FrogPrincesse

djyee100 - thanks for sharing your impressions on Andante cheese. I really got interested in Andante after reading a nice article in the Art of Eating about Soyoung Scanlan and her goat cheeses. I had a chance to try several of her cheeses since then. I am going through my notes... Here is a recent one on this little cheese plate. Starting from the bottom left: Musette from Andante, Cantal, Sainte-Maure. All three were fantastic. The Saint-Maure is a goat cheese from Touraine with straw in the middle. It's hard to find here but my dad brought it with him when he came to visit us this summer. The Cantal (cow milk) had a beautiful fruit flavor. Musette was the hardest of the three. It is a raw sheep milk cheese with rind that is rubbed with molasses. Very flavorful as well. This little assortment was just great. Here is Andante's Etude. This was is a seasonal semi-hard goat cheese. Lighter in flavor, grass and cream. Very good too. The third one was a complete miss for me. I went to the market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and Andante had a little stand. I was really excited. I asked for the goat cheese with the most flavor, because I am not into mild young cheeses. They recommended the crottin and I was really eager to try it because crottin de Chavignol is one of my favorites. It was not in the same league at all. It had a thick rind that was bitter and the cheese did not have the wonderful tanginess of the crottin. Nothing like the photo or description on their website. It was not very pleasant unfortunately. Oh well... Here is Andante's cheese stand.

Franci- mine rolled up a little bit in the beginning, but after some time they stopped due to the weight of the items.

Thank you, Robenco15, for the detailed list. It's obvious that he is not fluent (not even close) because there are mistakes in his French. For the volume/weight measurements, at least they tried to have both... With a grain of common sense the recipes work very well. I have not tried his coq au vin recipe, just the one from Country Cooking of France. Just reading it, it seems pretty typical to me.

I would be interested to know which ones. I use this book quite a lot but can't think of any errors off the top of my head.

A simple lemonade spiked with gin and bitters. I tried both a Miracle Mile forbidden bitters version and a Boker's bitters version, and they were both good.

Any news places worth checking out? Lately my rotation for regular/everyday kind of places includes Tender Greens for the salads and specials (also a small but decent beer selection, and their excellent charcuterie), Carnitas Snack Shack for pork overdose (carnitas tacos, BLT with belly instead of ham), Fathom Bistro for sausage sandwiches and craft beers (they make their own sausages and they are great), Blind Lady Ale House for pizza and more craft beers, Burger Lounge (so much better than In-N-Out...), the Fish Shop in PB (ceviche, fish tacos, local beers, oysters), Cucina Urbana (stuffed squash blossoms, handmade pastas including the wonderful short rib pappardelle, good wine selection) and Eclipse Chocolate for an afternoon snack (bourbon caramel pecan cupcake). Places that need more time: Sea and Smoke - it was promising for dinner but not quite there yet (great lobster, chocolate ice cream; didn't care much for the Bison Smash cocktail, the appetizer was blah, and the service needed some work) . Dinner at Blue Ribbon Rustic Kitchen was overall pretty good, but less so considering the price. I think it needs some time as well. Places that I will be back to: The Hake in La Jolla - I had a great lunch there. I had a couple of good dinners at The Patio, but I make sure to avoid the brunch which is nothing special, and the cocktails which are hit-and-miss. Blind Burro was fun after a visit to Noble Experiment (garlic-chile crab claw fingers, bbq yellowtail collars, cochinita pibil). Restaurant Week starts this weekend, so I will do my best to avoid restaurants that participate.

We just finished a bottle of the Tribunal red wine. It's a Californian red from Sonoma County. It is fruit-forward with plenty of body. Very nice for $9.99. One of the employees at TJ's recommended it to my husband.

Dave - Piment oiseau (bird's eye chilli) is actually quite common in France. In Paris I had no problem finding it - maybe check your local supermarket?

Prawncrackers - everything looks mouthwatering. Are these caramelized shallots under the the figs in your beautiful tart?

rotuts - good idea. Most of my everyday wines come from TJ, so I will make sure to report my finds to this thread.

