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Schielke

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Posts posted by Schielke

    Absinthe: The Topic

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted

    If you are interested in making absinthe, you might want to check out some kits that offer the essense of it that you mix with neutral spirits. The essense purportedly contains wormwood and the like.

    This site is a good example of the process.

    Also, they maintain that the French wine industry created the myth that wormwood made you nuts because absinthe was so delicious that it endangered the industry. They created the rumor to discredit the drink...hmmm.

    Anybody know of any truth to that or is it a load of hooey?

    TVP

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I currently have sitting in front of me a Little Cook TVP Curry Chicken Ramen Bowl.

    Now, when I bought said bowl, it was on sale and I did not quite process the TVP in the label. If you dont know, TVP means Textured Vegetable Protein. It is truly disturbing.

    The TVP resided in a package with the other curry contents that was refered to as the "Retort Pouch". When I opened the "Retort Pouch", I was greeted by horrid little grey blobs that were masquerading as meat. I ventured a taste and received a overwhelming blandness.

    I will soon be throwing out this abomonation to food.

    Is there any good use for TVP? Did I just come across a poor example of it? How is this stuff made, or do I want to know.

    Gaah.

    Ben

    TDG: JAZ Hates Raisins

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I am kinda neutral on cooked raisins, but oatmeal raisin crisp is the god of all breakfast cereal, I have been known to eat a whole box in a few hours. I keep telling myself that I have had enough, but five minutes later I find myself pouring another bowl. oh man so good.

    TDG: Contrarian Wine

    in Wine

    Posted

    i've been drinking gruner veltilner, thinking that it *has* to make me cool. 

    schiekle, listen to what your uncle mamsters says.  don't discount chardonnay.  hating new word chardonnays, however, is fine, and highly recommended.

    I am down with the Velt too, the weather is starting to get warmer too and I shal start drinking more of it.

    I'll have to give some other Chardonay a go, any recs on a mid priced bottle? (10-20 bucks)

    Ben

    25 for $25, again

    in Pacific Northwest & Alaska: Dining

    Posted

    This week, I was working down in Tacoma and therefore on expense...so I decided to take on a couple 25 for $25 dinners.

    The first was at Szmania's in Kirkland-

    My app was the Hearts of romaine salad with a warm pancetta and goat cheese vinagrette. It was quite nice, but a bit difficult to eat. It was stacked percariously.

    My main was the Jagerschnitzel with mushroom sauce, spatezle, and red cabbage. The dish was nice, but not spectacular really. I was a bit let down by the spatezle since I can make better at home...I think that these were a little too thin for my liking and not fried enough. Pretty good, but not great.

    The dessert was a sampling of three desserts: An apple streudel w/ caramel sauce that was very nice, but it could have been crisper, A strawberry/rhubarb tartlet that was pretty nice, and a really great rasberry sorbet. The sorbet had great texture and an intense flavor, it was the highlight of dessert.

    I had a great beer there that you all gotta try if you haven't already: Spaten Optimator, they have it at Szmania's and also at People's Pub in Ballard.

    My second dinner was at 727 Pine.

    We went around 5:30 and the place had about 4 other parties in it, which made it look empty. I do not know why this place is empty. We had a great time and had some very nice food.

    First off, the dining room is beautiful. I would say it is one of the better rooms in Seattle. It has a cavernous feel, but is not intimidating.

    While we were deciding on our menu, the kitchen sent a fun little amuse. It was a yukon gold "potato chip" with creme fraiche, a chive, and caviar. It was a great bite to start the evening. Nice and salty with the smooth creaminess textured against the chip. Good stuff.

    Katie had:

    The salad: (I forget the detals, but I know it had greens, beets, goat cheese, and a vinagrette) She enjoyed it and complimented the dressing skill of the chef. It is hard to find a properly dressed salad these days.

