A brief update on my life

[xiphias]

Things are going well. yehoshua helped get the weekend off to a profitable start at think tank, by encouraging his co-workers to drink there after work. That was useful.

Yesterday, temima came over to the bar to have lunch, and visit me as her house was getting de-bedbugged. That was really nice.

My boss sent me home with homework: I have to design three tiki cocktails by Monday. Today, during the slack time between lunch and dinner, I played with a couple concepts, but nothing panned out. I still feel that some of these OUGHT to work out, somehow, but I'm not getting it. THE FLAVOR BIBLE suggests that one flavor combination which works well is coconut, ginger, and green tea, so I tried the coconut rum (NOT Malibu -- an actually drinkable one), ginger liqueur, and green tea liqueur, and there's some potential there, but it's not coming together.

My coconut, chocolate, and amaretto one ended up tasting exactly like a Yoo-Hoo. Not bad, but not at all tiki.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

We have it at the bar, and it's useful, and, with tiki drinks, "wussy" doesn't enter into it.

As far as expensive goes, one can use expensive ingredients, so long as one doesn't use MUCH of the expensive ingredient. And Midori isn't THAT expensive, anyway.

The only reason my mind didn't go there is because I personally don't like melon that much. But I think it's a good idea, and I think I'll play with some of those ideas. Thanks!

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. I'm not wild about Midori either - too sweet for me - but balanced with something sour/bitter, who knows?
For my first recipe for the local market I'm doing them for has a pasta made with parsley and lemon, combined with oven-roasted delicata squash basted in EVOO mixed with honey and red wine. The contrast between the caramelized squash and the lemon in the pasta = yum.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

That sounds incredible! Where are you presenting this deliciousness?

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

Okay, a little backstory. I work for a big-but-wonderful company called Wegmans. There is a teeny tiny store in town, not a CSA but the next best thing, which sells things like Murray's chickens, which are certified humane, vegetable fed, no growth hormones, etc. Farmers & Artisans, as the store is called, sells very little that's not grown within a hundred or so miles of here. Their mission is to help stop/reverse the trend toward food grown on factory farms, both to improve the lives of farmers, and to provide higher-quality food to consumers.
I've been a customer of theirs for ten or eleven months or so. Their meats and cheeses, pastas, breads, veggies and fruits are wonderful. I can't say enough good things about Murray's chickens, which are, in addition to the above, absolutely delicious. I won't buy anybody else's artisanal bread anymore, and one of their alpine cheeses is the only one I'll allow to touch my pasta or salads.
I recently asked one of the owners if they could use some printed recipes for products they carry, and she said yes. It may seem old-fashioned, but from my experience at the big store, people like the tactile part of holding a card with a recipe in their hand. So I've been dusting off my Photoshop skillz, adding to my design, layout, and printing skillz, and hoping I can help them.
We haven't talked compensation yet, but that can wait until I see if they like what I do and it has a positive effect on the customers there.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I'm passionate about this, obviously. :-)

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Farmers & Artisans sounds wonderful!