 
 "Eating, drinking and carrying on..." -- Adelaide Brennan
Cocktail of the day. Yes, this is a repeat from July, but I've finally been able to do this cocktail properly, as it was first made and documented by Harry Craddock in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. We've been enjoying this with Plymouth gin for a good while, but it was first made with Old Tom gin. Now that we've finally got Hayman's Old Tom Gin on the market, we can make this drink for real. The version we make has an extra little twist that I learned from Michael, our favorite bartender in Las Vegas, at the Petrossian Bar at the Bellagio. I believe he learned this from Tony Abou-Ganim when he was beverage director there several years ago and created their quality cocktail program. This drink is a beautiful example of the flavor of Old Tom, with its broad base of botanicals, light on the juniper and slight sweetness balancing so well with the acid of the citrus, the nutty, fruity maraschino and the bite of the bitters (we used Angostura orange tonight). This is a drink that'll convert vodka drinkers, I guarantee you. Old Tom is definitely the gateway gin, and a grand spirit on its own. Sorry there's no picture, but it didn't last that long. I really should add one later, because the little tip we learned from Michael makes it really pretty.
Just gorgeous. [UPDATE: Erik reminds us that the actual Savoy Casino recipe was less heavy on the maraschino and lemon juice. Time for a taste test.]
The tough part is gonna be finding that 1/3 teaspoon measuring spoon ... fortunately I keep some maraschino in a dasher bottle. This is a good idea if you're going to make 19th or early 20th Century cocktails, and while you're at it keep some absinthe and curaçao in a dasher bottle too. Recycled Angostura or Peychaud's bottles work perfectly, or you can go on eBay to find vintage dasher bottles if you're a geek like me. Bacony goodness. I'm apparently getting a reputation, and so is Wes -- friends of ours email us bacon-related links. That's our own fault, I suppose, for obsessing about bacon and talking about it a lot. But how can you not? It's BACON! And do you see me complaining about it? NO! A stroke of genius when making store-bought refrgerator-case cinnamon rolls? Perhaps. I'll try it, certainly. I wonder if one should par-cook the bacon first, though ... it might be a little rubbery inside the roll otherwise. Then things get silly ... like, Baconhenge. (Silly, perhaps, but beats the crap out of Brickhenge, Woodhenge and Strawhenge ... the greatest henge of them all!) This one's a bit of a heretic, although I get her point about the silliness of some of the baconmania. The bra, the placemats, the henge, and ... the tiara. Regarding the bacon tiara, I must take exception to any recipe or set of instructions that begins thusly:
You get the picture. I'd rather just insert strips of bacon inside cinnamon rolls, y'know? I do have to struggle a bit with one admonition from the almost-heretic above -- that's about the disdain for Bacon Salt. This is exactly the kind of fake-food product I usually decry. It contains no actual bacon. In fact, it's a vegan product! But ... it tastes a fair bit like bacon. It's really good on green beans, just steamed, tossed with some olive oil and sprinkled with Bacon Salt, especially the peppered variety. Dammit .... I suppose it's a guilty pleasure. Any of y'all tried Bacon Salt? What do you think? Photo of the day. Making a statement? Confused? 
If he's making a statement, I'm not entirely sure what it is. (I think he was just trying to make people say "What the f--?!" and/or laugh.) Seen in the parking lot at the market a few weeks ago. History-making spaceflight story of the day. I don't know if any of y'all noticed -- I sure didn't, which diminishes my cred as a childhood space geek -- but last Saturday was the first privately-developed commercial space flight in history to achieve orbit. "The Falcon 1 rocket launched by Space Exploration Technologies, a California company founded by Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and chairman of Tesla Motors, became the first privately developed, privately financed rocket to reach orbit at 4:26 p.m. Pacific time...By slashing the cost to reach orbit, and by giving satellite researchers and small aerospace companies a way to avoid the bureaucracy of NASA, the military or foreign launchers to reach space, Hawthorne-based SpaceX could enable a flash of space innovation the way the Apple II did in computing, said Bob Twiggs, an emeritus professor of astronautics at Stanford University." The video is beautiful, and exciting. To infinity, and beyond! [ Link to today's entries ]
Sad news. Michael P. Smith, the great New Orleans photographer who shone at documenting musicians at Jazzfest, street paradse and funerals, and the fascinating "spirit world" of New Orleans' African-American storefront churches, died on Friday at his New Orleans home of degenerative nervous system disease. 
This is one of his more iconic images, of Professor Longhair at the 1977 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I, along with so many other New Orleanians and people around the world, loved Mr. Smith's images, which were always available to the public at very reasonable prices at his booth at Jazzfest. I do hope his work will still be made available -- he helped bring the heart and soul of New Orleans music and culture into people's homes that way, as well as on myriad album covers as well. Mr. Smith, thank you so much for all your wonderful work. Cocktail of the day. I was craving that gin punch. At the kickoff of Plymouth Gin's Historic Los Angeles Cocktail Tour last month (which I still haven't written about, because I'm a lazy bastard and God Emperor of Procrastination), Dave Wondrich handed us each a flask filled with what he described simply as "gin punch." It was great. A couple of weekends ago Wes and I were asked if we wanted to bring cocktails to a pool party and barbecue we had been invited to. The answer to that is always "Yes!" but often we tend to feel more like enjoying the party than mixing drinks the whole time, particularly when a pool is involved. This is one of those times that calls for punch, and my mind snapped back to Dave's gin punch and how much I enjoyed it. I went right for my copy of his marvelous book Imbibe! (the work copy, that is; we have two copies of it -- one pristine and autographed, and the other one that we're beating the crap out of in our kitchen and bar, and which already has a cracked spine and loose pages). There on page 77 was a punch recipe that seemed awfully similar to the one we had that day, and was undoubtedly It. Given who the sponsor was, the gin we had that day was Plymouth, although the original recipe from the early- to mid-1800s was based on "Holland gin," or genever. If you want to be authentic, make it with an oude genever, or try Maytag's excellent Genevieve Genever-style Gin. Dave says even a London dry will work, and that's what we used, because we had about 2 liters of Beefeater on hand and didn't want to use up all our Boomsma or Genevieve. For the raspberry syrup you can use Monin or even Torani in a pinch. The best raspberry syrup we've ever come across is from Harry and David, those folks that sell the amazing (and amazingly expensive) flats of fruit as gifts, and lots of other expensive bottled and bagged stuff too. Their raspberry syrup is amazing, richly flavored of fresh berries, not too sweet, and stays well-blended in the drink. Problem is, I just checked their online catalog and it doesn't seem to be listed anymore. (D'oh.) Dr. Cocktail is fond of Smucker's Raspberry Syrup, and it's really good too. We found that it's heavy and has a tendency to sink to the bottom of a drink rather than stay blended. This is not necessarily a bad thing -- it just means you shouldn't dawdle over your drink! We ended up kicking it up a bit by substituting the venerable Chambord black raspberry liqueur (which is made with blackberries as well). I had a lot of it on hand, after judging a local Chambord-sponsored cocktail competition a couple of weeks ago (and no, I haven't written about that yet either, sigh). I multiplied the recipe below by twelve to serve everyone, and had enough left over for us to have a nice li'l bowl of punch in the fridge for a few days. I think I might have to keep that practice up. Anyway, here's the version of the punch I made, in a single-serving size:
This was good. They put a lot of this stuff away at the barbecue, and were very complimentary. Don't let its pinkness put you off, though. It'll knock you on your keister if you're not careful. (A couple of people at the party cut it with lemonade, about 80% punch to 20% lemonade. Try some of the fizzy French-style, which would probably be very good in this.) We're going to need that drink. Why? Because House Republicans destroyed $1.1 trillion in wealth today by refusing to pass the bailout bill, with the resultant plummet of 777.68 points on the Dow-Jones average, the biggest in history. That'smoney that came out of your pocket and mine. In fact, I lost 19% of the value of my 401(k) today, money I was planning to retire on one day, money that was probably enough to live on for more than a year. And they blamed the Democrats for hurting their feelings by making some "mean" speeches? That's why they voted against country and against your savings and mine? My comment in the comments. Musique 'cadienne de la jour. Here's a great live clip (well, not so much for the cinematography, but the music more than makes up for it) of the Cajun band Balfa Toujours performing the song "La Valse de Platin." Courtney Granger on lead vocals sounds as if he's channeling his late great-uncle Dewey Balfa, too. Allons valser! Quote of the day. From Mary, in email yesterday:
Perfect. Meanwhile, CBS has more footage of the Palin/Couric interview, as we all knew they did. They'll be airing it this week. Word on the street is that it's the worst yet. It's actually difficult to imagine it being any worse. [ Link to today's entries ]
Ohhh boy ... that's just great. My bank failed last night. Largest bank failure in American history. Seized by the feds and the remnants bought out by JPMorgan Chase. (Ugh.) Let's hope the FDIC is still solvent. So long, and thanks for all the deregulation. Cocktail of the day. I could have used a big drink right around the time I found out my bank had failed, but I only saw the news right before I went to bed. (Come to think of it, a big shot of Cognac would not have been untoward, but I just went to bed instead.) Fortunately we had had a lovely drink last night, and a New Orleans original by Arnaud's French 75 bartender Chris Hannah, who served this to Paul during Tales and gave him the recipe. This kind of imagination, creativity and willingness to make needed ingredients from scratch is what makes Chris one of the very best bartenders in the city. This is also my kind of drink -- bitter and herbal! But that's not the main flavor profile, only part of a more complex whole, with the tiki-spiced sweetness of the falernum and the lovely warm vanilla-sugar-toast of the rum as the base spirit. The name also can't be beat -- it comes from the New Orleans neighborhood in the Ninth Ward where my mom and uncles grew up, where my grandparents had their neighborhood corner grocery, and where I spent a lot of time as a kid.
