Cocktails, Food, and Gardening South of the hill in Bernal Heights, CA
There are different types of “Lost Ingredients.”
Some are just gone. They are no longer made. The Pomelo flavored “Forbidden Fruit” liqueur is one of those. The only way to get a liqueur like this is to try to make it yourself.
Some “Lost Ingredients” are still made, but only distributed in relatively small [...]
When I used to work at the Westside Bakery Cafe in Berkeley, CA, one of my favorite lunch items was a warm spinach salad with lentils and feta.
You’ll need: 1 cup of lentils, an onion or two, a carrot, a can of tomatoes, some garlic, a bunch of spinach, feta cheese, bay leaf, thyme, a [...]
Last year some Wisconsin friends sent me an article about a new vodka from a company called Death’s Door Spirits. I was intrigued, mostly because it sounded like the company was distilling the base for its vodka themselves from locally grown wheat.
Later we found out that Death’s Door was also going to produce a [...]
Apple Jack (Special) Cocktail
2/3 Applejack. (2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy)
1/6 Grenadine. (1/2 oz home made Grenadine*)
1/6 Lemon Juice. (1/2 oz Lemon Juice)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
The Apple Jack (Special) Cocktail almost falls within what I would call “free pour error” of the nominally drier Jack Rose (in the Savoy the Jack Rose [...]
Apple Jack Cocktail
1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
1/2 Italian Vermouth. (1 1/2 oz Cinzano Sweet Vermouth)
1/2 Calvados. (1 1/2 oz Laird’s 100 proof Bonded Apple Brandy*)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Seemed wrong to make the “Apple Jack Cocktail” with Calvados instead of Apple Jack. Downright unamerican, even! Oh, and forgive my feeble attempt at [...]
Apple Cocktail
(6 People)
Take 2 glasses of sweet Cider (2 oz Martinelli’s Cider), 1 Glass Gin (1 oz. Beefeater’s), 1 Glass of Brandy (1 oz Korbel VSOP Brandy) and 2 glasses of Calvados (2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Jack). Shake and serve. (Garnish with thin horizontal slices of tart, green apple.)
Note: This is the [...]
A trip to Ledger’s Liquors in Berkeley turned up some nice finds: North Shore Distillery Gin No. 6 (Hi Sonja!) Fee’s Grapefruit Bitters, Coruba Dark Jamaican Rum. But, coolest of all, they had a number of Rodenbach Beers.
Now I know Rodenbach has been making an effort to re-establish itself in the US, but I [...]
Appetiser Cocktail
1/2 Gin. (1 1/2 oz Beefeater Gin)
1/2 Dubonnet. (1 1/2 oz Dubonnet Rouge)
The Juice of 1/2 Orange.
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
This was OK; but, I liked it better with a dash or two of Angostura bitters, (which, in the world of the Savoy, probably makes it a different drink). It’s not as [...]
My actual favorite part of pot roast or another braised meat, is to make pasta from the leftovers. Chop yourself a half an onion and some garlic.
Saute them briefly in olive oil.
Deglaze with wine and add canned tomatoes and cook until sauce-like. Add the beef and whatever pan gravy you have to the [...]
Apparent Cocktail
1/2 Dry Gin (1 1/2 oz Beefeater’s Gin)
1/2 Dubonnet (1 1/2 oz Dubonnet Rouge)
1 Dash Absinthe. (1/4 tsp. Absinthe Verte de Fougerolles)
Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass. (Twist orange peel over glass.)
Not all gins are as happy being mixed with Absinthe as others. Experimentation has led me [...]
