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birder53

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Everything posted by birder53

  1. I agree. CocktailDB is good for looking up recipes but just because a recipe is included doesn't mean it's a good drink. For someone new to cocktails, this could end badly. In addition to my collection of books, I like Drhnkboy Robert Hess includes recipes for drinks that he likes and has adjusted the recipes to his liking. I find I like most of what he suggests. I also enjoy Eric's Savoy Cocktails where he painstakingly tries to replicate every recipe and then lets you know how he liked the drink. He started the process here but continues at Underhill-Lounge He has been a good source of new drinks that have stayed in the house rotation. Folks who are new to cocktails just need to know that bad recipes are a waste of good booze so try to find a source that actually makes the drink before printing the recipe and provides a suitable warning where necessary.
  2. Wegmans! I miss Wegmans more than any family or friends from NJ. The variety and quality of items they sell always inspired me to cook new things. We have Whole Foods in Santa Fe but the prices are obscene and I just don't get inspired. On the other hand, I can't imagine life without 'red and green'!
  3. This winter has seen lots of Manhattans, so lots of Makers Mark and M&R Sweet Vermouth.
  4. birder53

    Lentils

    Wegman's had a Spicy Red Lentil Chili soup at their soup bar which I loved. The recipe is on their web site Spicy Red Lentil Chili Soup Finally made it last night, with lots of tweaks, and it really was as good as I remembered it. Just the thing to take off the chill as we deal with the remains of three snowstorms this week!
  5. birder53

    Sauce for Pork?

    This Orange Balsamic Sauce is quick and easy. Great with grilled pork tenderloin.
  6. Growing up Irish in Brooklyn, gravy was made with the drippings of every roasted meat. Wondra was carefully worked into the drippings and water used to cook the vegetables was kept to add to the mix. It was always brown and if it wasn't brown enough, a little Gravy Master was added to get the color just right. My husband grew up in an Italian household and the gravy served with a roast was just the grease and drippings from the pan. His family didn't like the gravy that I made for a Thanksgiving dinner because it wasn't what their mother made. I never saw white gravy until I was on a vacation in Florida. That was the first I had heard of chicken fried steak. White gravy just doesn't look appetizing to me so I have never tried it. Out here in NM we don't do gravy - we have 'red or green'.
  7. Stop worrying! You only have to do it if you are moving out of your apartment or selling your house - hopefully just once in a lifetime. How funny! We had a self-clean oven that I never cleaned until it was time to sell the house. Once I saw what a nice job it did and how easy it was, I regret that I left such a mess for so many years.
  8. birder53

