by gwenzez | Feb 24, 2017 | boozy, cocktails, Drink, liquor, notboozy
Every year on New Year’s Eve my family gets together for a themed dinner party. There are twelve courses served on the half hour starting at 6pm and ending at midnight. There are usually half a dozen cooks, backed up by sous chefs, dishwashers, and even a curated playlist to keep us boogying. Past year’s themes have included “A New Take On Something Old”, “Places You’ve Been Or Want To Go”, “Crayola”, and “No Cutlery Allowed”. This year our theme was “Food From Film And Fiction”.
I think I can speak for my whole family when I say this is our favourite meal of the year. We usually start discussing themes in the fall, and some of us start planning and experimenting with dishes a couple months before the big night. We take our food seriously but it is always seriously fun.
No matter what the theme has been there has always been plenty of beverages to go along with the food, sometimes they’re themed and sometimes just thirst quenching. As the appointed family bartender I am often charged with inventing some cocktails and mocktails for the gatherings and this year was no different… except that I may have gotten a wee bit carried away. The menu I came up with had 9 cocktail courses (some courses had multiple drinks) and 5 mocktails. There was some serious eating and carrying on to do so I didn’t make it through them all that night. I did do my best to make amends over the next few days though.
Here are my interpretations of some famous beverages from film and fiction.
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Singapore Sling with Mescal and beer chasers.
It was hard to narrow my choice down to just one drink from Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas so I chose the hotel scene in the movie adaptation where Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo are drinking Singapore Slings with Mezcal and beer chasers.
Harry Potter
Butterbeer
I’m sure the children would have preferred that I make the non-alcoholic syrupy slush version of Butterbeer that pops up at fairs and festivals but I decided to go for something more authentic. This a Tudor recipe from 1588 for Hot Buttered Beer which may or may not have been J. K. Rowling’s inspiration for the Butterbeer in the Harry Potter series.
Ian Rankin’s Detective Rebus series
IPA and crisps
Detective John Rebus is often found at the pub drinking IPA with a packet of crisps on the side. I didn’t have time to brew beer so I bought some Wells IPA and made the crisps from scratch.
Many Martinis
White Angel, Vesper Martini, Breakfast Of Champions, Webster’s F-Street Layaway Plan
There are so many martinis I could have chosen but managed to narrow it down to four. A White Angel from Breakfast At Tiffany’s (vodka, gin, and definitely no Vermouth), a Vesper Martini from Casino Royale (replacing the no longer produced Kina Lillet with Lillet Blanc), a Webster’s F-Street Layaway Plan (a martini made with Chartreuse instead of Vermouth) from John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, and a Breakfast of Champions from Kurt Vonnegut’s book of the same name, in which I could find no description so I made my favourite, a classic gin martini with a ton of olives.
Pulp Fiction
Five Dollar Milkshake
A Five Dollar Milkshake is my one non-alcoholic drink for this series. John Travolta isn’t sure if it’s worth five dollars but it’s pretty effing good.
The Big Lebowski
Caucasian
A classic White Russian takes the name of Caucasian in The Big Lebowski. I made this version with full cream instead of milk powder like The Dude is forced to do in one scene.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Glögg
Glögg is a traditional Swedish drink mentioned in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Usually served in small glasses with pepparkakor (so much more fun to say than ginger snaps) at Christmas get togethers.
The Great Gatsby
Mint Julep
“Open the whisky, Tom,’ she ordered, ‘and I’ll make you a mint julep. Then you won’t seem so stupid to yourself… Look at the mint!” says Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. My name is not Tom but I complied.
The Shining
Advocaat
By combining Advocaat from the scene where Jack Nicholson gets it spilled on him, with Redrum which is not rum at all but I went there anyway, I came up with a custom Shining Advocaat. I made Advocaat from scratch and replaced the usual cognac or brandy base with three different kinds of rum.
by gwenzez | Dec 26, 2016 | boozy, cocktails, Drink, liquor, notboozy
Perfecting the Nog. It is a most noble pursuit.
This afternoon we decorated the Christmas tree. Once the sweary part of getting the damn thing straight up and down was done we celebrated with some eggnog. My daughter had a sip and was done with it. My son drank his and his sister’s as well. I couldn’t help but play with mine.
It was a cheap carton of eggnog from the corner store that my son begged me to buy. I had had it in my mind that I would make it the nog from scratch this year but I hadn’t been able to wake up my inner Martha Stewart. A bit of customization was in order.
