Smith & Cross Jamaican Rum is a beautiful thing.
http://www.alpenz.com/images/poftfoli...

Just wanted to say thanks all of you for your thoughtful suggestions ... shall peruse. (I know these kind of 'special place' requests get old ... and I don't ask frequently ... so anyway your care with your answers is sincerely appreciated.)

Thanks - wanted to love this - went recently - but it was just not the phenomenal option I expected. Lukshon is more my choice in a different area of town. Although I have to say the foie gras was totally worth getting.

a213b is right (though yes grandafan also) ... precious:
4.
affectedly or excessively delicate, refined, or nice: precious manners.
5.
flagrant; gross: a precious fool.

Perhaps by definition the both of you!

They had the art of never letting your drinking glass get near empty, and the charge was always for just one. (I'm an addict.)

Yes to the first two, no to the third.

Well, if you can get the original Creme de Violette that would be a nice place to start from a historical perspective. More vanilla etc. said going on in the Yvette. Maybe this'll help. Or you could get both, or all three.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/695047

I really like the Ypioca Prata (not the gold, not the silver ... one of the ones in straw). Wray & Nephew is a simply beautiful white overproof rum. Not really an agricole as has hint of molasses but is just gorgeous. I prefer it to agricole rhums and the Ypioca Prata to agricole rhums marketed as such.

In a caipirinha I enjoy the sort of raw green undertones of the Ypioca ... anything else I'd want in a rum/rhum-based drink I find in the Wray & Nephew. (Unless I want to max out on molasses/wood flavor with a darker rum.)

I've heard good about Yvette and Violette but not tried either. The Luxardo maraschino I do own and it's a more niche offering, in my opinion. If you want to try simply an interesting flavor, I can't recommend the Briottet Creme De Mure (Blackberry Liqueur from Dijon, France) highly enough. Had some in champagne recently and would trade my whole bottle of maraschino for another glass.

What's:

-Delicious and yummy food
-Not precious
-Upscale-ish and pretty but not OTT
-Just a wonderful atmosphere
-Can hear yourselves talk

... authentic well-made cocktails a plus.

In Beverly Hills or nearby.

I'd like to know too ... or for that matter are there any other restaurants in L.A. that either of them ran or run? (Le Faubourg LLC) I thought there was something in West Hollywood at one point. Hope they get it all sorted out.

Technically butter would reduce the body's response to sudden influx of simple carbs, so it's not the direct culprit here. But say what you will about the Twinkies. :)

It's a lot more complex than many people think. There are those of us who remain thin only through restriction many people couldn't cope with, with activity.

Fingers crossed it's just a temporary change, Dommy!

There are articles on L.A. Eater and GrubStreet noting that it's closed and they have a pic of an ownership application change in the window for Le Faubourg LLC. (Still associated with the woman who owned it, reportedly, if not her chef husband. Don't know if that means anything though.)

This was easily my favorite go-out restaurant in L.A., with wonderful food, across-the-board terrific wait staff and easy ambiance. I was last there New Year's Eve with my husband and all looked well - we have been regulars.

Le Saint Amour has been so warm and inviting, down to the perfectly French golden tone of wood they chose for the floors/counters and the explanations of how things are made. It will be a real loss to the neighborhood ... and moi ... if they don't open again under same or similar ownership.

A big thank you for the terrific food, attentiveness, extra olives and endless string of Diet Cokes. I've got to figure out how to replicate or find those olives.

Le Saint Amour is indeed a terrific little place.

What works out best that's cakeish, not candyish, for these teeny-tiny molds I finally couldn't resist buying?

http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO...

Wondering if anyone has tried anything new like this, since the last post? In particular am looking for ways to incorporate a liqueur (OK, Jagermeister) into a pudding- or Boston Creme-type filling as well as a frosting for cupcakes without losing the alcohol content much.

