It's the little things

When Alice helped me make the Absinthe Suissesse last holiday season we modified the recipe making our own Orgeat (almond flavored syrup) because a) I didn't have orgeat syrup and b) prepackaged orgeat looks disgusting. I found a big plastic bottle once dusty on a shelf at Sam's Wines filled with high fructose corn syrup and artificial almond flavor. It's like the Tom Collins mix next to it - wtf is in that?

To make the sudo-orgeat we just sweetened some almond milk. I've also used almond extract or skipped it all together using nutmeg - more like a traditional eggnog. Well now I've found an even more creative, fresh recipe that I would love to try from the Chanticleer Society:

Roasted Almond Orgeat Syrup

(Makes one 750ml bottle of orgeat syrup)

• 250g almonds
• 400ml water
• 350g caster sugar
• 50ml brandy
• 25ml orange or rose flower water (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. Add almonds to roasting tin, place in middle of oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Do not grease the tin or add any oil.

Remove almonds, and allow too cool. Once cooled, place the almonds in a bowl and cover with cold water. Allow to soak for 30 minutes. Drain and discard the water then use a blender or food processor to chop the almonds to a fine grind. If you need to assist the chopping process, add a little water to the food processor.

Transfer the crushed almonds to a large bowl and mix them with 400ml fresh water and let stand for two hours. Place a damp cloth, cheese cloth or muslin cloth over another bowl, and strain the almond and water mixture. Squeeze the cloth to extract all the liquid. Put the chopped almonds back into the almond water, let stand for another hour and then strain again. Repeat a third time if you wish. This will get all the oils out of the almonds.

Discard the almond pulp, then pour the strained liquid into a saucepan, add the sugar and simmer over a gentle heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat when the sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to cool for 15 minutes and then add the brandy and the orange flower or rose water. Once cooled, transfer the orgeat into a clean glass bottle and refrigerate.

Please note: Shake well before use as the syrup may separate

Here's another cool recipe with some history on orgeat to boot: Orgeat at FXcuisine.

Now I need figure out a use for a whole bottle of the stuff but finding this recipe really got me excited. See, it's the little things that can make the holidays memorable. And hopefully these memories are enough to get us through the big chill after.

Merry Martinez

I just stumbled upon this resource. Already learned a bunched and am excited to make the Martinez especially. Viva vermouth.

P.S. Click the link above and then click on "cocktails" for more recipes. Next on my list is the Diablo and French 75.

Gingerbread Log Cabin

The gingerbread log cabin has been a holiday tradition since I was a little girl. This design was originally created by Mrs. Leta Dahlgren of Redwood City, California; I first made the gingerbread log cabin with my grandmother Rae. As I got older, my grandmother would mail us the baked gingerbread pieces and my mother, brother and I, would make the powdered sugar icing and build the log cabin together as a family. Although I didn't have any on hand, my favorite finishing touches were adding little pine needle trees we would collect from the backyard. I hold this family recipe dear to my heart, and was looking forward to recreating it with my little helper Tallulah.

Directions
The cookie cabin is easy to build. You roll out gingerbread dough and use cardboard patterns to cut out the rectangular roof sections, logs in several sizes, and little square spacers. After the cookies are baked and cooled, simply pile them up, using powdered-sugar icing for glue. The icing, sprinkled with powdered sugar, also makes snow for the roof and the base.
You can make cookies ahead, package airtight or freeze, then assemble the cabin when time permits. In damp areas, the cookies may absorb moisture and start to sag, so plan to keep the cabin just a few days before eating. In most dry areas, the cabin will keep about a week.
The patterns. Cut lightweight cardboard into a 4 by 6-inch rectangle (the roof); 1/2-inch-wide strips that are 2, 3 1/2, and 6 inches long (logs); and a 1/2-inch square (spacers). For the base, cover a 12-inch square of stiff cardboard with foil.

Gingerbread Log Cabin Cookies
Thoroughly blend 3/4 cup each sugar and solid shortening. Add 3/4 cup molasses, 1 teaspoon each salt, soda, and ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and allspice. Add 2 tablespoons water and 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted; mix well. Chill until firm, about 2 hours.
With a floured rolling pin, roll out 1/3 of the dough on a floured board to 1/8 inch thick. Make 2 roof sections by cutting around the roof pattern with a sharp knife. Gather scraps and roll out remaining dough to a generous 1/4 inch thick. Then cut out 8 logs 2 inches long, 2 logs 3 1/2 inches long, 17 logs 6 inches long, and 30 spacers, each 1/2 inch square. Use the remaining dough to cut out trees or other shapes for the landscape. Transfer the cookies carefully, arranging them about 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Place the roof sections on a separate sheet.
Bake in a 350 oven for 12 to 15 minutes or just until firm to touch . As soon as roof is baked, lay pattern on each section. Evenly trim one long edge (where two sections will meet). Cool cookies on wire racks. Package airtight or freeze.

Icing
Stir together 2 cups unsifted powdered sugar with 1/4 water until smooth. You'll also need about 2 cups unsifted powdered sugar for snow.

Generously paint icing on foil-covered base and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Then follow steps 2 through 7 as shown.

