jschyun

I've decided I want to be Canadian, in particular, I want to be a Vancouverite. It's not so much because I want to "perform the sexual act in the style of the hound" as per jamiemaw's suggestion for marital stability. Nor is it because I have any problem with 2 holidays smashed together in a short period of time. Mainly, I figure the Chinese shops will be open on Canadian Thanksgiving, but nobody will be going there. Therefore, I will have the dim sum houses all to myself. Vancouver dim sum is legendary, needless to say. I can't wait to get back to the one in President Plaza or Kirin on Cambie, or even Sun Sui Wah. With all those pesky locals out of the way, I can finally hit 2 or 3 places in a row and still have time to make a matinee movie.

Seriously? Better than Kirin on Cambie? Thanks for the tip, I am so there.

I guess I'm late to the party, and you've already put the doors back on, but I like the look of brushed steel knobs on white painted cabinetry. they're pretty cheap at home depot (I checked a long time ago however) --plus you don't have to clean your cabinets as much

Yes, kastella (kasutera) is essentially sponge caake, sometimes the texture is almost like angel food cake, but just slightly denser. My favorite is also matcha (green tea) flavor. I love the beautiful green color as well. There's a lot of (ahem) borrowing that goes on between countries in the Far East. thus it is no surprise that I see it often at Korean bakeries here in Los Angeles and Orange County as well. hehe. Actually, I can't recall seeing it at the few Japanese bakeries I've tried. recipe for matcha kastella cake (green tea chiffon cake) in English a little history and recipe for plain version (English) --oh no, I reread the original post and realized it asked for steamed cake recipe. steamed cake recipe will prob be different. I'll look around.

That's Crazy Legs Conti's movie. I saw it in the theaters during the Los Angeles Film Festival and I gagged at several points in the movie. I dunno, I mean I like competition and all, but...oh geez. However, the movie is compelling in the "I wonder when they'll barf" way and you get to see some interesting personalities. Kobayashi, the hot dog eating champ, doesn't say much, but you could tell he knows he is a star. Conti was watching the movie in the back of the room, along with Grace Lee,the creator of the short movie that precedes it, which was actually the movie I had come to see because my cousin had produced it. He's actually pretty slim, which you see in the movie, but it's really kind of weird shaking his soft, skinny hand and looking at his pale skinny legs, after seeing him eat enough oysters to make him look seriously pregnant. He seemed very polite and nice but a little, uh, funky. If I remember correctly, he was wearing a frilly white shirt with a pale blue tux top and matching shorts that showed off his skinny legs. He's very tall actually.

Beautiful pics GG Mora. Those pattypan squash are just beautiful. And the cauliflower is so big! Also, I've never had delicata squash and when someone gives me seed, I give it away. How does it taste and what do you use it for?

Well, snowangel, first off, I'd like to say I'm glad you got something out of that patch. Those first posts on your snowy cold garden really broke my heart. My season ended early this year, for the simple reason that I let it die. Before that I had a pretty good harvest, esp of peppers this year, but I neglected everything, and nothing was as good as it could have been. And next year, I'll have even less time. I'm starting to sprout and plant beets, carrots, spinach, a host of korean seeds: herbs, greens, cabbages, and radishes. For those of you in a colder environment, if you start carrots (and I forget what else) sometime in the summer, you can throw some hay or something over them and then be able to dig them throughout the winter. At least that's what I've read in various magazines and books. Here in Southern California, I can't really put that tip to the test.

Quick search reveals the truth: Why Canadians and old-timer Americans call it Kraft Dinner Here's an excerpt --back on topic, I like yellowtail collar, Japanese style. I do like the eyes, but only sort of. cheeks are always very good sauteed or just steamed with the rest of the fish. There's no part of the fish I don't like except maybe the fins and jaw.

Calvin Trillin (American writer) calls it Kraft Dinner. It's an older term for it. Possibly an East Coast thing?

