trillium
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Posts posted by trillium
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Just finished bottling one of those a couple of weeks ago. Vin de Pamplemousse, from the Chez Panisse Fruit cookbook. White wine and vodka infused with grapefruit, blood orange, lemon, spices, and a few other odds and ends. Makes for a sweet-sour-bitter aperitif with a lovely pink color. Really nice stuff.
Mike
You'll get addicted to it, I'll bet. I make one with bitter oranges, brandy and brown sugar that we eye anxiously all summer to make sure we're not running out before the weather cools down. I love a little glass of it over ice while I'm getting dinner together.
regards,
trillium
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But the point of hashing all of this out six weeks in advance is so I can make intelligent choices about what to I need to take and what I can procure at the destination. My experiences in hunting down things like orange bitters and maraschino in a city as big as Atlanta has made me apprehensive about the availability of, say, Pisco brandy on the Redneck Riviera.
Mabey it's because I don't own a car (ok, didn't until last week) but I always, always call places and check that they have what I want before I bus it or drive around looking for them. Saves lots of time. But you do have infuriating conversations with morons about candied citron from time to time.
If you're going to insist on what we call cocktail glasses in this modern time (I have some nice old round ones that look nothing like a V) I'm going to insist they are not acrylic. I would rather drink my daiquiri out of a coffee mug then out of a plastic glass. You might check out the stemless glasses with sturdier bottoms, they're easier to pack/transport and are less tippy.
Not enough mint, not enough sweet. I suspect myself of indifferent muddling.I've always thought Mojitos were kind of hard to screw up. I'm of the 1 lime/drink, leave a half of the squeezed lime in the drink camp. What don't you like about yours?1 lime per drink, drop 1/2 of the hull into the glass. 2 or 3 teaspoons of 2:1 simple syrup or sugar, splash of soda water, around 10 sprigs of mint that has the thickest stems pulled off (a handfull). Muddle, but don't pulverize, you don't want lots of little pieces of mint in the drink or bitter notes. 2 - 3 oz of light rum (add more sugar if you're adding less rum). Stir, add plenty of ice, and top with soda water (not seltzer!). Garnish with a mint sprig. Some people like it without the lime hull, just the juice. There are arguments about mint, some say yerba buena is the only mint to use, these days I like using orange mint, but it's good with just about anything (if you have a choice, the red stemmed stuff seems to have a stronger better flavor).
regards,
trillium
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I'm not so sure you really need to worry all that much about equipment. You can serve a cocktail in nearly any glass (as long as it isn't plastic) and no one is really going to complain. The only bit to worry about is eyeballing the volumes when you pour. You need a lemon juicer that turns the halves inside out (it can be used for limes too, and even quartered grapefruits in a pinch), a cocktail shaker, a jigger with 1 oz and 2 oz measurements and 1 and 1/2 and 3/4 oz measurements. And a blender if you want to flash blend things. A cocktail shaker can make about 4 drinks at a time. I find it a lot easier to just do that twice then deal with measuring out for 8 at once. When I don't want to bother, I make a pitcher of something instead of shaking them.
To your list of suggestions, I'd add a couple bottles of bitters (if I had to take just one, I'd take orange bitters) and some dehydrated cane juice to make really tasty simple syrup. Tom Collins are an often neglected summer cocktail that I really enjoy when made right.
I'm a serious cocktail drinker, but in the summer I turn a lot of drinks into fizzes, that is, I shake my favorite cocktail, pour it over ice, and top with soda water. I wilt in heat and this makes it so I can drink the cocktail more slowly and not get even hotter.
I've always thought Mojitos were kind of hard to screw up. I'm of the 1 lime/drink, leave a half of the squeezed lime in the drink camp. What don't you like about yours?
regards,
trillium
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From my understanding (a few French friends and the book by Georgeanne Brennan, Aperitif : Stylish Drinks and Recipes
for the Cocktail hour) there are quite a few homemade concotions that start with a cheap white or red wine and are then infused with fruits, fruit tree leaves or herbs, some sugar is added, and are then fortified with something with a higher alcohol. They're sweet but complex, and some are even bitter. I was facinated with the idea of using cherry leaves in red wine.
regards,
trillium
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Ok all you "elsewheres", I'm hoping to make Singapore style curry puffs for the partner's bday because it's what he really longs for. Has anyone out there made these at home? I am probably going to use a recipe from Thian's site but I'd love to hear about any first hand making. Especially if you've skipped the whole two skins thing, or if you have hints on how much filling to put in a certain sized amount of wrapper.
thanks
trillium
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I think if you had been less generous in your pour, you would have had much less to regret? I do fine with a before dinner drink that exerts its effect for about 10 minutes (basically about 3 oz of alcohol) but anything bigger on my empty stomach and there is a disconnect between my tongue and brain. In cases of where maximum enjoyment of food is desired this is bad, in cases where a general anesthetic effect is desired, not so bad. So I don't order cocktails before dinner in restaurants where I know I want to really enjoy my food, unless I can share one with someone.
regards,
trillium
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We went this weekend, as a thank-you dinner with some friends. It was the new June menu.
