FrogPrincesse

The whole point of this thread is to be able to see a large variety of foods, from the everyday items to the special occasion dishes. It would not be good for people to censor themselves because they feel that what they made is not special enough. Actually this thread started years ago with a discussion of everyday meals. As long as it's something you cooked for dinner, it is fair game for this thread! From post #1 in 2002:

I pretty much like everything (including offal and the common items that have been cited so far). But I’ve always found rice pudding to be off-putting for some reason. To be honest, I did not grow up eating it and I am not even sure I ever had it. It’s just that the idea of rice combined with sweetened milk as a dessert sounds revolting to me. Something about the texture (although I love risotto) and having rice in a dessert (although I enjoy coconut sticky rice). So yes, it is on the irrational side. I used to hate brussels sprouts, the result of being forced to eat them overcooked and full of sulfurous vapors. I remember eating them as a kid with my nose pinched to avoid the stench and washing them down with plenty of water afterwards. Now I love them when they are properly cooked. I love most cheeses including some that people can consider very pungent (blue cheeses and aged goat cheeses are a delicacy). However I don’t think I could convince myself to put French munster cheese in my mouth. As opposed to the American muenster, munster has an extremely strong odor and when I grew up, since this was a favorite of my parents, I had to brace myself every time they were going to enjoy a piece. Also there is something about this orange sticky rind… I am not interested in trying this cheese. Camembert and brie used to have the same effect on me (the smell of a ripe and runny camembert… yuck!), but since I’ve learned that the taste is milder than what I could guess based on the smell alone, I can eat appreciate them better now. Lastly I have horrible memories of milk skin floating on my bowl of hot chocolate as a kid - even when you fish it out, the taste still stays in the chocolate. So the milk skin dessert at noma does not sounds like something I would want to try (fortunately this dessert has not created a trend unlike the dirt/soil items that are popping up everywhere!). However it's a good example of a chef taking something generally regarded as unpleasant, and turning it into something interesting...

The dates were great. Very sweet. They were good with the cheese and especially good with the drink. As you may know, French and Swiss gruyères are two different types of cheeses. I feel bad for saying this but the French gruyère (which has holes) is quite rubbery and without much character. I never buy it. On the contrary, Swiss gruyère (no holes) has plenty of character and reminds me of the French cheese comté (which, just to add more confusion, is also called "gruyère de comté") - they are both aged for a long time, which develops flavors (nutty/fruity). Both the Swiss and the French gruyères used to have AOC appellation but recently the French finally dropped theirs after years of debate and confusion (amusing article here)...

And now, for our moment of cheese... Swiss gruyère, Tumalo Farms' Rimrocker (a semi-hard cheese which is a blend of cow & goat milks), and some dates. On the side, Cocchi Americano on the rocks. Not convinced about the Rimrocker. Some nice flavors but it's way too subtle to be a repeat purchase. The aged gruyère is more interesting in comparison.

Charcuterer's pork steak dish reminds me of the things that I cook in an aluminum pouch - salmon with cherry tomatoes, basil and olive oil; chicken breasts with mushrooms and white wine, etc. These are great for busy weeknights.

What do you mean it's not trendy - pretty much anything on Adams avenue IS the epitome of trendiness! Full of 20 to 30-somethings with beards and suspenders. It's Hipster Central as my husband calls it. Maybe you don't realize it because you happen to be one of the cool people. That sounds lovely.

Some of the things I do when I don't feel like cooking something elaborate: a big salad (with some nuts or cheese, or prosciutto to make it more substantial), a large bowl of soup with country bread, pasta (I keep a few frozen homemade sauces in the freezer - Bolognese, pesto, marinara), pressure-cooker risotto (you can easily customize it based on what you have at hand). Steamed clams or mussels are delicious and just take a few minutes. Anything that can be done quickly on the grill (sausage, steak, shrimp, or a nice piece of fish) requires little effort and minimizes cleanup. If I am really exhausted, I will just grab a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods and eat it with white rice and a green salad. Eggs in any form are also a life-saver - omelette (good way to use leftovers), soft-boiled (with mouillettes aka soldiers, topped with butter and ham), hard-boiled, poached (with a salad), fried with bacon and toast, scrambled, cocotte, etc...

