Subj: 622 franchises

Canadian / A&W / pretty good coffee from Van Houtte.

I think the (American) A&W coffee supplier is Starbuck's, for
which "pretty good" is not the right term.

We bought one bag of their beans at Loblaws to brew coffee at
home... just once. Nasty stuff, over roasted and bitter. I may be
the only coffee lover left in North America who has never once
crossed the threshold of one of their stores.

Watching that particular cancer grow has been
pretty interesting. It serves to bolster my
contention that the American public's taste
buds aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

The next one was 1 oz gin, 1/2 oz each vermouth
and Cointreau which was quite an improvement.

I am out of Cointreau now and fooling around with gin + cranberry
cocktail concoctions. I have discovered that vermouth, cranberry,
lemon juice and Angostura bitters combined ends up tasting somewhat reminiscent of Campari!

I'd have thought that grapefruit would add
an appropriate bitterness. Of course, speaking
of nasty and bitter, I've always liked Campari
and grapefruit (doesn't taste as sinful as
Campari and orange, which I believe is a Thing).

Lamb's wool

I have never been tempted to mull beer, just cider and wine.

Of the recipes I've found, some use heavy-hopped
brews such as IPAs, which strikes me as being
pretty froward; a nice malty hopless beer,
however, might mull pretty well.

Subj: 633 cabbage rolls

There are so many Ukrainians in Alberta and Albertans in Yellowknife
that whole heads of sour cabbage are a regular thing in my super-
markets here.

Surely they're not in brine-filled barrels like in the old
province.

Nope. They come one at a time in hygienic, well sealed, heavy duty,
leak proof plastic bags.

Carcinogenic, surely. When my sister got her
cancer, the only thing I could think of as an
environmental factor was Nalgene bottles, which
I'm still convinced are deadly.

Subj: 642 eating weeds

I thought that Chenopods, Amaranths, pigweeds, and lamb's quarters
were pretty indistinguishable.

They do taste quite similar.

So far as I've found, the major difference
among these is the shape of the edges of
the leaves. I would generally collect only
the ones that actually looked like geese feet.

My father once fed me pokeberries; they were bittersweet with a
pucker and an acrid aftertaste.

Luckily, not too many!

After the first tentative bite, I spat -
there are advantages to not being so trusting.

THE BIG CHEESE TRE KOKKER
categories: Norwegian, fritters, starter
Yield: 16

1 c beer, room temperature
1 c flour
2 (8-oz) rounds young camembert
- each cut into eighths
oil, for deep frying

Whisk together beer and flour until smooth. Cut
young camembert in small chunks, leaving fresh
white rind intact. Using tongs, dip cheese in
batter, being certain to coat completely. Deep
fry in vegetable oil at 375F until fritters are
golden brown and crisp. Drain on paper towels
and serve with preserved lingonberries or a
not-too-sweet fruit preserve of your choice.

The Big Cheese used strawberry preserves. Other
cheeses besides camembert can be used.

Source: Washington Post
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