phaelon56

At age 19 I was having dinner in a Chinese restaurant in NYC. I'd only recently began drinking coffee and had rarely, if ever, eaten in a Chinese restaurant. My woman friend, who had lived in Manhattan since birth, was horrified when I ordered coffee after dinner - her comment: "No one EVER orders coffee in a Chine restaurant!". (I suspect they brought me Sanka or its equivalent).

Oh yes - I'll be using it for baking bread - hopefully sometime soon.

Not only are they still around but the minute you show up they've got a few guys ready to leer at you (one of my female colleagues used to be convinced that the same couple of good looking young Italian guys just circulated from one Pavone's mall location to another to serve as eye candy for the lady shoppers and wink at them). Very minor correction on the Kettle Lakes directions - if you're coming there from Rte 81 south you'll get off at the exit, turn left, take another quick left and go under the highway. If you're coming up on Rt 81 north you'll just turn right after the end of the ramp and won't go under the highway. It's in a building that's attached to a Best Western motel and the motel sign is visible from Rt 81. Interesting that they have wine pairings now - I can remember when Tully was a dry town (but that may actually be the village that's dry rather than the township).

I felt it appropriate to resurrect this thread and offer a long overdue follow-up. Several months ago I replaced my pizza stone with a thicker one (3/4" rather than 1/2") and just this week finally got around to testing it. Sam Kinsey (aka slkinsey) had some good suggestions in the Pizza Peel Thread He describes using a lesser amount if yeast and a long fermentation in the fridge with a "take it out, punch it down and turn it over when you think of it" technique. This technique calls for no more than 3 - 5 minutes of kneading but, according to Sam, the lengthy fermentation and mechanical action of the process provides the cross linking that the gluten needs. I'm here to say that it really works! I'll tweak my recipe a bit as I go along - I see suggestions ranging from all bread machine flour to some of that with some regular flour thrown in and also the notion that adding 20% pastry flour is the best idea. I'm sure they all work but here's what I did: About 2 1/4 cups bread machine flour, 2 1/4 cups extra fine durum flour and a bit less than a half cup of gluten (I will cut back on gluten next time). Threw the yeast into 110 degree water but used only 1/3 of a standard package. Whisked it into the water after it bubbled for a minute and added a few spoons of EVOO, some fine sea salt and a teaspoon of honey. Worked it into a pile of the flour and added a bit of water and oil. Kneaded for about 10 minutes. Let it sit at room temp and punched down several times - repeated the process in the evening. The following day I baked my first pies but the dough had only been out of the fridge for 90 minutes or so - I think it was too cold - did not stretch the way I had hoped but it was not fragile - good news. It was good that day but the dough was too puffy and thick. This morning I left it out at cool room temp (58 degrees or so - I leave my house cold in the daytime) and preheated the stone at 550 degrees for about one hour. It had risen again during the day - I punched it down again and it stretched nicely this time. Could have been just a tad more pliable but I think it's because I added too much gluten. I could get it so thin in places that it was translucent but it never tore and never got too sticky - nice! Soooo.... with some dried crushed Herbes de Provence, a bit of Fontina and whole milk Mozzarella, some spicy marinara with fresh tomato chunks and a generous sprinkling of Italian hot turkey sausage.... in it went. Six minutes in the oven and then another sixty seconds under a high broil (my gas oven has a top broiler inside the oven). I'll cook it for about another 30 seconds next time but this was damn close to perfect. Now I can't wait to get the 800 degree gas grill fired up and outfitted with 2" thick firebrick!

I know how boring it is for some to eat the same thing two days in a row but I still had some pizza dough left from the batch I made Sunday afternoon. I had suspsicions that yesterday's less than perfect result was partly due to the extra gluten I added to the dough but believed the temperature of the dough to be more of a factor. Left the remaining dough out on the counter today in a sealed bowl (my house is cool - about 60 degrees or lower during the day). I let the pizza stone warm up for a good hour and really stretched the dough really thin this time. Amazing! It is unquestionably the best pie I've ever eaten in Syracuse and I know it can get better. I'm now a firm believer in using about one half fine durum flour in pizza dough - it adds character. It was light yet crusty and had a slightly toothy feel to it. the room temp sceanrio makes dough handling so much easier. The salad was a repeat of yesterday as well - mixed field greens and baby spinach with balsamic vinaigrette but I threw in toasted pine nuts and feta crumbles in lieu of the macadamias. Also used up the remaining half of a blood orange that I had. I'm starting to like them for more than just the color.

Try standing at a urinal while some guy is watching your back waiting to hand you a paper towel and get his tip - it might change your opinion (although I imagine you'd need either a sex change or some amazing skills before you could try this one - you are female, correct?)

