I was looking for a taste of Malta on my last night before leaving that enchanted island in the Mediterranean Sea. At a loss, I turned to Joy and her colleagues at my hotel, and this is what we came up with. I think it's a marvelous expression of Malta's maritime history, citrusy climate, and the carob that grows all over the island.

It's a delicious cocktail, one for after dinner that invites relaxation and contemplation while gazing out over the harbor lights (or wishing that you were!).  We named it after Marsamxett Harbour, the "other harbor" in Valletta, above which the Grand Hotel Excelsior presides with dignity and class.  

Fans of old-style fancy European cuisine are familar with the spiny lobster, but I was surprised to see another European cousin of our favorite New England crustacean while in Sorrento in 2018.

We had it as the highlight of a very fancy, expensive seafood dinner in Sorrento. Our goal was to compare and contrast the European Lobster (Homarus gammarus) with our American Lobster (Homarus americanus) with an eye to how well recipes for the one can substitute the other.

In Sorrento anyway, the European lobster is called the blue lobster. This is confusing for us because of the celebrity gained by the bright blue mutant lobsters occasionally caught off the New England coast. The European "blue" lobster is very deep blue, so much so as to look black. It cooks up red like an American lobster.

In Italian cuisine, the spiny lobster is the aragosta and this lobster is astice. 

Bistecca alla Fiorentina is maybe the original foodie's steak, with much lore about the great care needed in getting and cooking the perfect steak. 

There are also many misconceptions about this wonderful and expensive pinnacle of carnivory. While in Tuscany, I engaged in grueling research to get to the real facts of the matter. ;-) 

Bistecca alla Fiorentina, or Florentine Beefsteak, is a T-bone steak prepared with the finest beef and minimal other ingredients. It's all about the technique and the quality of the beef. 

That's where the first problem arises. Bistecca alla Fiorentina is prepared from the beef of the white Tuscan Chianina cattle. This is not your basic Black Angus or fancy New Zealand ribeye - the Chianina is very lean, but the cut used for the steak is tender as long as you don't overcook it. It's dry-aged 15-30 days. Of course, being so lean, you have a very small window to get it right, and its expensive so you can't afford a lot of practice. 

The steak is unseasoned, except for a dusting of salt. It's cooked over very hot charcoal, very briefly, and served rare or on the light side of medium rare. 

This is a pungent blast of early-summer flavor!

People who grow garlic cut the scapes in June (in these parts) to prevent the garlic bulb from expending energy that might be better used in a hot skillet. 

One excellent use of these doomed shoots is to pound them into a pungent pesto, as described below. 

Vieux Carre is French for the Old Quarter, which is a storied  corner of storied New Orleans. 

This is a fascinating cocktail, based on a split of rye and cognac with sweet vermouth, and two kinds of bitters. Benedictine adds a complex sweetness. 

I think all-rye or all-cognac would make a fine drink, but by making the base spirit an unidentifiable blend (really the rye and cognac become something new and different) the Vieux Carre becomes mystical. 

This is a fancy version of the Steamers (Classic) with a great flavor.

I got the idea of adding Pernod from Annette, who did the same in her stuffed clams recipe.

One night when Lorna and I wanted something easy and different, I suggested she get steamers and I'd try this - fortunately she loved it and now we have it very often.  

This is about the easiest of easy recipes! 

Steamers are steamed soft-shell clams, traditionally served with some dipping liquid (to remove any residual sand) and melted butter, and a refreshing summery beer. 

This old traditional recipe is quick and easy, nutritious and delicious - what's not to like? 

It's easy to find the mussels imported from Prince Edward Island, Canada, and they are often pretty clean. Local mussels are good, but they may be bigger, so adjust the cooking time accordingly. 

There are many ways to get creative with this dish, starting with the base wine and herbs, of course, but many chefs also add cream or chilies or sliced sausage... the creative opportunities are endless.  

Soujouk is a beef sausage common in the northern Middle Eastern countries from Armenia to Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, and Macedonia. 

It's traditionally served for breakfast with fried eggs, sliced thinly and heated up in a skillet.

I was making it for lunch, so I did it in a simple and also traditional style, with sauteed onions and tomatoes. It was really good with just those simple ingredients, and the sausage to season it all.

I don't know what makes this a Boston Cocktail. Most cocktails with Boston in the name include rum, but this one is gin and apricot brandy.

It's not a bad drink, but a lot depends on the apricot brandy. The best brandies out there, like Marie Brizard Apry, have too much flavor, so a 2:1 ratio works better. But the more common ones probably work fine at the original ratio. 

