phaelon56

I've only eaten at a Houston's on two occasions (both in Atlanta if I recall correctly). It was actually pretty good for a chain and I'd describe it as upscale casual. I've never worn a hat indoors in my life (my good northeastern upbringing - no different than a soutern upbringing - a good upbringing knows nor geography). I've also never worn a tank top and wouldn't deam of going into a "nicer" restaurant wearing shorts but that's just me. I have to wonder if they perceived a shift in demographics in some location and wantd to proactively counter it - i.e. if they thought that more upscale regular clientele were put off by cell phone chatting, tank top wearing folks with cut-off shorts.... perhaps they hope to keep that clientele by dissuading others. Contrary to what some others have experienced, I've had some fantastic meals in places where jackets were required. Ties were not required but every guy in the place including me had a tie on. I don't think that a very dressy environment excludes the possibility of getting good food but it certainly doesn't ensure it. But I've yet to have really good food in a place with a great view (rumor has it that Per se in NYC is an exception if you get a table with a view of Central Park).

Yes I could but I'm a city boy I have these things in my shop called rasps - I was gonna use them to build my wooden rocket ship but it turns out that they're just for horses hooves and all that. Damn - hate when that happens There is actually a Wallace and Gromit episode called "A Grand Day Out", in which they use a manual called Electronics For Dogs and build a wooden rocket ship that flies them to the moon. You might ask.... how is this food related... just how far off topic can you go? Say no more.... this UK based DVD supplier offers a synopsis of "A Grand Day Out" I love anything that's all about the great cheese.

The most detailed site I've found is Blue Ray Thai Iced tea recipes It gives detailed instructions on making the tea itself and the offers a variety of recipes that can be made using the tea as a base and adding in a variety of other liquids etc.

It's only 40 days until Talk Like a Pirate Day but whos' counting? Oddly.... I find no references to Tim Horton or coffee on that site.

Just to clarify - she's referring to green coffee beans. The "berries" are also known as coffee "cherries" and they are the actual fruit. The beans that we have come to know and love are the seeds that form inside the berry. The meat of the coffee cherry is stripped off in the process of getting the bean. The process by which this is done and dryign accomplished varies significantly from one area to another, hence terms like "DP" for dry processed and "washed" for a differing process. No matter - I always love the end result when it starts out with a good coffee. All of the Mediterannean and Middle Eastern stores in my area sell Ibriks and at least one sells green coffee beans, although they are of unknown provenance. I'd suggest sticking to a store thats sells to the Ethiopian community to increase your chances of getting really good beans - there's not much bad coffee that makes it out of Ethiopia (at leats I've never had any).

But isn't rum, buggery and the lash always more satisfying when a cup of coffee is involved?

One caveat on the truly wonderful Appplegate farms ice cream (stopping for an ice cream at their main Montclair location after the movies was one of my favorite NJ summertime things to do when I lived there). Applegates has ice cream they sell by the cone or dish and also in handpacked pints or quarts - it's incredibly good. They also sell "machine-packed" hald gallons and quarts in standard retail packging from a freezer. The stuff in the freezer is on par with good supermarket ice cream but in now way does it match the stuff they serve over the counter. The freezer product is much airier and less dense - not nearly as creamy (it's also cheaper - ya gets what ya pays for).

Alacarte (Kara) mentioned awhile back that she was planning to go - not sure if she's still going to be there but I'll check with her. Is anyone going to be there early to grab tables? We altered our plans and will no longer be staying over the night before - we'll just drive up on Sunday morning but probably won't arrive until 10:30 or 11 AM.

Oddly, the local tomatoes here in central NY state have been subpar thus far, as has the local sweet corn. The southern (most likely FL) sweet corn we were getting earlier in the season was actually quite good. Both the red and yellow tomatoes I got from a farm stand in NC a few weeks ago when I visited my GF were spectacularly good (and 75 cents per pound to boot!). No photos to share this time but Saturday dinner was sweet corn, fried green tomatoes and some incredible smoked ribs. I had tried brining for the first time earlier in the week (a whole chicken that was then split and cooked on the grill). I had ribs already prepped, dry rubbed and frozen - left over from July 4th weekend. 25 minutes of brining after they were thawed and then four hours in the smoker. The results were truly astounding. Next time: photos. I promise.

These were ribs out of the freezer and had already been prepped and dry rubbed. I do a Kansas City style prep that includes removing all the extra exterior layers of meat and also the mebrane. I defrosted them in the fridge and brined about 25 minutes or so. Fantastic - the ribs from my smoker have always been good but these were the best by far.

It's fodder for an entirely separate thread but you've touched on the fundamental problem that exists in North America at present.... outside of a few spots in the midwest and east coast... perhaps a smattering in other isolate areas.... the PNW (Seattle, Portland etc.) is the only place where you'll routinely find well extracted espresso. Even Seattle probably has more bad espresso than good but there's so much good stuff there that it's a moot point. In a sense it's a Catch 22 because most people won't buy much espresso until they've actually tasted the good stuff. The perceoption that "espresso is bitter (in a bad way) is still rampant. Progress is moving along but it remains a challenge.

And to think that I liked T'burg up until finding that out Katie - it's not too late to get up to Vermont for the Phish farewell concert. Just a thought.

