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Food Thread: We Will Just Muddle Along...

Well, a few days ago it was 103 degrees outside, and as an accommodation to the warmth I decided to have a Gin & Tonic as opposed to a Manhattan (stirred, you animals!) or a Martini, or an Old Fashioned.

But a typical G&T out of a bar gun is a crap drink. The tonic is too sweet, the lime is an afterthought, and it's mostly ice.

So...a good G&T requires a half a lime muddled on the bottom of the glass to get some of that delicious oil out of the skin and into the drink! Yes, they are monoterpenes (and some other stuff)...why do you ask?

And then no more than two parts tonic to one part gin. The name of the drink starts with "GIN!" It should taste of it.

And for f*ck's sake, use a fresh bottle of tonic. There is nothing worse than flat tonic water in a G&T.

Put it in a glass with some ice, but not a huge amount. Diluted G&Ts are sad and painful reflections of what the drink can be.

What? NO...I am not obsessive-compulsive!

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30 Popular Recipes of the 1970s That Deserve a Comeback

That is Misanthropic Humanitarian's weekly trolling. Although, to be fair, there are some dishes that don't look too bad at all!

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I had an impromptu Bourbon tasting this afternoon with some friends who stopped by...thus the abbreviated Food Thread. They brought a couple of bottles to taste, and the Old Ezra 7 Year was my favorite! Just delicious. Just enough proof to make it an adult drink, with some lovely and complex aromas followed by a delightfully smooth mouth feel. There was a delicate hint of sweetness, but definitely not enough to interest your kids. And that's good, because this stuff is nowhere to be found around here, so I will have to hunt for it, because it is definitely worth some legwork!

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A friend of my MiL made these for our Independence Day get-together. She is obviously a professional baker, and these were absolutely delicious, as well as looking spectacular! She uses a lot of butter cream rather than fondant, so the icing isn't quite as sweet as is typical. Wow, they were great!

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I hope all of you had successful food experiences yesterday, no matter what you ate. A massive Independence Day barbecue, or a quiet meal of microwave burritos eaten over the sink...it's all good!

America...Happy 250th Birthday!

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The garlic is harvested! And it looks...well...sigh. Send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!