Sun Tea In A Vase

Sun Tea is best made in the the glass pitcher you'll serve it in, or -- better yet -- a big mason jar. Lacking either of those, I used a well washed glass vase, a bunch of brand name tea, and set it in the sun for a couple of hours. Brewed strong, served with palm sugar simple syrup, a little fresh lemon and plenty of ice.

In the picture, I'm pouring freshly made (ie, scalding hot) sugar syrup down a chopstick, rather like I'd do with acid and a glass rod in chemistry class.

Like Chinatown In Your Backyard

Brought home some steamed shrimp and greens with oyster sauce from [will provide name] in Chinatown. Good, good, but the smell of head on shrimp, plus the nearly raw garlic, would have given my wife conniptions. So I hauled the ol' microwave outside and cooked them there. Eaten outside with plenty of chili paste.

Fishcakes Fancy

We were having a party, so I took some of the fishcake 'batter', mixed with soaked and chopped dried abalone mushrooms (which I will never be without from now on) and fresh sage, and formed into little silver dollar fishcakes, a heaping teaspoon each for consistency. Served with (what else) a hot pepper tartar sauce.

It was educational for the tastebuds to have a little bit of the plain fishcake first. The contrast made the mushroom and spice really stand out.

Fishcakes Plain

Fishcakes. I love fishcakes. And they are Very Glossta. Here's the raw materials, chowder fish from Connelly's and a bunch of potatoes. Uncooked fishcakes, frozen for later, over cooked fishcakes. On a plate with two over easy, the natural habitat of the fishcake in my book, though they can occasionally be found with baked beans.

The hot sauce in the urine sample jar, btw, is srug (Yemenite Chili Paste, see elsewhere) homemade in Israel. I am not just proud, but positively smug to say that my homemade version was universally preferred by the Israelis.

Favorite Knife

There's no one Favorite, but this is what I reach for to make short work of stir fry vegetables, or cut waffles into the precise eighths my children have come to expect. It's a cheap Thai cleaver, weighted on the handle with four quarters wrapped in electrical tape, so I guess it cost me $8, not $7. Razor sharp when I'm in the mood. Balanced like a gymnast. Walks through push cutting, just never forget what you're holding.

Spring Roll Deck

Ready to roll: shredded carrot, bean thread, scallion, mushroom, steamed napa, fresh mint, and Giladi's chicken. Just add elbow grease.

Spring Roll Deck

Set to go: shredded carrot, bean thread, scallion, mushroom, steamed napa, shredded red cooked chicken. Just add elbow grease.