Adventures in Drinking from the Heart

Just got back from an amazing trip home to Ohio and was mighty happy that mixology is alive and well in the heartland. The cocktail menu at L'Albatros had a fantastic vodka drink which they kindly substituted Hendricks Gin for moi :). A refreshing blend of rosemary simple syrup, lime, and soda to wake up the taste buds before dinner! I have to say the most inspiring dish was the chilled beet soup with watermelon and ginger---some things I hope to experiment with in cocktails in the near future.

But the best adventure of the night was to come at La Cave Du Vin, where the barman Eric educated me about the delicacy of making lambic beer. In his words, my favorite Lindeman's are like the Boon's Farm of lambic beer. Girl beer was what I called it, but he introduced me to a better kind, or rather, a more artfully crafted version true to the intention behind the premise of making a lambic. I can't remember the brand name (this was my third beverage of the evening), but the sour cherries really came through and then a beer finish, not the sugary almost wine-like quality of the Lindeman's. This reminds me of how my father introduced me to wine. We started with the sweeter reislings when I was still in high school. We were sitting outside at a restaurant in Akron when my father ordered me a glass. I loved the sweet, fruity taste and that I finally had a grown up glass---no more coke or tea!

And then as I got older, my taste buds craved the peppery bite of more intense reds. You can choose to evolve or devolve, one of my yoga teachers says. Life changes, our tastes change. May we all find something that makes us happy and takes us another step on the path. One sip at a time. Find something to savor.

Mock-tails or Mixers?!

Summertime means lemonade and so here are two varieties---and if you like, you can add gin or vodka (in my order of preference), though honestly, I prefer these pre-spike :)

Basil Lemonade

boil one tea kettle full of hot water

add honey to taste

squeeze in the juice of 4-6 lemons

add a few sprigs of fresh basil

refrigerate

Lavender Lemonade

boil one tea kettle full of hot water

in a tea strainer steep lavender blossoms for 3 minutes

add honey to taste

squeeze in the juice of 4-6 lemons

refrigerate

Freeze Your Bourbon!

Normally I hate it when people ask me to make a frozen drink, the most common being margaritas. Why in the middle of the city in an upscale tavern would a frozen drink ever appear? I'm not disputing the quality of said drinks and I happen to enjoy frozen drinks---at poolside bars and bbqs. To me ordering said frozen whatever would be like walking into a beer bar and asking for a mojito. You just don't do it. Everything has a time and a place...but there are always exceptions to the rule!

Normally, bourbon isn't a summer drink, but when combined with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, it makes a rockin' milkshake, or rather, bourbon shake since there is no milk here---it's replaced with the bourbon. I used Buffalo Trace and didn't measure so it was a STRONG shake! So go ahead, break some rules and break out the bourbon!

the mixologist returns

Just returned from assisting a yoga teacher training and will be incorporating some of what I learned there to my mixology (I'm missing the wonderful basil lemonade already...)

so for now, find me here and once the yoga and the dust settles, I'll be back with some new recipes---or you can come to the bar and try them, the new drink menu is revealed at the SLT!

Tender

The word tender is embedded in the word bartender. Tender means to give, whether it be a monetary transaction or an emotional one. Which is what one of my regulars reminded me of, actually, two of my regulars, both people I have met while serving them drinks and now I share in their confidences about love, loss, and life. I'm reminded and humbled at this responsibility I have for others well-being, not just in limiting how much they can consume in an evening, but how much we all consume in life on a deeper level. Like those balanced drinks I've mentioned, we all have our fair share of sour, of sweet, and of spirit. It was an evening that served me as it was my last night tending before heading up to assist a yoga teacher training tomorrow.

This morning I taught my 7am yoga class gate pose, saying how much power we have to choose what we keep out and what we let in. And I'm reminded of how much I am a gate keeper in my own life. A former co-worker in DC told me that we as bartenders are the gate keepers to the underworld, but what I've found is that we are also keepers of an inner world and inner space. To help people see more than the bottom of an empty glass, but to provide service, counsel, and cheer.

So here's to naming more than just drinks, but naming what truly matters.

Cheers and Namaste.

Look it Up Dear

Many of us from my generation remember when "Look it up dear," meant going to the dictionary or the encyclopedia rather than "googling it." Growing up, I was (and still am) a huge fan of Scrabble and Balderdash. So my growing up years had me flipping pages and reading lots of historical fiction. In 6th grade I read Roots and Sacajawea. In 7th grade, I heard the word "yoga" and checked out books at the library and enrolled in a class at the JCC. There was always something new to learn. One of my favorite tricks was that I memorized all the state capitals. When we went out to eat, my dad always told the waiter or waitress to pick any state and then I would proudly relay the capital of said state. My science fair project one year was how to distill perfume, to extract the essential oil from the rose.

As a yogi, I know all of these are linked (I'm not saying it is my karma to be a mixologist), but there's something about the chemistry, geography, history, and this idea of learning. Many of my colleagues probably hate when someone comes in with some obscure drink, or says, "I had this amazing thing involving passion fruit juice at a hotel in Miami, can you make that?" But in truth, I love those moments.

When it's slow, I love reading the bar book. Who knew there were so many drinks with the word "screw" in them? Some involving the pacing, the location. Most with triple sec. But I digress...

Towards the end of the night on Monday two gentlemen come up to the bar. "Do you know how to make a Sazarac?"

I don't, but I know that I love my bottle of Sazarac Rye. It's my favorite vase at home, and though we have the Rye, I decide after consulting the recipe in my trusty book and what I have available at the bar to mix it this way:

coat the bottom of a rocks glass with Pernod

top with ice

add 2-3 dashes of bitters (we have Angostura)

2 oz. Woodford Reserve

1/2 oz. simple syrup

stir, add a lemon peel for garnish

A woman who had come in for wine got caught up in watching me make the drink and ordered one just because she had been hearing so much about the resurgence of the Sazarac.

And if you google it, you'll learn about pre-civil war New Orleans, a senate bill proclaiming this the official drink of the city, that the drink was originally made with Cognac...and perhaps that will give you a thirst for more than just a good drink, but a chance to learn something new about someone else, delve deeper into history, or even make some new discovery, to get a thirst for something that you will have to make the time to look up. But I promise, it will be worth toasting about. Cheers!

Ohio Lady (sans the sauce!)

Memorial Day in Ohio, I'd be remiss if I didn't share an Ohio treat here---and this one doesn't have the sauce :)

Here's a mock-tail inspired by the homemade lemon shakes at the Canfield Fair (the Labor Day tradition).

Even in a kitchen sans proper bar equipment, you can make an Ohio Lady!

Microwave two mugs full of hot water (one mug per person).

Stir in 3 teaspoons of sugar.

Put in fridge to cool.

Slice fresh 2 strawberries and half a lemon per person.

Shake each serving in a mason jar with ice and mug of simple syrup.

Drink up and toast your loved ones!