FrogPrincesse

Tonight I tried Phil Ward's Cornwall Negroni. I built it on ice because somehow it did not feel right to serve a Negroni up. The Negroni is a cocktail that I enjoy seeing evolve as the ice melts. It is very good, but not that different from a regular Negroni, despite an increased amount of gin. I am still trying to figure out the origin of the name. Does anybody know?

Champs Elysées variation from Zig Zag Cafe. The cocktail was a little sweet and unidimensional. My husband detected "sour apple" notes which is not a good thing; we are usually Chartreuse fans. I see that the original recipe from the Savoy cocktail book uses a lot more lemon juice, so I may have to give it another try.

Shaken, but it makes much more sense to me to build it directly in the glass, similar to a Negroni.

Thanks! The Bensonhurst was not a hit initially because at first it tasted like a dry Manhattan with a syrupy quality contributed by the maraschino. I had it side by side with another Brooklyn variation that we liked immediately, the Bushwick, and the Bensonhurst seemed quite sweet in comparison. For a moment I thought that maybe I had forgotten the Cynar, so I took a sip from my measuring cup to confirm that it had been included. The Cynar is there, but mostly at the end, and gives a nice herbal finish to the drink (which my husband did not care for, but he is not a Cynar fan by any means). It the end this cocktail really grew on me. It is quite subtle and intriguing, not what I expected based on its description as a “tough-guy drink”. I entered it in my notebook so I will be making it again. I saw two versions of it online. The one I tried was actually the second one. Oh Gosh! version 2 oz rye, 1 oz dry vermouth, 1/3 oz maraschino, 1 barspoon Cynar (~ 1/6 oz) Diffords version 2 oz rye, 1 oz dry vermouth, 1/4 oz maraschino, 1/8 oz Cynar For references purposes, here is my go-to Brooklyn recipe (from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails) 2 oz rye, 3/4 oz dry vermouth, 2 tsp (~1/3 oz) maraschino, 2 tsp (~1/3 oz) Amer Picon The version from Oh Gosh! contains more maraschino and Cynar compared to the version I tried last night, so it's possible that the Cynar is more noticeable with these ratios. I would be tempted to try it again with the Brooklyn ratios, just substituting the Cynar for the Amer Picon.

Seafood risotto

A Brooklyn variation with Cynar, from Chad Solomon: The Bensonhurst. Rye, dry vemouth, maraschino, and Cynar.

A very nice Brooklyn variation: The Bushwick with rye, sweet vermouth, amer picon, and maraschino liqueur, a Phil Ward creation.

Onion Soup Les Halles In my experience, browning the onions takes longer than specified in the recipe (about 45 min vs. 20 min). I was a little short on the chicken stock so I added some demi-glace. The bacon was home-cured fresh bacon. I love this recipe! It was just for the two of us but I made a full-scale batch and froze the leftovers into single portions for later use... Before going in the oven: After:

Tonight I made a Southside with Bols genever. I used the recipe from Joy of Mixology with minor modifications: 1 lemon cut into 4 wedges 2 teaspoons sugar 6 mint leaves 2.5 oz genever Muddle lemon wedges, sugar, and mint. Add genever and ice, shake, double strain.

Just a note that there is no orange juice in the Cin Cyn recipe in the Babbo cookbook. The rest of the recipe is identical to what you entered in the Kindred Cocktails database, with the gin specified as Junipero.

I have a bottle of Bols genever that has been languishing in the liquor cabinet and I am looking for new ideas apart from the occasional John Collins. This one is the Dutch Courage that I made tonight with a couple of tangerines and a cara cara orange. 1.5 oz Bols genever 2.5 oz tangerine and cara cara orange juice (the original recipe called for Satsuma) scant 0.5 oz Cointreau orange bitters (Regan's and Angostura)

A savory cannoli.... Wow! I want one. Tonight, a simple one-pot dish. Baby broccoli from my CSA tossed with olive oil and pressed garlic, baked together with a couple of rockcod fillets wrapped in homemade tesa/pancetta. Lemon halves are baked in the same dish and used to season the fish before serving. Really nice and so simple (based on a recipe in Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef Takes Off).

The Cin Cyn from Babbo: 2 oz gin (Junipero), 1/2 oz sweet vermouth (recipe specifies Cinzano, I used Carpano Antica), 1/2 oz Cynar, orange bitters (I used Regan and Angostura), orange twist. Very similar to a Negroni, although sans Campari.

The Brooklyn from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh. Still one of my favorite drinks.

