Horchata Cachaca Cocktail, it is not Eggnog, but tastes like a holiday!

All good ideas come from somewhere, I found this one at La Brasa in Somerville. They feature a small but mind bogglingly global menu with local sources.

Our table was throughly impressed. A dinner full of punchy unexpected flavors and a really laid back vibe from the whole place.  

(clockwise: pickled beet eggs, lamb shepherds pie, flan, coconut tapioca pudding with spiced pears, awesome soup spoons.)

The element that stuck with me was the horchata. Spiked with rum (honestly I don't know what kind) it became a joyful creamy, cinnamon laced experience. Something like a Mexican white Russian or Eggnog. However, much thinner than eggnog, as horchata is made from almond or rice milk, and dairy free! It sparked a discussion with my friend about coquito, a Puerto Rican coconut holiday drink, which I am going to mix up and bring to her later this week. (Stay tuned for coquito.)

Here is La Brasa's dreamy horchata over crushed ice.

What is HORCHATA, you ask? A milky drink made from rice (or almonds or chufa) soaked with cinnamon. Sugar is added and sometimes other spices or vanilla. It is special, simple and refreshing.

So I had this new discovery, horchata with rum. Here I was, going along, thinking virgin horchata was perfect. So I had to try it again. However, not in the mood to make horchata or even crush ice,
here is my lazy version.
I totally just bought an horchata from my local taqueria and brought it home. Shout out to La Victoria Taqueria, you rock. (Finally a good taqueria around here. You make me so very very very happy.) When I go in there to get food I always order an horchata because it is awesome, it is delicious, creamy, sweet, goes with spicy food, makes me smile, and think of California. And when I ask for the horchata, the same girl always looks me in the eye and smiles like "Oh, yeah, good ordering, you know whats up!" I love that feeling. If I was her, I would sip on horchatas all day long.

But this is an horchata for after work, hear that everybody? So bring home your takeout horchata, try not to drink much on the way, this is the hardest part of it all.

Toss in a jigger of Cachaca and some optional ice. Done!

Cachaca is a white spirit, like rum, that is made in Brazil from sugarcane juice. It was a great flavor pairing with the cinnamon and creamy elements.  Instead of cachaca you could use white or light rum.

This is obviously not a precise science, it will likley taste superb no matter what you do. I swear you will not regret it. You will only regret when the horchata is empty and that you didn't buy a second one.

Maybe one day I will make horchata from scratch and then I will link to this post. For now, save yourself time and find your closest most awesome taqueria.

An evening of antique drinking and games: The Brooklyn Cocktail and Mah Jongg

An old fashioned game and an old fashioned cocktail to go along with it made up my tuesday evening.  Here is old-fashioned style black and white to get in the mood. 

What sort of cocktail, say you? Nope, not a an Old Fashioned. Nor a Manhattan. It's a Brooklyn! The evening's plan was to play Mah Jongg with my fabulously fun aunt. She was recanting a tale about an impressive cocktail she had enjoyed the evening previous at Rialto while celebrating her anniversary. So, we decided to keep celebrating and make a few Brooklyns.

Rye whisky, Picon, Dry Vermouth, Maraschino Liqueur. And a cherry if you please.

Wait a minute, what is Picon? It is rare around here, very difficult to find in the US. A French aperitif, made from bitter oranges. It reminds me of marmalade. The glorious parts of marmalade flavor in booze. I loved it from my first taste when I was last in France. It is commonly served in a Picon Biere, simply a pale beer with the aperitif added. For one thing, it makes the so-so beer taste more interesting. A picon biere is are nice on an afternoon after a walk when the sunshine has warmed the stones underfoot and there is nothing left to do but pull together dinner. People mix it with white wine too. 

I dragged this bottle of Picon back in my suitcase and have been enjoying it slowly, hoping the day never arrives when it is empty. (Honestly, I forget about it for long stretches of time which is why I still have it)

Ok, so you didn't bring Picon back in your suitcase (but now you wish you did) so what can you use? Torani Amer, perhaps Cynar. Or mix Campari and Triple Sec for a balanced sweet-bitter profile.

The equipment is simple enough. Stirring glass, bar spoon, measuring device. And a glamorous coupe to serve it in. There should also be a strainer here, to keep the ice behind in the cup.

Brooklyn Cocktail

1 3/4 ounce Rye Whisky

1/2 ounce Dry Vermouth

1/2 ounce Maraschino Liquer (Luxardo)

3/4 ounce Picon or other digestif

Combine all ingredients in a stirring glass with plenty of ice. Stir until very cold. The sides of the cup should be covered with condensation. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

This is what mah jongg looks like. Previously I only knew some ancient computer game where the tiles seemed to be stacked like a pyramid. That is not this as far as I can tell. This is a mind bogglingly old game from China. It is also mind boggling to learn it, but well worth it. Similar to poker or bridge, although I have never played bridge. There are suits, numbers, jokers, and you try to make patterns.

