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Many years ago, my husband asked his cousin for his personal recipe for a Bloody Mary because it was the best we had ever tasted. He sent us his recipe on the email and I've been making my version of it ever since.

His had key lime juice, Angostura Bloody Mary seasoning (a liquid like their bitters) and both V-8 juice and Clamato juice in it. I ran out of Clamata awhile back so I've been using V-8 and Sacramento Tomato Juice and they have been really good.

I switch off the hot sauces and try different ones each time. He uses a local one down in FL that we can't get up here without ordering through the internet so I use different favorite ones. I have a whole collection of hot sauces (over 80 bottles at this point) so I try a different one every time.

Funny, I make cheesecake pops when I have a chunk of cheesecake that's too big to toss but too small to serve on its own. First I shove a plastic spoon into a big chunk of cheesecake, then dunk it in melted chocolate, then put it in the freezer. I served a tray of these things and all I heard were moans of pleasure. (My cheesecake is made from scratch. I've seen Shamdra Lee do this where she murders a frozen cheesecake with a scoop, winding up with a cheesecake carcass.)

Re: Soup Sips - do you mean in small cups? That does seem rather silly. I like to serve "dessert bites" on Chinese porcelain spoons. Even if you have 2 it's not like wolfing down an entire dessert - but you get to have a tasty sweet in small measure.

Absolut Peppar vodka and plain tomato juice. The vodka adds all the spice needed.

I agree wholeheartedly with the critique of "foam." WTF???? I ordered only one dish in my life that had "foam" on it, and it looked like the chef (or maybe the waitperson) spat on my dish. It was hideous. I hope this trend dies as quickly as "vanilla lobster."

Chef as Media Whore - and who did they throw up as the photo? Rocco DiSpirito. This dude was a great cook and that ONE BLUNDER he committed called "The Restaurant" cost him about 5 years of productivity. After The Restaurant, I wouldn't pay to watch DiSpirito boil an egg. I'm sorry to say restaurant "reality" shows have not improved much. It's still drama, insults, distractions - with little attention to what the contestant is actually cooking.

Communal tables don't bother me - try getting into Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown at high lunch hour and see if you don't relent and sit at a communal table.

I think "knee-jerk" reviews are only a small problem, compared to a) inflatedly positive reviews written by the restaurant owner's brother-in-law and b) exaggeratedly horrible reviews written by someone who couldn't get a timely reservation - or worse - someone who has NEVER dined at the establishment whose food he or she is reviewing.

LBNL, the first category "onion blossoms," and the "proudly obnoxious" categories could be combined. It's all about vulgar amounts of fat and calories - and pokes fun at gluttons who go in for this sort of thing.

Thanx to all for the Bloody recipes. I haven't had a good one since I quit cruising! RCCL used to have the best ones ever (but I'm sure they came from a "mix"). I'll have to try each one here and find the best. Thanx again!

BangieB, you're totally right about that. Isn't it sad that the poorer, working classes of our country are forced to subsist on such unhealthy food because of cost. Fresh, whole food should be available to everyone at a price which makes it reasonable. But that whopper is still disgusting.

I, too like Svedka as a reasonably-priced but respectable vodka. The big one goes for $18 at the local Costco. (Or you can pay Jewel $25, if that makes you feel good.)

In this vein, did others see the article in the "Weekend" section of the WSJ that described how many of the makers of premium-priced, designer vodkas produced their pricey masterpieces? They start with a RR tank car or tank-truck load of industrial-grade beverage alcohol (97 proof) from Archer-Daniels-Midland and cut that with some kind of fancy water (melted iceberg ice, anyone?) an arty-farty label, a tricky name, and a price to impress the fashion-conscious.

You know who you are.

I'm gonna try some of the suggestions here, including the horseradish, the Sriracha, the aquavit, the cilantro, the celery salt, and the Clamato.

Maybe not all at once, though.

I agree on some of what you said, Michael. But, you can keep the communal table.

And, the elevation of chefs to rock stars has just given us expensive food cooked by someone who isn't the celebrated chef, since he or she is out on a book tour.

Bloody Mary's are my Saturday gameday staple. I follow a similar recipe, but I include dashes of both lemon and lime juice, go heavy on the horseradish, several dashes of Cholula (so not a Tobasco fan) and a few dashes of celery salt and cayenne, because I like mine extra super spicy. I garnish with a celery stalk, of course, but some olives as well. Oh, and heck no to using V-8 - gross. Real tomato juice all the way.

@NorrinRazael--Only because when you're using a shaker, its easier to just go from one glass to the other than it is to stir it. It just takes one time from glass to glass to do the job. And I emphasize the matter because so few bartenders do it this way that I either have to specifically ask them to do it, or spill all over when I order one. And it's especially difficult when the thing is garnished all to hell.

The best part of a bloody mary is how versatile the basics are. Tomato juice, liquor, seasoning, and spice. in any combo, with some swap outs, and garnishes it's a drink for all occasions.

I make these a lot. My last one was tomato juice, lime, vodka, celery seed, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, and a beefstick.

I've made it swapping out the worcestershire for clam juice and the beef stick for shrimp. Or swapping tabasco for horseradish and gardinera. There's just so much you can do.

MAN, only this site can make me salivate while i'm home on a saturday night w/ a nasy little stomach bug...i LOVE gin. someone said cilantro - never had it, but me wanty. i live in williamsburg brooklyn and a spot right down the ave from me called Enid's makes theres with a long toothpick full of differnet kinds of wonderful little pickles and olives. WONDERFUL. anything else pickled a bonus. in fact, two long toothpicks full of a variety of pickles. this a fantasy right?! another place called double down saloon on ave A in the east village makes theirs with bacon vodka, and a SLIM JIM swizzle stick. i will also steal the slim jim idea and include it in mine, instead! so that is: gin, cilantro, spicy and horeseradishy/blackpepery, pickle explosion, and a meat stick. a-thank-ayou.

Ooo. Bloody mary with cilantro sounds wonderful! I love a bloody mary with oysters - not in the drink, as a dish to eat with the bloody mary, I mean.