"Beforetimes" Cocktails & Such

"Beforetimes" is my code word for before the pandemic.

This post is a photodump of cocktail menus from vacations in 2019 and early 2020.

Raglan Road, Disney Springs, 2018 0429

Rose at Restaurant Schipfe 16, Zurich, 2019 0612

Hudson Anchor, Sleepy Hollow NY, 2019 0922

Green Fairy Cocktail, Sushi Roku, Las Vegas, 2020 0127

I try to remember to snap a photo of cocktail menus when I've experienced something so pleasant I want to duplicate it at home to remember places I've visited.

Hard to believe that by January, the corona virus was already in the US possibly for two months; and harder to imagine that it'd be roughly four months more my mom would be alive.

Life is short--enjoy what you can.

"Quarantini"

It's been about a year since my last post, and let's just say, the last four months (from mid-March to right now, mid-July 2020) have been challenging times.

As I saw news from China, and gradually then northern Italy, I started doing that obsessive shopping some folks do in preparation for inclement weather--only this time instead of inclement weather it was a global pandemic. 

This type of preparation is called Zero Risk Bias, where you aren't in control of anything, so you try to prepare as best as you can, and at least it is a useful way to spend one's time rather than mosey along thinking things were blown out of proportion.

Since Maharajah's office shifted to working remotely from home a week before my office did, I have essentially become a short order cook. No longer do I do my "big cooks" on the weekend, preparing things in advance for the week's meals ahead of time, and I've been cooking daily, providing both, lunch and dinner, for the Maharajah.

No photos of meals from the last four months, as other than going to my office to work 50% there (and 50% at home), I have been too overwhelmed to do much of anything else. All the projects around the house that need attention have been languishing as well.

As much as I've cooked for Maharajah, I am less demanding of myself. I'm happy with a simple hot dog or a salad with steak, or more often than not-- cheese, olives, grape tomatoes, along with croutons or crackers to fill the void.

What HAS gotten me through some of the rough spots has been day dreaming about cocktails. Pre-pandemic I was good for 1-2 cocktails a week, and though I don't think I've deviated too much from that, I have grown fond of a particular rosé. 

This rosé is absolutely perfect on its own; however, I have found that it is even better paired up with tequila or mezcal--and I have used it in lieu of grapefruit juice to make a fine Mezcalito. 

Prior to the pandemic, I only had two bottles on hand, one of which I gave to a good friend at work, as she gave me a bottle of white wine. We have gotten into a nice habit of swapping wines, and I am prepared to give her a lovely bottle of Sauternes in our next swap.

As I said, prior to the pandemic, I only had 2 bottles of this on hand, and gave one away. And the first opportunity I had, I went back to Westchester Wine Warehouse and bought about six more bottles of it. NOW, I always have a bottle of this chilling in the fridge. 

The next thing I have relied upon has been either a simple gin and tonic, using Amsterdam gin and Feverfew Lite tonic water. Pure perfection. However, I have grown fond of adding this wonderful Joto Yuzu Sake in it.

My next cocktail will be a Corpse Reviver #2--REVISED. As currently I am lacking Lillet Blanc (and if you haven't tried THAT, I highly recommend that. It is wonderful chilled and served neat with a slice of orange), I am considering adding this Yuzu sake to replace the Lillet blanc. I have a bottle of yuzu juice/extract at home, too, along with the gin and triple sec. I even have put a bit of absinthe in a little spray bottle JUST FOR THIS PURPOSE.

My Corpse Reviver #2 "REVISED"

1 part Gin
1 part Yuzu sake
1 part Triple sec (though I might halve this as I don't want it too sweet)
1 tsp Yuzu juice extract (lemon juice can be subbed for this)
Absinthe (if you lack that, then Pernod would work nice as a substitute)
Chilled glass
Ice
Cocktail shaker

Mix the first four ingredients in the cocktail shaker and shake vigorously to chill.

Prior to pouring into the chilled glass, most recipes suggest putting a bit of absinthe in the glass to coat the bowl of the glass and discard. Rather than discard this precious liqueur, I put it in a spray bottle and spritz the drink right before serving.

I prefer more assertive or tangy or sour drinks, and this fits the bill nicely. 

Now, regarding the absinthe--

In 2016 we traveled to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest. While in Vienna we drank schnapps and the local beer; in Prague it was Absinthe and pilsners; and Budapest, we drank palinka. As there weren't any direct flights back to NY from Budapest, we returned home by way of Charles de Gaulle, which is where I procured this particular brand of highly rated absinthe:

This isn't something one would end up chugging. Perhaps a tiny little cordial glass of it at most. I find it is lovely on its own and pretty much improves whatever cocktails that contain a licorice note. 

