Grilled Lemonade and Kingsford U

Ever since taking Spring’s leap forward time change, the extra hour of sun has me looking for just about any reason to step outside and marvel at the shining quality of our new and improved daylight. I take impromptu walks to the coffee shop for a mid-day pick-me-up and then go the long way home so I can snatch a few more minutes to admire the beautiful light as it clings to the edges of neighbors’ trees.

Yeah. I’m odd that way.

But just when I started to wonder if I was the only one who was looking for a reason to spend a little extra time outside, I began to notice the smell of backyard barbecues floating through the entire stretch of my neighborhood.

Relief swept over me. Thank goodness! I’m not the only one feeling the need to enjoy the outdoors. It’s Spring! It’s grilling time.

Thanks to the generous people at Kingsford*, I’m prepared (and certified!) for the beginning of barbecue season. Last weekend the Kingsford team invited a handful of journalists, food bloggers, and recipe developers like myself to Las Vegas to study the art of BBQ and grilling trends at their annual Kingsford University event. And when the whole thing was over, they even gave me a certificate of proof that I graduated from their grill school.

Continue reading “Grilled Lemonade and Kingsford U”

December 7December 7

Share our Strength Holiday Table

There may not be snow on the ground here in Los Angeles but the twinkling lights, lawn ornaments, Christmas trees, and car-top menorahs are a clear indicator that many in this city are celebrating the winter holidays. December rolls around and people all over our country begin planning the many ways to celebrate the joy of the season. But not everyone has the means to fulfill those dreams. Many struggle to find the money to pay the bills and put food on the table.

What’s worse, there are millions of hungry children (two in every ten kids in America) that will slip through the cracks without a meal because of the social stigma surrounding hunger. Many would rather skip a meal than reach out for help. Silent suffering needn’t be the answer.

Share Our Strength, a non-profit dedicated to finding a way to get food to our youngest and neediest citizens, wants to eliminate childhood hunger in America by 2015. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers and supporters, Share Our Strength (SOS) created 4.5 million meals for needy children in 2009.

In hopes of raising awareness about childhood hunger in the US—especially during this holiday season–SOS has asked a handful of food bloggers to participate in an online progressive fundraising dinner. Starting December 6^th and ending December 14^th, food bloggers like Deliciously Organic, Gluten Free Girl, Devour the World, Ladles and Jellyspoons, Recipe Girl, Tartlette, The Urban Baker, What’s Gaby Cooking, and Hunger Angler Gardener Cook will feature unique recipes (appetizers, drinks, entrees, desserts and side dishes) on their websites to give people great ideas for holiday eating and drinking—while also raising awareness for a really important cause.

Raising a glass and awareness

It was an honor to be asked to participate in this year’s virtual dinner party as a cocktail contributor. I wanted to write about holiday cocktails because I think it’s important to remember that cocktails, like gifts from the heart, don’t need to be over the top to be good. Sometimes, its the simple and thoughtful things that are most appreciated.

With simplicity in mind, I decided to share with you my recipe for a simple infused vodka. Though an infusion does take a little time to bring out the flavors (I recommend about two weeks at least for a good infusion), this recipe for crab-apple-infused vodka is so good it made me re-think my assumptions about vodka. The sweet flavors of the crab apple are delicate at first, but over time the flavors of the crab apple become more substantial. Make no mistake, there is no jolly-rancher green fake apple flavors to be had when you make your own crab apple vodka. As a matter of fact, this crab-apple vodka is so good, it’s the kind of thing you’ll want to make several batches of, just so you can keep some on hand for yourself and give the rest away as gifts.

Really, it’s that good.

Continue reading “Share our Strength Holiday Table”

September 13January 3

Vietnamese Cocktail

Some chefs will tell you that there is not such thing as leftovers in a well run restaurant. Everything that isn’t used should be reused for something else. Scraps of vegetables and chicken bones become stock. Left over meat from a special might become that day’s staff meal. And so it is with cocktail making. Whenever I come up with a cocktail—whether it’s for myself at home or for the restaurant I work at–I try to limit my ingredients to those on hand and don’t require an extra purchase or visit to the market.

My recent culinary foray into Vietnamese cuisine and Banh Mi making had me with several extra ingredients that begged for repurposing. The result: a refreshing Vietnamese cocktail made with complimentary ingredients of muddled mint, sweet tangerines, bittersweet Vietnamese caramel (Nuoc Mau), Plymouth Gin, and a splash of rice wine vinegar for balanced acidity. This is a show stopping cocktail for any dinner party or Asian-inspired meal.

Continue for the details on my Vietnamese Cocktail!»

