Lavender Mint Margaritas

Minty Fresh!

I had a wonderful time at the Luna Sueno tasting this Saturday at Ambassador Spirits. The lovely Gents there were kind enough to pick fresh mint, spearmint (in flower...so pretty) and soft rosemary. My cocktails were a big hit and it was very fun to barter margaritas for the delicious Tacos outside at the street fair on 2nd ave. Thanks boys!

Both these drinks require molesting the herbs with your hands. So keep them clean and you'll hands will smell delicious all day!

The Lavender Mint Margarita
3 oz Luna Sueno Blanco
1 1/2 oz Fresh squeezed lime
1 - 2 oz Lavender Simple Syrup to taste
Mint

Slap the mint and put a few leaves in the shaker with the rest of the ingredients. Shake well and serve on the rocks with a flowering spring of mint. Lavender syrup can be strong depending on the brand or your infusion so add carefully so it doesn't get too sweet.

Rosemary Rester
3 oz Luna Sueno Reposado
1 1/2 oz Fresh squeezed lime
1 - 1/2 oz Agave Syrup to taste
Rosemary

Roll fresh rosemary leaves (pick the off the branch) in you hands and throw in the bottom of a shaker. with the other ingredients. Again the agave can be sweet so add carefully to taste. Strain into a highball glass and add more ice and a sprig of rosemary

Prime Meats

Last night I attempted to have a Tales -6/21 reunion in Brooklyn. But with everyone working on a busy Saturday night, it turned into Andrea and I visiting Damon and Frank at Prime Meats.

I have been telling Andrea about the pre-prohibition cocktail craze and Prime Meats seemed like an excellent way to showcase how these cocktails can be classic with clean modern twists. The same can be said for the delicious food we enjoyed. The homemade was spatzle was creamy and topped with the most delectable mushrooms. The pork belly over fresh pickled house sauerkraut was also a favorite.

Drinks-wise, we got a Bijou, Manhattan, Sazerac (Applejack), Vieux Carre and an Old Fashioned so the classics were well represented.

Then some handsome boys from the Netherlands joined us and some fresh german and Brooklyn beer was consumed. Besides learning that they could be dangerous with weapons so its a good thing the don't allow guns there, we also learned that Jenever is a spirit that old men drink in Holland. They were tickled to learn that it is the hot new spirit here.

Hey...I like old men. I was drinking Manhattans with my grandpa while everyone was still drinking Cosmos.

After 2am, it was clearly time to bowl, so we headed off to the new Brooklyn Bowl where I had Coffee Stout from the Brooklyn Brewery next door. I figured since we were gonna be up til the sun came out, what better to start my Sunday morning than with some Stumptown coffee?

How To Celebrate Nationa Tequila Day?

Come try some delicious Luna Sueno Tequila at Ambassador Wine and Spirits with me tomorrow. I will be shaking some super fresh margaritas! I'll be there from 5pm-8pm. See ya there!

Bars to Visit Before You Kick it

The NY Times covered the jazz funeral we had for the Red Headed Slut in New Orleans at this years Tales of the Cocktail. They also asked Simon Ford and Angus Winchester to name their favorite bars world-wide. I am pleased to say I have knocked many of these off my list. I will endeavor to visit the rest.

I have many miles to go before I sleep...And why isn't Dallas BBQ on that list?! Doesn't it look delish?!?

Hello Daddy, hello Mom. I'm yer Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-Cherry Bomb!

The Worlds Biggest Bar Crawl

[NY Times]

Panama Hats

These colorful and sharp hats were a sub-theme at Tales of the Cocktail this year. Bill Cunningham from the NY Times has done a marvelous feature on this tailored look that is everywhere this summer. I got into the act too. I bought mine from Meyer the Hatter, the South's largest hat store... in NOLA, natch!

The man and my hat

On the Street - In the Wind
[NY Times]

Another Three Favorite Things

This is in response to a request from my darling Francine!

