Thing-a-day.com

One more lemon cocktail, and this will probably be the last. I’m getting tired of the theme. But this was dramatic looking - wish I’d had time to set up an actual photo. And it tastes good. A bit too easy to drink, perhaps.

Lemon Drop (Kick)

1.5oz cachaça
3/4oz Meyer lemon juice
3/4oz lemon simple syrup
1/2oz pomegranate syrup

Mix cachaça, lemon juice, and lemon syrup in a mixing glass. Shake over ice. Add pomegranate syrup to a tall, narrow glass and layer the drink over it.

I’ve been meaning to photograph my bike frame and put it up for sale for literally months, but have never gotten around to actually doing it. Well, I’m tired of not having a bike I can ride and I need the money from the sale of the frame to buy one in my size. So, with Thing-a-Day’s help, I’ve gone and just gotten it over with. I have some pictures which, while not great, will at least show the frame well enough that I think potential buyers can have some idea of what it is.

The frame is a Seven Tsunami, guessable by the badges. It’s a very high end titanium cyclocross frame, custom built and absolutely gorgeous. The bends in the seat and chain stays are pure bike porn. It’s absolutely the bike I’d love to ride forever. Except that it’s just plain too big for me. I bought it off a friend who barely used it before having to give up riding for medical reasons, in the hopes that I could make it work…but I can’t. So, it goes up for sale again.

(If anyone reading this wants an absolutely best-available, top-of-the-line titanium cyclocross frame, let me know!)

It’s inappropriate to attend black tie affairs as an international man of mystery without a black tie outfit, of course. And it’s very important that one wear a self-tied bow tie of a material matching the jacket lapels, I believe. So, today I learned how to tie a bow tie. Had I been attending an actual black tie event, I would have shaved, first, of course.

Still more lemons. Are we seeing a common theme here? Today I decided to produce two useful kitchen items in one go. First, we have candied Meyer lemon rounds. Second, we have Meyer lemon simple syrup. See the connections?

The Meyer lemon, Citrus × meyeri, is thought to be a hybrid of lemon and mandarin orange. It’s not as sour as “standard” lemons, and has a non-bitter, edible rind. I’m not sure why I even needed to candy these, as I’m quite happy eating them whole, like kumquats. Oh well, it’s an exercise!

Process: Slice lemons in 2-4mm slices, removing all the (numerous) seeds. Prepare a 2:1 simple syrup (two pars sugar to one part water) and heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the lemon slices and simmer until somewhat translucent. Strain the lemon slices and transfer to a cooling rack. Allow them to drip and cool, then dry in a warm oven until nearly dry. Roll in granulated sugar to crystalize the outside, then finish drying in the oven.

Of course, I got my process slightly out of order, and rolled mine in sugar before getting them nearly dry. Oops. They will be good with ice cream.

Just a quickie today. For the record, homemade guacamole and chips have several advantages over store-bought:

1. They taste better.
2. When make the chips yourself, you’re less likely to make a huge quantity and overeat.
3. Watching things fry is entertaining and relaxing all in one.

More lemons came my way today, in that I spent today still helping my brother pack his apartment. While there, I found a cute little overproductive Meyer lemon tree in the back yard. I harvested a couple handfuls between stints of packing and hauling, and when I got home, I made myself a nice Whole Lemon Slushie:

Whole Lemon Slushie

1 Meyer lemon, halved, seeds removed
8 ice cubes
2Tbs sugar

Place all ingredients in BlendTec blender and press the Ice Crush button.

Yes, it blends! (Though you might have to pause it halfway through and scrape down the sides of the blender bowl.)

