gus_tatory

if you guys think "mille feuille" is hard, try "cuisses de grenouilles" (frog's legs). umm, "kwees duh gruh-noo-yuh" is about as close as i can get to transcribing it.

i quit coffee about 3 years ago, totally, because i was getting panick attacks and tremors from it. if i get a headache now and then, i'll buy a small can of Coke to get rid of it. but in the process i became a green tea fanatic (love it), and now look forward to my morning tea ritual. (even though green tea is reputed to contain caffeine, i don't think it's the same chemically, and it certainly doesn't make me feel as coffee does...)

these are not primary sources, but are both very rich and can _lead_ you to a panoply of primary sources: --Penguin Companion to Food --Larousse Gastronomique good luck~!

No way! Keep it a surprise. ← Tease ← maybe if we luck out, it'll be the resto reviewed in tomorrow's Gazette...

excellent course! does anyone know what the actual chemical name of the bittern (nigari) is that is used to coagulate the soy milk? is it maybe magnesium chloride? i have heard it referred to as what remains after sea salt is removed and purified from sea water. i ask this because i am having problems finding it. thanks!

hellcook--does this guy have a retail operation (i've been looking for yuzu) or is it just wholesale/trade? thanks, gus

iroc is correct--they're at bernard west and waverley. i saw they had a menu in the window yesterday--but no clue if they're open. if you go, please report back! :-)

happy year of the rooster everyone! the bbc's food site has this nice set of articles/recipes/folklore, available online here... click... and some amazing Chinese New Year recipes here... click...

a friend was kind enough to send me a small bottle, as i can't get it in Montreal. i rub it under the skin of chicken before i roast or bbq it; i use a small spoonful with lemon or lime juice and canola oil as salad dressing; i mix some in with soy dipping sauce for little crisp-fried tofu squares. the combination of the very tart citrus and the warming chillis is amazing. i love it as well...

According to one of my cookbooks, on January 15th there's a special okayu that's made with azuki beans. is there a name for this dish/special occasion? thanks in advance, gus :-)

I have never eaten it... I don't really like okayu...... ← "okayu" is the Japanese version of the Chinese "congee", right?

This is such an interesting thread: not only how different language-speakers "hear" (and then spell) sounds, but how their intricacies (like torakris' example of 'pari pari' = crunchy) are totally invisible to the non-Japanese speaker. Perhaps not surprising. There is also reduplication (I learned a new word!) in Quebec French: "poupoune" is a woman who dresses like a doll, and "gougoune" is a slip-on sandal. i can't think of any food examples...

in my humble opinion, it's as good as ever, if not better. the keys are the food, the brews (as you said), and the crowd, and none of that has changed. thank goodness. PS: just in passing, non-related, i had the venison tartare at au pied du cochon with a friend last night--it's our "boy's night out" meal--and that too was as great as ever. service a little lacklustre, but 100% otherwise.

another gorgeous photo-essay from the Perlows. thanks. and yay! something to make this weekend. i've wanted to buy lotus root and bamboo shoots for the longest time, so may alter your filling items slightly. thanks again, gus ps: i thought the shrimp were cashews, and even after i realized they weren't, i was like, d*mn, cashews would be good in there...

that's encouraging, Marlene. thanks for bringing this topic up. the two universities i went to had catering contracts with Marriott, so everything was Tim Horton's and Pizza Hut. not that there's anything wrong with Tim Horton's...

so bottom line: should i buy this book? i want to. but i just laid out 70$ for Shizuo Tsuji's "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art", and i'm feeling cookbook guilt.

aw c'mon Lesley: have some more just for the halibut~! (sorry: could not resist cheesy grade 2 joke hehe...)

maybe it's tenderized with a (Japanese word for mallet) before it's flash-seared? is that likely?

ok Kristin-- the newbie Japanese hiragana-learner (that would be me ) has a question: in the West when you see "tataki", it's always seared beef or tuna. how does seared meat fit in with the idea that tataki means "beaten"? thanks in advance, gus

thanks for bumping up the thread, marie-louise. although now this'll be something i want to do in 2005: i want to make from scratch perfect croissants. this seems ambitious enough.

Overlordofpastry: you should be able to get several varieties of tapioca at two places off the top of my head: --Frenco Vrac, St-Laurent south of Duluth, and --Anatol, a great dry goods store and more, in Little Italy, St-Laurent north of st-zotique, west side. good luck!

if you're able to shred it and add some ricotta and coriander leaf, you could make medaglioni raviolis, using egg roll wrappers. maybe served in a broth, or plated with a nice woodsy mushroom sauce? very, very nice post, eunny jang--thank you! gus

hi Rachel-- yeah, maybe i'm getting too much fibre from the shells. dunno. but if you use that two-step method i describe (above), i think you are adding some moisture at the beginning, which allows the shells to do that transparent, "puffy uppy" thing. (yeah, i know that's not a word.) ...and then the outside/shell becomes like little popovers or yorkshire puddings kind of, with melting, paper-thin skins, and amber, toasty seeds inside. they have to be served fresh/hot and they can't be from old, huge, woody pumpkins. other than that, i know it's an idiot-proof method, because i can do it. i'd be interested to hear if people roast different kinds of squash seeds, like <shout out> Kristin: would kabocha squash seeds be good roasted? regards, gus edit to add: andiesenji, what nice photos!

hmm... i would like a Benriner mandoline, and a nice teapot.

is it possible that 'white strawberry' is what the Japanese advertising companies decided to call cream soda? does it taste like cream soda? and when you come to think of it, what the hey is 'cream soda'?!