fresco

For rock bottom prices, it's impossible to beat stuff purchased at Chinese kitchen supply stores--cleaver, spiders, bamboo steamers, chopsticks. The quality is acceptable, but not great.

See above.

Ontario's Liquor control board is selling a whack of Cheateau Palmer bordeaux from 1945 onwards, prices in Canadian $: http://lw10fd.law10.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bi...41535&len=51845 V-MAIL - Vintages E-mail Bulletin *****We have extended the ordering deadline for the Château Palmer Vertical Offer to Monday, July 21, 2003. 1. VINTAGES SPECIAL OFFER: CHÂTEAU PALMER VERTICAL Château Palmer has had a reputation well beyond its 1855 ranking of a Margaux third growth. "Long before anyone coined the phrase 'super-second', one château in Cantenac-Margaux - and a troisième, not even a deuxième - had already achieved super-second status. The château is Palmer. The vintage was 1961." (Clive Coates MW, Grands Vins - The Finest Châteaux of Bordeaux and their Wines, 1995) Read more about the history of Château Palmer just after the product list. THE OFFER Vintages, in association with Mähler-Besse, present an exceptional vertical of Château Palmer, including the famed vintages 1961, 1966, 1970, 1983 and 1989. These wines have been sourced directly from Mähler-Besse. The company has revived an ancient Bordeaux tradition: putting a neck-label on each bottle to show the year it left the Mähler-Besse cellars. For customers, this system guarantees the wine has not been disturbed since it was originally available for sale. Such provenance is essential when buying older vintages. FAX AND EMAIL ORDERING DEADLINE - 5:00 P.M., MONDAY, JULY 21, 2003 Orders will be accepted by fax or e-mail only. Those orders received before the deadline will be processed in random sequence. To order, use the attached Excel order form. Ordering starts Friday, June 27, 2003. **** E-mail ordering: send your completed order to mailto:vintagesorders@lcbo.com. For security reasons, please do NOT include your credit card number. **** Fax ordering: print out the Excel order form and fax it to: 416-365-5777 or 1-800-282-2197. A Vintages Customer Service representative will contact you after July 23, 2003 to confirm your order. A 50% deposit of the total order value is required at time of order confirmation. The remaining half is due when your order is ready to be shipped to the LCBO store of your choice. We will contact you by mail to complete the payment and arrange for shipping. The wine is scheduled to arrive by November 2003. Size btls Product Name (ml) Score Price available Palmer 1996 750 WS 91 $199 300 Palmer 1996 1500 WS 91 $449 30 Palmer 1995 750 WS 94 $239 300 Palmer 1995 1500 WS 94 $529 30 Palmer 1994 750 WS 89 $149 300 Palmer 1994 1500 WS 89 $349 30 Palmer 1994 6000 WS 89 $1,629 1 Palmer 1993 750 WS 88 $149 300 Palmer 1993 1500 WS 88 $329 60 Palmer 1993 3000 WS 88 $749 3 Palmer 1993 5000 WS 88 $1,399 1 Palmer 1993 6000 WS 88 $1,599 1 Palmer 1992 750 RP 84 $159 120 Palmer 1992 1500 RP 84 $329 60 Palmer 1992 3000 RP 84 $799 3 Palmer 1991 750 RP 87 $189 60 Palmer 1991 1500 RP 87 $439 30 Palmer 1990 750 WS 92 $279 120 Palmer 1990 1500 WS 92 $599 30 Palmer 1990 3000 WS 92 $1,399 1 Palmer 1989 750 WS 95 $439 60 Palmer 1989 1500 WS 95 $1,129 30 Palmer 1988 750 DEC **** $299 120 Palmer 1988 1500 DEC **** $745 30 Palmer 1986 750 WS 94 $299 60 Palmer 1986 1500 WS 94 $745 30 Palmer 1985 750 WS 91 $299 60 Palmer 1985 5000 WS 91 $2,499 1 Palmer 1983 750 RP 97 $539 60 Palmer 1983 1500 RP 97 $1,499 30 Palmer 1982 750 WS 90 $379 60 Palmer 1981 750 WS 89 $179 60 Palmer 1981 1500 WS 89 $399 30 Palmer 1979 750 WS 90 $269 60 Palmer 1978 750 RP 90 $269 60 Palmer 1975 730 RP 90 $269 60 Palmer 1974 730 $179 60 Palmer 1971 730 RP 86 $349 60 Palmer 1970 730 RP 95 $519 36 Palmer 1967 730 RP 87 $219 24 Palmer 1966 730 RP 96 $1,249 24 Palmer 1962 730 RP 91 $1,259 12 Palmer 1961 730 RP 99 $3,359 12 Palmer 1959 730 WS 98 $3,369 6 