The dregs of my homemade vanilla extract and some Bulleit bourbon started off the adult version of the chicken milk (the direct translation of ‘lait de poule’ is so much more fun to say dontcha think?). A drop of star anise extract and the solitary unbroken seed pod for garnish make it a wee bit more Christmassy. A splash of Kahlua adds a layer of sweetness. A few vintage glasses later some cinnamon was swirled on but by the time the nog made it to the mug the seed pod looked more like a drowned wasp.
So many delicious versions along the way. My next step in perfecting the nog will be a from scratch version with some of those new flavours built in. Happy holiday mixing!
by gwenzez | Nov 27, 2016 | boozy, cocktails, coffee, Drink, liquor, notboozy
I spend a lot of time at the local dog park standing in one spot freezing my butt off, while encouraging the puppy to run around and get some exercise and stay warm. Do you see the lack of logic there? Me too. A warm beverage is definitely missing from that scenario.
A few of the other dog park humans (we have no names other than Thatdog’s Human) agree that we need our very own cocktail and I thought I would take a stab at it today. Cold weather needs warm drinks so I made coffee. There was whipping cream and I sweetened it with a sprinkling of Creme De Menthe. Now… coffee topped with minted whipped cream is damned good but was feeling much more “Starbucks”-esque than “being bowled over by a freight train of dogs at the park”-esque. And I had no bourbon. This was not the dog park cocktail I started after. This was a Christmas Brunch cocktail.
A jigger of Kahlua topped with a double extra strong brew of coffee and topped again with minted whipped cream. Wedges of stroopwafel and a red chocolate cake decoration as garnish and I’m seeing Rudolf in my coffee.
Happy Ho Ho!
Do not dismay dog park humans… I will buy bourbon and try again.
by gwenzez | Jun 8, 2016 | boozy, cocktails, coffee, Drink, notboozy
This will be my go to cocktail for 2016’s hot hot summer days.
This morning’s cold coffee stored and chilled in a fancy bottle, a splash of Triple Sec, topped with tonic water, and poured over one solitary spherical ice cube in a vintage 1950’s glass.
So damned good.
by gwenzez | Jan 2, 2016 | boozy, cocktails, Drink, liquor, notboozy
New Years Eve with my family is never boring and nor is it a time to consider your caloric intake. Our twelve course meal starts around 6pm and a dish is served every half hour or so until midnight. And all that deliciousness isn’t even the fun part. The fun part is the theme.
This year’s theme was No Cutlery Allowed. Usually the theme applies to the food but not necessarily to the accompanying drinks. This year I decided to up my game. My cocktails would require no glassware.
My first cocktail was a glassless G&T. I made a tonic water concentrate and mixed it with cold gin, gelatin powder and a splash of lemon and lime juice. I scooped out halves of limes and set the gelatin in them. Once set I sliced each half into single serving wedges and served them up on a platter. Very grown up and civilized Jello shooters.
My next cocktail (and my favourite of the evening) was the One Bite Martinis. I searched high and low for the largest pitted olives I could find. I sliced the open end of the olive off and used it for the “base” of the olive cup. I carved out a larger cup in the olives and the hole in the bottom (from being pitted) was stuffed with blue cheese. The olive cups were filled with a vodka martini and garnished with pimento. An incredible pain in the ass to make but oh so worth the effort.
My last savoury cocktail of the evening was a Pickle Caesar. I found the thickest pickles I could. I trimmed off one end flat so they would stand and carved out the other end into a cup. I filled each pickle cup with a Caesar heavy on the Worcestershire and horseradish, and garnished with a thinly cut piece of celery.
For my dessert cocktail I wanted to make homemade marshmallow glasses but failed miserably. A couple of times. On the upside, the many batches of marshmallow experience made fantastic garnish for the eventual chocolate cup cocktails. These were made by dipping skinny balloons in melted chocolate and letting them harden. For the adults the cups were filled with a White Russian with a homemade marshmallow garnish a drizzle of strawberry puree. The kids filled theirs with ice cream and the same garnish.
Happy New Year!
by gwenzez | Dec 26, 2015 | boozy, cocktails, Drink, liquor
Christmas scotch in a glass from Santa. I must have been a good girl.
Christmas shopping was so wonderfully simple this year.
In my family there is only need for presents for the people who believe in Santa. In this house, that amounts to a seven year old and a four year old and a couple of cats. Shopping was done before I knew it and then it was time to relax.
Ack! I suddenly realized that if mama didn’t get something from Santa as well the kids might think I was on the naughty list and we can’t have that no matter how true it might be. A quick peek into a local vintage shop, and $3.50 later I was the proud future recipient of an awesome little tumbler from the fifties. Santa knows just the kind of things I like. Tonight I am christening it with a splash of single malt.
