The Hard Boiled Cook

Archive for May, 2009

In which Martha declared that the efficacy of the Bloody Mary was more important in the morning, anyway, and that a dozen or so of her friends were holding a party for her over the internet later today. When asked, she mentioned the box with the label Wine.com on the outside which seemed a promising way to yield to the temptation of party fever even if it were still early on a Friday. After all, somewhere on earth the sun is well over the yard arm and the evening cocktail hour approaches.

Martha popped by the coffee shop this morning to engage Susan and I in a lively discussion over the virtues various martini recipes. We all agreed on the desirability of the best Gin and the driest Vermouth. However, as usual, we diverged on the subject of the olive brine for dirty martinis and whether or not you use two or three olives. Martha also advocates a tiny twist of lime, while I prefer an added pinch of salt. As usual, nothing was settled.

If any of you want to include your Twitter feed on HBC.com, let me know and I will add it to the Live Feed page.

I’ve just looked over some of Susan’s 400 plus pictures from her week’s outing in the high desert of Big Bend country in west Texas. While I didn’t see any signs of haute cuisine or unusual coffees, there was an abundance of rock and thorn-bearing flora. As to the fauna, no one came back with snake bites as far as I know.

I don’t think it gets much better than this. This is the view about fifty feet from the front porch of the house in Coromandel.

This town on the east coast of New Zealand was pretty close to paradise. Our cottage was behind me on one side of the bay. The outdoor cafe and coffee houses were in that grove of trees behind Lydia. We had to pass a farmer’s market every time we walked across the bridge. How sad. Mangos at three for a NZ dollar.