My bar isn't just merely a "bar," it contains souvenirs such as this, which reminds me of places I have traveled to in the past and of better times.

In the past, when I'd tinker with tipples, my first impulse for years was to share my exploits with my friend Steve, who I grew fond of through our blogs, and for a time while I still had an account--on Facebook. 

From time to time, I'd send along a box of homemade cookies, or a book he surely'd find entertaining. 

Coincidentally, I ditched Facebook right around when he got diagnosed with an aggressive form of ALS. Steve passed away January 11, 2019, but his legacy lives on not just with his family and friends he left behind, but also a voluminous written legacy on several blogs, which is where I first encountered him and his humor and humanity. I highly recommend checking out Lost in the Cheese Aisle (and then click his profile and check out his other blogs).

In Preparation For a Bangkok Mule

I like to think I'd be the first person to want the flavors of Thailand in a traditional Moscow Mule. 

Not sure of the volume of the jar, but this is the prototype. Stoli + lemongrass + galangal + makrut leaf. 

Every couple of days I will give the jar a shake, but plan on ignoring it for about a month, and hope for a tasty, tasty cocktail come mid-July.

ETA:
After about three weeks, this is what it looks like now, strained:

And with some lime juice and a bit of ginger beer, it made a fine Bangkok Mule. 

My Latest Favorite Cocktail

MP Taverna in Irvington calls it "Midnight Lemonade," and it's a combination of black sambuca, tonic water, lemon garnish, and I believe it's got some muddled basil in it too. 

Unfortunately due to fatty liver syndrome, I have to limit my alcoholic potables, however, this is one of those drinks I'd love to just nose dive into a vat of it, and pickle my care away. Tasty, effective pain management.

Al-K-Holic Peach Melba: This Should Win A Boozy Blue Ribbon Somewhere

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 Pint peach icecream (or vanilla icecream with some fresh or canned peaches thrown into the blender)
1/2 pint Raspberry sorbet
4 Shots Peach schnapps
2 Shots Chambord

Procedure:

Whirl it in the blender for a shake. Add fresh fruit to the blender if preferred.

Garnish with fresh raspberries on a skewer, serve in a daquiri glass... hell just drink it right out of the blender with a crazy straw. The shit's good.

Maven's Lazyman Limoncellos

Here's my take on Limoncello.

Ingredients:

Lemon italian ice. Lemon sorbet will work if lemon ices aren't available. (Hell, Icees or 7-11 Slurpees will work too.)
Citron Vodka or Limon Rum
Countrytime Lemonade (with sugar); Don't mix it up, the dry mix is used as a rimmer.

Ratio: 1 Italian Ice to 1 shot (not JIGGER) of booze.

Procedure:

Throw it in a shaker. Shake it a bit til it's all cold and slushy...

Then serve it up in chilled martini glasses which have had the rims dipped in simple syrup and then dipped into Country Time Lemonade Mix (envision the rim salted or sugared).

Maven's EFFing Lazyman Nog

Prep time: 5 Minutes? If that? You want something more specific? I have a brown eye that requires kissing. Yeah, like the Blarney Stone, only it's in my pants.

Serves: EFF if I know! Let's see 16 oz of icecream + 8 oz milk = 24 oz (not including the booze, which I don't have EFFing time nor patience to measure out in ounces for you) So just going on the BULK of the ingredients, and if you don't have some glutton drinking from your EFFing punchbowl with a straw, you probably could get about four six ounce servings or six four ounce servings out of this batch. More or less, depending on the quantity of booze you put in. The quantities I listed are merely a suggestion, not a hard and fast Nog Rule. And it's EFFing Lazyman Nog, and I've put entirely too much EFFing effort into this "serves" section." Shit I might just give up now and forget about the recipe... or not...

Ingredients:

1 pint partially melted vanilla icecream (Breyers is best) (more frozen than melted, but definitely not frozen rock hard) or if available, rum raisin
1/2 pint whole milk
1 or 2 Shots Grand Marnier or Cointreau (more or less, depending on your penchant for this)
4 Shots rum or southern comfort (More or less, depending on how Effing snockered you wanna get)

The Indelicate Procedures:

1. Dump everything into a blender.
   
2. Manhandle your dairy shit. Whip it into oblivion, like a frappe. If you don't know what the EFF a frappe is, I guess you're EFFed, eh? Just blend it until the lumps are gone, or the raisins disappear. Or whatever. Hey, it's your nog. If you want the lumps and to chew the raisins, so be it. This is more of a suggestion more than a demand. Where was I? Oh yes... onto procedure #3. The CRUCIAL procedure. Are you reading? What the EFF am I doing here?
3. Taste. If you think it needs more booze, add more booze. It's not EFFing rocket science, even IF NASA scientists DO love my nog, deciphering the nog CODE is NOT EFFing rocket science... have I lost you yet? Good, all the more EFFing nog for MOI.
4. Garnish with nutmeg.
   