Here is another breakfast. Alton Brown's "instant" buttermilk pancakes with chocolate chips for my daughter... and wild blueberries for me. They are super light. Really good.

White Chocolate (The Bruery) (no photo but it's deep amber) This one is kind of an odd duck, very different. It's a barrel-aged wheat wine. It smells of caramel and vanilla. It tastes creamy, boozy, sweet white chocolate. Very complex. It would be great with chocolate cake... Trois Pistoles (Unibroue) This Belgian strong ale is super drinkable despite the 9% ABV (you can't really taste the alcohol). A lot of malt and spices without being sweet. R&R coconut IPA (Robert & Ryan / Rip Current / Stone) This collaboration beer was created by two homebrewers, Robert Masterson and Ryan Reschan, who won a homebrewing contest. A vibrant IPA with a lot of stone fruit and a subtle coconut finish. Quite bitter. I had it with grilled sausages. The Schot in Het Donker (shot in the dark) Saison again, this time with a picture and yellowtail tacos. Perfect on a super hot day.

Cool. Thanks for sharing this Rafa. Kindred Cocktails is also included which is well deserved.

Franci - I like the Ikea rolls; that's what I have in my kitchen.

Thanks Dan, I will give it a try next time I am in the mood for a Red Hook.

So what did you use in your Perfect Redhook?

Anna - I don't think that it looks bad at all, quite the opposite actually (I love beets)!

Why not use some of the coconut meat from your previous experiments, together with the coconut water? If you blend that with pineapple and rum you should get a really nice pina colada. Coconut oil is a complety different product. It's a fat so I am afraid that you are going to get a greasy mouthfeel but not the body or flavor that you are looking for.

Thanks Steve - not typical but I was sure that some would appreciate it!

Dave, For me, a wide selection of candy/cake flavored vodkas is dead giveaway that the liquor store is NOT serious about cocktails. But sometimes you can have good surprises when you look past this kind of stuff. The ideal liquor store should have a good variety of base liquors in each category: gin (London dry, Plymouth, old tom, genever), rum (including rhum agricole), bourbon, rye, tequila, etc. It does not have to be 20 in each category or super expensive ones. Ideally it's a carefully curated collection that includes good values. For example Flor de Cana 4 year white rum is inexpensive but immensely superior to the Bacardi that you can find everywhere. Old Overholt rye does not break the bank but it's pretty good. Etc... Then you need the basic amari: Campari, Aperol, and Cynar at a minimum, and maybe a few more. Some nice vermouths - for example Noilly Prat for the white and Dolin for the red. Bitters - if they have Angostura, Peychaud's and a decent brand of orange bitters, then it's great. Regarding liqueurs, if all they have is DeKuyper then it's pretty sad and you have to look elsewhere. Ideally as Rafa mentioned they would have a few items from Haus Alpenz in stock - then you can tell that they are really serious about cocktails. Bonus points if they have specialty syrups in stock (such as small hands or B.G.Reynolds for tiki ingredients).

Elizabeth - I am horrified but polite so if I was having dinner with you I would do my best to keep my mouth shut :-) No water (or ice cubes) in my wine please. And on the same topic my mother-in-law is famous for consolidating the tail ends of wine bottles (aka random assemblage) after family meals - another atrocity. I bought a container of inert gas to make leftover wine last longer and so far it seems to work.

I don't often post my breakfasts because they usually consist of a shot of espresso (sometimes accompanied by a half piece of toasted bread with jam or honey, if I feel extravagant), but here is one from this weekend. A couple of fried duck eggs, Benton's bacon, local avocados & cherry tomatoes.

I forgot to post this photo in the previous post - it was the sign at the entrance of the little bait & tackle shop turned bistro where I had the beer.

I agree that mojitos do not lend themselves to pre-batching. Why not invite your friends to your place and make their favorite cocktail? They may appreciate getting away from the remodeling mess for a little while...

A simple Gin Fix with St George Terroir. Perfect for the heat and a great way to enjoy this gin. (By the way, Rafa, your Martini with Terroir & douglas fir sounds Amazing).