Brown Derby

One leftover ruby red grapefruit, some nondescript bourbon, and honey make a cocktail worth singing over! Shake together 3 parts bourbon, 2 parts grapefruit juice, and 1 part rich honey syrup with ice. Strain in to a glass and enjoy! If you're feeling fancy, add a grapefruit peel twist. I wasn't feeling fancy.

I had some cheap scotch that the boy bought from Trader Joe's that I used instead of the bourbon, and it was still delicious. Is it sad that the only things I buy at Trader Joe's are toilet paper, dried pasta, and booze? Their produce is covered in unnecessary packaging and never looks fantastic. Once in awhile, I'm seduced by their avocados, but they all ripen at once and then at least one of them will end up in the compost pile. Where I grew up, TJs was the best supermarket around, but now I'm spoiled by multiple farmers' markets (the El Cerrito Tuesday market has the best Asian vegetables), Monterey Market, and Berkeley Bowl West.

One thing I cannot find in the Berkeley area is bulk peanut oil. I go through a 3L bottle of peanut oil every 6 months because I use it for stir-frying and everyday cooking where olive oil's taste doesn't fit in.  Before I buy another plastic bottle of peanut oil, I'd like to find somewhere I can refill my existing bottle. If anyone has any nearby options, please let me know! A friend informed me I can find what I'm looking for at Rainbow Grocery, but it's far from me.

Smoky Negroni

Substitute mezcal for gin in the Negroni recipe, and what do you get? A smoky Negroni, which is even better than a regular Negroni! I got the idea from Speisekammer's bar. There, it was served with a fancy vermouth, but I only had the non-fancy variety at home. Still, it was delicious.

If you want to make your own smoky Negroni, mix together equal parts mezcal, sweet vermouth, and Campari. I was out of Campari last night, so I made it with Aperol, resulting in a less bitter drink. Hey, since I'm already messing with a classic cocktail, what's one more substitution?

Summer Happenings

When you live in an area that's not too hot and not too cold, it's easy to be blasé about summer. However, it's still my favorite season of the year because waking up in the light and coming home with at least an hour of sunlight left makes it feel like I can do anything! Garden? Sure! Walk or slowly jog? Sure! Play ball with Sesame? Sure! Make a cocktail and sit on the deck? Always!

The Bee's Knees is the bee's knees

Sesame has gone through 3 months of training classes now, so two diplomas are on the refrigerator: one for basic obedience, and another one for intermediate obedience. This dog loves to train, which is good because it keeps the pressure on me to find fun classes for us to share.  Next up will either be Rally-O or an off-leash beginning course. She has come a long way from the fearful, stressed dog she was in January, but she still has a ways to go to become the dog I know she can be.

She is such a smarty pants! While out on a walk, we came across a water fountain. After she watched me take a drink, she copied me.  Maybe she knew this from her previous life?

Because so much of this year has been Sesame-focused, we are making sure that Mingus doesn't feel left out.

No one is excluded from being Sesame's pillow

Again, he was the mascot for the Balto race car, and he soaked up all the attention. He also came with us to Pints for Paws, a beer tasting event where dogs were not only included, but part of the event's allure. Mingus has such an awesome temperament: dogs are sniffing him, people are hugging him, and he has that dopey grin on his face the entire time.

The food experiments commenced after we had Sesame for a few months. My new favorite toy is a pasta extruder, although I need to work on the fusilli form factor.  Although the pictured pasta dish was delicious, it looked like a dish Martha Stewart would feature on her twitter feed.

Less time has also translated into many dinners out, and one of my new hangouts is Dumpling Express in Berkeley. I wouldn't rate them as the best dumplings ever, but I do appreciate that they are made to order. Their xiao long baos and their shrimp garlic chive dumplings are my favorites. There are also a number of rice plates and noodle plates here, but I only go for the dumplings.

Currently in the fermentors, we have two different types of plum wines, sauerkraut, two types of beer, kombucha, and some soured beets.

These beets are destined for a barley beet soup. I made that soup years ago and am still thinking about it. 

Happy summer, everyone! What have you all been up to?

Allspice Dram, Part 1

Last Friday, I had a cocktail at Five that has had me thinking about it since the first sip. It's the Lion's Tail. The Lion's Tail combines the bourbon, lime (so odd to have lime with brown spirits),  bitters, allspice dram, and simple syrup - it sounds like those ingredients are from a random cocktail generator, but they worked! They really worked!

Allspice dram is an ingredient that I can't see myself using very often, which is why the $30 price tag for 375 mL was off-putting.  Could I make it? Several people have, and they say that in a mixed drink, the homemade version holds its own. 1 ounce of whole allspice berries were $.094 in the Mexican spice section of the grocery store. One cinnamon stick is roughly $0.25. We had some crap light rum purchased ages ago from Trader Joe's, too, so the price tag on the homemade version was convincing me to DIY.

I lightly crushed the allspice berries, the whole 1-ounce package, and tossed it into a mason jar filled with rum and a wee bit of vodka (I didn't have a full cup of rum). The next step is to break a cinnamon stick into the mix after a few days, and then to strain the mixture and combine it with a brown sugar simple syrup.  I also want to put some nutmeg and cloves into the mix. This will be something totally undrinkable on its own (liquid Christmas is what it reminds me of), but hopefully it will make one hell of a Lion's Tail.

Don't feel like making this? Then get yourself down to Five and try one for yourself. They have a "cocktails from famous hotels" (link opens a .pdf to some fascinating reading) series going on, and I would have tried them all if I wasn't such a responsible adult in charge of getting us all home.