haresfur

That's half the fun in them - when you are a kid... or when you give them to your friends' kids.

Just sayin' a tiny piece of star anise is a great addition to chicken-noodle soup (I used roast turkey/raw chicken frames to make the stock).

That is indeed a great tip and one I will try to remember.I wonder if you could use this idea to help keep liqueur bottle caps from freezing up with sugar.

There is also a long tradition of borrowing from pop culture. I named a ginger wine cocktail after an Indie group, the Ginger Envelope, hoping they find it sometime when googling their name. This could have a negative effect of making your cocktail appear dated but doesn't a Bee's Knees or a Mary Pickford sound dreamy?

Right, I tried a reposado first and thought a blanco would probably fit better, even though I usually prefer reposado. Anyway, it's a winner.

Been playing with the Nolita from Christian Siglin via Kindred Cocktails Ingredients 1 oz Gin, Beefeater 1 oz Campari 1⁄2 oz Coffee liqueur, Cafe Lolita 1⁄2 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula 1 ds Bitters 1 twst Lemon zest I used Cinzano instead of CAF and Tia Maria instead of Cafe Lolita. EMP liked it quite a bit but we found it a bit more to our taste by dialing down the Campari a bit and the Tia Maria up a bit. Used Scrappy's chocolate bitters (the only use I've found for them). But my favourite was doing that and substituting silver tequila for the gin, turning it into a sort of Brave Bull variation.

A timely topic because a couple of days ago I was thinking that I really should try a Manhattan again. Nope, still don't like it. I suppose it could be my lack of skill, but not even close to seeing the appeal. Maybe I should go to a snobby bar, order something with vodka and when they refuse have them make me a Manhattan, "...and if you don't like it I'll make you something else"

I've become fond of a 3:2:1 margarita with 1/2 bianco and 1/2 reposado tequila. Cointreau of course.

I'm not dismissing new drinks, just that a foundation in the classics can be valuable on both sides of the bar.

There is a corollary that we would be better off if the drinking public spent more time learning about, drinking, and appreciating the classic cocktails. If nothing else it would give bar tenders practice making them and consumers who would know when the new drinks just don't stack up.

I agree that your destination is important. When I moved to Australia I brought far too much stuff, but once I decided on a shipping container, it was hardly more money to get a bigger one ... You may consider how much it would cost to replace the things you really want. But I'm not sure if you have a question or just musing. So unsolicited advise: Take along the things that make you smile. If that's a special Dutch Oven, that's reason enough. And if you are going to curse every time you try to cook without some particular tool, then it's worth the effort to try and take along if possible. But yeah, I really wish I'd thrown in a couple of cases of Mason jars...

I've been meaning to ask for a while and was motivated by the recreating drinks discussion. There are a few posts around about cocktails that use marmalade, like the recent one, and the classic Omar Bradley. What do you think is the best way to incorporate marmalade into a cocktail? Is there any way to permanently de-gel it? It is a pain to dissolve in cold water and one post suggests boiling water but that would require extra chilling or extra time. Straining out the dregs isn't pleasant either. I admit that at home I just ignore the dregs in the bottom of a glass.

I generally prefer Cinzano to M&R. I confess to not spending a lot of effort to search out anything fancier, here in the bush.

My parents used to make cheese souffle now and then. They did it in a casserole dish rather than individual servings and a good one rose, oh, an inch or inch and a half above the dish. They would noticeably deflate on serving but were still fluffy and slightly moist. Tasted like eggs and cheese:). I'm not sure I see any advantage to it rising too far above the dish, except maybe theatrics. ETA: I have a 2 person version of their recipe, if you care. Probably not too different from what you can find in general cookbooks. I mean, I think it has actual quantities listed.

So, if anyone is interested in more detail, a well formulated glaze will put the clay under a little compression. This will make the pot stronger. If the glaze shrinks a lot more than the clay upon cooling, it will craze - i.e. get cracks in the glaze. Crazing can cause 2 main problems in cooking ware. First, for an earthenware clay the clay is still very porous after firing. Liquid can get into the clay and when it turns to steam it can further damage the glaze or because it is trapped to some degree under the glaze break the pot. Stoneware is fired to a high enough temperature that you won't get water absorption. The second problem is that you can get food seeping into the cracks and that could harbour bacteria. Personally I don't think that's a great problem but some people worry about it. So there is a big difference if you are talking about earthenware like they use mostly in central/south america and the middle east or stoneware. I do own high-fire stoneware au gratin dishes that have survived some broiler use (I think - not my usual cooking). I haven't heard of older stoneware building up stress over time then failing spectacularly like, say, pyrex. And stay away from the lead glazes. Even though a well designed one won't leach much, it's impossible to know without testing and besides it usually isn't healthy for the potters.

The answer is that it depends on the clay.(and the glaze). Because of the different thermal properties between the clay and glaze it could be more subject to thermal shock. If it is not specifically formulated for it, I would not use it under the broiler. As far as the first question goes, it would be safer to put it in a cold over, I usually put mine in a hot over, but it's a gamble.

I can see this - like some of us might need bigger glasses than our petite friends. Certainly the glass can affect your enjoyment. I just happen to like red wine from a beautiful hand made coffee mug.

My mule arrived successfully from the US. Barbancourt 5* rum, 40 Creek barrel select Canadian whiskey, Four Roses single barrel bourbon, and 1800 reposado tequilla. That should keep me sipping for a while. Haven't broken into them yet - I'm on a mission to hook my niece and boyfriend on Campari - I think it will serve her well in life.

I had a nice meal at Jackson Filmore.

In the abstract, I'm kind of liking the idea of an optional service charge that goes to the management. If your service is sub par, they are the ones that should know, should be able to make improvements, and should take the financial hit if they don't provide a suitable experience. Much better than leaving some amount on the table so not even the servers know if you are dissatisfied or just cheap. ... assuming servers earn a living wage of course...

It's a bit tricky to do the comparison. I believe that, here in Australia, restaurant prices are higher than in the US and particularly for low-moderately priced meals are higher even when you factor in a tip. But then prices for groceries and everything else are higher, too. So I'm not sure how much of the difference is due to wages and how much due to other factors. I have noticed that there seem to be better lunch prices in Melbourne than in my small regional city. Perhaps that's the competition or that they can make up fixed costs on volume. I don't eat out as often, but I'm also earning less than when I had a job in the US.

Yes, I emailed them with a few questions about the unit and their answer included that "the unit should not be used more then 2/3 days per week". I interpreted that as low quality building and went with another unit. I interpret it as a way of discouraging people who are going to beat the snot out of the unit or think about using it commercially. Probably no different from any other home appliance. I mean they aren't going to know how often you use it, eh?

IMO American tipping culture is similar to American gun culture - it is unlikely that anyone is going to do anything significant to change it. Ok, on second thought that isn't quite true - I'm baffled by the increase in 'standard' tip over the last decade or so from 15 to 20%.

!!! I can't even imagine what this tastes like. Do tell!

I've done pretty much that, substituting orgeat for simple in an old fashioned. Yours looks nicer than building over ice.