April 24, 2018
An intriguing read by an author I don’t know, an Italian author, this book’s title was too good to pass up, plus the fact that it takes place in Sicily (where the author, Leonardo Sciascia is from), and that it says on the back “in the very first rank of Italian writers,” and so, well, I had to give it a good look. It falls into the crime genre, which combined with everything else also brought me in. It’s well worth reading, too, though if you only read very straightforward crime novels, it might take you down a slightly different path – which isn’t a bad thing, me thinks. Don’t get me wrong, there is crime, a worthy police Captain, serious pacing, and the Mafia. But there’s also a lovely beauty to the prose that feels different, a way of capturing and condemning the social scene in this place and time, and a more literary lean, if any of that makes sense. Check it out if you can find it for all of the above, and for the below quote (which I think is slightly off-translation actually, but still perhaps the only Averna quote in a crime book that I’ve seen):
Pizzuco, who had invited him to a bitter vermouth at the Cafe Gulino, as so often in the past, was astounded at Parrinieddu’s refusal and abrupt flight; though not particularly bright, he wondered about it for the rest of the day. Parrinieddu, for his part, was so rattled that he spent the day attributing sinister meanings to that offer of a bitter vermouth, bitter betrayal, bitter death, over-looking the well-known fact that Pizzuco suffered from what the doctors call cirrhosis due to his fondness for Averna’s bitter vermouth – a beverage which made him proclaim his faith as a Separatist and ex-soldier of the Volunteer Army for Sicilian Independence.
–Leonardo Sciascia, The Day of the Owl
April 20, 2018
Ah, springtime. It’s when the flowers are blooming, everything is starting to wake up (in a way), the heavy coats are dropped to the ground to be replaced by lighter coats, or hoodies, even, and the drinks are flowing like the pollen which, really, I’d rather avoid if possible. It’s also the season (why not?) for remembering past loves, from years gone by, and picturing those idyllic springtime moments with said past loves, when you walked through fields of flowers, hand-in-hand, never knowing that one would someday be forgotten. Here, of course, the past love I’ve talking about is this delicious drink, which if I remember right once won me a mixing glass in some contest or other. Happily, unlike some past love, this one is easy – and smart – to rekindle. It is springtime, after all.
The Flowering Grape
Ice cubes
2 ounces Pierre Ferrand Cognac
1 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 ounce raspberry vinegar syrup (I detail how to make raspberry vinegar syrup here)
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Laugh heartily.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Cognac, Friday Night Cocktail, lemon juice, Pierre Ferrand Cognac, raspberry vinegar syrup, St-Germain elderflower liqueur, The Flowering Grape, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Cognac, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
April 13, 2018
Wowsa, it’s been many a moon since I’ve had this charmer (which featured prominently along with 49 other beauts in Wine Cocktails). As you might expect from the title, it uses saké (which, admittedly, makes it an interesting fit in Wine Cocktails, but a delicious one, and those were interesting times, good times, for sure, but interesting if you know what I mean, and I’m sure you do). I like a slightly dry saké here, by the way, but really, most decent versions are gonna make a swell drink, a drink highlighted by the inclusion of coromandel gooseberry, better known as Star Fruit and also known as kamranga or five- finger fruit. All of which makes me want more names (A.J. Rathbun, better known as drinkaranga), and another one of these.
The Saké’d Saint
2 star fruit slices
1 lemon wheels
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces saké
1-1/2 ounces St-Germain liqueur
1/4 ounce apricot brandy
1. Add 1 star fruit slice and the lemon wheel to a cocktail shaker. Using a muddler, muddle well.
2. Fill the cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the saké, St-Germain, and apricot brandy. Shake extra well.
3. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the second star fruit slice.
Tags: apricot brandy, cocktail, cocktails, Friday Night Cocktail, lemon, saké, St-Germain liqueur, star fruit, The Saké’d Saint, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Wine Cocktails
April 10, 2018
Well, pals, we’re at the end of the
Dombey and Son Cocktail Talking (if you’ve missed any of the fun, then don’t miss the miracles that many are beginning to mention as masterful, by which I mean
Part I,
Part II,
Part III), and as I’ve done I believe just once in the past (wanna find out if my belief is correct, read all the past
Charles Dickens Cocktail Talk posts and see), I’m going to put in a Cocktail Talk post that doesn’t contain any cocktails or spirits or bars, even. Instead, it’s a quote about one of my top all-time Dickens characters, Diogenes. Diogenes, or Di, is a dog that’s not friendly to all the folks, but is extremely loyal (like
only dogs can be) and affectionate to a few key characters, including our heroine (and really, central maypole the whole book turns around), Florence. At one point, she has to head out alone into the streets with a whole barrel of emotion and pain, thinking she’s all alone. And then!
Checking her sobs, and drying her swollen eyes, and endeavoring to calm the agitation of her manner, so as to avoid attracting notice, Florence, resolving to keep to the more quiet streets as long as she could, was going on more quietly herself, when a familiar little shadow darted past upon the sunny pavement, stopped short, wheeled about, came close to her, made off again, bounded round and round her, and Diogenes, panting for breath, and yet making the street ring with his glad bark, was at her feet.
