Stone

Depends. When I make pasta, it sucks. Everyone else's is better than almost everything I've bought in a box.

A while back I was in Pakistan during Ramadan. Out my hotel window, I saw dozens of construction workers laboring all day in 97 degree heat with no food or water. I don't know how they did it. (Come to think of it, when I did my trek in Nepal, the Nepali porters drank very little water while walking. Even in the low-lands, which were very hot and humid, they rarely had more than a cup of water with lunch.) Just hope they don't celebrate Eid in Georgia they way they do in Karachi.

Show off.

Ha. I always thought the turducken was a joke started by John Madden.

I have an open kitchen. I cook on sundays while watching football. (The real kind.) Then I serve people who come over for HBO. They clean. It's a perfect day.

Are you going to add the extra turkey legs?

"Egullet Staff." Is this a new anonymous name behind which the affiliates can hide?

One more batch of bad homemade pasta.

One reason I like cauliflower is that it, as veggies go, it has and retains bulk and substance. I find it's better than tofu to make a vegetarian meal "meat-like".

There's a gourmet shop in the city at Polk and Pacific with a decent amount of cheeses -- although I'm not qualified to comment on freshness or selection. There's an old Italian market in the Mission (Valencia and 22?) with a good selection of cheese, fresh pasta, etc. You'll find that "diversity" in San Francisco means something different than it does in NY.

I made fried rice last night. It's been a while. Hot oil in the wok, cracked in two eggs. My wok is well-seasoned, so no sticking, no burning. Added some cut up prawns that I bought on the way home. Then chopped carrot and left-over rice. Pretty simple. when the rice heated through I added about a teaspoon on soy (I don't like it too dark) some salt, chopped onion, garlic, lots of sliced scallion, cilantro, a few small chillis and a hand-full of frozen peas at the end. Alas, I had no fish sauce -- a few squirts would have helped. The prawns were good, but not enough to flavor the whole batch. Should have picked up some chorizo (I'm in the Spanish market part of town, no Chinese sausage available) or ham.

I've only seen this one by Imperia. It works great. The problem is that I can't make pasta. It's always white and gummy.

I've always felt that galanga has a mustardy smell.

Steak 'N Shake. Love it. Every visit my father insists we stop by on our way in from the airport.

Sometimes I like non-organic coffee. Call me crazy.

I haven't been to Viks yet, but I've heard a lot about it. It's just soooo far away. There's a whole bridge in the middle. Lots of water. And a strange political system.

The standard of a city is that you never have to leave. (NYC excels in that vein because often you never have to travel more than a few blocks.) You may want to leave, but you should never have to.

Me? No chance.

Are there some inherent limtations in food creativity? Probably not but . . . . We (in the West) have brought into our lives Indian; Greek (yes, yes, that's already in the West); Chinese; Japanese; Thai; Vietnamese; Korean; Middle-East (and its variants); Brazilian BBQ; etc.; etc.; etc.; We've fused them all in permutations too pervasive to discuss. We've engineered new fruits, new grains, new strains. And fused them. We're combining tastes and flavors without hesitation (and if you don't think they're brilliant, your palate is obviously pedestrain). We've gone to enough high-end restaurants (ok, you've) that we've seen it all before. Is there naturally a time when we cease to be surprised? When the same dish that amazed us 5 years ago bores us now? When a brand new pairing of flavors isn't impressive because we expect the unexpected? What more can chefs do? If they could stick their tongs in their hearts, spill them all over the stage? Would it satisfy you?

I've never found truly great Indian food here. I'm told that the good stuff is down on the Peninsula (which, since it's not surrounded on three sides by water, is not a peninsula) or in Berkeley. Isn't there something great here? I haven't been to Shalimar. I admit I need to try it. I've tried Star India (Polk St. and the other location) -- very inconsistent. Most dishes with similarly colored gravies taste the same. (A common failing of Indian restaurants.) I've tried India Oven (Fillmore/Haight?). Pretty good. Too mellow. I tried the place at 9th and Lincoln (9th & Lincoln). I remember it being very good, but no specifics. I tried Pakwan. (16th and Valencia.) Nothing to write home about. Nothing to write egullet about. I think people like the anti-trendy atmosphere. I'm usually a sucker for that, but the food isn't good enough. I think they just have tubs of various gravies (tikka masala; vindaloo; etc.) that they pour over the appropriate meat (or cheese). I tried Gaylords. (Embarcadero). When I ordered off the menu, I recall it being pretty good. The lunch buffet is sooo consistently bad (why do I keep going back?) it pisses me off. Usually nothing more than curried vegetables and chicken wings in grease (they've come up with a more appetizing name for this, but I know chicken wings in grease when I it). What am I missing?

Woof.

Actually, in Thai curries, "green", "red", and "yellow" are standards, although they vary greatly within those standards. I just add a few tablespoons of curry paste to the pot, fry it a bit to cook, brown the meat in the paste, add veggies and pout in a can of coconut milk (depending on the thickness I want). It's ready in about 15 minutes. I'd check out the Indian-Sub-Continent forum for lots of curry recipes. Generally, the base of the sauce comes from a combo of tomotoes and onion which are minced. They break down nicely. Often the addition of cream or yoghurt helps considerably. If your curries are gritty, sounds like you're using too much powder. I assume blandness comes from the powder -- try different mixture or try adding chilli. (Of course, I've never made an Indian curry that comes close to a decent restaurant.)

There are many different recipes for curry powders and pastes. You need to keep trying until you find a combination you like. The trick, of course, is to start with fresh spices or else you're already in a hole. I find the hardes part about Indian curries to be the base for the sauce -- the onions, tomato or curd. It never sets right for me -- it's either too chunky or it separates. For Thai curries, I usually use store-bought. The Mae Ploy brand is pretty good. The hard part is getting the proportions right. edit -- that's "chunky".

I didn't realize how much pain this off-hand remark has caused. You seem to be questioning the core of your very being. Many fine people create many fine brews from pre-hopped extracts. You should be as proud of your beer as I am of my three-tablespoons-store-bought-curry-plus-meat-plus-coconut-milk-Thai-dinners. You are Ivan.

Male ones do. Females don't. Just like us.