evilhomer

they are still available though here in ontario i've only seen them with gift bottles around christmas time. to my mind there's no housewarming gift like a scrabble board and a bottle of crown royal with its purple bag

big bag o gorp with m&m's dried fruit - my avourite are dates, but they make my hands (and thus the keyboard) too sticky so i eat apricots a lot wine gums double salted licorice

it seems perhaps the best approach would be to phone your favourite restaurant as chances are that they will have a room. (something i hadn't realized prior to this thread) let us know how it goes

susur

agreed, and add stratus to that list getting up into the benchland, 13th street, malivoire, and strewn are worthwhile (arguably in that order)

i don't know about vancouver but there are a few places in toronto for good licorice. dutch dream is an ice cream shop on vaughan road at st clair, and there is a bulk place in kensington market, at the corner of baldwin and augusta that has a good variety. somehow or other i was rather determined to acquire the taste for things and now i'm quite addicted. it seems that adults are not into them at all (unless they grew up on them of course) but young children seem to love them.

do folks prefer to eat their pies (and tortieres....) with some condiment. the SO likes HP sauce but i prefer chow chow which is somehwere between a pickle and a chutney made from green tomatoes, lots of dry mustard and celery salt and red pepper. garlic isn't traditional but i've been making it that way for two years now andi'm not going back. onions are added right at the end so they retain their crunch. this to me is the ideal accompaniment to a shepherds pie. that pie furthermore (undoubtedly made from lamb) need not be made from mince in my books. The shredded remains of a few shanks, a leg, a shoulder warmed with onions, peas, carrots and worcestershire sauce and baked under a topping of loose mashed potatoes (perhaps with a small measure of sharp cheddar mixed in) makes a pie that is truly delightful.

mata hari has been my one and only malaysian experience and it certainly was enjoyable. I can't comofrtably vouch for its authenticity but it's a worthwhile destination and if you're exploring the city it's definitely worth acquainting yourself with baldwin street (between beverley and mccaul)

who comes to a restaurant with a corkscrew? If you wanted another glass why not just drink it in the resto? why open it again in the parking lot? to drink it whilst driving home perhaps? you sir are most clearly at fault. The restaurants are as culpable for your overdrinking in that particular case as they would be for your overeating if they made a dessert you found irresistible. There comes a point where people really do have to be responsible for their own actions.

brebis for breakfast wasn't too shabby either they were out of yoghurt by the time i got there (after 6)

i think anyone who's baked potatoes over a campfire can attest to the fact that they don't really burn, you may get a bit of surface char but i think this fear of burnt potatoes is largely unfounded. (and the burnt bits taste good anyways)

I would not cover them and also not parboil them. with smaller potatoes (like these little reds) i like to run the tines of a fork down the side of each mini spud, gouging out a bit - these little channels are a frill, but they create a lot of surface area to brown and hold onto crunchy salt and coarse ground pepper. if they're more than a dainty bite size you can halve them, put cut side down in a HOT pan with a small amount of fat. leave them be for 2-3 minutes, then toss around with salt and pepper. then again let it just sit on high heat. I like to toss in some whole garlic cloves at this stage and put the skillet into a 400 oven. Take it out to every 10-15 minutes and in about an hour they'll be crispy crunchy on the outside and cooked through and abit fluffy inside - they can easily cook another 15-20 minutes with no ill efects but I typically am tired of waiting at that point.

A vial. Great idea! Maybe I can find a rather scientific looking one, kinda like a test tube. That would be cool. ← might not want to get pulled over with that "i swear officer, it's just my fleur de sel"

after rinsing and drying the bird, LOTS of salt and pepper gets pat on and inside and let it stand in the fridge for about an hour - I'll stuff it with a lemon in thin slices and parsley stems or any other herb stems, sage is nice too - the flavour is minimal from these stuffings, if anything they flavour the gravy more than the meat, but they keep the bird moist whle roasting. 325 for 2+ hrs. breat side down for the first 60 minutes, up for the remainder. there are free range chickens and then there are free range chickens. Oftentimes, an organic bird is anatomically similar to supermarket birds though usually with kidney/livers/heart inside and skin that seems tighter. Sometimes we get these birds which are quite expensive with very small breasts, very large legs and very dark meat. they have more of a left and right side than a top and bottom with the spine/breastbone as the equator. while great for coq au vin or other stewing/braising recipes, i don't love these dense and flavourful birds for roasting.

while i've not made this, i recently came across a recipe for a duck stuffed with rhubard and ginger - i'll check it out when i get home, i'm quite certain it was from jaime oliver.

i find this confusing - doesn't the carbonation give it some kind of negative buoyancy like in a black and tan

beerbistro on king just east of yonge. highly recommended for an excellent beer list (heavy on the belgians, but not slacking on the british or canadians for that matter) and always changing menu - wicked frites (obviously) house made smoky ketchup. beer's in all the food (for better or worse - the stout chocolate cake was fantastic - dense and rich and chocolatey) the atmosphere can be a bit bay-street-ish, especially on a friday afternoon www.beerbistro.com

i'll second that recommendation, this place is a real gem. the menu is a mix of belgian and french bistro styles (no moules frites though, rather unfortunately) I work around the corner and we go there for beers and snacks sometimes, or more rarely for a meal. the duck confit with blue cheese muffin is crispy juicy moist and tastes duck-y. the frites are predictably crisp and the house mayo has a nice licorice snap from tarragon. they also have a beer-tinged cheese plate. It's on augusta, just south of college.

laurie colwin's two books (ought to count as one, you could hide them easily within an escoffier)

I've just purchased a bottle of organic oil from greece (malvasia?) from a fellow at the dufferin grove and riverdale markets. it was 14$/L (with my own litre bottle) and I can't recommend it more highly. It is not particularly green - more golden coloured but the flavour is sharp and fresh and peppery. Not quite as spicy as I would ideally like but a tasty oil at a fair price.

I really can't stand bananas - just raw ones, I quite enjoy banana bread or even cooking them in some butter and sugar and pouring on ice cream. But a raw banana triggers the gag reflex - it's the texture mostly I think. Cooked salmon completely turns me off too. I enjoy other oily fish like anchovies and sardines and smelts and tuna, and I'm all over raw salmon, but when it gets cooked it's all putrid to me. Otherwise I've never found anything truly unpalatable and would like seconds of most everything mentioned in this thread already

that sounds great I will be making it this evening

I haven't quite gone to these lengths mentioned, but I am a plymouth fan through and through. It's the only gin we ever have around and sadly I don't see it out that often. It's also good for cooking with occasionally as it has a very clean and spicy juniper flavour.

cream soda + orange sherbet <> Orange soda + vanilla ice cream Ginger Beer + coconut ice cream (+ amber rum) Ting + mint anything + pistachio

we go through many jars of this thai-ish condiment which is thick and syrupy with lots of chilies and sugar. Also a big fan of hp sauce, thank god it's now available outside the house of parliament.