malachi
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Posts posted by malachi
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Given your career, I'm sure you've had the opportunity to taste a number of truly great wines. If you were to get "nostalgic" and do a retrospective evaluation of your experiences, which wines stand out as truly memorable - and why?
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Actually...
I backflush daily at home (and three times a day at work). Shrug. What can I say, I know it probably makes little to no difference - but it's that "little" that is an issue for me.
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It's called Tropical Taco. They guy is Roger. It's awesome. A must for sure.
Pacific Cafe is probably the best on the island.
Cafe Hanalei (in the Princeville Hotel) is "okay."
Duane's Ono Char Burger in Anahola is good greasy burgers.
There are a handful of "locals" places (mostly on the east side) serving things like Saipan that can be tasty.
In general, however, the best way to eat on Kauai is to cook for yourself. The ingredients can be truly incredible. The way to do it is to get the farmer's market schedule and plan your days around a drive to the town the market is in that day. Get there early (before the market opens) as the good stuff will go very fast. Shop, then head to the Dolphin for fresh fish. At the farmer's markets, things to look for include the incredible no-acid pineapples, the Koloa purple asparagus, really good thai chili peppers, nice Koloa tomatoes, organic salad greens and all sorts of wonderful tropical fruits. You'll also run into folks selling stuff from their trucks. If you see a super nice woman selling fresh shrimp... buy them all. They're deep water red shrimp that her sons catch and they're the best I've ever eaten.
Oh... and call Cliff at Learn to Surf Kauai and take a lesson. You'll have a great time.
Kauai is lovely. I'm jealous.
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ACME still exists. Our regional distributor carries the IPA, the Pale Ale and the Brown Ale.
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I regularly organise tastings with knowledgeable and less knowledgable wine lovers. There are usually two camps (roughly speaking and making a big stereotyping here):
- the lovers of the big dramatic wines, who value extraction and immediate impact more than length and finale. Usually, these guys like new world, new oak, low acidity, Cabernet, Chardonnay, Southern Italy, Southern Rhone (etc.)
- The lovers of aroma and fruit, looking for balance and elegance. The power is secundary. These wine lovers usually prefer Pinot Noir, high acidity, no new oak, Loire, Nebbiolo, Mosel, etc.
Anybody recognizing this sort of trend?
A perfect description of the (growing) schism not only among wine buyers but also wine pundits. The good thing is that most everyone knows which camp each pundit falls into.
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Here in Bishop there is a (local) favorite restaurant called "The Western Kitchen" which is a sort of "down-home, country-western diner/Thai restaurant." The two cooks are an elderly thai woman and a meth-freak mexican with a fu-manchu mustache.
Seriously.
Chicken-fried steak, Chef's Salad, Meatloaf plate, Indian frybread tacos, Pad Thai and Tom Kai Gai.
Grin.
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Suffice it to say that after their most recent ugly, jingoist, french-bashing ad it is even less likely that I'll be visiting this (or any other) Carl's Jr.
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I'm on large bottle #4 of the "clear lime" Gatorade. I don't think it expresses terroir very well, or if it does god forbid any humans live there.
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Comparing the Isomac Millenium to the Silvia is kind of unfair given that the Millenium is, I believe, twice as expensive. Did you get yours plumbed in?
You won't regret the Mazzer. It's very nice.
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For what it's worth... I believe that both the Decanter style of "grading" wines and the WS/Parker style have their purposes.
For wine drinkers who are developing both their palates and their vintage and region knowledge, the combination of a point system grade when (and only when) combined with tasting notes allows them to fine tune their understanding of what is valued in wines, how wines are described and what flavours, styles and aspects of wine appeal to their personal tastes (and what do not). In addition, as the palate becomes stronger, these can then be used to help with buying decisions.
For wine drinkers who have developed a strong palate and have a solid and deep knowledge of vintage and region, the Decanter style allows them to explore that palate while at the same time making informed guesses in their buying decisions.
