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Excellent. We're doing our St. Paddy's day feast tonight, and I had been stuck on an additional (depending on how you count colcannon) veg. This is perfect. Our menu will be: Cocktails with Smoked salmon on rye with cucumber dill raita Helen Mirren's Colcannon Soda Bread Guiness Glazed Root Veg Corned Beef with Horseradish Sour Cream Sauce Grammercy Tavern Ginger Guinness Cake Might add a salad or soup. Thanks! Erik

Wow! That sounds great. I had no idea regular thyme would stand up to that. I know some folks use Elfin Thyme, Wooly Thyme, and some low growing Oreganos as ground covers. Love the smell of Lemon Thyme, though. Erik

Not sure about that; but, I believe it is a pretty common practise, especially among volume wine makers whose wines never see the inside of an oak barrel. Doing a quick google for "wine oak chips", I find the rules for French mid-market (vin de pays) wines were changed in 2004 to allow the use of oak chips, wider geographical sourcing of grapes, and smaller amounts of named varietals in their wines.

The grapes don't but the oak chips do. I'm not saying you should spend more than $10 on wine for cooking. My point is that cooking typically calls for a "dry white" or "dry red" wine. Most US wine makers do not market budget dry white or dry red wines. They market big, fruit forward, over oaked buttery wines that they hope will appeal to Joe and Josie Soda Pop Drinker. Too much oak is the last thing you want in a cooking wine. Erik

The Liberal Cocktail, which I learned from Mr. Taggert's Blog last year, is another fine drink which uses Torani Amer. http://cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=1346

I agree. If it isn't good enough to drink while cooking, it isn't good enough to cook with. The hardest thing is finding decent dry not over-oaked, over-fruity, or over-heavy cheap wine! Especially in American wines, this seems to nearly not even exist. Someone mentions acid sticking around; but, acid mellows somewhat with cooking. It's the tannins (oak!) that really stick around. Erik

No trace of any similar recipe at Aquavit, and nothing in the cocktaildb. I'm really interested in the idea of savory cocktails, so how about "Savory Bastard" for a name? In French, one of the names for the dill plant is, "Fenouil bâtard" or Bastard Fennel. ----- Savory Bastard 1.5 ounce Aquavit 1/2 ounce Dry Vermouth 1 slice lemon 2 sprigs dill Couple shakes Angostora Bitters In a cocktail shaker muddle dill, lemon, vermouth, Aquavit, and bitters. Add ice, shake to chill and strain into your favorite cocktail receptacle.

I don't really like milk either. I only add Yoghurt at the end. Another really tasty thing to do, (and I mean really tasty,) is to substitute Apple Juice for some of the water in the cooking liquid. >I don't think I've ever seen oats as a side dish/starch Neither have I; but, I think a recent Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for whole Oat Groats cooked kind of like bulgar with kale. I will have to look for it. It looked very tasty. Erik edited to fix spelling

I think I have found a very tasty one based on some thinking I did today. I agree Angostora is a very good match and savory flavors match well. I think it is original; but, I'll have to go back and look at the Aquavit's drink menu to make sure I'm not subconsciously cribbing. 1.5 ounce Aquavit 1/2 ounce Dry Vermouth 1 slice lemon 2 sprigs dill Couple shakes Angostora Bitters In a cocktail shaker muddle dill, lemon, vermouth, Aquavit, and bitters. Add ice, shake to chill and strain into your favorite cocktail receptacle. edited to fix spelling

I think it's a neat idea, and they look gorgeous. But, isn't it an immense pain for the bartender(s)? I'm assuming you charge at least $50 for the sampler; but, it can't be much less work than making 9 full size drinks. In some ways I imagine it is more. You should also look into some way of stabilizing them on the tray. I'm sure you have great steady handed wait staff; but, I can just imagine the whole thing going over when a table guest gesticulates wildly and evasive action is required. Some sort of grid? Pomegranate juice doesn't come out easily. My 2 cents. Erik PS. I disagree with you about Cold Stone Creamery. Straight out of the ice cream bucket and into my cone please. No mixing on the bizarre, and I'm sure unhygenic, communal marble. My parents make me go to one in some mall somewhere every time we visit them. The whole idea creeps me out.