July 10

Bourbon-Soaked Cherries

All good things come to those who wait. Parents, farmers, bread bakers, and economists know this. And in the past couple of years, bartenders across the country have learned that the old adage applies when it comes to making flavored spirits. Take a great tasting fruit like a cultivated cherry, add a favorite liquor, and in just a few weeks you’ll have something completely new.

Cherries, or Prunus avium, are a stone fruit that are high in anthocyanins, the red pigment that gives the berries their color. In recent lab tests, anthocyanins have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation and reduce cholesterol and triglycerides. That’s good news to cherry lovers, who are currently gobbling up all forms of cherries–as a snack, featured dessert filling–during their last few weeks of the season. Right now, trees from Michigan, California, Oregon, and Washington State are heavy with rosy pink, blood red, and sunrise yellow cherries.

Thanks to the juicy fruits of Bing, Brooks, Rainier, and Tulare, it’s a wonderful time of the year to eat and, in my case, make cocktails.

Health benefits aside, cherries are a great flavoring agent in many cocktails (think Maraschino Liqueur, Amarena soaked cherries, etc.). Last year, my wonderful friends Todd and Diane from White on Rice introduced me to the idea of using cherries to enhance the flavors of a favorite liquor. Their gift of cherries soaked in Luxardo (a sweet cherry liqueur made from Marasca cherries and ground up cherry pits) blew my mind. The cherry-infused cherry liquor became a favorite featured cocktail ingredient and the center point of an obsession with the classic cocktail, the Aviation (Gin, Luxardo, and Lemon). Ever since then, I’ve been patiently waiting for cherry season to begin so I could try my hand at making my own cherry-infused spirit.

Continue for a Recipe for Bourbon Infused with Cherries »

June 17November 14

On Brooks Cherries, Learning, and the Perfect Lemon Wedge

Bourbon Cherry Cocktail Mixed Drink — Master Cherry Cocktail: Things can get messy when you're the student.

In the ancient tradition of master and student, the student will always get the crap beat out of them. All the abuse aggressive teaching ends the moment the student masters the knowledge they’ve been struggling to learn. Military basic training is like that. Sports teams operate the same way. Even Yoda was no pushover with Padawan learner, Luke. And so it is when you enter a kitchen to become a cook (or in my case, the Service Guru): you’ve got to put up with a lot of shame, frustration, and possibly sharp points (the kitchen is full of polished chefs’ knives) on the way to mastering your station.

Once the ass-beating is done and the grueling hours of study and repetition turn into muscle memory, a kind of zen-like moment of release occurs. The student no longer tries. The student does. All the hard work results in something so graceful it makes the apprentice filled with pleasure (and less pain).

I still have a way to go before I am considered a master at my new job.

“In Japan, we have a saying, you can not make a sword with cold steel, ” my new boss, Chef H said to me before he began my training this week. “It is only when it is very hot and fresh from the fire, that you can pound steel to make it thin and sharp. No matter how hard you hammer cold metal, it will never become a sword.”

I grimaced a little. “So what you’re saying Chef is that right now you’re going to beat the crap out of me while I’m still new and malleable?”

“Yes,” he said with a smile. “Yes, that is it exactly.”

Continue for the Recipe for a delicious Bourbon and Cherry Mixed Drink! »

May 25

Vacation Cocktail: A Sangria Recipe

If a vacation back home could be distilled and put into a glass, I think it might taste a lot like sangria.

The simple moments–the naps on the couch, dinner table conversations, picnics, garden time, observing the changes in the landscape, listening to the sound of nature, building sandcastles, catching up with old friends, and walks around the old haunts–all have a kind of essence to them, or flavor.

A homecoming cocktail would have to start with wine, since every dinner in the family dining room requires a toast. After pulling the cork on a bottle of crisp white wine and a floral rosé, I’d add zesty citrus—sun kissed tangerines or juicy oranges—to mimic the blast of sweet excitement I feel whenever I see my beloved friends and family. Of course I’d mix in some plump and ripe strawberries to mark the long ago days of childhood and vacation trips to the Pick Your Own strawberry fields near my home in Massachusetts. I would add fresh mint to commemorate my family’s summer gardens and my great grandmother’s iced tea recipe for a hot summers’ day. I would slice up some mahogany dark cherries—sweet gems from the Ann Arbor farmers market if I got lucky—to show the influence of my husband and his Michigan family on just about every aspect of my life. I spoon in a bit of Cointreau to sweeten things up and tip my hat to the sophistication of my family’s palate.

