jschyun

He can eat very mild kimchi, like dongchimi or baek kimchi. And he can eat grilled beef, chicken, lots of the fried stuff, various veggie dishes, fish. There's lots of good things to eat. But he can't eat soft tofu, most of our favorite kimchis, and some soups, bibimbap (because of the red pepper paste), and okay a lot of other stuff.

Does anyone know of a place in Austin that has Asian veggie plants/seeds? Would really prefer seeds, but plants will do. --actually, do you know if any Asian markets carry this stuff? Some do and some don't.

God I hate "vegetarians" like this. They give real vegetarians a bad name. And of course, they're the loudest. Here's my story: I used to be a vegetarian for abunch of years, until a year ago. I still love interesting veggies. My SO eats tons of beef and dislikes veggies except fries, corn, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I like trying different cuisines and I love anything that has some spice to it, but I don't consider myself a chili freak. He can't eat spicy food. I favor a variety of Asian and Indian restaurants. He likes to eat Pasta-Roni at home. I'm lactose intolerance, so I pretty much know all about the soy/rice/almond/etc alternatives to milk. He drinks milk by the gallon. The good thing is, he's willing to go wherever I take him. Together we've had some very good meals, esp when he can't eat something I really like! I'm very happy to report that despite his unbelievable intolerance of the slightest hint of heat, he likes Korean food.

Is there a noticeable difference between busters and longer-out-of-the-shell soft shell crabs? If so, can you order one at a restaurant? Forgive me if this is an ignorant question, but I have always been curious about busters.

I don't remember seeing soup dumplings at dim sum, though I think it may be from bad memory. However, I see xiao long bao (juicy dumplings) at a lot of dim sum places in California these days. I don't remember seeing them 10 years ago, but then there's that bad memory again.

A sushi restaurant near me does this dish with rings of baby squid in miso. I love it.

This place is still having problems, particularly with the baked stuff and steamed bao. At about $55 (depending on how much you eat of course, this is about 6 dishes and a large dish for us) for 2 pple, I am getting tired of the inconsistent quality of the food here. Still inconsistent, still expensive. I tell my friends to go to the sister restaurant Sea harbour in Rosemead. The only thing I would go here for is the black cod/shrimp dumplings. Those are consistently delicious to me. Anybody else have probs here?

On the whole, I suppose Korean is up there, compared to say, French, or Japanese. However, I eat Korean food morning, noon, and night, and I have to say, I still don't think it's spicy compared to say, Thai. Just my opinion. Mexican? Hmm, I guess it depends where you're talking about. My answers: 1. Personally, I would guess Thai, in general has the spiciest food, esp if you eat the peppers by accident. 2. The spiciest dish for me would have been this one Chinese hot pot sort of thing I had, somewhere in L.A. area. I forget where it was, maybe the heat addled my brain, but damn it was hot.

I've had beet salad more times than I can count, and i have to say, the better ones have had baby beets roasted then cut up and put together with the other ingredients. That said, I'm not a big fan of beet salad in general. I am thinking of trying Carolyn Tillie's grated beet recipe, as I am sick of roasted/sauteed/buttered baby beets.

yeah, that's not a bad way to go. 17! How many human years is that? I hope my dogs live that long. The worst party was one where I helped the host to set up. The host was my best friend, a programmer. The guests were mostly programmers from work. The food was great, some Chinese snacks made by wife, stuff trucked in from Andronicos and other places around his house, tons of beer,soda, and wine in fridge, on ice, etc. The guests came, sat down and proceeded to say almost nothing for several hours. They picked at the food. They drank water, maybe some soda. The clock ticked until bedtime, and they slowly trickled out. One programmer, hot for one of the girls who was invited, tried to impress her by playing Nintendo really well. Those two stayed until 2am, until I yelled at them to get out, because they were sitting on the couch (my bed, as I was staying over at their house for the weeknd)

I read somewhere that there was some fanatical French baguette baker who moved to Los Angeles. He supposedly sells his baguettes out of a side door, and supposedly they are fantastic. Anybody heard of this guy? Personally, I actually couldn't tell the difference between the Parisian baguettes I had and the ones I get in newport beach. I think one Parisian bakery was more delicate, crackly and tender in the middle, but they all go stale in like an hour anyway.

I was told by a retailer that Naked Juice (sort of like Odwalla) is the same juice that Trader Joe's bottles in those plastic bottles. Actually, I've seen Naked juice bottles at Trader Joe's, selling for trader joes prices, which of course, is much less than normal. That said I used to get Naked Juice tangerine juice and it was round, full, and sweet, while trader joe's/Naked juice tangerine juice during the same time was sour and not so good. But I haven't had tangerine juice in a while, so this may have changed.

What kind of soy milk did you use? I have tried making kheer with soy millk and it tasted awful, even though I like soy milk and I put in a lot of cardomam, pistachios and sugar to mask the taste. Part of the appeal of kheer for me is that ultra milky taste, but I pay for it later.

Sorry, I meant in the Bay Area. Pike Place also has a good view. I also like how they sell flowers for half price at the end of the day.

Just a note, I've only been to Zuni like once or twice but I have to say that though the food is okay, the company was even better in my experience. Let's just say, there seem to be a lot of politicians that eat there. But it's not that entertaining if you don't follow SF politics. I didn't really get it until my friend told me who they were.

It's kind of difficult to really describe the differences between the two. Actually, i have seen a variety of spearmint with roundish leaves and peppermint with pointy leaves! If you crush a leaf, that's the best test, I think. Peppermint is usually really strong, very minty, a toothpaste like aroma wafting in the air. Spearmint, in my experience, tends not to smell as strongly. That's why I would consider using it for Vietnamese food, but there's a Vietnamese mint that you should use instead, if you can get it. I have never seen spearmint that has dark stems, and the descriptions I've read suggest others haven't seen it either. But I believe it can happen, because stress and weather changes will do all sorts of things to plants. If your mint has dark stems, rounded leaves, and a very strong minty aroma (like toothpaste or mint candy), my guess is peppermint. --the rounded leaf spearmint I've seen was either lebanese or crap I forget. I gotta ask again. The guy I got it from uses it for tabbouleh, and I was told it was spearmint, but it occurred to me that I should have questioned that. It definitely has round leaves. However, spearmint generally does have pointy leaves.

The Ferry Market is the only farmers market I can think of that has a fantastic bay view. But I never understand why people like artichokes so much. I look outside and see those damn wild artichoke plants. I go to the store and see artichokes on sale. I go to the farmers market and see artichokes there. Artichokes, artichokes, artichokes! Ahh! Okay, I think my workload is getting to me. Oh, and are you sure you want to bring Dungeness(sp?) crabs on the plane? I think you should eat them right away. Not only will they stink up the plane unless you wrap it really, really well, but I don't know if they'll be good to eat after a 6 hour flight. Forgive me if this is ignorant, because I've never even considered the possibility of taking crab outside of a restaurant. But something in me says you can't do it, unless you have some sort of ice chest.

here, the packaged supermarket mint is usually spearmint. Spearmint has pure green, rounded (not all that pointy in my experience) leaves, and peppermint has pointy yet rounded leaves with purplish/reddish stems and leaf veins. For vietnamese dishes, I think you want neither of these, but if I had to sub, I would probably choose spearmint.

The last time I was in Korea was several years ago, I admit. However, the heat seemed to be about as much as I've ever seen in CA. Hmm, yook gae jang is hot yes, but I never thought it was that hot. Maybe I just go to the wrong places. We don't make it that hot at home. I mean yes it's red, but that doesn't mean anything. Lots of rice!

Ahahahha! Well, if your mother in law was sending you a message then she must have veggie psychic abilities because I think that's impossible for normal people. Hmm, biggest one on the plate, eh. I'll have to remember that. But I guess now that you've had you're head blown off by a chili pepper you're one of the gang? The peppers we've been getting at the local Korean market seem to be pretty bland. Come late summer, maybe they'll get better. I was going to grow my own this year, but now I'm too busy to baby those things. I do eat a lot of rice though, so maybe that's why I don't think things are so hot. A lot of people will say Korean food is so hot, but I sort of think they should just eat more rice. However, I eat more rice than even the average Korean person, so it's just my opinion. The Korean pepper heat seems to me to be a clean, pleasantly burning heat. I've never had digestive problems from anything Korean. If anything, the heat will work up a nice sweat and clear your sinuses. Good for you. I'm curious what will happen if I grind my Thai Dragon chilis and make something from them. I won't have enough to make my own kochujang (red pepper paste). Maybe I'll make soft tofu stew (soondubu chigae) or maybe cut them into really thin threads for a spicy kick in everything. Maybe I'll just leave well enough alone.

Damn, that does sound good! I think the standard ssun (sliced napa cabbage) kimchi goes really well with bacon/pork/fatty meat esp if cooked for a while until it disintegrates into each other.

If someone has mentioned this forgive me. Gelateria Naia (used to be mondo gelato) in berkeley has scharfenberger (sp) flavor. Good, even though I'm not a big fan of Scharf except cocoa. They change their flavors daily, but they also had Peeps flavor (as in the marshmallow confection). I had a taste and it tasted just like them (prob use marshmallow fluff).

You mean, you don't like the "star anise and pink peppercorn" confection? hehe. No need to shudder. I just had one and did it for you. However, I did like the earl grey stuff. i drink earl grey with chocolate all the time. See's may use Guittard chocolate as well, but it ain't the same thing. I used to go to Neuhaus all the time, before I wised up.

Too true. hehe. Actually, I like their seasonal paper mache (sp) boxes more than i like the chocolates inside. I also like the boxes from Kron chocolates, but I do like their chocolates as well. Recchiuti is decent, interesting shapes, good quality chocolate making an extra thin shell around the filling. Interesting fillings that sometimes work for me, sometimes not. Actually Citizen Cake had some little chocolates that were okay, not excellent (to me). They have a decent selection (about the same as Recchiuti) of the fruit pates as well. I like the green apple.

hehe