Shamanjoe

I have that exact bottle of Arack at home. I bought it for a coworker from Israel, and we share it whenever she comes over to visit. It's very good (and I like how it turns opaque when you add cold water), but I agree, it's not the Arack you want for punch. Don't let that stop you from trying it though!

My favourite Champagne cocktail has always been the Kir Royale, Ardent Spirits style: 5oz chilled champagne 1/2 oz creme de cassis lemon twist for garnish very nice and refreshing

The best recipe I've made so far is from Jeffrey Morgenthaler, a bartender from Oregon who posts the most wonderful drink recipes on his website. He's been making this recipe for a few years now, and keeps re-posting it every year around this time. http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2009/egg-nog/

I recently had the opportunity to take a green coconut straight from the tree and peel it myself (oh the looks I got with that machete in my hand). I cracked it open and drank the juice, then bashed it in half and ate the meat out of it. It ended up being a lot more mature than I expected, since the meat was hard.

I live in Southern California, so if you count local as being your same state, then most fruits and veggies are local (and I usually go to the farmer's market once a week, or Whole Foods, which usually locally sources a bunch of their produce). The meat tends to be local too (again, Whole Foods) except when I'm hankering for some lamb (I've asked about getting American lamb, and they say they only have it once a year, in limited quantities since apparently it is not very popular, go figure). Most other ingredients though, local goes out the window. I buy a bunch of stuff at the asian markets, so half my pantry was made in the Phillipines, Thailand, etc. One thing that surprised me was that when I went to Hawaii for vacation, about 80% of the fruits and veggies had a "Grown in California" sticker on them. I would have thought that more was grown on the islands themselves, but apparently a lot of it is grown for export, and they ship in cheap CA produce to sell to the locals. Go figure.

I think I'm going to try this finally. The bad thing for me is going to a place like Whole Foods, I end up buying all sorts of pantry stuff that I think looks cool, then I never have a chance to use because I end up eating at the girlfriend's place, or getting home late, being lazy and eating some fast food, etc. This week though, I have a decent variety of things, and am going to be making the effort to eat at home for the whole week. I'll update as it happens.

I've been wanting to try AB's wing recipe, but it always seemed too time-intensive for me. If you do try it again, let us know how it turns out.

I just have that kind of personality, I need a well thought out index that is cross-referenced six ways from Sunday. I don't even mind a little extra weight to the book as long as I can find anything I need at a glance from the index.

I usually leaf through it when I first get home, then later read it like a novel. Usually though, I'll have a little stack of stick-notes while i'm reading it, and I bookmark anything I want to try.

I always thought it was an insurance thing myself. Sure we'll cook you a rare burger or steak, but if you get sick from it, it's not our fault! I'll have to look for the link, I even remember reading somewhere that a place was requiring customers to sign a waiver if they wanted their steaks less then medium-well (shudders).

I'm with Peter, I have very little brand loyalty. Sometimes I'll feel some childhood nostolgia for Wonderbread, but mostly I just get what looks good at the time (and I buy mostly fresh, so not many brands there to contend with). Edited to add: Except when I go to the asian market. Then it's one brand on soy sauce, fish sauce, coconut vinegar, etc. I've tried various brands and found the ones I like. Now I don't stray on the staples..

Sun-dried tomatoes. They have such a wonderful flavour and can be used so many ways. But even here in California I mostly see them added to things like pizza and pasta as an afterthough.

It would be great if you could post a picture. Then we could determine what kind it is. But I have to second Chris's salad recipe, it's just about my favourite way to eat fennel. You can also cut the bulb in quarters, brush with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast. Delicious!

Favourites include: Alton Brown Paula Dean (just because I can't stop laughing when I watch her show) Not so favourites: Mario Batali (he just sounds so full of it) Gordon Ramsey (he might be a good cook, I have no idea, I just can't get past the fact that he won't shut up!)

Add about a dozen for me, half or so are cocktail recipe books. Another dozen that are about food, but not really cookbooks..

