Cocktail Mondays: Same drink, different liquor

You don't really expect me to come up with a different drink EVERY Monday, do you? Today I came home and really needed a martini. My usual recipe is here. But instead of vodka, I've been drinking them with Hendrick's gin lately. I picked up this cute little bottle on a whim, and I must say I've been very impressed. I've stuck with my usual olives rather than the cucumber slice they suggest, but the gin is indeed somewhat cucumbery and I am sure it would taste great that way. (Picture blatantly stolen from their website.)

Cocktail Mondays: What the Hell

I decided to try this drink because of its name, and it was pretty good.

What the Hell
1 oz gin
1 oz apricot brandy
1 oz dry vermouth
dash lime juice

Stir with ice, strain into chilled glass and garnish with lemon twist.

Cross-posted at What the hell is wrong with you?

Cocktail Mondays: The Hot Toddy

It's getting cold outside, and you know what that means: time for hot toddies! It's a cocktail! It's medicinal! It keeps you warm and helps you sleep! What could be better? Here's how I make them.

The Hot Toddy
2 shots whiskey
1 shot lemon juice
big spoonful of honey
Put it all in a mug and fill up with boiling water. Add a cinnamon stick and a couple of cloves.

Goes nicely with a roaring fire.

Cross-posted at What the hell is wrong with you?

Cocktail Mondays: The Cosmopolitan

The Cosmopolitan gets a bad rap because of its association with that TV show (a show that I actually really enjoy, though I can certainly find plenty to criticize), but it's quite a nice drink. I believe there are several variations on the proportions, but here's what I'm drinking:

The Cosmopolitan
2 shots vodka
2 shots cranberry juice
1 shot fresh lime juice (I cheat and use RealLime)
3/4 shot Triple Sec

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. You're also supposed to garnish with a twist, but hey, let's be serious.

It should be a light, pretty pink, as pictured here. If you order a Cosmo in a bar and they serve you a red drink, you should stick with beer at that bar.

Cross-posted at What the Hell is Wrong with You?.

Cocktail Wednesday: Pink Gin

Here's a good one if you're like me and never have any mixers around and you don't really want a martini (it does happen occasionally):

Pink Gin

Pour some gin in a glass. Add a dash of Angostura bitters. Swish it around a little. Drink.

This is the lazy version - you're supposed to shake it with ice and strain into a cocktail glass, but I usually just do it on the rocks.

(cross-posted at What the Hell is Wrong with You?)

Last Look at Hogwarts

Over the last week so I have digested the whole 7 volume Harry Potter story. To preface, I am by no means a literary critic. Brazen Hussy is the book snob. When I read fiction, it tends to be of fantasy/sci-fi variety. While my tastes have matured (towards female fantasy writers, interestingly enough), I still have a soft spot for the ol' Swords & Sorcery Genre.

Which is why I originally greeted Harry Potter with so much skepticism. Years ago, I rolled my eyes at what appeared to be a very derivative plot rife with cliches and with only a very primitive cosmology. Then I married Brazen and she made me read the first one. And then I read them all. I'm still not a Potter-head (I don't think), but I have enjoyed them greatly.

From my point of view, the Harry Potter series is about a special kind of love. Not self-love (the most common variant), or romantic love (the most popular), or even love of family (although there's plenty of that), but the love grounded in friendship. There's an interesting genre developing these days (Buffy is another example with close parallels to Potter) of maturation themes based not on voyages of individual self-discovery, but collective ones. Harry can't figure out who he is, he can't grow up, without Ron and Hermoine, or even Hagrid, Sirius, Dumbledore, and even Voldemort. We don't grow up on our own - we grow up with others, and as a consequence the existential angst that I and so many others have fallen prey may not strictly speaking be very necessary.

I've generally thought that maturation stories, while frequently pitched to the young, are unsuited to them. They always seemed more appropriate for people who had already grown up. What's fascinating about the Harry Potter phenomenon is that it seems to have resonated with just about everybody. Maybe it's just that the kids are digging the magic and the adults the nostalgia, but maybe not.

Anyway, to the Deathly Hallows itself. To lay out all the spoilers, I think that emotion fulcra of the story are not Harry or Voldemort, but Neville Longbottom and Severus Snape. Both grow and change with the story (okay, the latter is really just revealed). That such unlikely characters should be such poignant heroes is truly moving. I loved how Snape at the end finally recognized that Harry was far more like the mother than the father. Not to take anything away from the nobility of Harry's self-sacrifice, but I was much more affected by Neville's pulling the sword of Gryffindor out of that sorting hat.