Continue to get my Homecoming Sangria Recipe »

January 23

A Recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate with Rum

When you miss a place that’s far away, sometimes the easiest way to go back is to eat something that reminds you of that spot. But what if the taste you long for requires ingredients that are out of season or are impossible to locate in your hometown? A sensory craving that crescendo’s to the point of aching is all it takes to create a proxy recipe.

A proxy recipe—a term I’ve just made up to explain this odd phenomena–is one that recreates a sensory memory with disparate ingredients that have very little to do with the original moment that inspired it. Because when you’re desperate, substitutions are important. Ever since leaving Ixtapa Mexico, I’ve been craving grilled, handmade tortillas and fresh-from-the-tree guacamole drizzled with limes. Though avocados may be available here in Los Angeles, there’s a cold, hard rain that’s pounding our city and I don’t quite feel up to faking the warm weather of Mexico in this bone chilling weather. Those sun-kissed flavors just wouldn’t taste the same in the cold.

But as the rain-battered trees paw the panes of my windows, I consider other flavors that evoke sandy beaches and tropical markets. For me, that’s rum, chocolate, and sweet fruit. In a flash (of lightning, it turns out) inspiration strikes: my proxy recipe is born.

Continue for a Mexican Hot Chocolate with Rum Recipe »

January 4November 14

Classic Cocktails Revamped: The Ward 2010

I got my start in the restaurant business as a bartender. I wasn’t an arm-garter wearing mixologist with killer technique. I was a girl behind the bar, the person in charge of the party, a smart ass and a fast thinker that could pour hundreds of pints of beer in an hour.

Fifteen years ago, tending bar in Boston was less about technique and more about work ethic. Back then, it was unheard of to squeeze fresh juice for a sour. The idea of muddling a sprig of thyme into a cocktail would have gotten me more than a dirty look–it would have gotten me fired. Back in the day, what made me a great bartender was the fact that I could remember people’s names and their drinks, pour shots and pints fast, and knew how much all the drinks cost without ever touching the manual cash register.

Thanks to a renaissance in speakeasy’s and classic drink making, I’m learning lots of new techniques, turn of the century bartending tricks, and classic drinks. To be a bartender in 2010—you must have knowledge of the classics, excitement about new and ancient ingredients, great technique, be creative, and—though many ‘bar chefs’ would disagree—be really fast.

Now that I’ve been bartending again, I’m building a small bar of my own at home. This way, I can take what I’ve learned at work and apply my craft to a post shift drink–a refreshing cocktail that’s equal parts reward and research.

My newest cocktail is the Ward 2010, a drink that celebrates the past, the future, and California’s citrus season.

Continue Reading for a Delicious Ward 2010 Cocktail »

October 27

Cold Cure Cocktail

It’s cold season and everyone I know is suffering. The most recent flu bug—a nasty twist on a head cold with a sore throat, congestion, and undeniable exhaustion—is taking down the best of ’em. Even earnest, hand washing me.

I shouldn’t be surprised by my recent bout with a cold. When you work in a business that requires close contact with hundreds of people a day, it’s no wonder I’ve gotten sick. The flu shot and lots of hand washing helps, but sometimes the viruses that topple the ranks of fellow restaurant employees, wins.

So besides getting lots of rest, drinking plenty of fluids*, and eating chicken soup, my sick body has been craving another kind of cold cure. Bourbon, fresh lemon juice, and spicy peppers work its magic on burning away the final traces of a sore throat. Fill a tea pot with hot water, add freshly squeezed lemon juice, a shot of Buffalo Trace bourbon (or your favorite brown stuff) and sweeten the mix with a Jalapeño simple syrup. The drink’s warmth and fiery spice is the perfect late night answer to a cold cure. I’ve been feeling great ever since.

Continue Reading for my Cold Cure Cocktail »

August 31

Art of the Bar

I recently stumbled across a full-page spread in the August Bon Appetit devoted to a former friend from my days of bartending in Boston.

from Bon Appetit Magazine

I knew Misty as a hard working, spunky brunette that worked long hours at Toad, the Cambridge restaurant/music club we both worked at. Back in the day, when I wasn’t writing screenplays and she wasn’t attending classes at Harvard’s Divinity school, we would commiserate over late night Manhattans and talk about what our lives would look like once we got out from behind the bar. They were hopeful days filled with big ideas and limitless possibilities.

Photo, circa 1997. My last night working in Boston. Celebrating with Misty, and all of my Toad friends

In the years since I came to Los Angeles, Misty decided to put her Divinity schooling behind her and dedicate herself to the art of the bar. Her devotions went from the teachings of God(s) to a new kind of religion: celebrating classic cocktails, via the Boston based chapter she founded called the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Now she runs the bar program at Drink. The Bon Appetit article reminded me just how influential those early years in restaurants really were for people like Misty and myself.

