birder53

I also like vermouth as an apertif. On the rocks with a twist. Works well with red or white for me.

What exactly is the name of this? It is incredible! I don't have and probably never will have the VEP ($110 a bottle!) but it worked quite well with plain old yellow chartreuse. We made it with Tanqueray. I'm still sipping it trying to make it last as we're almost at the bottom of our yellow chartreuse. Thank you, feste.

Okay - one more try to see heaven! I'll have to go it alone since my husband is not a fan of bitter drinks. The addition of green chartreuse suckered him in! Maybe we'll try the Appleton Estate and extra mint this time. The white rum was so overpowered it might as well have been vodka. I'll report back. Boy - you sure know how to twist a drinker's arm!

The mint was fresh from the garden. Couldn't taste it at all. Not sure what went wrong here but it didn't live up to the raves for us. Not to worry - too many great drinks out there to get hung up on one that just didn't work for us.

Well, we tried The Art of Choke tonight. Unfortunately, for us, all we could taste was Cynar. The white rum couldn't stand up to the Cynar and the other ingredients were lost to the Cynar. I had such high hopes after Chris's rave review! Maybe we should have stepped up the lime juice, chartreuse and simple syrup.

Is this also an equal parts drink?

I miss lobster rolls! Thanks for the wonderful trip up the New England coast. As far as Woodman's, I actually had a fabulous (and expensive lobster) roll a few years ago. It was much better than the fried clams we sampled.

Trader Joe's had Rear Admiral Joseph's Original London Dry Gin as a 'TJ's exclusive' for $9. What the heck! Tried it last night in a White Lady. Not a lot of botanicals here. It had trouble coming through the cointreau and lemon juice. It might be a good gin for beginners who aren't ready for too much juniper. The price was good but Gordon's is still my bet for a well priced everyday gin.

We bought an older home with a built-in microwave but no turntable. Picked up one of these NordicWare Micro-Go-Round You have to wind it each time you use it, but it does the job.

Tonight we tried the Applejack Rabbit. I was worried about the maple syrup overpowering the drink but it was quite tasty. Laird's bonded was the star of the show! 1½ oz applejack ½ oz fresh orange juice ½ oz fresh lemon juice ½ oz maple syrup Shake with ice and strain into a stemmed cocktail glass

Weren't Black Cows like a Sugar Daddy covered in chocolate? Glad to see that Bonomo Turkish Taffy might come back. The chocolate was so good it made you drool while you ate it! Does anyone remember Ice Cubes? Little cubes of chocolate wrapped in foil that actually seemed icy cold in you mouth?

From Drinkboy - Strega Daiquiri. So good!!! Strega Daiquiri 1 ounce light rum 1 ounce Strega 1/2 ounce lemon juice 1/2 ounce orange juice 1/2 teaspoon orgeat Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Chris - Have you thought of contacting Wegmans about this? They are very responsive to customer requests/inquiries and it might be interesting to see how they reply. I liked how their system of letting you weigh/price your produce in advance sped up the checkout line. On the other hand, if I only needed one of something, it seemed like a waste to bag it just to have a place to put the price sticker. If you bring the items to the checkout without a price, the cashier will weigh it for you. The downside to that is they don't always recognize the produce and have to look it up or ask you what it is!

Finally got to Todos Santos, which is really tucked away in the back of a courtyard and easy to miss! I bought one dark chocolate truffle filled with almost liquid caramel and topped with Hawaiian sea salt. Wow! Not too sweet (I really don't have a sweet tooth at all) and the center was almost liquid. The combination of flavors and textures was wonderful. $2.50+ tax for this tiny, tasty bite! The shop is loaded with Day of the Dead designs and milagros. Love it!

We're pretty good about bringing our three canvas bags into Trader Joe's where we hope to win the drawing for a $25 gift certificate! Most of the shoppers at TJ's bring their own bags. I even saw one woman using her Whole Foods bag at TJ's. Our bags go right back into the back seat of the car after unloading them. However, we usually forget to take the bags into other stores, even though they are close at hand. One of the local gorcery chains credits you $.05 for each bag you bring along. Since we still end up with plastic or paper bags from some of our shopping trips, they go to good use as trash bags or kitty litter disposal bags. Folks seem to manage to shop at Costco and Sam's Club without bags. It more stores stopped providing bags or charged for them we might begin to really make a dent in the bag problem.