I love beets and found a bunch of huge golden beets at Bristol Farms last week. So I made bruschetta with roasted beets and parmigiano (a simple recipe from Babbo). The beets were roasted for about an hour and a half in a 400F oven. They were peeled, cooed to room temperature, then diced and seasoned with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, chives, and fennel seeds (the original recipe calls for caraway). The beets are arranged on a toasted slice of rustic bread (I used country levain bread from Bread and Cie, a local bakery), then topped with shaved parmigiano (I started grating the cheese with a microplane, didn't like the look, and finished with a knife to cut thin slices of cheese - much better). A little messy to eat but absolutely delicious!

Jeff Morgenthaler from Clyde Common was kind enough to share the ratios, so here is the Nasturtium. 2 oz Dolin blanc 1 oz Canton ginger liqueur 1/2 oz Bonal gentiane-quina lemon twist A beautiful drink which makes a very nice aperitif.

Australian barramundi with winter vegetables bagna cauda and toasted breadcrumbs I used baqueta which is a type of grouper/seabass. Snapper and halibut are also suggested for this recipe. Like other fish recipes in the book, it is one of the easier/faster recipes. The fish is seasoned in advance with lemon zest, thyme, and parsley. Breadcrumbs (I used panko) are toasted in the oven with olive oil and then mixed with the parsley. The vegetables (I used green beans and Romanesco broccoli) are blanched. She makes a bagna cauda with olive oil, butter, anchivies, chilies, garlic, and thyme. The vegetables are sautéed with a portion of the bagna cauda. To plate she places the vegetables first, then the fish, a squeeze of lemon juice, the rest of the bagna cauda, and the toasted breadcrumbs with the parsley. I really enjoyed this simple preparation for fish. Full recipe here on google books.

I am also looking for good books on that topic. I am looking into several references and was wondering if there were some that were especially recommended. Ideally, I would like an identification guide for edible plants in California with lots of pictures/drawings (I am only moderately interested in mushrooms, more interested in wild greens or berries) and a few preparation ideas (not necessarily detailed recipes, but best practices on usage). Here are the ones on my list currently, but I would like to narrow it down to 2 or 3: Stalking The Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons (already mentioned) Nature's Garden by Samuel Thayer (recommended in Hank Shaw's post on foraging books) Edible and Useful Plants of California by Charlotte Bringle Clarke (also recommended by Hank Shaw) Pacific Feast by Jennifer Hahn - I am intrigued by this one since I live on the coast and it covers sea vegetables The Wild Table by Connie Green (seems interesting but about half of the book is about mushrooms based on the TOC) Hunt, Gather, Cook by Hank Shaw ScottyBoy - if you are reading this, what did you end up buying?

Very cool foodblog! That last meal was quite epic. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.

Regarding Amer Picon drinks, the Brooklyn is a favorite and in my regular rotation. Last week I tried a cocktail which is similar to the Brooklyn but with sweet vermouth instead of the dry, no maraschino liqueur, and different ratios, from Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: The Liberal I did not have the 100-proof Wild Turkey which is specified in the book and used Woodford bourbon instead. It was really good drink, definitely in the same league as the Brooklyn.

Tonight I made the Gilliland from Anfora for my husband. It is like a simplified version of the Bonal and Rye without the Cointreau or Angostura bitters. 2 oz Rittenhouse rye 1 oz Bonal 2 dashes orange bitters (I used Regan and Angostura orange bitters) brandied cherry It was not bad but we decided that we liked the Bonal & Rye better (a little more balanced/less intense).

Tonight I tried Little Branch's Mercy, Mercy. 2 oz gin (I used Junipero) 1/2 oz Aperol 1/2 oz Lillet (I used Cocchi Americano as I've seen several variants of this drink using Cocchi). A very nice Negroni variation. I might have to try it again with Lillet instead of Cocchi to see which version I like the best.

You are welcome. The Reed avocado is a common variety here in San Diego (that actually originated in Carlsbad). The variety you were describing seems very similar. I agree with you that this type of avocado does not do as well in the fridge, compared to Haas avocados for example. Once ripe, they need to be eaten fairly quickly! I handle avocados the same way other people have described upthread: I let them ripen at room temperature, in a paper bag if I want to speed up the process. Once ripe, we eat them right away or store them for a few days in the frige.

In Panama, our trees were two different varieties: Haas, and one that the Panamanians called "butter avocados." I don't know the generic name of those, but they were larger, and when you cut into them, you had no doubt where they got the name. They were indeed as smooth and rich and buttery as could be imagined and the flesh even had a slightly golden hue. They were considered to be the primo avocados, though, and since we had no fence around our back yard, and it backed right up to the jungle, that tree often had a Panamanian or two up in it collecting avocados. Those avocados did hold well in the fridge, but probably not so well as the Haas, which seemed to last forever. That sounds like a Reed avocado. Very large and buttery.

Le Comptoir du Relais should be within walking distance for you. But you should definitely contact them to make sure that they can accommodate your wife's diet.