And that’s when it hit me. We restaurant people really are a different from most people. We don’t share the same wiring of the nine-to-five, business suit wearing set. We work odd hours, dream in cocktails and recipes, and share a secret language that is truly unique. For many of us, making it in the business of food and drink isn’t about the money. Success is being able to create truly great product–drinks and food and service–and do it night after night. Success is consistently great product that people from all over the world stop and take notice of. Success, for many of us in the restaurant business, is about getting street cred.

Street cred may not pay the rent, but it certainly does has its benefits. Respect from restaurant brethren equals a table at a busy restaurant, a spot at the front of the line at the bar, a dish on the house, or a handshake from the person in charge. Witness a restaurant pro with a lot of street cred walk into a restaurant and you will see something akin to the way Italian restaurants cater to the Mafia. It’s a beautiful thing. A full page spread in a food magazine is, without a doubt, the print version of street cred.

The Nomad, The Bartender and The Writer

I belong to the service branch of the restaurant business. Servers, bartenders, runners, bussers are the mercenaries and carnival people that make up the front of the house–or service unit–of restaurants. We are a nomadic group with a touch of the performer in us. We rely on a toolbox of skills and a range of talents that are always required because every day is filled with a flurry of difficult and trying situations.

Bartenders are a small subsection of the service branch. Equal part technician and server, bartenders offer a level of service very different from waiters. Not only do they act as a liaison between the guest and the kitchen, but bartenders must be able to create cocktails in the manner that a chef creates food—they must be consistent, have good technical skills and understand their ingredients. Despite the fact that bartenders often offer the same services as the waiters, life behind the bar is a very different place than on the floor.

Which is part of the reason why I am so excited to start work behind the bar again. For just a few nights a week, I will step behind the bar at Osteria Mozza to bartend, serve and fine tune the technical skills to create amazing drinks on the fly. Bartending is an aspect of the restaurant business I have missed greatly—ever since the good old days when Misty and I were just starting out in Cambridge and finding our way in the world—via restaurants.

In order to give more time to my freelance work as a frequent contributor to Squid Ink, LA Weekly’s food blog, I have made the difficult decision to leave my full time job at Tavern Restaurant.

Now I must sadly say goodbye to Suzanne Goin, Caroline Styne, and the inspiring team of people I had become a part of. The dedication, tenacity, fearlessness and attention to detail of Goin and Styne was a constant inspiration that made me want to be better at what I do. They are, without a doubt, two incredible women that deserve every bit of their enormous street cred.

June 16

Home Bartending 101

I will always be grateful for the skills I’ve picked up while working in restaurants. Being able to clear multiple plates from a table is a great trick. The ability to recall the flavor profile of a wine upon mere mention helps out at the wine store. But one of my favorite acquired talents is my drink making ability.

If you’ve ever had a delicious crafted cocktail, the balance of flavors prove there is much more going on in the glass than just alcohol and mixers. Like cooking a great meal, cocktail making require understanding philosophies of flavor and real technique in order to elevate the drink to its “awesome cocktail” status.

Ask any bartender and they’ll tell you that the first lesson in drink making is that even though some guests will suffer through a slightly flawed appetizer, most won’t stand for such failings when it comes to a $14 cocktail. If a drink is too sweet or too sour it will get sent back. On a busy night at the restaurant, the last thing your bartender wants to do is remake another cocktail. Make enough hand muddled mint and lime mojitos (I’d guess I’ve made about a million) and you soon learn how to make a pefectly balanced drink. Every time.

Though the average person has no interest in working in restaurants, most would really like to be able to create a great tasting cocktail. Here are a few pointers that can help you make great cocktails at home.

Think like a chef

–Understand the balance of flavors. Acidic, sweet and savory components must work together to create a perfect union of flavor. Sweet, spicy and savory ingredients should complement spirits—not overpower them. Constantly taste for balance of flavors.

–Use the best ingredients. A drink can only taste as good as the ingredients used. Use fresh fruit and vegetables for cocktails. Make everything from scratch. Never use pre-made mixes.

–Learn classic techniques. Know traditional cocktails before experimenting with new ideas.

Have the right tools

Chefs need a handful of kitchen essentials to do their job. So do bartenders. Regardless of your desire to make a good drink, you never will be able to do it well until you have a solid bar kit. Stay away from the pre-packaged kits from big name stores and go to a restaurant supply place.

