|
4127. Magoseph - 3/28/2008 11:20:42 AM Feel French — Pour a Proper Ricard
1] Pour 1½ to 2 ounces of Ricard into a tall glass. Serve with a pitcher of cool water.
2] Add water, anywhere from 3 times as much as the Ricard to 7 times as much. A ratio of 5-to-1 water to Ricard is most common.
3] Drop in 2 ice cubes and enjoy. Serve with a small bowl of olives and radishes to munch on.
By Thierry Peremarti
Every French expat in L.A. knows it too well. Order a Ricard—France’s favorite pastis (licorice-flavored aperitif)—and you’re likely to get a rocks glass filled to the brim with ice and spirit. Maybe even a straw. It’s enough to ruin your day. Why can’t bartenders in this town pour a proper pastis—even in many French restaurants where they should know better?
We called upon Michel Visciano, owner of Chez Michel-La Brasserie des Catalans in Marseilles, France, to tell us how it’s done.
At his bar, he says, “you’ll be served 5 centiliters of Ricard in a tall 20-centiliter glass.” That’s about 1.7 ounces in a 7-ounce glass. “It should be taken in this manner, and not otherwise.” Tradition (backed up by Ricard’s website) dictates that ice be added after the water. Visciano plops in one cube, then slides the drink, along with a small pitcher of water, to the customer to add to taste. The water turns the chartreuse-colored aperitif milky white and refreshing. Undiluted, it’s strong enough to kill a horse.
Take a sip, then bring the glass to your ear. You will hear the scrubland of Provence, the cicadas. You are Jean de Florette. And that’s not La Cienega but a field of lavender.
I was thinking of my father this morning--he had to have his "pastis" every summer day before his game of "petanque". He was a simple man who married way above his station in life and paid a dear price for it. 4128. alistairconnor - 3/28/2008 12:41:55 PM I must confess Mago, I keep a bottle of Ricard in the cupboard and occasionally even drink it out of social obligation (i.e. when there is nothing else on offer)...
... but after twenty years, it still tastes like mouthwash to me. 4129. Magoseph - 3/29/2008 4:08:23 PM Ali, my lovely friend, how about trying Pernod instead and drinking it while eating oysters—the experience is a real turn-on, you know. 4130. alistairConnor - 3/30/2008 9:53:23 PM I'm afraid it's champagne with everything for me these days, Mago. The ransom of hanging out with the haute bourgeoisie.
Though today, offered the choice, we preferred to drink German beer. 4131. Magoseph - 3/31/2008 12:31:26 AM You're in a perfect world, aren't you? 4132. wonkers2 - 4/10/2008 10:34:42 PM Personal Finance Advice from Gaspar Portola 4133. iiibbb - 4/10/2008 11:13:06 PM Taking a crap was never so hip. I wonder if it plugs into my iphone. 4134. thoughtful - 4/12/2008 9:55:55 PM I love toto toilets, though the washlet is over the top...or should that be under the bottom!
4135. thoughtful - 4/12/2008 10:04:11 PM Would you believe, the ground has broken?
Here's proof!
Excavator on site...note the bucket is nearly as tall as hubby!
House building basic...how are foundations dug? One scoopful at a time.
That's Joel in the cab, making it happen.
Dump it down the hill to separate the rocks.
4136. anomie - 4/12/2008 10:55:59 PM Great news. Congrats Thoughtful. But is this Weekend overtime for the crew? Ouch. 4137. anomie - 4/12/2008 11:03:16 PM Saw a great simple recipe on TV.
Fry up some ham and put it on a plate
Top with pasta (spaghetti will do)
Top with an over EASY egg - fried or poached
Top with browned butter (from the fried egg perhaps or heat up some in
a pan).
Top with grated cheese.
Cut through the egg and mix everything up on your plate so the yoke mixes with the butter and cheese to form a sauce.
4138. thoughtful - 4/13/2008 12:54:51 PM Anomie, I posted the pics yesterday, but they were from friday...no weekend work, no OT. This house will cost us enough as it is!
Thanks.
Recipe sounds sloppy and like comfort food. 4139. alistairconnor - 4/13/2008 2:15:16 PM My thought also Anomie... I know this style all too well... sounds dangerously like batchelor's fare. Perhaps you need to be cooking for someone else from time to time. Your arteries would be better for it. 4140. anomie - 4/13/2008 3:26:18 PM It's not low-fat fare for sure, but it just sounded like an interesting way to make a pasta sauce. I wouldn't put it on my daily menu. 4141. anomie - 4/13/2008 4:53:09 PM Just tried it and it was delicious (with parmasan cheese). It's a dish that can satisfy 3 or 4 cravings at once. But as I said, not a healthy choice for the daily diet. 4142. alistairconnor - 4/13/2008 6:21:44 PM Well I confess I did do a spaghetti carbonara yesterday which was pretty close to that description. Fry up some snippets of bacon, tip them onto the cooked spaghetti, add a raw egg and some cream, and stir. Never fails to please. 4143. thoughtful - 4/14/2008 2:16:42 PM Well as you guys may or may not know, the latest thinking...which docs haven't caught up with yet...is it's carbs that cause the issues not the fat or the protein. See Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories.
The issue has a lot to do with insulin which is essential for digesting carbs, yet causes a lot of damage in the body.
So the dangers in anomie's dish are from the spaghetti more than anything else. 4144. alistairconnor - 4/14/2008 3:05:47 PM heh...
Actually Tful, I have been cutting back on the carbs in recent months. Partly because of concerns about any tendency towards a midlife midriff crisis. But also partly because of your recommendations.
I'm not entirely sure why I trust your advice on these matters. But I do. 4145. alistairconnor - 4/14/2008 3:08:27 PM You should convince my girlfriend that fat isn't a problem. She won't have butter in the house.
But then again, she might be onto something. Her grandfather eats nothing but bread and olive oil for breakfast, and has done for over a hundred years. 4146. anomie - 4/14/2008 4:57:46 PM I think too much of anything is the problem. Moderation in all things - as they say - is my goal. I even take moderation in moderate amounts. Life is short.
|