RyeGirl’s top 3 food experience at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans 2009
(I am leaving out the Spirited Dinner, because that was a drink extravaganza in another catagory and I want to focus on “experience” and “food”)

3) After two hours sleep, a flight from Newark, and straight into 6 hours prepping and serving cocktails, I managed to stumble over to Acme, plant my ass at the bar and start ordering a plethora of food deliciousness. The charbroiled oysters with cheese, po boys (oyster, shrimp and soft shell crab), raw oysters, crawdad hush puppies…all washed down with fresh Abita beer. I was so intent on my eating and drinking, I had an entire conversation with the man sitting next to me before we both looked up and realized we knew each other! It was David from Siembra Azul and we have just spent 6 hours working together. Now, we were so focused on the feast before us, we did not realize we were sitting together! We laughed, he bought us some beers, then we took those beers for a walk around town. Love that open container law!

2) After two full days of tasting and events and more cocktails than I could mention, I just wanted a nice modest, quiet, delicious dinner with a glass of wine and good company. I got it at GW Fins. We started with a glass of Champagne then some tasty perfectly cooked seafood and a glass of wine. I openly wept from absolute contentment when a scallop passed over my lips. Strawberry shortcake for dessert and I was ready to lie down on a bed of berries and cream and slumber the dreams of angels.

1) Without a doubt the best meal came Thursday morning. It was 10:40am, a weird time for breakfast and is there brunch on the weekdays in NOLA? We call Luke’s and they invite us over, even though technically they were not open yet for lunch. But could it be a brunch? I ordered my first cocktail, a creamy absinthe fizz, we also get fresh pressed coffee and a pitcher of Orange Juice. Tons of liquids? Brunch? Check! We order ½ dozen oysters. Carlos, God of all waiters, brings us 7 giant oysters that taste like they were caught about ten minutes ago. Carlos, you have a boat back there? Then I order a fresh crabmeat omelet with salad AND French fries (love that!). Dave gets the gulf shrimp and grits en cocotte. Omelet and Grits? Check! They also had copies of the NY Times and the Times-Picayune… This is a BRUNCH, BABY!! I was feeling like I could move here..not to New Orleans..move into this restaurant…Carlos will you be my roommate?

God bless Carlos, God bless Luke’s, God bless New Orleans, God Bless America and all its wonderful bounty! I am SAVED! Hallelujah!

Utter Contentment at Luke's

Three of my favorite things...

The delicate kick ass Damiana flower

My sweet darling LeNell posted a cocktail containing both Tequila and Damiana. Damiana is an herbal liquor made from a flower that grows in Baja Mexico (LeNell's favorite spot!). Legend is that it can be a female aphrodisiac. The patriarchal machismo government even went so far as to ban the production of the liquor, lest the poor females get too...satisfied?

I will never understand the oppression of women. Don't they realized how successful and peaceful a society can become if all the women are content and happy? Have they never heard of "Hell Hath No Fury..."? As you could see from my blog picture, I did grow up thinking there was this wonderful peaceful world of powerful woman who ruled the beautiful Paradise Island. I still want to be an Amazon when I grow up.

I first found a bottle of Damiana is a little liquor store in Westchester. And I got to work with her at Tales of the Cocktail in a delicious Liquid Chef cocktail. The darling Heidi and Junior also let me use a tincture of Damiana in one of my Lab cocktails (6/21 shout out!).

She comes in a very lovely shapely bottle. She is delicious in Margaritas and should be used with great care and caution...like me. I like to keep a bottle of her next to my bed for luck, don't ya know!

Lovely Lady Damiana

Le Nell it All: The Mordida

Tequila Anyone?

If anyone if in Brooklyn today, why not swing by Best Buy Spirit Warehouse in Ft Green today. I will be doing a tequila tasting from 4pm - 7pm. I'll be shaking up some tasty margaritas too! Nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, no?

Nice!