Dinner for two at Coyote Cafe last night. We made reservations to sit at the kitchen bar area where we had sat on a previous visit and enjoyed watching the amazing show the chefs put on. The food was excellent. Mark Miller was wandering around the grill area when we arrived and Eric Di Stefano was working hard with the chef's tasting menu. We were offered a five course ($75) or seven course (don't remember $$) and wine pairings could be added to compliment either menu. The rest of the diners seated at the bar with us chose one of these menus. If you were interested in the chef's menu, Eric would come over to discuss it with you. We weren't aware of this special menu and had already decided on some items from the regular menu. We weren't disappointed. Two appetizers - one of quail ($15), the other a scallop carpaccio ($15). Both delicious. Entrees were a braised lamb shank with mixed vegetables, polenta and truffles ($36) and filet mignon ($38) with gnochi and some vegetable (sorry for the lack of details). The lamb was in a red wine reduction and almost fell off the bone when touched with a fork. The steak was cooked rare and cut like butter. A side of garlic mashed potatoes ($9) was not needed but we finished them anyway. One dessert - a Fuji apple something with cognac ice cream ($11). I was too full to even taste it, but my husband enjoyed it. Husband had two Norteno Margaritas made with Hatch green chili infused tequila and chili salt on the rim of the glass ($11 each). They have quite a menu of speciality cocktails. I went with Titian's Temptations - not on the menu - (equal amounts of campari, lemon juice & sambuca) ($8 each) Service was okay. It's difficult to serve those sitting at the kitchen bar because all service is done from behind you. Sitting at the kitchen bar is fun. From what we saw, the most popular dish was a chilean see bass entree that looked so good I wondered if I might have ordered the wrong thing! No problem - the lamb shank was wonderful. The final tab for the evening was $210, tax and tip included.

A Widow's Kiss last night. We should have this more often. It's a nice use of yellow chartreuse. We used Fee's aromatic bitters in this. The Angostura bottled is done. Near disastor when we nearly dumped instead of dashed the bitters into the drink. The bottle design for Angostura is twist off the cap and dash. Fee's is a pop open the top and dash. We took of the cap to dash and luckily were using a measure. That would have been a waste of good liquor ifthe Fee's dump had made it to the mixing glass.

Wow!

The whole shoe thing is interesting to me. I had light carpeting and hardwood floors and never once thought of asking anyone to remove their shoes. If there was a stain, a little Resolve took care of it. As far as the wood floors, they showed the dings and scratches of daily life. The current home is all saltillo tile. No one has offered to remove their shoes and we haven't asked. I've never been comfortable walking around barefoot, so it never crossed my mind to ask guests to do so. A home is for living. Life isn't perfect and the home reflects that. I'll pass on the fuzzy socks offer. Early guests aren't good in my book. The sister-in-law who decided to show up two hours early one Thanksgiving with her two young children was sent to the nearest diner by her brother. We hadn't even had a chance to shower at that point and didn't need any high maintenance guests around. Flowers are lovely and I really do enjoy them but I don't have space for them. I'll gladly serve your wine, it's probably better than what I serve. I don't appreciate food that you want me to include in my menu, unless we're doing a buffett. Thanks goodness we've never had guests who were late or didn't show up. That's just rude. Cleaning up the kitchen can wait for the next morning. It's more fun to spend time with those you invited to your home. The leftovers will be put away, but the rest can wait. (The exception to that is when the guests are all family that you really need a break from!)

Thanks to all who chimed in here! We ordered the Kohler Forte with a pull-out spray. Looking forward to getting it installed.

This is a common problem for me. BekkiM nailed it when she said you have to consider cooking methods. I try to find menus that can be made or mostly made in advance and items that don't require undivided attention. Socializing and cooking don't always blend seemlessly for me. Drinking and cooking can be disastrous! One rule we have is no liquor until all the knife work is done. I had one meal where everything was done except for dressing the salad. The dressing was already made so it should have been easy. Two cocktails and some wine later it looked like a good idea to add all the dressing to salad. What a soggy mess. One gripe about menu planning - too many recipes say "serve immediately". Easy for some, not for me.

I'm considering this one by Danze. Danze Anu It's inexpensive but doesn that mean it is cheap? I've found it at another web site for $183.

He wants the separate spray. I want the pull down. He thinks the pull down will dangle and break. What has your experience been and which would you recommend? I like the clean look of the pull downs. The sink will also have a soap dispenser and air gap, so the pull down will reduce the cluttered look. I've never used one before, so I'm wondering how you like yours and would you buy it again. Thanks!

This one didn't hit the spot. The Alfonso Special 1 oz gin 1 oz dry vermouth 1/2 oz Grand Marnier 1/2 oz sweet vermouth dash of bitters Not so special. I think this is the second time we've made this, so we have to find a way to remember which ones we've tried and decided not to try again. A "black list" is in order!

I like my silicone whisk for making sauces in non-stick pans. Also, the silicone bulb on the turkey baster doesn't subcumb to the heat as quickly as the old rubber ones did.