gethin

Actually, it is the sugar that the yeast consumes to make alcohol and carbon dioxide. ← I may be wrong but my understanding is that if the sugar concentration is above a certain level, you can't get fermentation going If you added yeast to a bag of sugar, i dont think you'd get alcohol. I suspect that even adding yeast to simple syrup would probably not cause fermentation unless you diluted it a bit. I must give it a go sometime to see what happens. Gethin

The Turkish Food Centre in Lewisham have them at £2.99 per Kg. I would imagine that their other branches would have them too. Gethin

I suspect that you would have a job fermenting it. The sugat content is certainly high enough to inhibit mould growth (it keeps virtually forever) so I guess that yeasts would not be too keen on it either. Best stick to using it in cooking, I think. (roast duck with pomegranite molasses and walnuts for instance or added to pureed roast aubergine mixed with yoghurt). It can be drunk with ice and carbonated water though it needs pretty thorough stirring with a good dollop of water first , then topping up with water so it retains some fizz). It has a very distinctive taste that i really like, not at all like grenadine or fresh pomegranate juice.I can imagine that it would mix quite well with rum, i must try it out. gethin

Couldn't that also be considered a Bellini variant? ← They are very different drinks - apart from the difference you get by using a peach liquer as opposed to peach puree, the proportions are very different. I would use only a teaspoon (or less) of the creme de peche to a glass of sparkling wine for the Kir as opposed to equal quantaties of pureed peach and sparkling wine for the Bellini. gethin

Just tried David Embury's Apricot Rickey. for the first time. juice of half a large lime 2 oz apricot brandy ice stirred in a 8 oz glass, topped up with soda water. Just the thing for a hot, humid London night in my baking hot top floor flat ! gethin

Two particularly good Kir variants that are popular in South West France are white wine with creme de chataigne (chestnut) and white wine (very often sparking) with creme de peche de vigne (peche de vigne is an extremely aromatic , intensly flavoured , red fleshed peach variety). Creme de peche de vigne with a good sparkling Mauzac works particularly well. A Kir variant that most people probably won't rush to try is the Penclawdd Kir, invented at a particularly drunken late night session at my pub in West Wales. For those not familiar with Penclawdd, it is historically the centre of the Welsh cockle industry -the Penclawdd Kir substitutes the liquid from a jar of pickled cockles for the traditonal creme de cassis. Quite the worst Kir I've ever tasted however was in a restaurant in Toulouse when my mother decided that the perfectly acceptable kir provided by the restaurant needed sweetening. Scrabbling around in her handbag she found a sugar lump which she dropped in the glass. On tasting the Kir again it was clear that the sugar lump, during its time in the handbag, had had prolonged contact with an imperfectly closed bottle of perfume and had also collected a fair amount of fluff. The resulting drink was quite the vilest Kir I've tasted. gethin

I'm not sure that an Aviation has any requirements that especially lend it to one brand of gin or another -- although Kurt's comments make me want to try it with Broker's. I think i agree with Kurt, an aviation benefits from a citrussy gin rather than a junipery one. I've been using Gordon's Distillers Cut recently (more citrussy and spicey than standard gordons) and think it makes a better Aviation than the other two gins i've got on the go at the moment (Blackwoods 2003 vintage, which is very floral and light , makes a great G &T and even better neat and South (a so called premium gin from New Zealand that i think is plain dull) or standard Gordons. that said, i use standard Gordons for Aviations and everything else when i'm at my pub and still enjoy the results. Gethin

I would think creme de cacao and orange-flavored vodka would like each other, also.absolutely ! ← gethin

My suggestions : The smirnoff vodka and creme do cacao (4/5 parts vodka to 2 parts creme de cacao with 1 part lemon juice) makes a quite drinkable Ninitchka - add a few drops of grenadine to turn it into a Kretchma. with some limes and ginger beer you can use the smirnoff and probably the orange vodka to make moscow mules, substitute either the unnamed scotch or the Grouse for the vodka in the mules to make a Mamie Taylor and perhaps use the other one with the cointreau (2 parts whisky, three quarter parts cointreau, half a part lime juice) to make a (pale) variation on a Leatherneck I'm guessing the Bacardi lemon you refer to is a white rum rather than a vodka but even so you could use it with the Cointreau (plus lime juice and a tiny spash of cranberry juice) to make a sort of variation on a Cosmopolitan. The orange vodka would also probably work in this. Try mixing various flavoured vodka with dry white wine and apple juice. Drink the grappa by itself, cold , after a nice meal. Put the creme de menthe down the sink. Have fun, report back. gethin

This looks like it might be a usefull book about calva It has an A- Z of producers and a visiting guide. Dont know if you can get it in the US but Pere Magloire's Calvados Domfrontais is particularly good - made with a mix of cider apples and perry pears. Sylvain is another reliable mass market producer- widely available in the UK at least. Gethin

Is there anyway in Manchester (i've not really looked round too much) that's reasonable to eat in? No idea if its a reasonable place to eat (or even how central it is), but, imho, any e-gulleteer worth his/her salt in Manchester should go immediately to Sweet Mandarin and order, drink and report back on a snakes blood cocktail ! This is apparently based on three snakes liqueur - (described by one of the owners as three snakes drowned in voka ). Anyone in Manchester been there ? Gethin

