Pocono Love Potion

<p>&lt;p&gt;It can get a little lonely coming home at 4am to an empty house, empty bed and empty cuppard. I don't usually drink when I get home, but with a day off (finally) and a cold looming, I thought a knightcap was needed. A knight was too difficult to find at this hour.

I have not been to the store in days so a fresh citrus drink is out of the question. I doubt I have fresh vermouth, so no Martinis Manhattans, negronis, etc... An Old Fashioned is the perfect cocktail for the bare bones bar.  Bitters, sugar, spirit, water.  I have a beautiful new cognac from Pierre Ferrand based on an original 1840 bottle that is suitable for Jerry Thomas to mix up. I threw in some Creole and Jerry Thomas (speak of the devil) bitters and a touch a maple syrup. Add a kicky glass and suddenly I feel better. Raise your spirits when you raise your glass!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I have a Brit in the house currently, so I had to start Shrove Tuesday with some Pancakes. Strawberry pancakes with coconut. Yum. And then I cooked up a huge pot of Jambalaya.

This is almost how big my pot was...

Jambalaya is a big Cajun pot of rice vegetables, spices and meat. The veggies have to contain the Cajun holy trinity of celery, onions and bell peppers. I like the red style that has tomatoes in it. I added some plum tomatoes, hot sauce and Cajun barbecue from New Orleans to spice it up too. For the meat. I used sausage, chicken and shrimp. Brown the chicken and sausage in a pan with some herbs like thyme and rosemary. Remove the meat when browned and leave the drippings in the pan. Add the trinity of veggies to the pan of drippings and soften using more oil if necessary salting and spicing as you cook. Then add 1 part rice and 2 parts of stock and cook over a simmer stirring frequently. While that mixture is cooking, steam the shrimp with some wine and old bar seasoning. When the rice is cooked, add meat and shrimp to the mixture with hot sauce, tomatoes. Stir all together and you have an amazing pot of New Orleans goodness!

Make sure you make a Sazerac to eat with your bowl of Jambalaya! The Sazerac cocktail was named by John Schiller in 1859 upon the opening of his Sazerac Coffee House in New Orleans. Both most likely derive their name from a popular brand of Cognac, Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils. But these days it is more common to make it with rye. And you know that is how RyeGirl likes it. Having a Sazerac at The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans is one of my favoriet things to do and its a tradition repeated every time I am in that wonderful city.

My sister cocktailier, Drinks With Mindy who I met in NOLA, has a perfect Barlesque name that notes her fine figure, SassyRack! This is her take on the classic:

SassyRack's Sazerac
2 oz Rye
7 dashes Peychaud bitters
1 barspoon Turbinado simple syrup Herbsainte rinse

Have a rocks glass chilled with ice. In another glass mix together rye, syrup and bitters. Dump ice and rinse with herbsainte. Discard the herbsainte and shout "Sassy Rack!" to the nearest lovely lady. Serve with a smile and a wink.

My Sazerac at the Roosevelt Hotel at last years Tales of the Cocktail