What Color Him With Honey Oak

Soup to Nuts: Tequila is finally a hot shot in Maine

For a lot of people, sitting in front of a line of three shots of tequila might conjure some flashbacks involving a pinch of salt, a lemon wedge and a pounding headache. But the shots that come in a flight of tequila at Zapoteca, a new Mexican restaurant and tequileria in Portland, are meant to be sipped and savored like a fine single malt Scotch, not downed in one gulp by a drunken college student.

IT’S ALL ABOUT PROPORTION

WANT TO EXPERIMENT at home with your favorite tequilas? Norine Kotts of El Rayo in Portland shared the proportions her restaurant uses in its tequila drinks so you can be assured of a well-balanced drink.

IF YOU USE COINTREAU instead of triple sec, Kotts advises keeping the proportion the same for the orange liqueur but scaling back the simple syrup to 1 ounce. Cointreau is slightly sweeter, and has a more pronounced orange flavor.

IF YOU USE TRIPLE SEC, Kotts recommends using the Dukuyper brand. “Don’t bother with any others,” she says. “They just don’t have any flavor.”

Sergio Ramos, managing partner and resident tequila expert at the restaurant, stops customers in their tracks before they shoot back their tequila and explains to them how they should be drinking it.

"I think the tequila industry is doing a really good job of focusing on quality versus quantity," Ramos said, "and they're putting a really good product out there now."

The result is that tequilerias are really hot right now in the United States, especially in cities like New York, San Francisco and Houston. Even Boston, which is a bit late to the party, has at least five new tequilerias.

Celebrities have also gotten into the act. Rocker Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo tequilas – one of the brands served at Zapoteca – have gotten good ratings, and a couple of years ago, pop star Justin Timberlake launched his own well-regarded tequila, 901, named after his hometown Memphis area code.

DIY Kitchen Renovations ~ Cabinets

What do you do with 20 year-old honey oak cabinets that your husband loves but you know need to be updated?

He gets cranky when you talk about painting wood.

He likes the real wood grain to show.

After several long meetings with my friend Google, I had enough ammunition to show him some options that we would both like.

I started out this whole kitchen renovation thing with making everything light. I thought we would do light counters and even lighter cabinets. I was thinking of a soft cream with a dark brown antique glaze.

Once the counters were done, I changed my mind completely. I wish I had made the countertops darker when I was using the Giani Granite paint kit . When the tile backsplash went up, I knew we needed to make the cabinets chocolate brown to pull colors from both the counter and the backsplash.

I read dozens of blogs about painting, glazing and stripping cabinets. I was searching for the least labor intensive way to give the cabinets a new look.

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