lancastermike

I used to do a blog, not about food, and the reson I stopped was that I really had little to say about the subject that was fresh or different. After a time I really felt I was just another of the barking dogs. I also found my writing skills to not be as developed as I thought. Mr. Shaw is right when he says it is not easy. And it is realy not easy to do well.

So off we go to the store to pick up the one bottle that had arrived. I spoke to them about the Luxardo not being there. It seems from the paperwork sent to the store that the distributor is currently out of stock. I suppose that in one sense is good news as it appears the Luxardo is still a product they will get. Now the good part, when the store manager tried to process the transaction he failed. I ordered over the phone from Harrisburg. As per norm they charge 50% at the time of ordering with the balance due at pick up. So, the transaction showed that they actually owed me about six bucks as the 50% for the two ordered items was more than the total price of the one I did get. No matter how much he tried he could not get his POS machine to agree to give me a refund. He concluded that it would have to be issued as a credit to my credit card by Harrisburg. The real issue was he would not let me take the bottle I did have delivered. He said he would have to call them on Monday and clear it up and than call me back. So,my bottle of Laird's 100 proof apple brandy is being held hostage. The SLO system is cumbersome at best. As to Katie's point about the retail system being the same as the system for licensees I believe it to be the same. There are some items that I would like to order that require a case minimum order by the distributor. Over on the M thread Katie mentioned adding some rye whiskeys to her bar. Two good ones, Rittenhouse and Pikesville are case only orders. Even for many bars a case order is more than they care to make, unless it is a high volume item. In summary most of us agree things at the PLCB are better than they used to be, but I think we all believe things are not as good as they should be.

And I do not know the whole story on my order yet. I also plan to call them on Monday for details. I hope it is just a glitch as I have SLO the Luxardo successfully in the past.

A spirit not a wine note. Luxardo Maraschino used to be a specialty item that could be had on the shelf. Than it became a SLO item. On Friday I placed a SLO for several bottles. Today I get home from work and am greeted with a message from SLO headquarters that they cannot get the Luxardo. A revolting development to a guy married to a woman who adores Aviation cocktails.

I think that telling managment would be the best way. I can tell you that back when I was working for tips if this person worked were I worked the problem would have been taken care of by the staff. One way or the other it would have been taken care of. I don't recomend it, but we would have met up with this individual for a little "talk".

I must have a dozen or so, many purloined from my bartending days. However I am in agreement with all who tout the OXO strainer. It is the one I use these days and it is a nice design.

I agree. Zero is, in my opinion, far superior to Diet Coke. BTW, I had my first Coke Zero fountain experience over the weekend. It was at White Castle, which I learned, has replaced Diet Coke with Zero . . . at least at some of their Chicago outlets. =R= ← Have yet to see Zero in fountain sales around here. I am much looking forward to that. ← They had it for awhile at Target( in the snack bar area, where you could and still can get a medium drink and a popcorn for 1 buck), but its gone. What happened to the diet coke w/ splenda. I loved that, it made a great float!! ← I liked the Diet Coke with Splenda till I tried Zero. At my market on the big pile of Cocca-Cola products just inside the door there were a few of the Splenda product, but it was way down at the end with the stuff like canned ice tea. Certainly was not getting the big push like Zero

I agree. Zero is, in my opinion, far superior to Diet Coke. BTW, I had my first Coke Zero fountain experience over the weekend. It was at White Castle, which I learned, has replaced Diet Coke with Zero . . . at least at some of their Chicago outlets. =R= ← Have yet to see Zero in fountain sales around here. I am much looking forward to that.

Lamenting the late great soft drink thread, I did notice in yesterday's NYT an article regarding Coke Zero. It stated that Zero has now reached 0.8% of the soft drinks sales in the USA equaling the sales of diet 7-up. Also noted was the advertising strategy that Coca-Cola has chosen for Zero. No mention of it being a "diet" drink as the demographic they are going after is younger males. I am well past their target age, but I love the stuff. I went looking today for a link and could not find it. Perhaps it is lost in the ether. When I went to the store to get my 4 12-packs for 11 dollars along with a store coupon for another buck fifty off, I saw the first Zero add on brand. Zero Cherry was on the soda barge just inside the door. Cherry must be the bomb as I believe there were 6 different kinds of cherry coke, diet and regular. I know the confimed Diet Coke drinkers of the world, like Megan Blocker, will never agree, but Zero is much better than Diet Coke. Also, since I like it, it makes me a happening kind of guy.

Perhaps try TJ Maxx? I got a nice bottle there not long ago at a decent discount. At first I was afraid it was real old. When I tasted it it was fine. They have other items there I have gotten and been happy with as well.