I thought the major reason you went to a bris was so you could get honey cake. Stupid question: How long does schmaltz keep? I mean, you don't like refrigerate it or anything, do you?

yum curry. I've read the back of the S&B curry block box and I think mostly it's just flour and some fat or oil (I believe I've seen beef fat in the list) and curry powder and then probably MSG. I suppose one could google "S&B curry" or "House curry" and find out for sure. I'm almost positive there are no fish products in those little curry blocks. Fish products don't fit in a roux anyway.

re Artisan Baker's and marie-louise's comments re: Fine Cooking You know what, now that I think about it, I haven't looked at it much lately. I remember the days when it first came out and the pictures were very clear, and gorgeous. If you have a good library with a "Friend of the Library" bookstore adjacent, you can sometimes score some great cookbook/magazine deal. My all time favorite are about 5 or so of the green bound cooks Illustrated books. Each book was $2. Also, I got Larousse Gastronomique for $5. I sometimes can score Cooks Illustrated or Saveur mags for $.25 each.

mjs, I actually don't think NY Korean restaurants are bad. I have relatives and friends there who are pretty happy. I stupidly let myself be affected by Todd36 who seems to be hell bent on showing that Korean food is chock full of MSG,which is incorrect. Todd36, for the love of God, let it go. The only reason why i'm even responding is because I fear many people will read your comments and immediately assume you're right about a whole cuisine you barely know. Try looking up kimchi and lactic acid. I'm waiting for those results about MSG amounts in kimchi. Wow, fish sauce is the classic kimchi "flavor enhancer", eh? I guess an expert like you would know, so far be it for me to argue. Wow, maybe you should write a book.

This is a good example of skewing your search in trying to prove your point. If you just do a google search on "kimchi recipe" you'll find your hits will not have MSG. I didn't need to do a google search, having several kimchi cookbooks at home, but I was not surprised to find that searching under "kimchi recipe" in google didn't turn up any recipes in the first page asking for MSG. Actually, in the home, peopel I know don't use MSG, but in commercial preparations, I can see it being used, though I know the brand I buy does not have any. MSG does make things taste better. For instance, I'm sure Pasta-Roni would be totally inedible without MSG. Actually, soondubu chigae usually has some MSG in it, at least the good ones do, in my experience. Maybe that's why that family didn't like it, hehe. mascarpone. Next time I'm in NY, I'll try Seoul Garden. It sounds lovely. I did hear that there are some good places in Jersey too. --uh, maybe to you kimchi is a flavoring agent, but you clearly don't eat Korean food that much. If "designed to be eaten with something else" is the determining factor, then geez I guess mashed potatoes is a flavoring agent as well.

You're so right, Todd36. And the fact that the original poster implied that many other NY Korean restaurants used MSG leads me then to believe that NY Korean restaurants must be much worse than what I'm used to here in Southern California. Again, you're right in saying that soy sauce has pretty high levels of the stuff, so hell, if they can't make a dish taste good with normal ingredients and have to resort to the evil white taste powder, then they must be pretty bad. But I won't have a real opinion until I've asked everyone's mom of course (please see "Mom knows best" rule 2 posts back.) Parmesan cheese has lots of glutamates, and so do tomato products, but you don't see Westerners asking about the MSG content of Italian dishes. OTOH, the glutamates in soy sauce are free glutamates which are more quickly taken up by the consumer. But, I've seen people who eat ketchup (lots of free glutamates here) just fine but hold off on the Chinese takeout because they don't want MSG in their food. This is the subtly racist idiocy that still permeates our culture, a holdover, no doubt, from the days of The Yellow Peril. --by the way, kimchi is not a flavoring agent. It's an actual food on its own. As for it containing large amounts of glutamates, I request that you provide proof. I have eaten and made kimchi all my life and most types I can think of do not have the distinct glutamic acid taste I would otherwise immediately recognize.

Well, maybe I'm wrong. The sample is very small. The reason why I think that the fact that the korean family didn't like it isa bad sign is due to what I will call my "Mom knows best" rule of restaurant eating. If I check with all my (Korean) friends and none of their moms like a restaurant then I pretty much am guaranteed a shitty meal. But then what is shitty? Of course the answer to that varies with each person, but somehow, if I ever failed to heed this rule, I have had to pay the consequences. And it's not just for Korean food. This rule works really well in Chinese food, especially if you're looking for cheap and relatively good. Speaking of mothers, someone was talking about Jewish chicken soup, well, I read Dan Greenburg's book "How to be a Jewish Mother" and it was like I was reading about my mom! Obviously you have had a good meal here, so don't listen to my babbling. It's just that I've had my share of bad meals and it was my knee-jerk reaction to say something. Sorry. Carry on. By the way, I notice that a lot of Korean restaurants here in CA do not put MSG in anything. I specifically ask to make sure. I am surprised that many restaurants use it in NY.