Those are Chris' recommendations for the rum, but any aged, smooth rum would probably work. I would imagine that the new formulation of Torani Amer (which I'm going to try to find this weekend) would work well too. Although we did enjoy it the version I made was not quite there -- I have a good supply of homemade Amer Boudreau, New Orleans 3 year old dark rum sat in for the Cruzan (all I had Cruzanwise was our house pouring rum, the Cruzan 2 year) but I have yet to make a batch of my own falernum. (Sorry Paul, I'm the God Emperor of Procrastination!) I flipped a coin between John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum and Fee Brothers Falernum syrup, and it came up tails. While the Fee's works well in tropical drinks it was too sweet for this drink, and threw the balance off. (We drank it anyway; even though it was unbalanced I do try not to let good booze go to waste, and it was almost there.) Paul's absolutely right that the drink needs the acid of the lime juice from the homemade falernum for balance. Lesson learned, though. I have fresh cloves (plus a ton of other stuff) on the way from Penzey's, and I'll have a batch of falernum within a few days of their arrival. [UPDATE: Paul said in the comments that Chris had actually told him it was green Chartreuse he used ... so hmm, I haven't quite had a proper Bywater yet!] Woo, delivery! I just got two bottles of Hayman's Old Tom Gin delivered today! While I won't be able to do a fabulous Old Tom Gin taste test like Jay did, I will be making some drinks this weekend that originally called for Old Tom back in their day, but which we've all gotten used to tasting with London dry. This'll be fun! Mmmmmm, fat. There's a new book I need to get, like, yesterday. A book on why animal fats are not only delicious but fundamental to our health? I'm all over it! I love how all this stuff is good for you now -- animal fats, alcohol, chocolate ... hell, that's three of my four major food groups right there. Read the interview -- this author gets it. I think she would be as big a fan of the following quote (one we repeat all the time as one of our many regular catchphrases and quotes) as Wesly and I are:
Y'know, everything thought he was stupid, but sometimes Reese was the genius, not Malcolm. "Bacon-like meat analog"?! It's enough to wonder why someone actually patented this, but it also raises the question, "Why in the name of all that's sane would anybody want this?"
This isn't even suitable for vegetarians or vegans because the 3 to 7% albumen will undoubtably come from eggs. Read the whole thing. It's food science achieving its highest level of horror. The last sentence is the coup de grace. Brrr. [ Link to today's entries ]
Potions of the Caribbean. Continuing with the World's Slowest and Most Procrastinatory Tales of the Cocktail recap ... Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, Wayne Curtis, author of And A Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, Martin Cate of Alameda's fabulous Forbidden Island tiki bar, and Stephen Remsburg, rum expert and owner of what is probably the world's most vast private collection of rums, took us on a tour of the Caribbean, and a tasty one it was. As fun and informative as so many of the seminars at Tales were, I think this one has to win the award for Most Entertaining Seminar, certainly winning the Best and Funniest PowerPoint Presentation Ever. Jeff got our attention with the trumpeting of the conch, began his presentation and finally called for his "laser pointer" ... 
"It looks like a harpoon!" you say. Yes. Yes, it does. Jeff went on to describe Caribbean punches, the general category of which dates back to at least the 1600s, and provided for us the basic rule-of-thumb people used when concocting them: "One of sour, Two of sweet, Three of strong, Four of weak." A little spice thrown in for good measure, and that's a pretty good general recipe for punch. You can see some of the examples on Jeff's slide -- arrack or rum were often the strong, the latter especially in the Caribbean. Lemon or any available citrus for the sour, sugar for the sweet (natch). Water generally stood in for the weak, as did tea, which also provided a spice component. A grating of nutmeg was a typical (and quite lovely) touch atop a punch back in the day. We got things going with a little bit of punch for ourselves, too.
You might want to cut the recipe down a bit. I had never had beer in a punch before. It was unusual but quite delicious, and not surprisingly it went really well with the citrus elements. I never was a fan of the lime wedge in the sodapop-light beer thing, but it all went together here. Unfortunately my notes are sparse, hurried and scribbled, but there are some cryptic indications of some of the stories Jeff told, one of my favorites of which being about "sucking the monkey" -- supposedly monkey carcasses being brought back to port for the taxidermist were stored in alcohol, and thirsty sailors would tap the barrels to drink it with straws, not particularly caring what was pickling inside. (Seems apocryphal; Brewer's Dictionary of Fable and Phrase has another explanation featuring no actual monkey carcasses, as does another compendium of seafaring terms. I have heard, however, that bodies of officers killed in battle were preserved similarly in alcohol, and tapped by sailors dyin' o' da t'irst; hence, "sucking the Admiral." Yeesh.) Then I won a prize! Jeff called out a question, looking for a famous tiki drink containing sherry, and I got my answer out first -- "The Fog Cutter!" Jeff then tossed me my Major Award -- a vintage paperback copy of Thor Heyerdahl's Aku-Aku. It was my favorite prize since I won the blackout at my high school's Band Bingo in 8th grade. (Fifty bucks!) We got a lot of fascinating history from Jeff about the development of Caribbean and tropical-style cocktails and bars in the States -- Don the Beachcomber, primarily, in Los Angeles in the early 1930s -- and then in Key West and Cuba. Hemingway entered into the story, both in his longtime exploits in Cuba as well as a ripoff bar a friend of his copied and opened in Key West. Then came one of Papa's favorites as our next cocktail:
Wayne Curtis rose to speak, taking us further on to Cuba and the many hotel and free-standing bars in and out of Havana. Some are obviously no longer there (Trader Vic having picked an unfortunate location for his Havana outlet, the Havana Hilton, which a fellow named Fidel ended up using as his HQ for La Revolución ... oops). Wayne told the tale of going to the bar in what's left of that hotel, ordering a Mai Tai and being served something red and nasty and hideously sweet. "This is not a good argument for socialism." Hee. Our next cocktail! Jeff told us about the venerable Rum Pot, and offered us this adapted version:
For some reason I had the above recipe written down, but this one came on the recipe card:
Heck, try 'em both! This drink, as well as the Java Punch I made for MxMo the other day, really makes me fond of vanilla in cocktails, especially in extract form so I get the flavor without the sweetness of syrup. I'll be playing more with this as time goes on. Martin did a hugely entertaining slide presentation about the old island technique of making a concoction with rum and fresh pimento (allspice) berries and burying it in his backyard for six months. Marleigh noted this in her "things I learned at Tales" post -- "6. Find Martin Cate;s house and dig in the backyard, because he buries jugs of punch back there!" Unfortunately I didn't get any kind of recipe for what he made, so if anyone's got it I'd love to see it. Woo, and time for another cocktail! Not only that, a cocktail served to us by the lovely Jeanne Vidrine, Tiki Queen of New Orleans. 
Steve Remsburg began his portion of the talk, and spoke fondly of one Jasper LeFranc, who had been head bartender at the Bay Roc Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica for over 30 years. This one pretty much epitomizes the best flavors that the Caribbean has to offer, is simple to make and will wow your guests: 
Everything marries so beautifully here -- the dark rum, the myriad spice flavors of the allspice, the tang of the lime plus that unique limey flavor ... just gorgeous. If you can't yet find St. Elizabeth's where you live, you can use my pimento dram recipe. Steve proceeded to give us some priceless recipes, including this one which quite possibly was worth the price of admission -- Jasper's own special rum mix, which he personally gave to Steve years ago and which he used as a base for several of his drinks.
