Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 13:05:32 GMT+1200

From: Tim Behrend t.behrend[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AUCKLAND.AC.NZ

Subject: Re: s'mores, smoores, semurs



It struck me from the beginning of the s'mores thread that something

was a bit wrong with a menu offering smores and Chinese chicken

salad as if they somehow belonged together. (Correct me if I'm

wrong, but I think the original question had the items yoked on the

same menu...) How many of those up-market, health-conscious,

yuppie-serving, californicating restaurants with coriander leaves

(selantro in the US?) garnishing every dish prepare the palate for a

Chinese/Thai chicken salad course by serving a graham cracker

(healthy, true) sodden with melted American imitation chocolate

(never mind the Nestle name) and marshmallows (whipped and sweetened

recycled window putty)?



Over the weekend I was doing some (east) Indian cooking and stumbled

across a type of dish called a Smoore. That reminded me of the

Javanese sweet stew called Semur. Doesn't the whole world

conjured by the menu item Chinese Chicken Salad fit much more easily

with savoury coconut milk stews than campfire confections?



Alternately, if this is a nouvelle cuisine chinoise place with a

dress code requiring cellular phones and silk shirts, it is also

possible that the s'mores in question represent a new "Fragrant

Harbor" version of the girlscout favorite substituting mandarin

pancakes or phoenix nests for the graham crackers, hoisin for the

chocolate, tofu for the marshmallow, all garnished with wan sui (I

think that's selantro in the States) and carrot roses. Now there's an

idea that makes the mouth water. Excuse me while I pop out for a beef

mince and cheese(?) pie at the student tuck shop.



yours in Auckland,

Tim Behrend