haresfur

Thanks those all look interesting. Although I hate the Soul Mama website. Embrasse is definitely on my list to check out at some point, if not this trip. Thanks.

You asked about environmental factors so I'll steer away from animal quality of life issues, although when it comes to wild food, sustainability is an environmental issue IMO. The topic is timely for me, because I have been considering eating more pork and less beef/lamb to save the planet. In Australia and probably in most countries, the majority of greenhouse gas production from farming is on-farm production, not in the "food miles". Some of that is the fuel and fertilizer use but most is the methane and N2O production - largely in the intestinal system in the ruminants. Swine produce a lot less greenhouse gas. I think that climate change is the biggest environmental danger we face. That being said, I'm not that big on pork, except for bacon. I try to eat less meat and more vegetarian food, already. We had some interesting discussions of sustainability in the Aussie fish&chips thread. I'm not against eating wild meat but I don't think we can use that to replace agriculture to any significant degree.

There are mistakes and mistakes. I think a diner should be sympathetic but it isn't their responsibility to second guess the cause of a restaurant's problems. How is that elitist? I had a similar experience as a young poor student. Took my vegetarian girl friend to a restaurant, checked with the waiter that a dish is (or could be served as - I forget exactly) vegetarian. She was served a dish with meat slices in it. We sent it back and the waiter brought the replacement - the same dish with most of the meat picked out, except for the pieces overlooked at the bottom of the plate where she discovered them while eating. Maybe not the waiter's "mistake"??? I don't care - he is our contact with the kitchen, and responsible for our service. He should have been aware of what was going on, he is the one who should be providing a proper fix for the problem once he was informed. And if it wasn't his problem he should engage management to fix the problem and smooth ruffled feathers. Oh, and I did tip, anyway. There are few circumstances I can think of where I wouldn't leave a tip. I think the OP asked a reasonable question that should be taken at face value. If I was seated at a table with water dripping on it I would ask to be moved. If that didn't happen, I'd probably walk out. He has reason to be annoyed if his order isn't taken in reasonable time - particularly if it is clear the place isn't that busy or that others are getting much better service. Under the North American system, shouldn't the tip should reflect the service? It sucks for the waiter and it sucks for the customer. But overall if the service is good the waiter will do ok. Why else would the dollar value be higher at a fancy place than at a diner? Perhaps if a good waiter is working in a place that is so poorly managed that they can't present a quality meal, then they should look for work elsewhere.

I made the Tacoma Screw for my niece. You could sub grenadine for the Cassis and skip the float. And, yes, the name is sophomoric.

Having a vegetarian visitor and am wondering if anyone has ideas for eating in Melbourne. Probably going for weekend lunch before or dinner after footy at either Etiad or MCG (won't be able to see my Kangas). So we won't be dressed to the nines. Dairy/eggs are ok, doesn't have to be vegan. And a place that serves meat but has a decent selection of non-meat dishes would do. Thanks for any suggestions.

Either some non-citrus "adult" drink because my DB tends to prefer the sours and I often follow along if I'm getting out the shaker, or I use it as a chance to try new recipes or work on new ideas. I'm not adverse to sticking to wine, though. Right now, it's a cocktail with Wild Turkey rye, Maraschino, demarara simple, and Fees Old Fashioned bitters built on rocks. Too sweet, I guess I'd better add more rye...

Dreary day and I had the oven on so I thought I'd do a very loose interpretation of the Smoking Bishop: pierce about a dozen cloves into the skin of a small orange, place in a bowl and put in the oven with whatever else you are doing and roast until the skin is slightly brown and the orange is getting soft. Muddle the orange in a bowl with 3 teaspoons demerara sugar. Place the orange in a pan with 1 stick cinnamon, 8 oz merlot, 4 oz ruby port, and 1 oz Campari. Heat and strain into a large mug. Grate nutmeg on top. I think next time I'd do 50:50 wine:port. The Campari is a pretty interesting sub for grapefruit.

Did this turn out?

I don't think there is a nicer tartan than the Nova Scotia Provincial one, though. My NS tartan tie is almost enough to make the choking feeling bearable. Does PEI bluefin tuna still contain a lot of mercury? Do they still ship it to Japan for sushi?

So are you cheap like my parents were and only buy the culls with one claw? I can't remember if I asked in your Nova Scotia food thread if you use sea water or not. Where do you stand on eating the various slimy bits? Great blog. Thanks.

That's tough, with the amount of flooding that's been going on around the world it could be anywhere from Saskatchewan or Tennessee, to Queensland or Victoria. I'll go out on a limb and guess Oz.

Squeeze bottles that stand on their lids.

Sounds interesting. No citrus?

A good opportunity to break in my new copy of David Wondrich's "Punch" with a scaled down Billy Dawson's punch. I used the peel of 1/2 lemon + 1 oz demarara sugar muddled & dissolved in 2 oz hot water. Then 3/4 oz lemon juice, 2 oz Inner Circle Green, 1/2 oz Ron Santiago de Cuba white, 1 1/2 oz cheap brandy, 3/4 oz homebrew porter, and 3 oz boiling water. No arrack - Australia is practically directly between Ceylon and Java (to use old terminology) but arrack seems to be unavailable. In any case it was very tasty and went down easily and tamed the Inner Circle and the somewhat excessive roasted barley flavour of the porter. Sorry, no pictures - my camera seems to be having an existential crisis.

That's useful. Thanks.

Personally, I object to bitters advertising themselves as containing purported aphrodisiacs. Particularly when coupled to the moniker "Dr." (even if that is apparently tounge-in-cheek). Drinking culture is far too tied to "panty-removers", date rape, and other sexual manipulation.

Our small farmers market is the first Saturday of the month, year round. I still haven't gotten used to the cycle of life in Australia. Oranges seem to be in. I bought bread, a cauli, and a bouquet of different coloured carrots. Made purple-carrot ginger soup with olive sourdough bread last night (actually used other carrots, too but the purple took over). Nice change from the orange coloured pumpkin soup I've been making.

In Canada isn't that a Redeye? Or is that just tomato or clamato juice?

I tried some Cointreau but it added even more sugar. Some acid would probably help. I was trying to keep the alcohol low so relied on the dram for the rum.

I think it makes sense to use one word for a similar danger that requires similar action. When rock climbing, anything coming down from above is "ROCK!". Doesn't mater if it is a rock, piece of hardware, or a body. Your reaction should be the same so why confuse things?

1 Lazzaroni amaro 1 pimento dram couple dashes Regan's orange bitters build over a little ice The amaro and the dram are strong enough to hold up to each other, although the result is pretty sweet. You could make this a highball with Chinotto instead of the amaro. Anyway I thought it was an interesting combination.

Looking forward to the rest of your week. I'm interested in your thoughts on the state of Sidney dining vs. Melbourne. Thanks!

Depending on how much you are interested in spending and whether you are interested in mixing or sipping, it might be educational to compare the Appleton, the Barbancourt, and Ron Zacapa.

I got a bit mixed up on you photo captions and the fish confused me. Then I though that "Yueng ling" would be a great name for beer-battered fish! Thanks for the blog. Looking forward to more - the food looks great.

Probably just as well to keep the groom away from the punch, anyway. Seems to me that this is precisely the situation punch is meant for (although my copy of Dave Wondrich's book hasn't arrived yet). Then again, I'd probably go for something a bit lower octane, at least with crowd who isn't used to old style punch.