‘Oh, Di! oh, dear, true, faithful Di, how did you come here? How could I ever leave you, Di, who would never leave me?’
Florence bent down on the pavement, and laid his rough, old, loving, foolish head against her breast, and they got up together, and went on together; Di more off the ground than on it, endeavoring to kiss his mistress flying, tumbling over and getting up again without the least concern, dashing at big dogs in a jocose defiance of his species, terrifying with touches of his nose young housemaids who were cleaning doorsteps, and continually stopping, in the midst of a thousand extravagances, to look back at Florence, and bark until all the dogs within hearing answered, and all the dogs who could come out, came out to stare at him.
— Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son
April 6, 2018
This is based, as you can probably guess from the name, on the classic Scotch cocktail the Blood and Sand. To make it more huggy (not that the original isn’t huggy, mind you), I switched up said Scotch with local (for those of us living in Seattle, WA, that is, though really, hopefully, wherever you are you can track this down, too) Captive Spirits’ Peat Barreled Big Gin (PBBG). Rested or aged or finished as you will in casks that once held also-local Westland’s Peated American single malt whiskey, the PBBG has a swell juniper, orange, smoke, pepper, spice, and northwest-y nature that goes like a cuddly cuddle here. Try it, and then give me a hug if you like it (if you feel that’s too weird, a high-five is good, too). If making in summer, you may want to have it over the rocks instead of up. If it’s real hot, that is.
Hugs and Sand
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounce Captive Spirits’ Peat Barreled Big Gin
1/2 ounce Punt e’ Mes Italian vermouth
1/2 ounce Cherry Heering
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass.
Tags: Captive Spirits’ Peat Barreled Big Gin, Cherry Heering, cocktail, cocktails, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Hugs and Sand, Italian vermouth, orange juice, Punt e’ Mes, sweet vermouth, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Liqueurs, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
April 3, 2018
For our third stop on the
Dombey and Son drinking tour (be sure to read
Part I and
Part II to catch up, and to learn a little more about why you should be reading
Dombey and Son right now, unless you have already, in which case you should be re-reading it! Heck, for that matter, catch the full roll call of
Charles Dickens Cocktail Talks, because there are many, due to the awesome-ness of Dickens, dontcha know), we hit the healthy benefits of sherry one more time. Heck, I want some sherry right now, even though I feel fine – as a preventative, of course!
Even Mrs. Pipchin, agitated by the occasion, rings her bell, and sends down word that she requests to have that little bit of sweet-bread that was left, warmed up for her supper, and sent to her on a tray with about a quarter of a tumbler-full of mulled sherry; for she feels poorly.
— Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son
March 30, 2018
First things first – this here cheek-tinger has a crucial ingredient not always available easily in the US. You can track it down sometimes online. And you can find it simply enough by traveling to the U.K. And really, you need a vacation right? I’m talking about Glayva liqueur, which is made in Leith, Scotland, through a combo of aged Scotch whiskies, citrus fruits, anise, clove, herbs, a whisper of heather honey, and more treats. It’s well worth trying and tracking down. Especially for this charming charmer, which mixes Glayva with old pal gin (a good U.K. gin makes sense, and I like one in a London traditional sense), cranberry, and orange juice, all together into a treat that will make your day, and your favorite favorite’s day, too.
Scottish Blush, from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces gin
1 ounce Glayva
1/2 ounce cranberry juice
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
Lime wheel, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, Glayva, cranberry juice, and orange juice. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass and garnish with the lime wheel.
Tags: cocktail, cocktail recipe, cocktails, cranberry juice, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Glayva, lime, orange juice, Scottish Blush, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
March 27, 2018
We started out our
Dombey and Son Cocktail Talk-ing (be sure to read the
Dombey and Son Part I post) with a little Negus and a little overview of the book, and a little Dickens chatter – heck, why not read all the
Charles Dickens Cocktail Talk posts and get an even fuller story. Now that you’re back, let’s dive right in to another
Dombey and Son drinking moment, or at least a drink suggestion, for someone in need of a little pick-them-up (or a large one, or many). It’s sherry and a few friends that do it – heck, you might just call it a Sherry flip, and Dickens probably wouldn’t complain as long as you made him on.
If my friend Dombey suffers from bodily weakness, and would allow me to recommend what has frequently done myself good, as a man who has been extremely queer at times, and who lived pretty freely in the days when men lived very freely, I should say, let it be in point of fact the yolk of an egg, beat up with sugar and nutmeg, in a glass of sherry, and taken in the morning with a slice of dry toast. Jackson, who kept the boxing-rooms in Bond Street – man of very superior qualifications, with whose reputation my friend Gay is no doubt acquainted – used to mention that in training for the ring they substituted rum for sherry. I should recommend sherry in this case, on account of my friend Dombey being in an invalided condition; which might occasion rum to fly – in point of fact to his head – and throw him into a devil of a state.
— Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son
Tags: Charles Dickens, Cocktail Talk, Dombey and Son, egg yolk, nutmeg, Part II, Rum, sherry, sherry flip, sugar
Posted in: Charles Dickens, Cocktail Talk, Rum, Sherry
