Cranberry Liqueur Martini

Tonight's glass was improvised tinkering around at home with Moms & Pops in the kitchen waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Turned out to be a lovely pink holiday spirit:

Cranberry Liqueur Martini

Makes 1

1 oz. cranberry liqueur
2 oz. vodka

Combine ingredients with ice in cocktail shaker and strain into martini glass. Garnish with frozen (or fresh) cranberry or orange quarter slice.

...we used a very neutral gin instead of vodka, which is a bit less smooth, but not a bad 'plan b' when you're out of vodka.

Ceremony Coffee & Cafe Pronto

Living in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area it's so easy to be dazzled by all the cultural, epicurean, and even sport wonders that Annapolis, MD is often overlooked as a destination point. Sure, people spend leisurely summer days wandering the shops, watching the boats, and tasting the ice cream, but apart from that and the odd dinner outing they  (at least I) by and large don't spend a lot of time there.

Enter Cafe Pronto and Ceremony Coffee.Two-time US Champion Brewer (2011 and 2012) and second place World Champion Brewers Cup, 2012. I had lost faith in the ability to find a superior cup of Joe in the area (plenty good enough but none really exemplar) until I took a recommendation from a colleague to go to Cafe Pronto. Oh. Em. Gee. A little drop of heaven in a cup is all I can say. And like most things, you don't know what good is until you have sampled the truly fabulous. Kinda makes Starbucks taste like Kraft.

Anyway, it's good.

Go.

Get educated at one of their classes. Or order some of the house blends (Thesis and Antithesis) online!

Cocktail R-EVOLUTION by Molecular Gastronomy

Image Source: Molecular Gastronomy

Image Source: Molecular Gastronomy

Ok, so it looks a bit strange but I'm totally fascinated by chemistry so I am adding this Molecular Gastronomy Cocktail R-EVOLUTION set to the Liquid Culture wish list. $58.95 is a bit steep (but they were running a discount to $40 on Fab), and I'm not sure that little float-y thingys (gelatin) in drinks are necessarily a good thing, but curiosity is pretty much the driving force here. Sure looks cool!

Peppermint Martini

Ahhh yes..."its not Christmas time until...." For me its got to be "the peppermint schnapps comes out..." Its rather strong but very refreshing. Try substituting it in cooking for recipes using peppermint extract. Shocker...I prefer it straight:

Peppermint Martini
Makes 1

1 1/2 oz. Vodka
1 oz. Peppermint Schnapps

Mix in shaker with ice, strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with mini candy cane if so desired.

Disappointed in Baltimore

This past week found me at both Hersh's Pizza & Drinks and The Gin Mill in Baltimore. MAN! What a disappointment!!! Baltimore is such a great gritty city, dark, poetic, and seemingly ripe for good watering holes and delicious restaurant gems in the rough...so why does it seem to be so hit-or-miss? I don't want to like DC better, but it must be conceded that the selection of consistently good finds is just vastly superior.

First things first:  I was really looking forward to The Gin Mill  in Canton as you all know how devoted I am to the juniper juice...not realizing the intended meaning being a cotton gin. Not only were the drinks watery and the service fairly stand-offish, it was shocking not to see a fine selection of gin or even decor (or some such acknowledgement) to the namesake. Sigh. My silly mistake. Regardless...a slight but telling miscommunication: when asked about the drink specials, the response was "Happy Hour is M-F 4-7pm," which was not the intended meaning of the question. Upon clarification for drink specialties of the house the response was "We don't have any...well I guess there is the Moscow Mule, which is our house drink..." rather surprising considering their website claims to be a craft cocktail joint... 

The Baltimore @ Hersh's Pizza
"Tastes like sorrow."

Blame it on my impatience or what have you, but I could not even finish the drink, so there's no telling what the food was like. Sad, as the blue cheese macaroni looked tempting, but not enough to stick around for. We left and went down the street to the Fork & Wrench. Thankfully the barkeep there single-handedly rescued the evening and deserves his own, separate posting here. 

Hersh's Pizza & Drinks in Federal Hill, however, gets notably higher marks.Swanky atmospherics, metropolitan feel. Run by a couple of siblings, it's fairly new having opened earlier this year on Light Street over off of the Hanover St. exit from I-95. Disappointing still though, as a place that bills itself a pizza joint ought to have some killer pie. Perhaps I'm being harsh - it was edible but I have to say the tomato sauce was not terribly flavorful and the middle not entirely cooked through - odd for a wood-fire oven place. Aside from a variety of red wine served chilled (??), the cocktails on the drink menu were fabulous - especially The Baltimore, a martini made with house made fig-infused bourbon. It was delicious and poignant, standing apart from the entire experience. My dining companion aptly noted "it tastes like sorrow." Highly recommend the Old Cuban too, with rum, lime, prosecco, and mint syrup...a sparkly bright citrus flavor to get things started. The bartender was charming, knowledgeable and inventive...pretty much the main reason to go back for.

