Tonight’s dinner was a chicken pineapple red pepper curry served with rice.
14 Likes
I was wondering yesterday if that would be a legit sub - I prefer them.
1 Like
Using sweet potato noodles is fairly common. In fact I’ve seen plenty of recipes that specifically call for sweet potato noodles and ones where no differentiation is made when it comes to “glass noodles” — they can be any clear noodles made from starch.
https://www.reddit.com/r/chinesefood/s/jOw0Ml6Cay
https://www.reddit.com/r/asianeats/comments/o0h63p/sichuan_glass_noodles_under_10_minutes_ants/
https://www.simmerdownwithviv.com/ants-climbing-on-a-tree
Specifically calls for sweet potato noodles and mentions “glass noodles” as a substitute:
4 Likes
Dinner was barside at one of our favorite haunts. Small plates, Turkish inspired.
BABY YAM KUMPIR** chickpea chermoula, lime crema, pistachio
MERGUEZ MANTI** potato leek stew, kale, nigella, chili butter
GARLIC SHRIMP LAMEJUN** meyer lemon, pomelo, shatta
BRAISED YUBA GYRO** mushrooms, cabbage, avocado, horseradish
The standouts were the baby yam and the gyro. Although we enjoyed all of it.
Baby yams
Manti
17 Likes
Dry pot, aka (as one recipe put it) clean out the fridge, and your sinuses.
So this came out very well, but there’s a whole spice oil component that was a pain in the ass and added - as far as I could tell - nothing to the finished product. In the future, I’ll just use chili paste, garlic, ginger and Sichuan peppercorns. And be done with it.
15 Likes
I also dined inside a restaurant for the first time since Dec 5, 2021. For anyone who is curious, I am very cautious because I am vulnerable. I have been running a few threads here and on Reddit trying to find spaces that have better ventilation or spaces that are less busy before opera and concerts.
I’ve had a few posters write to ask if I dined out indoors. I did. I usually get takeout and eat it at home, in my car, or outside.
Will I dine out inside often? Probably not. LOL.
This is my CO2 monitor, which I take with me into restaurants, coffee shops, music venues, subway trains and any other indoor spaces.
I am keeping a list of restaurants in Toronto that have better ventilation, tables spaced further apart and good food. AloBar does all these things on Saturdays before the opera or the ballet. It’s probably busier, with less ideal ventilation during the week when the expense accounts are dining out in the Financial District, although AloBar’s prices are high for what it serves, so its tables might be less full than The Keg chain steakhouse across the street. 
11 Likes
Sure.
2 Likes
I personally think they’re too chewy for this dish (though I love them in Japchae so I tend to have them on hand).
I thought the rice vermicelli worked fine, but was actually planning to use capellini if I hadn’t made it to the store (it would actually have worked better than the rice vermicelli because it has more of a chew).
(I don’t know about sweet potato noodles being common in Chinese dishes – I’ve rarely if ever seen Chinese brands for them. For eg WOL suggests using Korean brands for the few Chinese dishes they use them for like Suan La Fen, which would otherwise use fresh potato noodles, like chow fun is meant to be made with fresh rice noodles but wide Thai rice noodles will work in a pinch.)
2 Likes
They are used in Sichuan cooking:
The first link mentions using them as a substitute for mung bean noodles in ants climbing a tree, but people like chef Wang (his channel is focused on Sichuan food) call for sweet potato noodles specifically.
1 Like
Yes, I know – I mentioned Suan La Fen. Sichuan cooking typically uses fresh noodles for that, as with fresh ho fun for chow fun elsewhere. But I wouldn’t describe that as common use. I haven’t seen a Chinese brand of sweet potato noodles commonly found in stores here, same as I haven’t seen Chinese brands of dried ho fun – the blogs suggest wide Thai rice noodles if you have no access to fresh ho fun.
We haven’t been to
https://www.thomaskeller.com/bouchonyountville in Yountville for quite some time but this dinner was a great reminder about their very well executed classical French cuisine with very nice, professional but relaxed service. Even a quite late reservation didn’t lead to rushed service. It won’t take us again more than 10 years to go back.
Epi bread with butter and pistachios
Oeufs mimosa - deviled eggs
Cervelas de Lyon en Brioche
Salade Lyonnaise - escarole, frisee, bacon lardons, poached egg, palladin croutons with bacon vinaigrette
Tartare de Boeuf - beef tartare with radishes, cornichons, frisee & horseradish crème fraiche served with grilled pain de campagne
Gnocchi a la Parisienne - sautéed gnocchi with a fricassee of winter vegetables
Saumon Poele - pan-seared scottish salmon with French green lentils, matignon of root vegetables & red wine jus
Steak frites - pan-seared flat iron steak, caramelized shallots & maitre d’hotel butter, served with french fries
Profiteroles, vanilla ice cream & chocolate sauce
White chocolate mousse
17 Likes
I’m not a fan of chicken so it always has to be disguised somehow. Tonight I’m making Skinnytaste’s Chicken Florentine over orzo. https://www.skinnytaste.com/chicken-florentine/
9 Likes
I wondered! You do you. 
1 Like
That’s lovely! 
2 Likes
That looks fantastic! I’m sad they closed down their small spot in nyc – got replaced by a… drumroll… Tartinery 
They had some wonderful rillettes along with the epi baguettes (and that delicious butter).
2 Likes
Oh, that salmon dish is beautiful!
1 Like
The OG plan for dinner was TCC with my PIC’s stir-fried bok choy, but we ended up running errands too late for me to properly marinate the thighs. Part of those errands was finding this sauce
that we finally ran out of recently (“best by NOV ’21” 
), but no dice at two different Asian grocers. Might have to look for it online, but it’s kinda difficult to search for if ya don’t know what, exactly, to google.
We grabbed these two sauces instead
in the hopes of approximating a similar flavor profile, but we’ll see. When we decided the TCC was out for tonight we picked up 3 different kinds of har gow,
which will be subject to a taste test tonight. We’ve had the Kimbo har gow already, but not the ‘royal’ har gow 
Easy dinner, and my PIC’s still making his bok choy. TCC is postponed to mañana or Wednesday…. with MOAR bok choy cuz Ima lucky bish 
.
10 Likes
Found it!
What you had is spicy chili oil with Sichuan peppercorn.
What you just bought is doubanjiang - spicy Sichuan fermented broad/fava beans with chili and salt. It’s an umami bomb, very savory almost like…solid soy sauce. It usually doesn’t contain Sichuan peppercorn AFAIK.
I wouldn’t consider the two interchangeable as the doubanjiang is way saltier without the numbing. But it should taste good in a marinade. It’s often used in mapo tofu and many other Sichuan stews.
4 Likes
Yeah, I looked at the ingredients in the OG sauce: oil and Sichuan peppercorns, and thought well I have both of those at home. The ‘hot chili sauce’ on the left, however, has Sichuan peppercorns, rapeseed oil, chili powder, sesame seeds, spices. I think that one might be a better addition to the stir-fry, but we’ll find a use for the doubanjiang for sure. Not that I’ll ever make my own mapo - too many places in town that make a killer version.
Thx for the link, I’ll see if I can order it. Still a mystery where/how we got it in the first place 
1 Like
