Posted by Anita on 03.16.07 7:08 AM
No mere pretender to the retro cocktail trend, the Pegu Club is a true vintage recipe. It’s been making the rounds since at least the 1920s, and was purportedly invented at the eponymous club in Burma during the British colonial era. (If you’re curious, Robert Hess has a nice DrinkBoy article on the recipe’s evolution over time.)
I first tasted this drink years ago (at the Zig Zag, where else?) but I’ve never tried making it at home. For some reason, even though the ingredients are far from obscure, it just feels more like the kind of drink you want someone else to make.
Luckily for lazy drinkers like me, it’s becoming easier to find bartenders who know how to properly construct this tangy treat. Pegu’s become something of a darling in cocktail circles in the last few years, so much so that in 2005, Audrey Saunders adopted its name — and its Asian vibe — for her now-legendary cocktailian haunt. As you might imagine, getting a properly made Pegu Club cocktail at the Pegu Club is as easy as asking.
Pegu Club
2 oz. gin
1 oz. orange curaçao
1 tsp. lime juice
dash Angostura bitters
dash orange bitters
Shake all ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail class. Garnish with a lime.
bar culture, Drink of the Week, drinks, NYC, recipes
11 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 03.11.07 6:12 PM
Yes, cardoons. Also nettles, green garlic, and pea vines. Ah, it’s even beginning to smell a bit like springtime at the Ferry Plaza farmers market.
Since Cameron will be in NYC all week, and I follow him back on Tuesday, we weren’t really doing our usual food-shopping rounds, although we couldn’t leave without a gorgeous Prather Ranch rib-eye for the grill and some jumbo brussels sprouts to roast.
And we did manage to stock Cameron’s bag with carry-on nibbles for his flight — petit sec from Fatted Calf and some sweet treats from the ladies at La Cocina. But mostly, we ate our breakfast, poked around, took a couple dozen photos (more than half of them floral, not food), visit with our favorite vendors, bump into a trio of old friends, and soak up just enough sunshine to make us forget all about the winter coats in our suitcases.
In between work and family time in New York, we’ll do our best to post about our wanderings. We’ve got reservations at a few restaurants we’ve been longing to try, and a list of cocktailian haunts as long as your arm (thanks, Murray!). When we get back, expect a thorough kitchen-remodel update.
farmers markets, shopping
10 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 03.09.07 7:15 AM
Most shooters have raunchy names that can’t be printed on a blog that my mom reads, and/or ingredient lists that sound like a recipe for instant projectile vomiting. So, picking a drink for next week’s episode of Mixology Monday — hosted by Rick over at Martini Lounge — feels a bit like being forced to buy clothes at the Goodwill: It’s not going to be pretty, and the best you can hope for is something that won’t make you embarassed to show your face among your peers.
In this case, just like second-hand garb, we decided it would be better to bypass the trendy and bizarre choices, and opt for a classic silhouette. Simple elegance in a shot glass, if you will.
The B-52
1 part Kahlua
1 part Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 part Grand Marnier
Layer the liqueurs into a cordial glass in the order listed, carefully pouring over the back of a bar spoon to keep each one distinct.
Edited to add: This is one of those recipes where it’s important to use the actual brand listed, rather than substituting. Different liqueurs have different specific gravities, which makes a difference when it comes to maintaining the integrity of the layers.
———
Remember, next month’s exciting episode of MxMo will be hosted right here on MwD on April 16. Our theme is Champagne cocktails, so get those sparkling ideas ready…
Drink of the Week, drinks, Mixology Monday, other blogs, recipes
Comments Off on DOTW: The B-52
Posted by Anita on 03.02.07 4:58 PM
Can you believe it’s been 2 months since we kicked off our kitchen remodel?
There’s so much new since the last update — cabinets, moulding and trim, the range hood, gallons of paint, and a LOT of shopping — I hardly know where to start. In fact, if a cabinet snafu hadn’t delayed progress by 10 days, I might even be telling you that we were done!
Even so, we’re really getting down to the home stretch here. Our contractor told us this morning that he was really gunning to get everything done next week. It’s a lofty goal, but if he really kicks it into high gear, it could happen.
I’m happy to report that our kitchen feels remarkably true to the style and scale of the house, and that a couple of little signature pieces have turned out — dare I say it? — even better than we’d hoped. We have a gorgeous storage/seating bench in the breakfast room that our contractor built, a stunning set of cubbies over the ‘lab bench’ that the contractor’s foreman crafted to our architect’s specs, and a new “not-window” that mirrors perfectly the size, shape, and structure of its original twin. I find little things to gripe about, but all in all, I’m tickled pink, pleased as punch… and about a dozen other clichés, too.
