>  ML> I seldom do, but it's so commonplace that I was
>  ML> wondering if you were being sarcastic.
> I'm a Luddite. I've only ordered stuff on-line twice. Both times
> it was from David and Heidi Sievers's soupbase,com to get Minor's
> products.

I've only ordered a few things from Amazon (Lilli gets as 
many a month as I have in a lifetime) and almost never from 
anyone else. I do use PayPal to transfer money to friends, 
especially the guy who coordinates the wine dinners.

>  ML> On the other hand, the shipping and customs fees might make it
>  ML> a less attractive proposition to you.
> It generally does.   

Figured.

>  ML> What an interesting life. I'd be envious if it didn't deal
>  ML> so much in suicidal alcoholics.
> Trauma counselling is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. I
> certainly couldn't do it even if I had the training. When it comes
> to wife beaters and child molesters I'd undoubtedly loose my temper,
> and go out and shoot somebody by day 2.  

And (as sometimes happens in the first instance, seldom if ever
in the second) if both parties are at fault, one has to tread a
superfine line. And even if not, both need counseling, no?

>  ML> She's seen solstices before.
> Twice a year, every year! [g] But not always north of the Arctic
> Circle. 

Often enough, though. I've seen several, including one at
Barrow.

>  > (the newest members of the team has two teenage daughters who are
>  > quite talented fiddlers.)
> They took turns with a rock band blasting away next door at the dive
> bar cum stripper club and tattoo and piercing parlour that used to be
> KFC and for a little while they also yielded to the NWT Scottish
> pipe band who did a set in front of us.

That actually sounds kind of cool and neighborly.

>  > June 15th [...] beer barge
>  ML> Sounds like a bunch of fun.
>  > huge fish fry in a downtown lake front park and their live music
>  > included drum dancers and jiggers, so more fiddle music.
>  ML> I'm booking a ticket, too!
> We can't afford your usual fee but if you're willing to work for all
> the hotdogs you can eat and then all the beer you can drink from
> Midnight to closing at the Gold Range ...

I've been known to do that, though some of these 
gatherings haven't required my services, and at most I get 
hopping mad at the wastefulness and/or unsanitaritude of the 
volunteers. It all goes away, though, after a couple beers.

>  ML> if American has a partner airline that goes there (WestJet I
>  ML> believe once had an agreement with it but no longer does).
> Westjet is not in any alliance but currently codeshares with Delta
> and has interline arrangements with American. I'm not sure how
> either of those arrangements affects collecting or using points
> though.
> Air Canada is a Star Alliance member.

Yeah, I factored that in, but it won't help Lilli, 
because she's gone strictly to OneWorld and is trying to
keep Emerald (though as long as she is at least Sapphire
she gets to keep I think some kind of status at Hyatt and 
Marriott and possibly Hilton Gold). I'm Star Gold for life,
so flying on AC gets me Maple Leaf and priority access, 
which is kind of nice.

>  > Ugandan food.
>  ML> How much Indian figures in the spicing?
> It exerts a heavy influence which makes sense when you consider the
> country's history. The yellow rice was rather curry like.

I kind of figured and wonder about Chinese influences taking
over in developing countries in the future.

>  > ... I wonder how many mosquitoes will get addicted to meth this
>  > summer?
>  ML> For me the concern is when HIV or one of its successors
>  ML> in the horribleness department decides to survive in a
>  ML> wider range of temperatures so it can live through human-
>  ML> insect-human transfers. People say, oh, that's impossible,
>  ML> but I go, gee, how dumb and unimaginative can you be?
> It is indeed very possible. Both the west nile virus and lyme
> disease are present in southern Canada now thanks to both  climate
> change and new species of mosquitos and ticks becoming transmission

Being a mosquito smorgasbord, I've been pretty concerned
about this for a long time (though even if I do become HIV
infected, I'm more likely to die of something else first).
So far my immune system has been reasonably okay, overactive
if anything, but I've possibly got a decade left in me, so
anything can happen. And I think mosquitoes and ticks being the
downfall of our civilization is not so far-fetched. Well, there
are other candidates, but they must not be named.

> vectors. And thanks to climate change Alberta deer are invading
> NWT caribou country and bringing both ticks and fleas with them.
> This is one of the factors in the complicated decline of the
> caribou herd populations.

Would a reseeding be possible by importation of breeding
stock from Scandinavia?

> ... Give a man a ticket and he'll fly for a day.
> ... Push him out of a plane and he'll fly for a lifetime.

Thank you so very little.

Taro puffs
categories: dim sum, appetizer, Chinese, Hawaiian
yield: 1 batch

h - Taro pastry
1 lb taro root, peeled
1/3 c wheat starch
4 1/2 oz boiling water
1 ts sea salt
1 ts Chinese Five-spice powder
3 Tb lard
h - Filling
3/4 lb BBQ pork (char siu), diced
1 md onion, finely chopped
1 Tb oyster sauce
1 Tb Aloha shoyu
1 Tb water
1/2 Tb corn flour
1/2 Tb sugar

To make filling. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, water, corn 
flour and sugar in a small bowl and stir to mix well. Heat 
1 Tb oil in a frying pan. Stir fry onion for 3 min or until 
soft. Add BBQ pork and stir-fry for another minute. Add the 
oyster sauce, soy sauce, water, corn flour and sugar 
mixture. Stir well until heated and sauce thickened. Leave 
aside to cool.

To make pastry: Cut the peeled taro into chunks. Set on a 
flat plate or tray and steam in a covered bamboo steamer 
basket for 1 hr until soft. Mash the soft taro in a large 
bowl while still warm.

Mix the wheat starch and water to make paste, add to the 
taro and mix until combined and smooth. Add the salt, five 
spice and lard and knead well to combine. The dough should 
be soft and pliable. Cover the dough with a cloth while you 
proceed to roll and assemble the pastries.

To make each pastry, break off a small amount of dough, 
roll to make a round thin disk then flatten slightly with 
the palm of your hand. Put a small spoonful of char siu 
filling in the centre with the edges lifted, like a small 
well. Then, press the edges together and smooth out, to 
make an oval shaped pastry with a flat bottom. Discard any 
excess pastry.

Line a tray with baking paper and dust with rice flour to 
prevent sticking. Set the pastry in a single layer.

Heat the oil in a deep fryer or wok to 180C/360F, add a few 
pastries at a time and fry for 5 min until crisp and flaky. 
Drain on paper towel and serve with a hot chilli sauce.

cookinghawaiianstyle.com
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