mumkin

Curious. In my c. 2015 Bosch the glassware rack has flip-down thingies on the right side that accommodate the stems of stemware. Holds them very nicely. On the other hand, mine doesn’t (that I know of) have any teacup-specific features. Seems very much like two ends of a spectrum.

@KennethT I don’t suppose you’re able (or willing?) to mount something shallow like an Enclume utensil bar on the wall above your cooktop are you? Folks will hate on the notion of reaching over burners, and the grease that rising plumes will deposit on your hanging items, but sometimes needs must!

I have a small kitchen by many standards, but not New York apartment small. My pots and pans live: hanging from a pot rack, in a cabinet beneath a cooktop, on a couple of open shelves, and on a bookshelf in the adjacent mudroom. I'm about to lose the pot rack to a kitchen remodel, and though I'll miss it, I realize that I really only ever reach for three things that hang there—two skillets and a saucepan. The rest of the hangers really don't need to be available at a moment's notice. Are all of your pot rack items gotta-haves? I may find myself in Darienne's position, storing some cookware much further from the kitchen. How about the sides of cabinets? Here's someone who found some small hanging space using an IKEA door handle.

I’m a fan of my Bosch 800 dishwasher. It’s wonderfully quiet and does as fine a job as could be asked. The standard wash cycle is 2 hours, so I typically set it to delay-start around 4am. We’ve got a Fisher & Paykel fridge and BlueStar range on order—both of which I’m optimistic about—but I’ve no first-hand experience of them yet. Sticking with the same dishwasher.

I'm fortunate to live 15 blocks from a great neighborhood grocery and about five from a produce market, so I walk. I can only reasonably carry two bags, so I walk to the stores pretty regularly. Helps to keep the meats fresh and my step-count up. As for paying, I'm all-in on waving my phone at the checkout device and not being That Guy holding up the line. Except of course when the register's ApplePay connection is on the fritz (which seems to happen every few weeks) and then I'm totally That Guy Holding Up the Line.

I charitably thought that "expert advice" listicle might've been the work of interns writing to deadline, but no, they're actual staff editors who must be very hard on their graters if we aren't to impugn their journalistic integrity. I tend not to toss anything unless it's broken or superseded either. Plastic cutting boards get the dishwasher treatment because I'm not a big bleach user (not really a fan of anything that asks me to wear thick rubber gloves). Wooden spoons and cutting boards get sanded and oiled when they start looking suspect, knives get sharpened (duh), dishcloths are washed until they're demoted to rag status, and Microplanes simply persist. This is probably a good time to retire a few nonstick pots and pans that are losing their mojo. Otherwise, I guess I'll just be giving long, hard looks at the garage/estate sale finds from the past few decades, trying to recall if I've ever used them. So many small molds for some reason... you'd think I served seven-course aspic dinners on the regular.

I am in the process of packing up my kitchen—we’re about to demo and remodel—and am sorting about 20 years of accumulated cookery bits into pack/donate/trash categories. Which led me to an article from the expert advisors at Epicurious, “The 9 Kitchen Tools You Need to Replace Every Year,” in which they advocate for an annual household purging of Microplanes, cutting boards, paring knives, dish towels and more (ideally replaced via convenient affiliate links). Two questions (at least) arise from this: How much cheese and nutmeg grating does it take to dull a Microplane? I haven’t noticed a diminution in mine’s powers, and I’m pretty sure it’s at least decade old. Is there anything that you do replace annually on principle, regardless of its condition? For the record, I don't think they're wrong about sponges. (Also, Hello! I’ve been away from eGullet for quite a while and am ineligible to post a Welcome Our New Members Thread, but I’m a domestic dabbler in Portland, Ore. Mostly stovetop and sous vide of late, since my ovens have been out of commission for a few years… looking forward to getting my bake on soon).

I was recently pleased to discover the apricot and peach brandies of Koenig Distillery. They seem to be the only not-Mr. Boston apricot and peach brandies available in Oregon's state liquor stores. Here they're about $18.00 / 350 ml. Unfortunately, being in Idaho it appears they aren't allowed to sell brandy by mail.

I tried making a yard of flannel about a month ago. I chose the wrong ale, I think, so I'm reserving final judgment on whether there's merit in hot beer drinks as a category; the problem is that now the thought of drinking another really isn't tempting, so I've never investigated further. Anyone care to speak in defense of a well-made yard of flannel or hot ale flip?

I don't keep a copy of Baker at the office, so I can't provide an exact quote, but I'm fairly certain that he contradicts himself elsewhere as well, to the effect that at his digs, the 2oz. jigger is much admired. I'll dig up a citation this evening... it's something that's bugged me ever since first reading The Gentleman's Companion, since it contradicts earlier admonitions on using precise measures etc.

Hey, swell! I hadn't seen Chuck's recipe for the mysterious Pimento Dram, but it's now duly noted. I've never mixed anything with it -- Pimento Dram in Oregon? unpossible! -- but looking at the DB, I think my first choice for experimentation would be the None But The Brave, which seem to rely on it the most. Hell of a name -- a cursory glance doesn't show it in any books I have -- but from the ingredients it sounds a grand autumnal drink.

You're definitely missing The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David A. Embury. I wouldn't pay the $200+ that most online vendors seem to want for it, however. There's something to be said for the Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic, and Tom Bullock's The Ideal Bartender is, most fortuitously, available from Project Gutenberg.

Haven't tried any -- it's not available in my locality -- but their site seems on the up-and-up. A relatively small-scale locally-produced product that's being introduced to new markets by distributors with an eye for something new and different, I gather. Interesting that it's made from grape rather than grain alcohol. Not much comment on its flavor profile, but I'd expect to see some reviews as they roll out in the UK.

It's real for varying definitions of "real," I suppose. It's certainly the proper name of a product, but for all its reputed 100+ year history, it doesn't appear in the OED 2nd ed., in which the only faler- words are Falern and Falernian, both referring to a much-appreciated wine from the Campania region of Italy.

And a further "me too" ... 1 c. POM + 1 c. cane sugar + 1/2 oz Everclear, shaken vigorously at room temperature. I haven't bothered to refrigerate mine, but then, I go through it at a fair clip. I suppose I could make more and keep it in the freezer, but my tendency is always to drink the rest of the POM while I'm shaking up the grenadine.