Fernet Add9
1.5oz Fernet Branca
2 dashes Fee Bros Aztec Chocolate Bitters
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Danny Dawson
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The Painted Lady
Juice of one grapefruit (about 3 oz)
2 oz applejack
1 tsp maraschino liquor
1 tsp black currant syrup
several slices of very fresh ginger
two or three drops of peach bittersShake hard, strain, and serve up. Would be better if muddled before shaken. Garnish w/maraschino cherries.
Danny Dawson
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Tips on Cleaning Cauliflower Mushrooms
1. Find a small wire bottle brush. Any stiff-bristled brush will do, but the bottle brush is ideal for getting into all the nooks.
2. Be ready to find bugs. Don’t squeal.
3. Pill bugs are harmless.
4. Some centipedes are not.
5. After a thorough brushing on the outside, cut it into slices about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick. Be ready for angry things to crawl out without dropping your mushroom on the floor.
6. Put the slices in a bowl of cold water and agitate to remove most of the remaining dirt. As you remove the slices from the water one by one, use your bottle brush to clean the last bits.
7. Move your freshly-cleaned slices onto a cooling rack or other grated surface (got a colander?) and set them in front of a fan for about a half hour or however long it takes to dry the surface water. You could use a paper towel if you prefer, but it’s unlikely you’ll remove enough moisture from the heavily-ridged edges.
8. Put your clean, dry cauliflower mushrooms in a paper bag and store in the fridge until you’re ready to use. Now that they’re no longer infested with dirt and bugs, they’ll keep longer and they’ll be ready to use whenever you want them.Danny Dawson
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The Jonathan Goldsmith
Recipe:
5 ml (1 tsp) Luxardo Maraschino
1.75 oz St. George Agua Azul reposado
15 ml (3 tsp) Ginger syrup
Juice of 1 meyer lemonShake above vigorously w/ice. Serve over rocks in glass rimmed with salt and ras el hanout.
Notes:
Smoky and sour with complexity from the luxardo. Mildly spicy with clove from the ras el hanout. Ginger syrup may get lost, but is what I have lying around and it dissolves better than granulated sugar.Danny Dawson
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Bipartisan gardening on a hot summer day
12 fl Oz Speakeasy White Lightning
Liberal grating fresh nutmeg
Conservative shake cayenne powderCut down a 12 foot tall mirror plant. Dig out the roots. Plant a lemon tree in its place. Put spices into pint glass. Pour in bottle of beer. Relax and drink up the sun. You’ve earned it.
Danny Dawson
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Sour September Sling
• 1 fl Oz Blueberry Shrub #2
• 1.5 fl Oz Patron Silver
• 6 drops Absente bitters
• 4 raspberries
• 1 thick slice lemon cucumber (cut into quarters)Shake all with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass (allow drupelets through per personal taste) over two ice cubes, top with Pellegrino, stir. Garnish with a fresh slice of lemon cucumber and a couple fresh raspberries.
Would like to try this w/orange bitters, just didn’t have any.
Danny Dawson
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Chicago’s Visiting Punch
Last Friday Nora and Kevin were in town from Chicago for Brishine’s wedding, and since they were here, we entertained a few folks at our place. To keep 15 or so people happy for a few hours and get the cheap thrill of making something other people appreciate, I knocked out a punch in the style of Alton’s Cape Fear Punch. The style breaks down to four basic components: tea, booze, citrus, and spice. I put on my own spin, of course, adding wormwood and anise hyssop flowers from the garden, and spiking with my homemade keffir leaf vodka and blueberry shrub. It turned out a good punch, though I’m sure the recipe could use some refining. For the sake of posterity, I present it here.
- 1 tbsp diksam bps
- 1 tsp lapsang souchong
Steep in 375 mL near-boiling hot water for 3 minutes. Then add:
- zest of 1 large lemon
- 1 frond wormwood (smaller than my hand)
- 6 anise hyssop flowers
- 375 mL Old Overholt Rye Whiskey
- 150 mL Light Rum (Bacardi)
- 225 mL Cognac (Bisquit Classique VS)
- 80 mL Keffir Leaf Vodka (steeped/mellowed over a year)
Set in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.
