The Undead Saint

A brilliant gin martini recipe:

     3 parts Deaths Door Gin (substitute a good, straight-forward gin {Broker's, Beefeater})
     1 part Dry Vermouth (make sure you keep it properly)
     3/4 part St. Germain (possibly even less, 1/2 part maybe.  I do not know a substitute for this.)

add a lemon twist.

This is a delicious, unique martini.  It's the 'hi-booze' of a good martini without the 'hard-core alcoholic taste'.

An excellent birthday, or any day cocktail.  You should totally try it.

Stillwater, MN - come for the food & drink, stay for the overpriced antiques

We were convince (or coerced) by our dear friend JP to take the 20 minute ride north from our hotel in Hudson, WI to the quaint (in the etymological sense) town of Stillwater.  The last time we'd been to town, last September, Jess had introduced us to a Pirate-themed bar (with no patience for "Talk Like a Pirate Day") but also to a ridiculously long line of late-summer traffic coming into town.

This time around Jess met us for a cocktail at the Dock Cafe, a place where his parents go for the occasional Manhattan.  I followed suit (bourbon) as did JP (brandy) and Brooke had a well-made vodka martini.  Very good cocktails, but the dinner was even better.  If you ever have opportunity to eat in Stillwater, the Black & Blue Tuna is utterly perfect.  Spicy, with some wasabi on the side if you want even a bit more, and a blue cheese sauce.  The flavors are unusual together, but really quite nice.

After dinner we explored downtown in search of an after-dinner drink and settled, luckily for us, on MarX, a modern-looking restaurant with an interesting collection of boozes.  Brooke ordered an Espresso Martini, which was serviceable.  I asked the bartender what he could make with whiskey.  He made me a Red Snapper which sounds awful, but is actually quite tasty (though it loses a lot of the flavor that makes you want to drink whiskey in the first place).  It's a concoction of Crown Royale, Amaretto and a splash of cranberry juice.

I inquired about an interesting-looking bottle tucked away behind some of the cordials and was rewarded with a splash of a Hirsch Bourbon from Kentucky.  It was delightful, smooth and sweet.

I asked the general manager about the art on the wall, some of which was local, but four framed paintings of which had come from Haiti.  They had a typical Haitian brightness and the local art matched that flavor.  We sampled one more 'experimental' cocktail that they were considering adding to the menu.  It had rye whiskey, Drambuie, some honey and Bittercube Blackstrap Bitters (from Milwaukee!).  The drink was topped with a anise floater, which hit the nose just as you were sipping, a very delightful cocktail.  All in all, I'd highly recommend MarX as a place for cocktails and if the care with which they were crafted is any indication, I'm guessing the food is excellent there too.

The next morning I had occasion to return to Stillwater for breakfast, which I took at the River Oasis Café, just south of downtown on Highway 95. The place was interestingly laid out, with two café counters running alongside four booths with a narrow walkspace in between for the waitress to get to all the serving spaces with as few steps as possible. Now, William Least Heat Moon asserts in his worthwhile travel book Blue Highways that a town diner can be judged by the number of calendars hanging on the wall (if that's so, this place was not up to snuff), but I would instead count the number of local advertisements (for shows, sales, or other notices) and take that as an indication of the place's "down-hominess".  Anyway, my egg sandwich, made-to-order, was delicious on a multi-grain toast and an adequate cup of coffee.  The clientele was old and gossiping, as it should be at any local diner. A good last stop in a town that serves as a "small town getaway" for Minneapolis burghers.

On the Storage of Vermouth (and other things you weren't wondering)

A year and a half ago we were imbibing at Bryant's and were informed that the reason they were so liberal in their usage of vermouth*^ was that they stored it properly, that is, refrigerated it.  This revelation,

quite literally, changed the way we're drinking cocktails.  No more the 'vermouth splash' (where you set some vermouth {on the rocks} in your martini glass while you're shaking your gin or vodka, then dump it out), no more vermouth spritzer (i seriously considered buying this product when it was in the "gold box" one time), rather we were once again enjoying the vermouth in our cocktails.

Since that time, we've been enjoying martinis, old fashions, Manhattans (see right), and Rusty Nails (well, no, who drinks Rusty Nails...) with full vermouth-y-ness.

Even with this newfound appreciation for Vermouth, we've discovered an improvement (or at least a worthy variation) on the classic Manhattan (also works for an Old Fashioned).  This cocktail is pilfered, then re-imagined, from the specials board at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, San Francisco (home of absurdly small rooms, and actually quite nice service).

Port Manhattan


3 Parts Bourbon
1 Part Port
1-2 dash bitters
maraschino cherry garnish

Shake bourbon, port, and bitters together over ice.  Pour either over ice or up.  Add cherry (it's good).


What this cocktail hits on is a soft sweetening of a classic 'drunk's drink'.  Manhattan's are generally drinks for people who are serious about serious drinking, but who still want a pleasing flavor.  This variation allows a wider audience to enjoy the same basic flavor or the Manhattan, but in a (marginally) sweeter form.



