What aisle does candied hibiscus live in? Candy? Produce? Flowers? Drink mixers?

I mean, I'd have to go all the way to the Mount Washington Whole Paycheck to be able to ask for candied hibiscus without blushing.

Wonder if you could do something similar with candied violets...

They may be talking me down from the ledge before Christmas! I just saw that the weather blog is discussing the threat of snow this weekend.

Weather blog! And, we think we're geeky!

Somebody must have
kicked you around some
Tell me why you wanna lay there,
revel in your abandon

I've seen candied hibiscus at Whole Foods and Williams and Sonoma, and I think I saw a (much) less expensive version at Trader Joe's last year.

Lissa -- Trader Joe's may have candied hibiscus in its dried fruit aisle.

The cocktail does look revelrous and despite the fact that I don't currently have any candied hibiscus (!) I may look for some. My birthday is in December and it is always hard to find ways to celebrate my day differently from Christmas day...this could be it!

As for the champagne flute vs. champagne coupe, I don't know when the flute became the "proper" choice, but the coupe was designed specifically for champagne in England in 1663. (No, it wasn't modeled after Marie Antoinette's breasts!)

Sure, sure the flute keeps the carbonation from dissapating more quickly than the coupe, but I find the coupes "sexier" for some reason, more fun to hold at a party. (Probably the same reason I started drinking martinis...)

I do have a collection of coupes and enjoy using them whenever I can, connoisseurs be danged!

Thanks very much. That's exactly what I wanted to know. And you have an intriguing user name. :-) EL

Hibiscus syrup? Bah. Get some hibiscus flowers $8.37/lb:
http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/667695.0/CategoryID/1000.0/SubCatID/2635.0/file.htm

Make a strong tea, add sugar and boil down to a syrup. I have a bag of it that I use for tea. It will last a long long time.

Thanks, Kate. I haven't been to TJ's since I moved to Baltimore. Towson isn't the easiest place to get to. My neighbourhood is much more of an Aldi's kind of place (and, yes, Aldi's owns TJ's).

Lissa,

What a font of information you are. The last I knew TJ was owned and HQ'd in Needham, MA.

Thanks to D@L for drift!

Lissa- we have an Aldi's near me but I have never been. Is it a regular grocery store?

LEC, I found out in a wonderful article about the eccentric brothers who own Aldi's (one of which negotiated his ransom down when the Baader Meinhof gang kidnapped him). Unfortunately, I can't find the article.

Here's one from Business Week and here is a post from Slashfood where a comment mentions seeing TJ branded goods in an Aldi's in Germany.

Lissa,
What do you think of Aldi's? I read an article recently on that chain (its German-owned by the way) and it sounds pretty bare-bones. But I guess it must offer great prices in exchange for its very spare amenities, if that is even the right word?

Gee that's pretty! I'm a tightwad and haven't a clue how much Chandon costs. Any thoughts? If it's expensive, I'm wondering if I can use something else for the sparkle?

I can't say that I can do a whole weeks grocery shopping at Aldi's but what they do carry is almost always a dollar or two under grocery chain prices. And, they do get in a lot of cool "designer" foods cheap.

LEC -- you may be confusing "TJ" (Trader Joe's) with BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., which is HQ'd in Natick, MA (about 9 miles west of Needham). Also, the parent company of BJ's used to be Waban, Inc., named after a neighborhood of Newton, MA (the city which borders Needham on the east).

PCB Rob, I agree with Joyce. Aldi's is barebones, although they are cleaner and brighter than they used to be. The employees there seem really happy, which is a nice change.

You can't get everything there and there isn't much choice, but sour cream for 89 cents for 16 oz.? For some staples, the quality is good enough and the prices are great.

They rotate specials in throughout the year. A lot of the German made Deutsche Kuchen store brand stuff is pretty danged tasty, although I stay away from prepared foods in general. This time of year, they are cheap and mediocre European chocolate heaven. Let's face it, cheap European chocolate trumps cheap American chocolate.

When stuff doesn't sell, they have incredible sales. Last year, no one bought the Merci chocolates (a weakness of mine) at my local store. I was getting them for US$2 a package for over a month.

If you expect Safeway, you are going to be horrified. If you think more "urban TJ's", you'll have a better idea.

