FrogPrincesse

You could try the Rio Bravo from PDT. It calls for cachaça but rum should work too, and it would be a good drink to showcase your homemade orgeat. 2 oz cachaça 0.75 oz lime juice 0.5 oz orgeat 3 slices peeled ginger orange twist garnish Muddle the ginger and orgeat in a mixing glass, add the other ingredients, shake with ice, strain, add the garnish.

Kim - your stir fry looks wonderful. I went with something very simple tonight: grilled fish Romagna style (recipe from Marcella Hazan), green asparagus. The fish (I used a large snook fillet) was seasoned and marinated for a while in olive oil and thinly sliced fresh rosemary, and coated with breadcrumbs (I used panko). Then I cooked it on the grill, adding a few bay leaves to the charcoal for the aroma, which was subtle but noticeable. I served the fish with green asparagus seasoned with olive oil, balsamic, and fleur de sel.

Continuing to explore ginger cocktails to use my homemade ginger beer. Eva Péron 1 oz fernet-branca 1 oz sweet vermouth 1 oz ginger liqueur 1 oz lime 1 oz ginger beer It's a acquired taste... It grew on me as I was sipping on it, but I've never been a huge fan of Fernet.

Looks like Monaco on the street picture (especially given the number of surveillance cameras!). So I also think that it's Franci.

I looked for a thread on Brooklyn variations but did not find one, so I am posting this on this general Drinks thread. Very tasty Brooklyn variant created by Philip Ward: The Rojo Bianco. 2 oz reposado tequila 1/4 oz white vermouth 1/4 oz maraschino 1/4 oz campari 1 dash angostura bitters It tasted like a slightly spicy Brooklyn. Really nice.

The vegetation with what look like olive trees in the background could indicate Southern California (or Australia, but it's not the right season). But I don't think it's San Diego.

I made him a Red Hook tonight, a cocktail that is on our regular rotation. For me, a Gin Gin Mule with my homemade ginger beer. The spices in the beer (coriander, fennel, celery) gave a nice little twist to the cocktail.

Linguini with shrimp scampi

Personally, I never understood what the big deal was with In-n-Out. There is one down the street from where I live, and I don't think it's anything special. Sure, it's better than McDonalds, but there are better options. And I really don't care for their fries either. Locally we have Burger Lounge which I really like. The grass-fed beef that they use has a great flavor, and they use good quality freshly-baked buns.

I read the sample chapter last night (through ibooks). I will probably end up reading it but I am waiting to read more reviews.

I made my first ginger beer this weekend at a cooking/mixology class. The recipe and process are quite similar to what Jeffrey Morgenthaler posted on his blog here. Some differences: we used lavender to infuse the simple syrup. The ginger juice was rendered using a Vitamix. We also added some spices: coriander, celery, and fennel. The stained mixture was fermented for two days with Champagne yeast. It is now very midly bubbly. I wished we had done one version without the spices because they are a little strong and it would be good to try the ginger beer in its own. I tried it in a Dark and Stormy tonight with black strap rum. The ginger recipe needs some tweaking but seems very promising. I would also like to try a non-fermented ginger beer for comparison purposes to see if it's worth going through all the trouble (it's quite a bit of work for the fermented version).

For the polenta. Why you don't like how your polenta turns out? Everywhere you go they have a different preference for polenta and they like a different variety. Hi Franci, Good to see you on the Dinner thread. The polenta I've been experimenting with is Moretti white polenta. I made a gratin with it and was supposed to cook it "until it is no longer grainy" which never happened, even after an hour on the stove.

Scratching my head...? Haha see! It is an inside joke! Let's just say in this biz I've known many an iconoclastic individual with an axe to grind, many of whom feel like the cucumber thing is sort of played out. Hence take an "acquired taste" gin and add cucumber.... Not saying it wouldn't be good, mind you. Thanks for clarifying. It's true that there are a lot of gin-cucumber drinks. It's just fun to kick it up another notch... I have a feeling that it would work. And I am looking for excuses to use genever.

I forgot to add that, after the Junipero debacle, I rescued the drink by adding a few drops of Serrano extract that a friend made. It managed to counter-balance the juniper and add a nice finish. I only used a couple of drops. Scratching my head...?

