There are more than just bananas in there...
Some days you’ve just gotta let go of things. Kick back let the world move on without you, preferably listening to some Kenny Rogers while laying on a nice rug. You know, the kind that really pulls the room together. When that time comes there is really only one drink that will do, the White Russian.
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It’s a rainy, yucky Easter and that calls for a little pick me up. I’m a big fan of Irish Coffee and that rush of whiskey and caffeine perfect for a dreary afternoon. There are lots of variations to this super simple drink, I opted for a close proximity of the recipe they serve at Dead Rabbit NYC home of the very best Irish coffee I have ever had, hands down.
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The Bloody Mary is an oft maligned drink served watered down without passion at a buffet or even worse topped with so much crap that it is it’s own buffet. At core this is a really lovely drink and a great excuse to start drinking early in the day, but if you want something really special, make ’em with whiskey!
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Ready for another super simple cocktail? How about a proper margarita? No mixes here just 2 ounces of tequila, I used the Kah Añejo, cause it comes in that cool skull bottle, one ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice, 1/2 ounce of Cointreau, 1/2 ounce of agave syrup and 3 drops of Havana and Hide bitters from 18-21. Pop it all into your tins with some ice, shake it about as long as you should be washing your hands and double strain into a chilled coupe with salt on the rim. Garnish with a lime wedge and you’re ready to enjoy. Only slightly more challenging than adding the tequila to a mix and so much tastier. Stay safe, stay home and stay hydrated!
It’s a nice afternoon, the sun is shining, let’s have a simple, but refreshing cocktail, the classic gin and tonic. I’ve seen many variations in this, some with citrus, some with crazy bitters, but after Barcelona last year I’ve decided that simpler is better on this one. Today I went for 2 ounces of Corsair Artisan Distillery barrel-aged gin over ice and two drops of lavender bitters over ice topped with Fever Tree tonic water. I always pour the tonic down the handle of a barspoon, cause it looks cool and feels fancy. Speaking of fancy, I popped into the backyard and picked a sprig of fresh lilac, which smells amazing, for garnish. So there you go, a cocktail so simple it’s barely a cocktail, but so damned good, your partner will take a sip to try it and never give it back, so go ahead and make two. Stay home, stay safe, stay hydrated.
Under normal circumstances, I would have been at Corsair Artisan Distillery today enjoying cocktails with friends to celebrate the beginning of this 48th trip around the sun. I don’t drink many cocktails at home, but the wife set me up with some new Leopold weighted shaker tins for this super soft birthday, so I decided to put them to some good use making an old favorite, the Trinidad Sour.
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Let’s get this out of the way right up front, I am not sure this is really a cocktail blog. The drinks info is solid, but I do wander in the narrative, making you read a bunch of extra stuff to get to the recipe. You end up with my thoughts on the events of the day or reminisces looking back on a half century of misspent youth, loosely draped around a drink made on our kitchen counter. Maybe that is your thing, I hope so. It’s got links to bars, ingredients, music and anything else I find interesting. Nobody is making any money off of them, so click if you are into it or don’t. These shouts into the dark helped provide some routine and ritual when the world turned upside down. It is my sincere hope that reading them will help keep you distracted, informed or mildly entertained, depending on your needs.
So how do three longtime 
geocaching friends from the US end up in the Azores for the holidays? It began as a sort of loose daydream of interesting places to travel this year between us. We spun the globe looking for somewhere different from our previous travels. We talked about going to Iceland to see the northern lights, maybe taking that long flight to Thailand for some scuba caching, but when we read about the Azores, we knew it would be the perfect getaway.
Our first order of business was finding out how to get there. Luckily, there was a new direct flight from Boston to the Azores on SATA. Since Koneko lives near Boston and there were inexpensive flights from our home in Nashville, Tennessee, it made travel easy and also helped us choose our ultimate destination of Terceira. With tickets and lodging booked we got into the real fun of planning a trip. We did a lot of research, looking at geocaches online, reaching out to friends who had visited before and finally making connection with some local geocachers for advice. Continue reading
That’s pretty good advice. I know I have heard it enough and it is pretty much what I do. I write about the stuff I know; things I like, things I care about, making things, seeking out adventures, good things to eat, you know basic monkey stuff. Sometimes, I end up writing stuff for newspapers, articles and magazines. Every once in a while someone sends me a check for doing that and people refer to me as an “author”. That never feels genuine to me, because it’s just an article or some stuff I wrote that someone liked or needed, but it is nice. I have always held out that to be a real author, you would have to write a book. Well, to paraphrase Miss O’Hara, “I guess I’ve done authoring now.”
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching, Third Edition
Once again, I come before you, not to entertain and enlighten, but to ask for your support. Although, it makes me a little uncomfortable to be so blatantly self-serving, I feel it is only fair that when I ask for other people to support and promote one of my projects, well, I probably should promote it myself. So, here you go.
I am always experimenting in the kitchen trying to come up with new recipes or new combinations of flavor. Sometimes things turn out pretty well and those I try to share, the failures I chalk up to experience and try to be all zen about, in an Edisonian sort of way. Today’s recipe was a great success, which I have been meaning to share with you for a couple of months, but it took a nudge from a friend to finally get me to write it down.
I discovered Indian food and curry late in life, but I fell in love with the flavor and I am trying to make up for lost time. Lately, I have added it to all kinds of dishes with varying levels of success, but my favorite new curried dish is this midwinter bisque made with sweet potatoes onions, bell pepper and lots of spices.
I first made this to serve at a friend’s gallery open house last fall and have made it several times since then, but I kept forgetting to document things. So last week I made myself focus, grabbed the camera and made a great batch of this bisque, just in time to get snowed in. About that time a friend mentioned that Instructables was having a Homemade Soup Contest that I should enter it, so I did. That’s where you come in.
They will be accepting votes from January 23-26 and the entries with the highest number of votes move on to actual taste testing. I feel good about the quality of my submission and the finished bisque is really tasty and good for you, in order to get into the finals I need your help. So please, take a moment to visit my Instructable and if you feel it is worthy, I would appreciate your vote. It also helps if you rate the project, so please help me out, if you can.
As always, I thank you for your support.
Update: After I submitted my project for consideration, it was not only accepted for the contest, but they featured it on their site for a day. Pretty exciting, huh?
Bigger update: Not only was it featured, the recipe won First Prize. Thank you all for your support, now go forth and make this soup.
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