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I think this is what will inevitably happen when you have one palate whose opinion is valued so much more highly than any other by the critical parts of the buying public. It's only smart for the winemakers to produce wines to his palate given that high prices and large sales inevitably follow.
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Working in the business I used to work in I had to do a whole lot of business dinners with folks. While many of these people were nice, polite people who often had excellent taste -- when you eat out with people who are not your friends on average 4 nights a week for almost 5 years....
My favorites:
Boulevard in the early days. Executive from Oracle. First asked the waiter if he could turn the music down as it was making it hard to hear the person he was talking to on his cell phone. Ignored his app while talking. Finally became frustrated by the noise and went outside. I finished my app and waited. And waited. Finally he came back in, took one bite of his app and said "this is cold!" Had the waiter take it back. They brought it back. He ate it. I waited. They poured wine. He took another call and, again, went outside. I waited. And waited. He came back in and said "I'm sorry - I've got to make some calls. Don't worry - I'll pick up the check and expense it." He then asked for his entree to go. I got an email from him the next day commenting that he thought the restaurant was over-priced and over-hyped.
An OK place in San Mateo (don't remember the name). Really nice guy from a venture fund and his wife. She began drinking on arrival. Talked so insistently and loudly that it was impossible for the two of us to have a conversation. Continued to drink. Spilled two glasses of wine (one on the table, one off of it). Began making vulgar (and often racist) jokes in a loud voice. Eventually (near the end of the meal) started talking incessently about how cute our waiter was - culminating in her asking him if he was gay and then trying to stuff a 20 dollar bill in his pants.
A business contact I had to endure at least 20 meals with over 2 years who would endlessly quiz the waiter about every item on the menu and then ask if the chef could do a plain egg white omelet. Restaurants where this occurred ranged from One Market at lunch to Jardinierre at dinner to (most memorably) Delfina.
Jean-Georges in NYC. The most miserable meal of my life. Fabulous food - wonderful wine. The first time I'd been to Jean-Georges. Wasted. Such a tragedy. The man I ate it with (no company, no clues, god forbid he ever remember me) was a NYC private equity "star." I've never met anyone as rude. For example, he lit up a cigar before (yes before) dinner and when asked to put it out started yelling at the waiter and physically (yes physically) threatened him. He put about 2 tablespoons of salt on each dish before tasting it. He talked through large sections of the wine list with the sommellier -- his only questions were "what did you pay for it?" and "what would it cost me at Zachy's?" Pretty much every other word out of his mouth when he spoke to the waiter was "f*ck." At the end of the meal he went over the entire bill line by line and asked the waiter to explain each item to him. When done (but while the waiter was still in ear-shot) he said to me, "ya gotta fuckin' do this ya know -- they're all jews after all." On my way back to my hotel I called room service and had them pour me a nice scotch and leave it in my room. I took a 30 minute shower and then lay in bed with the covers over my head.
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Chicken consomme with basil and three whole cloves of Garlic
A Banana
Applesauce
Lime Gatorade
Peppermint tea
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Kabocha is a nice, hard squash. Very tasty.
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Looks like I may soon have a Mazzer Mini for sale.
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Sadly, while I'm much better (thank you so much), I'm still experiencing a lot of intestinal distress and some noticable weakness. I've very much concerned that this may be a return of a prior parasite.
I'm so glad to hear that he's back to at least near normal. I assume it hasn't affected his appetite, his passion nor his adventurous eating!!
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Oh... and espressoparts.com is selling a couple black Mazzer minis at something around $350.
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(From coffeegeek.com)Rossi model RR45A 80click settingsThis is a precision Italian made commercial grinder built by Gino Rossi. It is a model RR45a.(110V AC) It is fully automatic and features an extremly accurate doser. The grind setting dial has been upgraded from a factory standard of 40 clicks to 80 clicks for enhanced grinding precision. Grinder is extremely well built, it has solid aluminum body with black enamel surface. Operation is extremely solid. With the exception of one small chip on the bottom edge, the paint is in perfect condition(no other scratches or blemishes). Grinder operates flawlessly and has never had any problems. The grinder has been extremely well maintained and has been carefully cleaned inside and out before being put on sale. This is a handsome and very solidly built grinder, one that you can be proud to own. If there are any further questions or for pictures please contact me through email(mlew@cs.ucr.edu). This model retails for $660 new(with a 40 click dial), i am asking for $390. Given the excellent condition of the machine and the upgraded grind settings i think this price is reasonable, but it's negotiable... go ahead make an offer.
