FrogPrincesse

I went to my favorite local Japanese restaurant for lunch and noticed they had "yuzu wine" on the menu, so I decided to have a glass in order to have a frame of reference for my experiments. I was pleasantly surprised. The taste of fresh yuzu dominated, it was slightly sweet but not overly so, and was fairly low in alcohol. They served it on the rocks and it was really nice with my lunch.

I was going through Fred Yarm's list of top cocktails of 2016 and this one caught my eye. It's his adaptation of the Benediction from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars. Benediction (as adapted by Frederic Yarm) with Pierre Ferrand 1840 cognac, Dolin dry vermouth, Benedictine, Picon, Maraschino liqueur. I thought for a second of using Bigallet China-China but went with Picon as was specified (although mine is Picon Biere, not Amer Picon). The cocktail wasn't too sweet as I was fearing initially with the Picon & cognac combo. Nice harmony between the cognac and the dry vermouth, lots of grape notes, some bitter orange and body from the Picon, sweetness from the maraschino, and the Benedictine in the background tying everything together. Very successful!

I live in SD and frequently go out, but haven't seen any impact so far. Probably it's just included in the price at most restaurants, not as a separate item.

TJ's has these long-stemmed Italian artichokes right now that are absolutely amazing. I can't say enough good things about them. Also they have their ginger brew right now (a seasonal item). It's non alcoholic with a very nice kick of ginger. It tastes like homemade ginger ale. Great on its own or in cocktails. Lastly, Batiste rhum agricole from Marie Galante for $20!!!

@kaybOh, and you should really get a bottle of Campari. This will open a bunch of new options (Negroni, Boulevardier, Americano, etc) and is an excellent way to start exploring the world of amari/bitter liqueurs.

@kaybYou already have a good foundation. I would recommend maybe "upgrading" the triple sec to Cointreau, and the brandy to Cognac (the Pierre Ferrand 1840 that @JoNorvelleWalkerrecommended is great for mixing), and then you'll be able to make Sidecars for example. Switch the cognac to your dark rum and you have another nice cocktail, the XYZ. If you like Manhattans, maybe you could get a bottle of rye whiskey for another upgrade. I would also grab a bottle of maraschino liqueur so you can make a Hemingway Daiquiri with your white rum, or a Martinez with the gin you are planning on getting. You can also use it in an Old Fashioned instead of the sugar cube or simple syrup, it's rather delicious. I imagine you already have Angostura bitters since you already make Old Fashioneds and Manhattans. Do you have orange bitters? They are another bar essential. I would also really recommend an app like Bartender's Choice that has a lot of simple classic cocktails that can be made without "exotic" ingredients. You can look for a drink that seems appealing and slowly build your bar from there.

It was me. I've been linking eGullet on most of the 800+ notes I've left on EYB... And I am pretty sure you can still post links there.

I used a 9" ceramic tart pan (like this one). For the crust, I used @David Lebovitz's recipe because it's my go-to recipe. I baked it blind with parchment paper & pie weights first (or rather, some rice that I use for that purpose), then without the paper. Finally I added the filling and followed the directions from the recipe I linked. I like it at room temperature, and I think it gets slightly better the next day for some reason!

Did you see the following discussion on eGullet? There are a lot of suggestions that may be helpful to you, including a critique of the selections from the 12 Bottle Bar book.

Trader Joe's is currently stocking rhum agricole!!! They received it a couple of weeks ago. I immediately grabbed a couple of bottles. It's Batiste 2015 Ecoiste which is unaged, made in Marie Galante and finished (distilled in a Japanese vacuum still) in Sonoma County, of all places. It's a bit light, only 40%, and makes a very pleasant 10:3:2 Daiquiri. It feels like a good deal at $20 a bottle.

I have! This year I used Plantation 5 for the rum. Next time I want to use an aged agricole.

It's sweet, it's cloying, and can destroy any drink if used in too generous an amount which for me is about a barspoon. I love the flavor of pomegranate, but rarely in drinks. It doesn't help that I was once served a punch where the "sweet" component consisted entirely of grenadine. It was homemade grenadine but I am still recovering from the experience...