Take your own bags/boxes to Aldis. Canned and boxed goods, while not usually a brand that you'd recognize are OK. I've gotten salmon filets for a good price and they were very good. The bagged salad greens were brown at the edges the only time I bought any there (why would I buy them there again?) and the milk seemed to go funny a bit early but the yogurt has been OK. Of course, I actually like, premixed, pre-flavored, non-frou-frou yogurt.

Aldis won't work for those who need a dozen choices of every product. Oh! and be sure to have a quarter, to unlock your cart.

hmpstd

No, It was TJ's. At the least, their east coast HQ was on Kendrick St in Needham. I haven't shopped at TJ's in years but their labels used to say Needham, MA

LEC, I remember the labels saying that, too. It might have been the subsidiary office. I suspect that Aldi's doesn't try to publicize that they own TJ's.

Christine, sorry, didn't mean to ignore you.

It is worth dropping by the Aldi's near you to see what it is. Especially this time of year, when they lay on the chocolate.

It isn't a regular grocery store, as Joyce and others have pointed out. I wish more places did the quarter for the cart thing. Nor do I mind bringing my own bags or grabbing a box.

I was in a Pikesville liquor store called Vineyard's Elite this past weekend and found the Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup. A jar is about $15.

You put a flower in the bottom of the champagne flute and add some syrup, then fill with bubbly.

The store's owner said he would be offering a free tasting of the cocktail on Sunday, Dec. 28.

Chris, I'm assuming that Sunday 12/28 would be using one of his "get out of blue laws free" days, and that Vineyard's Elite is not normally opened on Sundays, correct?

Joyce,

'tis a shame (Hi John McIntyre!) that you don't live in Anne Arundel County or in Worcester County, where tasty libations are available for sale 7 days a week. And open late too!

No, I'm not a liquor board shill.

We have blue laws in MD? I thought those were finally extinct?

I went to school in MA during the blue law days. We had to drive to New Hampshire to get beer or gas on Sundays.

I'm assuming that Sunday 12/28 would be using one of his "get out of blue laws free" days

I don't think they're free, although I may be mistaken. I think a supplemental license of some sort has to be purchased for the "Sunday between Thanksgiving and New Years" thing.

Does someone here know the actual facts?

Lissa - depends on what part of MD you are in. In Baltimore and Carroll county no liquor stores can be opened on Sundays. I believe they have something like 4 Sundays a year that they are allowed to open but Hal may be right, they may have to pay for that.

Hal -- in Baltimore City, at least, a package goods store holding a standard 6-day Class A or Class A-2 license must apply for a special license for each Sunday between Thanksgiving Day and New Year's Day, according to the City's Liquor Board website. Prior to October 1 in each year, the store must pay a special license fee of $75 for each Sunday the store wishes to be open for business during the holiday period.

If you are a bar in Baltimore County you can sell liquor on Sundays. Of course, the price is insane. This is why I have to remember to buy beer on Sat night for Ravens games on Sun.

I don't get the whole "no alcohol sales on Sundays" thing.

Nor do I get why liquor stores are called "packaged stores" in the south. (You should have seen me trying to buy rum the first time I was down there. My friend said there was one in this particular shopping center. I called her and told her there wasn't. She told me where in the shopping center....I told her there was a shipping store, but no liquor store. Then she explained the whole "packaged store".)

She also told me it's because the nice little old ladies of the south don't want to see the word "liquor". Seriously? So If we don't say it or see it, the wretched sin of drinking alcohol (gasp!) doesn't exist? lol

In Massachusetts, we had "package stores", or, as we affectionately called them, "pakys". In Michigan, they are party stores.

So, I don't think it was the little old ladies of the south. Some of which could drink entire football teams under the table, from what I've seen.

Crack Pot and Pappas restaurants have liquor stores open on Sundays, year round.

Lissa -- I believe that the preferred spelling for a package store is "packie", as noted in the Wicked Good Guide to Boston English.

Sorry -- the disappearing personal info gremlins got my last info about "packie".

Chris, I'm assuming that Sunday 12/28 would be using one of his "get out of blue laws free" days, and that Vineyard's Elite is not normally opened on Sundays, correct?

From what I understand, liquor stores are allowed to open for several Sundays between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Vineyard's Elite is not normally open on Sundays.

Thanks, hmpstd. I never spelled, just slurred it. And I sure as heck didn't want to end up using the same spelling as for the UK racist slur that sounds the same.