Plantes Vertes

Amusing strategy. Not for animal lovers.

Guys, thank you so much for your input. My new problem is obviously being spoilt for choice; I'm going to have to think about throwing more parties. I will consider how to incorporate as many of your suggestions as possible and let you know what we turn out in the end. Thanks again! This oven idea is inspired. We do actually have a good friend as a neighbour and an oven could make life a heck of a lot simpler. Thanks! This dish sounds superb. I'm thinking artichoke omelette will definitely feature. Thanks for the links! Spring rolls would certainly be fun and easy to serve. You know, I'm not really either. This is definitely a strong contender. Risotto would be perfect - filling and delicious. Thanks for the idea! Rice is bound to make an appearance now. You're right, I need to consider how people will be able to eat easily. Finger-food is there for a reason... I am really tempted by Italian food - this would be super-easy and delicious. The soup notion is especially appealing. This is genius. I am totally sold on the idea and am definitely going to try and implement it. Thanks for the advice on the wine/food pairing Nickrey, that's very welcome, and I'm more than likely to rely on your micro-rice scheme. This might well save the day! I am also leaning heavily towards soup. Soup and panini would probably be ideal for this very casual event; I love the idea that everyone could choose their filling. And I will certainly try and get my hands on a cooler. Sage advice! You're right, desserts will not be a good theme. Scratch that. Meatballs on the other hand... There's a thought... Greek meatballs are good and easy -- keep them warm in a slow cooker, chafing dish, fondue pot, what have you, and serve with toothpicks. This is a very typical recipe and you can use all beef or part pork if it's hard to get ground lamb: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/margarets-keftedes-greek-meatballs/ Even easier, if you're near an Ikea, they have frozen meatballs that are good and they can just go right into the microwave to warm up.We live in a muslim area so lamb is pretty much everywhere - thanks a lot for the recipe! I think this could easily form part of the meat element.

But think where we'd have taken her otherwise. No goodies, no dice. That's how we roll.

You can buy from Tesco's or local equivalent. All their produce tastes the same, all the time. It just doesn't taste like anything you'd particularly want to eat. Otherwise, I believe you will have to go a long way to avoid variation in nature. It's just there; seed, soil, growing temperature and rainfall, harvest time, storage conditions, age since harvest and a multitude of other factors will affect the quality of your produce and it would be next to impossible to find out all these things, let alone control for them. Hydroponic growing or other scientific interventions could minimise this but I doubt that is a possibility for the majority of crops at present. Of course, growing your own is the best way to know what you're getting but this certainly doesn't eliminate dud crops or bad years. It seems like the best solution is to know your producer and trust them not knowingly to sell inferior goods (an expensive and burdensome way to shop for many people), and to know your produce so that you can detect obvious flaws and choose varieties that you prefer. After that, as you said, reacting to the specifics of your dish as you cook it to produce a good result despite variations. But none of those will cut out your problem completely.

OMG. I love how you think. PM me for more on my approach to combat.

Could at the very least have challenged him to a duel.

We will give a party at the end of this month and I'm trying to decide what to feed everyone. There will be perhaps 40 guests, but probably not all at the same time. The main focus of the party will not be the food (that'll be the drink... ) but I expect everyone will want something to eat and I am also enjoying the challenge of what to produce. The catch is, our kitchen facilities are... restricted. We have no oven, only one big pan and one proper knife, two chopping boards, a colander, two small pans, two large bowls, a potato masher, wooden spoons, a microwave, four stovetop burners, a blender. We have a small European-sized fridge-freezer. There's not a lot of counter space. It would be nice to provide some meat and some veggie choices. The food will have to stand up to sitting out during the party (buffet-style service). My housemates are not into food and I am hardly the world's greatest chef so this stuff will need to be fairly easy to do. We won't be able to store many things prepared long in advance as we need to use the space for day-to-day edibles; on the other hand we don't want to spend the immediate foremath of the party making food in a panic. We want to spend it beautifying ourselves and starting the wine We're amenable to buying or renting some equipment but we want to minimise that as we have very limited storage space in the flat; I do actually have far more kitchen gear that I could conceivably get hold of but it's in storage in another city, so preferably not. I am considering various ideas: - Just hors d'oeuvres. - Just desserts (tricky with no oven...). - A few large plates of picnic-type ingredients - different breads, charcuterie, cheeses, salad. Simplest but also quite boring. - A couple of filling and easy dishes like stovetop braises with potatoes and a vegetable side. Perhaps a bit difficult to eat in cramped conditions, but cheap and not hard to make. - A bunch of different salads, including some heavy ones with grains or potatoes. Again, easy, but not very seasonal. - Mezze. We have the advantage that our friends are hungry and not fussy so will probably be pretty pleased with whatever we end up making . I just want to make them really welcome and encourage everyone to come back often. What type of food would you make for this party?

