jsmeeker

Quality teas can give you multiple infusions. The question is does the tea in the tea bag of sufficient quality to get more than one infusion. I don't use tea bags. I use loose tea. I never do multiple infusions. In some cases, I think I COULD, but it's just non conveneient. I make a pot of tea, drink it, and I am done for the day. I might not make another pot for a week.

I would need to try it side by side with a locally sourced steak, even if that steak was sourced from Central Market or Whole Foods. I just need a pile of money, a grill, and some frineds to conduct a taste test.

I got the email on this today. Unlikely I will ever try it. I've got this odd hang up about ordering food on-line/mail order.

I looked up the Jasmine cocktail as it sounded familiar. Found it on Robert Hess's "Cocktail Spirit". It calls for Gin, Campari, Cointreau, and lemon juice. If I made it with Aperol in place of the Campari, what would it be called? Surely someone did this and named it.

Yup, In case you cant make out my drunken scrawl, its 2 oz. Aperol 1 oz. Beefeater Gin 3/4 oz. Lemon Juice Dash of Angostura Bitters - dictated by the bartender at Pegu Club, and safely crammed in my wallet until now, and its my favorite drink for now also, but that may change after I hit Tailor this weekend . Earlier last weeek, I picked up a bottle of Aperol. I got around to making the "Intro to Aperol" using this recipe. Only modification is I used Plymouth instead of Beefeater (it's my "go to" gin for most cocktails and the only gin I had on hand) and added 1/4 simple. I really liked it. Better than the one I had made at the bar a few weeks ago. Much less sweet. Had a more distinct grapefurit flavor to it. I suspect the bar used a good amount of simple to make their version. Gonna play around with this more. Lots of other things mentioned in this topic that I want to try out.

I go through various "phases" for snacking. Recently, I've been doing hummus and pita chips. Cheese and crackers is pretty common, too. Usually it's cheddar cheese on Triscuits or that "port wine" cheese spread on Triscuits. Guacamole with toritlla chips is another favorite of mine. I also like peanut butter on saltines or grahm crackers. When I'me feeling really flush, I'll bake some gougeres. Those may be my actual FAVORITE thing.

Great write ups so far, David! Looks like you had a good mix of events this year. Looking forward to hearing more about the meal with Jose Andres.

Thanks everyone. The biscuit recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. The strawberry topping is just sliced strawberries macerated in some sugar to bring out their juices. Then they get mashed with a potato masher. The finished desert is simply the biscuit sliced in half with some whipped cream, the sauce, and some fresh sliced berries.

I went to the liquor store with my dad all the time, too.

Strawberry Shortcake

is there any real benefit to steeping the mint in the bourbon in advance? I could see how it could be an advantage if you needed to make a lot of them really quickly.. But I won't be doing that. Just making one or two for myself.

Here is my haul from today

Right. But how many people in the USA really understand that? Heck, "curry" isn't even a specific spice. A lot of people don't even know that, either.

indeed. While I don't know too much about Inidan food, I think it's safe to say what I do know is like other rank and file Americans. "Indian food has curry!!" Having an Indian place, no matter what region it is supposedly specializing in, adapted to middle American tastes without "curry" seems so dumb. Really, I think he took it as close to Chipotle and "Mexican" as he dared. Why? 'Cuz Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle, told him too.

Derby Day 2011 is almost here. Anyone have any new twists on the Mint Julep? Did you ever buy the silver julep cups you lusted over (I haven't done that yet). What kind of Bourbon are you using this year? I'm looking for suggestions! I will need to have drink in hand at the call to the post.

Darn.. I was looking forward to details on champagne cocktails with rhubarb syrup (3-291), lemon, & Cointreau Maybe elsewhere?

They all got a lot of input from the "investors". Sudhir got sucked into making it liek Chipotle because he really likes Chipotle and because Steve Ells, founder of Chipiotle, kept encouraging him to "make it a taco" I know Bobby Flay wanted to see the freid chicken. Even said so to Jamawn after he saw it was NOT there for the "soft trial". I think it ws Curtis who encouraged him to drop it from the menu. Not really sure WHY it is STILL not there. That makes no sense to me. really, they DID get a lot of conflicting advise.

no fried chicken. But there are waffles.

I'm a little surprised there isn't a website for this place yet. I too would like to see the "final" menu. I hope there is actual fried chicken on it.

I have not spent much time in Walmart stores shopping for grocery. Too many other options available to me. Several years ago, I did check out a Walmart Neighborhood Market. It was ok. I didn't see anything notable about it. But I guess if it was really close to me, maybe I would shop there more? I had to drive buy several traditional grocery stores to get to it.

I think it's in the poking his nose in other people's business way. I have wondered why he doesn't reform the school foods of his own country before tackling those in the US. I smell a marketing ploy. he did. He always mentions this on his ABC show.

You totally nailed that one on the head. Spice Coast menu looked like a Chipotle menu with tacos and carnitas. Glad Soul Daddy won, but the Spice Coast concept was one that I would be most likely to frequent. But I think Spice Coast ended up losing because its menu ended up looking like, and evidently tasting too much like, a taqueria. Jamawn, in addition to his food, showed himself to be a good manager, able to direct as well as be able to listen to the pros. Sudhir listened to the pros, too. They told him "make it a taco". And he did. And then they say "oh.. but that is too much like a taco" I'm not hating on Joey like most of the others. I STILL liked the guy overall. But he really ran into a HUGE issue with his order taking system. They had NO set way to write up the orders? That's just asking for so much trouble. In general, I actually think the "get a number and we'll run the order to you" concept is fine. It's done in LOTS of fast casual places. But even setting the order writing issue aside, the way they prepared the food seemed to be out of whack. Was there ONE person doing it all? Seemed like everyones order had to be prepped in a small saute pan. I really didn't get that. But somethig like that could be corrected, I would think.

And the winner is Soul Daddy! I had good feelings about the concept from early on and always liked Jamawn. Felt kinda bad for Sudhir and "Spice Coast". He was basically told "make it a Mexican place like Chipotle". He does and the investors say it went in the wrong direction.

Doing the dishes. Loading the dishwasher is the easiest thing. Everything else? Hate it. Like others, I delay in un-loading. I can even delay in running it. This makes it more likely dirty stuff piles up. Stuff I wash by hand isn't too bad, but I tend to delay that. And I don't like drying stuff by hand either. Yup. That's the worst part of cooking. The cleanup part.

Hmmm.. a fictional character like Ronald McDonald is certainly an interesting choice. really, it has a good deal of merit. But if you want an actual person who is NOT an American and well known, Adria is good. Except, he is mostly known in the "high end" circle. And really, is he controversial because his food is BAD in some way?