I love it when aquavit goes tiki, and adds a strong note of spice a bit like allspice liqueur does. It's the case in Daniel Warrilow's Lost Cause, and also in this drink that I tried last night. I also love it when completely improbable combinations give rise to something nice and different! Here the drink plays on the common aromas of banana and caraway. The Danish Fly (Nick Detrich) with Krogstad aquavit, Giffard banane du Bresil, lemon juice, grenadine (amount reduced to 1 barspoon because grenadine terrifies me).

Thank you! You do have to try this recipe! I've been making it for years now because I love it so much. He doesn't post on the website anymore but wrote a couple of books!

Because my family has a few chocolate addicts, I also made a chocolate dessert for Christmas - individual soft chocolate cakes. They can be made in advance, and reheated in the microwave for 30 seconds for a molten center, and served with whipped cream. Always a hit... The original recipe calls for baking them in ramekins. I find it easier to use a muffin pan so I don't have to worry about them potentially sticking.

For Christmas dinner, I was asked to bring a dessert with no further direction. So I decided to make one of my favorite pies which is a ginger pie with a touch of rum. I love the little crispy crust that forms on top, and the leftovers are always great the next morning.

Great looking galette, @Franci! Lots of baking in this holiday season. Last week my daughter was in the mood for apple pie. Luckily I had a bunch of apples in the fridge (Granny Smith and a pink variety, probably Pink Lady). Still I was a bit short of the 3.5 lbs I needed for the recipe, so I used an Asian pear for the remainder. I went with Jeffrey Steingarten's recipe for the filling (no cinnamon, just a bit of vanilla extract for flavoring), and David Lebovitz for the pie dough. It was great but I need to invest in a proper pie pan - the pan I used has straight edges and makes it difficult to extract a perfect slice. I had it with crème fraiche as we often do with apple tarts in France.

The recipe says to taste it regularly to decide when to remove the peel, so I did this morning. The yuzu flavor is already well pronounced but I am going to leave it for another day or two (it's been 5 days). I didn't put any sugar in yet. This is fun! Another project might be to try to source the plums for umeshu!

Beets greens have the same type of flavor as sorrel with their high oxalic acid content, although a bit more earthy. Borscht being beet-based, it would make sense to use that. So look for beets with the greens still on!

I will let you know in a year or so if it is as good as it looks!

Inspired by Louis Anderman (owner of Miracle Mile bitters)... and because I had found yuzus to make marmalade, I decided to try my hand at yuzushu, the Japanese yuzu liqueur. So a few days ago I separated the segments from the skin, cleaned everything to remove as much pith as I could, and started macerating everything in vodka (gin sounded lovely but, surprisingly, I didn't have enough on hand). I found this recipe that I am following loosely. Yuzus resemble mandarins except for their color which is yellow, and they are quite easy to peel. Their flesh is not very juicy and is typically very full of seeds. Their skin is intensely aromatic.

Hi @quiet1, thanks for the update, and sorry to hear about your health issues. The recipient of the gifts is one lucky person, and I am sure he will enjoy them! I never heard about The Little Black Bar Book, can you tell us more? Or were you referring to Morgenthaler's Bar Book maybe? Simple syrup isn't hard to make at all, even when you are under the weather. I just made a batch which took less than a minute. I scooped half a cup of sugar into a container (using a small funnel), and added half a cup of filtered water (you can do this by weight if you prefer). I closed the container and shook for a few seconds. I let it rest while I was preparing my cocktail, and shook it again a couple of times. Done, and no need to heat the syrup. There is no reason to ever buy simple syrup at the store! Lastly, if you liked the spoon from Standard Spoon, the same people came up with a very cool looking mixing glass and muddler that are available for pre-order here. I am tempted!

California cherries in December?! That sounds a bit... puzzling.

You know, I went back and forth on that. I didn't have much space on the table so I ended up only showing one of each. But maybe I could have displayed 2 or 3 or each kind? That might have required some type of vertical storage/shelves though, as the table was already a bit crowded...

You are very welcome, Nancy! Here are more pictures of the booth that I took before the beginning of the market. I wasn't too worried about someone casually walking away with my copper pot, as it's rather heavy and bulky (and I didn't leave my booth). We had one little girl try to run away with one of the bracelets my daughter was selling, but her mom caught her and made sure to pay for it.