Hedonia

Thin mint julep

This beyond-awesome illustration courtesy of graphic designer and cocktail blogger Dr. Bamboo.

Do I really need to break down where the inspiration for this cocktail came from? Fine, okay, I was eating Thin Mint cookies while drinking bourbon. Oh, like you haven't.

Anyway, this is a drink recipe that practically writes itself. After all, if my cocktail math is right:

• Mint + bourbon = mint julep = yum
• Mint + chocolate = Thin Mint cookie = yum
• Chocolate + bourbon = just plain old yum

So, applying the law of conservation or whatever, that's, like, yum cubed. I may be wrong on that, since they didn't teach cocktail math in my high school, which is just one more reason why I don't need to relive those years. 

My first attempt at building this recipe involved making my own chocolate liqueur, made with a mint-infused simple syrup, and muddling mint leaves in the glass. The end result was fine, if rather ... subtle. But sometimes subtle is highly overrated. I mean, this is a cocktail modeled after a Girl Scout cookie, fercryinoutloud. Do you think they sell hundreds of thousands of boxes of cookies with subliminal advertising and gentle hints? No, they cast their doe eyes on you and beat you over the head with their cuteness. Subtle ain't exactly the name of the game.

I knew this much; I wanted the drink to have a rich chocolate base and a clean peppermint high note. Casting artisanal ingredients and techniques out the window, I went straight for the peppermint schnapps -- which our local booze store doesn't even stock, it's so lowbrow. I also invested in some crème de cacao, but opted for the good stuff since that's something that might actually have an application in a future drink. (For the record, as far as I can tell, there is no "good stuff" when it comes to peppermint hooch.) Et voilà -- one of America's favorite cookies in cocktail form. Bottoms up!

So promise me this: When this gets picked up and becomes the hottest girl drink of 2009 and is sold prefab in bottles and poured directly from spigots and is converted into one of those frozen slushie cocktails served from a churning machine, remember that you read it here first. Scout's honor? 

Daiquiri days and tiki nights

Food and drink bloggers tend to be a merry lot; DPaul and I are certainly not alone in our pursuits of things hedonistic. It generally takes little provocation to get a group of local bloggers to assemble to consume something of interest, in groups large or small.

Last year, Jen organized a come-as-you-are series of outings to case out the various bars and beverages featured in the 2008 edition of Food & Wine Cocktails, 17 of which were from Bay Area locales. A schedule was built, and week after week a cadre of bloggers and booze enthusiasts traipsed to watering holes in San Francisco and beyond in search of these rarefied concoctions. So regular and assiduously attended were these events, they became referred to as our "book club."

Sadly, as it turned out, relatively few of the cocktails in the book were available for the tasting. It stands to reason in an artisanal cocktail center like San Francisco that menus change with the moods and seasons, but some instances were just outright silly. At one location, the cocktail was on the menu, but is apparently never actually served, since they don't stock one key ingredient, a Belgian Trappist ale, that is both perishable and expensive. In one other case, the cocktail was not -- and had actually never been -- on the menu. Of the comparatively few cocktails featured in the book that were of offer, some were simply disappointing, though often there were superior drinks available at those locations. Ultimately, only a few stood out; my personal favorite was the Tommy Gun at Bar Drake.

Bicicletta

Hey, we only get so many hot days a year here in San Francisco, so when the season approaches, I like to be prepared and have a cooling cocktail at the ready. Last year, it was all about the michelada. But as the summer came to a close, and we journeyed to perhaps the hottest place of all, Palm Springs, I enjoyed a spectacularly refreshing drink at Spencer's, called the Bicicletta.

The drink is simplicity itself, just Campari, white wine and a spritz of club soda, but the whole is more than the sum of its parts. I am fond of Campari in general, but especially on hot days. Aside from memories of sweltering days on the Amalfi Coast, I find that Campari actually has a cooling effect. The white wine rounds out the cocktail, mellowing the intense bittersweet of the amaro, and of course the club gives it a fizzy kick. They are surprisingly easy to sip on during the dog day afternoons when nothing else is feasible. Luckily, the club soda and ice ensure that you can do so without getting completely fuore come un balcone.