Jasper used this mix in these drinks, among others:
Steve adds, "Hope you enjoy t hem and that this experiment leads ot a greater appreciation that the rum really does make all the difference in the flavor of the drink. Pay attention to the rum you use, and take note of the differences they make in your drinks." And we'll leave it at that, as my hands hurt from typing ... I need an ergonomic keyboard! Absolut Top Bartender. You knew it was coming ... in fact, it was inevitable. Move over Top Chef ... here comes Top Bartender. It's a national bartenders' competition, with the winner receiving $100,000. As I understand it, the local competitions in the various cities will whittle the pack down to 2 from each, and then for the finals we'll see a Top Chef-like reality show with all the bartenders in a house, competing for the top prize. My friend Marcos Tello is coordinating the contest locally, and here's what he has to say:
I think the idea of a national bartending competition is great, but we'll have to wait and see how it pans out. If Marcos is coordinating the competition locally I know the standards will only be the highest, and seeing Simon Ford's participation in the video means an emphasis on quality as well -- I have tremendous respect for Simon. I just hope that by the time the finalists get to the house the TV producers don't turn it into some kind of "flair bartending" travesty, thereby attempting good television instead of good mixology. I hope it'll focus on great drinks, and what it means to be a truly great bartender (which does not include flipping bottles behind your back and spilling half your product on the floor). Given that the sponsor is a vodka company, I suppose it's possible that all or most of the cocktails will have to contain the sponsor's product ... that also remains to be seen. I hope they follow more of a Top Chef model, in which the sponsor's products don't dominate everything -- that it's about mixology and being a great bartender and not just product promotion. Sure, there are lots of great cocktail competitions in which the sponsor's product must be used, but let's hope this show ends up having a wider field. In any case, I wish all my competing bartender friends the best of luck. I wanna see Los Angeles kick ass in this thing, and I'd love to see one of my friends take home a hundred grand! Jaw-dropping. Katie Couric, in her bloodcurdling interview with Sarah Palin yesterday, asked what her foriegn policy credentials were, given that she's running for an office in which she could become president, and how her state's proximity to Russia constitutes foreign policy experience. It is not to be believed. Watch CBS Videos Online
Sweet Jesus. That this thoroughly clueless, mindbogglingly idiotic person could potentially have the codes to launch nuclear weapons (and could have it soon) should be enough to frighten any undecided voter into deciding against voting for McCain ... who judged this person to be the best possible candidate for vice president (he claims). That speaks volumes about his judgment and character. Advice from a former president. Thanks to Aaron Sorkin, you may now read about Barack Obama's visit with former two-term Democratic president Jed Bartlet, in which Sen. Obama asks President Bartlet for his advice. (Oh, how I'd love to actually see this.)
Oh, and speaking of Sarah Palin ... in the midst of the most bizarrely surreal farce of a day of politics I have seen in my entire adult life, it's become patently obvious why McCain and his operatives desperately keep Palin away from the press, and why McCain is trying to "postpone" (read cancel) the vice presidential debate -- Sarah Palin is an unmitigated disaster when being asked real questions by real reporters.
Aravosis described it perfectly when he said, "Palin is in so far over her head, it isn't even funny." [ Link to today's entries ]
"Folks, you cannot make this stuff up." Obama was kicking ass yesterday. :-) I'm in 100% agreement with Joe at AmericaBlog when he said, "I love the way Obama is using McCain's old words to eviscerate McCain." "Without privatization, I don't see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits," said McCain in 2004. Good thing he and Bush weren't able to put people's Social Security funds into the stock market after this week, isn't it? Congratulations, Chris and Kevin! Our friends, who've been together for about seven and a half years, got married yesterday. The ceremony was so them, including an accordionist and a show tunes sing-along, and a deeply moving Buddhist tea ceremony. Family and friends came from all over the country. Wes adds, "Wonderful turnout, people of all ages, grandparents down to toddlers, and I thought, 'Why does this scare people?'" It was a celebration of love and commitment, and it was a lot of fun too. (I love weddings!) Let's hope that countless other couples won't have their legal right to marriage taken away from them in November. Every Californian should have the choice to marry the person they love. It's a personal and fundamental freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of the State of California. On Election Day, Californians will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 8, a discriminatory and divisive measure that aims to take away this freedom from same-gender couples. It's not right for California, and it's not right for you. Californians, vote NO on Prop. 8. Follow the link to find out what you can do to help. [ Link to today's entries ]
Breakfast at Brennan's. Would you believe I'm still recapping Tales of the Cocktail, two months later? I think I'm in serious contention with Jamie Boudreau for winning the Self-Proclaimed Lazy Bastard Contest ... in fact, I think I've already beaten the pants off him. (Hmm, nice legs, Jamie.) But I digress. One of our Tales days included an impromptu jaunt for brunch over to the venerable Brennan's on Royal Street in the French Quarter, one of the grand old Creole restaurants of New Orleans (but one of the younger ones, dating back a mere 62 years to 1946). They're quite justifiably famous for their gargantuan, multi-course breakfast and brunch, and "Breakfast at Brennan's" has entered the local lexicon as being the epitome of luxury for the first meal of the day. The gang included us, our friends Marleigh and Dan who live near us in L.A., and a fair chunk of the Seattle crew of bartenders and drinkers who came down. I love it when a plan comes together. Unfortunately, as we were walking to the restaurant, I began to get a bit worried. I hadn't been to Brennan's since I was in high school, unfortunately, but my memory of their menu, particularly the breakfast menu, wasn't revealing a single thing Marleigh and Dan could eat. The potential problem? They're both vegans. (I can hear you now ... "Vegans? In New Orleans?! Won't they starve?" Well, no, oddly enough. They researched their dining choices carefully, and are also the most laid back and non-judgmental vegans you'd ever meet, so if there's a bit of advance prep there's no problem. Spontanaeity can make things a bit difficult for them, though.) Sure enough, when we got there and perused the large menu, there wasn't once single thing they could eat. Not. One. Thing. I felt awful, but they assured me that I shouldn't. They did get to eat some of the best French bread in the world, and swill local cocktails, so the meal wasn't all lost. (To help make up for it we took them to an African restaurant later on that featured lots of no-meat cuisine later on, which they enjoyed immensely.) The rest of us, however, not only drank like fish as well but ate like Creole pigs, devouring a very delectable three-course Creole breakfast. Rounds of cocktails went around, all local favorites of course ... Sazeracs, Brandy Milk Punches, Absinthe Suissesses (that's a lot of "s"s) and Ramos Gin Fizzes. Most of us were very happy with them, but ... man, there was way, way too much orange flower water in my Ramos, which is the killer flaw when making that drink. Orange flower water can really overpower if you use too much, and it tasted like this guy used a tablespoon of the stuff. Three or four drops is all it needs. My subsequent Milk Punch and Sazerac helped erase my irritation, though. The typical table d'hôte breakfast at Brennan's consists of three dishes -- an appetizer like turtle soup, one of the classic egg dishes or a heartier meat dish and a dessert, typically their famous Bananas Foster. I ordered a menu special that got me an egg dish instead of the appetizer, plus a meat dish and a dessert, for only a bit more than the standard breakfast (which, I have to say, is frightfully expensive these days). 
Eggs Sardou is one of the grand Creole egg dishes -- poached eggs atop artichoke bottoms on a bed of creamed spinach, topped with Hollandaise sauce and, in this case, served with a grilled half a Creole tomato topped with Parmesan cheese, a little bread crumbs and Creole seasoning. Oh my. Rich as all get out and really, really good. Wesly, of course, one-upped me yet again: 
I don't know why I didn't order this dish myself. Eggs Nouvelle-Orléeans is poached eggs on a bed of gigantic jumbo lump crabmeat with a brandy cream sauce. He always manages to get the massive crabmeat dishes instead of me, which is of course entirely my own fault. I did get a bite, though ... it was insanely good. Let's have a closer look at that, shall we? 
Good lord. I was somewhat placated by my next dish, perhaps my favorite Creole breakfast dish of all time: 
Dessert time! This restaurant is where Bananas Foster was invented many years ago, and you kinda have to get it. Even though I've had it a zillion times at many different restaurants, and made it myself at home countless times, I hadn't had it at Brennan's since I was a kid, so it had to be done. Most of the out-of-towners were keen to try it as well, and as always Brennan's prepares it tableside with typical flair. 