We tried the clams steamed with sopprasetta and vermouth, ravioli, the grilled octopus with chorizo and potatoes, the chicken liver ragu pasta, the gnudi, the venison and the seared duck breast.
My two favorites were the asparagus ravioli sauced in lemon and brown butter and the grilled octopus which was liberally seasoned with smoked paprika and olive oil. I would happily order both of these again. The ravioli really tasted like asparagus and were a light and happy mouth explosion. The octopus was great with the red wine we were drinking, really robust and tasty. The potatoes soak up the red oil and are almost better then the octopus.
I didn't like the clams because the vermouth really dominated the dish and made it very sweet. The sopprasetta didn't really contribute unless you ate a piece of it. I thought it was the poorest execution-wise. I personally didn't care for chicken liver ragu because it had an intense amount of fat in it. Livers are already rich enough for me, adding extra oil and butter was overkill, but I can see how other people would really love it. The gnudi were strange. When you closed your eyes it tasted like you were eating mushy American lasagna. I probably would not order those again ever. The venison was very good, the creamed chard and roasted onions and porcini were the best part of the dish, especially when you ate them with the sauces it was plated with. The venison itself was almost too mild for me (but I grew up eating wild venison) and my half of the portion had a sinew running through it which made it difficult to eat. The partner didn't have this problem. The one bite I had of the duck was very good, and the rhubarb and duck fat fried potatoes are an inspired combination.
Some people like the decor better then clarklewis, I found it a bit odd in a mountain lodge meets the Jetson's kind of way, and the lights drive me nuts because they look lopsided. The view out the windows of the sun setting over the bridge was very appreciated by our guests. There is no way in hell I'd pay $50 extra to sit in a wood cage for the night, but we actually saw some people arrive and sit in one of them as we were leaving, so it must be to some people's taste, just not mine!
regards,
trillium
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I'd like to use Elderberry Flower Juice in a cocktail with Aquavit, but there's no place in D.C. I know to get the juice (apart from Ikea, maybe).
Do you mean Elderberry Flower Syrup?
D'Arbo, an Austrian company, makes an Elderberry Flower (Holunderbluhten) syrup. I found a place on-line where you can order it here. (scroll down to bottom of page).
Their syrups are sold in specialty stores, although out here I've only seen the elderberry flower version at one or two places.
IKEA does carry the elderberry flower syrup and ligonberry syrup made by the same company. Since all my elderberry flowers get used in jam, and I was too late to buy ligonberry plants this spring, I bought a bottle of each with the intent to make cocktails (I was thinking about a gooseberry/elderberry flower smash/cobbler at the time). I haven't opened them yet though.
regards,
trillium
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I had friends stop at Binney's before they road tripped it out to Portland for the sole purpose of scoring some bonded Rittenhouse. . . . they don't carry it any more, at least at the place they checked. They live out in the 'burbs so maybe that's why.
regards,
trillium
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Start with a good canned coconut brand, like Chaokoh or Mae Ploy. You might try boiling down your coconut cream until the oil seperates, and then fry your paste in it, and then add the rest of the liquid. That helps with the creamy part. I used to use the premade pastes, but I've never followed the directions on the tubs so I'm not sure what they say, but they are very salty. You can add a little palm sugar to taste for balance. Check out It Rains Fishes, Kasma's first book, I think she has a recipe for making green curry from the canned pastes in there, and I don't remember that any other spice/herb was added. I would go for that over instructions from the tub.
When I ate sticky rice and mango in Thailand the rice was never ever dried out, I think that's sloppy restaurant food, not the norm. You eat it with your fingers, a ball of rice, a bit of mango, and a dunk in the coconut cream, then pop it in your mouth.
regards,
trillium
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I like to make a rose geranium scented pastry cream to fill a short crust tart shell and then layer ripe oozing sliced figs in a pretty rosette on top. I also use the leaves in things that call for rose water (South Asian style rice pudding for instance) and I use the rose scented syrup in drinks. eem (of eG and Sahagun Chocolate) makes a really lovely rose geranium scented ganache for her palets.