Levriero

For my third guest-blog post in Married ...with Dinner's illustrious Drink of the Week feature, I unveil a new cocktail concocted for Reese's birthday party, the Levriero. After all, I simply had to do something with all that pompelmocello. Read on!

Tasting 2007

The end of the year is a natural point of reflection. Lately I've been thinking back on some of the more delicious memories of 2007, new and interesting experiences all. I'll present them here, in no particular order:

• Grilled squid at Pescheria: Served in a charming little enamelized crock, these tender, smoky squid rocked my world.
• Shaved raw artichoke salad at Incanto: I would never have thought to use raw artichoke, but tender baby chokes shaved to almost paper thinness added a pleasantly grassy note and crunch to a spring salad.
• Cherimoya: Creamy, sweet and exotic, these became my new favorite fruit. 
• Jane's (sorta) homemade pickles: By starting with store-bought dills, these quick-pickled sweets retain their crispiness.
• Michelada: The lime makes humdrum beer extra refreshing, and a dash of Tabasco and Worcestershire gives it a grown-up edge. The perfect summer quaff.
• Mutton barbecue from Moonlite: No more ho-hum pulled pork; gamey mutton gave barbecue a unique twist this year.
• Hangar One chipotle vodka: The second in Hangar One's artisan series gave "firewater" new meaning. Perfect for Bloody Marys, but we concocted a few custom cocktails of our own. *
  
• Sai oa: Spicy and super flavorful, this Thai sausage was simply scrumptious, barely edging out three other delectable handmade sausages during a day-long grind-and-stuff session chez Married ... with Dinner. *
• Alinea: 'Nuff said.
• Proper mint julep at Alembic: Cool, refreshing mint and condensation sweating down the sides of a pewter cup were pure tonic on a sweltering summer's day. *
  
• McQuade's Celtic Chutneys: Bright, tart, sweet and complex chutneys that make an excellent complement to meats and cheeses. *
• Grit cake with wild mushrooms at Cafe Majestic: It's not every day that a vegetarian entree catches my eye anymore, but this dish was a hands-down winner at our table. *
  
• Fregula, butternut squash, kale and pomegranate seeds at Olea: It's even rarer that I eye a vegan entree, but this dish was at once playful, textural, flavorful and just flat-out fun. *
• Concord grape sorbet with warm ginger tapioca at Firefly: Perhaps it's cliche to refer to something as a study in contrasts, but this dessert was an elegant dance of counterpoints: Cold and warm, sweet and tart, rich and sharp, crystalline and puddingy.
• Oh, Henry!: My new favorite cocktail, made specially by my own personal bartender at my birthday party. I particularly prefer the spicy kick of Blenheim ginger ale for this application. *
  
• Hoshigake from We Love Jam: The Kobe beef of persimmons! Hachiya persimmons are massaged while drying, coaxing a fine, sugary coating to the surface. The resulting dried fruit is subtly sweet, with a date-like texture.

* Indicates items that I experienced while in the company of other Bay Area food bloggers.

I have good friends

Last weekend, my darling husband hosted a cocktail party in my honor of my thirty-somethingth birthday. I had a lovely time, mingling with my bestest friends and nibbling on nummy noshes courtesy of DPaul. I received several lovely gifts, but chief among them was Anita stepping in to act as mixologist extraordinaire. She had two signature house cocktails at the ready, carefully sidestepping my patent dislike for both gin and orange. One, the refreshing and complex Rosemary Five, immediately became my new favorite cocktail. That is, until I tasted the second: The Oh, Henry, which she has now posted as the most recent Drink of the Week. Now, we love us some bourbon, and the combination with Benedictine and a good, strong ginger ale elevates it to new heights; the star anise garnish does so much more than merely decorate as well. Do go check it out, and enjoy one as much as I did, and still do. Anita gave me the gift not only of a housefull of well-watered friends, but of two newfound favorite tipples as well. Who could ask for more?