These three items are essential for any home bar. You will need:
–A Boston Shaker—the pint glass and a metal shaker combo used by most bartenders
–a wood muddler
–a handheld juicer. Cut a lemon or lime in half, pop it into the metal squeezer and bam! You’ve got juice! A handheld citrus squeezer like this is great for quickly adding citrus to whatever you’re making. I prefer the larger metal kind that can easily be found in the bartending section of most restaurant supply stores.

—buy some booze
One bottle of vodka, rum and bourbon is a good start. Buy a secondary “seasoning” liquor that you can use for flavoring cocktails: think Sweet or Dry Vermouth, an Italian digestivo, or a fruit or nut flavored liquor (Grand Marnier, Amaretto, etc.).

—Make a batch of simple syrup
Making cocktails at home is so much easier when you have a jar of simple syrup on hand. Cook up a good sized batch, put in a covered glass container and it will keep in the refrigerator for weeks. If you don’t mind adding a golden hue to your drinks, I suggest trying brown sugar to make your simple syrup. I like the rounder flavor it gives my drinks.

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Recipe for Simple Syrup
A fundamental ingredient for bartending is this incredibly simple syrup.

One part sugar
Two parts water

Bring water to a boil and add sugar. Reduce heat and cook down until the liquid begins to look syrupy. Adding spice and herbs to the simple syrup as it cooks down is a great (and easy) way to impart flavors to a drink.

June 15March 14

Farmers Market Cocktail Recipe

I’m one of those people that go to the farmers’ market with nothing more than a handful of dollars and a culinary mind that’s ready for inspiration. A vegetable’s texture and bright color sets my mind racing. A ripe piece of fruit entices me with its soft skin and mouth-filling juices. Sweet or savory, I’m always amazed at what the market inspires in my kitchen.

This week at the market was all about the fruit. I filled my bags with cherries, juicy stone fruits and bright citrus. But it was boysenberries–glistening gems from Jimenez Farms’–that inspired my imagination.

Not up for baking or jelly making, I set out to create a cocktail that celebrated the fruit’s delicate nature and its robust flavors. It took me a couple of tries, but I finally found the perfect ingredients to celebrate the fruit’s sweetness and savory flavors. After the last sip of juice I was fishing around the bottom of the glass for every delicious morsel of fruit.

[print_link]

The Gemmy

½ tangerine (or sweet citrus), juiced
½ lemon, juiced
5 boysenberries
1 oz simple syrup
2 oz spiced rum (I prefer Barbancourt)
2 branches of thyme

In a cocktail mixer, muddle boysenberries and the leaves from one branch of thyme. Juice half a lemon and tangerine into the glass. Add the simple syrup and rum and then fill the glass with ice. Shake well and serve immediately. Garnish with the remaining branch of thyme.

May 18

Salted Plum Haamonii Shochu Cocktail Recipe

It takes a masterful preparation of an ingredient to make a person forget their aversions. Just ask any mom how they get their kids to eat Brussels sprouts or how a great chef can make a fearful diner order the calf’s brain ravioli and they’ll be sure to tell you the answer: technique.

Why individuals steer clear of specific ingredients are varied—some object to texture, flavor, scent, sense memories, allergies and sometimes even ethical issues come into play. As a voracious eater, there are few things I avoid. The smell of truffle oil makes my skin crawl. Sadly, I’m allergic to blue cheese. Say the word soju and my brain reflexively throbs with the memory of a two-day hangover that I almost didn’t recover from.

So when I tell you that I recently created a delicious cocktail for a delightful new artisan shochu (the Japanese version of soju), I offer positive proof that great technique really can reshape a culinary opinion.

How I came to try Haamonii Shochu

Had it not been for the fact that my husband came home with two free sample bottles of Haamonii Shochu (pronounced show-chew), I probably would have never tried the Japanese beverage. But thanks to Hans’ eager assurances that Haamonii Shochu was nothing like the cheap plonk that ruined me one night a long time ago, I got up the courage to ignore my aversion to soju and try something special.

Tasting Haamonii Shochu

I poured myself a tiny splash of the Haamonii Shochu and edged my nose over the glass. I was surprised by the delicate floral and citrus notes of the Haamonii. Based on my previous experience with soju, I never expected to smell fresh citrus blossoms and sweet rice. My curiosity was peaked enough to ignore my jaded past with shochu’s Korean cousin and take a taste.

Once past my hesitant lips, the Lemon Haamonii Shochu offered a hint of sweetness and a kiss of citrus. The shochu was sophisticated and clean and didn’t offer hard alcohol’s harsh heat. Within moments of enjoying the nuanced flavors of the shochu, I was dreaming up cocktails.

