Serious Eats: tekna's Profile

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: The Sriracha Lover's Ultimate Gift Pack

Mix with ketchup and then eat with French fries or tator tots.

Seriously Asian: Glutinous Rice and Banana Leaves

Banana leaves are used for Vietnamese/Thai/Southeast Asian versions of this dish. The Chinese version is called zongzi, 粽子, and those are made with bamboo leaves. You can do a search for "glutinous rice with bamboo leaves". The photo you have right underneath the title, that is definitely a bamboo leaf wrapped product.

Banana leaves are available year round in your frozen section, while bamboo leaves are available in dried form and probably not as available year-round since the zongzi are really eaten during the Duanwu Festival, 端午節.

tekna at 6:51PM on 05/27/11

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Seriously Asian: Glutinous Rice and Banana Leaves

tacky and k_d, you are both right, the leaves used in the Chinese versions are wrapped with bamboo leaves (or lotus leaves, like the ones you find in dim sum houses). The author has made a (big) error by posting a photo of sticky rice wrapped with bamboo leaves but calling it banana leaves.

tekna at 12:01PM on 05/27/11

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Do You Have a Favorite Brand of Butter?

Kerrygold, without a doubt.

tekna at 1:35AM on 12/06/09

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Cook the Book: 'Gourmet Today'

The first cookbook I bought for myself was the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. It was useful for a college student with not a lot of access to fancy ingredients.

tekna at 1:44PM on 09/24/09

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Cook the Book: 'Rustic Fruit Desserts'

Apple Crisp or Pear Crisp or Berry Crisp or Peach Crisp.

tekna at 2:37PM on 06/02/09

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Mother's Cookies Update After Kellogg's Purchase

I hope the Peanut Butter Gauchos will be coming back too!!!!!

tekna at 11:32AM on 01/21/09

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Why Isn't Chinese Food Hip?

Harlan, not all Chinese food is chopped into chunks (I have photos to prove).

chaevans, while it is true that Americans are adventurous, not all Americans are. Just check out Buckethead's reaction to Dunlop's "Shark's Fin and Szechuan Pepper".

The bottom line is that Americans aren't willing to pay more (even a little more) for Chinese food. It has been ingrained that Chinese food should be cheap (in price). And if nobody's willing to pay just a little more, then a restaurant that charges a little more will get no business.

The irony of it all is that even if you pay a little more for Chinese food at a somewhat upscale Chinese restaurant, in most cases, you get a lot more (food) for your money.

tekna at 5:09PM on 09/09/08

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