Sometimes going in the opposite direction works when picking ingredients. Since you already have an overwhelming amount of cucumber flavor (or aroma) from the cucumber itself, picking a gin with complementary contrasting botanicals might work -- maybe a classic juniper-forward London dry? Until the price went from "too high" to "insulting", Plymouth was my choice for pairing against cucumber. It's funny that you both reacted to my gin choice. I can't say that I disagree with you. I had a little debate with my husband last night on that very subject but I decided to let him have his way... Here is the whole story. I made quite a bit of this cucumber lemonade last Saturday so we had a chance to try it with various gins over the weekend. Initially, I very foolishly reached for a bottle of Junipero, my motivation being that there were only a few ounces left and that I wanted to kill that bottle. Talk about contrast! I love Junipero in some other applications (Negroni, Cin Cyn, etc) but it was absolutely hideous in that drink (definitely not "complementary"!). Then we tried the cucumber lemonade with Tanqueray at our friends' - a great match, perfect balance, really great. Last night I discussed our options with my husband since we did not have Tanqueray and Junipero was out of the question. I was considering Plymouth or Beefeater. He wanted to try it Hendrick's, which got lost a little in the drink due to lack of contrast. It was, of course, much better than the Junipero, but I agree with both of you, not the best match. Next time I would use Plymouth or Beefeater. I was thinking that Bols genever could be also an interesting option with smoky flavors that could add another dimension to the drink, similar to a John Collins.

Grilled rutabaga with bourbon sausage and veal brats, sugar snap peas, mixed greens with homemade green goddess dressing, county leaving bread, honey garlic butter, and a couple of different mustards.

My kind of meal! Beautiful cheese. I can (almost) smell it from here.

Gin sour with cucumber lemonade. More details here on the Drinks thread.

I went to a class this weekend and learned to make a delicious cucumber lemonade that can be used as base for cocktails. Our instructors were local mixologists Lucien Conner and Ian Ward of Snake Oil Cocktail company, who designed the cocktail menu at whisknladle, among other places. The cucumber lemonade (made with cucumber water) is great on its own, but adding a little gin doesn't hurt. It's very fresh/green and tart. I imagine that tequila or white rum would be good too. I used Hendrick's gin for its cucumber notes. This lemonade gives me a lot of new ideas for summer cocktails.

We tried another place that seems very promising: Local Habit (Hillcrest). Their chef is a Louisiana native and they had a crawfish boil this weekend. We ate two platters of this (1.5 lb each): We also had andouille sausage, which had already been devoured by the time the picture was taken, and good local beers. Lastly we had a disappointing experience at Union Kitchen & Tap (Encinitas) for brunch last week. Mediocre food (thick breakfast "flatbread" with greasy toppings, very blend smoked pork sliders with no texture), "craft" cocktail menu full of commercial cocktail mixers... I took a look at other peoples plates when I was leaving the restaurant and they did not look much better than ours. We won't be back any time soon.

Grilled Delmonico steak (with a little bit of goat milk butter), sugar snap peas, and shaved rutabagas with butter and black pepper. It took a bit of time to slice the rutabagas (I used a vegetable peeler) but this was a good way to prepare them (recipe from Food & Wine). I still have two more giant rutabagas from my CSA to use! Not sure what to do with them next. It's a good thing that they keep for a long time.

A Negroni with Junipero gin and Vya vermouth tonight. No orange bitters, the vermouth had plenty of interesting flavors on its own. Bitter and intensely fruity at the same time.

Went to the used bookstore and found these two that had been on my wish list for a while....

Do you like sushi? We tried Sen of Japan about a year ago it was fantastic. It's located in a non-descript strip mall by The Lakes (Westside). It was opened by a former chef of Nobu. The quality is great and it is very creative. We just let the chef pick for us and had a great time. See my review here. Edited to add links

I made the Bittter Mai Tai last night with the ratios from your post. It's a very pretty drink. Regarding the taste, at first, it feels like you are sipping on a Smith & Cross Mai Tai. Then the Campari kicks in - in a big way. A very long bitter grapefruit finish. I really like Campari, but I have to say this was a little much for me. If I ignore the fact that it's a "Mai Tai", it is a tasty drink which reminds me of the Jasmine. At the end though my taste buds were a little saturated with Campari and I could hardly taste the S & C anymore. My husband could not deal with the bitterness of the drink, so I made him a Trader Vic Mai Tai. I had a sip (to make sure that it was right) but I could still taste the grapefruit notes from my cocktail. Not a good idea to have these two cocktails side by side...