* Vermouth [ver-mooth]: –noun

an aromatized white wine which sorta tastes like ass.  It may include flavors from herbs, roots, barks, bitters, and other flavorings have been steeped.  Flavor is best captured in the description "an ape hair liquor".

^ Paideia Jack once drank dry vermouth straight out of our bottle when he crashed a cast party (circa Fall 1998, methinks).  Shortly thereafter he absconded with Joel Miron's hatchet, Miron then chased him down the stairs, suggesting PJ ought to return said tool/weapon because it had been a gift from his parents.  I think there was a moment where PJ wielded the parental gift against Miron, which he then took away from PJ, somehow. 

Colon-Blow Chili

Last night we made our favorite 5-day chili (or 7 day, depending on how you count) recipe, "Colon-Blow Chili". The CB Chili is great, because, once you've bought the ingredients, it only takes about 15 minutes to put together, and then you get about 5 days of enjoyment (followed by up to 2 days of, um, intestinal regret)...

- this recipe is based off of Cooking Light's October 2006 recipe, "Three-Bean Chili with Vegetables". I've added a few ingredients not in the original, and almost any ingredient can be substituted with your own personal tastes...

Colon Blow Chili

1 & 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups chopped onion
2/3 cup chopped carrot (I use 2/3 carrot & 2/3 celery mixture)
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups water (actually, I use 3 cups water, one cup pilsner beer)
2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn
1 cup chopped red bell pepper (1 mid-sized pepper)
1 cup chopped zucchini (2 smallish zucchinis)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
2 (16-ounce) cans pinto beans, drained
2 (16-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, mostly drained
1 (6-ounce) can "no-salt-added" tomato paste
1 & 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot,
and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in 4 cups water and next 12 ingredients
(through tomato paste); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25
minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar and chipotle and simmer
another 15-20 minutes or until carrot is tender. Top with cilantro,
cheese, and sour cream.


As said, this is a great meal that lasts you a good while. October seems, in fact, to be just about the perfect time for such a meal. In the past, I've used a wide variety of beans (1 can of Great Navy Beans in place of anything but the Black Beans - Leave the Black Beans is our popular choice), some faux-ground beef, shrimp, anything you like really. Stay warm & Enjoy.

Top, i dunno, 7...?

This is a new feature for both this blog & Roman Numeral J (as well as, perhaps, the SeegerOlympics site). We're calling it "Top, i dunno, 7..." in which we will list our top 5 or so whatevers that we can think of...

The reason it's a 'top 7' is that we'll only list the top 5 or so, but are sure to be missing or forgetting some and we want to be able to leave room for our (or your) additions:

So, for now, it's

Top 7 (or so) Movies:

Joel:

1. Good Will Hunting
2. Say Anything
3. Dave
4. The Princess Bride
5.

(some that i'm thinking of putting on the list but can't quite let myself are I Love you, Man, Notting Hill, and Mickey Blue Eyes)


Brooke:

1.
2. Love Actually
3. Gone With the Wind
4.Pretty in Pink (?)
5. Benny & Joon

(some brooke said that she wouldn't/couldn't add are Babe & Mickey Blue Eyes - evidently, we really love that movie)

It's hard to say what a "favorite" is. Is it a movie you've seen a lot or is it something that sticks with you, or is it an "important" movie. Favorites are a very sticky thing... as i've said.

the Perfect Cosmopolitan

I think i've finally figured out the perfect cosmo, ladies...

After some experimentation, i've now gotten the perfect formulation down... Make as follows:


the Perfect Cosmopolitan

2 parts vodka (somewhat good)
1 part Grand Marnier (Patron Citronge is a good, cheaper substitute)
1 part lime juice
1 part cranberry (actually, slightly less .75 part or so)

place a slice of lemon peel in a martini glass. Shake ingredients all together (in a shaker). Strain into the martini glass.


This is, i think, the best rendition i've put together... Better even than the one i've lost on the back side of a business card. Try it out & let me know how it works for you... Sex & the City Cosmos can eat their heart out...

The Almond Joy Martini

We've discovered a new candy-like martini, that actually tastes good:


The Almond Joy Martini

1 oz. Coconut Flavored Rum
1 oz. Chocolate Flavored Liqueur*
1 oz. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
1 oz. Vodka
2-4 oz. Cream, Half & Half, Milk (to taste)

Shake over ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a Cholive (if available, alternately, use shredded coconut)

We found the recipe by searching for 'booze drinks that taste like candy'. Don't you just love google?

Overall, the drink is sweet without being painfully sweet. Too often, the chocolate martini family stumbles into the genre of cocktails for people who don't really like cocktails. This one drinks a bit smoother and tastes a bit more like a true martini (particularly if you minimize the cream allotment)...



* Use Godiva or Creme de Cacao, or experiment with any sort of sweet liqueur like Frangelico or Kahlua