    Halibut with fava beans, clams, and mussels: Nicely cooked halibut, over a light stew of fava beans, clams, mussels, and some kind of broth. The dish smelled wonderful.

    Chocolate Macaroon: Great flavor, but a shade hard to cut. We split our desserts, and I thought this was the clear winner. The vanilla ice cream on top was of good quality.

    I had:

    Sunchoke Soup with crab meat, bacon and truffle oil: Nicely smooth and with a clear message: Smoky, creamy, and salty-sweet. Really great.

    Kurobuta Pork: This was a lovely piece of pork that was cooked medium. It was very juicy inside. It was placed over some kind of dark rice or barley. The grain was fabulous, it was almost juicy. Really flavorful. I did think, however that the pork could have used a saucing of some kind to tie everything together.

    Sorbet trio: Lemon, passionfruit, and grapefruit sorbet: The lemon was the clear winner of this trio, great texture and a great balance of tart/sweet. The passionfruit was good, but nothing to write home about. The Grapefruit was interesting, it was very tart and did not have much sweetness at all. I was a bit disapointed because it did not go with the rest of the dish. Also because NSM and I made a better grapefruit sorbet. :smile:

    During dinner we drank a Baby Piper mini bottle of champagne, it was quite good and better than I had expected. If you remember, this was one of the new mini-bottles that are being marketed to the young upscale party crowd. They also cary POP, which is the same thing. I think that the young upscale party-goers drink them with a straw...we did not.

    After dessert, we received another little treat. It was a small little spice cake with a peeled almond in the center. We both thought it was the highlight of dessert.

    The service was very good and impressed us, we loved the room, and had enjoyable food. I will be sure to be back.

    Ben

    TDG: Contrarian Wine

    in Wine

    Posted

    Explanation, no link, although now I'm curious whether Wilfrid has a really good web-based Whack-a-Mole game.

    Whack-a-Mole is a game found at kids' pizza parlors, mostly.  It consists of a horizontal surface with a grid of large holes in it.  The idea is that you're a farmer trying to get rid of moles, and these mole puppets keep popping out of the holes and you have to hit them with a mallet before they go back down.  I guess you'd put it in the same category as pinball (albeit requiring less skill):  a game that's electric but not necessarily electronic.

    It's a highly intellectual activity and is considered the basis for Modernism.

    Reisling rocks, I have always disliked the butteryness of chardonay.

    Also, I freaking rock at whack-a-mole. If I were a farmer, I would be mole free.

    Ben

    Oral Allergy Syndrome

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    After following your link, I think I have a Pop-up Ad Allergy.  :angry:

    But I have noticed that if I eat hazelnuts with the skins on, I can't breathe.  (Only happened once, but that was enough!).  And walnuts give me, um, heartburn.  So I avoid them both.

    So does that make me your buddy?  :wub:

    Of course...buddy! :wub:

    Ben

    p.s.

    Sorry about the pop-us, gaahh!

    Oral Allergy Syndrome

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    The past couple years, some raw fruit has given me trouble when I eat it. The inside of my mouth and tongue start to itch within a minute of contact. I was eating an apple today and it happened again so I looked it up.

    ohhh, I have a syndrome!

    Offending raw fruit for me: Apples, cherries, and pears. I dont seem to be bothered by anything else.

    How about you? Does anybody else have this? Who wants to be my syndrome buddy?

    Ben

    Weird or Icky School Lunches

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I remember one sandwich that I got back in grade school. The bread had this funny white powery looking stuff on the crust. I thought it was mold and I threw out the sandwich in disgust. I later found out that it was just a dusting of flour on the bread, which I had never seen before. :laugh:

    Kids are funny.

    Ben

    TDG: A Man & His Microwave

    in Cooking

    Posted

    A trick I learned from Alton Brown is to put a straw or stick in the water you are heating since it will break the surface tension and give a place for the bubbles to go. So far it has worked quite well. No more scalded eyeballs!

    Ben

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