Shochu Convert

Crafted by San Francisco-based James Key Lim and his wife, the artisan shochu makers set out to create an ultra-premium shochu that was low in alcohol and smooth in taste. The result is America’s first award winning shochu, an elegant, 22 percent alcohol drink that is made with purified water and a blend of grains that can be enjoyed on its own or mixed. According to James Key Lim, Haamonii is “four column distilled” and triple filtered for extra purity.

Called soju in Korea and shochu in Japan, this clear spirit is one of the most popular distilled spirits in the world–enjoyed straight, on the rocks, mixed with hot or cold water, tea, or in mixed drinks. Shochu is traditionally made from grains (rice and barley) and starches (such as potatoes). In addition to its smooth flavor and versatility, shochu possesses another great virtue; it is low in calories.

I visited an event celebrating a Japanese shoe designer Hiromi Tatsuta that offered guests Haamonii Citrus mixed with green tea or apple juice and handmade sushi rolls from San Shi Go. Usually a fan of Japanese sake with my sushi, I was impressed by the delicate nature of the shochu and how it paired well with the raw fish and sweet sushi rice. Like sushi, the well-made shochu was refreshing and didn’t weigh down my palate with aggressive flavors. Unlike a mixed drink, the shochu didn’t deaden my tastebuds with numbing alcohol.

With my recent conversion to shochu at the forefront brain, I visited the Hollywood Farmers market. Spring citrus, cherries and stone fruits peaked my interest as possible ingredients for my home’s larder. But it was a bunch of lemon verbena and tart and crunchy sour plums that made me want to create a cocktail for the Lemon Haamonii shochu waiting for me back home.

The gentle acidity of the sour plums and refreshing perfume of the lemon verbena do not overpower the delicate sweetness and aromatics of the lemon shochu. The spicy salted rim on the glass is just the kick the drink needs to have you tapping your toes with happiness.

[print_link]
Salted Plum Shochu Cocktail
Makes one drink

Kosher salt and cayenne pepper mixture (4 tbsp kosher salt to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)
2 lemon verbena leaves (one for muddling, one for garnish)
4 small sour plums (sliced and without seeds)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 lemon wedge
1 tsp simple syrup
3 oz lemon (or regular) Haamonii Shochu
ice

Place the kosher salt/cayenne pepper mixture on a plate. Wipe the outer edge of the cocktail glass with the juicy side of the lemon wedge. Run the wet edge of the glass in the spicy salt to create an even rim.

Muddle a single verbena leaf in a clean cocktail shaker. Add the sliced sour plums and continue muddling until most of the fruit’s juice is released into the glass. Add simple syrup, shochu and fill shaker with ice. Shake well. Add mixed cocktail to salt-rimmed glass. Top with fresh verbena. Serve immediately.

Where to find Haamonii

If you want to try Haamonii Shochu currently is available on line at K&L for $29.99 and at dandm.com. Also available at some restaurants and bars.

August 22

Golden Phelps

It’s summer and trees are heavy with stone fruits. Nectarines, freckled with yellow, orange and red, drip with abundant juice. Peaches, heavy and fuzzy like an animal, feel alive in your hand. Plums—purple, ruby and gold—are so ripe they glisten like translucent jewels.

With fruit this good, it’s hard not to want to buy a lot. Problem is, what to do with it all? Cobblers and crisps are a good option, but this summer we’ve probably eaten more than our share. I’m ready for something different. Why not a great summer fruit cocktail?

The following cocktail was inspired by one the US’s greatest, food-loving Olympians, Michael Phelps.

The Golden Phelps

Six leaves of purple basil
1 ripe plum, seeds removed and quartered
1 orange, juiced (reserve half of juice for the next cocktail!)
Splash of simple syrup
2 pieces of candied ginger, sliced
1 ounce dark rum
1 ounce light rum

Add the basil leaves in a cocktail shaker and muddle for 2 seconds to release the herb’s oils. Add the plum and one sliced piece of candied ginger. Continue to muddle. Fill shaker with ice. Add juice of the orange, simple syrup and rums. Shake. Taste for balance. Add more simple syrup or orange juice if needed.

Strain and pour over ice, leaving room at the top for adding pieces of muddled fruit and basil to glass. Garnish with candied ginger and basil.

Dive in and enjoy!

August 16November 14

National Rum Day at home

Just this week, my friend Pilar–a beautiful brown haired Spaniard (whose picture is featured in my previous post)–scratched her cornea while getting dressed for work. The result: an hour in the emergency room, a quick application of medicated eye drops, and a big eye patch.