Sad, Sad Foods Revisited: The Weenietini

Snagged from E-Gullet Forums

The Weenie-Tini

3 oz Weeniecello
1 oz dry vermouth
splash of sauerkraut brine
Garnish with a slice of frankfurter.

Maven's White Wine Sangria Spritzer

Ingredients:

1 nectarine, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 plum sliced
1 kiwi (peeled) sliced
some fresh pineapple chunks
1 bottle Gerwerstrameiner, (a sweet, Alsacian dessert wine)
1 jigger Grand Marnier
1 2 liter bottle Diet Sprite

Procedure:

1. Squeeze juice from orange, and reserve.
2. Put all of sliced fruit in layers in a container and put in freezer
3. Optional: You might want to make a batch of special ice cubes as well. I set up the tray with regular tap water, and into each cube compartment, I put a few blueberries; any other small fruit would work, though.
4. Ice down the wine and Diet Sprite
5. When guests arrive, put fruit into chilled pitcher.
6. Add the jigger of Grand Marnier to organge juice, the bottle of wine, and half the bottle of Sprite.
7. Mix well and top off with a bit more sprite and fruit studded ice cubes.
   

What I ended up doing was continue to top off the pitcher with the Diet Sprite (no more wine to add to it), so that the subsequent glasses were getting weaker and weaker. Great as the evening winds down and guests have to drive themselves home.

Eggnog for Christmas

Serving Size: 10
Preparation Time : About 45 minutes (assuming you don't drink WHILE you're prepping.)

Ingredients

• 1 dozen eggs
• 1 lb sugar superfine -- powdered sugar
  
• 1 qt light cream
  
• 1 pint brandy
• 1 pint rum Meyers -- Dark
• 1 pint flavored brandy (I like blackberry!) -- or vodka
• 1/2 gallon ice cream -- vanilla (get GOOD vanilla ice cream, you cheapskate.)
  

• 1 qt heavy cream
• 4 oz sugar 10 X -- sifted
• 1/2 fluid ounce vanilla extract
• 1 cup Gran Marnier

Yield: about a gallon (yes, a gallon. This is tasty, and you want enough made so that you can get your fair share.)

Preparation

1. Whip eggs and superfinepowdered sugar together until sugar is dissolved.

2. Add liquor. Whip well. (I tend to dance around singing DEVO's "Whip It! Whip it good!")
   

3. Add light cream. Whip again. (More DEVO!)
   

4. Break up ice cream small and add 1/2 ice cream and 1/2 whipped cream and stir in well

5. Float remaining ice cream and whipped cream on top. Grate fresh nutmeg and cinnamon over top lightly

6. Serve with butter cookies.

Whipped Cream. Chill bowl and beater. Whip 1 qt heavy cream till tracks show. Add 4 oz sifted lox sugar. Add 1/2 oz Virginia Dare Vanilla. Continue beating, add Gran Marnier slowly while beating if you are adding it. Whip to medium soft peaks. Makes the 3 qt's required.

Chocolate Version. Use Double dark chocolate ice cream. Add 6 to 8 oz (about a cup) of Grand Marnier to the whipped cream with the vanilla slowly. Add a pint of Gran Marnier or Sabra Orange Chocolate liqueur instead of the vodka. Garnish with chocolate curls or grated dark chocolate.

Be sure to have a Merry Christmas by NOT driving after drinking

Hot Buttered RUM RUM RUM (without so much sodomy and the lash)

(This is purely medicinal, of course.)

(This recipe ALSO serves 15 people optimally, or four really 'sick' people who need a lot of medicine.)

You will need:

• 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine (Use real butter, you wuss -- damn the hardened arteries, and full steam ahead!)
  
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 sticks cinnamon
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups rum (Use GOOD rum. Seriously -- it makes all the difference.)
  
• heavy cream -- whipped (You can settle for Reddi-whip, but it isn't the same.)
  
• ground nutmeg -- for topping

To prepare:

Put all ingredients, except the rum, cream and the nutmeg into the crotchpot.
Add 2 quarts of hot water.
Stir well.
Cover pot and cook on LOW for FIVE hours.
Add rum; stir to blend.

Serve from pot in warm mugs with a scoop of whipped cream and a dusting of nutmeg.
You can garnish with a cinnamon stick, if you want.