Chris Hennes

This evening's selection is the Bijou -- equal parts gin, green Chartreuse, and sweet vermouth, plus a dash of orange bitters. For me that meant Aviation gin, Carpano Antica vermouth, and Regan's Orange bitters:

Aviation Gin, Maraska Maraschino, Green Chartreuse and Lime, in the classic proportions... After a long hiatus from making cocktails, it's nice to remember why this was in my top-ten list.

The release date has been updated to Nov. 7, 2017 now. At least it will be plenty cool enough by then to run the oven!

I've always assumed it was the bananas, in particular because something like a plain blueberry smoothie (just berries, yogurt, and milk) keeps its color reasonably well. So that's the first ingredient I'd cut when looking for the culprit.

I was digging around the back of the liquor cabinet today and found a half-full (half-empty?) bottle of Batavia arrack looking all lonely, so figured it was time to shift it to the front row. Like Chris A. above, I am using the Cruzan dark rum here since that's what's on hand, so I followed his lead and tweaked the proportions a bit.

Yes, the bubbles could definitely be the issue there -- the goal is to get the jus and the bath to be as close in density as possible. Air bubbles are going to greatly reduce the density of the jus, causing it to float. It's certainly possible. It's also possible that the team at MC made ten thousand of the things and picked the three clearest ones for the photo . The chemistry is beyond me, however, so my only suggestion would be to get yourself some calcium gluconate and try again. Where do you live? There are plenty of sources in the US.

Glad to see another Oklahoman here!

What did you mean by it? I don't find there to be anything particularly illogical about wanting to eat meat, but wishing you could do it without causing undue suffering to living things.

That's a pretty dramatic over-generalization -- I know many vegetarians who are opposed to either the actual killing, or the living conditions of your typical farm animal who have no problem eating eggs from their neighbors' backyard chickens.

This upgrade is now complete (though the site remains slow as the server is re-indexed). Members can report glitches here.

The eG Forums will be offline for the day on Saturday, August 12, 2017 for a software upgrade. We expect to go offline at 9am CDT and to be back online by 9pm CDT. Please note that these times are subject to change as the behind-the-scenes work associated with this upgrade progresses.

One of my favorite things to buy at the Burrough Market in London is mushrooms -- where I live in Olahoma you can get button mushrooms. And sometimes also small button mushrooms. And if you are lucky, more button mushrooms. Don't get me wrong, I love button mushrooms too, but it's always fun playing with the more interesting varieties. And my favorite thing to do with them is to make omelettes. Here are some Bluefoots I picked up on a recent trip: I admit, calling what I make an omelette is stretching the definition, it's more like a mushroom salad with a bit of egg under it: I sliced them and cooked them using Dave Arnold's "wet and crowded" technique, then finished them with some Crème fraîche. The omelette underneath is just two eggs, salt and pepper.

What I wound up purchasing at the local Poundland (in two trips, since I didn't notice the apartment didn't have a colander until later): At £1 each this was a pretty reasonable expenditure--the cutting board was garbage, but the knife was probably a bit under-priced, it actually worked pretty well for the two weeks I needed it. The metal sieve was a poor choice. I wanted a plastic colander, but they didn't have one and so rather than buy a basket-thing they did have, I bought this. Which rusted after its first trip through the dishwasher. On the plus side, this year's kitchen had a dishwasher! Very exciting. Actually, the kitchen was quite nice. Plenty of space for the short time I was there, and a solid ventilation hood that prevented me from ever setting off the smoke alarm: I also got lucky with the cookware provided in the apartment. The 10" non-stick skillet was a beast, actually nicer than the one I use at home. And there were plenty of other pots. With a Tesco Express in the adjacent building I didn't really need storage, which was good, because there wasn't any. I left my Poundland purchases in the apartment when I left: maybe they will get absorbed into the collection, maybe not.

