On a sadder note, United has discontinued Courvoisier
worldwide. The best spirits offered are now Glenfarclas and
Buffalo Trace.

Surely they carry some sort of brandy? I'm not familiar with
Glenfarclas but it has good reviews and Buffalo Trace is certainly
drinkable.

No brandy at all. It's as though black people having
discovered it has led to white people disowning it.
Glenfarclas is okay, but is now available only on
select flights. Buffalo Trace you might call Stagg's
Leap Backward. Yeah, I drink it with pleasure, but it's
not as good as American Airlines's Woodford Reserve.

Could be worse - I'm writing this from the Golden
First lounge, where there is no alcohol of any
sort (it is after all Malaysia).

thawed it's easy to push out the plug of slushy guts before the meat
is tainted. (Young Inuit women tell me to leave them in for a couple
of hours to flavour the flesh, while their grandmothers suggest a
whole day!)

Entrails aren't as horrid as people think

I forgot about it and they remained inside the fish overnight (in
the fridge, not out on the counter) and the steaks were fine. They
had an added unami richness that was quite pleasant.

Points to grandma.

We just had four more of them tonight. I did them the same way, on
purpose this time.

You've learned something the Thai and Filipinos
had down cold centuries ago.

seasoned salt, pepper and dried tarragon.

Sounds fine, for those for whom tarragon is
a thing (I'm on and off the stuff

Dill instead tonight. You probably disapprove but we like it.

Dill I've always reacted against, except
sometimes in pickles. It's often my most
unfavorite of the umbellifers.

I stand corrected. That gift was from the lashes lady. The nail lady
turns out to be another Vietnamese woman. Roslind mentioned the first
batch to the second lady who in turn gave her a dozen frozen ones as
a small gift. She claims hers are more traditional with chopped
shrimp, glass noodles and mushrooms. We shall see as we'll be
thawing and deep frying six of them them soon enough. The woman
coyly mentioned that making and selling them in bulk is one of her
three jobs! So what we got was a free trial sample and not an out
and out gift!

Were these the size of a fat man's finger?

Yep. And quite tasty even if not as expected.

I think I know them in various versions, and
your original described one of my favorites,
though along with the ground pork and carrots,
there were the noodles and mushrooms as with
the other one.

We were speculating on the taste of swans a while back. Apparently
the black swan population in New Zealand is large enough to permit
hunting ...
Title: Black Swan Breast
2 black swan breasts (300-400g
ea)
sprinkle of olive oil and
wine
1 onion
dash of cooking oil
1/2 ts ground cumin
1/4 ts ground coriander
1/3 c raisins
1 lemon
2 ts gravy mix

Huh. I'm not sure I'd do that even to
a swan. A swine perhaps? Oh, at Makan
Kitchen the other day I got suckered into
the roast chicken rice, where the
drummer and half thign were coated with
something close to the above, only no
fruit, which it could have used. When I
first came here, the Chinese food was fine,
the American food was fine, but the Indian
food was excellent. I speculated that the
chef was Indian, which turned out to be so.
This dish reminded me of that, though by his
work he might have been a Mexican (less likely).

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.00

Title: Nuoc Cham
Categories: Sauces
Yield: 1 servings

2 Garlic cloves, minced 1/4 c Fresh lime juice
1 Small shallot, minced 3 tb Vinegar
1 Chili, fresh seeded minced 3 tb Water
2 tb Sugar 1 Carrot, finely shredded
1/4 c Fish sauce

This was developed for people who did not like the taste of fish Sauce.
Combine Garlic, shallot, Chile and Sugar in mortar and pestle and pound
to
a paste. Stir in fish Sauce, lime juice, vinegar and Water. When Sugar is
completely dissolved, stir in carrot. Or you can combine all ingredients
in jar with tight-fitting lid and shake until blended. Source unknown

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