By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

Every once in a while a spirit comes into my orbit that I am not all that familiar with and then I wonder how I ignored it for years.

Maraschino is one of those liqueurs.

Part of the problem was, when I came across it many years ago, I was under the impression it would have a cherry taste.

I expected it to be sweet.

By Mike Armstrong    

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

This is one of the easiest appetizers I have learned to make. It is another dish I encountered while I was over in Taiwan from one of my friends when I ran my restaurant “fM” in Taichung.

My kid brother (actually ex-brother-in-law) had decided he wanted to do another type of restaurant with our chef and left the business we started.

By Dana Davis    

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

When I first started bartending in Washington D.C., like all new bartenders, I learned about spirits from what people drank. When I went to work at an upscale marina bar, a lot of the customers drank Hennesy and Coke.

Hennessy is a cognac.

By Mike Armstrong    

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

It is funny to me that I really didn’t eat any Southeast Asian cuisine until I moved to Hawaii and even then, I didn’t eat much.

I loved Chinese (American style) when I first started eating it in my 20s. Growing up, neither of my families ate Asian food at all. No idea why, because we consumed a lot of different other styles of foods.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

The Virginian just brought in some decent XO (extra old) brandy to the bar. I realized as it came in, if you go into a bar, brandy is not common. 

I discovered the value of brandy when in my restaurant in Laramie, two of my more popular cocktails were the SideCar and Between the Sheets.

The SideCar Recipe

By Dana Davis    

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

By Mike Armstrong    

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

The first time I ate a salmon burger was in a cafe in Bardon, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It was a trendy place, so I should not have been surprised to see salmon on the menu. I just thought salmon was not natural in Australia. 

Well, it is in a way.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

The first time I drank Southern Comfort was in college and I imbibed a little too much. I ended up swearing off the spirit for years. 

It is a bit sweet and distinctive with its smell so I could not even put a shot of it near my nose and not get a rush of bad memories.

I didn’t even like holding the bottle.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I am not a fan of potatoes really. I can take them or leave them. More often than not, leave them. So, my adventure with gnocchi was the ones I had were potato based; I think they were mashed potatoes and semolina flour. 

It was not my favorite, but it was okay. 

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I think the first time I had Tequila Rose was at the Lazy River Cantina when I worked there just as the 21st century was starting.

The Cantina would definitely be the place for a product like Tequila Rose to launch. People went nuts for it.

It tastes like a Strawberry milkshake.

There is no tequila bite.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I would never have thought of this dish even though I really enjoy pasta.

It is a pasta pie. 

I discovered this when I lived in Noosa, Australia. 

We did not serve this at the restaurant I worked at, but there were a lot of cafes in this town and all were trying to outdo the other with their contemporary fare although a lot was based on old-world cooking.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

When I first saw a bottle of Campari, it looked like maybe it would be a raspberry or strawberry flavor since the color was so deeply red.

The taste is nothing like either.

It is very bitter.

It is made from 27 herbs. It runs about 42 to 57 proof. The proof depends on where you buy it.

My first taste had me almost spit it out.