Slightly OT as we may need a separate thread for restaurant "old-school" bathrooms..... a few short years I was in the men's room at Iberia Peninsula, a Portuguese restaurant in the Ironbound district on Newark NJ. They had a coin operated machine on the wall that dispensed big spritzes of: Your choice of colognes for the Manly Man Hai Karate Brut Old Spice I made up the title (it was not on the dispenser) and I'm not sure they really had Hai Karate but you get the idea. Really quite amusing and no - they did not have a bathroom attendant.

Funny that you should mention the sweetness issue. I find that, for me, different forms of coffee/espresso consumption dictate some sweetness or none at all. I enjoy hot coffee either with cream or black but can't tolerate even the slightest hint of sugar. If I stir my cofee with a spoon that some else previously used to stir a heavily sugared cup of coffee., I'll detect a residual note of sweetness that makes the coffee nearly undrinkable. When consuming a cappuccino or latte I find a that a very small amount of sugar is often to my liking but I've grown to dislike refined white sugar - turnbinado (raw) sugar is to my liking. One distinct trend I've noticed in capuccino's - the better the espresso the less sugar I need. I home roasted a new blend last week and found that it was very drinkable with absoilutely no sugar - the chocolate undertones and natural sweetness of the espresso made it sweet enough. I also enjoy straight espresso on occasion but always like a bit of sugar in it. Then there is iced coffee - I always need it with some sort of milk and it must have at least a bit if sugar in it for me to find it drinkable.

Fred Grimaldi retired and the restaurant closed. John Julian, who worked closely with Fred in later years, has had a few places since then, one of which was called Grimaldi's Chop House and I think Fred may have been an investor - it was a bit pricey and overrated. There is now a Grimaldi's Italian restaurant over at "motel row" off Carrier Circle near Rte 90 but it's not the same place as the old grimaldi's and I've heard no buzz about it so I guess maybe it's not in the same league as the old place. Rico, who was Fred's head waiter of many years, opened his own place in East Syracuse on Bridge Street (Rte 298) across from Wal-Mart near the old Amtrak station. People rave about it but I've eaten there four or five times (not my choice) and remain unimpressed. The former Grimaldi's site on on Erie Blvd is now Delmonico's. They still have the Sinatra themed bar area and advertise heavily for their signature item: a supposed Delmonico steak weighing in at 24 ounces for $11.95. Have you checked beef prices lately? A real Delmonico it ain't! Having said that, I'll advise that they are reputed to serve some of the best Italian red sauce style dishes in the area. My personal preference at the moment for Italian food is Ilario's Trattoria on North State.

Dinner Sunday was perhaps my most peculiar Easter dinner ever. My mom was under the weather and not up for dinner, my daughter couldn't make it home from college due to work conflicts and I just munched on odds and ends. had some hummous and also some alouette spread on Carr's Parmesan and Black Pepper crackers, followed with the final leftovers of Jamaican rice 'n peas from one of last weeks' dinners and then fried up a big plantain for tostones. Monday was back to normal food. Mixed field greens and baby spinach salad with chopped blood orange and macadamia nuts. Made a balsamic and dijon vinagrette but threw in a dash of pomegrante juice - very tasty addition to the dressing. Pizza from scratch with asiago, fontina, whole milk mozzarella and marinara sauce. used some dried Herbes de Provence instead of Italian style herb mix and topped it with cramalized onions and Gianelli hot Italian style turkey sausage (IMHO the only worthwhile turkey sausage on the market - certainly the only good one I've ever tried. The pizza tasted really good but the dough was too light. I experimented with adding gluten to the dough mixture and should have added less. Despite having used only 1/3 the amount of yeast called for, the dough was still light and puffy. My guest actually really liked it that way but I wanted more tooth and chewiness.

I've always enjoyed Cioppino - a garlicky fish stew that is often called "San Francisco's answer to Bouillabaise". For some reason I thought it was originally derived from a Portuguese fisherman's stew but can't seem to locate the reference to confirm that. Epicurious.com has a short list of Cioppino Recipes but you might also consider making Bouillabaise itself - I made some recently using the Recipegullet Bouillabaise recipe It was excellent - very, very tasty. By the way - welcome to eGullet! Nice to have you here.

I think it's a normal progression. I found that I never enjoyed coffee black until I started drinking really good quality coffee. Despite that change.... I have gone back to drinking coffee with half and half more often than not. If I'm homr roastign and trying a new blend, a new bean or a roast level that I haven't tried before, I always like to sip a bit of it black before adding anything, just to experience the full flavor.

Fresh beans - either fresh roasted or from a vac sealed package that was fresh when it was frozen.... should be fine on the counter for 5 - 10 days depending on how fresh beans were. I keep my week's supply of whole beans in an opaque airtight container on the kitchen counter - works fine for me but 10 days is the limit and that's from the time of roasting.

Best to check the label carefully and buy from sources you can trust if it's Jamaican Blue Mountain you refer to. There's lots of stuff being passed off as JBM that is not and also a fair amount that has the word blend in fine print. It need only have a few percent real JMB to be labeled as a JBM Blend. The same sad situation applies to Kona coffee. I see Kona Blend all over the place. I know that Mavis Banks is one of the few true JMB estates and I can't recall the name of the other one or two. A true JMB is in the opinion of some not worth the high price it commands (the price is due to scarcity - small growing area and high demand) but I really like it. It is one of the most well balanced cups I've ever had and worth having although I can't afford it as my daily drink.