Palmer 1959 1500 WS 98 $8,299 3 Palmer 1955 730 $6,999 6 Palmer 1945 730 RP 97 $8,419 3 Vintages reserves the right to limit quantities. Prices and product selection may change without prior notice. FAX AND EMAIL ORDERING DEADLINE - 5:00 P.M., MONDAY, JULY 21, 2003 A BRIEF HISTORY The name Palmer dates only back to 1814 when it was purchased by Charles Palmer, a general in the victorious English army at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The property had previously been known as Château de Gascq. Clive Coates in his book, Grands Vins, relates in the detail the myriad connections between the De Gascq family and Bordeaux's leading figures and estates. Charles Palmer came into the story quite by chance. While travelling from Lyons to Paris, he met "an attractive lady, Marie Brunet de Ferrière", widow of the owner, Blaise Jean Alexandre de Gascq. She was on her way to Paris to sell the estate to settle the property division according to French law. Palmer knew a bargain when he saw one and snapped up the property - second only to Château Lafite declared the widow - for 100,000 francs. The rest of Palmer's ascent to glory and then tragic decline is perfect material for a BBC production. Palmer made enormous improvements and additions to the estate. But the investments and a larcenous employee quickly ate up his fortune. He was forced to sell his estate and moved back to Mayfair, London to live out his days. After passing through the hands of the Pereire family from 1853 to 1938, "a consortium of four famous local wines names: Sichel, Mähler-Besse, Ginestet and Miaihle, bought the property. By the 1980s, the Mähler-Besse family and Sichel & Co. ended up as the sole owners. Of Dutch and Bordeaux origin, the Mähler-Besse family has been associated with great Bordeaux wines since 1892. Anton Frédérik Elimar Mähler (1869-1952), originally from Arnhem in the Netherlands, was given the opportunity of taking over his parents textile business. Instead he decided to work in the fine wine industry! He set off for Bordeaux and created his own business in 1892. His eldest son, Henry (1906-1997), began to work for the company after finishing his law degree. He took over from his father in 1945 and ran the business until 1994. Franck Mähler-Besse, Henry's son, was the third generation to work in the family business and currently manages the company. The storied estate has had many excellent figures, including the late Alan Sichel, who steadily improved its reputation. The Mähler-Besse négociant firm has principally been responsible for its commercial distribution throughout the world. It has a great reputation for old vintages of Bordeaux, with Palmer as the centrepiece. FROM VINE TO WINE Sixty years of uninterrupted progress have given Palmer a wonderful reputation. The vineyard land consists of a low rise with Garonne gravel, in some places four metres deep. Excellent sun exposure, soil, drainage and microclimate make this estate unique. The 52-hectare vineyard consists of a high proportion of Merlot (47%) to Cabernet Sauvignon (47%) and Petit Verdot (6%). Robert Parker Jr. attributes Palmer's "Pomerol-like richness, suppleness, and generous, fleshy character" to the high Merlot content. However the wine possesses considerable ageing potential due to its long maceration that contributes deep colour, structure and concentration. Clive Coates comments that "it is never overpowering, never every full in body, yet it is perfectly balanced; aristocratic and accessible while still young, it attains in maturity. A soft, generous, almost velvety character, a bouquet of elegant, rich, complex fruit and finish of delicate distinction." Alter Ego de Palmer, born with the '98 vintage, is the other wine produced by Château Palmer. It has the advantage of being enjoyable to drink relatively young. Vintages will release the 2000 Alter Ego in the July 26th release and the 2000 Château Palmer in the August 9th release.