A doctor prescribed eye patch would have been enough to mortify most people in this city. But not Pilar. She rocked that eye-patch like a fashionable, Spanish pirate.

So, inspired by Pilarrrrrrrrr (think pirate speak) and the fact that today is National Rum Day, I bring you the recipe for a Dark and Stormy—a refreshing drink made with spicy ginger beer (a kind of soda), fresh lime-juice and dark rum. Careful pouring of each ingredient will create a two-toned sea of deliciousness, that ultimately inspired the drink’s name.

Use Gosling’s dark rum if you want to impress. Or go the cheap route and buy a $10 of Whaler’s rum from Trader Joe’s. Use a good ginger beer–the best are made by Bundaberg and Blenheim. These sodas are available at the Soda Pop Shop, Bev Mo, World Market and other fine liquor merchants.

Dark and Stormy
Makes one drink

1.5 ounces of dark rum
One bottle of ginger beer
Juice of half a lime

Fill glass with ice. Add lime juice and ginger beer. Pour rum over the back of a spoon to create the layer of dark rum on the bottom of the glass. Garnish with lime.

I raise my glass to Pilar and her quickly healed eye!

June 25

My friend, the Michelada

When it’s hot out, the last thing I want to do is put on heavy layers of clothes. Or exercise. Or work. Forget cooking.

If I’m not working on one of these unbearably hot July days, I’m hiding out in my apartment with my trusty fan, a spray bottle of cool water and dreaming of the refreshing beverages like Nan’s iced tea, lemonade, or a Michelada.

aaaah, Michelada

The Michelada, for anyone unfamiliar with the drink, is a “prepared beer”, or a beer cocktail, from south of the border. Using little more than chili, salt, lime and Worcestershire sauce, a glass of light beer is transformed into a transcendent adult beverage that is so delicious and fulfilling, it can make you forget how hot it is outside.

Michelada

For the Chili salt

Mix a handful of kosher salt with a pinch of cayenne pepper or Thai chili.

Mix together in a mortar and pestle. Taste.
Note: I make my own chili salt with Kosher salt and a Thai chili “paste” I found at the Asian market. Feel free to experiment with other chili peppers and your favorite salt. Or, if it’s just too hot out to think about that sort of thing, skip the experimentation and just buy a chili salt mix which can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets!

For the Drink
1 Can of Tecate (or any light beer with very little flavor)
1 lime (cut into wedges)
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 dash of hot sauce
ice

Rub the lip of the glass with one of your limes. Dip the rim of the glass onto a plate covered with chili salt. Put glass aside.

Throw the 4 lime quarters into your cocktail shaker. Muddle until the juice is released. I suggest muddling the limes to give the drink it’s necessary texture. But if you don’t have a muddler, just squeeze the juice in the glass. Add two dashes of Worcestershire sauce, 1 dash of hot sauce (or more if you like it really spicy). Add ice. Shake to coat the ice with the spice and lime juice. Pour contents into your salt-rimmed glass. Add beer to the top.

You will find that there is still plenty of beer left over in the can. The beauty of this drink is how it starts off really spicy and as you add your beer, it becomes lighter and lighter.

Though I don’t drink beer often, this drink is so unbelievably refreshing and easy to make, it’s got me thinking that maybe I should keep a six pack in the fridge. Enjoy!

June 23

Art of the bar

Maybe it’s because I grew up in a sea-side village in Massachusetts, but fresh fruit wasn’t something I was accustomed to. Fresh fish, yes. But fresh fruit? Ah, no.

Exotic bananas, kiwis and citrus fruits could be bought for an inflated price at any of the major New England based grocery stores, but they were purchased knowing full well they were treasures from far away. Crisp apples, juicy pears, fat strawberries, tart blueberries, soft raspberries, mouth watering melons and delicate concord grapes were mine, but only for the fleeting dog days of summer and cool nights of fall.

As a bartender in Cambridge, Mass., I made plenty of cocktails. I made the classics (Martinis, margaritas, and simple mixed concoctions) with brand name liquors with sour mix from a plastic bottle, canned pineapple juice, coconut mix, orange juice from Florida, or soda. Fruit, for an east coast bartender like me, was never a featured element. Lime, orange and lemon were visual flourishes, only to be used as a garnish.

Calfornia Flavors

It wasn’t until I moved to California that I tasted a fresh cocktail. My understanding of what a drink could be was changed forever when I tasted my first handmade Mojito. I was floored (literally) by the fresh flavors of lime and mint and the balance of acidity and sweetness.

