Food and Drink

I had a cooking show turned on the TV while I was working on the computer. On one of its segments, the hosts test new cooking tools. The man loved this one: It seems like a good idea for us beer drinkers.

So I have a Zojirushi BB-PAC20 Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker on it's way to me. (Damn UPS and their unexplained delays, won't get it until Tuesday, May 27 now) Really want to get into making real Sourdough, including making / maintaining a Starter culture. Should I go for it and make a wild yeast sourdough starter from scratch with just flour and water, or get a starter elsewhere as a seed? Was thinking of this one, I can appreciate the irony of this guy's name. http://www.sourdo.com/cultures/original-san-francisco/ Anyone else into making their own bread, the hands on way and the higher tech lazy way like I'm going to do?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-hot-dougs-closing-20140506,0,7406836.story

My Anova has shipped. I need a food sealer. Any recommendations? I want to keep the price on the low end, if possible. If I need to spend more, I will. I saw a Food Saver V2244 for $70 on Amazon Prime. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Don't see a huge selection at the local liquor store, what is good? http://www.bcliquorstores.com/product-catalogue?search=Bourbon

I'm thinking some of you good ole boys might just like this here thing here! I know I do. http://dropandcatch.com/ I'm thinking about ordering the Amber Ale with 60 pounds of pull force. Don't know if I'm manly enough (wallet-wise) to swing the 100 pounds of pull force model.

My son and I are doing a Goruck Light (https://www.goruck.com/en/light). The company was started by a retired Army Special Forces soldier. The company sells backpacks amount other things and puts on events like the one we are doing. Some of the money from the events goes to the Green Beret Foundation (http://www.greenberetfoundation.org). Rather than ask for donations, I thought I would raffle off some Scotch and Beer. With the going rate for the Yamazaki 18, I figure the value of the bottles is at least $400. Thefollowing bottles go to the winner: Yamizaki 18 Highland Park 18 Bourbon Big Sound Baller Stout Abyss 20012 Surprise Bottle $25 per ticket. The raffle will …

I'm thinking of getting an Excalibur 4-tray dehydrator. I want something that is smallish and not that expensive. Before buying, I thought I would ask if anyone else has a small dehydrator that they would recommend? I will mostly be using this for dehydrating soaked nuts. http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-2400-4-Tray-Economy-Dehydrator/dp/B0047WOWHE/ref=sr_1_8?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1377484067&sr=1-8

Dinny's daily Smoothie pics to which I have subscribed has gotten me interested in putting the Vitamix back to use. I know there are many Smoothie people here so I thought a thread to share interesting recipes might be nice. I have done most of the basic things but I am looking for ways to incorporate more healthy things into my smoothies. I will start with one that I think is a bit of a failure, mostly because I do not like the flavor of chocolate Muscle Milk. 2 small containers of Muscle Milk Light Chocolate 8 Peach Slices 12 Strawberries 2 Tablespoons of Peter Pan Peanut Butter Ice While far better than straight Muscle Milk, it was still not a grea…

Anyone have have one of these made at your local Mc D's?

Two of the igniters on our stove don't work (they haven't for 6 years) and we either need to replace the stove or get it fixed (before my mom or someone else burns down the house). [Right now, we just light the stove by hand but if you try to do a low simmer on the front burners sometimes they go out and don't relight on their own.] I think the one we have is a Dacor Classic 30" (natural gas). I have no clue how old it is. Does anyone know some brands that are known to be the most reliable (I don't like to fuck around with gas and electricity). We were looking at the Dacor Renaissance 30" but I am wondering if Dacor is so reliable. Some people seem to mention W…

http://www.americanbeerclassic.com/who.php Basically I get 48 tokens to sample stuff! Feel free to share your recs!

I did a search and saw a few of you have these. Vicki, the model you picked up from QVC may be the way to go but I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions. There are so many models and variables. I would like to keep it around $400 or a bit more. It looks like the CIA on Amazon Prime is close or the same to the QVC model, so leaning that way. Gail is going through withdrawals since our blender died over the weekend.

