jschyun

I like going to this one store (Grocery Direct) that packages berries with plastic rubberbanded on top of the berry basket because I'm otherwise always stuck with the crap berries that others cull out from theirs. Also, they're inexpensive and almost every berry is pure red all the way through and sweeeeeet. It's not that easy to bruise onions, so I wouldn't feel bad about going through a couple to get an especially large or small one for dinner. However, I try not to mess around with soft stuff like tomatoes, or eggplants, because they are easy to bruise. Luckily I grow my own squash. At the market, I look at the limp specimens that have obviously seen better days, and wonder who would ever want them. (I'm still talking about squash here) Summer squash is very easy to bruise, esp the kinds I like best. I don't understand the whole free fruit thing. Doesn't your market offer samples? You can try all sorts of things, even some stuff you wouldn't have tried otherwise. A lot of markets seem to offer this on weekends. Some higher end markets offer samples every day. I have tried combination of say goat cheese and cranberry sauce and something else that I never would have tried on my own, but was actually...not bad. I also sometimes put back stuff that other people have tossed into the wrong spot, but I think it's just compulsiveness on my part.

Thank you so much! Looks like I won't get those pics so I'm just going to say that President and Kirin definitely tops any dim sum I've ever had in California. I also went to Sun Sui Wah, and I understand why they make it number one, because it's your typical family style dim sum, with cart ladies, rushing waiters and such. I personally think it is on par with the best of this type in California. I did of course try the har gau at Kirin and Richmond restaurant in President Plaza, 2nd floor (this was the right place, right? If not, it was verygood) Both places had textbook perfect hargau, something I've never seen before. Every fold was perfect. Almost complete symmetry. Taste of course was excellent. Here in California, I've seen close to perfect, but not like it came straight out of a Wei-Chuan book. All our other dishes were excellent, at both places as well. I chuckled when I saw a perfect egg tart with ginger sauce at President. This is a simple ting that a place in San Gabriel (Mission 261) screws up royally. My only regret is that I couldn't sample chicken feet. Next time I'll go to Kirin for dinner and President again for dim sum. President had more variety, though Kirin did have shark fin dumpling soup which was excellent. Tried a different soup at President (had crab in it) which was quite good as well. Also, my SO loves mango pudding and I have to admit, Kirin's is probably one of the few I think are worth ordering. I've never had such luscious, full mango taste in that dessert. It was like eating a chilled mango with a spoon. The President plaza place also had a deal where you get 20% off dim sum ordered before 11am. Is this normal in Vancouver? I read on the China board here that Toronto has the best dim sum in North America. Time for another trip!

I agree that this is protectionism. Why Republicans get all the credit for being all about free trade, when they do such blatantly protectionist actions like the shrimp tariffs on Vietnam (93%) and China (113%) , I'll never know. msnbc piece

I don't get it either. I suspect it's probably less prevalent in a place like Monterey Park, but I'm sure it still happens even there. I'm Korean-Am, and I know that a few Korean restaurants in L.A. and Orange County deliberately make their foods (barbecue marinades, whatever) sweeter. I, my friends and family avoid those places. However, I noticed that the Americans do seem to prefer the sweeter, less...strong(?) stuff and rave about those restaurants. What I find interesting is that Chinese people seem to prefer the Korean places that Koreans prefer and not the washed out, sweet stuff that most Americans of my acquaintence seem to like. We have lots of Chinese (actually I think mostly Taiwanese) and they seem to know all my favorite haunts.

Just a question, why do you guys hate Boulevard so much? I'm not going to argue that's it's a destination restaurant, but I've been there a couple of times, and never had a horrible meal. And usually, I get out of there for around $100 (back in the day) - $200 per couple, which seems cheaper than CNH. Perhaps you can enlighten me, as I admit, I'm more about Asian food than Western style food. --I'll admit the recent dessert offerings aren't my faves.

Yeah, Solvang is totally touristy. Honestly, if you're looking for good food, I would avoid it. Mostly it's lunch buffets, fudge shops, soft serve ice cream, and places to get a danish (get it? haha). However, the freak factor is in its favor. Solvang is the self-described "The Danish Capital of America" and when you drive up, you see a bunch of high peaked houses. Lots of tour buses. Even more tourists. I had a lunch buffet there once, and I knew it was going to be bad, and I was not disappointed. I've had the danishes at a couple of places, and they were alright. I liked the fudge shop at the east end of Solvang as a kid, but now, it looks to me like any old touristy fudge shop, in any old tourist pit stop. But the one thing they really push is the aebleskiver. It's described accurately in the Solvang Visitor's Bureau site as "jam-draped, powdered sugar-dusted Danish pancake balls". I have eaten it with the sausages they offer (bockwurst?) and without. I prefer it with sausage, because otherwise you're choking down a very sweet doughball. Oooh, pancake balls with sausage! I'll take two! Strangely enough, you will see the aebleskiver at some L.A. farmer's markets. I know I saw a stand selling it at Hollywood FM. If you decide not to go to Solvang and regret it, simply drive on over to Hollywood Farmer's Market and get an aebleskiver from the stand. As for L.A. not having much to offer, I feel that is untrue and unfair. But you definitely need a car. It's not like San Fran or NYC. Everything is spread out.

