gus_tatory

your site is fun and newsy/chatty. congratulations. but dude: you shoulda built a link: Amateur Gourmet blog... click here

welcome to eGullet, dhalandrice~! to add to the Montreal bagel anecdotes here, *sometimes* when i go to st-viateur bagels (the one across from Arahova, the souvlaki place), if i am walking my dog at the time and have her tied outside, the woman at the cash gives me a warm bagel and tells me to give it to my dog. the dog, of course, is thrilled by this.

on the China forum, there's a thread going on called Crispy Spinach... click here... you can also make "Crispy Basil"--it is awesome. use the same method described on that thread. enjoy~!

You mean other than the garlic powder and onion powder in the recipe? i would "hack" that recipe a bit, and add trace quantities (1/4 tsp. each?) of nutmeg, cloves, chili flakes, and coriander. i think that would get you in the neighbourhood anyway. (?)

jo-mel-- thanks for recipe~! eGullet has so many amazing contributors. did you put it in recipe Gullet? not sure if this is the right forum for this question, but i'd like to make dim sum soup dumplings. to get the "soup" part, i understand i make a strong chicken stock, add gelatin, and cut it into little chunks to put in the dumplings. later, when steamed, the stock "melts". is this correct? it sounds easy, but i bet it's not... experience anyone?

rude foods: --things that are supposed to taste/look like other things, but are neither as good and have more processing than the real thing (i.e., turkey bacon) --i saw an ad last night for a DQ Blizzard that had chunks of cheesecake in it. i had to concentrate to stop from wanting to barf. --mmm, invisible cola. things that are Lite or Free that taste like sh*t and have no virtues of the original thing (see turkey bacon) --drinks that have chunky things in them, like bubble tea. umm, that's it.

Wena's blog is wonderful. south east asian food, *and* you get to meet her granny... Wena's mum-mum food blog...

What a great picture. Be still my growling stomach! Looks like you got everything right in that dish, gus. Is the brown of the greens (bok choy, what?) staining from the oyster sauce or does your stove actually generate enough heat to char/caramalize wok-fred veggies? If the latter, I'm insanely jealous. hey carswell and Steve W-- i am happy people seem to enjoy this--i want to do a walk through Little Italy next. --re: the browning of the vegetables, i let my cast iron wok pre-heat on high (consumer electric stove from the 70s) for like 10-15 minutes, add oil, garlic/ginger/chilis/whatever, then "shock-fry" them. i add any sesame oil, oyster/soy sauce towards the end. so it's a bit caramelized and a bit stained from soy. like 50/50. --re: Chinese vegetables in general, i am always buying them and have no idea what they are called. i mean, i know Napa cabbage, i know Chinese broccolli (like rapini with little yellow flowers), but most of them, i have no idea. (was it maybe pak choy?) is there some online pictorial guide to Chinese vegetables? (i should go ask this in the China forum.) jo-mel: i'd like to hear about different Chinatowns where you've been! feel free to start new thread if necessary... regards, gus

(editorializing) i have resisted commenting until now, since IMHO ice wines and ciders are too sweet and too pricy. (/end editorializing) but you can search for all varietal types--if not import them directly (?)--through the Societe des Alcools de Quebec website. good luck!

Jackal10-- brilliant as usual--thanks! two questions: --i'd like to try the 7-hour roast beef, but my oven settings go straight from "warm" to 200. would you advise the warm setting, or the 200 deg f setting for less time? --where on earth did you find MRI images of meatballs?! thanks again...

thanks for the kind words! and because i got groceries yesterday in chinatown, this meant i could make fried tofu and chinese greens, oyster sauce, for brunch today. parting shot: regards, gus

cook-em-all: right on both counts: --Montreal's Chinatown is, what, 4 square blocks? and yet i love it anyway... the only thing that throws me off is buying cuts of beef/pork there--i don't understand Chinese butchery, and so don't know what to do with the cuts. --yeah, i always get the salt and pepper squid at Beijing. a few friends and i were having an informal "best calamari in Montreal" contest, and i haven't tried the ones at Marven's in Parc Ex (which are supposed to be awesome), but the only salt-n-pepper squid even coming *close* to the ones at Beijing are at (*ack*, coughs) Champs, the sports bar on st-laurent south of duluth. it was a fun afternoon...