1. Cabin pieces are cut from dough, using cardboard patterns; and numbers tell how many of each size to cut.
2. Paint icing where logs cross. Use 6-inch logs for back and sides; 2-inch for front. Let ends extend.
3. Set square spacer logs near inner end of each 2-inch log, forming doorway as you build up front.
4. Fourth layer of logs uses 6-inch-long pieces all around including over doorway.
5. Add fifth log to back; set three spacers across doorway, then add another 6-inch log across front.
6. Using spacers and 3 1/2 inch and 2-inch logs, build up gables on front and back of cabin.
7. Stack two spacers on front and back; add fifth log to each side. Ice and sugar roof; ice top logs. Set roof in place, trimmed edges together.

In the land of Japan

I'm looking forward to knitting this week. A couple friends and I are starting up a weekly knitting group. I'm a little rusty. Last week I had to tear out about a thousand stitches because I found a hole and dropped a stitch.

Free-form knitting. How beautiful.

For this week we went to Mitsuwa market to get food, sake and look at the knitting books. All the knitting patterns are in Japanese, but it's fun to look. It's also fun to look at all the sake:
I got brown rice tea, noodles, incense, adzuki bean pies, mung beans, sushi rice powder, little fish pellets for soup, lots of spices and matcha powder (I'm going to try and make Green Tea ice cream tonight!).

But wandering around the market had me remembering about all the cool and alien things from Japan. Like the men reading the "backwards" amine novels on the train and the girls crocheting. About how the food tasted uber fishy (I didn't like it) and how much they like Americans and American things (which was not the case at the market; only in Japan I think).

So then the knitting got me thinking about Japanese martial arts (?) and how the bushi (warrior class) women were trained in naginata. It's sticking fighting used to knock enemies off their horses when they had to protect their homes. They kind of look like bamboo needles, right?
Ok I'm reaching with the analogy, but wouldn't it be cool to be skilled in fighting and knitting and sewing AND making babies?

Oh Sherry

Sherry is back and so right for winter. Curled up reading Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisted (or watching the 11-part British mini-series) the cold almost seems palatable.

Here's Charles (played by Jeremy Irons) in fright when served a Brandy Alexander instead of this usual Sherry.

Looks appealing, no?

Sherry is Spanish, like your lover, and because it's wine (fortified, that is) there is lots of variance.

The two predominant types of Sherry are Fino (very dry with a lighter-body) and Oloroso (still dry, but much richer in both flavor and body). If the winemaker is going for Fino, alcohol is added (fortification) until it reaches just over 15%; however, if Oloroso is the goal then alcohol is added to reach an 18% alcohol content.

Check out Sherry Wine 101 for more of the breakdown.

My Mom's favorite Sherry is Dry Sack. Hehe. It's a medium-bodied sherry that is also good for cooking. Patrick Sheehan of the Signature Room uses it in their lobster bisque.
She also loves the movie, Babette's Feast (which, you really should see). Here's General Lorens Löwenhielm, drinking sherry with the one of the finest meals ever served (french, of course).Ahh, I hope my pre-Thanksgiving meal I'm planning is good. Here's what Babette served: "Blini Demidoff au Caviar" (buckwheat cakes with caviar and sour cream); "Potage à la Tortue" (turtle soup); "Caille en Sarcophage avec Sauce Perigourdine" (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce); "La Salad" featuring Belgian endive and walnuts in a vinaigrette; and "Les Fromages" featuring Blue Cheese, papaya, figs, grapes and pineapple. The grand finale dessert is "Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée" (rum sponge cake with figs and glacéed fruits). Numerous rare wines, including Clos de Vougeot, along with various champagnes and spirits (they drink Amontillado sherry with the turtle soup), complete the menu.

I ♥ I.Anton

I stumbled upon I.Anton's photos on flickr. There is something simple, beautiful and nostalgic about her subject matter; empty park benches, seagulls, flowers and bicycles. She is master of manipulation as she uses grain, blotches, sepia tones and rounded corners to recall an old-timey aesthetic. I could get lost in these images for hours. They remind me of home.

Happy Halloween

Suspiria, 1977

Rosemary's Baby, 1968

While I did not carve any pumpkins this year, I did go to Halloweekend at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, I watched Argento's 1977 Italian horror film Suspiria (by myself!), and I have put together a costume for the first time in years. I am going to be Rosemary Woodhouse from Rosemary's Baby, running around in a baby doll nighty with flats and a pixie wig. I might even be carrying Satan's child wrapped up in a bundle. I have always loved Halloween and the campiness of it all and, as I was looking at photos of pumpkins and caramel apples on line, I regretted not making a bigger deal out of my favorite holiday. Thankfully, there is always next year. Along with candy apples and pumpkin carving I will be serving a version of this Vampire Kiss Martini. Happy Halloween!






Vampire Kiss Martini

1.5 oz chilled vodka
1.5 oz champagne
3/4 oz chambord

Rim a martini glass with red sugar or garnish with raspberry syrup. Pour vodka and Chambord into the glass, top with champagne and pour remaining Chambord over the back of a spoon to make it float. Retract fangs and slurp away.