I really recommend the Herb Farm cookbook, besides recipes, it has great charts telling you what fruits go with what herbs, and how much leaves for how long for infusing creams, making simple syrups, scenting sugar, etc. It also has detailed instructions on growing herbs. I'm going to try lavendar with rhubarb tonight.
regards,
trillium
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Thanks for the tip. I'll make up a batch and try it with a little rum to prevent spoilage. I don't have white sugar in the house, not for any dietary purpose but just becaue I really like the taste of the dehydrated cane juice and raw sugar I buy. One thing to notice if you try dehydrated cane juice, it's acidic in comparison to plain sugar, and makes things a darker brown then raw sugar does. I love the idea of making a simple syrup from piloncillo. We use palm sugar a lot in our SE Asian cooking, but I'm not sure I'd like the vegetal taste in my cocktail. We usually use something that comes from Malaysia or Thailand. The jaggery I buy is actual date sugar, not palm, which could be interesting in a syrup too. I guess simple syrup doesn't have to be so simple afterall, huh?
I also tried using a 2:1 ratio last night for orange mint mojitos instead of my usual 1:1. It did make a richer, fizzier drink, since it left more room for the soda water. They were so good we had to make another round with lemons since we ran out of limes. We're still debating what to call them. I really recommend the orange mint for cocktails, it has a lovely fragrance, and as my favorite chocolatier says, it doesn't have that cooling effect that normal mint has.
regards,
trillium
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It just came into New York through Southern Wine & Spirits last month, so you'll begin to see it popping up around town. I'm surprised at the $11.00 retail though----it costs $11.46 per unit to industry here in NY, with no listed quantity discounts.
Audrey
Chicago has some of the cheapest booze prices in the country and Sam's is even cheaper then most places. It's why we still mail order from them and come out ahead. That and the fact they carry almost everything that gets US imported or made (except Torani Amer).
regards,
trillium
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I'm surprised they would be at Malay Satay Hut given that "Singaporean" rice noodles are not Singaporean or Malaysian, but of the Cantonese tradition. If you have a decent Cantonese restaurant that you're happy eating at, even if they're not on the menu, the chef will know how to make singchou chow mai fun. You could try requesting it, it's not a complicated dish, and if they have dry curry powder then they'll probably be happy to make it for you.
regards,
trillium
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I'm not sure I'd call the chips part of the fish and chips at Horse Brass great. The ones I've had could hardly qualify as chips, they were more deep fried potato quarters. I found the fish very tasty and I liked their batter style, but I wish that they would fry it in hotter oil. It was really a little soggy with oil from the oil being too cool. If you could fry their fish and batter in Cafe Castagna's hot peanut oil and serve it with CC's chips/fries that would be my dream fish and chips.
I really like Corbett Fish House but it is hardly in the same pub fish and chips catagory. It doesn't really resemble the Wisconsin fish fry I went to either, but it is closer to that style then a Brit pub style. I love how non-oily the food is from being fried at high heat, how the the coating is just a dusting of rice flour which keeps the fish nice and juicy. Their chips are not bad, but not great either. I like getty the spicy catfish coating on the halibut. Some people find them too pricey.
Anyone been to the new place in NE pdx?
regards,
trillium
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I really enjoyed reading that article too. I usually used dried cane syrup in all my cocktails. I don't find it overpowers the drinks, but then, I'm using a 1:1 ratio and I like things pretty sour. It is especially good in rum based drinks (of course).
I'm wondering if anyone has hit on a good way to keep their syrup from getting moldy without refrigeration. I have no room in my fridge for the bottles, so it means I don't make it up until I need it and that can get frustrating when you're in a hurry. I've thought about adding a little vodka but I've been too lazy to figure out how much you'd need.
regards,
trillium
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I don't know about Hector, but I'd love to hear about Nonya sticky rice recipes!
regards,
trillium
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Besides plunging into ice water to stop them from cooking, I've found that putting plenty of salt in the boiling water preserves the greenness too. It's also seasonal. Cooler weather will give you more tender and sweet gai lan, warmer weather it's tougher and a little more bitter. I like it all.
regards,
trillium
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I'd go to Pastaworks (SE Hawthorne between 37th and 38th).
There's a Pastaworks at City Market too...and they have Viande (in house charcuterie). But the Pastaworks is smaller at NW 21st then at Hawthorne.
regards,
trillium
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If you don't get any other leads, I've relied on Marsee bakery in the airport a few times. They make an decent brown bag lunch for flights. At PDX the stores aren't allowed to charge higher prices either, so you're not completely gouged. It's not earth shattering but it's not bad, I think you get a sandwich, cookie, drink and fruit for around $6. And there is a nice little Powell's with used and new books in case you don't have reading material.
You could go to City Market and buy stuff at Viande, some bread, and some fruit, and end up with a pretty nice picnic.
regards,
trillium
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Putting a chicken in a cage for all of its 3 months of life is also inhumane. Keeping the lights on 23 out of 24 hours a day to increase egg production is also inhumane. They're not humans, they're my dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(calm down... step away from the keyboard...)
