birder53

Made an Abbey Cocktail from Regan's book. This is the second time we've had this drink and it still isn't memorable . The first time we used Plymouth gin and Angostora bitters and De Groff's recipe. Tonight we used Gordons gin and Peychaud's bitters. It isn't bad, but it doesn't have the "wow" factor we've come to expect from our drinks.

Your father is a lucky man!

That sounds good! Got a recipe for it handy? ← I hate cheddar cheese, but I wouldn't have told you that, and I certainly wouldn't have complained. ← Megan, you sound like the perfect guest!

It sounds like many people start their day with a set routine. Would that explain the need to have certain foods and beverages for breakfast? Not being a morning person myself, it would be almost impossible to start my day without lots of strong coffee. The food part is pretty flexible, but not the coffee. Vacationing in parts of the US that still don't have decent coffee is pure hell! Maybe most people just aren't ready to make too many decisions early in the day, particularly about breakfast. This thread has actually made me more sympathetic towards those guests who do not know what the morning might have in store for them. I'll strive to be better host from this day forward. Breakfast - the most important meal of the day.

That sounds good! Got a recipe for it handy? ← Found it! It's been at least 10 years since I made this, so I don't recall how it turned out or if I made any changes to the recipe. It was in a book of recipes from various B&Bs that we were giving to my sister as a gift. We had something very similar at a B&B and thought it was a great way to feed a group without too much fuss in the morning. Harvest Overnight Casserole 2 lbs. bulk sausage 2 apples, cored & sliced 9 slices bread, crusts removed & cubed 3/4 tsp. dry mustard 9 eggs, beaten 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese 3 cups milk Lightly grease 9"x13" baking dish Cook & crumble sausage in skillet Drain & reserve pan drippings Place sausage in baking dish Saute apple slices in sausage drippings In a bowl - combine apples, bread cubes, mustard, eggs, cheese & milk. Mix well. Pour mixture over sausage, cover & refrigerate overnight. Bake covered in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover & bake for 30 minutes.

Let me preface this by saying we shop for two adults, no kids and rarely dine out. Do you go to several different grocery stores? Yes. Wegmans, Pathmark, A&P and BJ's. We hit the local farm stores when we need produce in a hurry. Wegmans is about 15 miles from home, the farm store is 4 miles away. Nothing is within walking distance, so we try to make sure we hit the stores that are near each other to make the most out of each shopping trip. Do you clip coupons? Yes. We also have the club cards for the various chain stores we patronize. What do you usually buy at the grocery store? We tend to eat meat or fish on the weekends. The rest of the week our menu is based upon yogurt, fresh fruit, pasta, peanut butter and jelly. Wegmans is our primary stop for produce, dairy, meat, fish and bread. Pathmark carries the size and variety of frozen vegetables that we use almost daily. The local A&P is where we get seltzer because they have the best price. ( I don't care for the water here.) Paper goods are bought in bulk from BJ's which is also where we buy vitamins. Do you tend to buy more meat or more produce? Produce Are you too ashamed to make purchases from the "reject bin?" None of the store have these anymore. But I wouldn't hesitate if there was something worth picking up. Do you make a list? Yes. I might pick up something not on the list, but without the list I'm certain to forget something. If we don't take our time when we make the list and check our current stash, we end up making additional purchases during the week and not necessarily at the best prices. How many refridgerators and pantries do you have for food storage? Two refrigerators and lots of panty space. One fridge is in the garage and used for keeping softdrinks, seltzer and champagne chilled. Do you enjoy grocery shopping as much as I do? Trips to Wegmans are always fun. The other shopping stops are really a drag. It's fun to check out new markets in the area or on vacation, but weekly shopping is still a chore.

We had a full house stay over one Thanksgiving. To keep it simple, we made a dish of eggs, apples, cheddar cheese and sausage in advance so it was easy to heat and serve in the morning. It was a dish we enjoyed at a B&B, so we thought it was a good idea. Wrong! We got requests for specific brands of cereal, flavors of jams as well as white bread for toast. (We had english muffins and whole grain bread as well as a selection of preserves.) We couldn't wait for them to leave! It was much easier to serve them dinner than to get involved with anything else. Note - these were family members who only traveled 45 minutes by car, so it wasn't as though they flew or drove long distances to get here. It would have been easier to take the whole group to a diner!

Dinner for 12. Deep fried turkey. Sister-in-law is bringing the stuffing because "she knows what they like." Her husband, who I adore, has to be the fussiest eater ever. He doesn't eat turkey and he sniffs at food like a dog before deciding if he will eat it or not. (We no longer to to restaurants with them.) I wouldn't be surprised if she shows up with more food for him, just in case. I'm still working on the rest of the menu and love this thread for ideas!

Good point about the wilted herbs. We grow what we can during the summer, but other then rosemany, which lasts well into the winter, we spend about $3 - $4 a week on fresh herbs. Most recipes call for small amounts and stores sell them in big bunches. At least flat parsley keeps well and is reasonably priced. We use it almost every day. Mint and cilantro are fragile and we throw out a lot of soggy, black stuff if we don't use it within the week. We can't give them up! Just like we must always have fresh lemons, limes and oranges on hand for cocktails.

Try to eat what is in season. I love fresh fruit and the best buys, as well as the best flavor, are found by sticking to whatever is in season. Strawberries, blueberies, peaches in summer; apples and grapes in autumn. I buy few oranges until the inexpensive Florida crop is available (even though that might not work out this year.) Eat more vegetables and starches and have smaller portions of meat and fish. As said before, plan a menu around what is on sale. I'm not good with freezing things. Right now there is salmon and a pork tenderloin in my freezer because of a sale, but I tend to forget they are there and don't plan well around anything that needs to be defrosted before cooking. What do you tend to spend the largest part of your food budget on? That might help get more thoughts from the folks here if we get an idea of what you like to eat.

Amen.

Tried Robert Hess' Voyager tonight. I was afraid that the Benedictine might overpower the drink, but all the flavors came together very nicely. The only thing I might change is the amount of bitters. I might have been a bit over zealous with them.

What in the world was whoever put the recipe in this format thinking? Mixing purely relative proportions with absolute amounts is insanity. ← There was a version of this on CocktailDB which we tried this weekend. The Falernum dominated the drink, not unpleasantly so. The juice from my orange was not very flavorful, so that might have played into the results.

We picked up Vya sweet and dry at LaNell's and mixed up perfect martinis to celebrate. 2 oz gin (we went with Plymouth) 1/2 oz Vya sweet 1/2 os Vya dry dash of orange bitters (Gary's) Stirred until the outside of the shaker got a nice frost going. It was so good we had a second round. This was our first "perfect" so we have nothing to benchmark it to, but the Vya sweet is markedly drier than M&R and worked well in this drink. We tried the Vya in bourbon Manhattans last weekend and noticed the difference in sweetness. We like our Manhattans a bit on the sweet side, so we won't be wasting the Vya on those again.

Got a bottle of Taylor Velvet at LaNell's last week. Besides Janet's unplanned gin experiment, what other drinks can you make with it? Tonight we will try the Voyager from Drinkboy's site. The other drinks I know of are the Swizzle, the Rum Swizzle and the Flaming Gully. It's a big bottle. Any other suggestions?

How about a Last Word with a big, fat maraschino cherry in it? Even though these cherries aren't popular with the folks here, they look great in a drink. Last Word 1/2 oz gin 1/2 oz green chartreuse 1/2 oz lime juice 1/2 oz maraschino liqueur

My brother loves these and still makes them they way that Mom did. (Mom gave them up long ago!) He uses the little cocktail franks and Pillsbury crescent rolls with Guldens mustard for dipping. If anyone tries to get fancy with them, even to go as far as using honey mustard, he has been known to head out to the store to get the proper fixings and make them "the right way" himself. We love him anyway.

This is probably more of a summer drink, but the Amalfi Dream, also from Calabrese, is very refreshing. 1 2/3 oz vodka 2/3 oz limoncello 1/3 oz fresh lemon juice 4 - 5 fresh mint leaves Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a cocktail glass, letting mint fragments slip through to create a layer on top of the drink. Garnish with a spiral of lemon.

Drinkboy has added new cocktails, including a Strega Daiquiri. Drinkboy

...when the first thing you plan for your upcoming vacation is where and what to eat ...when trips to new food/liquor stores require egullet research to be sure you know what to buy ...when you begin to realize how much $$$ egullet has cost you as you expand your collection of food, kitchen tools, liquor and cooking magazines! ...when friends and family start calling you the queen of the kitchen instead of offering to bring a dish or "let's just meet at a restaurant". ...when even simple trips to a local area become field trips to try a new restaurant or store.

Titan's Temptation (from Salvatore Calabrese's Complete Home Bartender's Guide) 1 oz sambuca (we used Molinari) 1 oz Campari 1 oz fresh lemon juice Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lemon. Beautiful to look at and tastes great! The sweetness of the sambuca goes well with the bitter Campari and tart lemon juice. Very refreshing and actually a good drink with spicy foods.

WoW!

We had one shaker get so badly stuck that it finally took a well placed hit with a rubber mallet to get it apart. Talk about an icy cold drink!

Erik - Your persistence with this project is truly admirable. I can't imagine drinking some of these concoctions - they seem to be very sweet. Have you any idea of how long this project will take? Maybe a cocktail party is in order so you can get some help.

Six years of twice yearly meetings for a very high profile, non-profit organization. 24 lunches where the choices on the self serve buffet were vegetable soup, mixed salad greens with choice of two dressings - one white and one that looked like a vinegarette, roasted/steamed chicken breast with some lemon slices lurking about, roasted potatoes. Dessert was always vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce. One co-worked dreaded the March meeting which always took place on a Friday during Lent so he was left to make a meal out of the soup and salad. He usually made sure to eat lots of red meat the night before!