Bananas cooked in butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and banana liqueur, flamed with dark rum and served over vanilla ice cream ... it's so simple. That kind of simplicity is what can make a really great dish, though ... all perfectly matched flavors and textures, and a lot of fun to watch too. Let's have a look at the serving, shall we? 
Our friend Rocky from Seattle, bucking tradition, got another of Brennan's great desserts, Crêpes Fitzgerald, another invention of the restaurant -- crêples filled with sour cream and cream cheese, topped with strawberries and flamed with maraschino liqueur. Yum. 
Here we are after dessert, with full tummies and well-lubricated, with myself hiding behind the camera and Wes with our friends Wendy and Dayne from Seattle. 
Gee, how many drinks do you think we've had? I still highly recommend the breakfast at Brennan's experience if you haven't had it, but I do have to offer one major caveat -- it's really, really expensive. Prepare to spend around $60-75 just for food. You might also want to ask them to go easy on the orange flower water if you order a Ramos Gin Fizz, too. That aside, it doesn't get much more New Orleans than breakfast at Brennan's. Brennan's of Houston is gone. Amidst the already horrifying destruction of Hurricane Iike, especially in Galveston, and especially on the Bolivar Peninsula, which was wiped out flat and where there's fear of major loss of life (and an especially suspicious press blackout taking place), one more really sad and shocking loss took place. Brennan's of Houston, run by Alex Brennan-Martin, our friend Ti Martin's brother, was destroyed in a major fire. Making it even worse, a man and his young daughter, staffers who were riding out the hurricane at the restaurant, were severely injured in the blaze. The Brennan family have set up a fund to aid in their friends' long recovery. They are undaunted, though. Alex said, "We absolutely plan to rebuild and look forward to serving our guests again for another 41 years and longer!" I'm glad to hear it -- I dine there when I visit my sister's family in Houston, and I look forward to dining there again. Please also keep James Koonce and his 4-year-old daughter Katherine in your thoughts as they recover. The Soul Queen of New Orleans. I found this nifty little video documentary on Irma Thomas and the making of her wonderful new album, Simply Grand, featuring just her voice and a different piano player on almost every track -- Dr. John, Ellis Marsalis, Tom McDermott, David Torkanowski, Henry Butler, Jon Cleary, Marcia Ball, Randy Newman and more. Get the record -- it's simply superb. [ Link to today's entries ]
Meet Mr. Gin! I found this nifty menu on eBay recently -- got it for cheap, too. It dates from the early 1940s as best as I can tell, from a place called Martin's Bar and Grill in the Hotel New Carlton in Montréal, Québec, Canada. I don't think it's still there; Googling didn't turn up much. If it's now the Ritz-Carlton there's no Martin's there that I can tell. (Canadians, help me out!) 
What was striking to me is that it's an entire menu of nothing but gin cocktails! (Click to enlarge.) 
I'm only familiar with a few of the brands on the "Straight" menu, but I'm sure I would have been happy there. (I'm assuming that first menu section was for your choice of brand; I can't imagine too many people just drinking plain straight gin.) Then ... 38 gin cocktails, 27 long drinks and five somewhat bizarre hot drinks, and you've got a total of 70 different concoctions to choose from. They presumably had either Crème Yvette or Crème de Violette, as they served Blue Moons; I wonder if their Aviations included violette as well. I'd sure love to hop into the Wayback Machine and meet Mr. Gin myself. 
On the back is a little history of gin, and some singing of its praises. This makes me think that this kind of menu is exactly what we need to see in cocktailian bars and restaurants now -- a specialty gin menu to help wean customers away from vodka. I'm really hoping that Old Tom gin gets around more once it's introduced, because that will definitely be a conversion gin, a "gateway gin" on the way to Plymouth and London dry brands. I think a lot of folks don't really know what to do with gin, other than avoiding it in a Martini or getting it in a G&T, and a menu like this could really help them. They'd learn, as I did on my own, that gin isn't scary, that gin is an amazing ingredient that blends so well with other ingredients you don't really taste anything that you thought you were afraid of. You just taste goodness. Let's hope someone picks up on this idea. It doesn't even have to be nearly this long -- a dozen or even half a dozen would be a great start. Everybody, meet Mr. Gin! (He looks like a great guy.) We love to fry, and it shows. Let's look, shall we, at the compendium of fried food items currently being offered at the Los Angeles County Fair. (That's battered and deep-fried, for the most part.) Artichoke hearts, White Castle burgers, blue cheese sticks, Spam, cheesecake, Pop Tarts ... battered-and-deep-fried madness the likes of which we have not even seen in Scotland. "Not bad at all," proclaims Dave about the battered and deep-fried White Castle burgers. (I must confess a curiosity.) I think the Fat Pack might need to make a trip. And then, of course ... there's the chocolate covered bacon ... Old R.E.M. My friend Barry found this amazing set of videos of an R.E.M. show from Passaic, New Jersey in June of 1984. The whole thing. Looks pretty darn good, too. Let's check out an old favorite to whet your appetites ... I remember when Stipe's hair was that long. Yep, I'm old. Oh, let's check out a performance of the same song from last year (quality not nearly as good, though): I am kicking myself for not seeing their last tour. Sigh. What campaign commercials should look like. In the midst of the most appalling and dishonest batch of political advertisements I've ever seen coming from the McCain campaign, Barack Obama does something that nobody else seems to have thought of: he sat down and talked to us about real issues, with no music, no out-of-context quotes, no lies, no smears. He's campaigning like an adult, and telling us things we need to hear instead of ridiculous distractions. Starting yesterday this commercial is running nationwide, especially in battleground states. It's two minutes long, which is a very expensive airtime buy. It's remarkable for that alone, but even more amazing in that it has substantive content. If you haven't seen it yet, watch: This is an opportunity to finally breathe oxygen in the middle of all the toxic cases McCain has been putting out. Scroll back up to the top and click on the thermometer to contribute to Obama/Biden '08. Go to hell, Zell. Wow ... a group of former Los Angeles Times reporters filed a class-action lawsuit against owner Sam Zell, calling his takeover of Tribune Co. "a scam" and "a classic grift." Our paper has rapidly gone down the tubes; does this mean we might get our paper back one day, or preferably a good one in its place? Let's hope so. [ Link to today's entries ]
Mixology Monday 31: Roundup! Dinah and Joe at Bibulo.us have the compendium of 19th Century cocktailian cheer, which so far includes no less than thirty-eight cocktails. Better get started -- you've got a lot of drinking to do before MxMo XXXII! Gumbobama! Yeah, it's a silly title, but it's just for the URL (with a nod to the folks back home at Dirty Coast, who make brilliant New Orleans-related t-shirt designs including Geauxbama!, from which I kinda stole the idea. Oh, what am I talking about? Our very own Gumbo Pages / Looka! Barack Obama Fundraiser Page! I've set a goal of raising $2500 just from our readers between now and Election Day. It's the most important election of our lives, y'all. Let's pull together and get it done. Contribute what you can -- anything from $1 to $2,300! Send it around, too. Here's an easy URL to remember that'll redirect you right to the page: www.gumbopages.com/obama. Yes we can, yes we can, yes we can. I know! We'll start a commission! That's how John McCain wants to fix the economy, apparently -- form a commission. Um, great. That'll solve everything. Barack Obama responds: The lies and dishonor continue. John McCain is having a bad week. (If he's elected, we'll have a very, very bad four years and possibly much, much longer.) Good lord, where does one begin? John McCain is lying about his so-called "health care plan." New York Times: "Senator John McCain's top domestic policy adviser, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, recently said in a conference call with reporters that Mr. McCain's health care proposal would 'put 25 to 30 million individuals out of the ranks of the uninsured, into the ranks of the insured.' In an article released Tuesday, a panel of prominent health economists concludes that Mr. Holtz-Eakin's projection is off by, well, 25 to 30 million." Jacki at AmericaBlog: "If you get your health insurance through work, you can kiss that good-bye. See, McCain will tax your benefits as if they were salary. So you will see more money come out of your paycheck with no additional salary to compensate for that loss. Then, employers will be inclined to drop coverage because they won't see the point in offering it when you can get it elsewhere and there is no longer a tax break attached to it. You will lose the benefit of employer-negotiated and monitored group plans. G-d forbid you have a medical history - any medical history - good luck getting affordable coverage (if you can get decent coverage at all) in the individual market. McCain wants to give you a tax credit that won't cover the average plan and won't keep up with the rising costs of care. Oh, and that buying across state lines thing - bad for you, great for the insurance industry. They get to set up shop in states with the least regulation." This is horrifying. McCain spokesperson Carly Fiorina gaffes on MSNBC: Saran Palin and John McCain couldn't run a major corporation. UPDATE: McCain reportedly "furious" at Fiorina's gaffe. Fiorina was booked for several TV interviews in the next few days, including one at CNN. Those interviews have been cancelled. Campaign source: "Carly will now disappear." FOX "News" calls out the McCain campaign on their lies. Wow, if you're losing them ... Today's whopper, via McCain's top economic advisor: McCain created Blackberries and WiFi, using the same kind of bullshit that they used to say Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet ...except this time it's not an attack on someone else, but praise for a non-existent accomplishment. For the record, McCain can't even use a Blackberry and doesn't even know how to use a computer or send email (AP). McCain attacked "fat cats" for being responsible for this weekend's scary collapses on Wall Street -- turns out these same fat cats were instrumental in funding his campaign. Conservative columnists have started turning on McCain and Palin. My favorite new article is from Richard Cohen, former McCain supporter:
Oh, and speaking of Palin ... the Republicans are now suing to stop the Troopergate investigation in Alaska, the one Palin said she'd cooperate with fully until a few days later when she said she wouldn't. Wonder what they have to hide? "This person's election would be a disaster for the country and the world." Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist Church minister who pastors a small congregation in Palmer, Alaska, Wasilla's "twin town." He knows Sarah Palin well, and has a lot to say about the prospect of her becoming vice president or, God forbid, president of the United States.