I love the type of spring rolls that were in Gary's pic. The wrapper is very thin and very different from the Americanized egg roll that Jason's picture showed. The thing I love about spring rolls and also lumpia, is the fact that the skin is a bunch of thin, crispy layers, so it's sort of like biting into savory baklava. Okay, not exactly, but I'm not good with descriptions. I love it when I bite into a spring roll, and the crust shatters into a thousand golden shards onto my plate, and the filling is still hot from the fryer. At dim sum, the server often cuts the spring roll in half and that's good for sharing, but i think I prefer biting into a whole one myself. Lilke others, I have only seen the chimichanga style egg roll at places like Panda Express or other fast food Chinese places. I don't like it as much as the other kind, because I like that thin, crispy spring roll skin. We have an "upscale" Americanized Chinese place here called P.F. Chiang's, that might also have it, but I haven't been there.

I am now convinced that US customs officials are not randomly chucking stuff, as I once was led to believe. I heard the Canada border was problematic, but now I believe the rules are the same at every checkpoint. I have now been back from Hawaii, went through a very thorough agricultural screening process, and brought back cheese, bread, and pasteurized juice with no problem (it was my lunch). Brought back and declared cheese and chocolate from Paris without so much as a glance from customs. Brought back cheese, chocolate, bread, and pasteurized juices from Vancouver without so much as a "what is that smell?". Main point is, cheese, bread, and chocolate, and things that are pasteurized are considered low risk here, compared to veggies, fruits, even meats. I wouldn't even want to bring plant material back to the States. I read too much about plant disease/pest infestations and how they got started to want to do that. "When in doubt, throw it out", is a good rule, but now I have no doubt that cheese, chocolate and bread are okay to bring back to the U.S. Yay! Interesting thing: the guy at les amis du fromage said that they can't get robluchon in Canada, due to the bacterial content.

LA Times Food Section -- July 7, 2004 To view the articles below, register a username with www.latimes.com. Registration is free. There is a separate Calendar section with more food articles, but you have to pay a fee for those. The orchard masters -- Russ Parsons Fitz Kelly (Fitzgerald's Premium Ripe Tree Fruit ) and Art Lange (Honey Crisp Farms) are two growers that embody excellence in farming. Their incredibly sweet and juicy fruit can be found at farmers markets in SF (Ferry Market) and L.A. Choose the ripest, then enjoy -- Russ Parsons Parsons shows you how to choose, ripen, store, and serve your peaches and nectarines. Recipes Italian charm in our own Venice -- S. Irene Virbila She gives 2 stars to Piccolo Cipriani, in Venice. Charming little 10 table place with "enthusiastic owners". She liked pastas, some specials here. Basic wine list (mostly italian). Thursday night tasting menu The small, the good and the beautiful -- Susan LaTempa Story about what people are doing now with canapés. Great for summer parties Recipes Just a gigantic rumble in the belly? -- Corie Brown A hilarious story about how the "culinary world shakes it head over the growing influence of food TV". Focus is mostly on Rachel Ray, who irritates culinary professionals with her perky demeanor and has the #1 rated show (30 minute meals) on the Food Network. The long and cool of it -- David Lansing In Vegas, he finds cocktail excellence thanks to Fritz Lipari (Commander's Palace), and Tony Abou-Ganim (formerly of Bellagio). Recipes In London, the sun rises on a new culinary empire -- David Shaw Thanks to the strong pound, overnight flights, increasingly sophisticated diners, the food scene in London has never been better. Wine of the Week -- S. Irene Virbila 2002 Domaine Henri Perrot-Minot Chambolle Musigny vieilles vignes: "The texture is incredibly silky, the fruit fine and sweet, with something of the earth behind it and a heady scent of dark cherries and blackberries. A very pretty wine, one that can turn a simple roast chicken into a feast." about $50 Correction Last week's Ludovic Lefebvre article mentioned binochon wood, which comes from Japan not China. Also wrong supplier. Correction June 16 Wine of the Week article. Bandol is east of Marseille not south. Correction Last week review of Norman's (calendarlive story). Norman's is in WeHo, not Los Angeles.