I forgot to mention that I add ice too!! I have since I was a kid. My milk has to be freezing cold as well. ← I like mine very cold as well. What I like to do is pour a glass and put it in the freezer while I am making whatever I am going to eat with it. I used to drink whole milk, but now go for 1%. My wife, bless her soul, uses skim milk. I just cannot bring myself to drink that. I need at least a little fat in my milk

I have just today ordered from Fee Bros. the lemon biters and some other items I was running low on. 7,000 is a heck of a number, Sam. More impressive to me is an average of 5 per day, {thats posts, not drinks}

Just a horrible smell. I really cannot stand it

My solution is my standard suggestion. Smoked pork, and lots of it

Well, they are here sitting on my desk as the girl scout parents at work know I'm a soft touch. As always I got some thin mints for Maggie. I have never liked them as mint and chocolate are one of those flavor combinations that I have never cared for in any form The last couple of years I have been getting the low-fat lemon creams. Those are gone this year. I got a box of the new lemonade cookies. They are like the shortbreads with a lemon topping. Not bad really $3.50 a box, I know thats for the Girl Scouts not for the cookies. Anyone else got their haul?

The blog I did with Susan and Marlene was, I believe, the first one that Susan in FL managed. Thanks for helping me through it.

Just last night I neded a lime for my wife's cocktail. In my crisper I had a couple that did not look so good on the outside, but the one I choose was full of nice tart juice. Tough time of year for citrus, but I agree that limes in particular will give good juice, even if they don't look so good

What she said, smoke that bird

When I was F&B manager of a large resort hotel we used to sell draft beer at a keg price for banquets and weddings and such. We charged some insane amount and often sold the same keg several times as most functions would not finish the keg. I would end up getting almost $500 dollars for something I paid 30 bucks for plus charging them a bartender fee.

This brought a smile to my face on a cold snowy morning here in Lancaster. In an effort to stay on topic I am the sort of wine consumer Katie talked about. The Charimans wines have given us the chance to drink wines that I would not have done so. I have learned a small bit about different wines and their taste. I certainly am not the type of wine consumer that Mr. Colabelli is and I never will be. I will not enter any sort of wine discussion with him or the other much more educated consumers here. But it has been a positive for me.

Megan is the toast of the town and the queen of Diet Coke. Should be another enjoyable trip with her. Megan, i have switched to Coke Zero. I hope you don't hate me for that.

Welcome John. Very nice photography. I really like your pork. For some insight into E-gullet pork smoking check out this all time favorite thread Butt Your ribs are great as well and guess what? We have a rib thread as well. ribs Always great to see another smoker here. edited to include missing link

A great blog! Many thanks to all three of the frozen soupers. My only regret is that we did not see any smoking at the Fahning household. A real herculean effort by all.

We had dinner at Amada on Sunday night to celebrate Maggie’s birthday. Based on all I have read here we had high expectations. And they were certainly met. We both ordered the Chef’s selection. Some tasting menus can be short on quantity but the amount of food at Amada matched the quality. 45 bucks is a very fair price for what we were served. We liked the flat bread and dip that we started with. Followed in short order by the manchego with honey and sliced apple. The cheese was fine and the apple crisp. Both Maggie and I agreed that our favorite was the spinach salad with figs, nuts and Serrano ham. This was just perfect to my taste. Maggie enjoyed the olives and I must confess that I just do not care for olives. I never have and I still do not. She said these were great and I ate some of the pickled onions that came on the olive tray The patatas bravas were everything that I expected them to be. Really like them a lot. If ther was one plate I was a little disappointed in it was the crab stuffed peppers. Certainly nothing wrong with them, but the crab was not very flavorful. We next got the artichoke, truffle , chantrelles and manchengo flatbread. This was another highlight of the evening. A perfect combination of flavors that we very much enjoyed. At this point I started to wonder how much more we were to be served and there was much more to come. The grilled scallops were perfect sweet and fresh. Next was the filet with the foie gras and cabrales. The foie was good the filet a little bland I thought. Next was the lamb meatballs, which I really liked. Maggie does not care for peas so I made up for not eating olives by helping myself to all the peas that came with the meatballs. Also included in the last course was the chickpeas with spinach which aging I really liked. That was the end and I was indeed stuffed. Since it was Maggie’s birthday we did order desert. Maggie had the crèma catalana and I the churros. The churros were good, the crema was outstanding. I had only one glass of sangria with dinner. Maggie had a cocktail and two glasses. She did not know that I had ordered champagne to be sent to the hotel room for our return as a surprise. I went light on the beverage for that reason. Service was top-notch. Our server and all the food runners explained each dish as it was presented. When I had trouble finding a cab when we were leaving one of the front hostesses ran around the corner on a cold, windy, dark night, sans coat, to help me flag one. When we return I will ask not to be seated at the low couches our table had. They were comfortable but I’m 6’3” and I has some trouble eating and found myself picking plates off the table. This was not any fault of Amada. Next time I’ll know better. We very much enjoyed a special meal for Maggie’s special day. My comments are really no different from what is posted above and add nothing new to this thread, but I did want to post to say how much we really enjoyed our evening at Amada.

fried rice, or All Bran, it's hard to tell, Susan, the picture is a little blurry