Frankly, she scares me more than he does. The actuarial tables say there's a significant chance he won't survive his first term if elected. The thought of this person actually becoming president ... shudder. [ Link to today's entries ]
Mixology Monday XXXI: 19th Century Cocktails. Yeesh, talk about barely making it in under the wire (once again). I wasn't supposed to be in town, actually, and was far too disorganized to do it in advance and have the post ready to go. Mainly that was because I was schvitzing about Hurricane Ike heading directly toward Houston, which is where I was supposed to be going to see my sister, brother-in-law, fabulous nephew Thomas and fabulous brand-new niece Molly, whom I haven't even met yet. We were supposed to go last Friday, but on Thursday they bugged out ... to New Orleans, of all places, not where you usually think of going to get away from a hurricane. All's well for them, though -- they had a tree go down in their front yard in Houston, but no damage to the house. (They were far luckier than all those poor folks in Galveston, good lord.) And it's not like we haven't been drinking all weekend either -- delicious yet deadly punches by Marcos Tello and Eric Alperin on Thursday, courtesy of the House of Chambord (I'll see if I can pry the recipes out of them) and a big fat hangover on Sunday. It finally occured to me this morning that if I was going to get a post up today I needed to get my butt in gear. Fortunately I'd been doing some reading right along the lines of what we were going to be doing this month. 
A wonderful company called Mud Puddle Books has been releasing several once-extremely difficult to find cocktail books from the 19th and early 20th Centuries, books which otherwise might have set you back hundreds of dollars. It's wonderful -- and essential -- that these books are back in print, because for cocktailians they are a big part of our history. We want to know where all this stuff came from, and while there has been extensive research, and we have Jerry Thomas' and others' books, there were several key volumes of cocktail history that were only available to collectors who either had deep pockets or were just lucky enough to get them before there was a demand. I've got everything they've put out so far, and I've been devouring them with glee. Besides being informative, they're beautifully done -- in the original typefaces, and with original illustrations and period advertisements -- they're damned entertaining too. There are also new introductions by the likes of David Wondrich, Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, Robert Hess and Dale DeGroff. The one I've been reading this week is Charlie Paul's 1902 edition entitled Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks. 
Dale wrote the introduction to this one, and although it was published in 1902 it gives a pretty
amazing look at the state of drinking at the end of the 19th Century. Such a terrific little book too; besides all the recipes
(including some startling variations on drinks we now consider standards, like the Manhattan and Mint Julep) the illustrations alone
are worth the price of the book. Dale says, "The illustrations of 19th Century bar tools were extraordinary; a few of which I've
Now, what to pick? There are so many I wanted to try, including ones with a pinch of cayenne pepper (with and without egg), a pousse-café topped with an egg yolk and then a "pyramid" of whipped egg white, topped with dashes of bitters (which I'm definitely going to try). I would have done that wonderful Mint Julep variation. which includes brandy, rum, yello Chartreuse and which is dashed with Claret on top of the ice, which Charlie describes as "a drink fit for a king." Then there were a few like these, which I thought maybe I'd skip:
"Handle quickly"? What, before it blows up? No, I took a pass on this one. I really wanted to make something with Old Tom gin. I had gotten a chance to taste some of the batch Eric brought into town with his distributor (currently available at Hi Time Wine and Spirits in Costa Mesa, far enough that it might as well be in Kazakhstan, with more due soon at my local haunts, Beverage Warehouse and The Wine House) last Tuesday at Seven Grand. Just as tasty as I remembered it, and John made us a lovely 19th Century-style Martinez with it. But I didn't have any on had, so nix that. What I thought I'd do is a punch. Punch was the mixed drink of choice for a very long time, and was beginning to be displaced by all the cocktails, fixes, flips, fizzes, daisies, sangarees, slings and other mixed drinks that were invented by the scores in the 19th Century, but by this time punch was still holding on. There were some good-looking recipes in there, but I wasn't particularly inclined to make a whole bowlful of it. (Not that I couldn't get several friends over at a moment's notice to help us drain the flowing bowl, but I was lazy.) I came across one by-the-glass punch recipe that looked simple and tasty, and filled the bill on both counts. This fits in with the basic formula for punch, as David Wondrich described to us in his terrific seminar on punch at Tales (which I'll recap one of these days). It's essentially wine or booze, citrus, soda or water, sugar and some kind of wild card (berries, tea, spices, etc.). It's easy to make, refreshing during these waning days of summer and was pretty damned tasty. 
Charlie's original recipe didn't call for nutmeg, but as many 19th Century and earlier punches were finished that way, I added that to the top for a nice aroma and one more "wild card" dimension to the flavor. The recipe is easily adaptable to your own taste; if you like it tarter, up the lemon to 1 ounce, or if you like it sweeter maybe an extra half-teaspoon simple syrup. I think the vanilla flavor is in perfect balance with just the one teaspoon of vanilla syrup, though. The brandy I used was Hine VSOP Cognac, the rum a 12 year old Guatemalan called Zaya, which sadly is going away soon and will no longer be available. (I was feeling extravagant.) Pass the punch! P.S. -- Okay, so as I'm about to post my MxMo entry at Bibulo.us, I see this little bit at the end of the post: "Bonus points to anyone who can bring us early William "Cocktail" Boothby recipes, especially pre-1900 versions of the Ruby Cocktail." Well, I had just gotten in a reproduction of the 1934 version of Boothby's World Drinks and How To Mix Them. I really hadn't gone through it that much yet, but I found myself shifting into the mode that caused one of my chef-teachers in the UCLA Culinary Arts program to dub me "The Overachiever." (She may have been five feet tall in heels, but she kicked my ass every single class. She was amazing, actually. But I digress.) I found The Ruby Cocktail with two additional variations, the second containing gin (which I thought would help dampen the sweetness of sloe gin, the primary ingredient) and the third containing egg. I'm out of eggs, so No. 2 it was.
This makes a nice li'l 2-ounce drink. I was a little less than impressed at first, but as I sipped it continued to grow on me. The gin and dry vermouth help dilute the sweetness of the sloe gin, and you get just a touch of herbs from the dashes of the liqueur. Not usually the balance I'm looking for in a drink, but not bad. I kinda want to try the egg white version now. Okay, enough with the overachieving ... [ Link to today's entries ]
So long, Ruthie. When I was growing up, I remember hearing about and eventually seeing people that were referred to as "Quarter characters" (sounding, of course, more like "quawtuh caracktuhs"). Probably my favorite was Ruthie the Duck Girl, or "the Duck Lady" as many of us called her, as she was a lot older than a girl. She was quite a sight, in a frily dress, often a wedding dress with veil, skating down the sidewalks of the French Quarter followed by her beloved pet ducks. One of my classmates in college worked at a French Quarter bar where Ruthie would hang out and occasionally sleep in the back room, and we got lots of great Ruthie stories from him (I wish I could remember some righ now). I had seen her in the Quarter but never met her or talked to her -- I was far too shy -- and that's too bad. Ruthie's real name was Ruth Grace Moulon -- she was 74 years old, and she died last week, in the aftermath of her nursing home's evacuation to Baton Rouge. 