This was my message when I signed up for the Manhattan Cocktail Classic newsletter:

Welcome to the fold. You’re officially now one of our favorite people and will be treated as such henceforth.

Its so nice to be treated that way. I like to feel special!

Speaking of nice, I will be dining with some of my dearest friends at a favorite tonight, Perilla. Harold will forever be my favorite Top Chef contestant (and Winner! Yhay!), but it helps that he backs up that title with amazing food and wonderful service. Such a nice treat during this great birthday week I am having.

I am special!

It's About Time!

If anything can be inferred from the Spirit Awards at Tales of the Cocktail this year, it is that NYC is the center of the cocktail universe! We took home awards for Best New Cocktail Bar (Clover Club), World's Best Cocktail Bar (PDT), Best American Cocktail Bar (Pegu Club) and American Bartender of the Year (James Meehan). Even the other nominees were mostly here in NYC. So it is fitting that we are finally going to have our own cocktail convention.

Robert Simonson in the NY Times this week did a story about the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, a May convention that will have a two day preview this October at the Astor Center. There will be several panels and of course more wonderful work from our home grown bartenders.

The panel I am most looking forward to is about Rye Whiskey (natch) led my by Momofuku dining companion, Allen Katz.

Maybe I will finally get to taste my new 24 year old Lovah this year...

My Lovah...

An Event to Mix with the Masters
[NY Times]

Worst Booze Idea heard today....

Heard this one today at the dog run from my Irish bartender doggie friend:

The Moo Bomb: a shot of Jager dropped in a half a glass of milk...Eeewwwwww!

He charges these "cocktail connoisseurs" $13 and says, "Enjoy!"

Gotta love Midtown!

Some Things I learned at Tales of the Cocktail

• I have endless amounts of strength and endurance when it comes to spirits and food.
• Thank goodness for the above. I needed every bit of it to make it through Tales.
• Real Louisiana boys are rare and special. When you meet one, its like riding a unicorn.
• I would like to drink nothing but coffee with chicory evermore.
• I can fall in love 2 and a half times in little less than 4 days.
• I don't know why beignets come in three when I can only consume one.
• New Orleans likes their cocktails sweet.
• Germany is perceived as the Ohio of Europe here in the states.
• I don't care about cooties and I will put my lips on any bottled offered to me...
• But I would never take my shoes off anywhere near The Olde Absinthe House.
• Sleep? Who needs that?
• Hangovers can be avoided if you just never stop eating and drinking.
• There is some sort of Voodoo blessing on me that makes me charming, witty and pretty within the confines of the Crescent City.
• I should move to New Orleans as soon as possible. (see above)
• Jesus and his followers were probably alcoholics, "Look Jesus! A puddle! Look!"
• GatahChop: when you are down for the count in NOLA.
• Bacon sandwiches made with french toast and dipped in maple syrup. That is all.
• Texas has adorable people in it.
  
• If I wanted to get married and have kids, once again, I have chosen the wrong profession.
• But everyone had dogs instead of kids and showed pictures on their phones squealing, "Look at my Baby!", so I guess I fit in.
• Oysters are good. Shrimp is good. Hush Puppies are good. Scallops are...well you get the idea.
• Cute bartenders from LA make a good Birthday gift (Enjoy your presents Andrea!)
  
• Carlos at Luke is my favorite waiter in New Orleans. Go visit him now.
• I like a town where everyone wears a dapper hat.
• I would like to spend part of every day poolside with a frosty cocktail.
• Karaoke in New Orleans can be a drag.
• Why sing with crappy background music when you have great live stuff all around you?
• I, apparently, live in the center of the cocktail universe and all my local favorites (Clover, Pegu) are the best cocktail bars in the world.
• But apparently the judges don't go abroad much so I still need to visit friends in Amsterdam, LA, Belfast, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, Munich, Tokyo, etc...and judge for myself!
• Belfast got its cocktail on! Gotta be better than Dublin (up the Dubs!)
  
