Though this is Halloween week, making it the ideal time of year for a ghoulishly good (gawd, it’s fun to get yr Halloween speak on) mix like the Warlock, it really brings a magical charm to any evening. Well, any evening that you’re feeling like a yummily mystical mixture of brandy, Strega, limoncello, orange juice, and Peychaud’s bitters (which should really be any evening, now that I think about it). Click on through to the below video and learn the exact tricks to making it, but be warned!!! It can change you into a conjuring zombie. But now you know.
Well, as much as I’ve loved the Chow tips (which have been loved by Leslito and Scharrer as well, at least, cause they have good taste in tips), and loved doing the tipping with Chow folks, I have to announce this is the last one, which might be an occasion for tears (like when you watch the last episode of Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place and realize there aren’t any more episodes for reasons only the devil knows, and he ain’t telling). But, on the flip side, it’s also an occasion for joyous laughter, merriment, and drunken revelry, cause (as I mentioned below), this particular tip is the most capitally cowabungaing Chow tip laid out in lovely fashion on the liquory Spiked Punch yet: a tip for creating your own captivating limoncello. Ah, limoncello, the Italian sun god of liqueurs. I like it when I’ve eaten a lot, and when I haven’t eaten enough, when it’s mixed up in a Princess with soda and raspberries (in wife Natalie’s recipe, which you can find in Good Spirits if you need to) and when it’s served solo. I like it, period, people. And you will to, so watch this tip and get your own started today (really, do it. The store-bought stuff’s never as good. And the recipe’s from Luscious Liqueurs, if you need to read things in the old-timey traditional manner).
PS: Want to catch up on all Chow tips. Here they are: #1, #2, #3, #4.
For my fourth (out of five, you lucky people) tip filmed with the fine culinary and drinkingary folks at Chow, I delve into the deep nature of ingredient order. In drinks (well, what did you think?). Also, I make a Bronx (which you’ll love–you love a Bronx right? Named after the zoo? You should be having one now. Or after you watch the video), and my cheeks shake a little while I’m shaking the drink, which is a nice human touch. Because I’m not a robot people. Oh, if you haven’t watched the other Chow tips yet, get to it. Here they are: #1, #2, #3. And one more to come (yay!), and it’s the most tantalizingly terrific tip to make it to Spiked Punch yet.
Okay, all right, calm down–I promise at least one non-Chow tip post after this one, before another Chow tip post (though Schticker girl does seem to dig them, and that’s good enough for me to post more). But dang it, they’re so well done (bless the Chow people, goodly Chow people) I feel like shouting them out on the streetcorner. Since I can’t get away from my desk due to the shackle, and think that streetcorner shouters need serious beards and louder voices, I’m going to post them here instead. This post presents that age old debate: nature vs nurture. No, no, that’d be dullsville baby. It’s an even more momentous showdown: Shaking vs Stirring. Who wins and who whines? Well, you’ll have to watch it to see (but to give it away, the winner is you, and the whiner is the person not having a drink tonight).
Following up on my Chow tip-a-thon started below, here’s a second tip to take you into your weekend (the urge to write “don’t take any wooden nickels” is almost unbearable. Like being chased by a big cliché bear through a forest of old carneys. Or something like that), a tip where I talk about ice, which is probably important for every single weekend. But really, the main reason to watch this clip (outside of the pure beauty of it, thanks for which goes to the Chow folks themselves, cause they are the awesomeness) is for the close up of my Pug muddle smacking that ice around. It’s made of Mexican rosewood (also called bocote) and is the best muddler in the world. Gawd, it’s so lovely I sometimes sleep with it under my pillow so I have good muddling dreams. If you don’t have a Pug muddler, then I suggest you get one, though it won’t be as cool as mine, it may be the second best muddle in the world. Just email the friendly Chris Gallagher, who makes them all by hand, at jcgallagher08 at hotmail dot com. Now, as Iceman would say, “Ice On!” (Okay, he probably never said that. But should have).
Down the blog calendar a bit, I talked about going to sweet ol’ San Francisco and shooting some drinking and drink-making tips with the rockingily rocking folks at Chow.com, specifically pal Meredith and cool camera jockey Blake Smith. They were so pro (and so good at things like editing and putting lots of Vaseline on the lens) that they made me look pretty shiny, at least in this first tip that I’ve seen. It’s called “What’s the Right Way to Shake a Cocktail,” and it’s all my opinion, so if you agree, that’s okay (as long as your way still delivers me a chilly mix with a smile). But how will you know if you don’t watch it? So, you’d better watch it. And make upload it to your facebooker friends or whatever it is you kids do. Oh, and check out my rad bracelet Sookie gave me for my birthday a while back. I am hard core.
PS: I think there are 5? 6? tips total (hey, they were drink tips, and I got a little hazy near the end–who knows what they filmed me doing), so come back to see more.
Hey, check me out on Fox 25 Boston, talking Wine Cocktails with my pal Gene and making up Maibowles for some early morning drinking (and while checking out the fun, well, hopefully fun, stuff you should know that I had just flown into Boston the night before, and my flight was late, and, even though it was a “direct” flight from Seattle to Boston we had a layover in Philly, and they managed to lose my luggage–though I was always on the same plane–and so I was wearing the same clothes from flying the day before, which means I was in shorts and smelled a bit, and had to use a different shaker and all that cause my bar tools were in my luggage, and well, I know I’m complaining, but I also know you want the backstory, and so you’re getting it, but what I really want to say is, “damn you US Airways, how can you stink so much?” I did end up having lots of fun on the TeeVee though, and hopefully didn’t look too sleepy):
The Maibowle’s genius, too, and you should have one this weekend, with mom, who will love it, or just with yourself. And then, come back next week for Italy, Part III: This Time It’s Countryside.
Well, the lovely, third installment of Italy ’09 (a newly trademarked phrase), the Upper Tiber Valley starring Nestor’s pizza, is still to come, but will have to wait another week, cause I’m heading to Boston, to celebrate the first anniversary of that delicious food- and drink-video site, How2Heroes.com. Can you believe it, just one year old and they’ve already put out some of the most rootin-est tootin-est tastiest videos around, from chefs, bartenders, writers, and genial drunkards. And, you, of course (or folks like you, since anyone can and should post videos). Anywho, for their first birthday they’re having a big ol’ party, where they’ll be serving up delights and giving away signed copies of Wine Cocktails (and yes, they’ll be signed by me. Or a proxy). And, I’ll be serving a wine cocktail too (the Bishop), as well as a sparkly drink I made just for the occasion, called the How2Heroes Celebratorio Anniversario Sparkler, or the How2Heroes Sparkler, for short. Hopefully I’ll be seeing you at the party, but if not, you should have one of these bubbly beauts on Weds to help celebrate. And the below video will show you how to make it. Doesn’t that deserve a Yay! all around? I think so.