 Mah Jongg became popular in the US in the 1920's, so a lot of the sets are vintage bakelite which makes it fun to play with them! There is a portion in the beginning of each hand called "the charleston" where players trade tiles. It mimics the footwork of the Charleston dance, (popularized at the same time) so at a previous game I got up to dance the charleston in front of my opponents to demonstrate this right-over-left / left-over-right pattern. Such a good teaching moment. 

Happy playing, cheers!

The Rum Rhubarb Collins

I love rhubarb, ill say it again! For a sour vegetable stalk it is so versatile. The season is begining to ebb as we are at the solstice and these hot days favor berries over rhubarb stalks. Eat up while we can.

I seem to love pink drinks too. Rhubarb makes a refreshing drink, which could replace pink lemonade. After the rhubarb juice is made, a cocktail is the next logical step.

Rum Rhubarb Collins 

Tested by many friends this week, it evoked comments like "It's so refreshing!", "You can really taste the rhubarb-ness", "...so pretty!"And me the bartender says, "...so easy!"

You might at first wonder why add more sour citrus juice to an already tart situation. People are always trying to sweeten it up. But lemon and lime add to the flavor pop of rhubarb, when I make pie I always add some lemon to the rhubarb, it gives it more dimension. 

The amounts given in the rhubarb juice are a guide, it is impossible to predict how much sugar it will take to get your batch to taste nice. So it tastes like tart lemonade, sugary, sour, and drinkable.

Rum Rhubarb Collins

1/4 of a organic lime

1 1/2 ounces white rum

3 ounces rhubarb juice (recipe below)

1 ounce seltzer water

small rhubarb stalk, sliced narrow, for garnish

Fill a glass with ice.

Squeeze lime well, over ice. Drop lime into glass.

Pour white rum and rhubarb juice over ice. stir.

Top glass off with seltzer water.

Garnish with trimmed stick of rhubarb and trendy or metal straw.

(Making a pincher of drinks would be a great idea if having many people over.)

Making Rhubarb juice

Rhubarb Juice

2 pints rhubarb chopped into 2 inch sections

3 pints water 

1 cup organic white sugar

Wash and chop the rhubarb into 2 inch sections. Place into a soup pot. Pour water over, it should cover the rhubarb by a few inches. Turn heat on high to bring to a boil. 

Lower the heat to medium low and keep it simmering. 

After roughly 10 minutes the rhubarb will fall apart when poked with a spoon. Turn off the heat now.

Let cool, more flavor will steep out while it cools down. If you want to go away and run errands, now is the time, don't worry about it.

When cool, set a mesh strainer over another vessel large enough to hold all the liquid. And have an extra bowl nearby. Pour or ladle the pink rhubarb pulp and juice into the strainer, catching all the gorgeous pink juice. Briefly press down on the pulp to extract a bit more liquid. (It is a strange consistency.) Dump the pulp into the extra empty bowl. Repeat until all the liquid is strained.

The juice may look pretty, but it is still sour. Stir in some of the sugar, allowing time for it to dissolve. Pop the liquid back on the stove and heat it for under 5 minutes to warm it up enough for the sugar to melt well. Taste and add more sugar, creating it to your liking.

Cool, pour into jars. Will save for 2 weeks in the fridge. It freezes well in plastic containers, to be used later in the summer.

Rum Rhubarb Collins

Rosé Spritz Cocktail

Rosé has been underrated wine for some time now, with sweet varieties giving it a bad rep. A good dry rose is a favorite of mine, refreshing, floating between red and white. But what do you do when you open a bottle, expecting a nice dry rosé and quelle horreur, cloying sweetness assaults the taste buds?! 

That happened to me the other day. I bought this nice rosé with a cool drawing of a goat on the label. And, surprise! Dessert like wine, just not my taste. I was determined to salvage the situation. 

A hefty squeeze of lime and bubbly seltzer fixed the problem! I suppose it is essentially a wine spritzer. Or a classy rosé cocktail! 

Rose Spritzer

6 ounces rosé (on the sweeter side!)

Juice from half a lime 

4 ounces seltzer water

Combine all three in a goblet, and garnish with a lime wedge. Makes 1 drink. 

This would be a nice easy punch if you have reason to whip up a bunch of it. 

Rhubarb and Cherry Pavlova and Collins Cocktail

I love rhubarb, it makes my heart go pitter patter and my taste buds jump in excitement. It is one vegetable which will always stop me in my tracks. Pink and green stalks so sour I pucker and then go in for more. I have even seen little toddlers sucking at the raw stalks, shocked by the sourness but going back for more and more tastes of the confounding rhubarb. Science should check this stuff out, its wild.

Rhubarb to be cooked with sweet cherries and honey.

Years ago I started adding less and less sugar to my rhubarb dishes. The tart part is the big fun, I prefer to add other fruits to increase the sweetness rather than overwhelm it with sugar. 

I am lucky to live near by several friends with too much rhubarb to count. Like rhubarb and rhubarb and more rhubarb hidden around the corner. I always put some in the freezer, and I will make jam in a few weeks when the plants are really full in early June.