    Flavored Nuts

    My sister-in-law gave me a recipe for spiced almonds which calls for egg whites. They do moisten the nuts and help the seasonings to adhere. It might be a Weight Watchers recipe which would explain using egg whites instead of butter or some other oil. I don't know if they created a crispy coating, but they did help the get a good coating on all the nuts.
  9. Thanks! Somehow I never bothered to look at CocktailKingdom's site, thinking it was overseas.
  10. So, what's the verdict on TBT? My niece is working in Germany this summer and might be able to bring some back for me. Now that you all have had some time to play with them, which ones would you recommend?
  11. Manhattan - true comfort food in a glass
  12. Perfect! Just add a cup of coffee from the roaster next to the cookie stand and you're ready to roll. DeNics roast pork with broccoli rabe is the best!
  13. I agree on Pasqual's. The grilled chicken breast sandwich with carmelized onions and manchego on chili corn bread is the one dish I go there for. It's overpriced but you won't find anything else like it in town. My favorite breakfast is Buenos Dias (two eggs over easy, green) at The Pantry on Cerillos Road. They make the best breakfast potatoes in town! The coffee isn't great but that dish holds me until dinner! I'm not a fan of their red but lots of folks are. What about lunch at Santacafe? The patio is lovely and the fried calamari it terrific!
  14. I like The Shed and La Choza for margaritas and the green chile stew. The rest of the menu just isn't that interesting to me. The green chile stew is the best I have ever had and is not for the feint of heart!
  15. Back when we were in highschool, we used to make the Kraft version as a snack. Mom only served it as a side, even when she made her own from scratch. There is a restaurant in Santa Fe, Celebrations, that serves it with shrimp as a main course. I love it and would eat it as a side or main anyday!
  16. What about breakfast? Truly great home fries make breakfast for me. Will breakfast be available all day? For lunch - wonderful soups and a great grilled cheese sandwich. There is a place in Santa Fe that does a great grilled cheese with asiago, carmelized onions and a terrific hot and sweet mustard.
  17. Maria's has an extensive tequila collection but, in my opinion, a margarita should be made with freshly squeezed lime juice, which you won't get at Maria's. They make their margaritas with lemon juice.
  18. From the weekend edition of the WSJ. Union Club Cocktail 2 oz bourbon 1/2 oz maraschino liquer 1/2 oz Campari 1 1/2 oz orange juice I like all the ingredients but the end result was lacking something. Maybe going 1/2 lemon juice here might liven this combo up. UPDATE Tried it a second time going with half & half lemon and oj. Much brighter flavors!
  19. Okay, I said it, and I'll say it again. To me, cloudberries taste like the smell of chamisa, or like a kindergarten classroom full of sniffly, coughing kids; a funky smell like sweet little animal kisses. From the Wikipediaentry for cloudberries: ← For those of you who are not familiar with chamisa, check out this article from the NY Times Chamisa Chrysothamnus nauseosus!
  20. I cook thanks to Fine Cooking. The magazine was the first to really get me motivated to try thanks to the wonderful photos and tasty recipes. The new FC doesn't inspire me to cook. I used to just about drool over recipes as each new issue arrived and that hasn't happened in a while. I guess I was falling out of love with FC for the past year and all the changes just clinched it for me. Hopefully they have a new audience to woo or they had a core demographic that just didn't include me. It will be interesting to see how FC does going forward.
  21. If you can sit at the bar with a great bartender you can take advantage of their expertise and broaden your horizons. Since the majority of patrons are seated away from the bar their chances of trying and enjoying new flavors is greatly diminished. I remember watching as Murray Stenson prepared Cosmopolitans for a table along with some glasses of wine and wondered why anyone would order these at such a wonderful place as Zig Zag. Thanks to you and Murray, I fell in love with Green Chartreuse. Sitting at that bar was an incredible education and not just from those behind the bar. The rest of the folks at the bar with me were serious about their drinks and encouraged me to try more than I could handle! There seems to be a trend to push the envelope when creating drinks and menus. Sometimes simple and well made is better than 'over produced'. Going beyond the 'tried and true' is a good thing since a lot of those drinks were overly sweet vodka based drinks. I'd like to be able to get a properly made Manhattan which seems like an easy goal. Cocktails still have a long way to go outside the few enclaves of cocktalian magic. How do you suggest that the consumer encourage local haunts to 'step it up'. We have encouraged our local liquor store to expand it's horizons and have a group of home mixologists that a keep them on their toes. Drinking at home is fine but it would be nice to find a safe haven when drinking out where you can safely order more than something on the rocks. How long to you think it will take for more establishments across the country to really care about the drinks they serve? Is the Museum of the American Cocktail doing any outreach programs to bartenders in the vast hinterlands of the US? On the other hand, the Small Screen Network is wonderful and your cocktail list is still my favorite place to get recipes.
  22. I'd love to try this one. Can I sub Punta Mes or Ramazzoti for the amaro?
  23. Manhattans, Sazeracs and Bella Donna.
  24. Finally picked up a bottle for $24.99. It was hidden high on a shelf usually used for extra bottles of stock. When I first asked for it the owner didn't know what I was talking about. Looking forward to finally using it in a cocktail.
  25. One local shop finally got in two cases of Rittenhouse BIB. We called them to hold two bottles for us which was a good idea because the two cases were sold out. $17.99 each. They said that two cases was all that they could get. Supplies must still be hard to come by.
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