Sweet Blog o' Mine

Culinary Crushes

I have developed two new chef-crushes this week.  First, the talented and personable Michael Symon, who I had the pleasure of interviewing last week about his new cookbook, .  Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen. The interview should go live on Serious Eats tomorrow.  I love his philosophy behind his cooking as well as his focus on the importance of sharing meals with your loved ones on a regular basis.  Next, the lovely Nigella Lawson.  Listening to a podcast this morning where she discussed self-indulgence ("I'm for it. I'll be up front about it."), she discussed how the people who refused to eat anything fried or with butter were generally the people who "ended up downing tubs of ice cream."  A little self-indulgence goes a long way.  And I love how she described her eating habits.  "I actually feel that I eat very healthily," she says. "My only problem is that I eat enough for five healthy people."  I feel the same way.

Wonder if there's any way for me to have a meal with Michael and Nigella someday?  My treat.  Or better yet, I'll cook!

Weekend Wrapup

- Joe's Pizza with Ryan

- Two workouts

- Greenmarket in the sunshine

- Carbonara with Jenn D.

- Wine tasting with Tamara (thanks Zach!)

- Beer Stew at Katie's with lots of friends

- TV night - Next Iron Chef & Mad Men

- Smiles all around.

Tweetup Tonight!!

Tonight's the night!  Chartreuse Tweetup at Astor Center with the lovely ladies of LUPEC NYC.  Come one, come all -- tix available online or at the door.  And if you're on Twitter, RSVP here.

A Boozy Taste of Fall

So Josh (a.k.a. @cocktailspirit) did a much more thorough write-up -- you should go over and take a look -- but I wanted to share the recipe for a cocktail we developed last night at The Cocktail Lab class at Astor Center, led by Jonathan Pogash.  It was mighty tasty.

Pumpkin Pie
1/8 oz. Averna
1 1/2 oz. (ri)1 Rye Whiskey
1/4 oz fresh orange juice
1 barspoon pumpkin puree
1 barspoon maple syrup
1 dash pumpkin pie spice
2 dashes angostura bitters
1 egg white
Dry shake all ingredients first (shake w/ out ice) in a boston shaker.  Then add ice and shake again very well.  Strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.

This was actually my second original cocktail.  The first was basically an Aviation Cocktail with the inclusion of muddled concord grapes.

Concord Aviator
6-8 concord grapes
1 barspoon simple syrup
2 ounces London dry gin
½ ounce Maraschino liqueur
½ ounce lemon juice

Muddle the concord grapes and simple syrup in a mixing glass.  Add the remaining ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a concord grape.

Photo courtesy of Spirited Cocktails

Weekend Roundup

After staying in Friday night in preparation for the potential 10K on Saturday morning, we made a last-minute call to bail on the run.  A wise choice, in retrospect, as my trip to the gym Saturday morning make me cough something fierce.  Seems to be winding down, though.  The rest of Saturday involved noodles with Matt B., grocery shopping (I seem to have run out of every type of rice at the same time), and relaxing until heading out to Brooklyn for Ethan's birthday shindig. 

Even though I didn't get home dreadfully late, I somehow slept until 12:45 on Sunday -- I haven't done that in MONTHS, if not longer!!  I guess my body was trying to tell me something.  When I finally rolled out of bed, I headed down to the New Amsterdam Market and started my day with the gorgeous oysters you see here.  I ran into a million people I knew, including @zacharycohen, @meredithmo, Kara of the Ted & Amy Supper Club, and a few fellow writers from Serious Eats.  The vendors were a sampling of my past food writing:  Rick's Picks, Hudson Valley Fresh, Dickson's, Tom Mylan's the Meat Hook, and of course, the market's organizer.  In addition to the oysters, I ended up with some lamb, milk, ground beef, Smokra, a lobster roll, and some beer/pretzel caramels.  I walked home in an attempt to get some exercise before heading to Henry Public for a cocktail and some marrow bones with Viv and Emilia, then home for Mad Men.  A good weekend, indeed.

Time for a Tweetup

As I mentioned a while back, our next Tweetup is slightly more upscale -- it's being held at Astor Center, sponsored by Chartreuse, and drinks will be created and served by the lovely ladies of LUPEC NYC.  Tickets (yes, you'll need tickets) are on sale now -- hope you can join us on 11/2!  Here are the details from Astor:

This fly-by-night bar is a triple threat: a tasting of Chartreuse and Chartreuse-inspired cocktails, a fundraiser for LUPEC NYC, and an opportunity to meet some of the fixtures of the NYC cocktail twitterati!

You MUST purchase tix in advance.  Your $35 ticket entitles you to two of the drinks created for the event. Additional tickets will be available on site ($10 a cocktail) should you want to taste the whole list (you probably will). Snacks will be served. $5 goes to support the newly formed NYC chapter of LUPEC.

If you're on Twitter, feel free to RSVP here too: http://www.twtvite.com/nuz9ua

Had a good weekend and am finally kicking the plague, although I have a lingering cough.  Dinner at Kanoyama on Friday night, a trip to the schvitz on Saturday, cocktails and karaoke Saturday night, brunch at Prime Meats on Sunday, followed by Where the Wild Things are.  I also finally pulled out the sweaters and scarves, which were definitely needed.

Cozy Food

Still on the hunt for this in poster form.  Let me know if you find it!  It first crossed my path at Hearth several years ago.  Speaking of which, I'm looking forward to checking out Marco Canora's Salt to Taste, which is now available.  Also thinking this is the perfect weekend to simmer up some stew, potentially Marcella's lamb and white bean.  Yum. 

Catching Up and Slowing Down

As is my typical pattern, after running myself ragged for the past few weeks I'm now paying the price with a hacking cough and a fever.  That said, it was worth it.  I had an amazing weekend at the Mates reunion (more on that to come), and one of the highlights of last week was a visit to the Astor Center by Chicago's Hot Doug's -- Bill and I had pigs in blankets, a perfect Chicago Dog, a Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris, and duck fat fries.  Delicious. More pictures here.

Unfortunately, I have a stupidly busy week.  Here's to hoping that one day working from home will do the trick to get me back to 100%.

Passing the Bar

As many of you know, I am an attorney by trade.  I have taken two bar exams in my life and am technically admitted to practice law in both New York and Massachusetts.  I'm currently in the process of taking my third bar exam: Bar Smarts Wired, which is designed by Pernod Ricard USA.  As I've started to write about cocktails in addition to food, I figured I should get a little more in-depth knowledge of my subject matter, and Bar Smarts is giving me the ability to learn from experts in the field, the team behind Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR), LLC, Dale DeGroff, Doug Frost, Steve Olson, F. Paul Pacult, Andy Seymour and David Wondrich.  They do a full-on live course, but the Wired course is jam-packed full of information -- creation of spirits, categories of spirits, mixology, and practical application.  There's even a virtual drink builder in lieu of the live exam offered by the live course.  I'm halfway done, and proud to report I've passed the first two modules.  I am a bit up against a time crunch -- I have 30 days total to complete the process, which I started on September 17th, but I'm hoping my trip to Boston this weekend on the Bolt Bus will give me some time to focus.  Registration for the Wired course is closed for the time being, but will be offered again in February 2010 -- I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn more about the bartending industry, spirits, or cocktails.

Recovery

The Great Lawn Sour, a.k.a. my umpteenth cocktail of the weekend and the first of the day on Sunday.  The Manhattan Cocktail Classic was a huge success, but it's now time for a little detox.  Personal highlights included the Pegu Club seminar, Dave Wondrich's seminar, and the magnificent gala.  Pictures and more to follow shortly.