Today I decided to buy a slightly better Balsamic Vinegar than my usual: Leonardi "gold seal" It is fantastic. I know this isn't the super great fancy expensive stuff but it is still good. My read into balsamic is that the very expensive stuff is very sweet and only to be used for desserts. This seems to be pretty thick and sweetish with enough bite that it can still be used for salads with good olive oil. What is your favorite balsamic and what you use it for? I am now very curious about buying some "tradizionale" balsamic vinegar but don't know where to start. I guess I should find a place that has tastings.

Spoiler alert: I can't. Compared some $5 and $10 bottles of vodka that have been in my liquor cabinet for at least 10 years to Grey Goose, and I'll be damned if I can tell the difference. I had heard years ago that most people can't differentiate premium vodkas from something like Smirnoff, so I just Googled it. All kinds of funny articles about it where vodka snobs got shut down consistently, when drinking it naked/nude (whatever the hell they call it when you drink it straight). I especially liked the article where the tester poured the same vodka in 6 different glasses in the 3rd round of testing, and all of the participants were busy making inane comments about the …

I'm looking to replace my PTFE (i.e. Teflon) non-stick fry/sautee pan and my abused (by houseguests) fry/sautee pans with an inexpensive set on non-sticks. My requirements are: Non-PFTE non-stick OK to put in oven and broiler (up to 450 degrees or so) Less that $100 for 2. I'm willing to go over $100 if you can convince me. Here are some examples of what I'm looking at: All-Clad B3 2 Piece Fry set Calphalon Contemporary Non-Stick 10" and 12" Omelette Pans Calphalon Unison Non-Stick 10" and 12" Omelette Pans I've found all of these at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I like shopping there as I have a -20% coupon. I'm not tied to BBB. I'm leaning to t…

I would like to get a new pepper mill for Christmas, a good one, since all three of mine all suck. Any suggestions? Things I want: Lasts forever Can change grind from coarse to fine Holds a lot of pepper Easy to refill (the peppercorns always fall all over the floor when I fill mine since the opening is too small) Not "made in China" (you know what I mean) I don't like the ones with little handles on top (would prefer a standard turn the top type) Will not stop working with large peppercorns

Sadly, not served in the taxidermied corpses of small animals..... http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/24/scottish-brewer-unveils-brewmeister-armageddon-world-strongest-proof-beer/ I really have to wonder how GOOD this actually would taste.....

Since Karen will be running The Chicago Marthon on Sunday, I will be chilling HERE on Saturday evening. I invite anyone who has the evening free to join me.

Figured I would kick this one off, unless I'm the only cheese-head here. Solid largish American cheese company. Love their Merlot Bellavitano.

Just a friendly reminder - https://plus.google.com/events/chi786mll4pi8b25nfre1scakcs

Did my first, hopefully annual, crawfish boil yesterday. It was a busy day of cooking, 140lbs of the little buggers, but tons of tasty fun. Good call on the limes Dan! Cleaning them up Ready to cook Cooking Time to start eating Don't bother me when I'm stuffing my face Our sole survivor. Found him crawling toward the liquor cabinet.

Post your favorite Scotch(es). Laphroaig 18, Quarter Cask Talisker 18 Ardbeg Ten, Oogie Springbank 12 Cask I like peat. Original post:

I'm headed to Chicago next week and I'm looking for a few places to eat. I won't be driving so they'll have to be accessible by train/cab. I'm looking for somewhere for a nice Saturday lunch date. Around $100 for 2 without alcohol should be fine. I was thinking the RL restaurant (which I heard was good from a friend) and The Purple Pig. I'd have loved to gone to the Girl and the Goat but it's not open for lunch. Any suggestions? I'm also looking for a few places for casual dinner with friends. Under $30 per person. Cafe Iberico sounded intriguing. Sushi Wabi or Coast Sushi Bar. Longman and Eagle but I doubt we could find a seat. de Cero sounds interesting.

Apparently, I'm the only one of us going...but, rather than subject y'all to a bunch of random comments in the drinking thread, I figured I'd go ahead & start my own... Here are some of the known details courtesy of http://hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/: