Epinions Recent Reviews for bkalafut

An old convenience food with a dash of modern food science.

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:25:20 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Traditional couscous (a pellet-shaped semolina pasta indiginous to the Maghreb and western Sicily), for which literary evidence exists as early as the thirteenth century, is steamed over a pot of stew. Here in the USA, we are ordinarily sold a...

Is it British or Arab? Either way, it's tasty.

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 06:22:24 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - If you go searching for orange blossom water, pomegranate molasses, or sumac powder at the local Middle Eastern grocer, you're bound to find even more exotic offerings, among them Vimto, a carbonated soft drink in a bilingual (French and...

Slanderous

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:28:42 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Is it "fair game" to turn a recently deceased scholar into a symbol, to quote him out of context and use this deliberate misreading as the foundation for an entire book, and to make up fanciful connections between normative economics and political...

Redbreast: an excellent whiskey for sipping, not coffee or carbombs.

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:09:49 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - It can't be said that Irish whiskey gets no respect, but it has yet to gain the following that Scotch has developed. Redbreast stands as evidence that traditional Irish methods (as opposed to the column-still process used to make ordinary...

Brinkmann Smoke 'n Grill Double-Grill Charcoal 810-5301-C: Smoking in the infamous "ECB": how good (or bad) is the Smoke 'n' Grill?

Sat, 9 Aug 2008 04:54:37 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Having to host a cookout for the almost-in-laws in a few weeks, I was purchasing parts to turn a steel trash-can into a smoker, when I realized that the total came to twice as much as the Brinkmann Smoke 'n' Grill, which could at the time be...

Hardly a Manhattan at all, and not very good, either.

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 03:09:12 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Pour one part sweet red vermouth, three parts whiskey (preferably rye), and two dashes of Angostura or Peychaud bitters over ice in a mixing glass, stir, strain into a glass, and garnish with a cherry. Voila!: a Manhattan, one of the oldest cocktails in...

Catalina State Park: Water for butterflies, birds, plants, and people makes for great hikes and wildlife watching.

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 06:45:33 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - The large Santa Catalina range north of Tucson is managed and protected by a sometimes confusing patchwork of Federal, State, and private owners and agencies. Nearly the entire range, aside from some parts of the foothills, is in the Coronado National...

The story doesn't add up, but the beer does.

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 03:54:34 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - New Belgium puts forth, on their website, an explanation for this one I can't quite decipher: Born of a flood and centuries-old Belgian text, 1554 Enlightened Black Ale uses a light lager yeast strain and dark chocolaty malts to redefine what dark...

In a blind taste-test, monks and environmentalists can't be told apart.

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 03:04:45 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Colorado's New Belgium brewery produces an above-par mix of brews, most (e.g. Fat Tire, 1554) in an American or cosmopolitan style but a few that might as well come from "old Belgium", including two witbiers, a trippel, and this dubbel,...

Cuisinart DLC-5 7 Cups Food Processor: More than what Cuisinart makes it out to be.

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 00:40:16 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Cuisinart markets this as its entry-level 7-cup food processor. As such, it can often be found on sale at department stores like Kohl's for as low as $75. What they would seemingly rather you not know, to the point where they de-listed some previously...

The Dark Knight: Of heroes and masks.

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:25:01 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - To those concerned about "spoilers": this review reveals , in a patchwork manner, some details about the film's plot. Having established the Batman--body, soul, and suit--in 2005's Batman Begins, director and co-screenwriter (with...

"The Way We Were"

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:26:31 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Lancers Rose is an old wine, an old American wine from Portugal, if that makes any sense. It was launched in 1944 when wine merchant Henry Behar visited Europe looking for a rosé to appeal to the American palate, which he found being produced at...

The opposite of a better mousetrap.

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:12:36 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Novel cleaning products are developed and brought to market in approximately three ways: (1) An engineer or team of engineers considers how, at least marginally, to improve a common hassle. (2) Marketers consider how to eat up all-important shelf...

Pizza wine.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:10:07 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Due to its placement on supermarket shelves, usually somewhere near the bum wines, Manischewitz, and other miscellaneous abominations, I never thought Riunite Lambrusco worth trying until after I had the more-than-passable...

What does it mean, to "get what you pay for"?

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:40:34 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Opteka makes a single 500 mm f/8 mirror lens, using Tamron's old M42 T-mount (predecessor to the "adaptall"), that can be had new, on eBay, with the appropriate mount adapter (available for most SLR cameras) and a 2X teleconverter for around $100...

A fine choice for seafood or summer.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:11:05 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - The local wine shop was recently promoting the 2005 Naia heavily, perhaps in part to make room for the 2006, but as they've never in my experience recommended anything bad, I took home a bottle instead of the vinho verde I came for...

KitchenAid KHB100 Variable-Speed Handheld Blender: Best of the conusmer grade immersion blenders.

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 04:00:47 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - To purchase an immersion blender superior to the KitchenAid KHB100 (or the equivalent KHB200 and KHB300, which merely come with more accessories) is like purchasing wrenches better than Craftsmans. It can be done but for...

Mere update of an obsolete design.

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 02:56:17 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Presto's number 01282 eight quart aluminum pressure cooker is an old-fashioned "jiggle-top" cooker with a few modern safety features added. As such, it's noisy, and the depressurization process straddles the line between clumsy and dangerous, but it...

Yes, it does matter if we call a rose "stinkweed".

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 01:54:09 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - I once made a batch of sugar-free cookies for someone allergic to cane products. The recipe called for dates to be boiled into a paste and mixed with oatmeal and a few other ingredients, then flattened and baked, resulting in some of the worst cookies...

Bissell 1770 Quicksteamer II Upright Vacuum: The marketing department didn't like "Cheapdribbler".

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:13:52 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - "Cheapdribbler" would be a more accurate name for this vacuum, but "Quicksteamer" sells. I recently had mine apart to clear a clog, and discovered that there is neither a pump nor a heating element for the clean shampoo solution. The gravity-fed...

Surprisingly OK.

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:29:39 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Considering my distaste
for aromatized wines and Boone's Farm's reputation as the sorority-house special, I thought I was in for punishment, albeit...

LongShot? Good shot!: Kibzey's Weizenbock is a fine sipping beer.

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:30:52 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Weizenbock--a German wheat beer style with bock-like richness--is quite a challenge for homebrewers working with five gallons of a time. According to various interviews, homebrewer Rodney Kibzey of Lombard, IL went through several batches fine-tuning...

¿Qué es "Tamarindo"?

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:19:07 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - Jarritos's line of naturally flavored, cane-sweetened soft drinks consists mainly of flavors that are familiar, even if they don't usually come to mind when we think "pop": pineapple, watermelon, guava, etc. Two stand out to us gringos as...

A ten-dollar wine masquerading as a three-dollar wine.

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:54:23 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - The shelf at Trader Joe's, where this wine currently sells for $2.99, had a bit more to say about it than is usual for an und
er-$5
wine; when was the last time the Charles Shaw generic wine was said to have...

Jr. Pac-Man for Atari 2600: Atari got it right on the third try, however, by then, nobody was watching.

Mon, 9 Jun 2008 05:21:59 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author bkalafut - A minor surge in game releases accompanied Atari's "Under 50 Bux" 1986 re-launch of the 2600, as Atari and third party publishers dusted off canceled titles and even developed a few new ones to accompany the console's sale to new markets and demographic...