with the one-or-a-few-story storefronts and residential buildings and prevalence of bicycles and motorcycles. (The bazaars are still there, today.) But obviously, these things are changing. If the experience of Malaysia is any guide, when they all get cars and their society becomes developed and wealthy, the Vietnamese people may get fat and start having obesity- and lack-of-exercise-related health problems. But in the meantime...