Writing from Lhasa. I like the food here, it's a blend of cultures -
Tibet, Nepal and India. I've tried yak butter tea (better than it
sounds), barley wine (ok, not great), local beer (ditto) and yak
yogurt (yummy!). Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and
worshipers. Probably a quarter of the worshipers had containers
filled with yak butter that they pour into the vessels where candles
burn. It's an interesting place... but I'm leaving tomorrow.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
>
> Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and

the source of the country's woes

--
http://www.gillsmith999.plus.com/

Gill Smith wrote:
>
> "sf" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and
>
> the source of the country's woes

Actually, that would be the Chinese.

On Apr 28, 3:50*am, sf > wrote:
> Writing from Lhasa. *I like the food here, it's a blend of cultures -
> Tibet, Nepal and India. *I've tried yak butter tea (better than it
> sounds), barley wine (ok, not great), local beer (ditto) and yak
> yogurt (yummy!). *Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and
> worshipers. *Probably a quarter of the worshipers had containers
> filled with yak butter that they pour into the vessels where candles
> burn. *It's an interesting place... but I'm leaving tomorrow.
>
>
> I love cooking with wine.
> Sometimes I even put it in the food.


You are lucky to be able to journey so far from home. Safe return.

sf > wrote:
>Writing from Lhasa. I like the food here, it's a blend of cultures -
>Tibet, Nepal and India. I've tried yak butter tea (better than it
>sounds), barley wine (ok, not great), local beer (ditto) and yak
>yogurt (yummy!).

What about dumplings, soups and other dishes? How are foods generally prepared
and seasoned?

Orlando

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Gill Smith wrote:
>>
>> "sf" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >
>> > Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and
>>
>> the source of the country's woes
>
> Actually, that would be the Chinese.

you're right

Tibet would have been annexed even if a model democracy

--
http://www.gillsmith999.plus.com/

some one forging sf wrote:
> Writing from Lhasa.

Everyone realizes this is a forgery right?
--
JL
I like the food here, it's a blend of cultures -
> Tibet, Nepal and India. I've tried yak butter tea (better than it
> sounds), barley wine (ok, not great), local beer (ditto) and yak
> yogurt (yummy!). Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and
> worshipers. Probably a quarter of the worshipers had containers
> filled with yak butter that they pour into the vessels where candles
> burn. It's an interesting place... but I'm leaving tomorrow.

On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:48:09 -0400, Orlando Enrique Fiol
> wrote:

>What about dumplings, soups and other dishes? How are foods generally prepared
>and seasoned?

I'm not impressed with the food. We are not eating "American style"
so it's pretty oily and all the meats have a thick layer of fat. It's
too salty in most cases too. The soups are very bland and are
supposed to be bland - it's not a mistake. The meal this evening was
pretty good, but the restaurant is used to American tourists... even
if they are Chinese American tourists. This was the first place where
I went to the bathroom (they look like this
http://scott.sherrillmix.com/res/ima...ina_toilet.jpg) and heard
English spoken by someone who was not in my tour group.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:19:31 -0700 (PDT), Kalmia
> wrote:

>You are lucky to be able to journey so far from home. Safe return.

Thanks, only a week to go. It's been interesting. We could have
never executed such a comprehensive trip on our own.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:19:47 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> wrote:

>some one forging sf wrote:
>> Writing from Lhasa.
>
>Everyone realizes this is a forgery right?

It's really me JL. Haven't you tuned into the chat channel lately?

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:19:47 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> > wrote:
>
>>some one forging sf wrote:
>>> Writing from Lhasa.
>>
>>Everyone realizes this is a forgery right?
>
> It's really me JL. Haven't you tuned into the chat channel lately?

Joseph, she is in China. I have known she was going for some time.

--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

sf wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:19:47 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> > wrote:
>
>> some one forging sf wrote:
>>> Writing from Lhasa.
>> Everyone realizes this is a forgery right?
>
> It's really me JL. Haven't you tuned into the chat channel lately?
>


Sorry, i misread the headers

Where ever will you get off to next!

Oakland?


--
JL

On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:00:13 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> wrote:

>Sorry, i misread the headers
>
>Where ever will you get off to next!
>
>Oakland?

LOL! Yes, Oakland is definitely on my itinerary. The weather is
becoming balmy again and good for strolling... Housewives Market
(better known as Swan's now) and surroundings? I want to go to
Taylor's Sausages and I also want to buy a capon. Capon is new
culinary territory for me.