As if we need an excuse for frying up some bacon

Sounds like a damn good gravy. I lived in North jersey for four years and wondered where all that food was going from the Shop-Rite on holiday weekends - apparently the bulk of it to your in-laws house! Just curious - did you gain some of your cooking experience and expertise at the firehouse as many American firefighter do or was it elsewhere?

I just tried a bottle of Sanbitter this weekend. it is very good but sweeter and a bit less bitter than the Stappj. I like the Sanbitter as an anytime drink - very refreshing - the Stappj seems to have an edge as an apertif - drier and more bitter.

Further testing this morning. Bumped up the water to 25 oz and the coffee to about 35 grams. That appears to be about a maximum batch for this size of brewer (they are available in larger sizes). The amount of time required to "travel south" back into the lower pot was slower - a shorter steep time before reducing the heat would have been appropriate. As instructed by Bodum, when the downward migration appeared close to stalling, I placed the assembly back on the heat momentarily. One quick bubble of the coffee and the rising vapor cleared the tube for the remaining coffee in the upper pot to continue its journey. This should be done only if absolutely necessary and for just a few seconds as causing the coffee to boil wil ruin some major flavor components.

Hmmmmm... perhaps that's why so few Thai places have it on the menu? I loved it as did my dining partner but we're quite possibly part of a small minority. I actually liked the sour curry I previously had in Rochester NY at Mama Sans much better but was pleased just to see it on the menu elsewhere and still enjoyed Spripraphai's version.

I almost forgot about this other pic - it was yet another great looking and awful tasting drink - a mocha from Cafe Pooka in Dingle Town Ireland. Cool little hippie cafe with great breakfasts and lousy coffee ( a common combination in Eire).

Yes... I think so if you're careful with it but the general consensus among camping folks I've spoken with is that moka pots or a press pot are the way to go. If you can handle the bulk of bringing somethign like this with you, I think the pot can handle the heat - I'd suggest not getting it too close to the coals but it should work. It does make one hell of a great cup of coffee.

It's not as though I needed more caffeine today but it is a weekend... In the interest of science I made another vacuum pot batch. This time I used the ratio that Mark Prince mentioned on his Coffeekid site: 3 tablespoons of coffee for 15 ounces of water. By chance he mentioned the weight - 23 grams (thank you Mark!). It is really so much easier to replicate results when weight to water ratios are established. I also took care to wait until the water was nearly at the boil before adding the upper pot, stirred once to scatter the coffee that rose onto the surface once most of the water was up, and then let it steepl with a low boil in the lower pot for exact. Damned if it wasn't one of the best cups of coffee I've had in years.... literally the best. Every variant of coffee preparation has its merits and attractions... drip, moka, espresso.... but this will completely replace auto-drip and Melitta manual cone drip for me. I think the time may soon approach when I'll pick up an electric auto-vacuum pot but for now this little Bodum is the bomb.

All I know is that on an earlier post on this thread I actually witnessed you use parentheses inside of parentheses.... and it worked! You really is just too cool... not being facetious here. I've gotten so damn hungry reading this. I actually stumbled across a deal yesterday on some supposed Louisiana brand of frozen, pre-spiced crawfish. Cajun name and LA address for the maker but the damn bugs were from China! What's up with that? They also had a package of cleaned and frozen crawfish meat with no seasonings. I'm thinking that it might be good for paella - it's way cheaper than frozen lobster or langoustino's (sp?), both of which I've used and been unimpressed with. I just came out of my basement after a trip down there to the old root cellar to run speakers cables for the new home theater room. Lo and behold.... an entire case of 24 Coke glasses just like yours (minus the fancy foreign writin'). Now I can have a real party and serve frozen coffee drinks in Mayhaw style

Some of the finest events of my life have been kick started by public embarassment but we needn't go there Hunting in the Amazon? Sounds tres kewl....

Any time you open a package of anything that's in the freezer and put it back in the freezer, moisture is introduced. It just happens that coffee is more negatively affected by moisture than certain other food products. I didn't know that ziploc's were available in a smaller size now - that's good news. The vacuum seal machines should definitely help preserve freshness, especially when freezing. Java-Joe's point about refrigeration is one I agree with for portions that are in a sealed air-tight container and will be used in their entirety when removed but personally I'd be disinclined to keep a container of ground coffee or beans in the fridge and keep digging into it for more - every time it's opened... in goes more moisture. If keeping coffee for more than 7 - 10 days after opening the orogianl factory sealed package, I still think freezing is the way to go - regardless of whether it's whole beans or pre-ground. Some of this may well be conjecture on my part but I have adequate freezer space and for my needs... freezing is just as convenient as refrigerating.