I hate to say this, but in my experience, this is a very bad sign.

I haven't had omija tea in years, but I do know that the color in the picture matches what I've had, a dark pink. Actually, to me it tastes like fruit punch with a sort of cranberry kick.

From University of Hawaii. Found out about it on gardenweb.com. on this thread Because soil conditions are different in Hawaii than they are in most other places, flavors may vary in the grown vegetable. But it would be interesting to cook with fresh Koba green onions, as opposed to my usual Korean bunching variety. I'm kind of curious about the papaya seeds too. U of H Seed list: includes short list of veggies, papaya, etc. HGP (home garden packets) are mostly $1 each. Not bad! FYI

I was thinking of you guys as I had gaejang today. I'm sorry people, but that "cure" does not rid the crab of all the bacteria. But I'm guessing it does help somewhat. You definitely need to keep it refrigerated to keep the bacteria count down. I try not to eat gaejang too much. Also, do not make gaejang with freshwater crabs, esp where the "oriental lung fluke" is prevalent. If you eat the infected crabs raw, you will get infected as well. Also don't eat other shellfish raw from these regions, like raw shrimp or crayfish (ack I just had live amaebi sushi from Japan with the shrimp guts all over it! and it was so good...). To be honest, I have not followed up as to whether or not freezing would split and kill the metacercariae (larval stage of the fluke, sort of an egg with a hard shell around it). Paragonimus westermani, aka oriental lung fluke Basically in humans, the flukes are usually found in the lungs, but they can also go roam around anywhere in your body. They don't do much, but you can get chest pain and sometimes abscesses in your lungs and sometimes they do get into your brain. Fun stuff like that. Here in the United States, gaejang is made with those blue crabs from Maryland. Those are okay, in terms of infection with the oriental lung fluke, because they are saltwater. My favorite way of eating it is using a chopstick to push out the meat in the body and then squeezing the legs with my fingers until the meat pops out and then I eat it. Actually, I've had a non spicy version of gaejang. I dunno the actual name, but i suppose it is somewhere along the lines of "ganjang gaejang" (soy sauce marinated baby blue crabs)

I dislike chunggukjang and I can't get myself to eat natto or chodofu (Chinese stinky tofu). What can I say, I'm Americanized. Thanks melonpan. I've only seen chunggukjang in chigae form. I recently saw it at Seoul Soondae (blood sausage chain restaurant). The only reason i'm goign to order it is to report how much worse/better it tastes than homemade.

I drooled over your New Year's blog. So beautiful...I was in pain. I like how you serve things on your cutting board. I intend on doing that very same thing on the remote chance that I ever have kids. Also, I love how you neatly use up things that are in the house.

Like twiggles, I have been to TenRen (they have numerous shops, some of which serve tea, some just sell it) and like it a lot. It's cheap, and I find the tea to be good for the price. I recently bought some $100 per lb. organic dragonwell tea that is not the absolute best quality (leaves are flat and sort of broken looking), but they sell it in large, 1/10 lb $10 bags which suit my budget and my tastes just fine. My favorite location (Chinese mall in El Cerrito, CA) has a good selection of cheap and cheerful boxes/packages of tea, for those seeking common Chinese teas.

Chakra (Irvine, CA) -- sort of a cool nightclub with Indian food. Next to the UCI campus. I had a shrimp dish which was decent. They give unlimited refills of mango juice/lassi and I think soda. New Capital (Rowland Heights, CA) -- dim sum stalwart east of the Monterey Park. Not such a good meal, but I'm trying to stay away from Sea Harbour. China Garden (Irvine, CA) -- dim sum house, fairly small, but menu keeps getting better an better. I really like this place better than any other dim sum in OC. Really liked the lobak, of course the dan tat (egg custard tarts, but a little on the sweet side) seafood dumplings. Ate too much.

I beg to differ. Koi Palace is about 400 miles north of the Sea Harbour (Rosemead, SoCal, the one tissue introduced to a bunch of the L.A. eGulleters) that I'm talking about. I hope nobody thought I meant the Sea Harbour in the Bay Area. I think there is one, but I haven't been. - But yeah, Koi Palace is 20 min south of SF (driving).