haide

Will be in Boston for work for 2 weeks during July. Have not visited new england since I was 12 years old... would very much like to get your ideas and recommendations on which places to visit. Will likely be roaming as a lone female, not that this should make any difference. Ideally looking for a selection of clam/lobster, high-end dining, as well as simple places with astounding food. Aside from restaurants, do you know of any other fun foodie activities? Maybe a cheesemaking experience or something like that. Many thanks!!

Thanks everyone, will make a good list of all the advice and report back on our adventures!

Hi everyone, a group of us have booked a trip 25-30 July. Don't know very much about Spain apart from Barcelona and the many articles from NY Times and the Guardian. So far, have booked a table for dinner at Arzak on our 2nd day. And compiled a list of the pinxtos places, dishes to try, from the various egullet posts. Spending 1st 2 days in San Sebastian, final day in Bilbao (Guggenheim day). Other than that, don't have any idea of what to do... would love to get some ideas from those in the know. In particular, am very interested in cooking classes at a Sociedad Gastronomica mentioned by several (US-based, I think) travel agents. I see from those that the price is around US$180... which is a bit steep for some of our group-mates. Does anyone know of any other cooking-related things we could do? Would also appreciate any pointers on cultural and local things to do. Will check out the San Sebastian jazz festival on the first day (25 Jul). Which are the best guide books / websites out there?

Gosh, that is too funny! A bit sad at the same time... though having watched my grandma send many a crab to their delicious destiny, I'm not too queasy about these things. Hot pot was a success! Laid out all the food on a little trolley and it looked like we were about to feed a famished army. Bought everything fresh on the day from the wet market close to "goose neck bridge". Great stuff. In the end, someone brought delicate Japanese pastries for dessert. Tiny chocolate tarts; lemon mousse pastry stacks; coffee cream cakes; custard and puff pastry towers... yum yum yum

Cooler weather is upon us (here in HK)! Time to get the ol' tabletop stove out for hot pot. (For those new to this, this is traditional Chinese cuisine is known as "huo guo" in mandarin - "fire stove", and "dah been lo" in cantonese - "hit side of pot". Delicious stock sits bubbling in the middle of the table, plates of raw stuff is laid out around the table and people pick what they want to eat and give it a quick swish/good boil. Popular items are slices of lamb, sirloin, fish, tofu, turnip all types of veges, seafood. Similar in spirit to Swiss fondue, Japanese nabe). Holding one at my house for friends this weekend, fishing for good ideas here. I'll be heading to the wet market on the day, thinking of getting some of these: protein: - super thin-sliced japanese marble beef - shrimps (if I can find ones that are still swimming in the tank) - blocks of fresh tofu - balls: plain as well as with filling. fish, squid, beef, pork, liondog roll (a Japanese fishcake), leng yu (fresh fish). - meen gun (I think translated as fried gluten, yum yum) carbs: - home-made shanghainese wonton (pork & cabbage) ~ star of the evening - udon - fun see (rice vermicelli) fibre: - chinese cabbage - bak choi - various other greens - turnip (super duper flavour comes out when cooked soft) flavours & stuff (in little bowls on the side): - diced spring onion - diced red hot chilli pepper - diced ginger - diced garlic - coriander / cilantro - soy - vinegar (zhejiang dark vinegar, canto clear rice vinegar) - nam pla (thai fish sauce) - satay sauce - guilin chilli oil drinks: - ice cold beer - hot ginger honey - mandarin tea (candied orange slices) - green tea - coke and the various other usual ones post-dinner (thinking of something not so heavy): - grapes, oranges - bday cake. still trying to decide what to bake / whether to buy. Wanted to do dips and chips in the beginning, but this really sounds like a lot of food already... What else to finish with?

Joining this post a bit late... but as a (somewhat) local foodie, must reply: HK is a great city, and the weather is lovely and cool at the moment, perfect time to visit! My restaurant list is somewhat skewed towards Central, since that's where I work), but here goes: - China Tee Club (1/F Pedder Building, Pedder Street, Central. Go for the excellent English afternoon tea on Saturdays. Closed on Sundays.) - Delicate, delicious, authentic Italian: Isola (IFC, Central), Baci (Lan Kwai Fong), Gaia, Sole Mio (Soho) is more homey - French: Poison Ivy Wanchai, Petit Pomerol (Shelter Street, Causeway Bay), Cafe Des Artistes (Lan Kwai Fong), Brasserie de Fauchon (Soho), Le Parisien (IFC, very pricey) Chinese - Cantonese: Yung Kee, City Hall Maxim's for dimsum (not any other maxim's), The Square (exchange square), if you are feeling adventurous and want to go super retro try Leen Heung in Central. I can take you there if you like. Bit intimidating to go on your own. - Northern cuisine: Hunan Garden (The Forum, Central) - Sichuanese: Sichuan Da Ping Huo (most excellent home-made set dinner, Central), Yellow Door (http://www.yellowdoor.com.hk/) - Shanghainese: Lao Fan Dian (Tsim Sha Tsui), Xinjishi (Lee Garden, Causeway Bay) Drinks - Aqua is a big no no for food (Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, go for drinks & view rather than food) - Boca in soho has delicious white sangria (quite a girlie drink...) If you need phone numbers, let me know, I'll try and get hold of them. If you are interested in private kitchens, there are countless different ones dotted all over town. Most listings are in Chinese though. I've been to a couple, so feel free to shoot any questions. Yum yum!

