FrogPrincesse

Hi Steve, I go to Zurich regularly for business. I like the cru sauvage truffles at Sprüngli which are made from wild cocoa beans (I've tried all their dark chocolate truffles and these are my favorites). Sprüngli also has this delicious pastry called an amaretti which is like a little meringue topped with cherry-flavored cream and covered in dark chocolate; really lovely. (For non chocolate items, they make a killer Bircher Muesli). Läderach has a nice assortment of dark chocolate truffles and a large selection of barks. Tschirren has fabulous pastries and chocolates but they are in Bern. They have a shop inside the train station which is about an hour from Zurich. I always make sure to hit the chocolate shops at the airport before leaving - although the selection is limited, they typically have a lot of free samples!

I don't use Grand Marnier very often in cocktail but I found this interesting drink last night on the Cocktail Virgin Slut blog while researching cocktails that combine cynar and maraschino. Sous le Soleil [exactement?] Cali Gold 1.5 oz cognac 3/4 oz grand marnier 1/4 oz maraschino liqueur 1/4 oz cynar 1/4 oz mezcal dash whiskey barrel-aged bitters It tastes briny and surprisingly fresh for a cocktail that does not contain citrus.

I had to look that one up. Thanks, I guess, for enriching my British vocabulary... Last night was La Fin Du Monde (Unibroue), a Belgian-style tripel ale brewed in Quebec. Yeasty with a lot of coriander. Very nice with roasted chicken and vegetables.

I've had it but it felt too rough for me. It is bizarre that there is such a variation with the Sagatiba. It used to be everywhere and then disappeared from the shelves (at least in San Diego). I was excited to have finally found a bottle and while it's not awful, it's nothing special.

Tried the Stone Vertical Epic 12.12.12 again with pizza last night. More than 6 months later it tasted quite sweet with chocolate and spice notes, followed by a bitter finish. It would have been excellent with dessert but was not so great with pizza. As a side note this had not been properly cellared; it's been at room temperature since December. For those who enjoy reading the notes (although they are a little hard to read...).

A couple of classics recently. 3:1 Martini with Plymouth gin and Noilly Prat dry vermouth. Last night we had Caipirinhas. I don't know if it's because this new bottle is not as good as the ones I've had in the past, or if my taste buds are getting more picky, but I didn't enjoy the cachaça (Sagatiba Pura) as much as I did in the past. It did not have the grassy/coconut notes that I remembered.

You are very welcome, Chris. It's good to see you here!

Thanks for all the info Patrick. I just read that hyssop was one of the "essential" components in Chartreuse and Benedictine so now I am really intrigued. I will plant some if I can find seeds.

Lovely. What does hyssop taste like, and do you know the difference between malloreddus and cavatelli (not a trick question, just thought that they looked alike)?

Stone Cali-Belgique IPA was perfect with a yellowtail & lemon dish. Crisp and slightly acidic, with a lot of flavor/spice/funk. Hoppy but reasonably so considering it's made by Stone. Slightly bitter finish. It has a very attractive light orange color.

Morkai - Lovely lamb indeed. Yellowtail with fingerlings, fava beans, lemon, and savory crème fraîche - based on Suzanne Goin's recipe which I now make regularly. The original recipe calls for halibut, other than that I stayed true to the recipe. I could never find savory in the store so I ended up growing it in my small garden just for this recipe...

Beautiful copper trainer, Stephen. We tried Kyle Davidson's Goodbye Marie last week. It's a relative of the Manhattan with apricot liqueur and a lot of bitters. It's funny how precise the recipe is. It took me a while to count all these drops... I used Punt e Mes and R&W apricot liqueur. Goodbye Marie by Kyle Davidson, The Violet Hour, Chicago 2 oz Bourbon, Bulleit 1/2 oz Apricot liqueur, Rothman & Winter (Skinny half ounce, add dash demerara to R&W, or use Marie Brizzard) 1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula (Skinny, use Punt e Mes if no Carpano) 13 dr Bitters, Fee Brothers 15 dr Bitters, Angostura 1 rinse Bitters, Regans' orange bitters (Into rocks glass filled with crushed ice, sazerac style, about 5 dashes) 1 twst Orange peel (Expressed and discarded, a la sazerac) Fill rocks glass with crushed ice, and coat inside with about 5 dashes Gary Regan's Orange bitters. Build cocktail in a mixing glass, if using apry, skinny half ounce, if using R & W (preferred) make a skinny half ounce out of an eighth ounce demerara and the rest R & W apricot. Stir. Dump out crushed ice and bitters from rocks glass, Strain chilled drink into it. Garnish with orange peel expressed and discarded. I liked it but my husband thought it was too bitter. So I made him an Old Fashioned. Both cocktails were made with Buffalo Trace barrel #19 from Hi Times.

