100 Places to go before you die, 100 drinks to try before you die -> what is it with humans needs to list and compartmentalize everything?!?! that and our obsession/fear with dying. and also large numbers easily divisible by 5: 100, 25, 75, etc. Perhaps even more than the Imbibers100, this is a list I can get behind, or make it my next year’s mission to get behind. I remember reading about a blog where the writer simply stated she kept a blog b/c it was a place to keep things interesting to her, instead of on a piece of paper where it could be lost and wasteful. i like this list because it’ll be a great reference for my current ‘cocktail apprenticeship’.
I’m intrigued by Anvil, the design of the list is great, and i love that they’ll provide you with a card to get stamped after you try each one. just reading up on the comments in the Houston Press food blog, it seems to be a cocktail nerd’s wet dream, but then equivocally pretentious to everyone else. i’ll admit, if you can’t already tell, that i fall into the former category. Perhaps i’ll reconsider University of Texas Public Health program because of its Houston location, if anything, it’s at least worth a visit now.
allow me to introduce uh… myself. i’m iris, i’ve been writing on nopostagerequired for about a year and a half now. i’m currently living in DC – trying to work in reproductive health and immigration, or quitting all that to bartend, trying to meet new people but not get my heart broken, and trying to find my place in the city while also looking to leave it. right now, life seems to be one extreme or the other.
{today i love…}
french press coffee with milk
stealing ice cream from the Room 11 freezer afterhours
taken from inspiration of olivia rae’s series: {today i love…} and rockstar diaries’ taza-and-husband’s 15 things that make taza terribly happy. these are beautiful blogs with happy, warm, and hopeful posts. i’d like to emulate them and create a blog, and a life, just as bright.
despite my aspirations to become a full-fledged bartender, i still have trouble ordering drinks. i never know what to get – what drinks are common knowledge (a manhattan), and which are specialty (a negroni). when i first started drinking, it didn’t take long for me to get over vodka. after a couple of shots of it in some college dorm room, i was done. i understand the appeal in making a drink alcoholic without tasting the alcohol: after some rough whiskey or goldschlager stints, i distinctly remember ordering cosmos for a week straight, plus sometimes you just need to drink out of a martini/cocktail (so you feel like you’re drinking alcohol, so you feel like you’re an adult -> probably a combination of both).
after i decided i was ‘too cool’ for vodka, i turned towards other spirits. i like alcohol that you can actually taste. perhaps Lil said it best in coyote ugly when a bar patron asked, “So, basically you have…?”, she responded with “, Jack, Johnny Red, Johnny Black, and Jose; all my favorite men. You can have it any way you like it, as long as it’s in a shot glass.” <- a woman after my own heart. but a bar that only serves alcohol in shot glasses and no water is another story, not to mention completely unrealistic – somehow hollywood had to exaggerate and glamorize the world of bars, drinking and beautiful women drinking & dancing on bars. i’m becoming a bourbon conoisseur. in my mixed drinks wardrobe, jack and cokes have been a dependable, and comforting favorite. jack daniel’s may evoke frat parties and witty logo t-shirts, but i attribute the bourbon as one of the first to get me interested in the world of spirits. i have a deep admiration for spirit distillers. a toast to Jimmy Bedford: Thank you, sir, for making Jack look and taste the way it does.
From Sips & Apps by Kathy Casey, Chronicle Books 2009
Fresh basil lends a fun flavor note to the classic combination of strawberries and lemonade. Soda water introduces a lively sparkle.
Makes 1 drink
1 to 2 large sprigs fresh basil
1/4 cup Sugared Strawberries, with juice (recipe follows)
1 1/2 ounces vodka
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
3 to 4 ounces chilled soda water
For garnishing
Fresh strawberry
Small basil leaf
In a cocktail shaker, press the basil and strawberries together with a muddler to release the basil’s flavor. Fill the shaker with ice. Measure in the vodka and lemon juice. Cap and shake vigorously. Pour into a large glass, top with soda water, and stir. Garnish with a strawberry and basil leaf.
Sugared Strawberries
From Sips & Apps by Kathy Casey, Chronicle Books 2009
Makes enough for about 6 drinks
1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Mix the ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes before using.
reasoning:
strawberries and basil make the best combination, so perfect for summer.