I do have some criticisms. I thought that Rowling was too quick to go for cheap death - deaths that do little to advance the plot, but whose primary purpose seems to be to make us cry. I know that - as a story of friendship & growing up - it wouldn't make any sense to kill off any of the Big Three. I always figured that one of the Weasely twins was going to go - in stories like these, if there's twins one of them always dies. But Dobby and Colin's death, and Hedwig's - they just seemed thrown in for effect. Maybe I'm wrong.

One other critique - I thought the whole "possession of the wand" thing was kind of muddled. It was confusing and didn't seem strictly necessary, which isn't exactly what you want for the dramatic climax of the story. And it seemed a bit odd to have 2 big battles where one would do.

That's all Quibbling, of course - small things beside what has been a major literary achievement. In theme, in pacing, in character development, in universality - I think Rowling has done something extraordinary. It isn't "Great Literature," maybe, but I wonder if Dickens in his day was any different. And I have to say that there are very few places I'll miss more than Hogwarts. Even if I do hate Peeves.

The Triumphant Return of Cocktail Mondays: Mint Julep

I hate summer. I really do. I do not like heat, mosquitoes think I'm yummy, and I find sunny days to be oppressive. However, there are a couple of good things about summer, and this drink is one of them.

The Mint Julep

In a chilled glass, put several mint leaves and about a tablespoon of sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup: equal parts water and sugar, boil until clear). Muddle. I've tried this with and without a proper muddler, and I must say, you need a muddler. If you don't have one, go buy one. Seriously. They're really cheap. Here's one.

Then add lots of ice and fill with bourbon. We're drinking Buffalo Trace today. Stir. Mmmmmmm.

Cross-posted at What the Hell is Wrong with You?

Martini Monday: How to order a martini

The internets have asked, and they shall receive: ever since I posted on how to make a martini, I have had several hits from google searchers asking how to order a martini. I too suffer from the fear of looking stupid at the bar, so I am here to help!

Generally, when ordering a martini, there are three things to specify:
1. Gin or Vodka? This is a matter of personal preference.
2. Straight up or on the rocks? Most likely you want "straight up", which means shaken/stirred with ice and strained into a glass. "On the rocks," of course, means on ice. I have no idea why you need to specify straight up anymore, since that's how pretty much everyone drinks them these days, but go ahead and say it. It will make you look like you know what you are talking about. Also, I have accidentally received a martini on the rocks, and believe me, you don't want that to happen.
3. Garnish: olive or twist? Personal preference. The olive will be a spanish olive with pimento, the twist is lemon.

So, for example, you would say, "Vodka martini, straight up, with an olive" (or, if you're me, with extra olives). If you are ordering a gin martini you can usually just say "martini".

These days, everyone drinks their martinis dry (meaning with very little vermouth), so you don't need to say that. In other decades, "wetter" martinis were more popular.

You will then be asked what kind of vodka or gin. Don't screw up your coolness now by ordering something nasty.
Gin: Bombay Sapphire is always a good choice. In the last year, I have developed a taste for Beefeater, which has an orangier taste. It's less expensive but still quite respectable.
Vodka: Don't ask for Absolut or something equally overadvertised and lame. Ketel One is a good one that is available at most bars; Grey Goose isn't a bad choice either.

Other: If you like your martinis dirty (i.e., with olive juice in them), you can just order a "dirty martini" or "vodka martini, dirty" without having to specify the other stuff.

What not to ask for: Even if you buy into that crap that shaking "bruises" the gin, don't ask for your martini to be stirred. The bartender will shake or stir according to their own style. Asking for a particular mixing method will just make you look like an asshole.

Price: If you live in a city where a beer is about $5, expect to pay $8-10 for your martini ($12 or more in a super-swanky bar). If you live in a town where beers are $2-3, a martini will be more like $5-6.

Finally, always remember to tip. I always tip $1 per drink (not per trip to the bar - so if I'm ordering for myself and two friends, that's a $3 tip). The bartenders appreciate this and will subsequently give you better service, especially if it's a busy night. Remember that it takes a lot more work to mix a martini than a well drink or to pour a beer.

Cross-posted at What the hell is wrong with you?