Text 28688, 148 rader
Skriven 2015-06-30 16:56:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: weird things 896
============================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 06-29-15  01:57 <=-

 ML>> who was inclined to something that promised unspicy, such as
 ML>> Cantonese or sushi. Well, the Thai place was closed, of course,
 ML>> and lo and behold, the sushi joint a few doors down was open.
 NB>> So I guess she lucked out...  ;)
 ML> Sure thing. There are plenty of Thai dishes that have little
 ML> or no heat - most things besides the curries, that I can think
 ML> of. There are always condiments and sauces that can be used to
 ML> heat things up.

Our latest visit to the King and I for Thai, we ended up with nothing
being particularly spicy, even the Evil Jungle Prince...  The duck prik
prigkin (basil and ginger sauce) was the spiciest of the lot... 
 
 ML>> I ended up spending twice as much as I would have on Thai for
 ML>> okay sushi that I didn't really want to eat, made I think by an
 ML>> assortment of Chinese and Koreans.
 NB>> Sigh...  I think of Thai as relatively expensive, but I guess sushi
 NB>> can add up fast
 ML> In my experience here, Asian food in general costs less than
 ML> European food, both in terms of price tag and value (no matter
 ML> how measured) for the money. Japanese is an exception, maybe
 ML> because of its nakedness; and sushi might be the most overpriced
 ML> genre of food there is, at about a buck a mouthful on average,
 ML> and that's if you have a small mouth. 

It's a little less dear here... particularly for some of the roll
sushi...  But, I tend to find the same as you with Asian food in general
costing less than European... part of why we lean that way in restaurant
preferences...  ;)

 ML> Speaking of which, the
 ML> Japanese have their own peculiar and self-contradictory etiquette
 ML> regarding the stuff. It's unclear whether you may use chopsticks,
 ML> for starters. The traditional way is to use your right hand. You
 ML> pick the stuff up, turn it upside-down, dip it once in your
 ML> soy-wasabi mix (I forget if you dip the rice side or the
 ML> ingredient side), and eat each in one bite (big mouth) or two at
 ML> the most (small mouth). You must not put down a partially-eaten
 ML> piece of sushi, though you may dip it again, if discreetly.

Nice to know that my eating it using my hand is proper... chopsticks
always seemed to be too much for the job... ;)  And I use the small
mouth portion...  :)

 ML> It is considered a great solecism to put wasabi directly on the
 ML> sushi, and in fact, you dishonor a proper sushi man by using
 ML> more than the tiniest dab - he is supposed to have decided which
 ML> types of sushi require wasabi and to have applied the proper
 ML> amount on each piece. But there are vast cones of green stuff
 ML> at every place setting - is that an invitation for you to make a
 ML> fool of yourself? In Japan, it's true, they give you less of it,
 ML> but the fact that they serve it is peculiar. 

I suppose it might be a reflection on the sushi chef, for giving too
much wasabi....  The little cone is meant to use to make your own
soy-wasabi mixture to your own tastes, and one doesn't have to use it
all, after all... ;)  I'm most likely to add wasabi directly to nigiri
where I don't actually think that highly of the chef... I'd not, for
example, think of adding it to anything that Fu put together, knowing
that he would know what the proper amount should be for each piece...
but, I have applied the amount he would have, to a bare piece from an
inferior chef...  :)

 ML> The gari or whatever you want to call it is a palate cleanser and
 ML> also is never applied directly to the food.

I only apply it to the hard-boiled egg halves one gets on some Asian
buffets... to make a sort of pickled egg...  ;)

 ML> It's an exhausting kind of meal and provides way too few calories.

Unless accompanied by soup, salad, appetizer, and dessert... especially
as part of an all-you-can-eat special...  ;)

 NB>> ... given that it was only ok, sounds like it might have
 NB>> been a bit overpriced for what it was, as well...?
 ML> It always is, but yes, this being the land of the rich. I'd
 ML> say Manhattan/Tokyo/Singapore prices in the burbs.

Ah.

 NB>> her day off) and I were planning to eat at Abyssinia (an Ethiopian
 NB>> place), but it turned out Monday was their day off... we ended up down
 NB>> a few doors at SEA Restaurant (Vietnamese) and had pho instead... Both
 NB>> places have good food, fortunately... and I think that SEA might have
 NB>> been a little less expensive than the other would have been...

 ML> SEA as in salt water or southeast Asia? Or neither? I presume
 ML> not Seattle airport.

My best guess is SEA as in SouthEast Asia...  it being basically a
Vietnamese pho shop, that also has some Thai entrees (left over, I
think, from when the place used to be called Taste of Thai... there may
be some overlap in ownership/management)... 
 
 ML> My x-b-i-l John invited me over for a break from my brother,
 ML> and because his wife (who hates zucchini) and stepson (who
 ML> hates zucchini) aren't around for the weekend, he got three
 ML> big zucchini from the farmer's market and had me stir-fry them
 ML> in olive oil with garlic. Out of politeness I accepted a portion.

Presumably he wasn't aware that you also hate the stuff...?

 ML> I was glad that this stuff didn't have the bittery strange almost
 ML> animal secretion taste that most does; in fact, it didn't taste
 ML> of much at all, except olive oil and garlic.

Maybe it's because it's still fairly early in the season...?

 ML> Still, broccoli stems are better.

Agreed.   :)
 
 ML>> The only reason I'll eat wakame is because it has mirin
 ML>> and sesame on it.
 NB>> Is that seaweed salad..?
 ML> Yeah, the sweet-salty rubber-bandy dark green stuff.

Fu makes a very tasty seaweed salad...  :)
 
 ML> That's the thing. Let the ingredients speak for themselves.
 ML> But a chef would be very lucky to be able to make a living
 ML> without applying vast gobs of ego to every dish.

I suppose... A chef that made a reputation on letting ingredients speak
for themselves might get a respectable following, though...  :)

 ML> Lobster and vanilla achieved a certain vogue at the beginning
 ML> of the frou-frou age of Frenchified cooking, which sort of
 ML> coincides (coincidentally I hope) with my interest in higher-
 ML> end food. Lobster and whisky was, I believe, popularized at Le
 ML> Grand Vefour in the 1950s; whisky adds smoky and oak (= vanillin)
 ML> notes to a dish, so some smarty decided to cut to the chase and
 ML> use vanilla plain and simple, which is fine if you would be
 ML> pleased by a lobster milkshake. The combination has remained an
 ML> astonishment to the bourgeoisie ever since.

Always something.... ;)

ttyl      neb

... Oh, no! Not *ANOTHER* learning experience.

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