haresfur

This is worth it if only for the colour. You could also try tequila as a variation on Tequila por Mi Amante. Or almost any other spirit...

My other social media is all atwitter, so to speak, about Tim-Tams showing up on grocery shelves in the USA at Target, Wallmart, Kroger, etc. What flavours are you finding? I tend to be a purist and prefer the originals, although really like the special offering "Virgin Espresso Martini" (wouldn't that be coffee flavour?-) and have been buying them up on sale before they disappear.

That should work and be more efficient than trying to maintain the temperature of the whole mash tun ETA: you probably would want to monitor the temperature in the mash, though.

I get all the rosemary I need from my potted plant (Soon to be put in the ground, I think), but there is an unlimited supply in the hedges the city maintains in town. BTW Gardening Australia showed an awesome bay hedge. Must have taken a long time to establish and I don't think I would have squared it off because the cut leaves look a bit strange.

I routinely substitute fruit syrups for fruit liqueurs in cocktails. Mainly a cost consideration and I wouldn't think it was worthy of a cute variation on the name. As with any substitution, some tweaking may be needed. ETA: "Those of you that insist on making this drink wrong with vodka should think up your own bloody name for it."

Perhaps not the most imaginative drink to have with sticky date pudding but an Old Fashioned with Corner Creek Bourbon, date syrup, and Fees whiskey barrel bitters hit the spot.

Vegemite is my secret weapon. Another good one is to put tomato paste in a glass jar, add baking soda, then pressure cook a la Modernist Cuisine ketchup. I would add vinegar and refrigerate or freeze to preserve.

The haul from my US trip. The Corner Creek and Dry Fly whiskey were presents (I have great friends). The Northern Harvest Rye was from Costco because I was curious, it was not expensive, and it's distilled in Gimli Manitoba (waves flag). The rest were from Cask that we stumbled across in San Francisco after deciding not to spend an outrageous amount of money on opening day seats for the Giants (I think this will be a better value).

Where I live, tomatoes don't go in until Melbourne Cup Day

How to recognize a good cocktail bar: when you ask for shots of Fernet and the bartenders join you. But the highlight was my Tyrone with scotch, banana liqueur, egg white, something else that I forget (my photo of the menu didn't turn out) and stout garnished with nutmeg. A flip for people who would freak at egg yolk. For my second drink, I asked for something with Smith and Cross and got a tiki-esque drink with a nice punch that they were working on. I think I'm slowly converting my wine-drinking cousin and her boyfriend. All this and more could be yours at Quarter and Glory in Washington DC. New enough that they don't serve food yet. They are off to a great start.

Wow this forum is dead. Are you people starving to death? I'll be in Seattle area for a few days at the end of the month. It's been a while so where should I go for good cocktails? What about not too outrageously expensive food? Thanks.

I re-purposed an unglazed terracotta pot I made for Romertopf style oven cooking as a stovetop bean pot. The black beans cooked with onion, garlic, a little cumin and salt turned out great. The pot didn't suffer any thermal shock issues on the gas stove with no diffuser. I can't remember for sure but I think I fired the pot to cone 06 since I wanted to balance porosity and strength.

I deconstructed a belted galloway shoulder roast (I think shoulder - the poor thing had been through the wringer. My beef dude had told me that it should be roasted slow because of some tough tissue through the middle. Luckily he vac packed it because it went through refrigerator death, resurrection, and redeath then sat in my lab fridge at work (shh) until I got a replacement and then it sat at home for a while until I got around to cooking it). I cut out fat and anything that didn't look like meat, kind of unwinding it into a couple of thin pieces and a thicker one then into the sous vide at 58 C for about 2 hours. The thin pieces went into a stir fry and the thicker into the freezer. Nice cut. meaty but not too meaty and soft but not mushy. Maybe I'll turn the remaining bit into an odd-shaped beef wellington.

My DB will never again wrap a bamboo steamer up in plastic to keep 6 legged critters out after cleaning and seemingly drying (I hope). However we may have discovered new media for culturing fungi.

So you don't want to try something like these?

Went to The Dispensary here in Bendigo for an ok aviation. I would have cut way back on the Violette and bumped the lemon. Didn't recognise the Violette brand and forget what the bartender said, but she did say they could get a bottle for me. I told her that I might as well have them keep making the drinks, given how long it would take me to go through a bottle. The steamed soft shell crab buns more than made up form my fussiness regarding the drink.

Nice tray!

I planned blueberry waffles for breakfast, even though it turned out the berries were insanely expensive. Funny thing though, my DB is the master waffle-maker

There's a Cibo Matto song, White Pepper Ice Cream. I love the song so the ice cream must be good.

I'm a latecomer to being able to stand mashed potatoes. Baking instead of boiling is a new one on me. I thought one of the reasons to start boiling with cold water was to promote enzyme reactions and I wonder if this occurs in the baking. I usually boil a waxy variety with the skin on, drain and let dry as they cool some, then rice leaving the skin behind, and gently fold in sour cream. Butter - yuck.

I don't mind experimenting. It will certainly be drinkable if your substitution is close. If it is really different, you may find an even better drink. And in between, you will learn how to adjust amounts to get a balance you like.

Nothing too bopping. I chopped the end of my finger off while listening to the English Beat and prepping.

Death of the Fridge Campari over very soft lemon gellato.

I don't do the chill in my Search for the Perfect Parma. A sear in really hot rice bran oil seems to crisp the breading just fine without cooking the chicken further. Since I do the chicken at a 58 C, There is quite a bit of room for the surface to firm up a bit anyway.

I confess that I can't really tell the difference when I use Fees Barrel aged bitters instead of the equivalent non-barrel aged ones, so I'm a skeptic about the whole idea.