Hardly gratuitous; indeed highly germane I felt. One has to have standards. Anyway, come on over. You can crash at mine

Linda and other friends of Dave, I am sorry. I enjoyed his contributions here very much but they can only have been a small fraction of what he brought to those he knew.

I did actually suffer a moment of unwarranted candour last night, one which I'm called to question with the cold sagacity of morning - but between the cocktail and the candour, we killed a bottle of Scotch, so I don't know which to blame.

You hadn't heard? - a food group, + $10.

What is under the eggs?

Widow's Kiss was our Halloween drink. By all evidence and nature, it needed a sinister name... 1.5oz cognac 0.75oz Bénédictine 0.75oz Green Chartreuse 2 dash Angostura bitters It is obviously super-herbal and spice-tasting, but actually a good cognac cocktail as well. Quite fruited.

We had some Spanish wine in the fridge so we made dinner to go with it. Patatas bravas Roasted peppers with garlic Tortilla (not pictured)

What will you be serving, Hassouni?

Erm... yes. I searched for Campari to put that in the Campari cocktails thread but have evidently strayed... Anyhow, it is not too astringent for me, I enjoy the sour profile a lot.

Lucien Gaudin 1.5oz London dry 0.75oz Cointreau 0.75oz extra dry vermouth 0.75oz Campari Great drink.

Hi Steve, I actually asked Huiray something similar here.

Get lots of tulip/sherry glasses (one each for each whiskey) or factor in the washing up Light the area so you can view the whiskey properly Provide flat, room-temperature water (supposedly tap and sparkling will disrupt your palate but I'm not sure this signifies greatly if you're eating at the same time...) Serve measures small enough to allow everyone to taste everything without getting hammered and have more of their favourites at the end (and/or give something to spit in) Serve measures big enough that everyone can taste properly (~1/2oz min?) Use the last two considerations to determine the number of whiskeys Serve the whiskeys in order from lightest to richest You might consider digitalising tasting notes after the event as a record of your club's activities Mostly just good rules for life really

Amazon has them here . ETA I would try salsify as a substitute if that is available. It is in season over the winter.

The Whiskey Bourbon The Munchies Dates wrapped in bacon Sweetcorn fritters Chocolate cake Pecan pie The Whiskey Tennessee The Munchies Sharp cheese BBQ sandwiches Honey roast nuts The Whiskey Wheat The Munchies Roast pork sandwiches Apple pie The Whiskey Rye The Munchies Rye bread with salmon and pickles Liver pate on crackers Beef jerky

Malt. Malt whiskies.

