FrogPrincesse

I went to Saffron last week to see if I wasn't a little harsh with my comments. The sate chicken was incredibly tough and dry. Avoid (and don't be tempted by the low price). The drunken noodles were ok but not exactly subtle. Quite spicy. The Vietnamese noodles - superbland. The noodles were under the soy sprouts. Everything was fresh but it was just too basic. On the plus side, it is quite cheap. But the place itself is in bad need of a makeover and a major cleaning.

A traditional Caprese last night with heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and very fragrant basil (all from Trader Joe's). Seasoning was Arbequina olive oil, balsamic vinegar (both from TJ as well), black pepper, and fleur de sel. For a less traditional take on the Caprese, see the Mozza thread here.

I don't own the book but I am a fan of Pizzeria Mozza, the restaurant. I have made her take on the Caprese a while back ("Mozza Caprese") and it is quite spectacular. The tomatoes are slow-roasted in the oven, which develops a ton of flavor (making this a good recipe even if tomatoes aren't absolutely at their peak). They are served on top of burrata.

I haven't made the bread from Tartine yet, but I made a couple of recipes so far. The white gazpacho is wonderful. It is made from bread and almonds, flavored with garlic, and topped with a red gazpacho garnish (red grapes, cucumber, cherry tomatoes). It is very elegant and absolutely delicious. Last night I was looking for a way to use a bunch of vegetables from my CSA which included collard greens, carrots and onions. I made the Tourin, a rustic soup with torn pieces of stale bread, served with an egg, fried or poached (I opted for a poached egg Arzack-style). It was very comforting and the egg was a nice touch as it thickened the soup. I used homemade chicken broth and I blanched the collard greens before adding them to the rest of the vegetables.

I made a simple Daiquiri Naturale last night using rhum agricole. 2 oz rum, 1 oz lime juice, 3/4 oz simple syrup. It is my favorite way to enjoy a good unaged rhum agricole. La Favorite has a very distinctive grassy/funky flavor that is wonderful in this drink. I never get tired of it.

This looks incredible. Thanks for sharing!

These buns are so beautiful, Kerry. I am going to make the roasted pork belly this weekend for our friends and family. This is such a delicious dish.

Interesting title. Not sure the Vesper is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of tropical cocktails, gin based or otherwise. I was also confused by the title initially; however you have to keep in mind that the theme of Tiki Oasis this year is described as "exotic espionage and Polynesian pulp", hence the Vesper reference.

Beautiful. I love fraises des bois; they have such a wonderful flavor.

Good - slices are hard to photograph but my husband did a good job with that one. For these desperate cases that require bacon, I am sure you could come up with a hybrid version - onions AND bacon. And if you decide to go crazy, you could even add Gruyère cheese... lot of possibilities!

For those of you who are into tiki cocktails, Tiki Oasis has published its program for this year and there is a great line-up on the cocktail symposium front, with Martin Cate (Smuggler's Cove) giving a couple of talks on rum and continuing with his investigations into tiki drinks with CSI: Cocktail II - Wrath of The Tiki Drink Killer, and Richard Boccato (PKNY, Dutch Kills, Little Branch) exploring the topic of Gin Tropical Cocktails (Beyond The Vesper).

Zewelwai is another quiche worth mentioning. It's a bacon-less version of quiche lorraine, which can sound pretty sad... However the bacon is replaced with plenty of slowly-cooked onions and so it's full of flavor. Here is the pastry dough (pâte brisée); the recipe is also from the book and I make it by mixing the ingredients first for a short time in my stand mixer, and then finishing by hand with a gentle touch (to preserve the flaky texture). It is baked blind before the filling is added. It's baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. This quiche does not puff much. Slice

Frappé... hmmm.... what a confusing term. If by frappé you mean a slushy consistency, I would say no. However crushed ice may well be the historically-appropriate version. In any case, I can assure you that it is fantastic served up too!

Very nice. The ratios in the Imbibe/320 Main version are quite different from what I am used to (very light on the maraschino and grapefruit!), and they serve it on crushed ice. That sounds wonderful too. And that reminds me that I need to go to 320 Main very soon.

Hemingway Daiquiri for me last night. 1.5 oz white rum (Flor de Caña), 1 oz (oro blanco) grapefruit juice, 0.75 oz maraschino liqueur, 0.5 oz lime juice, brandied cherry garnish. It felt great, especially after having a particularly bad one at a bar not too long ago (I suspect their grapefruit juice was stale, because their second attempt was not much better than the first).

My modest contributation to the thread - a couple of specimens (that I did not make, but that I wanted include for reference purposes). Maybe this will inspire me to try making my own version soon! I got the first one at a Vietnamese/French/Swedish bakery today (Sorrento European Bakery). For the meat, they had a few options that included pork with pate or bbq pork. They recommended the bbq pork so that's what I got. For some reason, the banh mi sandwiches always seem to be wrapped in the same manner- in paper with a little rubber band. Inside were all the traditional garnishes: carrots, cucumber, daikon, jalapeno, cilantro, spicy mayo. The verdict: meh. The thick skin on the cucumber was a turn off, and the vegetables hardly tasted pickled. There was no enough vinegar to offset the rich mayonnaise. But the meat was not bad and the baguette was crispy and warm. Also this was less than $4, a bargain. My current favorite is this twist on the traditional banh mi by MIHO, a local foodtruck. A few key points: They use a high quality baguette (clearly baked that day) Good pickled veggies Pork belly... what else can I say A little heavy on the mayo for me, but still very good. More expensive (about $8).

