Text 10776, 105 rader
Skriven 2007-01-21 17:50:28 av Carol Shenkenberger (6:757/1)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: Re: CHOOK-FIL-A  70119
==============================
*** Quoting Glen Jamieson from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***

 GJ> what my mind *knew* was the west!

 CS> I know the feeling!  To me, the sun rises 'coastwards' and settles
 CS> 'west'.  I lived for 6 years in San Diego without really getting past
 CS> that feeling.  I had the same feeling in Darwin but it was because I
 CS> was sorta 'flipped upseide down'.  Dont be suprised if looking over my
 CS> older notes on Darwin I say 'north to Kitty O'sheas' when I was walking
 CS> fromthe water and it was the first bar (grin).  To walk it you go
 CS> south, seege west, then back east, then south a bit.
 CS> (I think, didnt have a compass with me).

GJ> Errr, no.  In fact, your original feeling was correct.  Darwin is
GJ> peculiar in that although it is on the North coast of Australia, the
GJ> cape that the city is on curves around, so it actually points South.
GJ> The main drag, Smith Street, runs from SE at the wharf end to NW.  If
GJ> you manage to get past Kitty O'Shea's (G) and keep walking in that
GJ> direction you fall into the sea again on the Casino Mindil Beach side.

hehehe ok, ya got me.  Ocean on the left of me as I walk past Kitty's (which i
do do at times!  At least, um, later....).  The casino I recall, is past
walking distance right?  Good end of town and a road that looks endless past
it?  Been there by taxi once but no interest on my side in casinos so never
went back.

 CS> little hidden italian place that is fusion Japanese and Italian and
 CS> it's really good.  Quite unexpected differences that work to a whole
 CS> that has to be experienced.  Spagetti cut to make it chopstick
 CS> friendly.  Mashed roasted garlic on toast with butter at the side. 
 CS> Tortalinis (sp?) with no sauce but mirin and olive oil dip and parmesan
 CS> at the side for the second dip (dip in oil/mirin then the cheese. 
 CS> Chopsticks are the only way to really handle that food neatly).  Sweet
 CS> pickled watermelon rind for dessert. 

GJ> Ah, but that is food with a different philosophy.  There you have
GJ> imaginative chefs taking ideas from elsewhere and adapting them to
GJ> suit local ingredients and eating habits - real fusion food.  (This is
GJ> done in Australia a lot, generally very successfully.)  The food to
GJ> avoid is where a local eatery attempts to produce replicas of foreign
GJ> food in an attempt to woo those tourists who refuse to try anything
GJ> that appears strange or different from their home-grown "burgers and
GJ> french fries with Coke".  These replica dishes almost invariably fail
GJ> to equal the originals, because of different ingredients and lack of
GJ> skill of the cooks.
GJ>  

True, and we see that all the time.  'Fusion doesnt mean a can of pinapple
added to pork to make it Hawaiian' for example.

Ther tortalinis arent far enough off the beaten path of the fried won-ton to be
'odd' but enough different to make a statement if done with care.

 GJ> It could be confusing when you return to USA.  Will USAn food be new
 GJ> and exciting to you, or disappointing?  Will you search for a good
 GJ> source of Japanese food or decide to cook it all yourself?

 CS> A bit of all that i am sure.  I didnt forget my roots in American
 CS> cookery, just shifted what I make at home due to what is cheaper and
 CS> more easily obtainable. I suspect my first reall cookery, will be a
 CS> slow roasted oven pork shoulder at 275 for 6-10 hours.  Idaho potatoes
 CS> roasted alongside in the last 2 hours.

GJ> I can certainly understand that craving, after you have been deprived
GJ> of roast pork for so long.  With me it would be roast leg of lamb,
GJ> with cloves of garlic inserted.  For that I usually have to go to my
GJ> youngest step-daughter, who although born in the Philippines has
GJ> become more Australian than me.

I want simple stuff, well made, from home.  Specifically, the stuff i cant get
here.  Burgers, fried chicken, steaks, I can get all that.  Slow roasted
pulled pork though?  Havent seen it at all out here except when I make it and
i have to use a crockpot which is good, but not 'quite' the same.  No crusty
skin bits that you salvage before you pull it apart then add the sauce. I can
make a good facsimile, but not the full thing. It would be like me serving you
a lamb cutlet with garlic butter.  It might be 'good' but it's not a leg of
lamb.

I want a baked Idaho potato with a skin so right, you do not wrap it in foil
when you bake it but the skin tastes perfect sopping with butter and black
pepper.  Idahoes are not 'standard' out here so you may have to recall them
fromstateside.  You may not have liked them <g>.  You may have thought the
skin too tough to eat <G>.

I wanna laugh at seeing an eggplant bigger than my head.


 CS> USAian food is a bit of a misnomer because it's a *huge* place and
 CS> some of it we all dont know at all about one another.  The average
 CS> 'knowledge' in this echos is far more than the average USA person about
 CS> that they make in our own land.

GJ> True.  It is largely the interest of people wanting to learn more
GJ> about food that keeps this Echo going.

I think we've all added to that.  If I get home this time, expect some Virgina
products to be featured again.

GJ> I can see you developing a lot of your own "fusion" food.

smile, so what else is new?
                                       xxcarol

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