Hassouni

That'll be a hell of a shame. I love it exactly as it is - it's what I miss most about DC when I'm not here, and my Hanoi-haunting friend says the food there is as good as in Vietnam.

Wow, that's a hell of a clear stock!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajeon "It is a pancake-like Korean dish made from a batter of eggs, wheat flour, rice flour, green onions, and often other additional ingredients depending on the variety. Beef, pork, kimchi, shellfish, and other seafood are mostly used. If one of these ingredients, such as squid, dominates the jeon, the name will reflect that; oh jing uh jeon is 'squid jeon.'" It's crispy, hearty, batter-y, and soaks up the soju like a champ

pajeon

Well you've convinced me. Ill do a couple test drams at 100 and 80 and see what's better.

I could certainly do that - why do you think 100 proof is better? Holds up better when mixed?

Viet Bistro is the one with the patio, right near the entrance to the whole development

Well, this is more my incentive: "I'm trying the diluted LH it against some ElDo5 right now, and frankly the diluted LH blows the ElDo5 away in terms of sheer flavor. Where the ElDo5 has significant sweetness but lacks smokiness and richness, the diluted LH has smoke, spice, and the rich sweetness of classic Demerara rum on the finish."

this seems to be a pretty comprehensive guide: http://www.ministryofrum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5778

I haven't been, something seems off about going to such a dolled-up place in Eden Center.... That being said, there's an even newer "nice" place called Bistro Vy (near the supermarket), and it slays.

Yeah, I've been eyeing the Japanese jiggers over at Cocktail Kingdom but it seems they either come in only metric or US....

Hmm, I suppose, except Alpenz is based in the US....

So I made a "Jamaica Rum Daiquiri" as featured on Alpenz's page for Smith & Cross, first time, despite the bottle being 60% finished... 1 oz S&C 1 oz lime juice 2/3 oz (?*) simple (in my case Demerara) Although I prefer my Daiquiris to be drier and more boozy, this is one of the most perfectly balanced drinks I've ever had. Sweet, but balanced by sour, with a deep richness brought out by the rum. Next time I'll change the proportions, but wow, this cocktail is like poetry on the tongue. *(who the hell has 1/3 or 2/3 oz measurements?)

So I'm a huge fan of their "Entertainer" crackers, but I haven't seen them in the last few weeks. Anyone know if they're done?

I have a problem...I keep buying rum! The Barbancourt 5 star is a replacement for the one I just finished, but the rest are all new to me. Gonna split the LH and make half of it 80 proof, too.

Whooooaaa where'd you get the stick??

Yeah I just saw glass straws - those seem nice too, though I wouldn't want them shattering in my mouth or in the glass...

Anyone use them for their highballs, swizzles, etc? Plastic straws look really tacky with a well-made drink. I'm just wondering if they contribute a metallic flavor as they're being used.....

As far as I can tell, there's no difference in properly made rice between Iraq and Iran, only in our house we often use a shortcut method for rice (absorption rather than parboiling, draining, steaming, etc), which still gets a crust (as seen), but I think the orthodox approach yields consistently better results.

I have nothing to add apart from saying that everything looks extremely delicious! Oh, I suppose I'll ask this: The guo tie looked lovely, any more Chinese food on the horizon?

Yesterday bottled my homemade falernum And made a Bermuda Rum Swizzle with it (Black Seal, of course) Lovely drink, just need a proper swizzle stick! I did manage to get the glass icy on the outside though. Tonight, a simple Kalimotxo with some crappy Egri Bikaver (gotta use up the case I foolishly bought) on the deck with my nargile. Best smoking drink ever, pretty much.

If you are patient, you could get a synthetic swizzle stick from Boston Shaker when the become available. Seems like they have quite a way to go to make their funding goal and not much time to get there. Yeah, 58% of funding left with a week to go? hmmm

So, what's everyone using as their substitute tree-branch swizzle stick?

Yeah, the economies of scale thing seems woefully against us at-homers. $50-$60 for the barrel, 2 bottles of spirit per batch to produce 1 bottle due to evaporation, etc, and apparently the barrel is unusable by the 6th run, so let's say that adds $10 to the cost of each aged batch. So we're talking a $50 bottle of W&N here...... ....but I'd still love to try it!

So, to revive a long dead topic.... What would happen if you barrel-aged Wray & Nephew's overproof - would you get a dundery, funky, aged Jamaica rum, possibly verging on the mythical 17 year old W&N from the first Mai Tai?