Perhaps my favorite quote about Ruthie, repeated in the T-P article above, from photographer David Richmond: "She's not out of touch with reality; she's just not interested." She wasn't just a mysterious street person -- her life was well-documented, and in 1999 a documentary film was made about her. There was an excellent article in the Gambit a few years ago as well:
I had always thought she was older than 74, which just a year older than my dad. I guess her longtime lifestyle didn't exactly keep her young. But, as far as most people could tell, she was always happy in her Quarter chracter life. The Gambit article details the arguments as to whether she was really happy in the nursing home where she finally ended up. One thing's for sure -- she was probably the last of her kind. As she once said, "There ain't a whole lot of us left." Ray Nagin's latest idiocy. Why this man isn't covered in feathers and run out of town on a rail is beyond me. First off, he says in a press conference on Thursday that he encouraged Hurricane Ike evacuees from Texas to book hotel rooms in New Orleans by requesting the "Mayor Ray Nagin special rate."
Previously, Nagin walked out on a screening of the new Katrina documentary "Trouble the Water" after five minutes, saying he considered it a "negative portrayal," but not before telling a reporter that the city's economy is really strong, that there are plenty of jobs, and that the guys who make po-boys at Gene's pull in $1,500 to $1,800 a week. Well gee. I think I'll just quit my job and sell my house and finally move back to New Orleans, because who knew I could make between $78,000 and $93,600 frying hot sausage and making po-boys. If Mandeville can start a recall campaign for their ridiculous and crooked mayor, why can't New Orleans start one of its own? [ Link to today's entries ]
Cocktails of the day. Going out to a bar and closing it down on a school night. You're a bad boy, Taggart. This is an occasional occupational hazard of having friends who are bartenders, of course. Late nights are no problem for those guys, but for me and another friend who had to get up early today, the getting-up part was a bit dicey. By the time I got on the road this morning I was pretty much over it. Could be famous last words, though -- let's hope I don't just conk out a little later on. Last night was a long overdue visit to Seven Grand, occasioned by our friend Eric's visit to start getting Old Tom Gin into the L.A. market (yay!). More on that a bit later. Order of the day was Bartender's Choice, which I love doing there -- it's one of the few places I'll let someone just make me anything and trust that it'll be wonderful. (It gladdens my heart that the number of such places is slowly but steadily growing.) Our friend John took marvelous care of us, and when I asked to be surprised he asked what I was in the mood far -- "Something on the tart and fizzy side, maybe something more on the bitter side?" Bitter always works for me, and John presented me with a wonderful Audrey Saunders variation on the Manhattan, with Cynar, the artichoke flavored bitter aperitivo, sitting in for the aromatic bitters. This is Audrey's original recipe below; John varied it slightly by cutting the sweet vermouth back to 1/2 ounce but using the powerfully spicy and flavorful Carpano Antica Formula, and garnishing with a lemon peel instead of two cherries on a pick.
The rye and the Cynar played very well together, with their alchemy creating chocolatey notes in this drink that I really loved. I'm very curious to try augmenting that with a dash of Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters or even Sweet Chocolate Bitters; we'll see if that ends up as an enhancement or if it puts it over the top. Dammit, I can't wait for that stuff to finally be released! Damien ordered a Negroni variation that was really tasty too -- substitute Partida Blanco tequila for the gin, add a barspoon of absinthe and serve on the rocks with an orange twist. We tried a ton of other things too -- a Martinez Cocktail using the Old Tom gin, the way it was originally made (although with a slight variation in proportion -- 1:1 with the gin and vermouth). As we had several of Eric's products on hand (as well as the guy who makes them, visiting from Austria!) we tried a few of those in cocktails as well. Mr. Purkhart himself asked for something using his Crème de Violette, and was given a variation on the Ramos Gin Fizz, sort of a violette fizz: Swap out Old Tom gin for the London Dry, substitute 2 barspoons of the violette instead of the orange flower water, and add several drops of Regans' Orange Bitters No. 6 to the frothy head and swirl around with a toothpick. Holy crap, that was good. Then they were kind enough to make two of mine. Eric brought out the St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram and asked for a Réveillon, so we had a bit of Christmas in September. Then John asked about the Hoskins recipe -- he had had one at Zig Zag but hadn't made one himself -- so we got one and shared it with him and everyone else. So nice to be able to get one of those in a bar. Speaking of the good ol' Hoskins, I hear tell that Torani have reformulated their Amer, removing the vegetal characteristic that so many people found off-putting and making it taste much more like Amer Picon did. If so, I can't wait to taste that! All that, plus a visit to Leo's Tacos at 2:30am. Great night. John McCain is a dishonorable man, unfit for high office. The last week and a half, and especially the last two days, have been far beyond what is acceptable or forgivable even in the context of a political race. Josh Marshall:
Conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan:
The case against?
Enough. Enough, enough, enough, enough, enough! Surprise Obama endorsement. Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency has been given the blessing of 81-year-old bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley ... a man not known for liberal views. At a rally in Virginia, Dr. Ralph said:
Here's hoping he can help convince some of his fellow Virginians (not to mention West Virginians) to join him. An Alaska resident talks about Sarah Palin. In an email last week to my friend Sean, a resident of Ketchikan, Alaska, I said, "So your governor is running for vice president!" Here is his reply, posted with permission:
There you have it, from a local. Truly, the only reason Sarah Palin was elected governor is that 1) she was running for governor, and 2) she was not Frank Murkowski. If a moose had been running he or she would have been elected over Murkowski. Don't forget to read the assessment of Palin by Anne Kilkenny, a longtime resident of Palin's hometown of Wasilla. [ Link to today's entries ]
Cocktail of the day. The first reference to this cocktail that I know of is from Harry McElhone's Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails, reprinted by Mud Puddle Books as its later incarnation, Barflies and Cocktails (and more on that next week, if you don't know about these fantastic reprints just yet). The original called for equal parts of each of the main ingredients, but this version is, I think, a bit more well-balanced. The recipe is credited to one Harry Johnson of the city of New Orleans.
Lovely. (No photo, sorry ... that's both my laziness and my lack of decent lighting for cocktail photos, which I'm actually working on. Within the next month I hope to have pics of every cocktail I write about here.) Plucky Survivors, Days 8 and 9! Lexinton to Louisville to Chattanooga, Mary and Rick forge on. Hot dogs and choo-choos and ghosts, oh my!
Ooh, that hot dog. Read on. :-)
Don't miss Day 9, and Dinosaur World! "They must think you're stupid." Yes! If Barack keeps this up, Palin-McCain are toast.