My fennel is finally big enough to harvest the bulbs, so tonight for dinner we a fennel and tomato sauced pasta from Bugiali on Pasta. I might have gone a little heavy on the red pepper flakes, but otherwise the dish was a nice tweak to a simple tomato sauce. The recipe is just fennel and tomato stewed together and then pureed and finished with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano that have been warmed in a bit of olive oil.

I find the notion of microwaving mushrooms vaguely horrifying. I can live without the antioxidants. And I boil my mushrooms (I cook them using Dave Arnold's Wet and Crowded technique).

Yes, right now even London prices seem almost reasonable! I did not get to check out the Scran and Scully. Maybe next year. Feel free to post further recommendations.

This was not a "food trip" so I limited myself to places I could walk to from the hotel, hence the all-tourist-district selection. Regarding Angels with Bagpipes' haggis -- honestly I don't remember any pancetta being involved, but I think they tweak their exact menu pretty frequently. The haggis was actually served as a small croquette, so I'm not sure it would work well as a main in that format. And agreed about Café St. Honoré's wine list -- we had a very enjoyable Chablis. (As a side note, one of my favorite things about visiting the UK is that you can get Chablis for a not-totally ridiculous price, unlike in the US where even when you can find it it's almost always stupidly expensive).

I had a few days in Edinburgh this past weekend. In addition to a really excellent take away lunch from a small café in Dunkeld (Robert Menzies), we had three quite good dinners. Café St. Honoré (http://www.cafesthonore.com/) A menu full of classic flavors, all well-prepared and the ingredients fresh. I thought the texture of the duck terrine was a bit loose, but the flavor was good. The salmon was excellent, and the lemon posset with roasted rhubarb was exactly to my taste (not too sweet). Bonus points for being relatively inexpensive for the quality. Angels with Bagpipes (http://www.angelswithbagpipes.co.uk/) I have to admit to starting out biased against a restaurant in this location (in the heart of tourist district), with a name like this. They are well-regarded online, however, and the food was actually very good. The haggis was a standout, but everything was a competent. Timberyard (http://www.timberyard.co/) The trendiest of the lot. Also the most spacious, with a very large dining room for the small number of tables. One of those pretentious menus where you can't figure out how anything is going to be cooked. In the end, it didn't matter, the food was terrific, with courses ranging from very good to amazing. Some unusual (and successful) flavor combinations featuring produce from their own gardens. Expensive, but worth it as an occasional splurge.

Update 5/7/2017 The next migration window from our host is this evening from 9pm to midnight CDT. I expect the forums to be offline (or in a read-only state) for about ten minutes at some point during that window while our database is transferred to a new data center.

I don't know how you feel about Consumer Reports, but at the moment their top pick among the "pro-style" ranges is the KitchenAid KDRU763VSS Dual-fuel model. As a general rule they like the KitchenAids and GE Monogram series, and gave very low ratings to Jenn-Aire and BlueStar (among others). They are all out of my price range, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you decide to go with.

Do you mean a change specific to the Tulum area or to Mexico in general? Do you think something has been taken away, or just added? All of my experience in Mexico is too recent to provide context, but I'd be interested to dig into the change you've perceived.

Update 5/4/2017 Invision has issued a patch to the Forums' software -- I will be applying it tomorrow (Friday) night at 11pm CDT. I expect about five minutes of downtime for the upgrade.

If we refocus around must-see locations, for tea you could add it to a trip to the Victoria and Albert museum: they have a really fantastic space, and a completely a la carte cafeteria-style tea service. The afternoon tea at the British Museum was also enjoyable, though more expensive and formal than the V&A.

Well, keep in mind that for the same $600 you could eat at, say, Quintonil, Pujol, and Biko. Twice. So while I have travelled to Mexico specifically for food, I spent a long weekend doing a combination of street food and fine dining, and definitely did not go for just a single meal. Then again, if you've got that kind of money, I guess there are worse things to spend it on.

I don't think your skill had anything to do with it -- bread pudding without eggs is going to be basically as you described it. I think your strategy of sticking to the Indian version is probably a good one. I'd think almost any fruit or berry would work as a topping for the version you describe.