Ktepi

I like the Berries and Cream -- people have complained that it's not different enough from Cherry Vanilla, but to my palate it's more like a raspberry cream soda with muted Dr Pepper taste (the difference between BC and CV kind of reminds me of the "reverse cocktails" thread). While that's not going to replace Dr Pepper in my fridge any time soon -- something Red Fusion was on the verge of doing before they cancelled it -- it's a nice change. Honestly, though, as long as they're limited editions, I'd like to see something more adventurous. I like Kettle Chips' approach, trying Dirty Martini and Spicy Bloody Mary potato chips in small batches -- probably just smaller than the number of units that would sell based on novelty alone. Surely enough people would buy Ginger Peach Dr Pepper or Peppercorn Lime Dr Pepper or A Flavor Without Any Fruit At All Dr Pepper to sustain the product for a couple months.

I bought my first bottle of Luxardo maraschino last night. Oh my goodness. Last night was an Aviation and a rum and Coke with maraschino, but tonight I hit a combination I really like as far as sweet drinks go: About 5 oz Buffalo Rock ginger ale (it's spicy, but not quite like ginger beer) 1/2 oz maraschino 1/2 oz Auburn vanilla liqueur squeeze of lime Even without the vanilla it's great -- something about the maraschino cuts the heat of the ginger ale and makes it sort of cream soda-ish. I'm not always in the mood for sweet drinks, but if I could find Buffalo Rock around here, this would be a keeper. Maybe some bitters next time.

Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge or Polar Diet Double Fudge? I think there's definitely a similarity in the way both chocolate flavor and coffee flavor taste when there's no cream. If I didn't drink so many Asian canned coffees, that probably would have come to mind as a comparison for me, too.

Following up on my earlier post: Herrell's was even better than I remembered, which is saying quite a lot. Packard's still makes the best burgers I've had in the Five Colleges area since the Blue Flame closed. We had some great sandwiches at Atkins, which I don't think I had done before. I wish we'd had time to go to Tailgate to get some to bring home, but I'm now moving back to New Hampshire and expect I'll be down in the Valley every couple months.

You can do a LOT of things cheaper at home, though. I don't see Metromint many places, but I grab it whenever I do. Cold, it's great in the summer -- hot with lemon, it's decent in winter (although actual mint tea seems to be better). It's a very clean peppermint taste, and I like that it's not sweetened -- there aren't enough unsweetened beverages out there.

Has anyone had Prichard's Cranberry Rum, Sweet Georgia Belle, or Sweet Lucy? The NH state liquor stores don't appear to carry Prichard's products, so before I move there I'm going to buy a bottle of the spiced rum (my rum of choice); I'm wondering if any of the other products are things I'll shoot myself in the foot for not buying while I have the chance. (I could get them mail order later, but I don't ever seem to get around to doing that...)

This isn't at all a creative cocktail, but I am very very happy with: Rum and Coca-Cola Blak 1 ounce Prichard's spiced rum 4 ounces Coca-Cola Blak twist of lemon No ice, cold rocks glass. I think orange would work better than lemon, but I didn't have any handy. Next I'm trying Blak with Auburn vanilla liqueur and Jack Daniels.

This isn't actually about the bourbon, but: Has anyone had Prichard's Cranberry Rum, Sweet Georgia Belle, or Sweet Lucy? The NH state liquor stores don't appear to carry Prichard's products, so before I move there I'm going to buy a bottle of the spiced rum (my rum of choice); I'm wondering if any of the other products are things I'll shoot myself in the foot for not buying while I have the chance.

This sounds terrific, and the recipe is locatable by Google (I don't know the ethics of linking to it since I can't tell from the page if it's authorized or part of a review). I already have a two-pound boneless portion of leg of lamb curing in the fridge, so one way or the other I won't be doing it authentically -- I think I should leave the pancetta out too, because of the salt of the cured lamb -- but I'm definitely going to do something similar, and I love the idea of the sauce.

I love this stuff. I didn't expect to, but the coffee flavor is a lot like Japanese canned coffees. I wish it were a bit less sweet and had a more pronounced cola flavor, but the artificial sweetener taste isn't as strong as in C2 or Pepsi Edge. I have just discovered it's also good with rum. Damn, I wish I had some Bailey's or something.