Me. Raspberry coulis is an abomination on the face of decent desserts. Me. A "decent dessert" would be cheese. "decent" as in not scandalous or "decent" as in not so bad? Surely there must be some decent desserts other than cheese. I love cheese but can think of hundreds of non-cheese desserts that really do it for me. Very few include sauce.

Poached pears for dessert. I use Asian pears but I'm sure Bosc or Bartlett would do. Use moderately firm ones. Slice them up, throw some star anise, a cinnamon stick and a bit of sugar (Turbinado if you have it) into the wine and poach for thirty minutes or so. Turn it off to let them cool down a bit and serve. Really good with vanilla ice cream. It's probably not acceptable by some folks standards but I refrigerate a poaching liquid like this and reuse few times until it's cooked down too far to cover the fruit. I imagine most any red wine will work but I use the cheap 8 oz screw cap bottles of merlot and it comes out very tasty.

Ditto on the great looking pics - your eye and use of natural ight on those first pics reminds me of Lucy's stuff (bleudauvergne) - that's high praise indeed. Uhhhhh.... beer? That's what the waitress offered me in Toronto when we went out to breakfast on sautruday morning near the hockey arena. At 8:30 AM no less. She didn't even lead with "Coffee?". Just immdiately asked us if we wanted beers. Foolish me. I just figured that it was the Canadian national breakfast

Yes there is. IMHO and based on perosnal experience, after 15 - 20 minutes in the thermal french press, the coffee starts to change because it's still absorbing bits of flavor components from the grounds in the bottom. I'm with Richard on this one - pour it off into a carafe. My cheapie-works great-almost as good as french press alternative is a Melitta cone with one of those gold mesh reusable filters - it lests most of the flavor oils through the way that press pot coffee does. I brew directly into a cheap thermal carafe that happens to fit the base of the Melitta cone nicely. Makes great coffee and it's simple.

I like those but orange soad is frequently just so darn fake tasting that I think the cream soda combo might be better (depsite the fact that I hate cream soda and love orange soda). Wow. Ting and mint. That rocks. I also really like the ginger beer idea. I love ginger beer but had been struggling to think of an ice cream flavor to pair with it. If I could just remember what the ice cream flavors are that they offer at the Chinatown Ice Cream factory in NYC I'd have more combos. They have a great selection of flavors I don't generally see elsewhere (lychee, mango, papaya, green tea etc.) I think green tea ice cream in ginger ale is another possible winner.

Okay Katie Loeb aka HippieChick.... did you go... how was it and please tell us about the food.

Carrots are good for you. That's why I always try to eat at least two pieces and make sure they're generous portions And at age 48 I don't need reading glasses - I think there may be something to that whole "carrots are good for your eyes" thing.

They'd be lost without us, wouldn't they? Well I am good for more than grilling (and cooking)

That is SO not romantic Thank goodness you're kidding... you are kidding, right?

That's how I feel yet most every woman I've dated in the past 15 years has routinely offered to do my laundry... usually something along the lines of "I'm already doing laundry for myself and (the kids... my son... etc)... it's no big deal to throw a few things of yours in with it." Maybe I'm too independent but I just can't get with that. I've been doing my own laundry for aboutthe past 35 years just fine thanks. Now we move to the present - my current GF actually gets offended if she offers to do my laundry and I decline (I"m only there on visits at present until I relocate). So, in the interest of harmony, I give in. But she always wants me to do the grilling.

I resurrected this thread because I finally got a grill for my new abode (previous digs in a third floor apartment left no room for a grill). Have been using a smoker for several years and read the brinign threads and comment with interest but finally put it into practice last night. Wow! Finally.... I can cook a split chicken on a propane grill until the skin is nicely caramelized, crunchy and golden brown yet the meat is still moist. I used the recommended ratio of 1/2 cup (70 grams) Diamond Kosher salt per quart of water but had to add just a bit more water at the end to get the chicken covered. I did add about two teaspoons of sugar as well. Left in the juice for three hours, set both burners on the grill to Low after preheating it to get an initial sear and cooked for about one hour, flipping once. I basted the birds with BBQ sauce about ten minutes before they were done cooking but it was superfluous. There was so much flavor in the skin and the meat that sauce was irrelevant. There seem to be differing schools of thought around here on the value of brining (most in favor). Count me among the converted. I just thawed out some spareribs that I prepped, rubbed and froze a month ago (had too many for the initial event). They'll be completely defrosted tonight and I'm thinking that a quick 30 - 60 minute brine is in order before they the smoker. And it's time to buy some Cornish Hens.

This is an intriguing notion. I'm not interested in drinking coffee essence but there might be some baking applications. Can you elaborate on what equipment is needed and how one would set this up?

I bought an Escali from a coffee equipment vendor a few years ago when I was experimenting with different bean wieights for my espresso shots. The dose per double shot ranges from 15 to 21 grams and minimal difference can have noticeable impact. The escali is accurate to 1/10 of a gram, measures in grams or ounces and handles up to just under 11 oz total weight. It's been great but I'm starting to do more baking and will need something perhaps a bit less sensitive but with larger capacity. Here's a great thread on Coffeegeek.com that has some very pertinent information Scale Discussion