Here is part 3: Opium Opium is a funny fish. It has terrible, terrible decor (it's meant to be like an opium den, right? so why are there old bits of luggage everywhere?), is super-dark and uncomfortable and it plays music that only people who like '90s pop music like. That is really nothing like an opium den. It is also up four (five?) flights of stairs and impossible to locate. The vibe is that they really want to stop people getting in, or if they must get in, from staying. When we turned up and asked to be admitted the bouncer called upstairs and told us that there was no room; then qualified as we were about to shove off by saying that there was 'a three-minute wait'. It was odd. Still, we were there, we had sore feet and we had heard about the drinks so that is where we went. Once we made it up the stairs and adjusted our squints we discovered a menu that was quite promising on first sight but bizarrely off-putting in the details. You can judge for yourself here. Every drink seemed to hold some interest and every drink was weirdly compromised by some random interloping addition like cranberry juice or, well, vodka... I had a crack at customising the Opium cocktail but the waiter would not have it. Descriptions from the website. Chai-nese Clogs short - light - complex - £11.50 - by Henry de Rudder East meets west in this spice route inspired drink. Bols Genever, fresh lime and homemade chai tea syrup join a few drops of Schizandra tincture, are shaken together and served with a “kopstootje” of beer on the side. That's what I ordered. The spices were keeping a low profile and the drink was pretty lightweight; the sip had no backup and the limes were mighty lemony too, but we agreed that it was an ok way to present the genever. The beer was nondescript; it was also very small. This was meant as a cute reversal of a traditional order of beer + genever, but we reckoned that a more serious beer could have been chosen to complement the cocktail rather than just sitting next door. I also believe that for this size-swap thing to come off properly we ought by rights to have had our genever in pints One other of our group had this too and I think liked it better than I did. I am really critical. Chasing the Dragon short - smoky - rich - £11.50 - by Joel Parsons There aren’t many places left where you can enjoy a nice scotch and a fine cigar in the warmth these days, so we’ve tried to recreate that sensation with this one. Chivas 12 year old Scotch whisky with Mozart chocolate liqueur, Grand Marnier and a hint of Antica Formula vermouth, stirred down and served with smoked dark chocolate and a mist of wood smoke. This drink has a fun presentation in that you can inhale the woodsmoke from out of the glass. Some people felt they'd gone rather OTT on the smoke side, but actually I enjoyed it although I don't swing for gimmicky presentations very much (looking at you, Blind Pig...). The idea is that the bitter chocolate balances out the saltiness of the drink; the person who ordered it seemed convinced. However, that person also pointed out that this formula comes from another bar. At that point we decided that we risked becoming drunk and that we should get in a cab and vouchsafe our dignity forthwith. And so we did. I should say that although our visitor brought us highly desirable potable presents, this did not influence my opinion of them in any way. I am very very happy that we met.

Sunday Morning 2oz rye 1oz Campari 3/4oz grapefruit juice 3/4oz strong blood orange tea 1/4oz vanilla syrup 1/2bsp matcha powder Dash grapefruit bitters Grapefruit peel garnish Incorporate matcha into syrup, shake and strain

Next, we went to a good bar. Being totally crammed they were loth to let us in to the Blind Pig, but heaven smiled and we were able to exploit some handy barworld connections to get through the door. A word of warning; the following report contains puns liable to offend those of cultivated humour. Rum DMC Gareth Evans Walnut infused Smith & Cross overproof rum, Appleton V/X, Cynar, maple syrup, lime, orange bitters We erred in ordering this drink first, because it was superb and could not possibly be matched. The walnuts were beautiful and in strong evidence and the drink managed to remain refreshing although there was not a lot of lime to balance the histrionic S&C. Maple syrup and Regan's stayed modest and nuanced the rums and Cynar. Gareth also spent a few minutes discussing the conception of this drink with us and proved himself exceptionally generous as well as useful with spirits. That's... Amaro Jagermeister, Cynar, Punt e Mes, orange bitters, ice rock, grapefruit oil Are you familiar with the Jager bomb? If not, please let me know how you achieved this. It is the most frequent way to 'mix' Jagermeister in the UK and we thought it quite intrepid as a drinks base therefore. Minds divided over this concoction; in my view it was balanced in the sense of being both strongly sweet and strongly bitter, but not consequently very pleasant to drink. This opinion prevailed on a popular vote, but the thing was not unanimous and it won at least one supporter. Rye 'n' Air Pikesville rye, Campari, peach brandy, anise, sweet vermouth blend, grapefruit oils, cabin pressure, duty paid I found this had a very pretty flavour and was delicate and lively. It was sorely hard-done-by following immediately after the Rum DMC; in comparison it seemed a tad slight but I am sure we would have appreciated it more if we'd discovered it first. It comes in a clear bottle in an aeroplane baggy with travel stickers. Too kitsch? Feelings varied. But mine were that it was too kitsch. Kamm & Sons It's an English ginseng-flavoured aperitif with grapefruit and honey and a bunch of other stuff, and a very agreeable ingredient in mixed drinks. We insisted that some of this go down our guest from abroad in order to promote British distilling and fulfil the demands of patriotism, and so that we would get to have some too. There were a large number of prebatched drinks behind the bar, along with some recherche spirits and liqueurs and the number 1 display of facial hair in the city. We closed the joint. More follows after cliffhanger no.2.