Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Looks like the Philippine Sio Pao Bola-Bola. Love that!

Kenji, I was looking at the US Customs website, and they do have a ruling allowing jamon iberico/serrano into the US. A ruling made in response to a tariff classification ruling goes as follows:

"The applicable subheading for Serrano and Iberico cured ham, if boneless, will be 0210.19.0090, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), which provides for meat and edible meat offal, salted, in brine, dried or smoked; edible flours and meals of meat or meat offal, meat of swine, other, other. The rate of duty will be 1.4 cents pr kilogram."

The US does seem to allow jamon iberico, as long as you pay the duty.

Had the strawberry lemon cake truffles tonight...it's like a tart lemon pound cake covered in strawberry crumble. Quite good, IMHO.

Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by René Redzepi -- interesting read

Had dinner there twice already...definitely adventurous and inspired dishes, to be sure. Small but interesting wine list as well. If it weren't Lent, and if I didn't have high cholesterol, I would be there every week!

Went Tuesday morning to LES Doughnut Plant...only offered the passion fruit and rose petal doughnuts. No oatmeal, no choco chip and no salty peanut varieties. :-(

About to leave work in half an hour. Wishing all the staff of Serious Eats, as well as my fellow SE posters, a festive and joyous Christmas.

Had the pumpkin doughnut this morning for breakfast...love the nutty and crunchy texture of the pumpkin seeds but wish the glaze had more pumpkin flavor. Apple cinnamon doughnut was also good.

The photos came out beautifully, Sid! Both meals were absolutely delicious, but IMHO the octopus trumped the salmon, while the cod was better executed compared to the skate. The tres leches cake was also superior to the chocolate-peanut butter tart. You also forgot to mention the 2008 Brindlmayer Riesling that we had with the meal: the wine had a perfect balance of floral and mineral notes that complimented the aromatics in the food very well.

Had the doughnut the weekend before. Wish there was more peach in it but it's a good doughnut.

Having grown up on McDonald's, I was prepared to hate Jollibee when I was first exposed to it many years ago in the Philippines. Although the burgers are not that great (McDonald's burgers are just as mediocre), I do love the Chicken Joy and the pancit palabok they serve, as well as the peach mango pie. They also served a taro-young coconut (ube-macapuno) pie and a footlong hotdog topped with shredded cheese in the Philippines, but they are not available here. The spaghetti is quite forgettable if not for the sweet sauce, which reminds me of the spaghetti my mother cooked for us when I was young.

I've had it a number of times, and it is just scrumptious! Tender and juicy, with a hint of a crust on the outside. The pork jus is flavored with orange marmalade and habanero peppers, providing just enough sweetness and heat to counteract the richness of the pork. The potatoes and peas are cooked in cream, which adds another layer of richness. Personally, I love the pork chop with the fried cauliflower.

I enjoy baking thumbprint cookies, just for the sheer joy of placing an indentation in the batter with your thumb. It is as if I am literally putting my own personal touch on each cookie I make.