Some of us choose not to eat chickens that have been in cages their whole lives or eggs from layers that don't live outside and follow day/night cycles. I believe the term inhumane applies to the human doing the action, not to the animal on the receiving end of the action. All that being said, I think discussion about what is ok and what isn't when it comes to raising animals for our consumption is good, but stupid showboating laws by the ignorant are not.
From what I've been told about the ducks raised for foie gras on family farms in the south of France, what they go through is not pleasant by any stretch, but on the grand scale of "inhumanity" it ranks pretty low compared to how your average steer gets lives, gets butchered, and ends up on your burger in the US.
regards,
trillium
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Forget the Chimay! Get the Duchesse de Bourgogne from Verhaeghe Brewery while it's still on tap and I haven't drunk it all. The bar at Higgins doesn't even get a barrel every year, so I enjoy it while it's here. I'm not a huge beer person, I enjoy wine more, but this stuff is really wonderful.
regards,
trillium
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You're confusing Ken's Place (on SE Hawthorne) with Ken's Artisan Bakery (on NW 21st). Different Kens, different places.
regards,
trillium
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You might really enjoy checking out at the Portland Farmer's Market on Saturday from 8:30 - sometime after noon. You can buy great supplies for a picnic (Ken's Artisan bread, Juniper Grove cheese, Viande terrines, Pickleopolos pickles, Sagahun chocolates etc). There are some wine vendors too, but they've never caught my interest. I go to E&R Wines and let them do the weeding out for me.
Taqueria Nueve does have really great yuppie new-wave Mexican food and the best margaritas in town (mixed properly, no sweet and sour mix, no blender, but can be too tart for people that want a tequila slushy). But the waits are kind of crazy, on the weekend it can be more then an hour. Some of there stuff is pretty damn good (moles, fish stew, ceviche) some of it is too far off from traditional and overpriced to boot (I'm still mad the tongue tacos were crunchy like carnitas).
Small plates are everywhere throughout pdx, you'll have trouble finding a place that doesn't have them.
Here are a few suggestions
the wine bar Navarre (don't order the vegetable plates, do order the terrine)...it gets mixed reviews, but I like it. Noble Rot has a good reputation but I haven't been.
Park Kitchen - the small plates and desserts are always better then the main courses for me. The cocktails are done with care.
Higgins bar -- I love to drink a nice Flemish brown on tap and eat the house-cured pastrami sandwich. Not so crazy about the main restaurant.
clarklewis-- you can get your plates S, M or L. Great, simple seasonal cooking, I personally don't find it overpriced, but I usually tend to go for simple flavors vs. overly constructed ones. Gotham Bldg Tavern has some of the owners in common and the menu looks very similiar to me. The hype machine gets wearisome though.
Wildwood -- only been for lunch, sitting at the bar, but all of us were very happy with our food.
Ken's Place -- recommended by a trusted food loving friend/coworker, casual but not cheap, and good food, haven't been myself.
Cafe Castagna -- only for the expensive burger and fries (best in town) or the oysters, nothing much else
mio gelato-- some of the flavors are really good, and you can eat them even if you've just come back from Italy. some of them stink. try a taste or two before you order. good after a visit to Powell's.
Apizza Scholls -- artisan pizza, long fermented dough and long lines, sometimes out the door
Reelemin -- our neighborhood dive bar with really good chicken and jojos and cheap awful beer (hey, they count as a regional specialty).
Pix Patissiere -- fanciful desserts matched to wines and beer (or in the wine or beer, you can get a moscato or beer float), only place like it in town. Queen of Sheba with ice cream is my favorite, I find some of the others much too sweet.
If you want Asian, I'm going to contradict another poster's recommendation, I find Fong Chong and Saburo's dreadful. At Saburo's they use the lesser cuts from sushi grade fish, but people love them because the pieces are enormous and cheap. Maybe you will too. When I eat sushi in the city , I like to go to Murata. I don't eat dim sum in Portland, I've given up. I'd rather eat it somewhere else and appreciate the city's stronger eating points. If you want cleaned up Vietnamese food Pho Van is very good for what it is. I'm partial to the banana blossom salad and bahn xeo (rice crepe). If you want grittier Vietnamese food there is plenty to choose from, my personal favorite is Oregon Pho, but that's a long way off from where you are.
The Mallory hotel is the best hotel I've ever stayed at in the US, I really liked it, but it is a little pricey. Do remember that the price includes parking, whereas you'll pay big bucks/day at places like the Hilton.
enjoy your visit,
trillium
Vacation bar
in Spirits & Cocktails
Posted
See above. You don't use zest, you use limes.
regards,
trillium