On the other hand, I made this when the New England Patriots were down 15-3 in the Super Bowl and they made up 9 points since then, so I do believe I'll have another! 

This classic was created in 1894 for the premiere of an operetta of the same name, based loosely on the life of Scottish folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor. 

It's basically a Manhattan made with with Scotch.

The traditional garnish is two cherries pinned together, no doubt a reference to the romantic interest in the operetta.

This would never have been made with a fine single malt Scotch - Scotch whiskey was almost all blends in those days. I have good luck with the Famous Grouse.

There's a new French-style restaurant within walking distance of my home. It's called Mallebar Brasserie, and Jim the chef-owner is turning out some pretty fancy fare. Richmond and I tried it out a couple of weeks ago, and were impressed. 

I noticed that some of the menu items included back truffle in season, and there was seared foie gras, and among the steaks was a filet mignon. Those are the key components to the legendary Tournedos Rossini, which I have longed to try ever since I first read about it many years ago. I asked Jim if he could make that for a special dinner and he agreed.

Tournedos Rossini was created by the finest chefs of Paris sometime after 1829, when Gioachino Rossini retired from writing operas and lived almost 40 more years as a Parisian bon vivant. Rossini was a prolific composer, and a brilliant one; everyone knows the famous "Lone Ranger" bit of the overture to William Tell, and his Barber of Seville has been endearingly covered by Bugs Bunny. Gioachino became quite the gourmand, and he got to know all the best chefs in Paris society.

This is a merry widow, with ulterior motives!

This is a fascinating sweet cocktail of the type that may end the evening unexpectedly...

It's really rather too sweet for my tastes. I think it works best as an after-dinner drink.  

This hard-to-find, visually-unappealing, finicky vegetable is worth the hunt and the longish preparation.

I had searched for cardoons for years every late fall/early winter, with no success. Albie's Produce in the North End and even Eataly in Boston's Back Bay had failed me. 

Then a double-stroke of good luck brought me success! The produce manager at my local Stop & Shop acidentally got a shipment of cardoons from California, and I happened to be at the store on that morning.  

I sort-of recognized this long-sought vegetable, but I wasn't sure. Fortunately they were labelled Cardones, the Italian name for the vegetable, so it was easy to connect the name. 

The raw vegetable is very bitter, but 30 minutes of boiling extracts most of the bitterness, leaving only a bracing aftertaste that complements a rich buttery or cheesy sauce.  

Nobody knows why this is called Alaska, but it sure is tasty! 

The Alaska Cocktail is essentially a Martini with Yellow Chartreuse instead of Dry Vermouth. 

This makes it a very different and wonderful symphony of herbal flavors with a delightful color - all in all an exceptional cocktail experience! 

Yellow Chartreuse is more sweet than the green, so 2 dashes of Orange Bitters are an optional improvement.

This is a potent little cocktail, being almost entirely gin!  

When I discovered Djinn Spirits' Henry Knox gin, I knew exactly which cocktail to try it in. In 1775, Henry managed the transportation of 60 tons of captured British artillery 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, where it was instrumental in forcing the British Evacuation. Knox ultimately became our first Secretary of War (now called Secretary of Defense).

I made this with the Henry Knox gin and with the Coastal Roots (of Portland) Aromatic Bitters; it was perfect!

Sarah Josepha Hale was an amazing woman who pretty well invented the Thanksgiving holiday. I encourage you to read about her on Wikipedia.

This simple, attractive, and delicious version is superior to the familiar tinned variety in every way except convenience, and it's not so inconvenient to make, either.

The flavor is tart, sweet, rich, and complex. This is good enough to enjoy with many roasted or grilled meats at any time of year, and because it molds so well, it can ornament a fancy holiday table.

I can find no history on this libation, but an online search finds many hits, all with essentially the same simple recipe: equal parts of gin, dry vermouth, and "cherry brandy". 

"Why the quote marks?" you ask. Well, it's complicated.

According to Ted Haigh's authoritative Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails when this cocktail was probably created, cherry brandy meant cheap brandy with sweet cherry flavor and red color. If it is more recent, then cherry brandy could mean an excellent all-natural eau-de-vie or a fine Austrian schnaps, or even kirschwasser. All of the latter are flavorful but much less sweet, and colorless.

I tried it both ways, first with the sweet red Dutch Cherry Heering, and then with the cherry eau-de-vie from Westford Hill Distillers in Connecticut.

