cdh

I made a bunch of reasonably classical Vietnamese summer rolls for dinner... proper skins, mung bean vermicelli, lettuce, juilienned carrots, shrimp, chives, mint... and then I recognized I had no idea what sort of sauce one is supposed to dip these things into. So I improvised... and it turned out quite well... a few T of unsweetened chunk peanut butter, a t of minced garlic, maybe a T of Thai roasted red pepper paste, a t of a Thai chunky red pepper and basil and garlic sauce, a squeeze of fish sauce and a squeeze of lime juice, all thrown into some water and reduced until the consistency was sauce-like. Anybody have any other suggestions for tasty stuff to dip these yummy summer snacks into?

Last year at the Fancy Food show I tasted a fake-sugar-byproduct-sweetened dark chocolate bar made by somebody called Yamate chocolatiers, and it was remarkably good. So, not all mockolate is nasty... and I had no experience of the "laxitive effect" either. Zero carb, if I recall correctly.

If economic theory is right and scarcity is the root of value, I've gotten my hands on the most valuable cocktail fundamental out there: sour oranges! These things are the ideal cocktail citrus. They are powerfully aromatic; so much so that just a whiff of the plastic bag they're stored in is intoxicating. They are acidic, yet not overpoweringly so like so many supermarket lemons and limes... they have a balance between their distinctive flavor and their acid content, and thus don't require so heavy a hand with the simple syrup or triple sec or other sweet component in the cocktail mix. They are sour enough to substitute 1:1 for lemons or limes in recipes that call for them, and yields a lovely variant. Much more interesting than the often recommended substitute for them... OJ with a squeeze of lime just ain't the same stuff. They must be chock full of pectin or some other body-enhancing compound, as they give a luscious mouthfeel to everything they go into... and if you were to squeeze one into a glass of water, the seeds and such left over at the bottom of the glass after you finish drinking it down will set up in a gel of some variety that turns into glue if you leave it in the bottom of the glass overnight. Pity is that they are so infrequently stocked in any of the places I shop. They have only appeared in stores in close proximity to latino neighborhoods, and latino neighborhoods are few and far between in my corner of the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside. I will grant that they're ugly little suckers, and full of seeds and unlikely to visually appeal to the average American grocery shopper... but they are so good... So, if you have the chance to try them in a daiquiri, or margarita recipe, I'd highly recommend it. If enough people discover how good they are, then that other economic theory should take hold, and the demand will be supplied... hopefully.

I'll second the recommendation for the chp* Ikea stainless spoons, skimmers, spatulae, etc. They're pretty, they're great, and they're about $3 a pop. *so cheap that Pat Sajack wouldn't front you for the vowels

Found a better solution to the picture issue-- look at my avatar... that is my glass... anybody know where more of the same can be found?

Seville Oranges. Only available from New Years to the end of Feb... delicious, and almost totally unavailable even when they're in season... at least in the Northeast. Central Market in Austin always used to get a good supply in when they were in season.

yup. total height not more than 4 or 5 inches, ideally.

I use the terms "cocktail glass" and "martini glass" interchangably... interesting that you make a distinction... I would say that I have 5oz cocktail glasses and 8 oz cocktail glasses...

OK... what I'm hunting is something like the Optic style base with a standard martini glass sprouting from the ball.

Matthew -- Closer... those are closer to what I'm thinking... not quite it. Must take a picture and bring the camera into the office...

Nope... nothing at momastore nor C&B is exactly what I'm looking for. (but I don't know exactly what you're talking about since the image links above aren't working for me now.) The glasses I seek have a real base like the tall stemmed ones... just not the tall stems...

Matthew again- Do please snap a picture of yours and upload it, and I'll let you know if we're thinking the same thing. FG- I'll give the bizrate site a try, but have had no luck with the google, froogle, and yahoo shopping routes... may be a nomenclature issue. As to the greater specificity-- conical bowl, 45-50 degree incline. color and adornments secondary to shape, though the one remaining example I have is an amber glass with the stretched sphere section treated such that it appears iridescent.