EBay Auction by Whole Latte Love on returned Mazzer Mini
And it is worth watching Whole Latte Love's used section as sometimes doserless Rocky grinders show up.
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Have you seen the Swift? Grinder/doser/tamper from La Marocchi?
So very nice.
Obviously overkill to a dramatic degree when it comes to a home setup.
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As Steve says, doserless means better control over the amount of espresso released into the portafilter which equals less waste and more consistency of results. In addition, most dosers do a fair to middling job (at best) when "sweeping" grinds into the portafilter. This results in stale grounds (to a greater or lesser degree) getting into your portafilter.
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Oh - and yes. Espresso Vivace is totally incredible.
It's hard for anyone to answer the "what are the best espresso beans" question, to be honest. I know people who absolutely love espresso roasts that I consider burnt and horrid. I'm a big fan of varietal espressos, but I understand that most people don't like them and I rarely serve them to anyone. It's all so so subjective and personal taste based.
You might want to check out Coffee Review -- Ken Davids is a rational, balanced guy with a great palate.
For what it's worth, I'm a big fan of Uncommon Grounds coffees (though most of their espresso roasts are too dark for my tastes).
Of course... I leave the most important for last. If you can possibly, in any way, find a roaster who is local or an espresso bar who works with a regional roaster where the espresso is high quality, the roasting professional and consistent and the roasting schedule realistic you're probably going to be happier than with any of the larger mail order companies.
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It's bigger - but most noticably it is much heavier.
One of the only weaknesses of the Mazzer is that, for some reason, if you pull short quick pulls on the doser it tends to spray espresso everywhere. As a result, instead of dosing in my usual (small) amounts I have to pull 9 gram doses. It's taken some getting used to as I like to use 17 grams per espresso usually. So I tend to get a little wastage, and it often takes more time than I'd like (resulting in a decreased temp for the portafilter and mallet). Of course, the above measurements are purely desired guidelines given the vagaries of beans, time, humidity, etc.
I'm not a big doser fan for various reasons - but the Mazzer grinder is so incredible that I'm willing to put up with it.
Sold the Rocky for $135 including shipping.
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Sadly, this same logic (based on risk profile and odds) could also be used to justify not hiring (for example):
- any ex-convicts (depending on your source, current recidivism rates seem to be between 65% and 70%),
- black women in Vermont (where they are incarcerated at a rate 35 times greater than white women),
- an openly gay male who engages in high-risk sexual behavior (at which point odds of contracting AIDS can range from 1 in 10,000 to as low as 1 in 500).
In fact, by this same logic one could argue that it is in the best interest of everyone (customers and employees) to fire any of the above employees if they are working for you.
I know it's extreme -- but I think you see my point.
The simple reality is that rigid rules and structures are never and should never be a replacement for skilled management and good judgement.
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Cool.
Will take some in that case.
Hopefully it will fix this accursed thing.
Dinner! 2003
in Cooking
Posted
Nice organic Country Pork Ribs dredged in flour, browned off in bacon fat then removed from pan. Mirepoix sauteed in remaining fat. Ribs added back in along with canned plum tomatoes, rosemary, purple sage, green peppercorns, salt, black pepper and veal stock to cover ribs. Braised, covered, in oven. Whole soaked great northern beans, whole crushed garlic cloves and additional sauteed mirepoix added on top. Braised some more. Panko layered on top and the pot uncovered to allow crust to form in oven.
Served with a Turley Zin.
Homemade butter pecan ice cream with blackberry coulis. Hardy's Whiskers Blake Port.