I find the beers that age the best, are the ones I like the least. I keep buying the Stone Vertical Epic beers; but, I'll be darned, they just keep disappearing! http://stonebrew.com/epic/ I don't particularly care for the Anchor Christmas beers, so I find I have no real problem keeping them around in the cupboard. Don't really find they improve with age, though, just get a little less fizzy, and as you say, some of the crisper hoppy tastes disappear and the spices become more accentuated. Which can be a bad or a good thing, depending on the year. I think the year I started saving them was 2001 (or perhaps 2002?). That year I believe they experimented with a little too much Star Anise. It remains my least favorite.

I really like Bernal. My wife and I have lived on the "Gritty South Slope" for about 3 years. We are close to the farmers' market, Good Life Grocery, enough good restaurants to keep us happy, and have figured out fairly painless commute routes and schedules. Are you still in San Francisco? Erik

Oatmeal Porridge is my favorite breakfast; but, I guess I'm not quite so picky about it. Though, perhaps a bit anal about method. I buy thick rolled oats in bulk. I use the microwave to cook them in a large bowl. 1 cup water 1/3 cup oats, Medium for 5 minutes. Add honey, raisins, walnuts, and a pinch of salt. Return to microwave and cook another 6 minutes on Medium Low. Stir in some whole milk yoghurt and dig in. Dates are also nice, as are dried apricots. We don't have a dishwasher, so I hate to get extra pans dirty in the morning. I will have to try the steel cut some time. I'm sure there is some way to program the microwave. Unfortunately, my rice cooker doesn't have a timer or congee setting. I knew I should have sprung for the fuzzy logic model. Erik

I dunno, it's really hard to get beyond that caraway flavor, at least for me. It is just not as appealing to me as juniper. I thought I would make a kind of reverse Vesper, 2 ounce vodka, one ounce aquavit, 1/2 ounce lillet, orange zest. I was kind of hoping that the citrus in lillet and orange would play nice with the caraway and the 2 parts vodka would mellow it a little more. It was OK, but certainly not great. The caraway was lurking there, bothering my palate. I think it might be nicer in a savory bitter cocktail. The Aquavit was a strange shaped bottle of Jubilaeum that my wife had received for Christmas quite a few years ago. She had threatened to pour it down the sink when we moved; but, being Norwegian, I had secreted it away and hidden it in the garage and forgotten we still had it. It was a bit dusty.

Dude, we're totally, like, trying to keep these a secret! Shhhhh! If more people start going they will raise their prices. The Chow restaurants are the first that spring to mind. Pasta and comfort food with a seaonal menu, quality ingredients, and very reasonable prices. Blue Jay Cafe also is pretty reasonable, perhaps a bit more expensive, with a similar menu to Chow. More of a Southern Comfort food in emphasis. I've only been there once, so I can't say for sure it still great or interesting. A couple of restaurants in my neighborhood are Moki's Sushi and Pacific Grill and Little Nepal. Both are very good and fairly reasonable. In fact there are plenty of places to get very good Japanese food and stay under or close to $40 for a couple, as long as you don't get too carried away with beer or fancy sushi rolls. I would describe Alice's, Eric's, and Eliza's restaurants as Cal-Asian fusion, and are certainly quite reasonable and interesting. There are plenty of other reasonable and more authentic Chinese restaurants. One of my favorites is Ton Kiang (technically Hakka Cuisine) where I don't think you will find your bill in excess of $40. Walzwerk is a German restaurant with great decor, very good food, and prices in that neighborhood. I assume some of it has to do with the immense amounts of money which were flying around during the 90's. Plus, I believe, cost of living or doing business in San Francisco is still higher than anywhere else in the US. Gas, groceries, produce, beer, housing, rent...All of them are on par with New York and London.

I could be wrong; but, I think Spearmint (Mentha spicata) is more commonly used culinarily. Most folks think the flavor of peppermint is a little much and reserve it for candy and the like. It's nice to have a good size tub of Mentha spicata, 'Kentucky Colonel' or maybe 'Moroccan Mint' around for Juleps, Mojitos and Middle Eastern Cooking. Are these perennial where you live? I find, with enough sun, rosemary outgrows its containers pretty quickly. And you can't plant too much thyme. It never grows fast enough for my culinary use. The only herb I have that I find grows too quickly, is marjoram. I just can't think of enough things to put it in and end up hacking it back and trying to give it away. 1 basil plant! That's not even enough for pasta primavera for 4, let alone pesto. Plus, you run the risk of losing it overnight to some caterpillar on steroids! Believe me, I've been there. Erik

