cdh

So the lesson here is that the surface area of the inflated bag is important, and that if Anna's bags are exploding, then making the bag bigger would lessen the likelihood of that happening?

What good does a vacuum bag treatment do to the process that just sealing them in, say, a bowl under cling film doesn't do? You're steaming them in their own steam either way...

Hmmm... does not look worth $500.

If the 007 nomenclature is canon, then your beverage is a "vodka martini", per his order "vodka martini, shaken not stirred". Where the kangaroo nomenclature comes from, I have no idea, but have never heard of it before. The extension of "martini" to any drink in a conical glass is a hallmark of restaurants that don't take their drinks seriously, and don't care about the opinion of people who do. So long as they tell you what is in your martini, no harm done, and it saves them the mental energy of thinking up better names for the sweet fruity concoctions they're slinging.

How expensive the Boyajian oil is depends on how you look at it... The 5 oz. bottle of it that has been in my succession of fridges over the past 15 years is still 3/4 full, and it does get used. A chopstick dipped in it to stir a drink does more aromatizing than any twist can... a half teaspoon is as much as I've ever thrown into a baked good, and that is plenty... The stuff goes a long long long way.

Boyajian lemon oil would do it. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=boyajian%20lemon%20oil&index=blended is what I'm talking about. Very small amounts bring great citrus aroma.

you saw what I did there...

You'll have to let us know what final combination you picked, and how it went over.

Whose orange bitters?

Pick the one you like the best, or at least the one you think they'll like the best. There's no objective answer, though the homework for coming to a subjective answer sounds like fun. What vermouth are you using and at what ratio?

I think Lisa is on the right track-- I've never seen them sold pre-puffed. Only as little starch pucks that puff up when you deep fry them. Doesn't look like something you can do without a kitchen... unless you want to experiment with the microwave method that the wiki article mentions... if your not-kitchen-yet has a microwave.

You're asking about these? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prawn_cracker

Wow! That White Lyan stuff really does quantify the value of some drinks-mixing knowledge... The difference in cost between the raw ingredients and the finished product is staggering... but it still looks to be at a discount on a per drink basis from cost of ordering at a bar.

Sounds like a fine thing to toss into the picnic cooler... if it isn't 't already fill of Pimms.

When one drink could kill you, you really should take control and only drink bevs you mix yourself.

Purple drank?

Nyquil is syrupy and tastes like licorice and medicine... something like sambuca is a close replacement. But if your friend likes the drinks with the medicine in them, he's probably not drinking them for the alcoholic buzz... but something else. Perhaps the answer would be to make a tasty drink without the medicine, and let him know the pharmacy sells codeine-based cough syrup.

Even a complete recipe is not going to help you recreate the exact flavor of the commercial product. You're just not going to know or have access to the exact grade and type of the ingredients. There are many different grades and origins of cinnamon out there, and there are dozens of different types of oranges the peel might have come from. It's not likely that the components that went into the commercial product are even available to you at a retail level. Don't try for an exact reproduction... you've got a good starting point... Go get blending and see if you can make something tastier than the original.

Looks spiffy. Actually is more versatile than just a SV device. Questions do come to mind about how well the temp probe works under all of the different conditions listed. Seems like a great method to control an induction hob, provided the probe is accurate enough and reports back often enough (and is not adversely affected by all the EM fields the induction hob is throwing in the general direction of the probe...).

Well, it is mid-winter. Get a thermometer and put it in the basement. If it gets below 50 down there, then you might worry it is getting too cold. Most basements don't do that. Wine is much more sensitive to heat than to cold.

Do you have a basement? If so, you probably don't need a dedicated wine fridge just for storage. My basement stays in a fine temperature range for aging wines over many years... no electrical gadgetry required. Come to think of it, where do you live? Lisa's Arizona location could lead to destroyed wine if the device fails mid summer while she's away and has her AC turned off... Are you someplace where your wine would get cooked if there were a power failure?

When you say "cream sauces", what do you mean? If you're talking hollandaise or bearnaise, you might want to look at your technique with the eggs if they're turning out scrambled. If you're talking about sauces that actually use cream, you'll need to be more specific about what else is in them... the mouthfeel you're looking for is more likely to come from gelatin than cream...

I actually stopped in there for a cream puff this morning... yummy!

Were they donuts made out of croissant dough, or where they things labelled "cronut" on the shelves? If the former, they're totally kosher. You can't own an idea without a patent, and Ansel doesn't have one. If the latter, then it is an infringement of the trademark rights Ansel's got. His trademark atty is listed at the PTO as: CANDICE COOKCA-CO GLOBAL INC./THE COOK LAW GROUP77 WATER ST FL 8NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10005-4418UNITED STATES She'd surely appreciate a heads up, and any evidence you might want to provide her. Around me the sources of croissant dough circular pastries are all asian bakeries that don't label anything in Latin script... so no TM issues... and they are tasty... and actually are lightly glazed.

I had it at Daniel back in the 90s, so I think it was his. Potato wrapped cod, red wine reduction. Still memorable.