JoNorvelleWalker

A little Spot lives in my refrigerator too! I ordered (among other things) a BlueDOT with an ambient probe for the freezer problem, because whether the power goes out or not I'll have an audible alarm.

I have a freezer alarm on its way from Thermoworks.

I have ordered grouper from Citarella.

I am still fascinated by the actuality of perfectly clear ice. I had beautiful cubes tonight in my Mississippi punch.

Or one could stay at Hotel Dupont and just eat at their restaurant.

I read last week, in I believe the Wall Street Journal, that Kellog was abandoning the cereal business to concentrate on snacks. Was that the same article?

In New Jersey they no longer give out brown bags at the liquor store.

I pray that in Manchuria cauliflower isn't kale.

Yesterday I received delivery of ten Di Oro silicone spatulas. Too soon to state Di Oro are my favorites but they seem well made. Besides, they are red. I was fond of my irreplaceable iSi silicone spatula until I juiced it. As much as I wanted to love GIR spatulas, their products don't quite do it for me. I passed on the Thermoworks spatulas, but their current sale did me in for close to $400 of other stuff.

I've been enjoying Shannon Mustipher's Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails. Good addition to my collection. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

I've not been up to many photographs these days. But since you asked... Haut Brion water goblet (left). Haut Brion magnum wine (right).

"was"?

In addition to a Penzeys order, today's deliveries included a large box from Replacements Ltd. When I was a young thing of twenty one, I chose Baccarat Haut Brion as my stemware pattern. Over the decades I am down to the last of the original pieces. However from time to time when I see inventory on replacements.com I place an order. Recently I saw a piece in my pattern that I had never come upon before. It stands 9 1/2 inches tall and holds 26 ounces/750 ml. Perfect for those worknights when one feels like only a single glass of wine.

The zombie I concocted a few nights ago did bad things to me, or rather did good things to excess. As we speak I am enjoying a zombie made with half the rum. Now if I only had a mint sprig.

ThermoWorks is having 20% off the entire site except for sale items. I ordered a couple of thermometers and a few probes.

I ordered ten Di Oro spatulas tonight. I hope I like them.

Amazon US currently has the CSO at $255.

eBooks are wonderful for many things, but cookbooks are not among them. Unless the accessibility features of eBooks are required. The technical quality of eBooks is all over the spectrum. Some eBooks I find unusable. Some eBooks have a dysfunctional index. Some eBooks don't even pretend. They have no index at all. Many eBooks have no page numbers. Even if the index lists the page number from the print edition, good luck finding the recipe you are looking for. Some eBook indices have hyperlinks. These are more useful. However those books are the exception. Still, assuming one has ten fingers and as many toes, with a print book it's possible to go back and forth among a dozen recipes. Try that with an eBook. Yes, I know there are Kindle bookmarks, but that is not the same. As I recall eBook prices are set by the publisher, not by the seller. If I see an eBook I might like at $1.99 or $2.99 I'll be tempted to buy it, though I may never read it. When I purchase a hard copy cookbook I will probably read it at least once, even if I never cook from it. Sometimes if an eBook holds promise I will buy the hardback. As always I recommend checking your local library.

For tonight's beverage I went searching for inspiration. After last night's zombie I have a generous bottle of Don's mix in the refrigerator that is not getting any younger. The Don's mix and the refrigerator. On Kindred Cocktails I found a recipe for the Golden Barnacle, created by Shannon Mustipher. Wow, this is good. Not sure my presentation is traditional, but the Golden Barnacle is beautiful with clear ice. This drink is so good I went to amazon and ordered a copy of Shannon's book: (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

They know you are an influencer.

Host's note: the previous topic is Drinks! 2018, which goes on for 13 delicious pages! I can't believe I couldn't find a Drinks thread since 2018. It's now well into 2023! Anyhow it had been at least a couple years since I'd had a proper zombie. Last week Amazon/Whole Foods proffered white grapefruit and I knew the time had come. Sadly what were sent were ruby grapefruit, as the PLU code clearly indicated. Of course amazon being amazon I didn't have to pay. But I still had grapefruit to use up. I pressed* ahead. I made up a batch of Don's mix, refreshed my supply of Small Hand Foods grenadine and purchased a new bottle of falernum. Likewise a bottle of Ricard Pastis de Marseille, for which the recipe requires six drops. Got the job done. Lovely with clear ice. *Pun halfheartedly intended.

My new Dexas cubes are currently chilling a zombie. Once you get over the learning curve for directional freezing, you won't believe the results to effort ratio for making pristinely clear ice. Slightly off topic my favorite rye is Whistlepig, single barrel, barrel strength -- but I drink my rye neat.

Yes, I did this in the blast freezer, but only because the blast freezer was easier. As @weinoo mentioned, these things take up a lot of room. I would have had to take stuff out of the kitchen freezer to make space. The blast freezer is reasonably level. The kitchen freezer is not. Also the temperature of the blast freezer is adjustable in one degree increments. The kitchen freezer has a dial, hard to reach, that affects both the freezer and the refrigerator temperatures. However because the blast freezer has a fan, I placed aluminum foil over the setup so that the surface of the ice was not rippled. After the ice was frozen I transferred it to the kitchen freezer. I would say that the most important trick to the clear ice process is to adjust the freezer temperature warm enough so that the cubes freeze very slowly.

I've been reading Camper English's The Ice Book. On page 34 there is a picture of commercial molds which includes a Dexas clear ice maker tray. Of course I had to try one. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) Herewith is my first attempt at directional freezing...

Forty three year old rental apartment. Not going to happen.