Tomorrow, our cool stone-countertop guy will start installing our worksurfaces (honed dark slate on most cabinets, with butcherblock on the lab bench — thanks for asking!). As soon as that’s done, the tile backsplashes go in, the transom glass gets affixed, the fixtures get hooked up, and the appliances get installed…
Oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy.
What’s that…? More pictures? Come on, now — I wouldn’t let you down like that! You gotta know there’s another snapshot tour on Flickr, just like last time.
kitchen
9 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 03.02.07 3:38 PM
We’re all down with eating seasonally here in the Bay Area. But how about drinking seasonally?
California growers coax most popular citrus fruits into year-round abundance, so it’s easy to forget that these tart treats — especially many of the obscure varieties — are truly winter fruits. Specifically, sour oranges like Bergamots and Sevilles have a painfully short harvest each January or February, a fact that oddly endears them to many aficionados. This same scarcity has inspired countless generations of English cooks to put up marmalades, to extend this slice of winter sunshine as long as possible.
I’m so enamored of specialty citrus that we’ve planted a miniature grove in our tiny yard: A full size Meyer lemon, a dwarf Bergamot, and a shrub-size Makrut (kaffir) lime. The bergamots we harvested this week were zested for a micro-batch of bergamocello; I hope next year we’ll have enough to make preserves or at least make a small batch of bergamot orangettes (would that be bergamettes?). But these same few fruits yielded just enough juice for a round of one of my favorite cocktails, dubbed the “Friday After Five” in honor of the eGullet thread that spawned it.
If you can’t find Bergamots, feel free to substitute fresh grapefruit juice. It won’t taste the same, of course, but then — like favas and peaches and sun-ripened tomatoes, in their turn — the drink’s fleeting flavor is part of the charm. If you’re anything like me, the haunting scent of Bergamot may even be enough to make you wish for winter in the summertime.
Friday After Five
1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
3/4 ounce bergamot juice
1 dash Herbsaint, absinthe or Pernod
Shake over ice, and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a bergamot twist, if desired.
Drink of the Week, drinks, food boards, garden, recipes
8 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 02.27.07 8:04 AM
…of Ben & Jerry’s?
I’m sure you’ve heard of Guinness ice cream, maybe even seen Ben & Jerry’s Black & Tan, which swirls together chocolate and cream-stout flavors.
But did you know that this pint has a creamy head, too? We had a good laugh a couple of nights ago as we opened the container. Although at first it looks like marshmallows, the “head” is actually fluffy puffs of the cream-stout ice cream.
(And yes, it’s delicious.)
beer, dessert
10 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 02.26.07 7:34 AM
We didn’t by any plum buns or fat hogs — although we did buy both pâté maison and calabrese sausage from the Fatted Calf, so I’ll take that last one on points. But we did spend a very chilly late morning at the market Saturday. By some miracle, the dogs let us sleep until 9:30, so we were on the late shift, but still mostly alone in the artic air.
Chilaquiles? SÃ, por supuesto! (And also delicious tacos de pollo hiding under some rather insipid guacamole.) We made quick rounds of the veggie stands, admired some of the first signs of spring — plenty of blossom-studded boughs, stacks of baby onions, and buckets of tulips and calla lilies to make you glad you left your nice, warm bed.
I’m getting a chill just thinking about it, though. Damn, it was cold! Quick, inside the building, chat up the guys at Prather, flirt a bit, get a lovely flat-iron steak for the grill and one of those heritage chickens we’re hearing so much about. (That’d be $15-ish each, not per pound, thank god.) After warming up — and a stop at Miette, of course — it’s back out front to pick up chips, tortillas and Yellow Eye beans from Rancho Gordo… where Steve tells us we just missed Alan Richman from GQ and that the NY Times will be singing his praises two weeks hence. Let’s hope he remembers us when he’s well and truly famous.
All in all, a successful re-entry into San Francisco. The kitchen’s coming along nicely, too — but it’s all under tarps at the moment, so the promised update will have to wait.
