Plantes Vertes

Some London eGulleteers had the very happy opportunity to meet a gracious and tolerant member from far away the other night and to drag them an unreasonable distance around Soho in quest of drinks. I forgot to ask the other participants whether they cared to have their movements and identities revealed online so I leave it to them to come forward, which I hope they will do because I did not have my camera and can only provide bald words without their help. The Savoy Where else could we go? Ruby Bullet Akvavit, lemon juice, simple and bitters. I am a fool. I confess to ordering this drink; my excuse is that I had never tried Akvavit and was curious.... I should have consulted eje's Savoy Stomp before chancing my arm. Anyway, other than displaying an impressive liberality with the Angostura, it was uninteresting and we sent it back, explaining to our waiter that this was no Rafa drink. White Lady Harry Craddock Gordon's, Cointreau, egg white, lemon juice Forgive us, Harry; we marked this drink down too. The spirits leant off-piste and we got a somewhat slimy shake as well. Scroll down for a picture. Norman Conquest Erik Lorincz Woodford Reserve, calvados, Martin Rosso, Angostura, sugar, orange peel twist This was our preferred drink in terms of execution, although it would be worth trying with it some different bourbons. Heavy on the Woodford; scant on the vermouth. The prominent orange plus extra fruit from the calvados made this a lot more Christmassy than a standard Manhattan and a nice choice for winter. The saddest news from this trip is that we sat by the piano. Refined, discerning and apt this playing was not. What it was was loud and harsh. Bummer. This being a pilgrimage, we had to give homage to the saint. Luckily He was working that night... one of us upheld a dignified restraint while we others pinioned Erik Lorincz at the bar and forced him to receive our veneration. He took this like a gent. What a nice man. Coming next... another bar.

Don't you mean two?

I would probably abandon abstinence as a strategy for birth control in the herbal population, and then serve it with some roasted squash, or griddled courgette with lemon, or a watermelon and feta salad, a Greek salad with white beans or more feta, or in a yogurt dressing for lamb, or in a rice or quinoa salad, or a stew with tomatoes, onion, aubergine and chickpeas.

This astonishes me! Why do they not eat?

Meredith, that's a great topic. Congratulations on your forthcoming marriage! At my wedding we served: Lobster in cauliflower veloute or Creme fraiche and avocado tartare with roasted red pepper coulis Roasted bone marrow with herb salad, creamed horseradish and toast or Girolle and trompette millefeuille with soave sauce Wild boar ragout with baked polenta, sauteed spinach with garlic, buttered green beans or Smoked aubergine with tahini sauce, smoked ricotta, roasted fennel and artichokes Pavlova Orange ice-cream and crumbled amaretti with raisins soaked in Sancerre Georges Gardet Brut Champagne 1988 Lupe-Cholet le Montrachet Grand Cru, Cote de Beaune, 1982 Bruno Giacosa Barolo, Piedmont, 1996 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, 1990 De Bortolli Noble One Botrytis Semillon 1999 Hine Rare VSOP Cognac

Holland House #3s 1.75oz genever 0.75oz extra dry vermouth 0.5oz lemon juice 0.25oz Luxardo Maraschino

Smithy, there's actually a recipe for that here.

Is it a yum-yum? You can get them from Waitrose, apparently.

Hi Simon, Could you describe the pastry in more detail? Was it like pieces of apple dispersed throughout the dough or a puree filling in the middle, or...? Which supermarket was it from? Not impossible that I have eaten one...

I curse myself for tequila excesses past. A drink this pretty should not evoke... well, the stuff that it evokes. But I will love (tequila) again.

Ugli fruit are grapefruit-shaped rather than lemon-shaped, and pinky-orange in colour, therefore I put my vote with the kaffir lime.

Sangre de Agave. 'Someone dressed up tequila in a really nice outfit'.

In days before shopoholism compelled me to acquire All Bar Gadgets, I found a tea strainer could do the job of all of these things...

Unless you feel it's important for the world to know about your Julep strainer you can probably just go with that then!

Leslie, you need to fine strain when there is debris like muddled fruit or herbs (or ice fragments) in your drink and you don't want them in the glass. Normally you would strain through both a Hawthorne (keeps the ice in the shaker) and a fine strainer (catches the bits) in that situation. The Julep strainer was originally used to reserve the crushed ice in the drinking vessel while sipping the Julep, to avoid getting a gobful of freeze. Now you use it for transferring stirred drinks from the mixing glass to the serving glass, because it fits over the mixing glass better than a Hawthorne.

Crowd-saucing

Look, you just need to get either more money or more space. Problem solved.

I would not deny myself like that. In fact it was not my ratio rationale but Simon Difford's if I remember well. However, this recipe appeals to me because it is a lot less in your face with the big flavours; I just don't need the vegetation of this world to have a fight in my mouth. I am also irrationally prejudiced against equal-parts drinks that contain more or fewer than three ingredients... ETA yes, it is from Difford, the Cabinet Room, 2010.

In recovery from a four-hour Hamlet we drank a couple(t) of Dutch Words. 2oz genever 1/2oz Green Chartreuse 1/2oz Luxardo Maraschino 1/2oz lime juice

Is your primary shaking arm hella big???

Ah, I think perhaps I misunderstood the post - sorry! - I thought it related to making Thai food with European ingredients (ie grown/reared in Europe), rather than Thai ingredients available in Europe (ie transported to Europe). Of course you can obtain Thai ingredients easily in any UK town of any size.

Once I rolled up with a friend in a cafe in Rouen in northern France and she ordered a plain salad, 'No meat, no cheese'. Our salad arrived laden with chèvre and lardons. 'I said no meat, no cheese!' 'Those are the garnish, madam. They are not integral to the salad'.

Thank you. I'd been wondering why people did not find me cool... They are contractually incapable of annoyance while on the job. Even such outlandish garb as an uber-tan and pearls will get you nothing but nice manners. Even ordering a Malibu and Coke. If you want to get a rise you must try harder. In any case, you have given away your huge t-shirt now, so the question is moot.

Hi Michael! Of course, the flora and fauna of Thailand do not much resemble those of northern Europe. You will struggle to source Thai fruits and vegetables that are not imported and I believe that it will be hard to achieve a recognisable Thai flavour without such ingredients as coconut, lime, tamarind, mango, papaya, soy, kaffir lime, taro, ginger, sweet potato, bamboo shoots, pea aubergines, galangal, turmeric, pandan and many others that are not native to this part of the world, not to mention rice and noodles and numerous species of fish. I think that Thai cuisine cooked in Europe will always rely quite heavily on shipping. However, you could certainly have good success increasing the proportion of local produce by growing your own herbs and vegetables; coriander, spring onion, Thai basil, garlic, chillis (indoors), mint, pumpkin, cabbage, mustard greens, and cucumber come to mind. You could also use domestic chicken, pork and beef, and local seafood such as prawns, mussels, cockles, eel, mackerel and crabs. I look forward to seeing your results.

Bojana, I would suggest either first searing the meat and then coating in a chocolate caramel (caramel + cocoa powder or, better, cacao nibs and a pinch of salt, pureed), then crusting with crushed toasted nuts if you want, or dredging in cocoa powder, black pepper and crushed nuts if you use them and then grilling (ie broiling) or oven roasting. The coating should just stick to the meat. I would be tempted to add some roasted root vegetables, and go with a beetroot crisp, or a little shower of Jerusalem artichoke crisps.