haresfur

In the USA I like "Natural Brew" ginger beer. In Australia I like Cascade.

Personally, I was a little put off to go to a "serious" cocktail bar (not at all busy) and having to flag the bartender down to see what rhum agricole he used in my drink. Since he made it nearly in front of me, it would have been nice to see the label and I don't think it would need to be "in your face". Actually this whole thread has been bothering me but I haven't been able to completely gather my thoughts. I see the value in discussing other culture's crafts but it is kind of self-defeating to judge them from an external frame of reference. I see a lot of critical statements but think the open-minded attempts to understand the whole context get you further. From the bit of study I've done on Japanese pottery, I would hazard a guess that one might not understand Japanese cocktails without understanding tea ceremony, and won't understand tea ceremony without understanding pottery (and vice-versa), and likely won't understand Japanese pottery without some knowledge of sword polishing (e.g Honami Koetsu was a potter from a family of sword polishers). And my personal opinion is that a totally objective evaluation of any food/drink technique is essentially impossible. You can probably learn something from a blind tasting but that is a far cry from enjoying a nice drink.

Tim Tams and Hobnobs

No energy to shake after packing house all day 3 oz Havana Club (cus that was what was left in the flask) 1 oz Campari 1 oz Contreau juice 1/2 lime (like I'm going to take the effort to measure...) stir with ice, decide to take the effort to strain over the rocks and top with soda. Aah!

I remember my parents going to their bridge club in the 60s & 70s, complaining that they were going to have to eat that damn shrimp in tomato aspic again, whenever it was a certain couple's turn to host. I don't really remember what apps they served - they seemed to be more into main courses. Oh yeah, herring in sour cream sometimes, but usually that was put out with the corned beef, cheese, and rye bread for open face sandwiches (father's lapsed Jewish heritage). One thing I do remember was being in Sweden where the neighbors would squeeze all sorts of interesting things from tubes onto rye crisp.

I am mostly an improvisational cook. I like to throw things together, to make a nice meal out of whatever is in the house. I often can't leave recipes alone - except for baking and sometimes not even then. I try to cook relatively healthy food - vegetarian if I'm not too lazy, but at least low saturated fat. My father loved to cook, which was unusual for men of his generation. I cannot match him in his ability to mess up a kitchen (but he did it with flair). The family recipes are important to me but I don't feel bound by them. If I'm making up a dish I may tell people that it is an old family recipe so they don't dare criticize it !

I can understand this especially if it is code for "strong", but there are times you get a feeling... Like when I was a the bar in a restaurant and the bar tender gave me a kind of blank look when I ordered a Capirinha off their menu. I asked him if they made a pretty good one there and got a withering look. Then I watched him look up the recipe...

How do you milk a buffalo? Water buffalo maybe? Or maybe the question should be why would you milk a buffalo? Educate me please.

I'd lean towards either Fish House Punch or a milk punch, *real* egg nog (contrast with some store-bought?) and kir royale (just to show it isn't all about America).

Decided to open my new copy of the Savoy at random and make the first thing I had the ingredients for. This was it:-( As I was making it I thought, this is going to be way too sweet. Then I thought, I really should have checked what Eric had to say. I was right on both counts. I added started with 1/2 oz portions, added another oz of gin (Dry Fly), added another 1/2 oz of Clear Creek apple brandy, poured it down the sink eta: That's one way to use up the liquor before I move...

Sounds nice! Congratulations.

IMO I wouldn't call it a "success" except in the marketing sense, but Voodoo Donuts in Portland Oregon has a number of excessively sweet, cereal-topped donuts. Voodoo Donuts

Wow! How civilized! I don't have a good answer to your question, though. I think U.S. bars used to have free food.

Trying to use up bottles by faking Tiki drinks: 1 oz pineapple-infused Cruzan dark 1 oz Bacardi dark 3/4 oz Mt. Gay 1/2 oz Amaretto (since I don't have Orgeat) 1/2 oz Gran Gala Stir with ice strain into highball glass and top with guava juice Garnish with a parasol spiked into a homemade brandy-Bing cherry I don't know much about Tiki drinks but I can't recall seeing any that use guava juice. I'm not a fan of the stuff straight but the rum is a big improvement.