disclaimer: i am not a professional photographer, and i had a pretty pedestrian lunch... ...but it was 7 deg c here today (about 46 deg f?) and sunny, so i went for a walk/lunch in Chinatown. hope you enjoy. looking north on st-laurent at the corner of de la gauchetiere. Montreal's Chinatown has four of these arch sentries at its corners. close up. salt and pepper squid. soo tasty, with red chili flakes, hot and crisp. i cannot endorse this restaurant, but i took this photo because i thought it had a really campy entry-way. a facade on this nice public square at the corner of clark and de la gauchetiere. flowers for a tea shop that opened recently. st-urbain at rene-levesque, looking south. that building in the background (under the Canada flag) is by the guy who designed the Empire State Building. quasi-lion guarding traffic light. in the summer, this park is full of people playing board games, kids, etc. detail of stone relief on st-urbain. i love this sign so much i took two pictures of it, front and back. this place makes fortune cookies, won ton noodles, egg-roll skins, and those little packs of plum sauce, hot mustard, and chili sauce you get at food courts. if they ever close this factory, i am soo buying the sign from them. the sign, again... it also occurred to me that Montreal is probably the only place in North America you'd see French, Chinese, and English on the same sign... i told you i ordered boringly, but their (Beijing restaurant) "Chinese" wonton soup (not the food-court stuff) has whole shrimp in the dumplings, chinese greens, a deep broth, and a little slick of sesame oil on top... what do the Chinatowns in your cities look like? i love the Chinatowns in both London (UK) and Toronto. it was a fun few hours, and i came home with bags and bags of groceries including... ...about 8 kinds of ramen.

...and of course those in poor communities have no computers, so they can't read helpful, informative stuff like this: Wal-mart Watch...

*plus* it would set a precedent for them to put up ugly big-box stores all over the country (hemisphere?), wherever they feel like it, with little or no consultation/input. aren't they enough of a category-killer, bully behemoth already?

welcome to eGullet, blil!

the only dish that i have ever been physically unable to eat--so hot was it--was a Hunan chicken at a Toronto restaurant on Spadina ave. i'm convinced that the spicing was a mistake, as i *love* spicy food, and this dish caused violent reactions (cankers, sores) in my mouth within minutes.

fave daily breakfast= green tea, maple yogurt, 1 cup milk with 1 scoop slimfast (concerned about vitamins, not losing weight), 2 slices 22-grain bread, toasted...

i am severely limited by both climate (montreal is in hardiness zone 5b) and space (2nd floor large balcony, but it faces south-west) . and yet every year i have great luck with: rosemary several types of basil (purple ruffled, thai or holy basil, etc.) several mints lemon balm, verbena coriander parsley out of whimsy and naivete, we tried sugar-baby watermelons, cherry bomb hot peppers, etc., in the past, and were disappointed. no convincing these plants it's warm enough. my Mom has managed to keep a laurel/bay tree going (it winters indoors) for about 7 years now in the warmer parts of nova scotia. it is a gorgeous specimen of a plant.

you can also do a miso-maple glaze (i use red miso) that kind of resembles peking duck. you brush it as it dries on say a paper-towel rack, before roasting.

thanks for the info and idea, torakris! i know i'm lucky--i bet fresh tofu is 5 times better than the stuff i'm used to, that either comes in tubs of water, or in sous-vide (airproof sealed) plastic packages. the guy said they were starting with only soft tofu. can i put it between two plates--maybe with a weight on top--to extract some of the moisture, to make it more like the firm tofu i prefer?

chardgirl: this thread here... (click) contains a lot of ideas for delicious artichoke preps. good luck. (am somewhat envious of your artichoke abundance... )

i just found out there's a tofu micro-factory opening around the corner from me. i went in today, and spoke with the guy--they are using an organic japanese soybean--can't remember the name. i asked him if they'd be selling yuba (the tofu skin), and he said they didn't make enough to sell, but if i wanted, they'd save it for me. how can i prepare this yuba? can i fry it, or is it better served through some other preparation? thanks, gus edit to add: this means i'll be eating *fresh* tofu for the first time in my life. am v. v. excited.

in the last month, i've been to Au Pied de Cochon twice. both times i sat at the bar, and both times i had the cerf (venison) tartare and a Boreale blonde (beer) with a friend. for 60$ (CDN) including tax, a beer, and nice tip for two people, it's a *great* montreal meal. plus you get to watch the open kitchen staff turning out the poutine with foie gras, etc. they have amazing house fries and mayo, a spring greens salad, it's nice.

does anyone know (tirgoddess?) the length of time it takes artichokes to get to fruit from germination? i'm thinking that even though i live in a northern climate, with the help of indoor germination, grow-lights, small plastic mini-greenhouses, etc., i *might* be able to cheat them into growing here... (zone 5b) then again, i could just buy them...