Lately I've been eating the Filipino version Instant Pancit Canton, which to me is exactly the same noodles as instant ramen, just different flavouring packets. But they are very good, I bought a bunch of spicy/sweet ones when I went and I like to add some scallions to them.

The wife has a cousing in Boracay (Phillipines) who's the head chef at a hotel restaurant there. While visiting we got to eat the following: Crocodile BBQ Crocodile in coconut Crab All of them were very good, but the BBQ was the best. It is similar to pork.

Don't forget asparagus and broccolini dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper!

I've been meaning to build some shelves in my room with narrower shelves and taller spaces to accomodate my large collection, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I plan to make them deep enough for one bottle, but long, so that I can fit at least 10-20 bottles per row. And they will have a steel cable halfway between each shelf to keep all the bottles from toppling over in case of an earthquake (I love living in California, I really do).

I've been planning a bar, but nothing nearly as extravagant as that. I've already built a mobile outdoor bar (it's red and black because it was originally for a new year's party) but it's nothing fancy. When I get around to clearing a corner of the house, I plan to put in a small bar (4-5ft long) with just the basics, since my house is small. But I do plan to have it made of dark wood to accent the rest of the room.

Its funny you should say the handling of Australian lobsters is so poor. I had a lovely Australian lobster the other day, which was delicious. Though I haven't had lobster more than half a dozen times in my life, all within the last two years.

I bought a triple layer 10inch bamboo steamer almost a year ago with visions of veggies and shiapo dancing in my head, but to be honest, i've never even taken it out of the box. I keep looking at it when i cook (as it sits on top of my stove's shelf) and swear one day i'm going to use it.

When I was younger and more inexperienced, I would only use the green parts and throw away the white. I'm not sure why I ever did that (though I used to hate onions when I was young). I'm older and wiser now, and I love onions, so I use the whole thing, but I still start chopping from the green end. I've also used the greens from regular onions in a pinch, though you have to chop them much finer because they are so big and tend to get tough.

I have a fairly simple recipe for my grilled pizza. I'm horrible at making doughs, so I went with a pre-made (but not pre-cooked) dough from Fresh and Easy. I work it pretty well while it is still cold (the one time i let it get to room temp before throwing it, it ended up paper thin in the middle and too thick around the edges). I let it warm just a little from the heat of my hands, and throw it until it makes a crust about the size of a standard 12" dinner plate. For cooking, I brush one side with olive oil and place it directly over the coals (pushed to one side of the grill) until it is cooked and just a little browned. Then I take it off, brush the raw side with olive oil and slap it down on a cutting board. My toppings are as follows (added to the cooked side): Thin layer of roasted red pepper hummus (chickpeas, roasted (preferably grill-roasted) red peppers, garlic and olive oil) Thinly sliced proscuitto Sliced grape tomatos (sliced as thin as possible) Sliced piquino peppers (the pickled kind) Just enough grated sharp white cheddar to cover the hummus in a thin layer Grill this over direct heat for one to two minutes, checking often to make sure the bottom does not burn, then take off direct heat, clost the lid and let bake until the cheese is melted and the proscuitto gets a little bit crispy, about 10mins on a medium temp grill. Once the pizza is ready, toss a handfull of chopped herbs on top, my favourite combination is equal parts parsley, oregano and chiffonaded basil freshly picked from my garden. Let it go for another minute or so to heat the herbs through and let them get fragrant. Take off the heat, let cool just enough that the cheese doesn't burn your mouth, and enjoy.

I went to Whole Foods the other day and had the butcher grind me a pound each of Sirloin Flap meat and Chuck (sliced from the roast). He looked at me like I was crazy, but went ahead and did it anyway. When I got home, I mixed the two together with some dried parsley, onion flakes, garlic powder and a healthy dose of Ancho Chili powder (it doesn't make the burger hot, but seems to accentuate the beef flavour more). I packed them lightly by hand into 1/2lb burgers and let them sit in the fridge until the grill was ready. Then I seared them over the hottest part of the coals, about 4-5mins per side and let them rest on the grill with indirect heat. This made wonderfully light and juicy medium burgers. I put them on onion rolls and just added a dab of blue cheese dressing on the top. They were delicious!