Office Max/ 2480 Briarcliff Road, Suite #13/ Atlanta, GA 30329
sent:
‘Yes We Cran’
mixed by Marcus of the Hilton Garden Inn- Downtown Atlanta
- vodka
- cranberry juice
- splash of pineapple
add ice. suck the goodness down
reasoning:
tonight, at the opening reception for the annual meeting of the Abortion CareNetwork, Marcus (our bartender) put his own spin on the vodka cranberries so many of the women were ordering. it’s a simple spin -> splash of pineapplejuice/ but it got rave reviews for not being too tropically sweet, but tasty enough that you cannot taste the alcohol. people in this reception (many OB/GYNs, medical clinic staff) joked that because having cranberry juice is an additional health benefit, that’s an excuse to drink more. however, they did not have a name for this drink that was basically just vodka-cran+pineapple. what did they come up with? yes we Cran, because Obama’s slogan has been catching on, and ‘yes we can’ also works for the reproductive justice movement. either way, invented by a hotel bartender named marcus and second-wave feminists who run abortion clinics who aren’t entirely sure of all the facebook capabilities, but have have heard of twitter – here’s a drink that’s so girly delicious, you can’t taste the alcohol but it’s not over the top sweet, either.
i’ve been a huge sam mason fan ever since i discovered these Dinner with the Band podcasts, and was super excited when SL considered my suggestion of Tailor for dessert. check out the DWTB videos where sam creates tasty and interesting combination foods like miso butterscotch halibut, olive cobbler and avocado margaritas for indie musicians (matt and kim, tokyo police club, pela, el-p) who then play in his brooklyn apt – it’s hipsters rocking their craft and making me wish i didn’t have an office job. everyone expected this place to be fancy schmancy and super tasty. it was fancy and tasty, but the menu threw a lot of people off – scallops with red papaya, maple-poached snails, bell pepper cake, and beet parfait.
to assuage the skepticism, i kept telling everyone that sam mason is a rockstar who used to be the pastry chef at WD-50 where wylie dufresne deconstructs food with science (molecular gastronomy) – coffee-flavored gnocchi, coconut milk in a gel, grapefruit molasses. dufresne been on top chef a couple of times and i saw this interview with him on epicurious, and while i can’t necessarily tell the difference or appreciate ‘fine cuisine’, WD is doing really cool stuff. pastry chef sam mason took rockstar mixologist eben freeman (also of WD-50 methodology) to open Tailor.
been reading up on the new restaurant for awhile, so when we cabbed it there and were kind of lost, i immediately recognized the entrance and excited pulled open the large wooden door. i was all flustered b/c i had to buy ‘proper’ clubbing shoes and was running around manhattan at 9PM looking for a store that was still open. and another reason we were in such a rush to make our 10PM reservation was if we didn’t show on time, they’d charge $25/head – so for our party that’d be $250 on my already-beyond-capable-spending-limit credit card. we all got there on time, and were made to wait downstairs at the bar for 45 minutes. i kept waiting for sam mason or eben freeman to walk by – of course it didn’t happen, but if it did, i’d be able to forgive everything that happened after. we ordered 4 desserts – manchego cheesecake on graham cracker ice cream, mango ravioli with cilantro and coconut, strawberries with celery ice cream, and chocolate with sesame ice cream & mole. i tried to order their solid cocktails – you get an 3 for $12: cuba libre, gin fizz and white russian. i knew getting that would have put everyone’s skepticism and gripes to rest when they saw how cool it was. unfortunately they ran out for the night. LAME. (more…)
1 oz. Apple Liqueur/1 oz. Cointreau/1 tsp unsweetened apple sauce/6 leaves of fresh mint/4 oz. fresh sweetened lemonade
Combine ingredients, and shake together. pour over ice in cocktail glass (rimmed with sugar and cinnamon). Garnish with mint and lemon.
reasoning:
looks yummy. like an apple-lemonade. apple liqueur is too sweet for my taste, but i imagine the sugar & cinnamon rim would balance and spice the drink up. i like that he didn’t choose to add vanilla vodka or liqueur along with star anise, as i’ve seen many ‘appletini’ recipes have – that sweet, foamy flavor kind of makes me kind of nauseous. this, however, looks completely tasty. the name is also great, if drinking this could make me feel like i’m in marrakesh, i am totally down and will be downing these by the gallon. god, i need to be in the city bartending already. if anyone has apple liqueur lying around and gets to try this out, please let me know how it is.
reasoning:
after a couple of shots of it in some college dorm room, i was done. i understand the appeal in making a drink alcoholic without tasting the alcohol: after some rough whiskey or goldschlager stints, i distinctly remember ordering cosmos for a week straight, plus sometimes you just need to drink out of a martini/cocktail (so you feel like you’re drinking alcohol, so you feel like you’re an adult -> probably a combination of both).
juice/ but it got rave reviews for not being too tropically sweet, but tasty enough that you cannot taste the alcohol. people in this reception (many OB/GYNs, medical clinic staff) joked that because having cranberry juice is an additional health benefit, that’s an excuse to drink more. however, they did not have a name for this drink that was basically just vodka-cran+pineapple. what did they come up with? yes we Cran, because Obama’s slogan has been catching on, and ‘yes we can’ also works for the reproductive justice movement. either way, invented by a hotel bartender named marcus and second-wave feminists who run abortion clinics who aren’t entirely sure of all the facebook capabilities, but have have heard of twitter – here’s a drink that’s so girly delicious, you can’t taste the alcohol but it’s not over the top sweet, either.
