arctan

I use the SFMOMA ice sphere molds - I think they work pretty well. Are these the ones you're talking about and why don't you like the ice? ← i was looking at the SFMOMA ones as well. they seem rather expensive for what they are though. does the ice come out as well as the ice in their photo?

i got a price list from him. i wish i had a place like that around here!

i'm surprise that no one makes a tray to make ice bars

i'm curious about the custom ice trays, where do you even go for something like that? is there a market for custom trays or cube, bar, and spherical ice? i found one place that sold spherical ice trays, but the spheres were only 2" or so. i would think that 2.5 or even 3 would be a better choice.

thanks for the reply! unfortunately, i am unable to buy tins locally so i'm planning on ordering them online. that was why i was wondering about brands. i'm looking at the ones on http://www.barproducts.com/ at the moment. does anyone have any comments on their tins or even their company in general? Toby, for the long bars of ice that you use in the dark & stormy at TVH, are the bars made by the kold draft machine? do you use some sort of tray? is there some poor barback going at a block of ice with a saw? i've had no luck finding any sort of ice trays (or similar) that can do a similar ice bar. i've only been able to find the ice square trays. does anyone know of a source?

Johnder asked what the correct combination of shakers might be. Having (happily) run across a Winco 30oz shaker the other day, I am hoping that part of the equation might be correct. In any case, the Winco 30oz works much better than the rather more expensive WMF boston shaker I had been using. I think the thicker steel of the WMF might actually be a disadvantage. ← could someone comment on the winco/johnson rose combo? why are two different brands used together? what size is each? weighted/unweighted and why would you chose one over the other? i was just looking to get a couple of new shakers. your advice would be appreciated!

i put my seat belt on when i drive my car because i know there is a risk of being in an accident. when i'm stopped at a light and some drunk driver plows in to my and i end up in the hospital, could the drunk driver argue that by putting on the seat belt, i absolve him of liability because i know there was a risk of an accident? of course not it sounds to me that the customer was being protective of his coat by wanting to keep it with him and turning it inside out. maybe this is abnormal, but it's also his prerogative. the restaurant condoned this action by allowing him to dine with his coat. even if the manager came over to offer to check it and the man still refused, the fact that he would have been allowed to dine in the restaurant presumably in this hypothetical situation still does not absolve the restaurant. nothing in the original post made it sound like the customer did anything to contribute to the spill. he didn't bump into the waiter. didn't spill the wine himself. this was the fault of the waiter, and thus the fault of the employer. the customer had no requirement to allow the restaurant to perform the dry cleaning. by taking the coat to his own cleaner, this only confirms to me that the customer was protective of it. at this point, if the customer wants reimbursement for the jacket, he is entitled to it. the restaurant does not have the right to tell him to reline the coat or anything else. presume a similar situation, if the customer did check his coat and the wine was spilled by the waiter--would the restaurant still refuse to reimburse the cost of the shirt, trousers, and perhaps belt that were stained? is it the customer's fault in this case because it was a risk of dining out? i don't think many people would blame the customer in this situation. if i were the owner/manager of that restaurant, i would have comped the whole meal, offered to take it for dry cleaning *or* reimburse the customer for the cost of his own cleaners and i would have told the customer that if the dry cleaning doesn't take care of it, then i would assure him that the cost of the coat would be promptly paid. if this were done, there is a chance that the customer would have not even demanded the replacement cost and been happy with just the cleaning. as this is an old thread, i am curious how the situation turned out...

this should be on a tee-shirt

O.K. I'll probably be pilloried for writing this but I did get one of those things.... Does it help to say at the time I really did need it? I had buggered my shoulder badly and couldn't even lift my arm - shaking was out of the question- even shaking with the other arm was painful from the jiggling. No, Really - I had to get cortisone shots with needles that looked the same gauge as what I used on horses. It is a bizarre machine, but it did work - even the stirring part (but unlike the Chrono Mat it was a alternating rotation of a sealed shaker) and the shaking part worked well. I even made a video of the damned thing: http://www.amazon.com/Waring-WM007-Profess...36828489&sr=8-1 Actually worked well and kept me in drinks during my convalescence. I also featured in a flickr photo group called Monuments to Decadence - a photo study of consumerism gone mad ( "Anything that represents decadence - idealistically or materialistically. No porn, please! Definition: A process, condition, or period of deterioration or decline, as in morals or art; decay. Over the top consumerism, etc.") It seemed a fitting addition. ← have you no shame?!

Well, I'm not one that would be ordering $50 cocktails, but I do have several bottles of higher end nectar. If I have the ingredients on hand, I would be willing to try a drink or two with them. This is exactly what I meant in my initial question. I would not want to waste a fine liquor in a drink that masks all of the subtly that I paid so much to enjoy. If the cocktail didn't highlight the booze--in a way that you just can't replicate otherwise--then I would rather just use the cheaper stuff. Bottle of Don Julio Real and a bucket of margarita mix anyone? This sounds wonderful. I'm wondering if the rinse might be better with the non VEP yellow though. Methinks the VEP might drown in the other flavors? If anyone else has a high-end favorite that they want to share--please do! Now if you'll excuse me, I've realized that I'm out of VEP and I need to go sell another kidney so I can buy some more. I don't need them anyway... ...do I?

would you care to share some of those $50 cocktail recipes with us?

i wonder how that would be with some ango and rose water

i could certainly see this as a solution for people with those problems. of course, i'm sure that was not the market that the manufacture had in mind.

i bought a bottle of barbancourt white after hearing some wonderful reviews. it seems like a very well constructed rum and i can see why people like it, but i find the taste rather unpleasant sipped neat. even when i do reduce the amount in a cocktail, i find that the flavor clashes (maybe it's just me?). is there a drink that any of you find works well with this rum? help me use up a bottle i've had for the past 4 years!