Beer: Red Hook Sunrye Summer Ale - 3.5/5

A light to very light ale, initially not to my liking, but after a couple tries, have come to appreciate it's subtle flavor & lightness. Lightly hopped. Little aftertaste.

Hot Chocolate

Now this is hot chocolate...

*4 1/2 cups whole milk
*7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
*2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
*1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

In large saucepan, heat the milk with 1/2 cup of water until small bubbles appear around the edge. Add the chocolate, cocoa powder, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the sugar and a pinch of salt and whisk over low heat until the chocolate is melted.

From Food & Wine, Feb 2007, pg 138.

Basic Tomato Sauce

I'm going make this sauce soon.

Basic Tomato Sauce
Recipe by Mario Batali

*1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
*1 Spanish onion, 1/4-inch dice
*4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
*3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
*1/2 medium carrot, finely grated
*2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
*Salt
*Spaghetti, cooked al dente
*Whole basil leaves, for garnish
*Grated Parmesan, (optional)

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

When ready to use, the cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate
amount of sauce. Garnish with basil leaves and cheese, if using.

Rustic Kitchen

We had lunch today at Rustic Kitchen in Boston. For an appetizer, we had fried calamari with pine nuts and jalapeños, $7. Our entrée was pizza fired in their brick oven, $11. The pizza had sweet Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella. The crust was very good, nice and thin. I had a glass of an '04 Californian Zinfandel (I can't recall the vineyard right now), nice and smooth, hints of spice, $7.

I also liked their chairs. They're very good chairs. Very comfortable, roomy, substantial. You can lean back in them without having to tip them. These are the kind of chairs I'd like to have at my dinner table.

Black Velvet

Okay, the Black Velvet is my new New Year's Eve toast of choice. Pure genius, the mixing of Guiness and champagne is. I used an extra dry sparkling wine from Domaine Ste Michelle and Guiness in a can. Really simple:

Fill a champagne flute half full with Guiness. Slowly fill the rest of the glass with champagne. Be careful, the champagne will fizz up.

Spicy Beer

All I can say is, wow. This is not what you'd expect. It's difficult to describe. The best I've come up with so far is spicy carbonated bread. I used Dos Equis Amber.

From FronteraFoods.com

Michelada Cubana

Serves 1

A lime and a small plateful of coarse (Kosher) salt
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
About 1/8 teaspoon Maggi Sauce (Jugo Maggi)
About 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or Mexican salsa inglesa), or to taste
About 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tabasco Pepper Sauce, Tamazula or Valentina), or to taste
1 12-ounce beer (such as Bohemia for lighter beer lovers, Dos Equis or Negra Modelo for darker beer lovers)

Cut the lime in half. Rub one half over the rim of a large (16-ounce) beer mug to moisten it. Invert the mug and dip lightly in the salt.

Fill the mug half full with ice, then add the lime juice, Maggi Sauce, Worcestershire and hot sauce. Fill the mug with beer, stir just enough to combine everything, then enjoy.

Peppered Rib Eye Roast

Delish. Served for dinner on Dec 25, 2006. Mashed potatoes with green onions, brocolini sautéed in white wine, butter, and scallion. For appetizers, roasted red & yellow peppers with shredded mozzarella on toasted slices of baguette, and oriental shrimp in philo dough.

Recipe for the roast:

PEPPERED BEEF
Original from COOKS.COM

2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/4 tsp. ground thyme
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 lbs. eye or round beef roast, rump, or rib eye roast

In a small bowl combine spices, mix well. Rub meat with olive oil and spices until well coated with spice mixture. Place roast on a rack, bake at 500 degrees for 15 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake an additional 45 minutes.

(NOTE: We didn't serve this sauce with our roast). Garlic mayonnaise sauce: In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon oregano, mix well. Chill and serve with peppered beef.