Hassouni

First ever single malt purchases

It could just be crappy real saffron...

Well, safflower looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tuerkischer_safran.jpg - does what you have look like that?

What does the water do? Also, no place here uses paper bags. Some leave them out until you buy, then into plastic - by the time you get them home, they've taken a turn for the worse.

I've been growing habaneros in a pot outside since midsummer, and now that a hurricane is upon us, it's producing quite a few peppers, some still green, some fully ripe, some in-between. Few questions: Should I pick the red, ripe ones as soon as they get to that state, or can I leave them on the plant? What's the best way to store a bunch of picked habaneros? And finally, I brought the plant indoors so it won't get destroyed in the hurricane, but can or should I bring it indoors over the winter so it doesn't frost up, and if so, can it still produce fruit? There are lots of as yet undeveloped buds springing up on it.

Why do so many craft bakers do this: handmade, crusty, fresh loaves, immediately thrust into sealed airtight plastic bags. Within minutes, the crustiness is lost and the bread soon turns soft and unappetising. The only solution is to bake it for about 10 minutes when I get home, but I feel this changes the flavor and internal texture and isn't a perfect solution. One bakery chain in the area has perforated bags that alleviate the problem, allowing some air contact. Why don't more places do this? Is this a problem in your area too? /rant

Canola always smells rancid to me when heated, regardless of its age. I pretty much only use olive and grapeseed now.

paté and trifle (not that the last is French...)?

W&N overproof gives it this ridiculous pot distilled funk that I think is really nice - it's also pretty cheap, $19 a bottle round these parts

I am VERY happy with the Elmegirab recipe - but as I said I didn't add orgeat as I already have some of that

I use hon-mirin, or mirin actually made from alcohol. It'll say on the label, if it's basic ingredients like rice wine, sugar, etc, you're good. If there's no trace of alcohol/wine/whatever, and funky sounding stuff, stay away. As for sake, I used to use Mizukan cooking sake, but lately I've just been buying the cheapest decent drinking sake I can find, in small (150ml or so) bottles, replacing as needed. Its only $5 or so per bottle, and it lasts a month at least. I think it's a worthwhile upgrade. Fish sauce- there's Thai style, Viet style, and presumably others. I go for Thai style, Trachang or Golden Boy

Not sure where the other two are, but Agora, Marvin, and Birch and Barley are definitely within walking distance (17th & Q, 14th & U, 14th & P? respectively). If you want tasty wandering snacks and good drinks I may also recommend El Centro DF (14th btw S&T, next to Black Cat)

Aw, and I thought it was for making crepes...

the courtyard restaurant of the Meson de Marques hotel in Valladolid serves fantastic local cuisine. Actually that's probably the best place to stay in the city, too. Next door there's also an open air food-court kind of market, which has many tasty goodies. Not much of note that I recall in Tulum, but an hour up the road in Playa is Yaxche, which serves only pre-Hispanic Mayan recipes, which are quite delicious. It also goes without saying that the street food everywhere is pretty good

Actually, the area around Gare du Nord is rather ethnic, so you may not have to venture too far (though most apparent is Tamiltown, literally in the shadow of the station. Seek out a restaurant called Ganesha Corner....). If in doubt, head away from the centre of town from the station and you will definitely be in North African territory soon.

Yeah but usually my total bill at those bars is a lot less than what I could expect to spend at Seki. Their stuff is small plates, right? I don't know, I may go yet, I was just hoping for a DC version of some of those St Mark's joints in NY, where you can get $1.50 draft Japanese beer and tasty snacks for a pittance. PS, I don't jive with burgers over about $10 or $12 max

Yeah, it just seems expensive for what they're offering...izakaya are meant to be humble affairs...

Passenger! Passenger! Passenger! Sorry, I really dislike Gibson.

Oh, forgot about Birch & Barley/Churchkey so hip it hurts But yes, 14th St is my rec, many of the places I mentioned plus those of Busboy are all there

Toki Underground is certainly hip and quite delicious, but it's not in Adams (it's on H St NE) The Brixton would also be hip, and allegedly has good food. You could add any Hilton Bros establishment to that list (Marvin, American Ice, and this new place Blackbyrd come to mind) Estadio is another possibility, as are Pearl Dive and Agora If "The 18th" means 18th Street, I'd say forget it, Adams Morgan is just a shitshow and there's not much good in Dupont besides Paradiso and Moby Dick, neither of which really fit the bill from the sound of it

First night in a while behind the shaker when some friends came over.. In addition to a Bulleit Rye Sazerac and pouring a friend some rye on the rocks, I made some spur-of-the-moment concoctions, all unnamed (as far as I know) Drink 1: 2 oz FdC 4 year white .5 oz lime juice .5 oz Lebanese mulberry syrup (sharab toot) .25 oz St Germain shaken, up Drink 2: sort of a play on a mai tai or something tiki 2 oz Pusser's .5 oz lime juice .25 oz orgeat .25 oz falernum .25 oz absinthe (Lucid) 3 dashes orange bitters shaken, rocks (crushed ice would have been better) Drink 3: Variation on a Maple Leaf, I guess 1.5 oz Laird's Bonded applejack .5 oz maple syrup .5 oz lemon juice shaken, up

SeriousEats posted their review of it today: http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/09/first-look-pouring-ribbons-cocktail-bar-nyc-joaquin-simo.html?ref=title

Wow, must not have noticed it. Been having a lot of cocktails lately.....

Not posted on the online menu at Pouring Ribbons is the overall cocktail flavor matrix, (excuse the crappy photo): (taken from my review of the place at http://weballharder....ocktail-alchemy)

The wait at 8:30 was quoted as 2 hours, ended up being about 90ish minutes. Left my number and went to Pouring Ribbons for a couple drinks.