Highlander

LB makes another guest photographer appearance!

It's been a long, late winter with colds, sinus infections, ear infections and ruptured eardrums.  So there hasn't been a lot of desire to get the party on.  But Dilettante's hearing is back to about 90%, spring is springing, the Red Umbrella Rooftop has been reset for the approaching season and the shakers are chilling!

Over the years our neighbor friend, LB (of He Shot, She Shot fame!), and I have developed a bit of a tradition.  We call it a "shaker visit".  Shaker visits typically happen when one or both of us are so busy with work that we can't properly hangout together.  But we recognize the importance of a small break to be social, recharge our creative batteries, and then get back to matters at hand.  It works this way:  I go to the bar, select a cocktail, and mix it up in a shaker or mixing glass.  Then I grab two glasses and hop the elevator to her floor.  A short walk down the hall and I knock on her door.  When she opens the door I flash a smile and say, "Shaker visit!"  LB invites me in and I pour two servings from the shaker.  The visit lasts only as long as the cocktail, which is a necessary constraint if there's work to be done because we have exactly zero problem hanging out for hours and hours being silly and solving the world's problems.  Then it's back to work whether we like it or not!

LB is my inspiration for my own photography.
Here she captured "my process".

Even though last night was Date Nite, with all the sickness and end-of-winter doldrums, I've been missing my LB (& my buddy, Rocky!) and thought a shaker visit was a nice work-around.  So I snuck down to their place a bit early and squeezed one in before The Husband got home from work.  I selected something to kick Friday night off right and proper.  In the past few weeks, when I've been in the mood for hard liquor, I've been in much more of a traditional vein.  PDT and Death & Co. are great books and all.  But they can be a bit hipster fussy.  So I've been mixing from The Bible again.  The Highlander made the cut to take down to LB's place.  I must have been drinking already, because I swear the recipe said rye.  So that's what I used.  But when I got home and looked at the book again, turns out it calls for scotch.  Though the rye worked quite nicely.  The Highlander is as smooth as butter with a respectable sweetness.  The first one I made sans cherry.  La douxième avec.  Frankly, I could distinguish no difference in flavor.  Though it did add to the Highlander's already jewel-like quality.

I'm sure in some corners folks call this a rye Manhattan.  But a rose by any other name....  And speaking of roses, it was most excellent hanging out with you, my dear LB...and of course, Rocky!  xoxo


Highlander
1 oz. whisky (or, as it turns out, rye makes for a tasty variation)
1 oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters

Stir in a mixing glass with lots of ice.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

And with my photo, it's officially
a He Shot, She Shot shaker visit!

Mulled White Wine

“Look kiddo, we love that you want to hang out with us and that you’re comfortable enough to just drop by.  But you really need to get out more.”

“I am out.  I’m not home, I’m here.”

Mickey smirked, raised an amusedly irked eyebrow, and looked over the tops of his readers at his son on the other side of the kitchen.  “You’re handsome, young, and single.  So, when you show up on your parents’ doorstep on a Friday night with a thermos of mulled white wine, yeah, we gotta think there are better places for you to be.”

“What?  Where else do I have to be?  Besides, I feel so English and lord-of-the-medieval-manor when I drink mulled wine.  It’s a payoff of your investment in my MA.  Plus, you have the best goblets to drink it from.”  He clinked is father’s chalice and sipped.  “What do you think about the pear in it?”  

“Ok, let’s quit dancing around this elephant here, shall we?  So it didn’t work out with Theo.  That was Theo —“

“Here we go!”

 “ — You have tons of talent and love to give someone —“

“— ‘And we know there’s a guy out there who will connect with you and you with him.’”  
                                                      
“That’s right.  But you’re not going to find him hanging out with your folks on prime club nights.  Get your ass out of here and out on Halsted!” 

“Really, dad?  Get my ass out on Halsted?”

“Yeah," he winked, "get your ass out on Halsted.”

“Boundaries.”

“Oh, look who’s here.”  Gina came into the kitchen adjusting a bangle earring and kissed Christopher on the cheek.  “Is it Friday already?”

“Perfect.  Take your son with you.” 

“Nope.  It’s girls’ night with a mission.  I can only handle one broken-hearted depressive at a time."

“Nice,” said Chris, and raised his glass in a sarcastic air toast to his mother.  “Besides, I do not want to spend an evening with that Trixie bitch, Katie.”

“A master’s in English, the entire language at your command, and that’s the word you choose to describe a woman.  What did we get for our investment?”

“Mulled wine on a cold night delivered right to our door,” Mickey retorted, pouring her one.  "Served in goblets!"

Gina pinched Chris’s scruffy chin affectionately.  “Sweety, get your ass out on Halsted.”  


Mulled White Wine
2 t. black pepper corns
2 t. whole cloves
1 bottle pinot grigio
1/8 c. granulated sugar
1 small bunch sage
1 small bunch thyme
Rind and 2 T. juice from 1 lemon
1 c. pear eau de vie or brandy
1 firm, ripe pear, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

Place the peppercorns and cloves in a  medium saucepan.  Stir over a medium heat until fragrant, approx. 2 minutes.  

Add wine, sugar sage, thyme, and lemon rind and juice.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.  Reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids.  Return mixture to saucepan and stir in eau de vie or brandy and pear slices.  Simmer over medium low heat until pears are fork-tender but still retain their shape, about 8-10 minutes.  Serve placing several slices of pear in each glass as garnish.

Milk Punch | 13 down 262 to go

This week at a networking event a conversation turned to cocktailing.  Telling a fellow networker of the blog he noted that he’d been learning more about scotch and asked what cocktails I could recommend.  At that point I realized that I’d only done one.  So I figured I needed to do something about that: Milk Punch.  In the process, I’ve discovered a wonderful new practice.  I’ll call it the “neighbor shaker”.  A friend and neighbor has been working hard and unable to socialize as she’d like.  So I filled a shaker with the tipple, hopped in the elevator and knocked on her door.
 
She opened the door to find me shaking a tin.  “If Mohammed doesn’t have time to come to the mountain, then the mountain will bring cocktails to Mohammed.  There’s only enough here for one round.  That’s how long your break will last.  Then it’s back to work!”  She laughed and invited me in.

We sipped the first sip and a smile spread across my face.  It was an icy thin eggnog.  I couldn’t help but tell L- about my grandmother who was in charge of the Christmas bev.  She too used bourbon instead of rum.  She was big on tasting.  For balance and quality purposes, of course!  Still, by the time she and the nog emerged from the kitchen she was flush with Holiday spirit…and a might bit silly!  Like Gram’s eggnog, this is not a kiddy cocktail.  It is full on an adult sippin’ beverage.  While tasty, odds are there won’t be a second round of these.  But the good news is with 3 ounces of bourbon and a healthy splash of rum, it’s strong enough to get the job done all by its lonesome.

Milk Punch
3 oz bourbon
3 oz milk
1/2 t. dark rum
1T. simple syrup
Nutmeg

Shake liquids with cracked ice. Strain into chilled tumbler or highball glass.  Sprinkle with nutmeg.  Oh, and use whole milk.  Please, no blue gruel with skim!