The classic Quiche Lorraine recipe from the book has become my favorite, after using the Alton Brown "refrigerator pie" version for years. When some people use heavy cream or half and half (or even milk, as my mother used to - the horror!) for the filling, Anne Willan uses crème fraîche. This is a really traditional version and therefore it does not contain any cheese, but you get some cheesiness from the cream. The filling is just the crème fraîche, a couple of eggs, some nutmeg, and the slightly browned lardons (which would normally be smoked - I used a mixture of homecured "fresh bacon" and store-bought boar bacon). It puffed a lot and deflated after I took it out of the oven. I like to think that the tanginess of the crème fraîche cuts through some of the richness of the dish. It's great with a green salad (with a vinegar-heavy dressing). I like prepare a double batch of pastry dough, and keep the second tart pan lined with the dough and ready to go in the freezer, that way I can make quiche again whenever the mood strikes.

While going through pictures for the previous post, I stumbled upon some pictures that my husband took of Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach last year. We did not know what to expect, but thought it was a great sign when we saw this guy carving tikis in the adjacent parking lot. When we got in, we were immediately transported into a different world. The bar area is beautifully decorated. We went at lunch time and pretty much had the place to ourselves. The food was decent and the drinks were great. We were relieved to see that the cocktail menu had a solid selection of classics. This is how they serve the Three Dots and a Dash. I can't remember what rums they were using - my excuse is that I was sipping a Zombie 1934 and can't remember much else :-) Some more eye candy. If you are a regular, you can keep your special mug in this cabinet.

I've been craving a Three Dots and a Dash for a while now, and realized I was being silly because the only reason I was not making one was because I did not have a pineapple spear for the garnish. The recipe is from Sippin' Safari (for those who don't have the book, rumdood/Matt Robold provided it on his blog here - but I believe he is missing a dash of Angostura bitters!). As opposed to the pretty tame Sumatra Kula, the Three Dots and a Dash explodes with spice, with a trifecta of pimento dram, falernum AND angostura bitters! Regarding the rum, with 1.5 oz of aged rhum agricole (I used La Favorite Coeur de Rhum) and 0.5 oz of Demerara rum (I used El Dorado 5 yr), it is particularly flavorful (and strong!). A great classic. Last year during a cocktail symposium at Tiki Oasis, Martin Cate had us deconstruct this cocktail by trying to identify each one of its 8 ingredients. He was using a different rum mix - obviously the aged agricole is not very cost-effective. I do however highly recommend using the agricole in this drink, because it stands up to the spices and makes the drink extraordinary.

I think Mjx is here per the OP: Thanks. I need better glasses :-)

Homemade elderflower cordial, how cool. I can't help it but the Monty Pythons come to mind whenever I hear about elderberries. Did you say what part of Denmark you are in? I had a chance to visit Copenhagen last year and had a great time.

The glasses were a fantastic gift from a friend. You see them on eBay occasionally.

Quick trip report from Santa Barbara where I spent a few days last week. Part 1 - Hungry Cat We had dinner the first night at Hungry Cat. I've been wanting to try that restaurant for a while now, being a fan of aoc/lucques in LA. This was a more casual setting (as expected). The drinks were nice, but not exactly spirit-forward as Dave already pointed out upthread. Nothing bad, but not great either. I had the Pimlico (described on the menu as: early times whisky, lime & orange juice, fresh mint). It tasted like a mojito and I would not have been able to tell that this was whisky. Our young daughter was with us and they didn't offer any special menu options for kids, so we had to order a $16 burger for her, which was slightly annoying - she ended up eating only a very small portion of it and we had to slice it in half because it was way too thick for her. We shared a plate of fried oysters for our appetizer (I believe it was $15 for 3 oysters.... the menu did not specify the number of oysters so this came as a surprise), then I had the clams with chorizo and kale, and my husband had the local king salmon with faro. We ended our meal with the chocolate bread pudding which I did not really care for. Overall, the food was good, a little pricey for what it was, but nicely prepared. Small portions too - I am not a big eater but I would have been happy to see a few more clams on my plate. King salmon Clams with chorizo.

I tried the Sumatra Kula last night, an early creation from Don the Beachcomber that is documented in Sippin' Safari. It combines white rum with orange (blood orange - my modification), lime, and grapefruit juices, and honey syrup as the sweetener. It is not Don's most memorable work - it does not help that his master piece, the Zombie, was created around the same time - but it was what I was looking for, something fresh highlighting the grapefruit, with the honey providing additional interest. Surprisingly subtle for a Don the Beachcomber creation.

On the thread about honey in mixed drinks, I discussed the Brooklynite, a daiquiri with dark rum, honey syrup, and Angostura bitters. Another daiquiri variation that I tried last week for the first time is the Daiquiri no. 2. It's a classic daiquiri (white rum, lime juice, simple syrup) with a barspoon each of orange juice and curaçao. I broke open my new bottle of Pierre Ferrand dry curaçao for the occasion. Compared to Cointreau, it is drier and has a more complex aroma (heavy on the peel) - really nice. I can't wait to use it in a Mai Tai. I am not a huge fan of orange juice in cocktails and like blood oranges much better, so that's what I used. To me, they have a berry flavor that comes out in the finish and is very pleasant. Plus I love the color.