I vaguely remember trying to make some kind of thing with sunchokes in remoulade sauce, but something about it didn't really work. Thanks for the report, WHS! Hannaford's sounds very promising.

These are some excellent suggestions (...except maybe the big bottle ). I think I'll do the kaipiroshka tonight, and see about picking up strawberries tomorrow for the margarita. The habanero bitters are something the idea for which I got from eGullet -- I had these amazing habaneros from the farmer's market last summer and was trying to do as much as possible with them. I'm not sure they work as bitters, per se, but they're a nice addition to margaritas and would presumably work in bloody Marys, too.

I'm moving in May, and coincidentally my liquor supply was getting low and scattered as it was. What I have in the house right now ... well, it's an odd mix. I can't afford to buy anything new right now, both because of moving expenses and because I'm moving somewhere with much cheaper alcohol, so it would just feel silly. So I'd like to use up as much of the following as I can, rather than move them with me. Amounts are estimates. In a lot of cases, I'd bring it with me if the amount weren't so small -- seems silly moving so many mostly-empty bottles. I can pick up basic cheap mixers -- Coke, juice -- but like I said, I'm not going to buy gin, tequila, any new liquor until I move. I have a couple bottles of cheap spumante as well. I cook with the vermouths, so those can always be used up that way. - - - Old Overholt rye whiskey: about a fifth of a 750ml bottle. My inclination is to use this for Sazeracs. (The small amount of absinthe I have is not on the "use this up before I move" list! But I can spare enough for Sazeracs, certainly.) Blanton's bourbon: maybe 3 shots Prichard's spiced rum: 2 shots? Strawberry-infused Sauza tequila: 1 shot Spiceberry-infused vodka: about 250 ml. Spiceberries taste kind of like a cross between peppercorns and allspice. The vodka is slightly sweetened to take off the peppercorn-like bitterness. Citrus-infused vodka (it's a kumquat thing): about 250 ml. Limoncello: maybe a full wine glass's worth. Triple sec: same as the Limoncello. I forget the brand, but it's one of the cheaper ones, your basic triple sec for margaritas (except I haven't got tequila). Noilly Prat dry vermouth: 250 ml Martini and Rossi rosso vermouth: 100 ml? Heavily spiced infused rum-based liqueur: 150 ml or so. I made it for hot cider in the winter -- about as sweet as limoncello, spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, mace, peppercorns, grains of paradise. In addition to the ordinary bar ingredients -- Peychaud's, Angostura, Regan's orange bitters -- I have Unterberg bitters, some so-so homemade habanero bitters, and rich syrups left over from candied fruits in the following flavors: cranberry-rhubarb, strawberry-blood orange, habanero, kumquat. Nothing in this paragraph needs to be used up, I'm just pointing out that it's available. Ideas? There are always obvious things to do with rum and bourbon, but right now my hand is kind of hovering over them, waiting to see if I should use them in drinks that use up the other ingredients.

Crud! I've just emailed my mother asking her to pick me up a couple few six packs. I can't get it in Indiana, so it's been a couple years since I've had it as it is. A salt bagel is not the same without a Dr Brown's Cel-Ray. They also make the best American orange soda I've had, but that's small compensation. It's not like I can shrug and move on to Fanta Celery. I'm reluctant to experiment with Cel-Ray cocktails the way I was planning, because I don't want to waste any. It's decent with gin, but I was thinking maybe some pepper vodka, some tomato ...

Man, this is all good news, thank you. I'm not a serious wino per se -- semi-serious liquor-o, but I'll be replenishing my bar virtually from scratch (I'll arrive with a bottle of Scotch and probably nothing else), which will define my alcohol budget pretty strictly for a bit. But I have been frustrated by my inability in Indiana to get the Bonny Doon wines I like, so I suspect I'll still take advantage of that -- especially given the proximity. I remember when the Hollis Country Kitchen was the Four Corners something or other, we used to get breakfast there before Dolly's opened. I'm pretty sure I've been there in the last couple years -- I know I've had hash in that location in the last couple years, at least. It was excellent.

