haresfur

Don't worry, you'll start craving Campari soon enough, especially if you didn't spit out your first Negroni. I like americanos - leave the gin out of your negroni and top with soda or tonic water. Lemon slice is good. Then mix yourself a martini with a reasonable amount of dry vermouth.

My Dan Murphy's now carries Wild Turkey 100 proof rye for the same price as the bourbon. Not that any spirits are cheap in Australia. I think they started to stock it after I asked - before they just had Jim Beam Rye. I've seen obscenely expensive Rittenhouse on the web. But hey, if you drink good whisky and cognac... I find it interesting that blended Scotch gets more respect than Canadian rye. Aren't they both more or less whiskey cut with neutral spirits? Not that Canadian rye is the same as American 100% rye. I actually like CC, partially because the taste evokes good memories, but I don't drink it very much.

Glad you liked it. Which rye?

My previous encounter with tearing apart my couta to get rid of the bones got me thinking about deconstructed fish & chips. So today I went to the Borough Fish Shop for ingredients. Paid 40 cents extra to get the couta grilled. It's accompanied by an order of potato cakes, and order of pumpkin cake, and a dollar's chips: Some other ingredients including salsa made with an over-ripe mango, tomato, and red onion: My feeble attempt at plating: And for the kid in me: The mango/pumpkin cake was better than the catsup/potato cake, no surprise. The grilled fish was really nice.

Let us know if you figure out any way to make tempeh not taste like tempeh.

I think Canadian rye has it's place. Sazaracs are great with all kinds of spirits and are particularly kind to more subtle flavours (like genever) so I can see using your rye in one.

Hi Randi, Nice bowl & plate. Are they new or vintage & what make? Do you ever get over to Ojai which at least used to be a bit of pottery heaven? The berry sauce looks good but I'm a maple syrup purist.

Let us know what you think of the Stones. Can you do a taste comparison with Canton? I'm not sure what people do with it here but you can get it at any grocery liquor store. There's also a higher alcohol version. Way to sweet to drink on it's own IMO, but I've been having fun mixing with it (note to self: I'm out).

I like to have: Cointreau (side car, margarita) Gran Marnier, Gran Galla, or other brandy based orange (fits better than Cointreau in a lot of rum drinks IMO. sub for Curaco) Campari (americano, negroni and variations) Fernet Branca (straight, in ginger beer, bitter,bitter,bitter,bitter) Stones Ginger Wine (Whisky Mac, ginger envelope - a sidecar subbing the ginger for Cointreau, and a sub for Canton) Sweet vermouth (when I open a new bottle I fill a clean beer bottle and cap it for later use) Green Chartreuse (Widow's kiss - if you can live with the regrets the next day, and a dash of it or Benedictine is good in a Whisky Mac) Benedictine (just because. and it's good for a sweet sip) Pimento Dram (home made) Maraschino (aviation) absinthe (need my sazeracs and variations) Cynar (on my first bottle and just starting to explore it) I have others but those are most useful unless I've forgotten something. Note no dry vermouth. I'm not that big on it but would probably keep a bottle around if it didn't go off so fast. Besides Noily Pratt is insanely expensive here.

Buy them a new oven?

I was gifted some home made lemon liqueur. I'm not sure how it compares to lemoncello - it's quite sweet but has some bitterness from the pith. A nice mix: 1 oz Beefeater Gin 1 oz Campari 1 oz lemon liqueur a couple dashes Regan's orange bitters stir, strain, sip Basically I think you could sub about anything of comparable sweetness to Cinzano into a Negroni and come up with something interesting.

Costco is going to sell a lot of this, so the quality may be somewhat limited by the availability of the best ingredients. My guess would be good value but not the top tier. If you try it, report back.

How about a pizza scroll - roll out a pastry dough, put on a thin layer of tomato sauce, some cheese and maybe some toppings, roll up, cut, and bake. I've seen these for sale (never tried to make them myself) but the cheese ends up crispy, not gooey.

Welcome Sohoskiracer. Sounds like you have a good bottle collection. No Bols Genever? Pity. I love the stuff in spite of the Australian prices. I often to use it in a genever Sazerac. Wonder how the jonge would work in that. What's Desaronno?

Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit (my favorite citrus bump) Bittermens Mole Fee Whiskey Barrel Aged (use where you might use Angostura) Angostura Orange Peychaud's Some sort of lemon or lime bitters for making seltzer and bumping up the citrus without changing the acid/sweetness Boker's to add bitterness And you, haresfur? I just bought some Fee Whiskey Barrel Aged, Bitterman's Xocolatl Mole, and a trial pack of Scrappy's Orange, Chocolate, Grapefruit, and Cardamom bitters. Would have bought some others except for the cost. Making progress, anyway.

Recently I've been happy with Ron Santiago de Cuba, so I guess the answer to your question is political.

Different brand but here is my write-up on mixing with Polish mead. ETA: I see my SanRu hack had raspberry syrup and I can't remember if I used it in the mead variation. Clearly more research is needed, if I ever get some more mead.

Once I get below 1/2 oz I use teaspoon measures or if it is just for me, I usually guess then adjust.

I think that's part of the idea behind ordering a large pizza - larger ratio of area to circumference. Eating habits of many on this board would probably be seen as idiosyncratic by most of the population. Personally, I'm all in favour of idiosyncracies as long as they aren't too onerous on the cooks. My technique is to eat with a knife and fork until the remainder has enough structural integrity to be picked up with the fingers. Then eat by hand until I reach the crust. Eat the crust if it is really good, otherwise slip it to the dog.

I'd only send the food back for something incredibly badly prepared like still frozen meat or broken glass in the salad. If it was merely not to my liking, I'd smile and choke it down. In a business situation, this could be a real test of how well you handle things. That could work in your favour if you clearly aren't being a prima donna and act, well, professionally. Interesting thought that it might be wise to order something relatively "safe" if possible. Hard to screw up, doesn't make you look like a wacko (She likes tripe???), and importantly for me - something I'm unlikely to end up wearing.

Really looking forward to this, especially if we learn about different mole (whatever the plural is).

What rum? Maybe find a decent sipping rum then work from that to cocktails then switch the rum to something funkier if you want to go that way. I'd maybe try that with Barbancourt, Goslings, Myer's, or even Capitain Morgan. I'd avoid Bacardi and at least to start, Inner Circle (or probably Smith & Cross which I haven't tried). It's been a long time since I've had Lamb's Navy but from what I remember, it might do but stay clear of the overproof. Maybe not PC with the cockail weenies, but I like Pyrat XO as a float on some drinks - it's just not what I'd grab for most cocktails. Then again we do dark rum in hot chocolate so maybe I'm not to be trusted.

I'd go with the Cuban. I use Ron Santiago de Cuba.

For lack of a better name Meat & Veg 1.5 oz Beefeater gin 0.5 oz Cynar a small wedge of lemon squeezed over and dropped in. I build over ice but you could probably stir and strain Simple but effective. This one has gone into my regular rotation.

In Australia they have introduced "My First Vegemite" as a gateway drug for kiddies. It's a much less salty version and you can really taste the maltiness. I use it for sauces. Perhaps it would work for infusing but there's no way I'm going to risk my precious bottle of Rittenhouse. How about Marmite tequila or mezcal? Yeast and olive oil popcorn is good but I haven't had it in a long time. You can also make a yeast and miso gravy for tofu open face sandwiches.