Our favorites are tawnies, and a couple of our everyday "ports" are Hardy's Whiskers Blake and Ficklin's 10 Year Tawny. I think they are both very good for the price. Usually we will drink them with or after dessert. We also recently finished a Churchill's Dry White Port that was very, very nice. I think this one is dry enough that it would be very good as an aperitif or with a cheese course. The sales person at the store suggested the traditional way of serving it was a little soda and a twist of lemon. Not sure if he was pulling my leg. WPLJ. One we recently tried and didn't care much for was Noval's Raven Port. I guess they are trying to appeal to folks who don't normally drink Port with this one. Very light in style. Erik

As promised I will put up some photos from last week's Alemany Farmers' Market. This is our fish stand. Most of the fish is whole and still kicking, so I've never been brave enough to give it a try. This Blue Crab seemed particularly fiesty. One of the mostly citrus stands sells these guavas. I am not sure what kind they are. I tried one the other week, and they are white inside. My personal favorites are the "Pineapple Guavas," which have the most unusual flavor. There is a great and incredibly reasonable flower stand. Hazel Dell, who also have a stand at the Ferry Building, often have some fantastic mushrooms. A couple a weeks ago we got some Black Trumpets. Oh my gosh were they good. One of the other highlights is that Jackie Floyd Jones has recovered from her surgery and is again back with her singing saw, dancing cat, and keyboards. Lovely red sugar cane. Lots of sunchokes right now. Made a fantastic gratin of sunchokes for Saturday night dinner a couple weeks ago. We also get lots of unusual "ethnic" ingredients like various taro. However, you will get no warnings about how to safely prepare these exotic ingredients, so do your research first. Last summer I had an unfortunate run in with some Opuntia tunas. Ouch. Some of my other favorite stands. I really like the date guys. They sell some really fantastic varieties of dates, and even sell the not so ripe ones still on their branches when they are in season. There is an elderly couple who specialize in the most fantastic Asian Pears and persimmons. I had no idea Asian Pears were so tasty. There are several bakeries which sell sweet and not so sweet breads. Tomales Bay Oysters are usually there and will shuck to order. Hope to see you there some time! Erik

Found this recipe for Aquavit on Home Distiller.org, if you feel ambitious. Lots of other fascinating information on the site (including recipes for gin), should you decide to become a moonshiner. Erik ---------------- Akvavit * 4 L of 40 vol.% vodka (or well made Moonshine...) * 30 g of caraway seeds * 5 g of coriander seeds * 5 g of dryed dill * Some oak chips * Splash of Irish whiskey Combine all in a large jar and macerate for a week. Filter through a coffee filter and add a teaspoonful of glucose (dextrose), age for a month or so. http://homedistiller.org/wash-grain2.htm#akvavit

I think the reason for the lack of populariy of Aquavit is that quite a bit of it is pretty rough stuff. The stuff aged on ships (Linie) is supposed to be somewhat mellower; but, I generally classify Aquavit along with Grappa and Potcheen. Often just one step above moonshine. I haven't had it for quite a few years; but, grew up in a Norwegian community, where it was a well known and somewhat infamous spirit. I will have to pick up a bottle of Linie and let you know what I think. At least, even the good stuff is fairly cheap. Caraway is also not a particularly "modern" flavor. In cooking, some flavors that caraway plays nice with are apples, raisins, vinegars, coriander, dill, fennel, and marjoram. Well, and carrots, cabbages, and sausages. Erik

The leaves are used to flavor various thai dishes and the rind of the fruit is also used for curries and such. Not sure about the juice. I've only ever seen the leaves in asian grocery stores, usually frozen. You can purchase your own little tree from Four Winds Citrus. The dwarf trees do fine in containers indoors and will provide you with an endless supply of leaves. Also lots of information about them and other citrus on the site. Looks like they typically provide fruit in the fall. http://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/lore/kaffir_lime.html By the way, this isn't a random google. I have one of Four Wind's dwarf meyer lemons and have a friend who shipped two kaffir limes from them to her mom in Colorado. They are a great company with great plants. If only I had enough room for a couple more trees... Erik

