Toliver

Cake, please, with a side of ice cream. Cake, especially birthday cake, when you take that first bite and the creme brulee smell of just-blown-out birthday candles still lingers in the air and changes that first bite into a memory that will linger, as well. Regarding pie, I found this in the "Dinner!" discussion, a small exchange between Adam Balic and jinmyo a few years ago:

This sort of looks like a condiment/sauce that my favorite local chinese restaurant serves. When I first tasted it many years ago, I thought it had quite a kick. Now I am acclimated to it but still enjoy dipping egg rolls and other finger foods into it. I tried recreating it at home and failed spectacularly. Now I just have to see if my local Asian market sells it or something like it!

Bump. How is everyone doing?

I found out the first tomato plant my brother planted for my mom was a beefsteak. She says it's going like gangbusters and already has flowers on it. Is it too much to hope for tomatoes by July 4th? She also just planted an Early Girl, yellow pears and a cherry tomato and has two empty pots left over for later-in-the-year planting.

My Mom's favorite was Pork Roast with Sauerkraut, dumplings, and potato pancakes. A delicious Bohemian-Polish menu...

Dessert can be pecan pie as well as Texas Brownies.

That sounds like it would make great potato pancakes, too.

See Post #18 of this discussion for a link to information about ramps.

Set your Tivo...the Natalie Portman hosted-show is being repeated this weekend. edited to make this post on-topic... From the photograph linked to in the first post, it looks more like accupuncture food. Hey, maybe we can launch a new food fad! "The eGullet Guide to Accupuncture Cuisine"

For the anniversary of the "Dinner!" discussion, I re-created (somewhat) a dinner post by jinmyo. Part of her dinner was stewed tomatoes with basil combined with a couple different kinds of beans. Instead of making it all from scratch, I bought a can of stewed tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregeno. I also bought a can of canellini beans, rinsed them and heated them with the stewed tomatoes. Once heated, I mashed them a little to break up the tomatoes and thicken up the mixture and served it on garlic crostini. It was very good and would make a great (and easy) side for grilled steak/meat.

I wouldn't think cast iron would develop wok-hei in the same manner that the carbon steel wok would. I think about my mom's cast iron skillet that she's used for over 50 years. It's is so well-seasoned that it's virtually non-stick but it doesn't have any sort of wok-hei to it at all, or none that I can discern. Are there any cast iron wok owners out there reading this discussion who can provide some testimony about their pan's wok-hei?

Not chemists...Actually, the term around here is SSB's: Smug Scientific Bastards I know there are some who roam the halls of eGullet. Perhaps they'll drop by... And whatever did happen to the suggestion of an eGullet Food Science forum?

To Miz Ducky (and anyone else who may be interested) who posted in the current food blog about southern/soul food... It doesn't really qualify as cheap eats because it isn't exactly cheap but you can get some southern cooking at the "Fix Me a Plate Café" in La Mesa. They are located in the Soup Plantation strip mall on Fletcher Parkway south of where Navajo meets Fletcher Parkway. The restaurant is a few doors down from the Soup Plantation (which always has a line out the door during meal times) and a chinese restaurant a few doors down on the other side. I believe there's also a Boll Weevil's at the far end of the strip mall. Click here for the Fix Me a Plate Café menu. I went to the Fix Me a Plate Café with my mom shortly after they opened. They were training staff so after just about every question we had asked our server she had to go into the kitchen to find out the answer. Anyway, the catfish was quite good...coated with corn meal and fried. The dinner plate gets you more pieces of catfish (I think 3 as opposed to just two). The Po Boys on the menu seem to be the least costly items, though neither of us ordered them. Overall, we liked the food. It really made us miss the southern cooking of the legendary Bren Dory's which used to be in Chula Vista/Bonita and later, Imperial Beach. Now that was some good food! Too bad they went out of business. edited for clarity

If it's somewhere in Tahiti or Hawai'i, yes, please.

I agree with the grilled asparagus. My brother makes a homemade Italian dressing and lets the asparagus marinate in it, then grills them until done. Very good. This past weekend on his PBS series "BBQ U", Steven Raichlen simply grilled some green onions and jalapeños for topping Tex-Mex flatiron steaks. "Show 402: The New Face of Beef" Here's the recipe section of his show for more ideas.

