FrogPrincesse

Agreed, I love the Nikka coffey gin. I bought my second bottle a few weeks ago. What is interesting about it as well is the long peppery finish (subtle yet noticeable). I love the fact that it incorporates all these interesting uniquely Japanese flavors, but is very restrained at the same time. It makes delicious sours - I used my first bottle to make Southsides mostly. Luckily it is only about $50 in California! (It doesn't come in the fancy cardboard packaging though... )

I am going to go with a big Gallic shrug here. A couple of good French beers I have had not too long ago: Jenlain Ambree which is an amber biere de garde, complex with spices and a touch of caramel, slightly hoppy. Can be found in most supermarkets in France. Gavroche by Saint Sylvestre which I understand is a micro brewery. Also a biere de garde, spices, notes of chocolates and caramel. That one I've had in the US actually.

You have to try w00tstout from Stone. It's outstanding.

Very happy to see Claudette Zepeda-Wilkins of El Jardin in San diego in the list of semi-finalists!

My local TJ’s is already out of the ruby cacao wafers! Apparently they only received one box and it was gone immediately. 😞

Your best option may be two bottles of Rittenhouse rye at $30/bottle (or Sazerac, which is about the same price I believe)! I am not aware of other ryes in that price range that would be good for sipping.

Agree. It's great for mixing, not so good for sipping.

Thank you! I tried it hot and chilled, and it is nice either way. I’ve read that carrots and cumin are close relatives (so are coriander, cilantro, etc - they all belong to the apiaceae family), which could explain why they go well together.

Deborah Madison’s Chilled Spicy Carrot Soup (with fresh ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric). Very tasty and good for my slightly upset stomach.

Saint Illtyd cheddar. Super garlicky - like Boursin in cheddar form with a fine, crumbly texture.

Heath ceramics? Love their stuff!

Here we go again. https://la.eater.com/2019/1/9/18174211/california-foie-gras-ban-upheld-supreme-court-lawsuit

@blue_dolphin's post inspired me to revisit the squash and fennel soup, and give another try to the candied squash seeds because they looked so delicious in her post. In my previous attempt, maybe the seeds were a bit old and maybe I hadn't toasted them long enough - in any case they were very dry and unpleasant to eat. This time they were fresher and turned out ok. I actually ate a good number of them while finishing up the preparation of the soup! @blue_dolphin - did you use the whole seed or did you remove the shells? It does not look like you have the shells in your picture. I used a butternut squash instead of kabocha, only used 6 cups of liquid, and cooked the soup for 10 min in the instant pot on high rather than using a Dutch pot. It's a delicious soup!

Oh yes I did. I had it before, so I was very excited to see it at Trader Joe’s!

@Beebs So where did you end up going? Please report!

Awful news. https://billypenn.com/2018/12/02/phillys-restaurant-community-toasts-cocktail-maven-katie-loeb-now-in-hospice/

So I decided to make duck confit for Thanksgiving, following Melissa Clark’s recipe. I’ve made the recipe about 1/2 dozen times now and it’s always been very successful, other than the occasional “burn” message where I would unplug, wait 5-10 minutes for everything to cool down, and restart. Tonight I’ve tried that 6 times and the duck really started burning. At that point I decided to start from the beginning with a clean pot and new duck legs, but I got the message again. I am not sure what to try next. Any ideas? I might have to ditch the IP technique and switch to a traditional confit or maybe a sous vide confit, unless there is something else I can do to troubleshoot the instant pot. This is both puzzling and immensely frustrating.

And before that, they had Hawaiian music. I think it’s a lot more relaxing that those awful beeping sounds! I love TJ’s.

A couple of new cheeses from Trader Joe’s, in time for Thanksgiving. Goat with rosemary, from Spain (a bit like the goat cousin of Fleur du Maquis, but milder/less interesting) And Harbison from Jasper Hill farm. Seems like a good deal at $12.99 for a 9-ounce wheel!

Interesting. Thank you!

Does anybody know if this is related the same principle as Herve This' chocolate chantilly (which predates the water ganache)? Just curious.

I like them! The shortbread texture is nice, they are not too sweet, and the fleur de sel is a great touch!

Chicken liver truffle mousse pâté (Trader Joe’s) with homemade red onion & sherry marmalade

Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies

Here is my favorite recipe from the book, the one I have made regularly and that is worth getting the book for - Duck Confit! It is pretty much perfection. My butcher has really good duck and the resulting confit tastes better than store-bought confit in my opinion. The only trick is that the pressure cooker tends to overheat after the sauté step, so I have to unplug it for about 10 minutes before it lets me start the pressure cooking option (otherwise I get the dreaded “hot” error message, and it doesn’t start).