I used a recipe from The Fresh Loaf which appealed to me because it could be made in the evening and then boiled and baked in the morning.  The first time out we used 1/4 cup less flour in the last mixing because it was pretty dry and our mixer was having a hard time with it (we still had to alternate between kneading half by hand and the other half in the mixer) but this time we ended up adding the entire amount of flour plus almost a whole 1/4 cup.

Yes, head scratching ensued.

The only thing I can think is that we used a different brand of flour this time–last batch was made with Bob’s Red Mill bread flour and this time with King Arthur bread flour, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure which kind of yeast I used last time, but this time it was Rapid Rise.

The bagels cooked up about the same–maybe a little chewier this time, but I don’t really have any complaints.  They’re not bready which is a total plus, or this recipe would be a junker, but they’re missing a certain je ne sais bagelness  that I can’t put my finger on.

Overall: not bad.  Pretty fair.  Will make again.

Shake with plenty of ice and strain, serve up.

This is a surprisingly tasty cocktail and has been featured  frequently since its discovery while trying to find something to mix with the bottle of Gabriel Boudier Dijon Creme de Cassis that we picked up.  We like it on the hot side.  The Tabasco balances out the sweetness of the creme de cassis which would otherwise be overpowering.

That’s my boy.

The problem? Our guest list for Thanksgiving. There isn’t one. A guest list, I mean. It’s just us. Us and Grandma and Roland but they don’t count as guests what with living under the same roof and all. To be honest, I just wasn’t feeling very Thanksgiving-y this year. Usually I can’t wait for November to roll around because:

A) Halloween is over!

and

B) I love Thanksgiving.

I love to think about menu possibilities, I love to look at glossy food porn magazines and imagine how delicious the stuffing will be this year and what I’ll do with sweet potatoes…yum. I love it. But this year I’m totally not into it.

That is, I wasn’t into it until we started cooking this morning. Then I got into it. It may be just the 7 of us, but we’re cooking like we’ve got a full house.

Thanksgiving 2007 menu

• Best Way Brined Turkey from the San Francisco Chronicle. In the past we have used Alton Brown’s recipe but I couldn’t find it right off the bat, so I used this one.
• Sausage Sourdough Stuffing
• Cranberry Sauce #1
• Cranberry Sauce #2
• Cranberry Sauce #3
• Mashed Potatoes
• Burbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Green Beans with Shallots
• Pumpkin Pie

Recipes will follow for anything worth repeating.

Simmer 20 minutes, or until you remember through your margarita fueled haze that there’s something cooking on the stove, hey, when did the buzzer go off?

Blend.

And when I say “devious”, I obviously mean “grossly sweet and girly”. I didn’t mean for it to be so. But I guess you can’t have Cherry Heering, Benedictine and St. Germain together without getting something, you know, sweet.

So here it is. A drink we may never try again. It’s not bad, really, just wussy.

1 1/2 oz Junipero gin

1/2 oz Cherry Heering

1/4 oz Benedictine

1/4 oz St. Germain

1/4 oz lime juice

dash(es) Angostura bitters

Shake gently with ice, strain into glass and top with soda water.

Saint Reviver #1

• 3/4 oz Junipero Gin
• 3/4 oz Saint Germain
• 3/4 oz Lillet Blanc
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• splash of Herbsaint

The first attempt was promising and exotic, the blend of flavors and smells coming together as something familiar but unnamed, lychee or star fruit, but not well balanced. The St. Germain featured prominently but the lemon juice was overpowering and muted every thing else. My second pass with the St. Geramin was a Leo Special Cocktail with the cointreau swapped out for our feature again. Even better but I had to come back to the Saint Reviver.

Saint Reviver #2

• 1 oz Junipero Gin
• 1 oz Saint Germain
• 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
• 1/2 oz Herbsaint
• 1/2 oz lime juice

I’m at a loss for words. It’s wonderful. Hard to believe that only a few months ago that if you said Gin, I’d think Tonic. Cheers!

..mmmm…Regal….

We (I) selected this cocktail because

1. It contains Lillet Blanc which I just discovered the other day in the Hoop-La! and am completely in love with now; and
2. Egg whites!

Unfortunately, and this is no fault of the lovely drink itself, Kelsey and I have become aware of our proclivity towards drinks with citrus. Which this drink has none of.

However! It is a lovely drink. I’m halfway through (I should perhaps mention that the egg whites have become downright icky looking. This did not happen in the Pisco Sour I made last weekend. Or the Edith Day. I don’t know why.) and…well, I’m sort of pining for a margarita, and that’s never a good sign.

edited to add:

So, we totally decided to go ahead and make margaritas. And there’s no shame in that.

Right?

Shake with ice and serve up with a lemon twist. This is a slight variation on Oh Gosh!’s hoop-la. It’s a delicious cocktail although it wasn’t until I hit it with a dash of Angostura bitters that it came together for my taste. Next time, I’ll hold back on the lemon so to keep it in balance.

Shake vigorously in a shaker with a few ice cubes until the pain is too much to take. Serve in a cocktail glass or champagne flute. This is a plain, simple drink; I guess there is nothing wrong with that. We only tried it since we’d run out of lemon and limes but wanted a citrusy cocktail.

Follow the procedure for Jalepeno and Serrano Hot Sauce #1