We'll put our heads together in the chat channel soon to nail down a
date.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:00:13 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes wrote:
>
>> Sorry, i misread the headers
>>
>> Where ever exotic place will you get off to next!
>>
>> Oakland?
>
> LOL! Yes, Oakland is definitely on my itinerary. The weather is
> becoming balmy again and good for strolling... Housewives Market
> (better known as Swan's now) and surroundings? I want to go to
> Taylor's Sausages and I also want to buy a capon. Capon is new
> culinary territory for me.
>
> We'll put our heads together in the chat channel soon to nail down a
> date.
>

I think Housewives is about to close, and even if the whole Market don't
close, Jacks meats that sells the capons is about to. I was talking to
him (Jack) to day and he is talking about retiring.

The recent global economic down turn has taken a real toll on the
place, it was always a place where the less affluent shopped, it was
never an expensive or up market kind of place, and it used to be a lot
more ethnic. I suppose most of its old clientèle are not driving to it
anymore. The very successful cat fish restaurant closed, the vegetable
stand is gone and while there is a new fish monger after an absence of a
year or so he never seems busy to me.

When the old Housewives Market moved to the Swan's building 8 - 9 years
ago and they tried to tart it up and get a more affluent clientèle, it
did not seem to catch on. And even the yuppiefied "farmers market" on
Fridays out side of swans has recently lost at least half of its clientèle.

I used to avoid walking any where near it because of the crowds, they
were so thick, dense, just last winter. I walked by it to day on my
way to Chinatown and it seemed there were no crowds so on my way back i
walked through it and talked to a few people who have noticed a steady
decline in people coming to the "farmers market" over the last 6 months.

No great loss to me, they were horribly overpriced, at its height i was
once quoted a price of $1.00 for a head of garlic. I chuckled and put
it down and walked two blocks further on and paid 10 cents for the same
garlic (now 25 - 30 cents!!!

Originally, the first few months the "Farmers Market" was open it was
literally a 'farmers market" truck farmers bringing in their produce
from the delta, and they had good prices, but some condos were built
in the neighborhood and the whole neighborhood was really marketed
especially the whole "organic' aspect of the farmers market and had
entertainment, non food vendors, flower sellers, arts & crafts, and a
generalized 'street fair" atmosphere, strolling clowns and out door full
service bars & "beer gardens" and the local merchants got involved and
it quickly became a destination among the local yuppies. It had a good
run 7 - 8 years, but i was shocked by how few people were there to day.

While there are a few "certified organic" vendors there, the bulk is
locally grown produce and can be had for a 10th of the price 2 blocks
away in Chinatown, i sometimes want to go up to the people shopping at
the "Farmers Market" and tell them about Chinatown but i think it
really was a destination event for the yuppies to go there and pay high
prices for the experience. Originally the vendors were all working
class farmers, Asian or Mexican now they are all Caucasian yuppies, and
to day frustrated and angry yuppie wannabes.

Course if you time your visit to get there around closing you can often
get some bargains. i have picked up a regular $15.00 - $20.00 roasted,
free range, organic chicken for 5 dollars.

Chinatown is still going strong and its all i can do to bite my tongue
and not encourage the stores i shop at to charge more than they do.

I rather like the way prices fluctuate in Chinatown, sometimes up some
time down, i have never seen a product cost less from one day to the
next in any other shopping area the way i do in our local Chinatown.
One store i shop at wont sell broccoli if they cant sell it for around
50 - 60 cents a pound. One day i had to go to 3 different stores in
Chinatown to finally find some broccoli for a little over a dollar a
pound.

I believe you cant bring in any food products, preserved or spices in
from out side of the country in your luggage? otherwise i would ask
you if you have found any good curries or other herbs or spices to
purchase in bulk, though i think there is a way of mailing something
like that back to the states, "drop ship"? fed ex in Lhasa?

Spin a prayer wheel for me
--
JL

On Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:56:12 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> wrote:

>I think Housewives is about to close, and even if the whole Market don't
>close, Jacks meats that sells the capons is about to. I was talking to
>him (Jack) to day and he is talking about retiring.

Oh, dang... I better get a move on it then! That has been something
I've wanted to do for quite a while.

<snip lots of other comments that made me sad>


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

On Sat, 01 May 2010 02:39:39 -0700, sf > wrote:

>On Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:56:12 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes
> wrote:
>
>>I think Housewives is about to close, and even if the whole Market don't
>>close, Jacks meats that sells the capons is about to. I was talking to
>>him (Jack) to day and he is talking about retiring.
>
>Oh, dang... I better get a move on it then! That has been something
>I've wanted to do for quite a while.
>

Hmm.. Looks like a trip over to the bay area is in order. I should
have my schedule in about a week, and maybe we can all set a time to
go meet up with JL...

Christine

On Sat, 01 May 2010 08:01:53 -0700, Christine Dabney
> wrote:

>Hmm.. Looks like a trip over to the bay area is in order. I should
>have my schedule in about a week, and maybe we can all set a time to
>go meet up with JL...

Great! I'll be back on the 6th, so let's make plans for after that.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:
> On Sat, 01 May 2010 08:01:53 -0700, Christine Dabney wrote:
>
>> Hmm.. Looks like a trip over to the bay area is in order. I should
>> have my schedule in about a week, and maybe we can all set a time to
>> go meet up with JL...
>
> Great! I'll be back on the 6th, so let's make plans for after that.
>

I have an event i have been invited to thats going to take me out of
town for a couple of days but at this point i am only aware that it will
happen in May and then i think around mid to late May.

I would enjoy showing off the local Asian shopping area i so often brag
about here. It is a real market area and unlike the San Francisco
Chinatown is not a tourist destination, it can even be seen as a bit
"gritty" and is a very working class area, but its just across the
street from the more posh "House Wives Market" area, which is called
Oakland Old Town, not far from "Preservation Park" an area that an
effort was made to preserve and then gentrify, an old, pre 1906 San
Francisco earthquake era, 19th century neighborhood.

While it would be fun to walk around the area with other people, and
that as just a fun, interesting thing to do, a pleasant way to spend a
day, we could even purchase a snack and take it to one of several nice
parks or dine at any number of good restaurants.

However! and i would like to just really stress, for a moment, the idea
that any one who cares to consider this walk, to consider it a real
"shopping trip" to come prepared to take advantage of the low prices on
various foods, and the availability, inexpensively priced, of exotics,
both of food and other things. There a couple of interesting
collections of wines, brandies, liquors but also one "Bar" that sells
imported Belgian beers.

Come prepared to make bulk purchases and carry them around while
shopping for others. I would recommend brining some sort of small
wheeled cart or other carrying device, the capons alone can run to 6 -
10 pounds, You might be amazed at how quickly a few jars of condiments
adds up to a significant poundage.

And thats just food, the area has lots of shops selling lots of other
products, years ago i got a meat cleaver there for 5 dollars and this
wonderful pine cutting board, just a slice of a pine tree, cut and
sanded, still had the bark around the rim. And don't even get me
started on plastic Buddhas (although i will talk about the jade and
other assorted Asian knick - a -knack's, i once almost bought a lovely
silk banner till i was told it was a funeral or memorial device to honor
the dead. Beautiful thing though. Theres all sorts of tempting little
oddities there, need a magnetic cup?

Ill try to drop in to chat more often and see if we can get from the
epistolary to the epistemological
--
JL

In article >,
sf > wrote:

> Writing from Lhasa. I like the food here, it's a blend of cultures -
> Tibet, Nepal and India. I've tried yak butter tea (better than it
> sounds), barley wine (ok, not great), local beer (ditto) and yak
> yogurt (yummy!). Went to a temple this morning, lots of pilgrims and
> worshipers. Probably a quarter of the worshipers had containers
> filled with yak butter that they pour into the vessels where candles
> burn. It's an interesting place... but I'm leaving tomorrow.

Thanks for the report. I got way behind on the list this week. Been
too busy to cruise here much with all that is going on!

I hope you took pics???
--
Peace! Om

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. --Alex Levine

On Sat, 01 May 2010 19:25:04 -0500, Omelet >
wrote:

>I hope you took pics???

Lots of pictures. I have had "battery" problems since the Yangtze
River though. I think my six month old *expensive* charger died, but
I'll problem solve that issue when I get home. In the mean time, I'm
using disposable batteries.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

In article >,
sf > wrote:

> On Sat, 01 May 2010 19:25:04 -0500, Omelet >
> wrote:
>
> >I hope you took pics???
>
> Lots of pictures. I have had "battery" problems since the Yangtze
> River though. I think my six month old *expensive* charger died, but
> I'll problem solve that issue when I get home. In the mean time, I'm
> using disposable batteries.

I look forward to the album. :-)
Tibet is one place I honestly hope to visit before I die.

That and Cairo.
--
Peace! Om

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. --Alex Levine

On Sun, 02 May 2010 03:01:57 -0500, Omelet >
wrote:

>I look forward to the album. :-)
>Tibet is one place I honestly hope to visit before I die.

You'll like it, but take your altitude pills.
>
>That and Cairo.

BTDT and hope to never return. Cairo is beyond "gritty".


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

In article >,
sf > wrote:

> On Sun, 02 May 2010 03:01:57 -0500, Omelet >
> wrote:
>
> >I look forward to the album. :-)
> >Tibet is one place I honestly hope to visit before I die.
>
> You'll like it, but take your altitude pills.

Or carry an oxygen tank. <g>

> >
> >That and Cairo.
>
> BTDT and hope to never return. Cairo is beyond "gritty".

So I have heard, but I really do want to see the Pyramids.
--
Peace! Om

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. --Alex Levine