+ 2 for me The Art of Cooking with Vegetables by Alain Passard The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz

It appears that this purple potato soup may the mood ring of soups - I will come back to that if I can get proper photographic evidence. Also the taste was pretty good the second day (which may be related to my mood as well!). I went with a much more conventional soup color last night with Gordon Ramsay's broccoli soup. The soup was recommended a while back by rarerollingobject in the Recipes that Rock: 2011 thread. I don't really like broccoli usually but this soup is fresh and clean, slightly peppery, and completely delicious! Plus any excuse to use goat cheese is fine with me. I used a fresh goat cheese but his original version with Sainte-Maure looks completely decadent and would be the way to go if you have it available.

I am not familiar with Cantina Mayahuel, but it sounds like they have quite a selection (200 tequilas and 55 mezcals!). You are referring to Jay Porter from El Take it Easy? In the list, the places I've been to and like (more or less in order of preference) are Noble Experiment, Craft & Commerce, The Lion's Share, Saltbox, Starlite, El Dorado. I've also been Cowboy Star a few times for dinner but was less than impressed with the cocktails. All the other places are solid to outstanding.

The third Annual Bartender Challenge took place at El Dorado last night. Anthony Schmidt from Noble Experiment, who won the first two years, lost his title to Christian Siglin from Craft & Commerce. Here is an interview of Christian that was published last year if you are not already familiar with him.

A lot of good discussions about Sam Ross' Penicillin (which, strangely, has not been mentioned in this thread) in the Scotch cocktail thread. Last week, I tried the Son of a Beesting (you have to love a Ron Burgundy reference!), Michael Madrusan's lighter take on the Penicillin: gin, lemon juice, ginger, honey syrup, rosewater. I liked how it highlighted the spices in the gin (I used Beefeater). It's a little bit like a summer version of the Penicillin. I am using Canton again although ginger syrup is specified. I find that it works fine in mixed drinks; it has less bite than fresh ginger for sure, but it works for my husband who is somewhat ginger-timid. I don't think that I will feel the need to buy a new bottle once this one is finished though. In addition to this thread, there is a nice collection of ginger cocktails in the MxMo XL: Ginger discussion.

Very well said, ScoopKW. I agree with everything you just wrote. As a customer, if you have a great attitude, good things will happen and you will almost always have a good time. Restaurants love people with a great attitude, and they will make sure that you come back and tell your friends about your experience!

The only cocktail app that I have is the Bartender's Choice app by Sam Ross et al., and I use it quite a bit! I also use eatyourbooks.com to look for ideas based on specific ingredients, although their cocktail book database is still somewhat limited - but at least it encourages me to use the cocktails books that I already have. Kindred Cocktails is very useful as well and easily searchable. On another topic, my bar is starting to grow out of control and it's getting more difficult to keep track of everything I have. I have just downloaded the My Bar app that Martin Doudoroff created, in the hope that it will help me keep track of things. For the time being, despite an impressive list of ingredients already in the database, the app is pretty bare-boned regarding the features that it offers, but hopefully it will continue to evolve and improve in the future. One big plus is that you can very quickly enter your collection by scanning the bar codes (some bottles won't have one or won't be recognized but it's very easy to add them to the database). I am hoping that it will soon be possible to see my "inventory" organized by liquor type, so I can remember to rotate between rums for example instead of always reaching for the same 4 or 5 bottles.

A review of the 12 best bars in San Diego was just published in Difford's CLASS magazine. It's nice to see more San Diego coverage! The list: Craft & Commerce The Noble Experiment Cantina Mayahuel El Dorado Seven Grand Starlite Saltbox Cowboy Star Grant Grill The Lion's Share Vin De Syrah El Take It EZ

This is similar to the version that was published in the LA Times Magazine. The only difference that I see is that they specify 3/4 oz of a 3:1 honey syrup which is quite concentrated. Also the garnish he uses is a piece of candied ginger (photo here).