I was pretty sure I wouldn’t manage a thing today, having spent the whole day helping my brother move out of his apartment and into a storage facility. I’m wiped. However, when I got home, I realized that I had some ingredients I wanted to play with, so I made yet another newish cocktail. This one started life as a Sidecar, then I added yellow Chartreuse for a little herbal background (which turned it into a Knight Cocktail), and then replaced the triple sec with St. Germain, a citrusy/sweet elderflower liqueur which is really astonishingly amazingly totally unbelievably good. Or something. The end result was:

The Knight Templar

1.5oz brandy
1oz fresh lemon juice
.5oz yellow Chartreuse
.75oz St. Germain

Mix in a mixing glass, shake over ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

This is good stuff. Hell, anything starting as a Sidecar is going to be good stuff, but the St. Germain and Chartreuse really do succeed in their respective goals.

I have a whole bunch of flavored syrups left over from my wedding party, including a bottle of blood orange flavor. I decided to use it in a cocktail fit for an evil bloodthirsty dead guy. The goal was to make a cocktail with many layers of varying orange flavors. This one uses blood orange syrup, orange bitters, parfait amour, and orange liqueur. I call it:

The Orange With Teeth

1.5oz vodka
.5oz cognac/orange liqueur (Grand Marnier, Prunier Orange, etc)
.5oz parfait amour
.5oz blood orange syrup
2 hearty dashes orange bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist, after twisting the peel and flaming the oils that squirt out on to the drink.

Note: I didn’t have any orange peel on hand for the garnish, more’s the pity. Also note that this is the first cocktail I’ve ever made with a vodka base. I don’t normally use a neutral base, but it matters here.

A local museum has a painting on display of a particular style of gown that my wife is interested in. She took 23 photos of the painting. I stitched them together to get one VERY high-resolution (62 megapixel) photo of it, showing all the available detail in one place.

After a long day helping my brother pack up to move out of his apartment in Calistoga, I got home and felt the need for a cool, sweet/tart drink. Thus, I present a refreshing blend of mojito and caipirinha:

The Calistoga Fizz
1.5oz cachaça or white rhum agricole (I used Fazenda Mãe do Ouro cachaça)
.5oz peppermint simple syrup
dash orange bitters
6 mint leaves
.5oz lime juice
soda water

Muddle mint leaves in a mixing cup, then add peppermint syrup, cachaça, bitters and lime juice. Shake over ice and strain into a tall glass (highball if you want to use ice, or a tall, narrow glass as I used), then top with soda water and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Honestly, it should probably be stronger, more sour, and served on the rocks for maximum refreshingness. But this is pleasant and will serve for tonight.

I’m not exactly a fan of Hallmark holidays like Valentine’s Day. There’s no way I’m going to pay someone else to express my deep, heartfelt emotions for me in a trite little card. Of course, my wife probably expects some sort of recognition of the day. She’s undergoing the worst allergy attack of her life right now and hasn’t breathed in three days, so I’m not about to go get flowers. I made a quick little card instead, by free-associating and typing in whatever came to mind. I think she’ll get it.

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I was at a bit of a loss this evening as for a creative Thing to do. So, as I made flavored syrups last night, I decided to make a cocktail using one of them tonight. I chose the allspice syrup, and instead of the obvious mix with rum and fruit juices to make Navy Grog, I decided to see how it worked in a gin drink. This is the first attempt:

Work In Progress Cocktail

1.5oz gin
.5oz sweet vermouth
.25oz allspice syrup (or substitute Pimento Dram if available)
dash decent balsamic vinegar
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Add ingredients to a mixing glass and stir with ice. Strain into a cold cocktail glass, and garnish with a floated star anise.

The star anise isn’t assertive enough, though I’d hoped to complement the licorice flavor from the Peychaud’s Bitters. I do like the combination of the astringent allspice and sour vinegar flavors, and gin ties it all together. This has some potential, and I’m going to keep experimenting with it.

Today I made more syrups! I’m nearly out of squeeze bottles, so I either have to stop now, or get more bottles. I think I may go shopping, because I still have a few more flavors to make.

The ginger and peppermint syrups are both 2:1 sugar:water plus flavoring. I don’t think I used enough mint or ginger in the syrups, as the flavors, while decidedly there, are too weak for the small amounts of syrup I’d like to use in cocktails. Live and learn.