DIY Cranberry Liqueur

Serious Eats has a recipe for cranberry liqueur that I tried out this week. Had to make some modifications as I do not have an immersion blender, and it seemed as if the cooking was taking way less time than the recipe was calling for. Surfing around the web reveals quite a few recipe variations, some with lime zest instead of orange, some with cinnamon...and totally different techniques. Pawing through them though, the one I tried appears the most appealing to me (and the least amount of sugar), but don't let me stop you from shopping around to find one worth tweaking to your own tastes!

What can you use it for, you might ask? Plenty of things! Add a dram to mimosas. Put it in your vodka tonic. Sip it neat. As for me...after some quality control testing, I believe there will be some spreading the (holiday) spirit ...in gifted form.

1. • DIY Cranberry Liqueur
   • 1 cup sugar
   • 3/4 cup water
   • Zest of half an orange (without pith)
   • 1 cup fresh cranberries
   • 1 1/2 cups vodka

   
   

   Bring the sugar, water, orange zest, and cranberries to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until cranberries start to burst, 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

   Roughly break up the cranberries with the back of a spoon so that the juice is out of the berries but the mixture remains chunky. Pour into an air-tight glass jar along with the vodka and shake. Let steep at room temperature for 2 days, or up to a week depending on your taste.

   Strain through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

   
   

   
   

Homemade Gin Kit

Perusing DCist for holiday shopping ideas from local vendors...I came across this Homemade Gin Kit...which is now on the list of AWESOME things I am inspired to acquire. *Naturally.*

But - is it legal (wine & beer are OK to make at home, but are spirits too)?? Do they get around that because it's really just converting pre-distilled spirits?

Not sure if the novelty yields a product worth $39.95, but with several craft distillery gins out there running about $5 less, it doesn't seem too outlandish. Perhaps after the holidays there will be time to try it out...

Eggnog Pancakes

This morning I had some left over eggnog that I needed to get rid of before spoilage so I decided to put some holiday cheer in breakfast and modify a basic pancake recipe...


Eggnog Pancakes

     1 1/2 C. Flour

     2 Tbsp. Sugar

     2 tsp. Baking Powder

     1/2 tsp. Salt

     2 Lg. Eggs

     1 1/2 C. Eggnog

     3 Tbsp. Melted Butter

     1 Tbsp. Dark Rum (optional)

     In large bowl mix all the dry ingredients and set aside. In medium bowl whisk together the eggs,eggnog, butter and rum (if using). Gradually add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until just blended. 

     Heat non-stick pan to med-high and add vegetable oil or butter (optional). Use 1/4 cup measure to add batter to hot skillet. Cook until bubbles form on top, about 2 min. Turn and cook until other side is golden, about 1 min. longer. Serve hot with your choice of topping.

Be warned, these cakes are very rich! (Since there's so many in the eggnog already, I wonder if they would be less egg-y if you just used one egg instead of two?) Not sure that syrup is the best accompaniment, but I really liked them with some (very) tart jam. Picked up some ginger-rhubarb preserves recently, and that seemed to cut the richness quite well. If you find something great, let me know in the comments section please!

Unfortunately they didn't turn out very photogenic, otherwise I would have included a pic here...but I blame that on my crappy spatula-wielding skills...not the batter.

Maker's Mark Coffee

It's logged some time in the freezer since the epic Bourbon Trail 2012 road trip to the distilleries of Kentucky, but the Maker's Mark whole bean coffee finally came out for a taste. Wasn't sure what to expect - totally bought it as a novelty souvenir - was expecting anything from synthetic bourbon flavoring to weak brew or just plain overpowering. Pleasantly surprising! Maker's Mark coffee is a light blend, with unmistakable bourbon flavor - genuine, not too 'manufactured.' The finish is light and pleasant, too; the only thing missing is the alcoholic kick.

My tastes lean stronger than most people, choosing dark roasts over most flavored varieties, on occasion there are one or two I find drinkable (notably, a chocolate raspberry blend that Ghiradelli no longer makes. *sniff*) ...usually when I am drinking from a pot all day long. Personally I wish the bean had a more robust character, but it would likely be a harder sell to the general public. You could blend it with a stronger roast possibly, but probably at risk of losing the bourbon flavor since the coffee is not actually spiked with spirits. Not something I'm going to rush out to stock up on, but it's certainly worthy of having again and gift giving.

The good news is you don't have to go to Kentucky to get it - it retails online for about $12.95 for 10oz. of whole bean or ground. (**Note: If you do wind up shopping for it...I also highly recommend getting some of their 'bourbon ball' chocolate candies...#omgdelish)