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "acceptable substitute". I guess you mean the difference between Passion Fruit syrup and Passion Fruit flavored syrup? Torani claims to use "all natural flavorings" in their syrups, if that makes you feel any better about using it. In any case, I've found Looza Passion Fruit Nectar in some stores here, and use that in drinks that call for Passion Fruit whatever. I sometimes increase the amount of simple syrup the recipe calls for. The website below has a recipe for Passion Fruit Syrup from scratch, if you want to go all out. Basically, in case the link goes dead, buy 8 passion fruit, scoop pulp into sieve, force pulp through sieve, discard seeds, make simple syrup, add passion fruit juice to syrup. http://www.recipegoldmine.com/syrup/syrup13.html Oh, the disadvantage of using natural Passion Fruit Nectar or Pulp, is it's not particularly attractive. Kind of an off yellow green brown. If you want your hurricane (or whatever) to be clear, you're better off using the Passion Fruit Flavored Syrup. added comment about color

I like three of the Kettle Chips "classic" flavors. I think my favorite is the Salsa with Mesquite, though I also like Cheddar with Herbs and Yoghurt with Green Onion. Trader Joe's used to have some tasty Hawaiian flavored Kettle chips; but, now they just seem to sell other folks brands. I like BBQ flavored and spicy chips and have tried many; but, find almost all (except for the above) are too sweet for me. No frosted flakes, please. If anyone has some recommends for not too sweet; but, spicy, I would appreciate it. Thanks! Erik

About six months ago I switched from a blade grinder to a Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder, and have been quite happy with it for Melitta drip and French Press coffee. I was going between it and the Solis Maestro; but, some of the comments on the coffeegeek site about the Solis Maestro grinders not working well for French Press moved me away from them. The Capresso is supposed to grind fine enough for espresso and even Turkish; but, I haven't tried it out for those purposes. It is fairly easy to disassemble and clean, has little static build up, is fairly quiet and grinds very consistently. I will say, the static buildup seems to have something to do with the weather or some other variable. Sometimes there is more than others. In any case, I find the grinder is much less messy than playing around with a blade grinder. I treat it as I treated my blade grinder, measuring the amount of coffee for each pot into the bean hopper and grinding it all at once. I use 1 1/2 tablespoons of whole bean for each "cup" of coffee. The exact middle of the dial seems perfect for Melitta paper filter drip. At that setting it takes about 9-10 seconds to grind 9 Tablespoons. My only complaint would be that it uses a finned disk under the bottom blade to move the grounds horizontally into the grind hopper, and so leaves a teaspoon or so of coffee there after each grind. Note, as far as I know, the only difference between the differently priced versions of this grinder is the material of the external housing. If you don't mind black plastic, you can get one for around $100. If you prefer the zinc die cast body with brushed satin or polished chrome finish, it will set you back $140. Erik

Well, they aren't open at night; but, it is possible to get inebriated at the Ferry Building. Surely, there must be someone more suited to giving bar recommendations than me! OK, some more; but, I'm kind of old for this, I'm sure the "kids" are going out to much cooler places. Along with toronado, Zeitgeist, and Casanova, I will recommend the following. The Irish Bank downtown seems quite popular with the young after work set. It is a nice Irish pub with the requisite loud music, pub food and decent guiness. Another recommendable Irish bar downtown is called Johnny Foley's. Vesuvio in North Beach next to City Lights books is another popular spot. It has some beat nostalgia going on and is pretty busy on weekends. One weeknight I was there during a power outage and had a great time. They actually still have some gaslights burning, lit a bunch of candles, and it was all very turn of the century. Across the street is an even divier bar called, Adler's Museum Cafe aka Specs. Also on Columbus is Tosca, whose appeal I have never really understood. Is it the Red Vinyl? However, it is probably your best chance to see Sean Penn or some other local movie star. Another decidedly divey bar in Chinatown is the Li Po Lounge. I'm drawing a blank on how to describe its unique appeal, so I will quote from the frommer's website, "A dim, divey, slightly spooky Chinese bar that was once an opium den, Li Po's alluring character stems from its mishmash clutter of dusty Asian furnishings and mementos, including an unbelievably huge ancient rice-paper lantern hanging from the ceiling and a glittery golden shrine to Buddha behind the bar. The bartenders love to creep out patrons with tales of opium junkies haunting the joint." Amazingly, (you'll understand if you go to the bathroom here,) fairly trendy bands now play in the basement of this bar. Erik