• Textquited: when you quit your job via a text message.
• The people in this new business can be kind, generous and very sweet. Much like the aforementioned NOLA cocktail.
• What am I forgetting? Probably a lot.

Poolside libations

The Come From Behind

Today my beloved softball team, The Magnetic Fielders, had an amazing come from behind victory. After giving up 9 runs in the first inning, we came back a won 13-12 in extra innings. I was so jazzed up and totally ready to celebrate despite coming off of 4 days in New Orleans and beer pong and a Mets game yesterday. But the game took a lot out of me and I was thirsty! And I guess I was still feeling creative from the Tales adventure in NOLA and I had the lovely Noelle make up a new beer cocktail.

Its a variation on the Sweet Leaf at the Bell House, a sweet concoction of muddled lemon, sweet tea vodka and club soda. I decided to skip the soda and top it with a Presidente instead. Noelle added some lime too and with the beer back on the side I felt this was a drink ready to quench my victorious thirst. I love drinks that give you a bit extra on the side, like the Makers 8 at Floyd. I also like that the drink can change over time and you have some control over how the drink mixes. It might also be nice with a salted rim, if you want to cut the sweetness.

Sparky called it the El President Te. But in honor of our victory today, Colonel Boyd suggested The Come From Behind. As he says,"It can work on many levels..."

Either way, this drink can come up and surprise you!

The Come From Behind
3oz Sweet Tea Vodka
Lemon
Lime
Beer

Muddle lemon and lime in a pint glass, add ice and vodka and shake well. Top with more ice and a lightish beer like Presidente.

Jesus! Jesus, look! Puddle, Jesus, puddle!

Dirty, Dirty Girl

Oh I just had a magical evening in the Crescent City...I enjoyed such good food and fine company! I don't want it to ever end! And of course I should have known it would start out so delightful a day when it began by making up cocktails at the spinning Carousel Bar at the Monteleone.

I have such fond memories of the Bloody Marys in this town and have yet to have one after three mornings here! For shame! So with the inspiration of my darling Francine and Heidi and our dirty dirty girl talk in the room yesterday, I created the Dirty, Dirty Girl Bloody Mary. Of course it had to contain my Luna Sueno Reposado, Dirty Sue Martini mix, spicy Tabasco Bloody, lots of lime and the essential for any respectable (respectably naughty) Bloody Mary; Bitter Truth Celery Bitters. That Dirty Sue is a salty hussy, so the lime knocks her back to the smooth. And the Celery adds essential flavor and spice without adding more salt. This bitter clearly needs to be at any bar right next to the Worcestershire when concocting a decent (or indecent) mix.

Yum, being dirty can be so very Delicious.

Dirty, Dirty Girl
3 oz Luna Sueno Reposado
2 oz Bloody mix (take your time and make it fresh, you can be more creative with the flavors that way)
3/4 oz Dirty Sue Martini Mix
Juice of 1/2 fresh lime (squeeze it just right, baby)
Healthy dose of Bitter Truth Celery bitters
Picked Okra, Green beans and other nourishing bits of south for your mouth

Shake it, Baby, don't break it.

New cocktail coming based on current experience in the hotel Monteleone: Dirty Dirty Girl Talk. Hot pepper salt will be involved. Oh yeah...

Swing dancing last night with Kermit Ruffins and Cafe du Monde coffee this morning...a good start to my NOLA adventure!

The Crescent City

I am attempting to pack for hot and steamy New Orleans. I head out early tomorrow for Tales of the Cocktail! I get right in and start prepping an event with my darling friends Heidi and Junior. I plan to bring back coffee, hot sauce and loads of new cocktails! Any other requests?

There will be posting from the events, but here is a taste: The official cocktail of Tales this year!

The Creole Julep
Created by Maksym Pazuniak, Rambla/Cure
2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum
1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb
1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100 Rum
2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
8-10 mint leaves
1 Demerara Sugar Cube