In the meantime, there are more market photos here…
farmers markets, meat, shopping
8 Comments »
Posted by Cameron on 02.25.07 6:16 PM
If there is an edible gardening art more arcane or mysterious than successfully growing fruit trees, I don’t want to know what it is. The landscaping consultant whose professional advice I regularly seek is the representative of Friends of the Urban Forest in Bernal Heights and maintains an “experimental garden” where he coaxes fruit trees of all descriptions to flourish in our odd local microclimate. But even he is often reduced to a shrug. Who knows if they’ll even survive, let alone bear fruit? They’re living things, and they don’t read rulebooks — they just grow. Or not.
So I feel incredibly blessed that the trees we’ve planted in our backyard all appear to be thriving. Our Meyer lemon is loaded with eight or nine fruits, our bergamot has two or three orbs of its own and has absolutely exploded with fresh growth, and if our itty bitty Makrut lime tree keeps growing the way that it has, I’m going to be able to build a house in it.
Right now, I’m the most excited about the Santa Rosa plum tree that last week sprouted what seems like hundreds of little green/white buds. A thin, whippy thing when we planted it a year ago, it seemed to limp through the year, leaves shotgunned by some unnamed brown fungus. But it kept growing all the while and now, after some judicious pruning, it looks strong and beautiful.
The conventional wisdom is that flowers fortell fruit. Maybe. There are so many things that can happen or not happen between now and a midsummer harvest. Not enough water, too much water, pollination failure, heat, cosmic rays, or even an injudicious application of soft jazz at the wrong moment could send things horribly astray. I hope that this summer we’ll be soaking plums in brandy, but for now it’s enough to live in the moment and love the beautiful buds and flowers as a harbinger of spring.
Bernal, garden
3 Comments »
Posted by a Special Guest on 02.23.07 7:03 AM
Editor’s note: I don’t know about the rest of you, but I for one have missed Drink of the Week during its recent hiatus. (Perhaps that’s just a sign of how much I desperately need a cocktail, but I digress…)
This week’s guest-bartender duties fall to our friends Lauren & Paul, another pair of cocktail aficionados from our Seattle crew. Just looking at that gorgeous photo reminds me of the wonderful parties they host in their fabulous house, and all the nights we’ve spent together at the Zig Zag, Union, and other Jet City cocktail haunts.
Last fall, we took a wine-tasting trip to the Okanagan. (Don’t ask me why it’s spelled “Okanagan” in Canada and “Okanogan” in the US — it’s just one of those mysteries of life.) As we wandered around the little towns, we noticed each ice-cream parlor offered a flavor called “Tiger Tiger”.
After many days of seeing this oddly named ice cream, we had to try it. Turns out it’s orange and black-licorice ice cream swirled together to create a tiger-stripe effect. We decided the same flavor combination might make for a good cocktail. And so it does:
Tiger Tiger
2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. orange curacao
1/4 oz. lemon juice
splash Pernod
2 dashes orange bitters
Shake all ingredients, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon peel.
Drink of the Week, drinks, recipes
2 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 02.19.07 6:06 PM
Every cook has those recipes that she considers so perfect that she won’t even entertain the idea of trying another variation. In our house, for example, there is no meatloaf but our meatloaf. I’m so set in my ways that not only will I not try new meatloaf recipes, I rarely even order meatloaf at restaurants.
So when, during a long-overdue freezer cleanout, Mom and I discovered a stash of bananas, and then another stash, we knew it was time for another of those “don’t bother with another recipe” recipes: Banana bread.
Now, with all modesty, I’m not the only one who loves this stuff. It’s a recipe so wonderful that it was printed — albeit with some non-fatal editorial alterations — by Cooking Light many years ago, and apparently remains a reader favorite. (I cringed in anticipation when I clicked on the reader comments link, and was amazed to see that everyone likes this recipe as much as we do. Whew!)
Here’s my introduction from the original issue:
My mom, Toni, has been making this banana bread for what seems like forever. We’re nuts about all kinds of bread, and this is a family favorite — even the dog loves it. While it may seem odd not to add spices, the pure banana flavor is what makes it so delicious.
You can find the tinkered-with version on Cooking Light’s site, but here’s the original, which isn’t really much higher in fat:
Toni’s Banana Bread
1-3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1-1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 medium super-ripe bananas (about 1 cup)
scant 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F, and butter an 8×4 loaf pan (or two 7×3 pans for tea-size loaves).
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, and set aside.
Put the remaining ingredients (except optional nuts)Â in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour the banana puree over the dry ingredients, and fold lightly — adding nuts, if using –Â with a rubber spatula, just until combined; do not overmix.
Pour batter into the buttered loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, but do not overbake. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
baking, family, magazines, recipes
5 Comments »