Oh, you mean Jollibee. Haven't been to the one in Union City, but I frequently pass by the Cerritos location. I haven't yet gone, because I'm trying to seek out the non-fast food Filipino restaurants, but it remains a tempting option. California is the only state in the U.S. with Jollibee locations. Same with the Goldilocks bakery chain.

Are you sure you're not thinking of L.A.? It seems to me that there is much more of a variety of Thai food there, than in the SF Bay Area, but I could be wrong. Not to mention that one fabulous Thai sweets shop open till about 2 am and is one of my very favorite places. L.A. boasts a "Thai Town" where lots of the Thai joints are located. SF has no Thai Town that I know of. Vietnamese food seems to have the most variety in Orange County (Southern Cal, 1 hour south of L.A.). Probably because we have a lot of Republicans here. Someone mentioned the Vietnamese food in Oakland somewhere, and I do remember some really good food there. I've never had good Vietnamese food in SF, not for lack of trying, but I heard about this one crab place in Richmond area, I think, that was supposed to be good. Oh wait, I think I once had a good, cheap sandwich near the Civic Center. Filipino food, you'll find a lot of in Daly City, but that's kind of south of SF. And if you're going that way, you might as well have dim sum at Koi Palace, which is my personal fave in SF area. Does it have to be just Thai or Southeast Asian? I think you'll have better luck with California cuisine in SF, or maybe Chinese. Just my $.02. --grammar edit

There are several ways that I would eat them. When I was a kid, I would twist off that narrow little cap and then work the, uh, inner icy "pulp" with my grubby 10 year old fingers until it was sufficiently slushy enough to get through the little opening. Now that I'm an adult, I simply slice of the narrow end with a sharp knife, creating an opening about say 2/3" wide and squeeze the icy stuff out, like you do an otter pop. it sometimes helps to palpate the frozen treat before slicing off an end, esp if it's too frozen. So basically an otter pop, just a different shape, and the ice inside is not as icy, but a smoother grained texture, at least the ones I've had. I've seen people cut it up into little 1 " cylinders but that takes all the fun out of it.

Hey Jason, In your freezer pic, I just noticed something. There are these skinny white tubes between your Klondike Original bars and your Klondike Krunch. Are the tubes of frozen goodness, where you lop off the top and then work the icy, yet not frozen solid contents straight into mouth? I remember and love those! I've never seen only white before. What flavor is that? I'm used to getting a pack of those with an array of colors and throwing them into the freezer. Hmm, time to go shopping.

No, but you've got Luigi's Italian Ice... The closest thing I can get are those Dole fruit pop things and it doesn't even come close. Actually, I think you might be able to get Luigi's ice where you are. I know we usecd to get them here in crappy-ass Irvine, at the Italian market, before it got turned into some dance studio. It's been a while, but I think it was the lemon that I liked so much. Or was it strawberry? I should stop by Claro's and find out if they have any. I'd be really surprised if you couldn't get it in Napa or surrounding areas.

Yes, that's what I was talking about. It's on that sliver of land, next to Safeway. I never went there, but that's the only Thai restaurant on Market, near Safeway that I know of. Oh my God, Hot and Chunky is gone! Big Heart City nightclub is next to the mission street parking garage?

wasn't it woo lae oak that committed the cardinal sin of making patrons pay for banchan? or am i making that up? if true, it should be closed, razed to the ground and the earth plowed with salt. I honestly don't think this was Woo Lae Oak. Actually, I thought it was Japanese yakiniku places charge for panchan but I can't think of an example off the top of my head.

I think I know the Thai place you're talking about. It was right in front of Safeway, on Market off Church, as megc said, but that place has been gone for a while now. I think some burger place or something like that replaced it. Squeat Mungry would know since he's right around there. As for other Thai, I haven't eaten it extensively enough in SF to make suggestions. --the name is The Thai House. It was on Market, off I think Sanchez, about a block or so from Safeway. The one on Noe might still be open, but i haven't checked. They were owned by the same people.

If it's obviously negligent, then I wouldn't go back. At one Mexican restaurant, long ago, I got a fly perfectly encased in some grated cheese from a can on top of my beans. They could have easily plucked it out, but maybe it was a garnish? Never went back, even though I ate around the fly. Anyway, it was a dubious recommendation from a friend. --ack pressed too soon

My personal nemesis were frozen juice cans with the plastic strip around the top. You are supposed to take the plastic strip and pull it and the round top is supposed to pop off. Invariably, the plastic strip shreds off in the middle of opening it, and I have to hunt around for a can opener that eventually pops it off, but not without a lot of syrupy juice concentrate spattering around the kitchen. I don't really drink frozen juice anymore, but I do like the fact that they have less packaging than bottled juice. Easy to recycle too.