Small bowl of sweet, seedless red grapes. Large bowl of oxtail soup: thick tomato & oxtail base, crammed with soft carrots, cabbage, onions, potatoes... Mmmmm, warm & comforting start to the day.

Thanks everybody for the very encouraging words! Is it because it's so tough in the industry that most eGulleters are so supportive? Thanks Suzanne, for the chef talk cafe link, I shall be a frequent visitor. I must do more planning and asking around... the best thing will probably be to work part-time for a few weeks, then to embark on a Master's of some sort which includes some culinary training. Although full-time culinary and pastry classes still have a magical pull on me! Nightscotsman and Zilla, you brave, brave souls... It's wonderful to know that you took the leap and now know for sure that you have done the right thing. I'm 23 and I suppose for all intents and purposes, this is the start of the journey; I have much to look forward to and shouldn't be having an identity crisis. Louisa, thanks for the tip on scholarships and working for credit. I will definitely look into these (but not just yet as I still have to take care of my full-time job!), but I guess there will be difficulties if I am not a US resident? I'm technically Asian-Australian. Australia has a great hospitality industry, but the greatest of the great are still in Europe and the US. Nice, thanks for the link to that directory! I've been googling around for something like that but haven't managed to find any good ones. NeroW, must be very exciting for you to start at a new school in a new city. Will you do some diary-like posts on what you're doing and how you're doing at school? Good luck for now, hope you do well and have a great time! Malawry, it's the Great Diarist herself! How is your first kitchen job? I suppose it's just bias on my part but I feel that if I were to go and learn French cuisine, I should do it at Cordon Bleu Paris rather than anywhere else... although I wouldn't mind London or NY... which are both amazing places but extremely expensive! I have also thought about going to Spain or Italy, but French cuisine to me still represents the most comprehensive training anybody should get in cooking. Then I can go about picking up the local knowledge and traditional techniques of other cuisines. Chinese culinary skills are another story altogether, I don't think I want to even contemplate going there, even though I love Chinese history, culture, and the amazingly diverse foods... The field is just too anti-female. A friend of mine ask for work at a famous kitchen for a chance to observe and learn, but was refused point blank. They even articulated the reason,"We will never teach you because you are a girl." Ouch. I shall bide my time. P.S. I don't wear panty hose, it gets too hot and humid here

Thank you for your supportive messages! It's great to learn of first hand success stories. To tell the truth, I'm not really old. I'm in my twenties... it's just that I've heard a lot of horror stories about physical/mental hardships (abuse?) in kitchens by egotistical chefs and about the terrible hours (15 hour days for 7 days a week all year). Another thing is, people who have worked for years in a regular job have something behind them, I think it's fair for them to say ok, I've achieved this, now I can go for my dreams, and I can support myself financially too. But for me... it feels like I'm being petulant, not patient and mature enough to stick at something for long enough before running off to try something else that looks more fun. Yup yup, I've read all of Louisa Chu and also Malawry's posts about going to culinary school. In fact, I've read some of those posts again and again. I find every detail engrossing... the foods they work with, the chefs, the techniques, the classmates... They don't mention whether French is essential though? Distance learning sounds like a great suggestion... perhaps I could do a hotel/restaurant management course, then when I am certain this is what I want, take a few months off and do the cuisine or patisserie classes.

I have always loved food and dreamt of opening a cafe / restaurant / boutique hotel / bakery / something food related! These are still just thoughts though... I am seriously considering going to culinary school to get a good grounding of all the techniques. However... a few things are holding me back: - I'm not sure if I can be one of the best, or at least quite good, so am a little afraid to leave the life of an office worker. - Am I too old? The chef's I read about start when they were 16, 17 years old... - Culinary school is incredibly expensive... (I was checking Cordon Bleu, Ritz Escoffier). How do people cope with the fees? Do they generally work part-time? And I guess the French schools will expect fluent French, which presents another hurdle for me (I can ask for directions and that's about it!) I'd be very interested to hear what the food-lovers/chefs/professionals out there think!

Hello, this is the first time I've posted, and I haven't really had time to read all the preceding posts yet... but here's my take: I'm Chinese and I live in Hong Kong. For most of my life our family has had soya milk as a regular drink. My Shanghainese grandparents have it for breakfast either sweetened or savoury (as a warm soup with pork and fried dough bits). Some people have expressed a dislike for soya milk (soy milk? same thing?). I think it's probably because you're having processed/heat treated stuff with preservatives and other additives. Even here in HK, there must be thousands of shops, as well as supermarket and diary companies, which produce soya milk (fresh, in cans, in cartons, in powder form etc.) we definitely try and go to the few stores which are famed for their daily home-made milk or do it at home (time consuming, but some moms do everything at home). Really good, real soya milk is rich, smooth and has a subtle bean-ish aroma. On tofu. It definitely is not tasteless stuff. Good tofu must be made fresh. We all get it from the wet markets here, where usually an old lady, starts working at 3 or 4am to have the product ready by market opening. The best tofu has the same aroma as good soya milk, the texture should be silky soft and extremely fragile (none of that weird, crumbly blocky stuff that's being put into salads). That's why it takes the best chefs to be able to stir-fry tofu. Because it could easily turn into a pan of milk if you're not skillful with your spatula. There are also many other tofu-based products e.g. deep fried hollow cubes (in which we stuff pork and other vege to make dumplings), dried tofu sticks (for ancient times when there was no refridgeration), tofu knots (different texture, good for heavy pork stews), tofu sheets (for spring roll-type items and to put into soups) etc. etc. etc. Anyway, I'll stop now... need to get back to work! Interested to know what you guys think.