It boggles my mind that McCain keeps saying he's the agent of change. His party has been in power for eight years! By his own admission he's voted with George W. Bush 90% of the time, but he's the agent of change? I'm glad Obama's finally coming right out and saying it -- "They must think you're stupid." That's why everyone must not simply swallow everything the Republicans are saying, the lies and distortions and fear tactics that have gotten people to vote against their own self-interest during the last two, and especially the last, election. The idea that McCain is going to change anything is laughable. [ Link to today's entries ]
Cocktail of the day. Because we need one after the two big speeches we had to endure this week, and because the rest of today's posts are going to be politicky. Those of you who bitch about such things are invited to tune to another website for today after you've had your drink. My friend Erik Ellestad posted a brief tweet in his Twitter feed the other day that said this:
An exclamation point suddenly appeared over my head, encased in a thought balloon. Sometimes ya gotta love Twitter. The Manhattan Cocktail was invented sometime in the 1860s, with conflicting stories as to its origin, as is the usual case with classic cocktails of its age. One reliable source, quoted by Dave Wondrich in his superb tome Imbibe!, was William F. Mulhall, who was a bartender at New York's Hoffman House from 1882 until 1915. He said that "[t]he Manhattan Cocktail was invented by a man named Black, who kept a place ten doors down below Houston Street on Broadway in the [eighteen-]sixties." There's also evidence to think it was created at New York's Manhattan Club as well, although the stories of it being created for a banquet thrown by Winston Churchill's mother, enduring as they are, were disproven by a little simple math with the dates. Professor Jerry Thomas included it in one of the later editions of his pioneering bar guide, and his version is quite a bit different from what we're used to today. The main difference is that the proportions are reversed -- this old version calls for twice as much vermouth as whiskey. There are a few reasons for this: Dave talks in his book about the Vermouth Cocktail being fine and dandy, at least you've got a drink in your hand, but it lacks a certain kick the many members of The Sporting Life demanded. However, a pure whiskey cocktail, consisting primarily of spirit, didn't allow the consumption of too many before you were likely to be whacking your chin on the end of the bar as you were on your way down to the floor. Ah, but the mixture of whiskey or other spirit with the wildly popular new vermouth that was coming in from Europe ... now there's a drink where you can knock back a few, know you're doing it and last a bit longer on your feet! On top of that, the interplay between the flavors of the spirit and the spiced wine created a whole new universe of flavor. Also, back in the day, a lot of whiskey tended to be stronger than what we typically get today; Old Potrero's 18th Century Style Whiskey is a modern example of what many of those old whiskies were like. I've never tried making a Jerry Thomas Manhattan using an 86-proof whiskey, but I don't think it would be all that well balanced; I probably should try it, actually, just to see. Old Potrero would be a good idea for this cocktail, as would the lovely Thomas Handy Sazerac Rye, which is fantastic stuff and comes in at 132 proof. But the stuff Erik suggested was really exciting -- the 2006 release of George T. Stagg Bourbon, aged for 16 years and bottled at barrel strength, came in at a whopping 144 proof. That's 72% alcohol for the math-impaired, and what the Buffalo Trace distillery calls one of their "Haz-Mat" releases. It's actually illegal to transport this stuff on a plane yourself; you can bring up to 5 bottles of booze in your checked luggage, but only if it's below 140 proof. After seeing Erik's tweet, I made two as soon as I got home. The key to this drink, besides Erik's excellent suggestion of a super-powerful and flavorful whiskey, is to use a really spicy, flavorful vermouth as well. Top choice would be the incredible Carpano Antica Formula, followed by Vya or Punt E Mes. If you have one of the other releases of Stagg that should work well too, as will the Thomas Handy rye or Old Potrero 18th Century.
Our reaction ... HOLY CRAP! Thanks for the suggestion, Erik! The Tiki-licious Luau Spirited Dinner review, with photos and recipes for all five of Jeff "Beachbum" Berry and Wayne Curtis' fabulous tropical cocktails, has been permanently archived. Obama knocks one back. During her mean-spirited, substance-free speech on Wednesday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in apparent defense of her lack of qualifications to assume the presidency, saw fit to mock community organizers, and suggested that this was Senator Barack Obama's only experience. Yesterday in York, Pennsylvania he gave a thoughtful and pointed reply: Transcript [emphasis mine]:
No, they haven't. They just want to scare those folks. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Just when I thought Hate-and-Fear Week couldn't get any worse, before John McCain's speech at the Republican National Convention last night, they actually showed footage of the 9/11 attacks -- planes hitting the building and the collapse. What vile and shameful pandering to fear, and right out of the Rove playbook. The Boston Globe immediately replied on their website with a post entitled "The death of a taboo." [Emphasis mine.]
But wait, which of the neocon pundits was it who referred to Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field as "Leni Riefenstahl-like?" Godwinized already. Keith Olbermann was anchoring RNC coverage on MSNBC that night. I'd been a fan of Olbermann's, and I enjoyed many of his Special Commentaries, although I've been finding him to be getting somewhat full of himself lately. However, last night, after the RNC showed the video and MSNBC dutifully cut to it, Olbermann responded after it thusly:
Watch the video at the link, and listen to his voice. We did finally endure the acceptance speech. Good lord, John McCain is a terrible speaker. Almost entirely substance-free, but I did learn one thing. Did you know John McCain had been a POW? I had no idea. That bit was compelling. One of them actually said it. There's that word that's been lurking in the shadows, unsaid but hinted at with coded language like "presumptuous" and the like, directed toward Michelle and Barack Obama. A lot of them are thinking it, to be sure, but none of them said it, until yesterday.
There often seems to be a direct correlation with someone's racism with their also being a moron, and Westmoreland fills the moron bill quite admirably. For starters, his lack of command of the English language is woeful. "They're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity"?? What the hell is that? Plus, he's slinging around a word like "uppity" without even knowing how to use it. It's a word one uses to describe someone else, and he's attempting to deride them by saying that they supposedly think they're uppity themselves? The Clampetts had better diction than this. You may recall Westmoreland from his infamous and hilarious appearance on "The Colbert Report" a couple of years ago. At the time Westmoreland had not introduced a single piece of legislation in the 18 months he had been in the House at the time, but was co-sponsoring a bill in the House to mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in the House of Representatives and the Senate; he also believes they should be posted in courthouses. Then Colbert asked him this question:
Here's the video. [Westmoreland segment starts at about 1:37 in.] God, what a moron. (And Colbert, incidentally, is brilliant.) Heartstopping. A press release was mailed out last night:
Gee, how many musicians is that now who've told McCain to stop using their music? [ Link to today's entries ]
The Sporting Life at Mandina's. There's a loose but ever-tightening group of top cocktailian bartenders and serious cocktail nerds who've been having regular monthly get-togethers in Los Angeles, and we aim to change the face of drinking in this city. Simply put, our goal is to raise the level of cocktails to that of cuisine, to expect from one's bartender what one expects from one's chef, and to make these changes one drink and one drinker at a time. It's been a very, very good thing. Marcos Tello, one of our best local bartenders, of The Radio Room at The Edison and Comme Ça and formerly of Seven Grand and The Doheny, dubbed us "The Sporting Life," after the bar denizens of the 19th Century whose lives had very little to do with sport (except for watching the odd boxing match) and everything to do with drinking, befriending their bartenders and gathering around the communal bowl of punch. As it turned out, there were about 25 denizens of the modern L.A. "Sporting Life" on hand in New Orleans at Tales of the Cocktail, including a few other friends, and we actually managed to herd everyone for dinner. I had the idea for this when my friend Vincenzo Marianella, another amazingly talented local bartender, asked me to help him find some true, authentic Creole food while in New Orleans. "I don't want fine dining or a fancy place," he said. "I want where the local people go, the kind of place where the waitress gets her fingers in the water glass when she brings it." Well, I can probably do better than that, I said, and a place came immediately to mind: Mandina's on Canal. It's perfect for us, I said. Neighborhood place, good drinks -- their house cocktail is the Old Fashioned -- fantastic food, very casual, noisy and brassy but in a good way, and not expensive. Plus it's that wonderful subset of local cuisine that we call "Creole-Italian;" as he's from Italy, Vincenzo was intrigued by that. Several blocks of walking and five cabs to hold us all, and there we were at Canal and Cortez. [Link to full photoset] 
One thing we did forget was to call ahead. Mandina's doesn't take reservations, but it probably would have been a good idea to forewarn them that they had a part of 25 on the way. Good ol' Mandina's, though ... they rolled with it, started setting up two huge tables, and gave us the bad news that we'd have to wait a while in the bar. Wait in the bar?! A bunch of bartenders and drinkers having to wait in the bar and drink Pimm's Cups, Old Fashioneds and Sazeracs? Ooh, poor us! We had a great time in the bar, of course, and it wasn't long at all before they got us all seated. 
And out came plate after place of a Great Thing -- beautiful, crisp, light New Orleans French bread, sliced and toasted and drizzled with garlic butter: 
While Wes, Marleign and Dan sat at the far table, Vincenzo claimed me for menu advice at the other one -- happy to oblige. Seafood is the way to go here, I think, on your first time, and I steered him toward two dishes, which he ended up splitting with the guy next to him. 
Trout Bayou was one of their specials that day -- grilled trout smothered with tangy shrimp étouffée (which itself means "smothered shrimp"), with roasted new potatoes. Hoo-boy, good. 
