Text 15217, 104 rader
Skriven 2014-07-28 10:55:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: sic transit 698
===========================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 07-22-14  09:40 <=-

 ML>> Ian and Jacquie Hoare, who were on the echo before you, and
 ML>> Glen Jamieson, whom I'm pretty sure you overlapped with.
 NB>> I've heard much of the former, though they were before my time, and
 NB>> indeed have had a number of conversations here with the latter.

 ML> On the echo Ian was very a. knowledgeable; b. opinionated;
 ML> c. entertaining; d. all of the above. Jacquie never
 ML> appeared here but was engaging and fun in person.

From what I've heard, d is the correct answer... ;)

 ML> My brother and I recently went to a place in Rockville
 ML> called A&J, which has been around for several decades, only
 ML> people used to badmouth it, so I was never steered there -
 ML> my father liked Joe's Noodle House instead, which serves
 ML> some of the same things, only at Joe's the food is mouth-
 ML> searingly salty. Anyhow, I refuse to go to Joe's, now that
 ML> I don't have to please the old man.

Sometimes public opinion isn't all that accurate...  and excessively
salty isn't our cuppa, either...  

 ML> Jonathan has just gotten his CCNP (analogous, he tells me,
 ML> to a master's of computer science, only more practical
 ML> and - as it's administered by Cisco, saleable), so this
 ML> was to be a celebratory meal.

Saleable as in actually being able to land a job with it...?  

 ML> Anyhow, we had dim sum, and it was quite good and mostly
 ML> reasonably priced.
 ML> Started off with "braised pork on rice with braised egg,"
 ML> which I envisioned as nice red-cooked pork belly but
 ML> turned out to be ground meat in a five-spice-heavy brown
 ML> sauce, sided with pickled mustard green - which Jonathan
 ML> surprisingly liked - a smallish portion but okay for the
 ML> $4 charged.

The braised egg was mixed in with the ground meat, then...?  Or served
atop (which is what I would have envisioned)...?

 ML> Guo teh tasted pretty normal, but the wrappers were much
 ML> thinner than usual and the filling had less soy than
 ML> usual. The observation was made across the table that
 ML> these didn't taste as Chinese as usual, which struck me
 ML> funny as Jonathan has formed stereotypes of his own based
 ML> most of the time on only the slimmest evidence. Anyhow,
 ML> there was plenty of ginger and scallion, and the things
 ML> tasted perfectly Chinese to me. 

Perhaps it was the less soy than usual that he was refering to..?  They
sound nice enough to me...  :)

 ML> An oddity - these were
 ML> made in groups of four, stuck together, and an order
 ML> gives you two of these groups, for $6.10. They could
 ML> easily get away with selling one set for $3.50 or even 4.

Maybe cook thought that one group looked too meager...?

 ML> My treat was spicy tripe, slivers of honeycomb beef
 ML> stomach in moderately hot hot oil and some soy and
 ML> sugar - very good, and even Jonathan liked it.

Yum... :)

 ML> Aside: when you make wontons at home, you fill them nice
 ML> and tight with filling; at a good restaurant likewise.  
 ML> Cheapo restaurants use scanty filling. Some Americanized
 ML> places omit the filling altogether and just fry some
 ML> noodles and call them wontons, which irritated me the
 ML> first time I encountered the custom, but now, eh, who
 ML> cares, just don't come back. 

It being, somewhat, a touchstone for quality or lack thereof...  ;)

 ML> Someday at a picnic I will do a wonton demonstration along
 ML> with whatever I promised to do this year but didn't.

There's always another picnic...  ;)   And lots of neat things to
demonstrate as well. 

 ML> Jonathan informed me that it was his turn, so he paid
 ML> for his own celebratory meal. Except he didn't - he didn't
 ML> have any money. Sort of peculiar.

Sort of typical...?   ;)   At least the (expressed) intent was good.  :)

 ML> Sigeumchi Namul (Seasoned Spinach)
 ML> cat: Korean, Singaporen, banchan, starter
 ML> Variations: A light sprinkle of sesame seeds lends
 ML> additional flavour and texture. M adds: and is necessary.

Not really complete without it...  :)

ttyl         neb

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