The third syrup, allspice syrup, is also apparently known as “grog mix” and is used in a drink called Navy Grog. Now, grog was originally rum plus water (often with some citrus to stave off scurvy).This syrup is dark and tannic, and almost reminds me of a strong, spiced black tea. I think this will mix VERY well with dark rum and citrus.

Flavored syrups are a useful ingredient in many cocktails. Beyond the simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water), there are any number of less-simple choices. Today I made kumquat syrup by diluting the almost jellylike citrus-in-sugar fluid left over from candying kumquats (material for another Thing-A-Day, except that I did it before this project started), boiling it, and straining it through a filter and adding a bit of vodka as a preservative (to about 8% ABV…a little higher might be a good idea).

I know “Sour Curry” doesn’t sound that appealing, but while many people have a sweet tooth, I have a whole mouth full of teeth, including a sweet tooth, a bitter tooth, and of course a sour tooth. Sour foods, while somewhat unusual in American cuisine, are well-established elsewhere in the world. I’m taking a somewhat Zen approach with this recipe and not including quantities. Adjust to taste. If you like sour and spicy foods as I do, use plenty of tamarind paste and lime juice and chili, with relatively little coconut milk or sugar. This recipe is vaguely based on a dim memory I have of a recipe for a Keralan (southwestern coastal Indian) fish curry. Sort of.

Sour Curry

vegetable oil
fresh curry leaves
onions sliced in thin rings or pole-to-pole shreds
ginger, minced
chicken stock
tamarind paste (the seedless, soft kind)
fresh-squeezed lime juice
unsweetened, shredded coconut
colorful bell peppers, coarse chop
sliced hot chili (Jalapeño, serrano, etc)
pickled green peppercorns on the stalk
kabocha squash, peeled and cubed
protein source of choice (chicken, white fish, firm tofu cubes, …)
brown sugar
coconut milk

Heat oil in a large saucepan. When hot, add the curry leaves and fry briefly, then add onions peppers and cook until beginning to brown. Add ginger and cook until fragrant. Add stock, tamarind paste, lime juice, coconut, peppercorns, and squash and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until the squash is almost tender, then add the protein source and cook until cooked through. Add coconut milk and brown sugar to taste and serve over rice.

Another day, another cocktail recipe. I still wanted to play with Canton, and it seemed to me that it might be a good sweet and firey match for Punt e Mes bitter/sweet vermouth. So, what uses vermouth? A Manhattan. Now, if we’re going to make a Manhattan with added spicy ginger, we probably want to start with a fairly non-spicy whiskey. Bourbon, not rye. I chose Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon, which is too sweet for me to drink straight but is less likely to overwhelm the Canton. The final result is a tasty drink, with ginger that really comes through as flavor and not heat. Pretty interesting, particularly with the strongly vanilla bourbon.

The Glass Camel Cocktail

2oz Bourbon
1oz Canton cognac/ginger liqueur
1/2oz Punt e Mes
1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry.

Pretty much self-evident. I’m tagging this “Shoot it again” because I’m not satisfied with the results I get doing this as a snapshot - going to have to  take some time and do it right.

I use the word “music” rather loosely here. A friend of mine wanted a 90bpm series of beeps to use for bicycle cadence. So, there were a couple ways to do this. First, I could generate a .05 second sine wave followed by a 0.6166666 second silence, and then stack a zillion of them end to end. Second, I could use some sort of music-making software set to 90bpm. I chose the latter, and used GarageBand to make my first musical composition. It consists of 90bpm … beeps.
Click here for the MP3 if you want to hear 4:02 of beeps.

So, I have a new bottle of Canton ginger liqueur, and figured I’d try to find a fantastic cocktail for it. This is not that cocktail, but it’s drinkable. I’ll continue working on it until I figure out something actually good enough to name creatively. Until then, I have given it the imaginative name of:

Experimental Ginger Cocktail #1
1.5oz Armagnac
.75oz Canton
.5oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 dash orange bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass whose rim has been rubbed with a lemon twist.