evilhomer

for 1/10 the price get yourself a cnc machine (they're going reasonably on ebay now), learn some gcode and making endlessly complicated badass molds. with some food grade bits things could get even more interesting. I wonder what the proper cutting speed and intensity for a genoise would be?

i've been toying with these proportions for a month now, taking off from a recipe in the babbo book 6 blood oranges are juiced (which generates in the neighbourhood of 1.5 C of juice) 3 oz. grand marnier 2 oz. sweet white vermouth this usually gets made in the afternoon and then at the cocktail hour 1.5 oz of that mix gets poured into a flute and topped with cava and a dash of orange bitters. the goal is basically to have a tart/sweet drink with discernible brandy and bubbles.

brasaii

bread baking as an undergraduate i think my sense of accomplishment and gratification at actually making bread was at least equal to receiving my degree. I think it's important to realize that as a student you sometimes want something filling and nutritious and cheap and very easy to assemble which can be varied infinitely. And other times maybe you want to spend a mellow afternoon in the kitchen with a friend or lover doing something involved and gratifying (but not necessarily fancy or finicky). fruitcake and pierogies are rather major undertakings in my kitchen which I discovered while a student. Pickling became a bit of a habit there too (we had no good grocery stores, but an awesome farmer's market) as an aside - laurie colwin's home cooking books were my first aides to cooking and I still think they're exceptional.

they don't seem to have it on their websites anymore, but the beer bistro here in toronto had a number of beer cocktails when they first opened. there was a porter and bourbon concoction and four or five others.

-there's a collection of joanne kates essays. it must be at least 10-15 years old. -the fresh/juice for life book if you're into some vegan juice bar recipes.

still (happily) standing are apricot kernels less expensive than almonds? they were rather labour intensive to extract, certainly compared to cracking an almond.

thanks 50 of them have been taken from the pit (whew) 1/2 went into a little sachet and stewed down with apricots and a chili to infuse nicely into a jam. the other half were toasted and ground and made into a crust which will now receive a hefty blob of pressed sheep's milk yoghurt and then the jam to then be baked. i won't serve any to any children and i'll carry a note in my pocket saying that if found unconscious please check egullet for treatment advice or

so i've got maybe 50 kernels here and when eating an apricot out of hand, i usually enjoy the kernel. The trace amounts of cyanide present are inconsequential at that quantity. with 50 though I'd like to bake with them, I was thinking of grinding them and using it as a replacement for almond flour. Is this potentially dangerous? I know that liquers are made from kernels so can i infuse them into some base and thus neutralize the toxins? will heating them to a point be similarly effective? thanks

Coming home from greece two weeks ago we filled our bags with lazziridi's trebbiano (ugni blanc). It's a very interesting take on the grape - floral, chalky, yeasty, some pear and apples - it was not entirely unlike a champagne in flavour profile (albeit without the bubbles) but with very interesting floral and mineral components and edging towards off-dry. I'm not sure to what extent it is exported (though i've seen other lazzirid wines around) so keep an eye out for it.

in addition to what's been said (and i should be clear, i haven't been to kingston for over a year) luke's for breakfast (it's easy to walk by, funky looking place on princess, across from indigo) it might not open until 11 or so. i think i would walk back to kingston for their chicken salad. kingston brewing company (on clarence, a block north of king) the food can be spotty but when it's on it's really good. They also have an enormous scotch selection and of course their own beers. With food and beer we always found their regular options to be uninspired, but without fail the specials were always great. luigina's restaurant (my first kitchen job, but i've long since lost all contact with them) was always a bit stuffy but served really good italian food. they were moving when we were last there, i think they're on ontario street now and if the new space is not as stuck in the 80's they might do very well. pastas are all handmade, sauces are uniformly delicious, but i'm a little embarassed by the boiled carrots and green beans served with meat mains (though the meat will make up for it) atomica and chien noir (side by side on brock, same owners.) are worth checking out too. atomica is a pizza joint and they were in the process of becoming more of a wine bar, chien noir is more french bistro.

i'll second mimi's. there's no sign, just look for the oak leaf steam baths on bathurst north of queen. saving grace is worth checking out also (dundas and grace, west of bathurst) - pumpkin waffles are a good start to any day. people really like auntie's and uncles and there are some definite high points on the menu - it's on a little side street off college just east of bathurst. le select on queen is a nice french bistro and they have some tasty pastries, good coffee and a very good goat cheese omelette.

I was just served a very similar drink this weekend - the rhum agricole was replaced by cachaca and there was a strip of lime peel in there - it was delicious, refreshing, and a second one stood up well to a variety of fish croquettes with spicy sauces.

all the matching campari with sweet vermouth has me playing around with a 1:1:1 campari:sweet vermouth:bourbon. It's a bit sweet, some bitters balance that out. I tried it yesterday with cynar instead of campari and i think there's more potential therein, but i'm abandoning this for the time being as its a bit too finicky for this weather. This however has been greatly enjoyed right off the bat: muddle half a lime with a small dash of sugar syrup and a handful of tarragon. pour in 1/2 oz campari 1/2 oz sambuca 1 1/2 oz gin add crushed ice (the crushed ice filters out the potential for getting a big mouth full of herbs) and top with soda water.

clearly too late for this but - a great touch for sandwiches is to toss greens with dressing (just a simple vinagrette will do but feel free to lilygild) and then pile the dressed greens into your panini. top up with whatever other meat/veg/cheese you like. A little acidity is nice (and often lacking) in a sandwich and the greens carry what seems like a perfect amount.

add some feta and a finely minced chili just before serving and you've got a great salad

it wasn't until we stopped staying at the cheapest possible hostels that I realized the typical italian breakfast is most emphatically NOT a stale bun with sour cherry jam. I'm a big fan of the fruit/yoghurt/toast combo - the fruit can be juice or jam or fresh. sometimes we get very good yoghurt which has a creamy top layer which can be spread on toast very succesfully.

they just started stocking this locally (and quite reasonably next to most of the other gins in this thread) - how does it stack up to the others you've mentioned. I'm going to assume the juniper is rather front and centre but i'm curious for other impressions.

as we drove around the okanagan last weekend I noticed that most places (many of them very small) were able to accomodate us and we phoned each a few hours before arrival. on any given day by midmorning you could have some clear idea of the next half dozen stops, you could then give each of them something of a window, phone if you'll be delayed, but above and beyond, just stick to that schedule. anyone with more experience find this to be reasonable or am i just splitting a baby in half.

alright - as with most things culinary - i thought that would be much mroe complicated than it actually is. Nothing to get your day going like a little ASCII CAD. now it just needs to get a bit cooler and i can start making the sponges (and fruitcakes) of my dreams.

fries americain? as if not saying 'french fries' isn't already asinine enough, to call them american fries and then francocise it - menu writing has reached a new low today (happy st jean baptiste day - just around the corner)

Aside from the (written in stone) 4 'clock cocktail hour for all (kids and adults) that my grandfather lovingly enforced (sprite and 3 maraschino, or later white russian milshakes for the younglings) It took off when I married into a cocktail family. It was the christmastime manhattan that gave me my first cocktail as tradition. Now i'm looking for an event that doesn't yet have a specific drink associated with it.

thank you - this sounds eminently do-able (what's a z-fold?)

this is certainly an easy enough looking recipe and any use of lyle's rates highly in my book, but could someone speak briefly to the technique of steaming a pudding. What is a mold? where can I get one or what could I substitute? how do you tie it down (tie what down? tie with what?) and then do you put the tied mold just right down on the bottom of a big pot of water, crank it up, cover and leave it or is there some other subtlety I'm overlooking? I've come across a few very appealing recipes of late which require steaming so I greatly anticipate these answers. thanks kindly

trillium - how do you go about producing that. are the fruits treated in any way or just put whole in a jar, covered with brandy and sugar. how much brown sugar? (i'm sure this varies with fruit, liquor and tastes, but what order of magnitude) This could be an interesting use of bergamot if a balance could be struck with the sugar.