When people start arriving, send the wife to greet them, strain the punch into a 6.5 quart pot, add:
- 1 L sparkling water
- 750 mL Rose Cava
- 2 fl oz original blueberry shrub (see below)
- 1 oz white sugar (Demerara would have been better)
- juice of two large lemons
- 1 lime, sliced, slices cut in quarters
- 1 large orange, sliced, slices cut in quarters
- a few fresh anise flowers, for garnish
- Fresh grated nutmeg, to taste
Leave the nutmeg and a microplane next to the punch pot, so folks can add additional spice to their own drinks, if desired. Encourage them to do so. It really makes a difference.
If I were to do this again, I would probably decrease the amount of Bacardi, increase the amount of Keffir vodka, and increase the amount of shrub. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the rose cava, that’s just all we had around. A sweeter white cava or prosecco would have done nicely.
Basic Shrub recipe:
- Crack some spices: I’ve done pepper + cardamom, pepper + coriander + allspice.
- Macerate equal volume of fresh fruit and sugar, mix in spices. Let sit for 5 hours on cool countertop or in fridge.
- Stir in volume of vinegar (apple cider recommended) so that fruit:sugar:vinegar volume ratio is 1:1:1. Add a little salt. Back in fridge for a week, stirring daily.
- Strain (chinois and/or cheesecloth). Bottle, let sit in fridge for another week to mellow (if you can).
- Store in fridge. If you don’t plan to use it within the first few weeks, I’m told adding a little vodka (.5oz per pint of original vinegar) will help it keep longer.
Based almost directly off of Neyah White’s shrub recipe, though I prefer a little less sugar and salt than he calls for. My original blueberry shrub recipe used 1 quart fresh blueberries, 1 quart white sugar, and 1 quart apple cider vinegar. I stuck to the same spices he used: 1 oz black peppercorns and 5 cardamom pods. I don’t remember exactly how much salt I used, but I know I prefer less than the 1 oz called for in his recipe.
Danny Dawson
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Danny Dawson
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Aletheic
Last night Claudine and I had a few friends over for a game night. I did a particularly bad job of planning it, so many people I would have wanted to come either couldn’t do so because notice was too short or weren’t invited at all because I am a lousy, forgetful friend.
Thanks to those who did make it: Jared Williams, Carlos Almendárez, and Lauren Clymer.
Anyone who’s ever been to one of my game nights before has probably played, or at least heard of, Mini Mao. For those who aren’t familiar already, I usually sum up Mini Mao thusly:
- The object of the game is to find out the rules of the game.
- The object of the game is to make other people have fun.
- The object of the game is to not be an asshole.
Kevan Davis created Mini Mao, which is itself a variant of Mao incorporating some of the principles of a Nomic.
By Kevan’s description, Mini Mao is a card game, usually played with a deck of normal playing cards, though not restricted to that medium. Last night was the first time we’ve tried to test that boundary, by incorporating a deck of Uglydoll cards and a normal deck of playing cards into a single, mixed deck.
Our findings: playing with a greater variety of cards only adds to the total amount of fun to be had. In other words:
cards++ => fun++
Rules that were developed and used last night (not in order):
- Primo: Threes must be played face down. Author: Jared.
- Icebat: When playing a blue monster, the player must growl. The player must not growl while playing a non-blue monster. Author: Claudine.
- I don’t know: Something to do with even diamonds. Author: Jared.
- Yipiee: I actually don’t know. Author: Jared.
- Ox! Ox!: When a player plays Ox, they must jump twice, exclaiming “Ox!” each time. Author: Claudine.
- Menage: Something about threes. Author: Carlos.
- Company: Three-eyed monsters and threes had to be played face-down. Menage is deprecated. Author: Carlos.
- Trail mix: When playing any number card except nine, the player must say “trail mix”. Author: Lauren.
- Odd-Eyes: If a monster is played on a number, the number of eyes on the monster must be odd or even to match the odd-or-even-ness of the number card. For this rule, aces count as ones, jacks as 11s, queens as 12s, and kings as 13s. Author: Danny.
- Say it Proud: The player playing a card must call out the card’s name while playing it. Author: Danny.
Next game night, I’m planning on procuring a set of mahjong tiles to use instead of cards. Theoretically, we could use any objects instead of cards, but mahjong tiles (or dominoes, failing that) give the added benefit of easy 3D construction. in the discard pile. Ooh…now I’m getting ideas involving Lego pieces.
Danny Dawson
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The crocs were discovered during a search by a female border guard, who screamed and ran out of the room, just what border guards are trained to do when they discover contraband.
Danny Dawson
Claudine 10:41 pm on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Permalink
Thank you for the tasty, amazing punch. I’m a lucky girl.