Sneakeater

That cocktail is like you all over.

That "you are what I would guess to be most like/what I've been singing of" is one of the more awkward couplets you'll ever hear just adds to its appeal.

"Everything that Touches You" is one of my most favorite songs. So shoot me.

What's weird is that I very clearly remember that issue from when it came out. Including the Don Martin.

Did he EVER finish putting that gun together? I'll leave it someone else to talk about Jill Ireland.

Leftover Chili Verde con Cerdo. Over larded rice. Topped with what you'd expect (I usually use Queso Fresco among the toppings but tonight I used Cojita, which is about ten million times better). This chili certainly became insanely good sitting in the fridge over the week! Guiso de Flor de Calabaza on the side. Another wine pairing that just made me happy when I thought of it late afternoon. 2016 Jutta Abrositsch Raket This is a Viennese red-white co-fermented field blend. It kind of fell through the cracks over here: it's not meant to age this much. But it tasted fine. What was probably a slight fizz upon release has become less slight. The very berry fruit is still very merry. And that's really all there is to it. The increased fizz was only a plus with this lard-infused meal. The simple (but of course not jammy: this is a Natural wine) fruit was a perfect counterpoint to the mildly spicy faux Hatch chili chili. You can taste the white grapes in this wine -- and it's just what this main dish wanted. (I was actually thinking of an off-dry Riesling -- which is how I came to think of this wine.) Self back-pats all around.

A tribute to David McCallum: https://madcoversite.com/mad096-07.html

@Wilfrid has everybody drinking orange cocktails!

Which, given McCallum's politics as subsequently revealed, is kind of ironic. But we're properly not allowed to talk about that here.

Here's one of my favorite "Inside Baseball" Hollywood stories that actually has relevance here. In the original version of the pilot of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the head of U.N.C.L.E. isn't Mr. Waverly, played by Leo G. Carroll, but one Mr. Alllison, played by an actor named Will Kuluva. As is noted in many of his obituaries, David McCallum's "Illya" role is very limited in the pilot: a couple of lines and that's it. Some influential NBC person viewed the pilot and considered the "Illya" character to be surplussage and so sent a note, "Get rid of the 'K' guy." Meaning Ilya. Whoever got the note on the The Man from U.N.C.L.E. production team misread it He thought "the 'K' guy" meant Will Kuluva, and so fired Kuluva and and replaced his "Mr. Allison" with Leo G. Carroll's "Mr. Waverly". David McCallum's "Illya Kuryakin" stayed on and, as we know, eventually took off and became an entrenched part of The Sixties.

I so prefer Grandma's version (it adds eggs and chili, and lets the eggplant dry out more) that I join Grandma in wondering what the younger generation (in this case, Kathy and her mother) (if I remember right, Kathy has a sister who sides with Grandma) is thinking.

Kathy Chan's Family Fish Sauce Garlic Eggplant Dish (Grandma's version) On the side, a salad made of that mustard green cross I sautéed last week, the other parent of which turns out to be bok choi. With a sesame oil-sherry vinaigrette. I forgot how much I like Kathy's family dish. If eggplants hold out, I'ma make it again next week. It was early this morning when a great pairing hit me. NV Domaine Laguerre Oxy This is a Rancio from Roussillon, where I think this was once, long ago, the dominant style of wine made. It then virtually disappeared -- until now when it's making a comeback, for reasons that will become apparent. Rancios are oxidated like Sherries, but unlike Sherry not to the point where the wine stops tasting like wine. This is very much a heavily oxidated white wine. You can still taste the fruit. It's a really piquant combination. So while Sherry is an excellent accompaniment for that eggplant dish (I can tell you from experience), this is a slightly different approach. The fruitiness works so well here! I'll note that the only grape in this wine is Grenache Blanc -- Grenache Rouge being, of course, a really great pairing for eggplant.

I'd eat that.

If I remember right, a berry farmer told me there was too much rain at just the wrong time.

On Eater they'd have met him in the one on Madison, said it was the one in Soho, but identified it as being on the Lower East Side.

Maybe it's not your taste buds. Around 2015 it was becoming trendy to market oxidized wines.

At the Greenmarket, it's been a fabulous year for tomatoes, really extraordinary. But the squash and pepper crops were decimated. And the berry supply was limited.

YO HASH

And his dad was a famous orchestral violinist, concertmaster of one or two of the London orchestras.

Man, you just inhale this wine!

VERY seasoned lamburger with goat cheese mush (with pesto and roasted red pepper), PA Dutch onion relish, Mean Old Lady chili crisps, and sweet pepper hot sauce. On the side, a vaguely Moroccan roast vegetable melange, made even more vaguely Moroccan by serving it over cous cous. Topped with shaved almonds I was too lazy to toast. That side dish came out almost exactly as I intended -- far from a foregone conclusion when you're freestyling. Well, probably it's a foregone conclusion if you're @voyager. But I'm not @voyager by a long shot. (Although only the gourd in the melange really required resting in salt before cooking, I decided it would intensify the flavors of all the non-tomato vegetables to give them the salt treatment. [The tomatoes I wanted to retain all their juices to generate a gravy.] [Look at me talking like I know what I'm doing.] So I put in some youknowwhat to seep while the vegetables were sitting. I think I've really gotten the hang of using Ghost Pepper. You might ask, if you take so much trouble to minimize the Ghost Pepper, why not just use a milder pepper? The answer is, I'm not mellowing the Ghost Pepper so much as containing it. It's not like suddenly it's just like a habanero. It's still super-intense. It's just that now it tingles rather than hurts.) There was so much La Bôite in each of these dishes that I felt like Lior Lev Sercarz was my sous chef. As I was cooking this, it occurred to me that a Rioja would have been a good pairing. But I was already committed to something else. I mean, on a gloomy Autumn day, who wouldn't want to drink something called . . . 2020 Bloomer Creek Vineyard Cabernet Franc "Vin d'Ete" This is one lipsmacking wine, It's got all the substance of a Cab Franc. But it's got the texture and feel of the Natural wine it is. So you get your bell peppers, you get your eucaplyptus, you get your minerals -- but it's all light as a feather. A Rioja wouldn't have been a better pairing.

Just what I was in the mood for. Improved Genever Cocktail 2 oz. Genever 1 tsp. Simple Syrup 1/2 tsp. Maraschino liqueur 2 dashes Boker's bitters Rinse of Absinthe Rinse chilled cocktail glass with Absinthe. Stir the rest of the ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker and strain into rinsed glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

You know what I like better than boiled beef? NOTHING

I've only ever had them in Rancho Mirage. So in my mind I think of them as this fish that lives in the desert sand. I know that isn't the case.

Hey I loves me some sand dabs.