Hassouni

It's always puzzled me how the oil in a wok can be smoking beyond belief and yet it still isn't hot enough. I once left some oil to heat in my wok on high heat and it ignited, but the same stove renders more than half a pound of meat watery.

"Said Elise to the android bishop!" Rafa's usually bullseye-precise "phrasings" actually skipped a beat yesterday Yeah, 30cm is perfectly fine, though I haven't tried the 2 glasses/2 spoons simultaneously thing yet. I'm really wondering if that's the only reason.

Welcome! La Fin du Monde is superb, and TJ's house beer is pretty damn good, especially for the price; the Dunkelweizen is no exception! As for me, Sunday night was several Red Stripes following a bunch of cocktails. The friend hosting me in NY knows my weakness for everything Jamaican, including their beer, and got a 6 pack for his apartment. I still say it's the best cheap, "international lager" out there. Yesterday was a spirits tasting followed by $2 draft Hite, then more cocktails, then Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse, interspersed with a few more cocktails, then at my request for a cheap beer from my friend, a PBR.....which after all that other booze isn't so bad. And now I need a few days' detox!

Saw my first ever yarai glasses in person, both at various nice bars in NY and at the CK showroom, such as it is (also, sort of nuts that I haven't seen any in use at DC bars when they were ubiquitous in NY). I didn't realize how tiny they are. Meanwhile their XL yarai/asanoha/etc glasses are large to the point of seeming cumbersome, but.... ...I saw a prototype tall Japanese-style mixing glass at CK, meant to hold two cocktails' worth, but still fit comfortably in the hand. It's no stouter than the standard glass, but several inches taller. It looks really promising. They said it'll be coming online in 6 weeks or so. PS, as FP noted, all the bars I went to seemed to be using the seamed versions.

Just picked up Embury. How refreshing to read something so opinionated! (Though I have to imagine the state of Scotch whisky in 1948 must have SUCKED, as he claimed to have not been wild about it)

Just picked up the CK fine strainer - my immediate observation is that it is significantly LESS fine than any other tea strainer-type implement, which must be why it drains fast. Haven't tested it out, but it looks promising.

Yep, a box. Had the shakers stacked in each other, then shoved the spoons, strainers, and other such things inside. Pretty easy! I also picked up a MUCH heftier bois lélé from the CK office today. Looks like it could beat back potential troublemakers - Not going to use my other, more delicate one in a commercial setting.

So I ordered and received 2 of the CK Hoffman spoons (the 30ish cm ones) and used them for my pop up cocktail bar over the weekend. They performed quite well and were longer and more pleasant to use in many respects than what I was using. However, I went up to NY Sunday and noticed that nearly EVERY cocktail bar is using the CK Teardrop spoons, and often in considerably longer length. I stopped by the CK office this afternoon, and I found that the 30ish cm Teardrop has a more pleasant balance than the Hoffman - the center of gravity is lower, whereas it's rather high in the Hoffman, at least to me. However, the longer length spoons of any type didn't really seem balanced at all, and I'm wondering why so many of the bars use them, especially given how short (as I just discovered) a standard yarai mixing glass is. The only benefit I can think of is that it allows for the simultaneous stirring of two drinks in separate glasses, with two spoons, which I also saw a lot of. Is there any other reason for the extra length?

So, I was in NY this weekend and popped in at Betony on 57th St, where my friend is a bartender. He has a wicked one-handed style of shaking with Korikos, which I'll have to practice, but also manages to open the shakers with a very gratifying POP, using what seemed to be only one hand. Anybody else pull this off, and if so, wanna teach me?

I'm not really sure why everyone says that - my burner gets plenty hot, it just diffuses out the sides. I'm willing to put a bit of faith in the product

Only if I can't tell it's there!

Weren't you hoping I would?

Yes, I think the rancio was in fact rancid. There was just something off about it that I wasn't fond of. Almost a burnt, stale molasses note.

I don't think that grate will make much difference unless the heat is centered under the wok.

After graciously giving me samples of all his odder stash, Señor Rafa made be a Man Comes Around, to prove that Fernet isn't necessarily awful. Very good drink - couldn't taste the Fernet

This is true, as I found out. I didn't have much trouble with pouring into them, but pouring out of them requires a lot of precision in terms of angles and location relative to the shaker for there to not be spilled booze I'm going to do some practicing with water with them and see if I can't develop better accuracy in that regard. Otherwise, it was great not having to use two jiggers

So - it went pretty well. Got quite busy on Friday, which made me REALLY want running water within arms reach, but oh well. The ice started out pretty well in terms of being cold and dry, but as the hours went on there was a fair amount of melting in the cooler, probably from it being opened so often and starting out fairly warm to begin with. At the start, I had a few mm of clearance in the glass when pouring each drink, but by the end I had to shake for less time otherwise it'd come dangerously close to overflowing from dilution.

Flor de Caña is not an option? It's pretty much ubiquitous...

Palo Viejo Palo Viejo Palo Viejo But besides that, Flor de Caña, or the as yet untried by me Caña Brava is supposed to be a near ringer for HC

Will update later, on phone w dying battery now, but the ice was not as bad as anticipated

Yeah! Fasoulya yabsa is the one. By the way, if there are ingredients you can't get, let me know and I'll mail you some. (Anything to promote the food I grew up with!)

By bean stew, do you mean the one with dry white beans? That vies with okra (murgat bamya in the book) for being Iraqis' favorite dish! Also, mark the one for Tepsi Beitinjan, in case you haven't

Which ones would they be?

Nice! You'll love it. Are there any major changes to the earlier edition?

I'm considering one of these in the semi-near future (like, months, rather than weeks or years), and I was wondering - whats the verdict on Artisan vs Pro lines?