Thank you Erica and PoppySeed Bagel for your suggestions, I'll check them out tomorrow. A Turkish Cypriot friend was telling me that his father remembered houmous made with pistachio nut butter from his childhood. I assume that this must have been instead of tahini (although my friend insists it was instead of olive oil, I'can't see that that would work). He also mentioned a restaurant in mainland Turkey that was famous for its baked houmous, made with pistachio butter and scattered with chopped pistachios. I want a couple of jars so he can take one home to his father for him to experiment and a jar for me to experiment with myself. They have various coffee substitutes (such as roasted dandelion root) at Alora on Marchmont St, they might possibly have roasted chicory . I'll look tomorrow when i check out planic organic for the pistachio butter. gethin

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where (in London hopefully) I can get pistachio nut butter ? Gethin

I guess it depends where you try to do it . There are plenty of places outside of London where you could by a freehold restaurant or pub for that sort of money. You'd have an even better choice if you went for a lease. In any case with £250,000 in cash and a half decent business plan there would be banks falling over themselves to lend you another £500,000. Well, perhaps not to any of that lot ! Where did they find them. Gethin

Liverpool - others are more expert, but have heard good things about 60 Hope St and maybe London Carriage Works .... There is a thread on eating out in Liverpool, including a posting about LCW from me - 60 Hope St, LCW , and the Paul Heathcote place are all worth checking out, with the Everyman as a reliable fall back for when your bored with fancy stuff or need to economise. gethin

I don't know if any of these are available in the States but the gin's I' m really enjoying right now are : Gordon's Distillers Cut - more citrussy and spicy than normal Gordons , but still with distinct juniper flavour - apparently contains lemongrass and ginger in addition to the normal botanicals. Blackwoods Vintage Dry Gin - another Scotish gin - not sure if i'm just being taken in by the romantic marketing - most of the botanicals gathered by hand in the Shetland Isles during the summer of 2003 (hence the "vintage") , wild water mint and sea pink are among the botanicals - it certainly has quite a distinct and pleasant taste. Brecon Dry Gin - the only gin made in Wales and like the Blackwoods with a lot off the Botanicals added "green" (rather than the mainly dried roots and berries that comprise most gin flavourings). I think this has quite a pronounced angelica scent and flavour, but also slightly peppery. (The same people also make Brecon Vodka , as pointless as every other Vodka in the world, and a perfectly decent Welsh single malt whisky - Penderyn.) One gin I tried recently amd didn't like was South - a New Zealand gin, the conventional botanicals with the addition of Manuka berries and Kawakawa leaves. I've only tasted it once and found it really harsh lacking in much length or depth of taste - this may have been my palate playing up though - i'll report back further when i return to it . Anyone else got any views on it ? Gethin ps i agree with previous postings on both Henricks (a very nice gin) and Schweppes (absolutely the only potable tonic water - i'd rather have a cheap supermarket own label gin with Schweppes than a premium gin with any other tonic water).

Where can I buy Three Snakes liquor ? Last months Glass magazine had a review of a new restaurant in Manchester (Sweet Mandarin) which referred to their best selling cocktail - based on Three Snake Liquor , described by one of the owners as three snakes drowned in ...40% alcohol". Tried Gerry's in Old Compton St with no luck. Gethin

A recently opened bar here in London, (OQO, in Islington) offers the "OQO Mule" Ginger and Spring Onions (which I think in the USA are called Scallions ?) muddled together, shaken over ice with Bombay Saphire and topped up with ginger beer. Not tried it yet (and not 100 % sure that I will). Last months issue of Glass magazine reports on a new Manchester bar/restaurant , Sweet Mandarin that has a Chinese influenced cocktail list . Their best selling cocktail is apparently their Snake Blood Cocktail, based on Three Snakes Liquor - describes by one of the proprietors as "three snakes drowned in vodka". I'll post a report on it next time I get to Manchester ! Gethin

I are at the London Carriage Works around 10 days ago. Attending a conference at the Adelphi, I went down to dinner, took one look at what was on offer and fled to Hope St. Being a Monday evening, most places were closed and the Everyman had pretty much sold out of everything. Despite the abscence of a menu in the window or any indication of what was on offer , prices etc, I decided to give the LCW a go. and was offered the choice of eating in the bar or opting for "fine dining". After the Adelphi, I reckoned I deserved a treat, so went with the latter! The amuse was a shot glass of orange juice and beetroot juice with a couple of crostini blobbed with creme fraiche with dill. Think it would have worked better with a splash of vodka in the juice and horseradish instead of dill, but it was pleasant enough. Started with a really good rabbit and hare terrine (the waiter announced it as rabbit, hare and foie gras terrine but I think he was ad libbing a bit, i saw no evidence of foie gras). Then a brilliant piece of Welsh Black beef, actually one of the best bits of beef I've eaten in a long time. It came with various fussy vegetables , presentation rather pretentious for my taste but didn't detract from the beef. The wine list didn't have much in the way of half bottles or anything terribly tempting by the glass , so with a bottle of red wine , a negroni to start and a grappa di moscato to steady my nerves for a return to the Adelphi , it ended up being ratherr more than i'd planned to spend, but worth it. Next time I'm in Liverpool I'll check out the bar side. gethin

If you are looking for a nice pub (perhaps to have a drink before eating at Lola's), the Mucky Pup , at 39 Queens Head St was recently voted the most dog friendly pub in the UK. Its just off Essex Road, a hundred yards or so south of Steven Hatt's. They have web site :http://www.muckypup-london.com/ The dog friendly competition is run by the Dog Trust. They have listings of other dog friendly bars (also dog friendly, accomodation, beaches and tourist attractions) on their web site. There are a couple of dozen other pubs listed in London (including the Royal Standard in Greenwich , which brews its own beers, including some "interesting" fruit, coffee and chocolate flavoured ones). The dogs trust site is at: http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/main.asp?structureid=627 Gethin