I really didn't care for the sweet version. I found it pretty but cloying and not very interesting. Any kisses in the dark that I had under such circumstances never amounted to anything lasting.

The dry version was much more interesting and thought-provoking, although it was visually no more appealing than a Martini. Well, there you have it: after a trying week, I find greater refreshment in "interesting and thought-provoking" than I do in "sweet and visually appealing".

This is a classic outside of Fenway Park on game day and at countless other public and family events across the Bay State and New England. It's easy, cheap, and a great crowd-pleaser.

The secret to success here is the perfection of each ingredient. The sausages are the star, so they have to be great - cooked through and with crispy skins, the melted fat saved for the important work ahead. The onions and peppers work best cooked separately or serially. Red and green peppers are a great combination but you can do fine with all green peppers or with whatever your garden/CSA share gives you. A proper New England bun is great, but this works well on pasta too.  

I used to make this refreshing summer salad with my friend and co-worker Viren before he returned to Gujarat, India. It's a great burst of summertime flavor, with just summer-fresh tomato and cucumber, maybe a little onion, and salt and pepper. No oil or vinegar are needed. The contrasting colors look like little gems, and the flavors are great together. 

There are many ways to make a Kachumber Salad, and many of my Indian colleagues had other ideas. I'll call this one Viren's Kachumber Salad because I learned it from him.  

With a name like Bosom Caresser, I could only resist so long. It's not that I have anything against caressing bosoms, should the opportunity arise, but I thought it must be something trendy, relying on a silly name to get attention in a crowded market. Except nobody knows this one anymore. Research was called for.

The recipes for the Bosom Caresser fall into two very different groups, a complex interesting version with an egg yolk (I think this is the older version) and then a much simpler version recorded in Mr. Boston and published in many places online. In both cases it is a sweet cocktail, but in the first instance it is sweet like a great dessert, and in the second it's just sweet and boring. 

The top image here is what I believe to be the classic recipe, with the egg yolk, documented here. It's not a beautiful drink, but it's an experience!

The bottom image is the simpler version in the Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide, made of 2:2:1 brandy, madeira, and triple sec, and much too sweet and simple to be taken seriously alongside the other version. 

The old version is made with egg yolk. We don't see a lot of egg yolk recipes these days, but there are plenty of them in the books, often called the Royal something-or-other. For example, there's a Clover Club Cocktail and a Royal Clover Club, the latter being distinguished by the addition of an egg yolk.

Here's an easy and tasty way to use the ton of zucchini and summer squash that arrive this time of year. 

All you do is cut the squash into serving size pieces, dress with olive oil, salt, and whatever seasonings will go well with the final dinner. Then roast at high temperature until it's ready.

I served it here with roast pork, and it's a great accompaniment to roast meats, but it's also good on its own, or even cold as a picnic dish.  

You don't take Amtrak to anyplace a jet can take you if you are in a rush. Even from Boston to NYC, after taking into account the wasted time getting to and in the airports, flying is still usually faster than the train. But if you are on vacation and if your schedule is flexible, then the train can be a great part of an adventure. 

In July of 2017 we took the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago. For the first time in 12 trips, we missed our connection in Chicago due to lateness. The lateness was not due to any error on Amtrak's part, it was just an unusual combination of the things that can happen when you take a train:

Between us, Lorna and I have traveled about 100,000 miles by Amtrak. We have also traveled about 7,500 miles by train in Scotland, England, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and France. Considering myself a seasoned rail traveler, I offer these thoughts on how you can have a happy rail adventure.

These are our long-distance train trips on Amtrak: 

People frequently ask me about must-see places for foodies visiting Portland. Most recently, I wrote up this list in an email, and then I thought I should post it here:

If I were going to spend a weekend in Portland, I'd want to be sure to check out:

Dining and Drinking:

• Becky's Diner - local breakfast joint
• Gilbert's Chowder House - local lunch joint 
• Fore Street - fancy dinner 
• Drifter's Wife - acclaimed hyperlocal dining, if you can get in
• Silly's - casual and fun near East Bayside
• Duckfat - trendy dinner 
• Portland Hunt & Alpine Club - cocktails
• Thirsty Pig - beer and sausages
• Novare Res - beer 
• Central Provisions - cocktails, beer and good food
• Liquid Riot - noisy distillery with restaurant 
• Holy Donut - potato donuts, go early 
• Mount Desert Island Ice Cream - Lorna still raves about the tangerine-tarragon sherbet 
• Gelato Fiasco is also highly regarded. Not an ice cream guy myself. 

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