Matt - For mixing, other than Rittenhouse BIB which is my favorite, I've been very happy with Bulleit and Sazerac 6.

Last night's Negroni variation was the Banks of Torino found via Kindred Cocktails. Banks 5 rum as the base, which makes it a relative of Michael McIlroy's Right Hand (aged rum, sweet vermouth, Campari, mole bitters). Banks of Torino by Joshua Perez, Booker & Dax, NYC 1 1/2 oz Blended rum, Banks 5 Island 3/4 oz Aromatized wine, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino 3/4 oz Campari 2 ds Bitters, Angostura 1 twst Orange peel Build over one large rock, stir and garnish with an orange peel. I liked how this combination highlighted the aroma of the rum. The vermouth di Torino was great in this drink, just the right fit. This was a very harmonious tropical Negroni. I think that I prefer it to the Right Hand.

In mine last week: Cauliflower Butter Lettuce Red Leaf Lettuce Green Onions Sanguinelli Blood Oranges PeeWee Mix Fingerling Potatoes Aprium (aka pluot) Kiwi Cucumber

That sounds so good, you might be able to convert me!

Oui, although I am not a big fan of Camembert. But other good (i.e. pungent) cheeses are a favorite snack. And you have to have bread because cheese without bread just isn't right...

Bread and cheese

My go-to inexpensive dishes are risotto and quiche, plus egg-based dishes in general (omelettes, etc). I always have the basic components, and then I can customize the recipe based on what ingredients/vegetables I have that week.

I have a bunch of celery that I could turn into soup. But what about the texture? Celery can be very stringy, so how do you prevent that? Do you blend the soup longer, or is it sufficient to peel the celery? Thanks!

The theme of this month's MxMo reminded me of this thread that Yojimbo initiated not too long ago...

Here is my entry, the Cherry Pop from the PDT Cocktail Book. Cherry Pop Jane Danger 2 oz gin (Plymouth) 1 oz lemon juice 0.5 oz maraschino liqueur 0.5 oz simple syrup 2 muddled cherries + 1 for the ganish First impression - it is a girly/scary shade of pink, plus I don't often use muddled fruit in my drinks. So I was a little skeptical but this was actually successful. The gin + maraschino liqueur + lemon combo was reminiscent of the Aviation, with the muddled cherries replacing the violet liqueur. I used a Meyer lemon which is a bit less acidic than a regular lemon, but the cocktail was not too sweet. It is fresh and the cherries integrate very well with the other elements. I am thinking this would be a great "gateway" cocktail. Chris' cachaca sling looks great and reminds me of a drink I used to have at a place that is long closed. I may try to recreate it if time permits.

Spot prawns with tomato confit, garlic, and chile I am still daydreaming about this one a few weeks later. I was super excited to buy a few pounds of local spot prawns recently because they are really special. It's hard to describe but they have a better texture and flavor than any other prawns I have had. The recipe starts by slow-cooking yellow tomatoes in the oven in a mix of olive oil and water, together with a sliced red onion, garlic, herbs (oregano + basil) and chiles. This step can be done in advance. before after This cooking step extracts all the wonderful flavors from the tomatoes. Then they are blended (minus the herbs and part of the chiles) with part of the liquid. They emulsify very rapidly to form a thick "sauce" with a beautiful yellow color. The spot prawns are deveined and cooked shell-on in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. The prawns are set aside for a few minutes while the same pan is used to cook shallots, thyme, chile de arbol, garlic and cherry tomatoes sliced in half (I also added a little bit of fresh corn). Using the same pan ensure that all the juices from the prawns are incorporated into the sauce. Then the prawns are added back to blend all the flavors together. The prawns seasoned with lemon juice are served on top of the yellow tomato confit together with plenty of bread.

Thanks curls! Speaking of egg whites, I made pavlovas for mother's day. I have this long history of failure with meringues so I was a little nervous about this recipe. I tried making meringues when I was 8 or 9 and could never get them right due to a very old and unreliable gas oven at my grandparent's house. I haven't attempted them since. Move forward a few years and I decided to try my hand at pavlovas after seeing them on lesliec's eG Foodblog a while back. A pavlova (named after the Russian ballerina) is a meringue with a chewy interior, a dessert that is extremely popular in Australia and in New Zealand. They worked quite well. Most came out great although a couple were still a bit sticky underneath and super sticky inside. I probably should have cooked them a little bit longer. They were delicious topped with fresh fruit (pineapple, strawberry and passion fruit) and whipped cream. It's a light dessert that can be assembled at the last minute.

A recent assortment. More pesto, housemade pâté de campagne with cornichons (this was the recipe fom La Regalade), and poached shrimp with olive oil and lemon juice as inspired by Soba's blog. The bread was a batard with caramelized onion (Sadie Rose).