Suddenly, I understood that cocktails shouldn’t be a barely disguised alcohol delivery system–it should be a delicious, refreshing, appetite enticement made with as much care as a diner’s first course.

During my time working in California restaurants, I learned how to make cocktails with hand-squeezed citrus, freshly muddled herbs and specialty liquors and perfected the art of balancing sweetness and acidity. Then, when I starting running a restaurant that specialized in hand made cocktails, I was free to show my creativity behind the bar and create amazing cocktails from fresh, seasonal produce for the restaurant. It was, by far, the most fun and rewarding part of my job.

Though popping open a ready-to-drink bottle of wine can be undeniably easy, making a great cocktail at home doesn’t have to be difficult.

Creating a cocktail

Here are a few simple rules to follow when making a fresh cocktail:

1) Use great, fresh ingredients
Fresh fruit and citrus should be juicy. If you discover you’ve purchased “dry fruit” (fruit that just isn’t giving up its juice easily) either toss the fruit or, if you don’t want to go back to the store, double up on the amount of fruit you use in order to get the correct flavor.

2) Maintain balance
Acidity and sweetness must always be in balance with each other, as well as the alcohol. Don’t let one ingredient hog the limelight. Everything in well-crafted drink, must perform together, in unison.

3) Taste
Don’t be afraid to take a little taste of what you’re making to make sure it’s right. A great bartender, like a chef, must always taste in order to maintain consistency.

4) Experiment
Don’t be afraid to try something new. Buy fresh fruit and taste them. What flavors would go well with it? What does it remind you of? A favorite pie? A childhood popsicle? These trusted flavors can lead you and your cocktail making to great places.

The following is a recipe I created this weekend after tasting the sweetness of a ripe pluot, fresh from the market.

Dapple dandy
Half plum, half apricot, the pluot’s intense sweetness and playful acidity is the perfect center point for this refreshing summer time drink.

1 ripe pluot, cut into thick wedges (a ripe plum could work, also, though you may need to add more lime juice to balance the flavors)
Juice of one lime
Simple syrup* to taste (about 2-4 tablespoons)
1/8 tsp. almond extract
1-1.5 ounces premium vodka
Ice

Muddle the pluot wedges (in either a cocktail shaker or pint glass) until most of the juice is released. Add the juice of one lime and almond extract. Fill shaker with ice. Add vodka and shake to mix well. Taste. Pour into glass and serve.

Enjoy!

*Making your own simple syrup is easy. It’s just one part sugar to one part water. Boil water, add sugar. Take off heat when sugar dissolves. Let cool. There’s a simple, step by step recipe here.

April 14

Nan's Iced Tea Recipe

Have you ever studied a photograph for so long that the image was transformed into a living memory? In my memory, family snapshots play back to me like short documentaries. Thanks to a tattered album I studied as a child, I have what seems like a vivid memory of my stylish grandmother–the year hovering some where in the 40’s–on the day she married my grandfather.

Granted, I have a very active fantasy life. I am a writer. My job is to engage in daily games of make believe.

My grandmother is the bride and cousin Anna's grandmother Mary is on the right

But just this week I found my imaginary memories of family were jarred into a new kind of reality when I met for the first time, a long lost cousin. She’s the daughter of my grandmother’s sister, and, it turns out, is blessed with all of our family’s best features. My cousin Anna is, without a doubt, a living representation of the elegant women of our family. She is a living memory of elegant days past. Anna, like our grandmothers, is smart, opinionated, creative, and supremely intuitive. And, it turns out, she’s also obsessed with food.

So when she asked me if I had our great grandmother’s recipe for Iced Tea I almost wept with joy. I had forgotten that my family lives on not only through photos but also the recipes they leave behind.

Beyond being my great grandmother Nan’s recipe, this is one of the most delicious iced teas I’ve ever tasted.

Nan’s Iced Tea

6 cups of water
5 black tea bags, English breakfast, Earl Grey or Lipton
1 cup sugar
6 lemons, 1 for slicing the rest to be juiced (1 cup needed)
5 small tangerines, 1 for slicing the rest to be juiced (1/4 cup needed)
1 bunch of mint
Plenty of ice cubes

Boil the water. Take off heat and add tea bags. Let steep for 15 minutes. While waiting for tea to steep, juice all but one of the lemons and tangerines. Be sure to keep one lemon and tangerine for garnishing. Once tea is finished steeping, remove the tea bags and add sugar to the warm tea. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Put citrus juice, mint, sliced lemons and tangerines into a large pitcher. Add the sugared tea to the mixture, stir and chill.

Serve over ice. Garnish with fresh sprigs of mint.