Oh, I thought of something else: bakeries. I don't need anything fancy or out of the ordinary, but the grocery store bakeries in Indiana are pretty terrible (it doesn't help that the local habit is to sweeten all baked goods, even sub rolls). Is the bakery at Hannaford's or some other grocery store sufficient for the basics (sub rolls, Kaiser rolls, the occasional French bread to have with pasta)?

Prichard's spiced rum, cold Coca-Cola (no ice), squeeze of lime, bitters (Peychaud's or Unterberg). Prichard's rum and Coke is what got me drinking rum again last summer, after being indifferent to it (or rather, to the rum I could afford) for a few years.

I will absolutely be there for that That was a must when I was a kid, and the center of town has a lot of good memories for me (my mother works in the town hall, my brother played little league in the lot behind the library, we went to the Congregationalist church, etc). I'd forgotten how short the season was, I guess -- all this time in Louisiana and Indiana, and as much as Indiana feels like the north in comparison to New Orleans, it still gets warm enough to plant much earlier. Man, it'll be forever before my mother's corn is ready. A Lebanese bistro! Between that and a Russian market that google turned up, I sense some new experiences on the horizon. This is encouraging. Intellectually I know it's not a wasteland at all, you can tell just driving through -- deep down I just haven't internalized how different it is from the 80s (or that my experience of it was not universal). When I wanted spicy food, we used to have to drive to Shorty's in ... Milford, maybe, one of the M-cities. And for my own recommendation, my mother says that C&S Pizza is still there in Pepperell but she thinks they've changed the crust. As long as the sauce is still the same, that's fine with me -- the sauce that C&S uses (and that seems broadly similar to Greek-owned pizza places north of Boston) made such an impression on me that pizza outside of New England has just been "nice" at best. Not to mention, the rest of the country doesn't seem to do meatball pizza.

I'll have to hit the Blood Farm at some point, then -- veal bones are a must. Well, handy at least. Maybe not a must. I didn't know there was a Trader Joe's there now! Excellent. The one in Indianapolis is fairly small, so I've felt kind of cheated. I was amazed walking through the Hannaford the last time I visited my mother. Especially having grown up in Hollis, I still think of the area as very insular and resistant to ... well, to food. Other than apple pie, lobster, and chowder anyway -- my mother's boyfriend won't eat spaghetti very often because he considers it ethnic food. The best thing about this is that moving in May means putting off winter as long as possible, and getting the local produce and whatnot -- I'm surprised the Nashua Farmer's Market doesn't open until July (and only Tuesday afternoons) according to google, but there's Brookdale's and Lull's across the line in Hollis at least.

Excellent, thank you! Is Hippo Press in general a good resource? I think someone has mentioned Lilac Blossom to me before. Other than Bertucci's and the usual list of pizza/sub places, I haven't had a chance to get out to many places when visiting -- there's a nice sushi place a friend of mine always insists on, although it'll be well out of my price range for an everyday night out. Sabor sounds excellent, and Brazilian is something I haven't had access to yet. Hopefully I won't sound like too much of a lush for doing cartwheels over the price of that Hendrick's -- that's a good $30 even in Indiana, which I don't think of as a particularly expensive place. God, I almost wish I still smoked, just for the money I'd save.

I'm moving to Nashua in May. Although I grew up in the area -- next door in Hollis -- I haven't lived there since 1993 and have visited very little, and needless to say, things have changed. I would be hugely appreciative if anyone had any recommendations for the following things -- Butchers. I don't know what the meat selection is like in the grocery stores, but in the four towns I've shopped in in the last few years, it's been pretty dismal, especially pork (which here in Bloomington is unavailable uninjected, without going to a butcher). Is there a good butcher in town? Exotic meats aren't a prerequisite, I just want to be able to get decent chili-grind beef, boneless chicken thighs, pork belly, and for the steak to be worthwhile on the rare occasion when I buy it. Cuban. Anything? Grocery stores. These seem to have gotten much, much better -- my mother shops at the Alexander's by the Nashua Mall. I mean, it's not called Alexander's anymore, and it was where the Home Depot (iirc) is now when it was, but I have no idea what it is now. Stop and Shop maybe? Anyway, that may be all I need, but if not, is there a particular store in town that's great, a chain that has terrible prices, anything like that I should know? Any ethnic markets that are particularly good? Chinese. The last time I had Chinese food in Nashua, it was the joint in the food court at the Pheasant Lane Mall. I also vaguely remember a tiki lounge type place with technicolor-shaded sweet and sour chicken that was pretty good because it had so much pineapple in it. But is there anything in town for reasonably authentic Chinese? A place with pig ears and beef intestine, ma la chicken, that kind of thing? Liquor stores. I've never lived in New Hampshire while of drinking age and have no idea if the state liquor stores are the only place you can buy booze or what, or what the selection is like. I was happy with Bartles & James as a teenager, you know? But I would love to have a source for maraschino liqueur; and barring that, at least some place I can pick up bourbon, tequila, and Campari. Delivery. I'll be at Hollis Crossing (2 miles from the Nashua Mall). If you have any idea who delivers there, especially outside of the big pizza chains, I would love to hear It's an abrupt change for me, and I had never planned to move back to New England, so I've been focusing on food and baseball as the obvious benefits; any recommendations, including stuff not covered above, I'm really grateful for.

Similar to the marmalade, I made several jars of candied habaneros last summer with peppers that were too spicy for me to use them in much -- and I like spicy food -- but had amazing flavor. Both the peppers and the syrup are interesting to play with (the syrup is a terrific sweetener for ice cream) -- and for one of the jars, I candied habaneros and pineapple together, and have used some of the result in a fruitcake.

I used ordinary vodka because it's all I could find on short notice, but it seems to have done all right -- a few months ago I made a *cello with a mystery citrus fruit I found in an Asian market (unlabeled except for price). They look a bit like small limes -- round like an orange, smooth skin, deep green tinged with yellow -- with greenish-yellow flesh and a fair number of seeds. Sweet all the way through, like a kumquat -- no bitterness at all unless you accidentally crunch a seed -- but tastes like a tarter tangerine. I thought they might be limequats, but there's no lime flavor at all. Anyway, with half of them I made that *cello, because I thought it would be the best way not only to bring all those citrus flavors out instead of burying them in a stir-fry or something, but to keep the flavor around for a long time. For a friend's birthday this weekend, I've combined some of that *cello with glace syrup -- one part syrup from candying more of the mystery fruits, the other from candied strawberries and blood oranges -- until it's almost cordial-sweet. She tends to like sweet drinks, and I figure this will dilute well with some club soda and tequila or something.

Any fresh suggestions or updates to the above? We'll be there for a week, starting a week from now, visiting friends who haven't been living there long (there's a barbecue place they want to take us to and a Mexican joint that's a lunch possibility). Money is somewhat an object -- of the four of us, three are underpaid professors and one is an infrequently paid writer -- so anything amazingly terrific but pricey (entrees>$20) would mean staying home and eating sandwiches the rest of the trip. Fresh seafood is a plus since we can't really get it here in Indiana without paying exorbitant prices for hit-or-miss food. Long drives aren't feasible because our friends teach until about 7 every night we're there. In addition to restaurants: is there a butcher or a can't-miss grocery store? Our second night there I'm catering a party for some thirty people and will be shopping for it that morning. I've gotten used to having a butcher here -- just a standard, ordinary butcher, I don't need a specialty butcher necessarily -- but my friends don't know of one there. Oh, and in a paragraph of its own: if there's a store in town where I can get real stone-ground grits, the kind you keep in the refrigerator, I just might cry. Well, I won't cry, but I'd be awful happy.

Pepsi Holiday Spice is my favorite of the last few years of flavored colas, easily. Did they actually make it last Christmas? I didn't have any luck finding it, but we have that problem here sometimes. Jones' Halloween sodas were pretty decent too. Like I say every time I talk about Jones, I think their sodas are too sweet across the board -- or maybe there isn't enough tartness to offset it, or whatever -- but the Strawberry-Lime ("S'lime," I think) was a soda I'd buy any time of year, and I reduced the Candy Corn soda into a syrup for a few desserts. (It was fine as a soda on those rare occasions when you want to drink candy corn.) I think the Thanksgiving sodas fail not because of a flaw in the potential of holiday sodas -- or even Thanksgiving sodas -- but because they aren't MEANT to be good. They're the Old Shoe and Dead Skunk of this scratch-n-sniff sticker album, the Garbage Pail Kids of the aisle.