Matthew- thinking of the book and antique route, do you know if the book writers have standardized on a nomenclature for such glasswares? Is there a in-the-trade shorthand for the stubby cocktail glasses?

Agreed on the big pot sentiment. I picked up a 20 quart Tramontina pot from Walmart for $35 when I needed a new brewing kettle... disc bottom keeps the bottom from developing hot spots that would otherwise carmelize the beer... and now I can certainly cook enough pasta if 20 people suddenly decide to descend on my house some weekend...

Have just looked through the Libby catalog, and they have nothing in the style of glass that I'm looking for... Thanks for the pointer anyway!

Have not tried hunting in antique shops, largely b/c I believe somebody out there has been making them recently... and keeping manufacturers in business is a good thing... The ones I have got are Pottery Barn vintage 1997 or so, so they were being made 6 years ago...

Hi all... I'm wondering if anybody knows of a source stocking a wide array of glassware. I've noticed that my preferred style of cocktail glass has fallen out of fashion with the big Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel buyers and I hope that there is a source of a wider selection of styles of glassware out there. A google and froogle search hasn't turned up anything online, but glassware is sufficiently difficult to accurately verbally describe in a standardized way that the failure is not surprising. So, I'm turning to the collective wisdom of those assembled here for any pointers... For what its worth, what I'm looking for is a glass with a conical bowl, without a tall thin stem, but rather a short, thick piece of glass (mine are like stretched spheres) that connects to the base. These glasses are shorter, and more stable than ordinary cocktail glasses, and I like them for that. Drinking out of an 8 inch tall cocktail glass is always a sure recipe for spilled drink, I find. I'll post pictures if/when I get around to getting a picture into work where I have a speedy net connection.

Back to the initial inspiration for this thread... Listen to the multimedia wine feature on nytimes.com, and listen to the last review of the Chateau de Sancerre ... "classic aroma of cat litter and minerals and almost an overripe quality from the fruit"... Link to article (sub required, etc)

Have had brunch at Julian's a couple of times. Has always been pleasant, if not inspired. They did some nice crepes and such, a mascarpone stuffed something or other, nice pancakes, etc... not too out of the ordinary brunch food. Service was fine. No idea about the savory side of the kitchen.

Jason- When you say "Many of them are even QmP quality" do you mean that they taste as good as QmP but aren't certified QmP, or do you mean to say that there are some cheap QmP wines out there right now?

interesting-- Rachel, are you saying that the really cheap-ass German wines can be quality too? I've had some extraordinarily forgettable $7 Zeller Schwartze Katzs (sugar water), and Piesporter Michelsburgers (wine-flavored sugar water)... I've been totally ignoring the cheapies and paying the $12+ or so for the next step up.

In the FG household, what is the standard coffee preparation? I've been playing with home roasting for a couple of years, on and off, and haven't succeeded in getting an espresso that isn't a little too sharp and bright for my tastes... and I generally don't drink brewed coffee, which seems (if my guess that you brew rather than extract is right) to be where the benefits you derive from home roasting display themselves. I'm using a hot air roaster, btw, and a variety of different green beans from sweet maria's. Maybe it is a blend issue, but I think the roast might have something to do with it too...

yup. trocken = dry; halbtrocken = half-dry. trocken also has a very specific meaning with regard to the residual sugar/acid balance in a wine: http://eat.epicurious.com/dictionary/wine/...D=3032&ISWINE=T as does halbtrocken: http://eat.epicurious.com/dictionary/wine/...D=1395&ISWINE=T

I remember Alton Brown dealing with the 7 steak issue on one of his programs... It has to do with the shape of the bone left in the section of meat... I believe it was the shoulder... At one end of the cut, a steak-shaped section would have a bone shaped like the number 7 left in it. Further down, the shape of the bone differs. So a 7 steak is a cut from one particular end of a larger cut of beef.

I don't know that you need another lovage plant. Those things grow like crazy and will overshadow your herb garden pretty quickly. Mine is probably at least 6 feet tall right now, and it had been hacked back once already this season.