I decided a few years ago that life was too short to drink liquor that was substandard. I also noticed that more expensive was not always better tasting. I will try both of your suggestions.

 

Forgot to take pics (the leftovers heated up in the tupperware aren't exactly photogenic).

But the better half made a garlic, lemon cream sauce for some browned up chicken breasts. The side, which has become one of my favorite things she makes, fresh green beans, that are sauteed with bacon, onions, and some apple cider vinegar at the end to really give it some bite and cut through the richness of the bacon.

 

I dont even like Hendricks; it might as well just be vodka.

citadel has more of a tanguary flavor, but less syrupy/fake flavoring. I started taking note of the gin drinks I'd get at bars/restaurants and noticed a lot of times they used citadel, so i tried it out -- now i buy it 1L sizes.

we are huge into blind taste testing in my household.









this local stuff is really good too for gin, but $$$

 

I had some friends foist upon me a thing called St George Terroir Gin. They liked it with just lime juice and ice.

It was good. if you know the smell of hiking in california in the summer, you'll eat this **** up. we actually brought home a trash bag from our recent trip doing just that. it had dirty shoes in it. the empty bag smelled like the warm, earthy chapparal where it meets the spongy, moist redwood forest floor. like crack, I tell you.

anyway try it if you can buy it. I brought home two bottles a while back and gave one away and only have about a half inch left.

 

that's what you gave me a taste of once, right? good ****.

 

Gin I currently have on hand:

Hendrick's
Hendrick's Midsummer Solstice (Way better)
Bombay Sapphire East
New Amsterdam
Wigle Ginever-style gin
Wigle Dutch gin
Wigle Dzinn!
Wigle Barrel-rested gin
Hotel Tango Golf Gin (local. It's.... fine.)

I honestly just mess with G&Ts 99% of the time. I find gimlets can be a touch on the sweet end, but i've been meaning to experiment with them and come up with something. I'd like to be able to make a solid 8-10 cocktails with stuff i have on hand, and nail them every time.

 

yah

i dont drink much gin

gimme dat rye and gimme dat tequila

the spicier, the better

 

Lately I’ve been playing with making Negronis, was introduced by my next-door neighbor. Current favorite-

Equal parts of

Bombay Sapphire
Noilly Prat dry vermouth
Aperol

Alternately dry/sweet/bitter orange.

 

So I finally broke down and bought a cast-iron thing.



And yeah, I finally understand what the people who rave about cast iron have been raving about. It's wonderfully liberating to be able to just put this right over the fires of hell and damnation itself with no regard for the consequences.

I actually over-cooked the steak slightly, as I'm not accustomed to working at this heat level. I can tell you this: this weekend, the Weber grill is going right back into the dumpster I found it in. I have no more use for it.



Also, picked up a bottle of Bombay East this evening.

By itself, I do appreciate a slightly more pungent aroma as compared to regular Sapphire. Not in an unpleasant way, mind you. It's more like the same floral palette, +1.

Having mixed up a gimlet, I can discern no difference at all between this and any other mid-range gin. Mostly because that's the specific thing that sweetened cocktails are supposed to accomplish.

 

My little lime tree's got plenty of blossoms on it now so I'm hoping to use my own limes for cocktails before too long.

 

Is that last weeks dinner down in the burner grates?

 

everyone gives joe so much **** for his dirty stove, i love it.



this is me flipping eggs.

 

I don't date the cruft.

Fun fact: yesterday, I decided it was time for the monthly adding of gasoline to the car. While pumping, a guy walked up to me, identified himself as a body man, and offered to pull the dents from my car, buff out the scratches and paint-transfer, etc. I immediately laughed and said "Hell, no!" which seemed to take him aback. He asked why not? I replied "This is a city car. It gets dinged all the time. The dents and scratches and rust give it character. If I were driving a pristine-looking car, I'd be paranoid about where I parked it."

That's kind of how I feel about my stove. Cleaning it is labor-intensive, and does not improve the quality of its output.

 

While I prefer cooking on a proper gas stove, that is one of the few perks to the glasstop in our kitchen. It cleans up super easy.

 

Nothing to it...

 

Yeah, I've considered changing the range before, because at some point I'm going to replace our cheap, ****, dishwasher with a better one.....unfortunately there is no gas line to that location and it wouldn't be worth the expense to put one in.

 

This replaced an electric cooktop about 5-6 years ago after my wife decided to let a saucepan of maple syrup boil over and basically disintegrated the glass of the cooktop.

 

Oh wow! It's also very odd that the house doesn't have a gas line to the stove. Typically in Oklahoma, because of oil/gas producing history, you used to really only see electric HVAC/water heater/range in apartment buildings.

 

Do you have gas to the house at all? Basement?

I branched off my hot water gas supply with a valve and flexible gas line under the floor joists and up into a flange in the cabinet with a valve. Use pipe joint compound and check for leaks. Pretty easy.

EDIT: I guess I should post a pic as it's now a pic type of thread...

Leftovers of the Zucchini Quiche and Mustard Brown Sugar Salmon I made last night.

 

I'll never understand the logic of how and where gas is used.

When I had a house in Mason, OH, the furnace and water heater were gas powered, but the range and clothes dryer were electric.

My apartment in Hoboken, NJ was 100% electric (including heat) except that potable hot water was central (gas.) This led me to invent what I feel was a rather innovative space-heating system which was offensively inefficient, but cost me nothing to operate.

Then, my apartment in Manhattan had a gas range but both potable hot water and space-heating water were central from municipal steam

Then, my first condo in Chicago was mostly electric, except that both potable hot water and space-heating water were central from a gas-fired boiler

And, now, the apartment I'm living in (also in Chicago) is 100% gas.

All else being equal, I prefer gas for a number of reasons.