In my experience, at the airport, no. Via auto is another completely different story. I wouldn't risk bringing any foodstuff across the border into the US in a private vehicle. If you declare it, I guarantee there is a 99.9999% chance you'll have to trash it, if you don't declare it, chances are slim they will find it, and if they do you plead ignorance that it was in the car, not ignorance of the law. ("We were having a picnic, and I thought my wife said she threw the rest out, because we clearly understand the laws regarding the importantion of banned foodstuffs.") But do you really want to ruin your vacation over cheese? I'd recommend scrapping the cheese if your are driving back into the states. Guess what? US customs could care less about taking away your raw milk cheeses. US border agents are far more interested in drugs (prescription or otherwise), meats, vegetable and fruit material. I went through the whole agricultural inspection, including a full inspection of my car, and they didn't even touch my cheese, chocolates or Terra breads. I was there because I had some kiwi skins I wanted to throw away, but had forgotten about until the last minute. Being upstanding citizen that I am, I reported said kiwi skins, affording me the dubious pleasure of getting all my stuff searched. The guy asked me if I had sausages (eying the bread and cheese rind on the dashboard), then asked if I had Chinese herbal medicines containing bugs, and then asked about fruits, veggies, plant material. He searched my car, found nothing, and I drove off, sans kiwi skins. Those gold kiwis were awesome, almost banana/melon-like in flavor. 3 for $1! I also got some huge, sweet raspberries the size of blackberries at a market right underneath Kirin on Cambie, where I had just feasted on some very good dim sum, but more on that later when I get my pics back. I took these pics just before the border...just in case. l-r, clockwise: some plain old brie for my sweetie, 5 year old Quebec cheddar, double cream camembert (a bit over the hill), and Moonstruck's "white moon" cheese which is basically a mild soft cheese, kind of like brie (yum). l-r: le champenois from Langres, got smashed during transit, but appears to be a fairly mild runny cheese; a raw milk goat cheese from France (Soignon) that was the absolute best of the stuff I've had so far, and another very mild, brie-like raw milk cheese for my SO. I also got a chunk of Gourmelin, which is pretty Brie-like, but tastes better than Brie to me. I got a lot of soft cheeses this time. I opened the Soignon goat cheese to put on some of my crusty, yet stretchy and tender-crumbed Terra multi-grain bread, in what was originally a deserted corner of a coffeeshop, at Oakland airport. after 3 hours in a car, 1.5 hours in a plane, the cheese was practically liquid, and oh geez, the stench! It was as if someone had farted in a dirty sock. Curiously, I didn't get kicked out of that cafe, even though it started getting busy. I tried to look up once ina while, and give apologetic looks to people between bites. After a while, you don't even notice the smell, and the lush, salty, funky ripeness on the tongue, more than made up for it. It was especially good with the moist, nutty multi-grain bread from Terra. Thanks to comments here and les amis manager, I got it at the Terra shop in Kits(?) I think, about 4 or so blocks from les amis du fromages, and right in front of a Safeway. Thanks for all the awesome recs! I had to go to the Capilano Bridge thingy because I was overruled, but at least I ate some damn good food this time!

70's or 80's tv show Alice: "Kiss mah greeuhts!"

Interesting. Had not heard that. Actually, if you read the blurbs on all of those spinach varieties that Evergreen sells, they're quite heat tolerant. Yes, I don't like the American stuff, because it shrivels and bolts too soon for me. OTOH, I did have luck with the variety "Teton" , which I found on the Ferry Morse rack at Lowe's. Interestingly, the leaves of Teton are on the flatter side, as opposed to severely crinkled like that old American standby, Bloomsdale Longstanding.

Evergreen does have Korean spinach, but it's just not advertised as such. The Oriental Spinach, Hybrid Ace looks exactly like the Korean spinach, down to the pink stem. Also at $1.60, it's quite cheap. --okay the Hybrid Ace is advertised as Japanese but heck it's the same thing

Actually, when I was in school in SoCal, they sold It's It's in the cafeteria for I think 75 cents? or was it a dollar. Anyhow, they had several flavors and my fave is that mint chocolate one. Geez, it's been a while.

You mean the light green melon bars? These are available at any Korean grocer. I know you can get them in NJ. Also, I love those mochi ice creams. ball of ice cream surrounded by mochi. I like mango, green tea. You can get them cheap at Trader Joes.