FrogPrincesse

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...

Regarding Wolfgang Puck, I don't know if it's that obvious. Last time I ate at Chinois was still quite a special experience for me. Of course, if you are referring to his Wolfgang Puck Express chain, that's a different matter altogether... So we may need to differentiate between flagship restaurants and downscale spinoffs.

Hi Dan. Thanks for the suggestion. You brought up this cocktail a few times so it was already on my radar screen. So far I was reluctant to try it for the reasons explained before, but I think it's time to give it a try now (well, I mean tonight!). I have a bottle of Smith & Cross that I haven't used yet and just by smelling it I can tell how it could pair well with the Campari. I have some homemade orgeat so I am all good to go. It looks like a good transitional drink to classic tiki concoctions which I have been itching to mix again with the nice weather here. Some cocktails using aged/very smooth rums in combination with Campari seem like a waste of good rum to me, because you can't really taste the subtlety of the rum anymore. I have ruined really good aged rums that way including some special rhum agricoles (I am thinking of a bad experience with the Right Hand cocktail for example)... However, with more assertive rums such as the black strap (or S & C) this is no longer an issue. So it's just a matter of finding the appropriate rum for these drinks I guess. Sam Ross mixed quite a few Right Hands the other night at Noble Experiment, but of course I did not have the idea to check what rum he was using.

Thanks!

Beautiful polenta with calamari, SobaAddict! I really like polenta but mine never comes out quite right. What kind of polenta do you use? Tonight i made grilled corvina seabass with spicy lime soy sauce (recipe from Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen), served with sauteed rapini with garlic and chile (recipe from Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques). For the fish, I used a couple of frozen fillets that I marinated for a couple of hours in soy, fish sauce, ginger, chives, lime juice, and peanut oil. Then I cooked them on the grill, basting with the marinade, and added fresh cilantro and lime at the end. The rapini was blanched and sautéed in olive oil with shallots, garlic, thyme, and chile de arbol. Really simple but full of flavor.

The Jungle Bird, as seen on the Noble Experiment thread: Cruzan black strap rum, Campari, pineapple juice, lime juice, simple syrup. With the black strap rum, it becomes slightly sweet and very aromatic - quite dangerous! Much better than the original in my opinion.

Since November I only got two new books: Cooking By Hand by Paul Bertolli (I made the tesa and the ragù alla bolognese so far, both terrific) The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan and Chris Gall, which is getting plenty of use as seen on the PDT thread!

For him, the Newark: applejack (I had to substitute calvados), Vya sweet vermouth, fernet-branca, maraschino. It is relative of the Red Hook, with an extra long finish and more funk, both courtesy of the fernet. Applejack as specified in the original recipe would probably work better than the calvados which is a little subdued and hardly noticeable as the base spirit.

A Cin Cyn with dry instead of sweet vermouth, the Berlioni. The recipe specified Tanqueray but I substituted Junipero. It's very reminiscent of the Negroni, which I love.

Darienne, I rarely eat frozen yoghurt, but David Lebovitz's strawberry frozen yoghurt recipe from The Perfect Scoop is wonderful. It's also very simple. The flavor of the fruit is enhanced by macerating it with sugar (and kirsch) for a few hours before making the ice cream. I use greek yoghurt form Trader Joe's.

For him, the Gold Rush (created at Milk & Honey): Elijah Craig 12-year bourbon, honey syrup, lemon juice Quite simple but the honey and lemon extract a lot of flavor out of the bourbon, including some interesting orange notes.

The Leapfrog: Plymouth gin, lemon, simple syrup, R&W apricot liqueur, orange bitters, mint. It tastes like a delicious variation on the Southside. The apricot liqueur and orange bitters add a nice touch.

Here are a few restaurants that I have discovered recently. I've been only once so I cannot comment on consistency, but I will definitely be back based on my first experience. The Lion's Share (downtown/Marina district) Beautiful craft cocktails on par with Noble Experiment, great charcuterie board including house-made terrine, perfectly cooked quail stuffed with dates and served with Puy lentils, excellent tagliatelle buffalo Bolognese with marrow. Here are the cocktails that we sampled at the Lion's Share. Federal Buffalo Stamp (left): Buffalo Trace bourbon, lemon, ginger root, maple syrup Monks Gone Wild (right): Strawberry-infused Pimm's, green Chartreuse, lemon, ginger beer Cyn City: Plymouth gin, Cynar, lemon juice, egg white, lemon peel, sugar rim The Smoking Goat (North Park) It’s a tiny restaurant but they are currently expanding. My favorite dishes were the roasted bone marrow, and the duck breast with aligot and braised red cabbage served with a huckleberry gastrique sauce. Kensington Grill (North Park) Cucina Urbana’s little sister. The menu seems a little more limited than Cucina Urbana, but they still offer a good selection and interesting cocktails. The “hog bar” is fun for a sampling of pork items. I would avoid the “local farm greens” salad; for $9 it was really nothing special. Beaumont’s Eatery (Birdrock) I was pleasantly surprised by this place. The “Korean” duck confit tacos were delicious, and so was the grilled salad with romaine and radicchio. Phuong Trang (Convoy) Excellent Vietnamese food. I really liked the fried salted shrimp and the rice-paper wraps with char-grilled pork. Pho Convoy Noodle House (Convoy) Really good pho. We have been going to Pho T Cali on Clairemont Mesa Blvd for years, but I thought this was better. I always get the pho with everything (rare steak, flank, fatty brisket, tendon and tripe). We noticed their extensive selection of smoothies (which includes soursop, jackfruit, and durian!) but we did not get a chance to try them.