This is one of my favorite dishes at Mandina's, which I got myself. Creole Eggplant, a casserole-style variation on stuffed eggplant, with ham, shrimp, crabmeat and seasonings, served with a side plate of good ol' spaghetti 'n red gravy. Classic Creole-Italian, and fantastic. (I can almost never finish it, either.) A splendid time was had by all, our waitress was friendly and extremely helpful, and one of the managers called ahead as we were paying our bill and ordered enough cabs for everyone to get back to the Quarter. And all this from a neighborhood joint. I love Mandina's. Luckily for me, I had a return visit only two days later! More on that to come. Playing the gender card. You must watch this clip from "The Daily Show," which is far, far more worth watching than any evening network newscast. Here Jon, along with the deep and even not-so-deep memories of "The Daily Show" staff, demonstrate the utter hypocrisy of the Republicans and FOX "News": It's hilarious, but you honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry. Those damn Democratic elitists! The outfit that Cindy McCain wore to the Republican National Convention this week, including dress and jewelry, cost an estimated $300,000, more than the annual income of over 95% of the American people, most of whom also don't have a private jet either. [ Link to today's entries ]
Whew. Relief that New Orleans was for the most part spared by Gustav. Heartbreak to see how badly Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Plaquemines and the Houma-Thibodaux corridor got slammed. Many people in the southern part of the state will be without power for days or even weeks. Most people are being allowed to head home today ... except for New Orleans. Might not be a bad idea to wait a few days if you can -- can you imagine the traffic of everyone coming back? I hope my folks have a little extended vacation in Houston. UPDATE: All checkpoints have now been lifted and the City of New Orleans is now open. Ike is due in the Bahamas by Monday. Sigh. Let's hope he stays out of the Gulf. Josephine's behind him, as is Kyle. Sheesh. "Down Home" goes down: KCSN dumps entire weeknight lineup. "Down Home", my Louisiana-centric roots music radio show of 10 years was cancelled yesterday by KCSN, along with the entire weekday evening lineup -- every single DJ -- to be replaced as of 6:30pm last night by automation. I hadn't written very much about it, but we had expected as much for the last four months, since the new dean cancelled the scheduled semiannual pledge drive in May. He then told people who wrote in that he didn't think the station should be allowed to raise money: "the current state budget environment has required us to prudently avoid entering into a pledge drive that implies programmatic promises that are not sustainable into the future." Sadly, the dean seems concerned only with bottom line income of the station. KCSN had the smallest listenership of any L.A. public radio station due to its weak signal and limited broadcast range, but still made a relatively good amount of money per listener and was named "Best University-Supported Radio Station" by Los Angeles Magazine in 2006. Yet the dean apparently had no idea that the station's signal was only 370 watts with limited coverage, while complaining to our former Program Director that we weren't making the money of KCRW or KUSC. Not long after that, the station's internet stream was shut down, and the P.D. was given early retirement. The handwriting has been on the wall for quite a while. Alan Rich wrote about the situation here, here and here. All are must-reads if you're a KCSN listener and/or someone interested in the situation. I do not believe that the university officals now overseeing the radio station understand it. At all. So unfortunate, and so unnecessary. Meanwhile, KCSN will retain its classical programming from 6:00am until 6:00pm on weekdays , and during the school term will continue to broadcast the student-produced "Evening Update" news program. However, evening and overnight programming will now be on automation with no live DJs, in an "Adult Acoustic Alternative," or AAA format, which will run from 6:30pm until 6:00am. "Students from the University's Music Industry Studies program will assist in identifying new artists to showcase," we were told. Weekend programming will continue more or less as before, but I suspect some more programs will get the ax. As for me ... well, except for a three-month hiatus in 1994 and a six-week hiatus in 1998, I've been on the radio every week, sometimes twice a week, for 20 years. (Eek.) I'm ready for some time off. After that, I may look into finding another gig at another radio station. I thought briefly about some kind of internet-based broadcast, but given the current Draconian legal structures involving excessive royalties for internet broadcasting, that prospect seems unlikely. (I am open to suggestions.) Hmm, Thursday nights free. What will I do with myself?! Plucky Survivors, Days 6 and 7! Got a little backed up, as I was insanely busy yesterday and didn't get a chance to post anything. From the Biltmore House to pork butt on a bun, from Oak Ridge to fiddles and fudge, Mary and Rick blaze forward through the back roads of America on Day 6 and Day 7.
I'm not going to quote from the bit about their next stop, the 54-hole Biblically-themed miniature golf course. Don't miss the pics. [ Link to today's entries ]
Plaquemines Parish levee overtopped, on verge of breach. UPDATE 6:36pm CDT: There's a very serious situation down in Plaquemines, where a levee is being overtopped in Braithwaite and water is currently leaking through it. They're desperately trying to get people to leave the area. Although it wouldn't be a breach of the same impact of the multiple breaches in NOLA during Katrina, it's still very, very bad. CNN apparently had Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser on for an interview but put him on hold (!) to cut to Laura Bush's speech. After that they came back and seemed to be surprised that Nungesser had hung up on them. ('Cause, see, he's got this hugely dangerous situation happening in his parish and needs to help them.) They get him back on the line, then immediately put him on hold again to cut to Cindy McCain's speech. *facepalm* Again, if you care about what's going on in Louisiana, watch WWL-TV out of New Orleans, or the Weather Channel. UPDATE 9:41pm CDT: Water level at the Braithwaite levee in Plaquemines has fallen slightly, the leaks have been shored up and it seems to be holding for now. Parish officials will monitor the levee all night. Direct your best wishes and tractor beams to that levee. BLAM! Gustav, the unwelcome guest, arrives. 
Do NOT watch CNN or any of the 24-hour news networks, ESPECIALLY Fox. Their hysteria and misinformation in reporting is, at this moment, verging on criminal. For reliable news, watch WWL-TV New Orleans and read the Times-Picayune's website at NOLA.com. Ray in NOLA is saying that CNN is actually showing water INSIDE the canal and describing it as flooding inside the city. YatPundit Ed says, "Anyone currently passing judgment from the French Quarter (CNN / Anderson Cooper) is not helping." Goddamn idiot talking heads only care about ratings and have no idea what's really going on. Apparently they're not watching local TV like Ray and Ed. Lee Zurik from WWL is on location in the Upper 9th, standing on the west side of the Industrial Canal where the water's lapping -- watch streaming video on WWL instead. Westbank is wet but unflooded -- Harvey Canal's holding up fine so far. Not out of the woods yet though -- the back half of the storm is still coming. Fingers crossed. 10am CDT: It's being reported that there's a barge loose in the Industrial Canal. 10:45am update says they were scrap vessels with no engines, there for weeks or months, waiting to be scrapped. (Why the f*ck were these not towed out?) Reporters on the scene say they can't see them, though. Coast Guard crews working to secure; "vessels not causing serious damage to levees or infrastructure." Water is currently sloshing/lapping over the Industrial Canal floodwall on the Gentilly Woods (western) side, between I-610 and the lake, not the Lower Ninth Ward side, where it's higher since Katrina. Minus the waves lapping there's 3 feet to the top of the wall. Not an actual flood and the wall is holding; The Corps are saying that this was expected. The water is NOT flooding homes as of 10:22am CDT. "We are confident in the stability of that wall." UPDATE, 12:17pm CDT: Vessels in the Industrial Canal have been secured. WDSU says the barges were not loose, just shifting at anchor. About 6 inches of water on the street in Gentilly Woods from water lapping over floodwall -- not too bad. Please continue to NOT watch CNN. Weather Channel coverage said to be good, though.
Hang in there, y'all. Drinking the Kool-Aid. Well, I went and bought me a 3G iPhone yesterday. (And writing about it will keep my mind off the hurricane for 5 minutes or so.) I had waited for nearly two months due to my extreme reticence to waste 3 to 5 hours waiting in a line. Today though, Wes and I were in Pasadena shopping for a new phone for him and I decided to ring the Apple store. "Eh, maybe 30 minutes in line?" I decided to give it a shot, but as it turned out I simply had to enter the regular checkout line, ask for a phone, and wait a few minutes while they brought one from the back. The kid who activated it for me was nice but relatively clueless about the technical aspects of how one upgrades from an old iPhone to a new one, but he was adorable enough to almost get away with it. The whole process was pretty painless. Finally. (The Apple Store was packed, too.) So far I've had none of the problems people have been complaining about, so we'll see. And I have the privilege of paying $15/month more than I did last time. But it's a really feckin' cool device. Plucky Survivors, Day 5! Asheville bound.
I want peach pie and I want it now. Off to Pie 'n Burger in Pasadena ... Non-Gustav-related quote of the day. Sarah Palin = Dan Quayle? From a 2006 candidate questionnaire for the Alaska gubernatorial race:
*facepalm* Let's get the ninth-grade civics student back for Sarah. The pledge dates to 1892 and wasn't adopted as anything official until 1942. The words "under God" were added in 1954 at the height of the Red Scare to combat the onslaught of godless Communism. Good enough for the Founding Fathers indeed. August Looka! entries have been permanently archived. [ Link to today's entries ]
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