Happy holidays. I found these zebra-striped paper cupcake holders, and somehow that has turned into wanting to make Jagermeister cupcakes for a Christmas Eve party. (I've had luck before winging it with alcohol-oriented baking.)

So what would you do? I'm seeing recipes around for Jager Bomb cupcakes, which involve making a cream interior that has ... Red Bull ... in it. Not much Jagermeister though! I'd like these to taste dark and decadent, not frat-party reminiscent.

I was thinking cream-filled. Or a dark, sticky Jagermeister jam sort of filling. Also am getting tempted by the idea of including licorice allsorts (or, at my most out-there, a Ricola cough drop brickle). Thinking a dark bittersweet chocolate fudge cupcake would lend itself to Jagermeister messing-around. But then lavender is calling too. And aniseed and buttery poppyseed cake-type cupcakes.

While we're at it, if I branched out, what other liqueurish cupcakes would you think interesting? Things that crossed my mind while wandering around Sur La Table today:

Jack Daniels cornbread cupcakes. (More a rum-cake soaking approach, possibly with honey or JD caramel topping and/or apple.)

Old Fashioned fruitcake - JD or bourbon-soaked cupcake involving some marasca cherries from the jar and candied orange twists. And probably a whole lotta sugar.

Canton Ginger Liqueur gingerbread cupcakes .... might have to have a creme or gel center.

Black Forest dark beer cake. Cherries. A not-so-sweet cream filling.

The one y'all are missing today is the Cornbread Festival in/near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
http://www.nationalcornbread.com/

I only know this because I was reading up on the gorgeous Lodge cast iron skillet I got in the mail Tuesday night (the kind with the stainless steel handles). Their annual event is the Cornbread Festival and this is the only day of the year that their foundry is open to the public, I read on their site.

I am kind of jealous. Love this company.

Just got a Lodge Signature frying pan and it's the most beautiful pan I've ever seen. Very Model T. No desire for Le Creuset et al.

So I don't recall ANY of the brands right now but I noticed today at Whole Foods they have Italian canned tomatoes of at least a couple varieties along with the more traditional stuff. Is some of this amazing and worth it? Any particular brands and how is the flavor different?

Well, no. But I was just reflecting today on how it's such a lost art for most of us. I'm still working on the how-long-can-I-keep-this-fresh fridge rotation - and remembering to do things like buy smoked salmon and dry cheese for snacks that last a long time (along with bread that freezes and then toasts well). That whole 'we'll need things for the winter' necessity must have been just such a different mentality from today! (I love the idea of knowing how to preserve food and actually doing it. Practically though I've got too much else going on to delve into it at moment.)

I like the use on top idea. OK, going to chop and roast half, saute the other, and experiment with a small portion.

I am not a fan of that sort of stuffed-green-bell-pepper thing that happens and suddenly the whole dish is BELL PEPPER flavor.

Now that said, I do like Anaheims stuffed with cheese!

But that's beside the point because right now I have a pot of basic beef chili starting to simmer. And what I'm really wondering is if I should add one Anaheim or leave it the heck alone?

^Roger that.

Interesting. I've never tried theirs as I go for the really low carb but slightly squeaky-feeling refrigerated shirataki noodles when I want pasta. Dreamfields says on its site that it has about the same high fiber as whole wheat pasta. And pasta (IIRC) wasn't the worst thing in the world in glycemic index anyway. Further reading showed they rely in part on inulin to make their stuff allegedly less glycemic. They mention overcooking can render their pasta more digestible (and presumably then higher in glycemic index). http://www.dreamfieldsfoods.com/pasta...

That's a pretty darn small study, but it makes me wonder if other things that use inulin might be higher-carb than they say (I would think individual digestion plays a role also); also whether a larger study would bear out the same results. Sticky wicket, for sure.

Dark, bitter chocolate it could work with, but like a liqueur vs. a chocolate cakey taste, I think. And yeah that would annoy the heck out of me, re the photos.