Don't many of the fast food trends (and McDonalds) come out of California? Wraps? California rolls? Drive in restaurants?

Maggie and Dave, you're three for three. Don't know that I buy the notion that Fritz Brenner had notions about Archie. My impression is that he saw Goodwin more as cat than catamite--a rather alarming and sometimes feral creature to be fed and fussed over rather than a tasty morsel that he fancied served over easy.

Thanks, Pegasus. Now if I could only find a way to prevent the people who produce the truly terrible local weekly stuffed with flyers from flinging it at my front porch, I'd be all set.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, fresco -- unless you know something, and I've stumbled onto it accidentally" Dave, You and Maggie both deserve a vote of confidence and thanks--great work. John D. has taken the mystery of Meyer to the grave, so calling him Meyer Meyer is as valid as Meyer Lemon or whatever.

Meyer's full name is never disclosed in the McGee series--so Dave may well have inside information that we are sharing for the first time. Ross McDonald (Kenneth Millar in real life) , while an excellent mystery writer, worked the opposite coast from John D.

Food Basics, which seems to be the only Ontario supermarket to put their flyer online, offers a pound each of hot house tomatoes, cucumbers, canteloupe, red peppers, eggplant and spinach PLUS about six mangoes and a romaine lettuce for the equivalent of about US$5.31. Or 3.5 12-packs of Mae Wests, a peculiar Canadian confection that I doubt is available outside the country. http://www.foodbasics.com/about.asp

A South African company is set to launch an agave-based spirit on major international markets to fill the gap created by tequila shortages. Mexican authorities seem prepare to be of assistance: http://www.just-drinks.com/news_detail.asp?art=20185

Congratulations both of you for capturing the essence of Stout. Can't wait for the ensuing instalments on what's bound to become a classic on eGullet--recipes wrapped up in mysteries. I do have to say, though, that the Nero Wolfe stories hold up a damn sight better than the Nero Wolfe recipes. Is there anything more stale or less satisfying than a cookbook whose time has come and gone? There is one other Stout food connection that should be noted. His sister Ruth Stout was an early exponent of organic gardening under mulch and wrote extensively on the subject.

Top of my class at CIA, a rising star at some of the finest kitchens in America, and I wind up cooking at the NHL's retirement home.

Top of my class at CIA, a rising star at some of the finest kitchens in America, and I wind up cooking at the NHL's retirement home.

"You know who's really underpaid? Food writers. And that leads to all kinds of corruption" There certainly seems to be a widespread assumption that many food writers, if not actively on the take, are not opposed to eating on the house. I'd feel a lot better about restaurant reviews if publications would regularly or periodically publish their reviewing does and don'ts. One aspect of the hazards of reviewing was debated in the Reviewing While Impaired thread, but I do believe that the most common impairment for reviewers is ethical, not ethyl, in nature.

"I had an amateur student who showed up with his secretary to take notes for him." Hilarious. Sounds like the perfect item to launch the "most inauspicious beginnings" thread.

Some of the infomercials are much more entertaining than the FN shows.

How far do you have to stray from ground chuck before it stops being a burger?

Sounds great and the the weather should be perfect. Algonquin? If there is some place around that sells good local fish and there usually is, we try have at least one dinner built around that. It's also part of the pleasure to forage at markets for local strawberries etc.

This goes a long way to explaining why so many brands of coffee seem to be so cheap and so undrinkable. Maxwell House, Folgers and several other brands are often on sale for around $5 or $6 Canadian a kilo. Somebody must drink it.

When you put it that way, it seems to make sense. Must be an extremely persistent myth, though, because just about every mention of boiling evaporated milk in the can warns of the danger of explosion.

Is the moment when it explodes where the term "screaming eagles" comes from? BTW, this may open up a whole new area for discussion--dangerous delicacies, where the preparation involves a degree of risk.

There is a much less exciting way to accomplish the same thing--reduce in a double boiler. But without the frisson of danger, hardly seems worth it.

It seems to somehow involve the old "boil a can of evaporated milk for one hour" routine. Sort of pressure cooker roulette.

Most interesting post by far on this subject. Now go have a beer.

I'll turn this mierda into foam and we'll call the place el bulli.