Meringue pavlova before baking.

Pavlova is an enormous meringue, shared by many people. You can make it neat and tidy like a short cake layer, or you can make them wild and lumpy like clouds. Mine falls somewhere in between, it is round, so gets a point for neat and tidy, but has a wavy top, which gives more surface area to become crunchy. Love!

I was in a little Swiss village on the French border a few years ago and I remember stopping in front of a pastry shop window in the afternoon sun. An entire shelf in the window was filled with pavlovas. Satin clouds piled on one another, weightless and shimmering in the sun. I didn't buy one, but if I had, I would have put this cherry and rhubarb compote on top.

Sometimes rhubarb makes my tongue all fuzzy and tingly, especially if i eat a lot of it. Grapefruits can do the same thing to me, like anything I eat afterwards tastes silly. Does that happen to other people too?

Pavlova (4 servings)

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on high until foamy. Slowly add the sugar, sprinkle a bit if it at a time down the side of the bowl, this may take 2 or 3 minutes in a kitchenaid. 

Pavlova with stewed cherry and rhubarb 

Watch as the whites struggle to puff up, and then all the sudden they take on a satin marshmallow quality and become voluminous. They will rise up in the bowl, taking up more volume, and the tracks the whisk leaves will become more and more pronounced. Test to see if it holds a peak.

If the whites are over whipped, they will deflate, so the goal is to catch them at the magic moment. Scoop them out of the bowl onto parchment paper or a Silpat. Make a big mound of the meringue, use a spatula or spoon to move it into a rough circle shape.

Bake in a 200° oven for an hour if you like a very marshmallow center, or up to 2 hours for a more dry meringue. 

*If I am cooking other things in the oven at high temperatures, when they are done, I turn off my oven and put in the meringues. It will often hold enough heat to get the whole job done.

** you can make the meringue and put it in the fridge for a while until you are ready to bake it.

Rhubarb and Cherry Compote

about 6 stalks of rhubarb

1 cup sweet cherries (frozen OK!)

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup cherry juice (or orange)

Wash and chop the rhubarb into 1-2 inch pieces. Place it in a saucepan with the honey, juice and cherries. The juice adds some sweetness and liquid to begin the cooking process of the rhubarb. 

Simmer it on medium heat for about 20 minutes so the rhubarb breaks down. Taste, and add sugar if you need to, but if you will serve it with the pavlova, the meringue adds most or all the sweetness you crave. 

Rhubarb Cherry Collins Cocktail

Rhubarb and Cherry Collins

1 ounce rhubarb and cherry compote

1 ounce lemon juice

2 ounces gin (or tequila)

about 3 ounces soda water to top off

Mix rhubarb compote, lemon juice and gin (or tequila) in a shaker with lots of ice. Shake it up like crazy, and strain into a highball glass. Top off with soda water. Add one of the cherries from the compote to garnish the drink.

This refreshing sweet and sour cocktail is yummy and bright pink. We were divided on weather the gin or tequila version was the better one, so you will have to try them for yourselves and let me know!

Pine Tiptini

I think Tiptini is a pretty good name for a drink. After foraging and syrup and vinegar making I felt quite deserving of a cocktail. It is a little gimlet, a little martini and a little pine. Let me know if you try it and like it too.



Pine Tiptini

1 1/2 ounces gin
1/4 ounce of dry vermouth
1/3 ounce lime juice
1 tbs of spruce tip syrup (see recipe here)


Shake vigorously over ice, strain. Pour into a pretty glass. Garnish with a fresh evergreen tip or slice of lime.

Drink outside, savoring the existence of spring breezes, yellow dandelions and honey bees.

Spruce Tips, Part 2: Evergreen Cocktail Syrup

Spruce tips to be cooked with sugar

Besides being good in salads, spruce tip syrup is a grand addition to your cocktail bar. Steeped for a day to allow the puzzling flavors and smells of pine tree to infuse the sugar syrup. I like to use it in cocktails, but added to seltzer water is nice, or a sorbet. Many options. Spruce tip syrup can be used much like elderflower liqueur, it is very good with gin or vodka. Pairs well with lemon and lime.

And it is easy as pie to make. Increase the sugar and water content to the amount of spruce tips you have collected. It is a dead simple 1:1:1 ratio.

Spruce tip simple syrup

Spruce Tip Syrup

1 cup spruce tips
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Put all the ingredients into an appropriately sized pot. Bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid around the tips is as clear as water. Turn off the heat.

Set the pot aside, covered, to steep for 8 hours. A little more or a little less wont kill it, I find 8 hours is a suitable amount of time for the flavors to be extracted.

Bottled Spruce Tip Cocktail Syrup

Strain the syrup with a fine mesh strainer. Place a funnel in the bottle to be filled, the strainer held over that, and carefully pour the syrup through it. Use the back of a spoon to press extra syrup from the collected evergreen tips.

Your golden syrup will last months and months unless it is drank first.