Years ago, checking out fine restaurants in a big new Las Vegas hotel, I saw a stark contrast. Some restaurants (Le Cirque) had high-end European-style service. Employees circulated, actively looking for things needing attention, and unobtrusively providing it -- not waiting for customers to flag them down. Others (Aqua) instead showed high-end "US-style" service. Servers would come to the table, beam at you, and talk about themselves -- and not notice missing silverware, or ask if you wanted coffee at the end. Being chatty wasn't a problem, but a symptom. Good, because as a customer you won't notice if those offenses are deliberately absent either. Everyone is happy. (Just as readers who are less word-conscious don't notice, or mind, when publications routinely edit out "in regards to," or "which" with restrictive relative clauses -- the result looks natural, both to those who don't notice and those who do.) Now what we need (but rarely see) is the sequel: Good practices for customers in fine dining. It seems as if many of them think ethics or decorum are concerns only for the servers or the restaurant. (Otherwise, why would we see things like loud cellphone use, or past threads here by customers who pulled something obnoxious on a restaurant, then actually became indignant when called on it? Or the replies from other restaurant customers, sympathizing with them?!?) Well, I think I do notice. But you are right, good service doesn't have to draw attention to itself. The article doesn't say anything about fine dining - it implies universal truth that isn't warranted. In Italy, if I asked for extra cheese I would be surprised if it came in a separate dish. And I wouldn't be surprised if the waiter made some comment to the effect of, "Are you sure?" There are some I do care about, particularly #2. But it is so poorly worded I'm not sure what they intend. You try to shame them into eating at the bar? Sorry, the correct question is, "Would you like a table, or would you prefer to eat at the bar?" As far as clearing the plate goes, I think it is cultural. I often dine with a slow-eating friend. I'd be surprised if she feels rushed because my plate is gone. If the pace is a problem, it is more my responsibility to slow my eating so it doesn't seem that I'm rushing her. Why would she care what the waiter thinks? I kind of like to have a clear path to lean attentively across the table and maybe snag a french fry (ok not fine dining ).

I agree, only because it makes this easier: Cookies: Dare lemon creams/maple creams (note how I cleverly slipped in a fourth choice?) Canada's gift to the world. Pims - Spongy cookie with orange marmalade and chocolate. Best when just starting to go stale so they are chewier. Hobnobs - you can almost pretend they are healthy Candy: Tree-Top fruit gummies. They come in a huge box of small packets from Costco. Snickers - but only the miniature ones frozen. Star-burst - ok, too sweet and too sticky but the acidity is a nice balance that you don't usually get in candy. I don't think high end chocolate bars meet the criteria, although I almost said Aero bars instead of Snickers. The chocolate isn't that great but I like the texture.

Does anyone know if Australian outdoor gas grills take the same tanks as in the US? Trying to decide if I should move mine. Thanks.

For me, most of these "offenses" fall into the category of "I don't really care"

Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages (Amazon link) was just reviewed in "Nature" (probably the top science journal in the world) and although they were a bit restrained in the praise, it sounds interesting. You need a subscription to read the review, though.

Good point. How do bartenders expect to get tipped if they don't make change? When I was starting out I didn't do this mostly because it was something that always annoyed my father--he doesn't like having a wallet full of small bills and figured if he needed some for change, they could always be traded out later. It sort of stuck with me for a while and though it doesn't come up often where I work now, every time it does I feel a small pang of guilt for giving lots of ones back in change. I like getting a mix of bills, especially if the amount is in the range where the larger bill would be a slightly overly generous tip - that's presumptuous. I don't think I would mind if someone asked if I wanted some singles.

well yes, kind of makes sense, but also have some humility. chef is not going to be happy that you fucked up and if you show too much enthusiasm he may just tell you to get the f*ck out! Basically, go in, put your head down, do the best you can and PAY ATTENTION! even if you dont land the job if you PAY ATTENTION you will learn a lot! Yeah, I don't mean being enthusiastic about messing up, but if you are enthusiastic about your work, and trying hard it goes a lot farther than someone who is screwing up and screwing off, or just has a bad attitude.

Menus with small lettering and poor contrast between the type and the background (say brown letters on tan paper). It's bad enough to have to use reading glasses but combine that with bad menu design and dim mood lighting and I might as well be illiterate Places where you talking is frowned on because you are supposed to be listening to the music with rapt attention - especially if the music is someone at the piano playing sing-along or a whiny folk singer. I'd rather go to a concert then for drinks after and even a good jazz bar is still a bar. Lousy food; expensive unsubstantial food; expensive unsubstantial lousy food. And my number one peeve, especially because I'm usually too wimpy to call them on it, beer poured short. The top inch in a standard 16 oz. pub glass is 1/4 of the volume.

I really disagree with this. First, every craft has it's own aesthetics and no one has a monopoly on the term. Secondly, I believe there is a lot in common between craft brewing and craft cocktails (alcohol for one ) Other commonalities include quality ingredients, a striving for balance, a focus on delivering maximal flavor and experience to the customer along with the requisite drug-dose... That being said, I think classical and craft are both good terms with classical having more of a connotation of focus on similarities to historical cocktails and craft being more open-ended.

I'm in a different business, but I think my advice to young pups is pretty universal, "If you're going to f*ck up, f*uck up with enthusiasm!" Or perhaps it should be, "You are going to f*ck up, so..."

In Imbibe, Dave Wondrich uses the term "Channeling the Professor", but that's a bit of a mouthful. How about the term "Post-Modern"? Like the art-world, it gets at the fundamental lack of meaning in any of these naming exercises. My niece uses a term that might fit, "Adult". As in, "Yes, I'd like a drink but nothing too adult, please."