haresfur

Yeah, the binding on my MCAH sucks.

I'll go further than Chris - I generally don't mix with Vermouth or related wine-based substances. If I do I will decant part of the bottle into beer bottles and cap them and plan a campaign of drinks to go through the open bottle quickly. Interestingly, I think Dubonnet holds better than sweet vermouth, but I'm not sure why. Aside from some sherry and vermouth, Lillet, Cocci Americano, and maybe some amari may be worth worrying about. I think nothing can degrade Campari or Aperol. Not sure how Pims holds up. In general, any bottle with less than ~3 fingers in the bottom is a good excuse to drink it up and buy a new one. Bottom line: there is a reason we have bars and bartenders. Some things should be left to the high-volume experts.

I knew they didn't like wet feet but I had been following the water schedule suggested for getting them established and probably overdid it since there is pretty solid clay about 30 cm below the surface. I'll cut back on water and hope I don't dry them out too much. I think I'll keep the limes in pots until I figure out if the others survive. The seem to live in the pots, just don't get much in the way of fruit. Thanks.

Obsello

Any suggestions for successful citrus? I so want to grow some but have not been doing very well. I have 2 dwarf limes in pots and have finally got a few limes off one of them. I was thinking of putting it in the ground but... Can't blame my gardening for the near demise of the lemon tree I planted a year or so back. It never looked too happy but then the miniature horses chewed most of the bark off and pulled it completely out of the ground. I planted it in a safer location but fear its days are numbered. I just bought another lemon and a grafted 2-variety mandarin. I dug holes for them put down gypsum to bust apart the clay, filled the holes and made a mound with sandy soil and mini-shit. But the trees don't look at all happy. Leaves are curling upward. Maybe too much fertilizer or too wet? What do I know? Anyway, lovely to hear about your gardening.

Nothing since my controller said, "EEEE". Good thing I checked it before bed so I didn't ruin the ribs.

That looks somewhat similar to something that Murray Stenson made for my DB as her first taste of absinthe. I thought it was gin based and without the bitters float but it was towards the end of the evening. The mint and absinthe worked almost too well together - we probably could have knocked them off until we couldn't stand.

Swap brandy for the Poitin, throw in some fruit and call it sangria. Might be drinkable then.

If I were in that situation I'd wrap the small cap in thick rubberbands and put it in a vise if one was available, being very careful not to distort it. Then take the wide part in gloved hands, curse loudly and twist back and forth. If you don't have a vise, then maybe vise grips or big honkin pipe wrenches.

Strap wrench. Get 2 - one for each half set twist in opposite directions. And heat.

Isn't Pimms a premixed cocktail?

Excuse my ignorance but by batching do you mean having it all pre-mixed and stirred up front or merely having the gin and vermouth mixed and then stirring individual cocktails? Because it doesn't seem to me that the former is a good idea and that the latter would save much effort. I think this would be a good application for a martini pitcher and just mix up a round at a time. Then you could compare a several gins. In that case I'd do a Bombay and something they aren't familiar with. ETA: Welcome to the forum!

Pimento dram and soda is a nice low-test drink. Attempting to jack up the alcohol by adding rum was a mistake.

Kevin Liu's book (see eG discussion here) has a great explanation on why salt is a good idea in sours (it's not really about tasting salt). However, rather than putting the salt in the tin I like a little grind of fancy-pants pink salt on the top of the glass. Just the slightest hint of salt before you taste the tequila then it morphs into a constant taste with the lime bitterness taken out. (btw, I consider this to be a must-have book).

Not a purchase but I friend sent me, according to the custom's declaration, a book and a bottle of cane juice.

Good points above regarding batching and slowing down the consumption - although everyone will want the first drink quickly. I'd suggest something shaken for the show and for the pace. You could shake several together at first and then slow down to singles. Need something accessible to the masses. I thought of French 75 at first, too but that might be a bad idea because everyone will drink them like champagne and get trashed more quickly and won't go well if there is a champagne toast later. I think a knickerbocker would be an interesting choice.

I realise that I break down a chicken quite differently from Thomas Keller's instructions in At Home. Recently I've been doing the whole process with kitchen shears which I find to be quite easy although a bit slower but the basic method is mostly the same with a knife. First I hold the bird up by a leg and start cutting the skin between the thigh and breast. It pretty much comes apart to the point you can cut through the hip joint and remove the leg. I then cut the thigh and drumstick meat apart until I can see the joint and cut through that. Do the same for the other leg. I then cut all the tendons at the end of the drumstick so the meat can relax as it cooks and end up more tender. The shears work well to remove the wings more or less the same way as the legs and to cut off the wing tips for the dog or for stock. I then cut between the back and breast on each side from the tail towards the neck. I never bother cutting out the wish bone. Do you? Then the breast is flipped inside-up and cut lengthwise through the bone into two pieces. I guess you could do 4 if you really wanted smaller pieces. The backs go to the dog or stock, too. The only finicky part is the leg tendons and if it weren't for aesthetics I'd probably just whack off the end of the drumstick. So how do you cut up chicken?

Congratulations on the award. Anyone been to Abla's?

Maybe I'm missing something but it looks like the maximum temperature on the Miele steam combo oven available here is only 225 C in conventional oven mode. That's lower than I would like.

I guess it is comforting that things change slowly in the fish & chip world. My last post is nearly the same as one from a year ago!

Correct. Or if you prefer, tempura with fish batter instead of panko.

I have taken to ripping small holes in the paper when I leave the shop. I'm not sure how to optimise the heat:crispiness ratio, though. We seem to be settling into a routine of 1 butterfish (EMP's preference), 1 hake or snapper, 2 pumpkin cakes (not quite cooked last time), and $2 chips. Malt vinegar, ketchup, and lemon at home.

What's a friand? This reminds me, I have heard that there is edible (maybe not in the treasure category) Indian food at the Giant Koala in Dadswells Bridge. When I stopped there they had just been flooded out and I just grabbed a coke, expressed my sympathy and got out of their way.

Take one for the team, Rotus. We need the report.