Wonderful. I am going to try this very soon, plus I just ordered the book. Sorry to follow your beautiful photo with my latest soup, which is the most unfortunate shade of purplish khaki. It's a leek - potato soup (recipe by David Lebovitz here). I keep getting purple potatoes in my CSA which explains the strange color. It's not very attractive to start with, and I used my blender which turned it into a slimy mess. The taste was ok. Next time I will use my stick blender...

The temperatures dropped very slightly in San Diego last week and it's the start of the holiday season, so I was in the mood for a hot buttered rum. I found a recipe for the Volcano House Hot Buttered Rum in Jeff Berry's BeachBum Berry remixed: rum, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur which adds something interesting, sugar, black tea (I used Earl Grey), lemon peel, cloves, butter. Rumdood posted the recipe on his blog a while back (here). Note that the version in BeachBum Berry Remixed does not list the rum! (A typo for sure). This was a good occasion to crack open a bottle of Kraken (sorry). Nice drink. I will make sure to bring the recipe for my next ski trip! For reference, hot buttered rum is also discussed in Cold Weather Drinking, plus there are dedicated threads (this one and this one) and another one about Hot Rum.

Gourmet burgers and "elevated" comfort food in general (lobster mac and cheese, truffle fries and the like). I do like a good burger, but I would much rather see more interesting options on a restaurant menu.

Dan - not counting the ice, you are using 1 part spirits to 1.3 part water, which puts you in the middle of the range for the recipes I reviewed in my post. My FHP was delicious as usual, but maybe a little strong, and needed further dilution (we drank it too fast to let the ice do its work). I will increase the amount of water slightly next time. Here is the oleo-saccharum. The shrub The finished product. This was a small batch.

Amazing work! I wish you good luck, Baron.

I tried an Enzoni last night, a creation by Vincenzo Errico which is a lighter take on the Negroni where the 1 oz of sweet vermouth is replaced with 3.4 oz lemon juice and 0.5 oz simple syrup plus muddled grapes. It's refreshing but I don't think it's going to replace my favorite cocktail any time soon.

Interesting. How old was the bottle that you tried?

I think that the amount of water is a good question. What is a good spirits to water ratio for punch (not taking into account further dilution introduced by the ice )? I've seen recipes all over the board. I've been using 1 part spirits to 0.5 part water to bottle my punch, and adding ice and more water as necessary when I serve it, but I understand that most recipes call for much more water. There is the "One of Sour, Two of Sweet, Three of Strong, Four of Weak" formula which corresponds to 1 part spirits to 1.3 part water. This recipe for "Just Plain Punch" by David Wondrich on liquor.com also has 1 parts spirits for 1.3 part water. This Fish House Punch Recipe via liquor.com, also by David Wondrich, calls for 1 part spirits for 2.5 parts water (49 oz/122 oz). That's almost double compared to the previous recipe and does seem high, even though it calls for large amount of overproof rum. The individual version of the FHP by David Wondrich (via esquire.com) uses 1 part sprits to 0.7 part water (3 oz/2 oz). Jeffrey Morgenthaler's adaptation of the Wondrich FHP recipe (here) calls for 1 part spirits to 2 parts water (48 oz/96 oz). This version published in Philadelphia Magazine which also mentions David Wondrich has 1 part spirits to 1.5 parts water (6 cups/14 cups). The version of FHP published in Food & Wine magazine has 1 part spirits to 0.6 parts water (12.5 oz/8 oz). So, for 1 part spirits, that's a range of 0.6 to 2.5 parts of water based on these recipes. For those of you who regularly make punch, I would be interested in hearing how much water you use. I guess one way is to make it fairly concentrated and adjust to taste when serving.

I have the same Krups grinder that I use for grinding spices. I've been happy with it.