Plantes Vertes

My older relatives have always drunk either strong tea or buttermilk with meals. I think this is customary for Irish people of their generation. They never drink water by choice; no alcohol. My parents grew up when wine was becoming popular (or at least heard of) in their part of the world and they take it most days with the evening meal. I prefer water. It would be expensive for me to drink decent wine casually and for me the main purpose of meal-time liquids is to be hydrated and avoid choking. Water works for that and doesn't interfere with the flavours of the food.

I thought this might grab Londoners with an interest in gin. Or, as the site would say, a ginterest. I am sorry about that.... As I gather, you can custom blend your own gin.

I don't see a need to smash the garlic with the knife. I just lean on it and it dies

You're right, that is what they were designed for, but it's still possible to obtain a license for a (sometimes much) smaller still, like Sipsmith gin (300l), Oxley gin (90l) or Sacred gin (6l and 2l). But you do have to prove you're serious and safe. I know Adam is... well, at least serious about his gin ETA but I absolutely concede, the license would be a heck of a pain to get.

Adam, I think you can; you just need a license. Details here.

Just two rums? I am not sure how anyone could live like this... Rums are by far the most represented category in my home bar, but as I remember you are not exactly a tiki fan, so maybe that explains your drastic decision! The rum-depleted brain is prone to rash thinking.

This week's Guardian cooking supplement has joined in the squash cook-off. Ten best courgette recipes.

Linda, that looks absolutely spectacular!

The cupboard was rather bare today so we were obliged to eat a squash. Lasagna type: Stuffed type: No-one dared to complain!

Get out. Just leave. You obviously aren't one of us. Kidding.

Does this count as a tiki drink? Falernum and lime are there - on the other hand there isn't any rum and the glassware has no face. And it contains elderflower. And there are a very restrained five ingredients only. Ninth Ward Brother Cleve, Tales of the Cocktail 2008 1 1/2 oz Bourbon3/4 oz Falernum 3/4 oz Lime Juice 1/2 oz St. Germain 2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Steve Irby, I found one here. Please post your results for the real thing if you do try it. ETA For some reason the NYT recipe omits the sauce from the recipe; the book specifies a red pepper or tomato coulis. I can PM you the recipes for those if you like.

furzzy, you can get them on Amazon here.

I had my suspicions...

When it comes out it looks like this: Then I made a quick sauce out of a spare roasted pepper I happened to have hanging around, some parsley, a small garlic clove and salt and pepper. We ate it with bulghur and some greens, and a Chateau Musar Jeune from the Lebanon.

Today I gave the Gâteau d'Aubergines (aubergine/eggplant cake) a whirl. The lineup: You cut and score the aubergines, sprinkle with olive oil and cook in the oven. Before: After: Then you gut the aubergines so that the skins remain *intact*. I didn't do that. I used a grapefruit knife and they ended up in ronions. However, I managed to rescue a few scraps and fashion then into a woven aubergine basket: Please note that my version does not look exactly like the one in the book, which is an object of beauty and awe. But mine's fine. Right? Right? Next you put the aubergine innards into a blender, where they're joined by a red pepper, roasted and skinned as demonstrated in the previous post, plus a tsp of cardamom seeds, salt and pepper. At this point you're meant to add full cream, eggs and bread soaked in milk. These are foods I try to avoid so for binding I added 2TBS chia seeds and some water. You stuff that inside your aubergine basket, and stick it back in the oven.

Let's not be hasty. My powers are small and I'm quite benign

Look, I don't like it when people realise I'm controlling them from inside their head. Muahahahahaha. Does Cocktail Lab use Merlet? It's drier than Cointreau - maybe that's why you found there was too much triple sec with the original ratios.

Ratios! Had a Honeysuckle (honey Daiquiri) with Banks 5 Island and black sage honey and a drop of orange flower water. Delicious, fruity, a little savory. Um, I think you forgot to give us your ratios there, Rafa... Do you have to melt the honey? Hemingway Daiquiri 2oz Havana Club 3 1/4oz Luxardo maraschino 3/4oz lime juice 3/4oz grapefruit juice 1/2oz simple

Glad you found a reason to keep living

Hemingway

Yes, it's no problem to freeze it. Just chop it up and put it in freezer bags. If you do get some fresh you can grow it - put the root end in water, wait for the roots to grow a bit and then plant it in a pot. Then you'll always have some. You could perhaps be the first to exploit Italian demand for lemongrass, and become rich!

You're right Rotuts. Everything I need is within walking distance. My relatives in the States have an entire room in their house dedicated to storing food because it's a long trip out for shopping, plus a fridge as big as my bedroom.

About every two months or so I get things delivered from a supermarket; heavy non-perishable stuff like cans and bottles. The website saves my shopping list so I can easily just tick the things that I need to reorder. I don't have a car so it's a lot easier for me not to have to carry these things frequently. I have the storage space to do that at the moment but of course you can reduce the intervals between ordering if not. I don't have particular recipes in mind for these items, they're just useful to have around. Then every week I go to the main market in our city. There are some things that I buy every week and I just pick them up on autopilot; salad, apples, bananas, etc. I get them from the same stalls and it's nice to know the traders. I also have a look to see if there's anything particularly appealing. Based on what I find at the market I decide the recipes I want to do. Then I shop for the rest of the ingredients as I go. I don't really make special trips for that but just pick things up on my way home from work for example. That's what I do day-to-day. Then I also order some things from Amazon particularly and a few other online sources; mainly alcohol That's because my city has no decent sources for the things I want to buy. It's quite expensive but I would have to go to London otherwise so I suck it up. The other category is bulk dry goods which I get through a fairtrade distributor (also delivered). I only do this a few times a year as I don't go through things like 2kg lentils that fast. This is not necessary at all as I could get them from the supermarket but I like to support the company and its mission. It's not the most efficient way because I end up shopping several times per week and from quite a few merchants, but this way I can save a lot of time by having the staples brought to my house, and still have fresh (and cheap) goods from the market. I would probably shop differently (more often) if I were buying meat or fish, but as it is most of my food will last a good few days no problem. I will be moving house next month and I'll have a lot less space; then I won't have things delivered and I'll probably shop every couple of days.

You can freeze cheese but the texture will alter as ice crystals form when the water freezes. You would probably have to use it in cooking rather than eat it as it comes after freezing. A benefit would be that you could grate off small quantities of the frozen cheese as needed.