Excellent point. My wok has a wooden handle that definitely wiggles when I use it. I pray to the kitchen gods that it won't break off while in the middle of a stir-fry! My wok is also without a helper handle (or ear, as you're calling it). It certainly would have come in handy (no pun intended).

Hypermarket, eh? Some of the western U.S. grocery chains have their own versions. The Von's chain has (or used to have) their "Von's Pavilions" which are extra large grocery stores offering more than the usual neighborhood grocery stores. The Albertson's chain (which took over the Lucky's chain) had a mega-store called "The Advantage" which offered pre-made everything, from potato sausages to chinese stirfrys in addition to groceries. The Alberston's on Balboa Avenue in San Diego (between the 805 and 163 Freeways) used to be an "Advantage" store. While labeled as just an "Albertson's" now, they still offer quite a bit more than a regular grocery store. Of course, there are always the Super WalMarts, Super K-Marts and Super-Targets that sell everything under the sun, from groceries to camping gear. In another San Diego thread, someone posted a link where you could find all the farmer's markets in San Diego...will try and dig that up. edited to add: Here is the link for Ceritifed Farmer's Markets in San Diego county - Click here. Where it asks for Market City, type in San Diego.

Wow...talk about plagarism!

I'm guessing you've max'ed out the temperature control? The coolant in the fridge may need re-charging. Not sure who you'd call to do this. Check the door seal to see if it needs replacing. The old test is to close the door on a dollar bill and if you can easily pull the dollar bill out, the seal is not working properly and you're losing cold air. Do this all along the seal to check for warping. You can also try placing large plastic containers of water (like those gallon jugs you can buy in the stores) in your fridge. You will lose precious interior real estate but the jugs of water will act like the opposite of a heat sink...they will help hold the cooler temperature longer. A full fridge stays cooler than an empty fridge. A friend of mine has an RV with a mini-fridge that isn't the best either. She uses a small battery-powered fan on the inside to help circulate the cold air. Of course, she only uses the fan when they go off on vacation. I imagine you'd run up a big battery bill if you used the fan for a home fridge.

Great idea! I've been doing the sort of the opposite. I'll put the sliced carrots into a bowl and mix them up with evoo, salt, pepper and lots of cumin. Roast them like the eG roasted cauliflower recipe. The delicious aroma as they roast fills the house. But the cumin flavor seems to evaporate once the roasting is done. Adding it on the back end of roasting is a great solution to this. There's a taco shop on Mission Gorge (I want to say north of the Soup Plantation strip mall) that makes their own pickled carrots & peppers. I haven't tried them but just looking at them made my mouth water!

I agree that the wok develops the flavor over time. But how does the brand new wok get the "wok hey"? The flavor has to come from somewhere originally. My belief is it's the accumulation of flames (ShaoHsing wine) burning oil. And perhaps washing the wok without soap would keep the grease on? ← Yes, exactly. The wok-hey comes from continuously cooking in it overtime. It's a build-up of something...I have no idea what it is. But you can see it in the wok. As for the washing without soap, that's the same thing I've heard through the rumor-mill. Just use very hot water. Dry the wok and then put it back on a hot burner/flame (just like what you would do with a cast iron skillet) until any damp spots are gone and the wok is completely dry. This flame drying helps prevent rust on the wok. There are supposed to be special (bamboo?) brushes, too, that you can buy that are supposed to help clean your wok without disturbing the wok-hey (hai?). I'll try to post a picture of my still-developing wok.

I've never done this with a Maitre D'. However, I always generously overtip on the first drink in a bar when I get it myself (as opposed to being served by a waitress). The bartenders always remember me and will bypass everyone else to serve up my next drink.

That's very interesting. As far as I know, the smoky flavor of chow fun is related to "wok-chi", the high heat of the wok. If that isn't it, is there any way you can contact the restaurant and find out how they get the smoky flavor? I'm definitely interested in knowing. ← There's a local chinese restaurant that makes a great beef chow fun. It is their well-seasoned wok (the "Wok-hey", I believe) that gives the dish its smokey flavor. This isn't something you can duplicate with a spice or sauce. The wok itself develops the flavor over time.

My current favorite is: "The rehabilitation of a failed baker, A progress report" in the Pastry & Baking forum. Gerhard (gsquared) is a real trooper and is getting some great advice from the world over. Plus, he has a great sense of humor: