Do you use Chop sticks?

[olevetonahill]

If so Why? a Spoon or fork is much easier IMHO.

[badger]

Tried and failed. NP like them for eating Asian food though. If you know how to use them it's perfect for eating rice dishes

[olevetonahill]

Tried and failed. NP like them for eating Asian food though. If you know how to use them it's perfect for eating rice dishes

Ive never tried and dont GAS if I ever master em. Whats the point? to show your cool er sompun?

[Boomer.....]

Only for sushi.

[KantoSooner]

Oly thing I used for about 20 years.
If you're eating Asian food, they work far better than knife and fork. And vice versa: don't try to cut steak with chop sticks.
Plus, I had a little case I could carry mine in. If I was going to be eating 'hawker stand' food, I'd bring my own or bring disposables since the food stand people were just rinsing their used ones off in a bucket of soapy water and then rinsing them under a tap before handing them to the next customer.

[sooner_born_1960]

"food stand people were just rinsing their used ones off in a bucket of soapy water and then rinsing them under a tap before handing them to the next customer."

Isn't that called "washing them"?

[KantoSooner]

It's a matter of degree. Sometimes (as in Singapore) yes. Sometimes, when the soapy water is kind of grey and soupy looking with chunks of food with visible tooth bite patterns in it floating around, not so much.

The latter was experienced in places like outside of Chiang Rai on the North/South Highway when I was taken in by the colorful artwork and just had to stop for duck fried rice in a charming underpass.

[yermom]

i've been using them for so long to eat noodles, a fork seems very awkward. even when i eat spaghetti it seems like i should have them now

i like them for stir fry as well. rice has to be nice a sticky though.

[Lott's Bandana]

DISCLAIMER:
When I use the term Asians, I mean what I have experienced in my travels to Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand, as well as living in Hawai'i. I certainly don't speak for an entire race of peeps.


Chopsticks are the shiz for noodle dishes and hunks of protein.

What most Westerners don't understand is, Asians are all about the results when it comes to food...not the method. (except for the Japanese sushi rules below)

For instance, to properly eat rice like an Asian, pick up the bowl and shovel it into your mouth with the chopsticks. Don't try to pick the rice up like most Westerners do...doesn't work too well, even with sticky rice.

Ever heard an Asian eat soup? SLLUUUUUUUURRRRRRRP

Asians also typically don't take a drink of alcohol at the table without getting someone to join them, so toasting is a constant part of any meal.

Weird Japanese sushi ettiquete:

- pick it up with your hand
- don't use chopsticks
- don't mix wasabi and soy in the little bowl thingy
- don't "sharpen" your wood chopsticks to remove the splinters
- once picked up, the sushi is not to touch the plate again
- don't eat the ginger with the sushi, it is simply there for palette-cleansing between different rolls/sashimi

All those things supposedly insult the sushi chef. I've done every one of them.

[yermom]

heh

apparently slurping is a generational and maybe regional thing with noodles/soup

[Curly Bill]

I can use em, and sometimes still do use em, but don't really care either way.

[Lott's Bandana]

heh

apparently slurping is a generational and maybe regional thing with noodles/soup

Best part is...it makes me laugh every single time!


Stoopid American.

[KantoSooner]

Lott,
I don't know who gave you the sushi etiquitte, but here are the modifications I learned from living in Tokyo for 22 years off and on and being married to a Japanese woman (and living next door to her parents) for 17 of those years:

Pick it up with your hand or with sticks, nobody cares. fi you're going to use your hands, use the oshibori (hot towel) thoroughly before dining.

If they give you cheap *** chop sticks with a bunch of splinters hanging off of them, rub 'em up and down until they're free of same. If anyone comments, show 'em the splinters with a look of shock on your face. They might upgrade their sticks by next time.

You can mix the wasabi in the dipping bowl all you want. And you're often offered seasonal herbs to add in, too. This is taken to an extreme in Osaka where the dipping sauce becomes a paste. Do NOT, however, pour soy sauce directly out of the bottle onto the sushi and dip the sushi, don't let it sit in the sauce. Alternatively, you can use your sticks to remove the fish, dip it into the sauce separately and then replace it on the sushi rice.
And, yes, eat the whole thing once you set into it. And don't garnish your sushi with ginger.

It's also considered good form, in a sushi bar, to order or pour a drink for the chef. Do it often enough and you'll start getting better sushi.

Stay late. Generally after 1 a.m. or so, when it's down to the old boys and piano bar hostesses, they'll start breaking out the real delicacies:

Horse mackeral (saba) sashimi with a sauce made from raw stomach contents. Oh, YUMMO.

Coddled whale semen. (more innocuous than it sounds kind of like a salty meringue)

Broiled pregnant sardines (shishamo) eaten whole.

stewed snapper fins in shochu. Soup and cocktail all in one! Bad soup and bad cocktail, but still...

And, if they have it, order an 'awamori'. A molasses derived liquor that goes upwards of 150 proof and tends to be served over a single, baseball sized ice cube. Tastes like strong light rum and gets you where you're going RIGHT NOW.

and so forth.

[olevetonahill]

Yaqll are just sick. Ya really eat Whale Cum?
Ill stick with my Merican food and Fork

[sooneron]

At Asian restaurants, I use them if the meal calls for them. So, about 70/30.

[Lott's Bandana]

Lott,
I don't know who gave you the sushi etiquitte, but here are the modifications I learned from living in Tokyo for 22 years off and on and being married to a Japanese woman (and living next door to her parents) for 17 of those years:

Pick it up with your hand or with sticks, nobody cares. fi you're going to use your hands, use the oshibori (hot towel) thoroughly before dining.

If they give you cheap *** chop sticks with a bunch of splinters hanging off of them, rub 'em up and down until they're free of same. If anyone comments, show 'em the splinters with a look of shock on your face. They might upgrade their sticks by next time.

You can mix the wasabi in the dipping bowl all you want. And you're often offered seasonal herbs to add in, too. This is taken to an extreme in Osaka where the dipping sauce becomes a paste. Do NOT, however, pour soy sauce directly out of the bottle onto the sushi and dip the sushi, don't let it sit in the sauce. Alternatively, you can use your sticks to remove the fish, dip it into the sauce separately and then replace it on the sushi rice.
And, yes, eat the whole thing once you set into it. And don't garnish your sushi with ginger.

It's also considered good form, in a sushi bar, to order or pour a drink for the chef. Do it often enough and you'll start getting better sushi.

Stay late. Generally after 1 a.m. or so, when it's down to the old boys and piano bar hostesses, they'll start breaking out the real delicacies:

Horse mackeral (saba) sashimi with a sauce made from raw stomach contents. Oh, YUMMO.

Coddled whale semen. (more innocuous than it sounds kind of like a salty meringue)

Broiled pregnant sardines (shishamo) eaten whole.

stewed snapper fins in shochu. Soup and cocktail all in one! Bad soup and bad cocktail, but still...

And, if they have it, order an 'awamori'. A molasses derived liquor that goes upwards of 150 proof and tends to be served over a single, baseball sized ice cube. Tastes like strong light rum and gets you where you're going RIGHT NOW.

and so forth.


We weren't too far off in our experiences.

Actually, I like the wood chopsticks. I have trouble with the "nicer" plastic or ivory ones as slippery noodles slip!

[KantoSooner]

Oh, Vet, I'll eat whatever is necessary to close the deal. Crispy fried palmetto bugs (cockroaches)? Tuna eyes (very high in DHA)?, jungle snail? raw snake jugged in barley wine? blocks of tofu into which eels have burrowed to escape the heating soup around them? Live shrimp/octopus/sea bream? Spiders, furry ones?
Yep.
And engaged in many other things in order to create an atmosphere of cameraderie and fellowship including an inordinate amount of nude group bathing at hot springs where it seemed the major draw was checking out the foreigner's tackle to see if the rumors really were true. <Hot water helps, by the way, as does being served sake by young ladies wearing wet cotton yukata gowns>
Those of us who ended up staying for any length of time did so on the basis of a strong dose of '**** it' and an ability to wash almost anything down, given enough liquor.

[KantoSooner]

We weren't too far off in our experiences.

Actually, I like the wood chopsticks. I have trouble with the "nicer" plastic or ivory ones as slippery noodles slip!

Dead right on that. And the Korean stainless steel ones are the worst.

[olevetonahill]

Oh, Vet, I'll eat whatever is necessary to close the deal. Crispy fried palmetto bugs (cockroaches)? Tuna eyes (very high in DHA)?, jungle snail? raw snake jugged in barley wine? blocks of tofu into which eels have burrowed to escape the heating soup around them? Live shrimp/octopus/sea bream? Spiders, furry ones?
Yep.
And engaged in many other things in order to create an atmosphere of cameraderie and fellowship including an inordinate amount of nude group bathing at hot springs where it seemed the major draw was checking out the foreigner's tackle to see if the rumors really were true. <Hot water helps, by the way, as does being served sake by young ladies wearing wet cotton yukata gowns>
Those of us who ended up staying for any length of time did so on the basis of a strong dose of '**** it' and an ability to wash almost anything down, given enough liquor.

Ok , I guess if yer making Big bucks out the deal its ok
But another ? If yer eatin Whale cum, Who Jacks off the whale?

[Breadburner]

Chicks dig it....!!!!

[KantoSooner]

You know how the Japanese are always doing all that 'research whaling'? Well, you wouldn't want all that nice whale to go to waste, now would you? So, yeah in the local grocery stores and fish markets, whale is readily available and is labelled as such.
I guess Greenpeace never thought to put anyone on the ground there who could read the language and work a cellphone camera simultaneously.

If you had the language(s) and were willing to do an immense amount of travel (my average was 250-300 nights a year in some hotel or other), it was a far faster way up the corporate ladder than spending 15 years as the "Left Rear Headlight Bezel Product Manager" waiting for the next guy up the chain to **** up or die. On the other hand, when your company is bought out, there are not too many landing strips back at the head office. It's life.

[Fraggle145]

I use em for noodles. I suck at eating any sort of rice dice with em, 'cept sushi. I wouldnt recommend eating whale. They are so high on the food chain - especially orca and dolphin - that they bioaccumulate a lot of toxins.

[KantoSooner]

Eating whale is wrong on about ten different levels. I did just enough to be polite. Like a lot of the stuff I put in my mouth, chewed up and swallowed.

I had a bunch of people from our HQ in town for a factory opening in Penang around 1995 and our building contractor had a local Nonya Chinese restaurant fix a fancy feast. Guding theme? Everything on the menu was an endangered species. My HQ was all tree huggers. I drank very heavily that night.

[olevetonahill]

Eating whale is wrong on about ten different levels. I did just enough to be polite. Like a lot of the stuff I put in my mouth, chewed up and swallowed.

I had a bunch of people from our HQ in town for a factory opening in Penang around 1995 and our building contractor had a local Nonya Chinese restaurant fix a fancy feast. Guding theme? Everything on the menu was an endangered species. My HQ was all tree huggers. I drank very heavily that night.

I aint that diplomatic Bro.

[rock on sooner]

Aw, caint eat sammiches with chopsticks!:highly_amused:

[reflector]

I can honestly say that I do not use chop sticks.

[olevetonahill]

Aw, caint eat sammiches with chopsticks!:highly_amused:

Ya can to. If they them little sammiches with the small chop sticks stuck in em.
http://www.blackchristiannation.com/food_entertaining/images/mini-sandwiches-xl.jpg

[KantoSooner]

Krispy Kreme in Tokyo offers chop sticks.

No shiite.

(and they have a freaking line out the front door that's like Disneyland; as in "Waiting Time From This Point: 45 minutes"

[rock on sooner]

Ya can to. If they them little sammiches with the small chop sticks stuck in em.
http://www.blackchristiannation.com/food_entertaining/images/mini-sandwiches-xl.jpg

Ummm, them aint chopsticks, them are toothpicks...keepin all the
sammich stuff in one place so ya eat it in one bite...caint fool me..:triumphant:

[olevetonahill]

Krispy Kreme in Tokyo offers chop sticks.

No shiite.

(and they have a freaking line out the front door that's like Disneyland; as in "Waiting Time From This Point: 45 minutes"


They use Chop sticks to eat Donuts? Them be some weird assed folk.

[olevetonahill]

Ummm, them aint chopsticks, them are toothpicks...keepin all the
sammich stuff in one place so ya eat it in one bite...caint fool me..:triumphant:

They fer midgets and shat.

[KantoSooner]

They use Chop sticks to eat Donuts? Them be some weird assed folk.

some of the old folks do. A lot of the old grannies will tell you not to touch your food with your fingers except at home because your hands ain't clean.

[olevetonahill]

some of the old folks do. A lot of the old grannies will tell you not to touch your food with your fingers except at home because your hands ain't clean.

Like I said they be some weird assed peeps. Hell wrap the thing with a Napkin er somepun

Or hell yer hands be clean after ya get thru licking em.

[KantoSooner]

You ever dealt with a granny with her mind mand up? They aren't any different in Japan. The Krispy Kreme people took one look at how many grannies were bringing their grandkids in and said, "Ma'am, you want chop sticks, you got chop sticks. Anything else we can get you?"

[olevetonahill]

You ever dealt with a granny with her mind mand up? They aren't any different in Japan. The Krispy Kreme people took one look at how many grannies were bringing their grandkids in and said, "Ma'am, you want chop sticks, you got chop sticks. Anything else we can get you?"

Oh I thot ya meant they Made YOU eat em with sticks

[C&CDean]

My thought on chopstix? If you're asian eat with them. If you're in a fancy asian joint or ordering sushi, eat with them. If you're down at the "eat your weight in fried rice buffet" then whipping out chopstix is gay. And pretentious. And stupid looking. And unecessary.

I've tried them on sushi and I suck with them. You don't know how happy I am to hear that it's kosher to eat sushi with your fingers.

[yermom]

just don't use a fork.

[olevetonahill]

just don't use a fork.

Ill make sure I dont, Should be pretty easy cause I anit eatin sushi anyway.less thats all there is and Im starvin.

[OULenexaman]

I thought sushi was finger food....no chop stick needed.

[olevetonahill]

I thought sushi was finger food....no chop stick needed.

Prolly is chopped up fingers

[C&CDean]

Ill make sure I dont, Should be pretty easy cause I anit eatin sushi anyway.less thats all there is and Im starvin.

Some of that **** is good Howard. You'd like it. I don't go for the **** that tastes like a yeast-infected skank ho. I go for the **** that tastes like chicken. I'll do a few raw rolls as long as it's salmon or tuna, but I've had some eel and mackerel that tastes like the skank ho. I don't get what people find good in that stinky/pungent/skanky sushi.

[olevetonahill]

Some of that **** is good Howard. You'd like it. I don't go for the **** that tastes like a yeast-infected skank ho. I go for the **** that tastes like chicken. I'll do a few raw rolls as long as it's salmon or tuna, but I've had some eel and mackerel that tastes like the skank ho. I don't get what people find good in that stinky/pungent/skanky sushi.

Next time we meet up we can go and Ill let you guide me. I did try some Calamari awhile back, Gag a ****in maggot. It tasted ok as long as the breadin stuff was there after that I could just imagine eatin raw foreskins . **** was NASTY. Rubbery and No flavor of its own.

[yermom]

the eel i've had was cooked, in like a bbq kinda sauce on top of a roll. not bad.

tuna and salmon are generally non-offensive. i'm not a fan of roe and other things that make it taste/smell fishy. fresh salmon/tuna generally won't.

not all sushi is even raw, or has fish at all. i've had Korean sushi with cooked beef in it.

[Killerbees]

Lott,
I don't know who gave you the sushi etiquitte, but here are the modifications I learned from living in Tokyo for 22 years off and on and being married to a Japanese woman (and living next door to her parents) for 17 of those years:

Pick it up with your hand or with sticks, nobody cares. fi you're going to use your hands, use the oshibori (hot towel) thoroughly before dining.

If they give you cheap *** chop sticks with a bunch of splinters hanging off of them, rub 'em up and down until they're free of same. If anyone comments, show 'em the splinters with a look of shock on your face. They might upgrade their sticks by next time.

You can mix the wasabi in the dipping bowl all you want. And you're often offered seasonal herbs to add in, too. This is taken to an extreme in Osaka where the dipping sauce becomes a paste. Do NOT, however, pour soy sauce directly out of the bottle onto the sushi and dip the sushi, don't let it sit in the sauce. Alternatively, you can use your sticks to remove the fish, dip it into the sauce separately and then replace it on the sushi rice.
And, yes, eat the whole thing once you set into it. And don't garnish your sushi with ginger.

It's also considered good form, in a sushi bar, to order or pour a drink for the chef. Do it often enough and you'll start getting better sushi.

Stay late. Generally after 1 a.m. or so, when it's down to the old boys and piano bar hostesses, they'll start breaking out the real delicacies:

Horse mackeral (saba) sashimi with a sauce made from raw stomach contents. Oh, YUMMO.

Coddled whale semen. (more innocuous than it sounds kind of like a salty meringue)

Broiled pregnant sardines (shishamo) eaten whole.

stewed snapper fins in shochu. Soup and cocktail all in one! Bad soup and bad cocktail, but still...

And, if they have it, order an 'awamori'. A molasses derived liquor that goes upwards of 150 proof and tends to be served over a single, baseball sized ice cube. Tastes like strong light rum and gets you where you're going RIGHT NOW.

and so forth.

Dead on Kanto. My exact experience from many trips to Japan. Well, minus the whale semen. I haven't stumbled on to that one yet. Lots of weird stuff if you look for it, my tastes are a little more pedestrian when it comes to sushi though. o-toro for me. I think I ate about a lb of it when I was there a few months back.


It's a matter of degree. Sometimes (as in Singapore) yes. Sometimes, when the soapy water is kind of grey and soupy looking with chunks of food with visible tooth bite patterns in it floating around, not so much.

The latter was experienced in places like outside of Chiang Rai on the North/South Highway when I was taken in by the colorful artwork and just had to stop for duck fried rice in a charming underpass.

I don't think I have ever seen anything but disposable chops in Singapore hawker centers.


Dead right on that. And the Korean stainless steel ones are the worst.

I thought it was just me that disliked all other types of chop stix but the wood ones. The wife (singaporean) thinks I am weird when I try to explain that those porcelain sticks in the nicer restaurants make everything taste funny, and I cant stand them touching a tooth.

[8timechamps]

I use them if I'm eating Chinese food. I don't have a good reason why I do, I just do... because I can I guess.

As a kid, it was a big deal to learn how to use them, so when I finally mastered them, it was kind of a pride thing. It just stuck after that.

Edit: I thought the whale sperm thing was a joke. Apparently not.

[jkjsooner]

I'm okay at using chopsticks. My ex wife was half Japanese so I learned to use them. But I feel no need to prove to anyone that I can get by with them. I'm happy with a fork and spoon.

[hawaii 5-0]

Chopsticks in Hawaii are common with just about any pot luck.

I don't care for Japanese except for tempura.

I use them all the time with Chinese, Thai or Viet food.

5-0

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Next time we meet up we can go and Ill let you guide me. I did try some Calamari awhile back, Gag a ****in maggot. It tasted ok as long as the breadin stuff was there after that I could just imagine eatin raw foreskins . **** was NASTY. Rubbery and No flavor of its own.

gotta squeeze a little lemon juice on it.

[okiewaker]

Not yet! Im holding out,,I may be a relic but I still use a fork,, for any kind of food.

[Chuck Bao]

I'm adept at eating with chopsticks and it doesn't even cross my mind not to eat with the reuseable wood or plastic chopsticks provided at roadside noodle stalls in Thailand.

I eat sushi with chopsticks because I'm normally also eating sashimi.

The only time I've recently eaten with chopsticks in the US is at the hibachi restaurant in Madill. People kind of stare at me when I rake it in, though.

Other bad habits I picked up Thailand is that I eat with a spoon in my right hand and a fork in my left.

[12]

The very thought of eating whale spooge is disgusting. Give me a plate of smashed bull reproductive glands covered in flour, salt, and pepper, then deep-fried in melted cow fat any day.

[Killerbees]

I forgot to mention that I eat with chopsticks anytime they are provided generally. I really don't care if it looks pretentious or not, I am not eating for other peoples benefit. I rarely eat at chinese buffets here in the US though, or any chinese place for that matter. Italian and Chinese are the 2 most mangled cuisines here in the US, both almost invariably suck when compared to the real deal so I try to avoid both.





Other bad habits I picked up Thailand is that I eat with a spoon in my right hand and a fork in my left.

lol.

[Killerbees]

Next time we meet up we can go and Ill let you guide me. I did try some Calamari awhile back, Gag a ****in maggot. It tasted ok as long as the breadin stuff was there after that I could just imagine eatin raw foreskins . **** was NASTY. Rubbery and No flavor of its own.

Squid and cuttlefish both are pretty good if prepared correctly. Very easy to over cook them though and when you do that they turn all nasty and rubbery.

[12]

I've noticed that when using chopsticks, I don't eat like the fat *** I am.

[12]

"***"

Charming.

DONKY

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Kanto, are Japanese baked mussels something you find in Japan, or is it more a Japanese American dish?

It's one of my favorites from Japanese restaurants. I found a youtube video to show how to make them, and to my surprise, it used Japanese mayo, which is quite different from western mayo. It melts like cheese. You mix a little rooster jizz in it for a nice kick and some fish roe and top it off with more roe, and it looks this:

http://s3-media4.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/g9C-SduGtgiPSlen_j52aQ/l.jpg

a couple of years ago, i went on a baked mussels binge and made these all the time - until I got tired of them.

And chop sticks work nicely on these.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Squid and cuttlefish both are pretty good if prepared correctly. Very easy to over cook them though and when you do that they turn all nasty and rubbery.

Yeah, it can be like eating rubber bands.

But I love it fixed grilled (yaki ika) with some char on it, like this:
http://static.eatingboard.com/images/business/dishes/23/f8/8c/44/thumbs/9b72e31dac81715466cd580a_600.jpg

[8timechamps]

The thought has crossed my mind since I first read this thread..."how do they get the whale sperm?"

I'm sure it's not the way I think it is, but if so, that would be the worst job in the world. Jerkin' off a whale.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

The thought has crossed my mind since I first read this thread..."how do they get the whale sperm?"

I'm sure it's not the way I think it is, but if so, that would be the worst job in the world. Jerkin' off a whale.

I bet they just give the whales a jar and some whale pron.

[olevetonahill]

The thought has crossed my mind since I first read this thread..."how do they get the whale sperm?"

I'm sure it's not the way I think it is, but if so, that would be the worst job in the world. Jerkin' off a whale.

I been axin that from the start. We may have found a Job fer Sic em.

[8timechamps]

I been axin that from the start. We may have found a Job fer Sic em.

I don't think he could handle that much meat.

[olevetonahill]

I don't think he could handle that much meat.

:D

[Lott's Bandana]

This was my Thanksgiving dinner, in Hoi An, Vietnam:


Roast squid with red chile, lemongrass and of course, rice.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7030/30286343024129513369887.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/30286343024129513369887.jpg/)


Ended up ordering a second plate!

[FirstandGoal]

Not even going to pretend. I pretty much suck at using chopsticks but I think that's because I try to approach it like a lot of westerners. I like to eat my food, not drop it all over the place. I didn't realize that the whole point was to scoop it in your mouth and that sounds too messy for my taste.

Like Dean, I'm very happy to hear that it's okay to eat sushi with my hands because that's how I always do it. Every time I try to hold it with the chopsticks I end up either dropping it splat in the sauce or it all starts to squish out the sides. Oh, and I am one of those peeps who mixes the wasabi in with the soy sauce and I absolutely hate the taste of the ginger. Guess I won't be cleaning my palate in-between.

[yermom]

the scooping is for the rice

[hawaii 5-0]

In the mid 70's I was at a Chinese restaurant in Houston. There were some Asian kids there just chowing down with their chopsticks. I'd tried them lots of times with lots of frustration.

I made a determination to at least learn how to use them. Since then I would use chopsticks at Chinese restaurants till I would at least get full. Yeah it looked alot like I was shovelling the food on the sticks till I got better.

Now it's no problem, expecially with the cheap wood ones. It's no big deal.

If I get down to a bunch of rice with some sauce on it I still might break out a spoon and shovel away.

5-0

[KantoSooner]

Kanto, are Japanese baked mussels something you find in Japan, or is it more a Japanese American dish?

It's one of my favorites from Japanese restaurants. I found a youtube video to show how to make them, and to my surprise, it used Japanese mayo, which is quite different from western mayo. It melts like cheese. You mix a little rooster jizz in it for a nice kick and some fish roe and top it off with more roe, and it looks this:

http://s3-media4.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/g9C-SduGtgiPSlen_j52aQ/l.jpg

a couple of years ago, i went on a baked mussels binge and made these all the time - until I got tired of them.

And chop sticks work nicely on these.

Totally native. You can make 'em with sea urchin roe or, 'mentaiko' (peppered cod roe) which goes in the direction that sri racha would take you. good stuff.

[KantoSooner]

Not even going to pretend. I pretty much suck at using chopsticks but I think that's because I try to approach it like a lot of westerners. I like to eat my food, not drop it all over the place. I didn't realize that the whole point was to scoop it in your mouth and that sounds too messy for my taste.

Like Dean, I'm very happy to hear that it's okay to eat sushi with my hands because that's how I always do it. Every time I try to hold it with the chopsticks I end up either dropping it splat in the sauce or it all starts to squish out the sides. Oh, and I am one of those peeps who mixes the wasabi in with the soy sauce and I absolutely hate the taste of the ginger. Guess I won't be cleaning my palate in-between.

Get hungry enough, you'd learn. My company's bachelor dorm in Tokyo had many charming attributes (no hot water in the morning and no window glass in the bathroom, which made shaving in wintertime a little Spartan for my taste) among which was chopsticks, butter knives (the Japanese make perhaps the best toast bread in the world. Seriously) and nothing else. Interestingly, you drop out meat and cheese from your diet and not only does the weight drop off (I went from 200 or so to 165 in less than a year and drank like a Russian cab driver the whole time) but you stop needing deodorant. You'd go to places with a lot of westerners and the entire party would smell like sour milk. Weird.

[olevetonahill]

Get hungry enough, you'd learn. My company's bachelor dorm in Tokyo had many charming attributes (no hot water in the morning and no window glass in the bathroom, which made shaving in wintertime a little Spartan for my taste) among which was chopsticks, butter knives (the Japanese make perhaps the best toast bread in the world. Seriously) and nothing else. Interestingly, you drop out meat and cheese from your diet and not only does the weight drop off (I went from 200 or so to 165 in less than a year and drank like a Russian cab driver the whole time) but you stop needing deodorant. You'd go to places with a lot of westerners and the entire party would smell like sour milk. Weird.

Hell If Im that hungry and dont have a Fork or spoon Ill use my hands .

[sanantoniosooner]

I used to think it was silly, but after knowing someone that was on the mission field in Malaysia for 15 years I don't anymore. It was something he learned to fit into that culture and still does it because it reminds him of that phase in his life.

I don't intend to learn but who cares who else does?

[hawaii 5-0]

If I'm eating a big ol' egg roll I'll take one chopstick and run it thru the eggroll and eat it like a corndog.

5-0

[olevetonahill]

If I'm eating a big ol' egg roll I'll take one chopstick and run it thru the eggroll and eat it like a corndog.

5-0

Now theres an Idea

[KantoSooner]

Hell If Im that hungry and dont have a Fork or spoon Ill use my hands .



Yeah, but I was interested in not only eating but in romantic prospects with the young lady I was eating with. Thus my interest in trying to be civilized and all that...