Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Make Me Something: Day #2 Drink #2

The Long Island Iced Tea,  a classic.  Many restaurants and bartenders claim to have been the first to invent the Long Island.  Per Wikipedia: Long Island Iced Tea, a summer drink, was first served in the mid 1970s by Robert (Rosebud) Butts, a bartender at the Oak Beach Inn, in the Town of Babylon, Long Island, New York


I used what I had, some top shelf, some not so much.

Here's what I know about Long Islands: #1. They don't have any actual iced tea in them people!  They're named as such because of their color when you mix the alcohol, sour mix and cola. 
#2. They mess you up...bad.  In my 13 years bartending, I've seen best friends fight, couples break up, unassuming sweet guys turn into total douche bags and the occasional innocent shy librarian type transform into the worst kind of Cougar.  You know the type, just a little too old to be wearing a skirt that short and a top that tight.  She's had enough liquid courage to dance, but she's not really pulling it off.  She's flashing back to her mid 20's, and assumes she still looks as such, but it's more like a hurt bird with a broken wing.  But I digress.  

Long Islands have a sweet/tart way about them that goes down easy and you don't realize what hit you, and that it was a bad idea, until it's too late...like broccoli before date night.  This recipe was next on my list and I'm not really sure what the 3-Mile has to do with it beside someone trying (and failing) at being clever.  Being that 3 Mile Island is where a nuclear meltdown happened, perhaps they're claiming this drink is "nuclear"...whatever.  Below is the classic Long Island recipe, with the exception of the bitters.  I'm seeing a lot of bitters in my list of recipes which makes me think these have all come from a European source as bitters aren't as widely used in the States. 

3-Mile Long Island Iced Tea
Shake it up with my handy dandy black metal shaker.

      Ingredients:
        1/2 oz Gin
        1/2 oz Light rum
        1/2 oz Tequila
        1/2 oz Triple sec
        1/2 oz Vodka
        Coca-Cola
        Sweet and sour
        Some dashes Bitters and Lemon

Mix all ingredients with the exception of the the last 3 in a shaker tin w/ ice.  Shake, pour into pint glass, top with cola and enjoy...but make sure your skirt is long enough if you're in public.




Ahh Yes.  Looks like tea huh?





That's my Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tasting face.


 Next Up: 3rd Street Promenade

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Beer Makes Everything Better


July 4th weekend 2011.  We were not about to brave the crowds downtown on Independence Day so instead we went to a smaller festival in Greer, SC on Sat. July 2nd.  Pronounced Grerrr (mumble it) by the locals, Greer is a small town outside of Greenville, SC that has recently gone through a revitalization and has quite a pretty downtown area with a beautiful new park.  Knowing we'd need a little strength (and a little beer) to handle 3 excited kids we headed to our favorite (and only one we know) restaurant Wild Aces.  It's a pizza and beer joint with lots of craft beer on tap.  I didn't photo the food but rest assured we consumed lots of wings, salad and pizza.  We didn't choose this eatery for the food...oh no...it was for the beer. Enjoy the picture montage.




Rogue Dead Guy Ale - yum



Nothing like having your kid sit at the bar.  We call this "Early Training".

Notice the matchy shirts.  They won't let me do this for much longer.


Things were getting a little silly







Waiting for the fireworks. What's that smell?




Awesome.  We found our fireworks watching spot right next to the pet waste area.






Friday, July 1, 2011

Make Me Something


Make Me Something is my new series of posts where I'm gonna "Julie and Julia" the heck out of a list of 2000 cocktails my father-in-law was jerky kind enough to send me.  If you recall my post about Crowjito's, you'll see where I got the title from.

I thought long and hard about doing this challenge, weighing the pro's and con's, the cost involved and the sheer pain of having to try 2000 drinks, (cough cough) but....I'll do it!  I'm going to start at the very top of the list and work my way down (the first drinks begin with number and number names, and then we'll get to the A's).  If I find some to be repetitive we'll just skip em. 

**Please note that the bartending/service industry world is a scary, scary place filled with little more than foul language and sexual harassment.  I will do my best to protect you from the raunchy names of most of these drinks but please look away if you get embarrassed *blush*. 

Day 1 - Drink #1   The 2"x 4"
I did a little research and per Southern Comfort recipes this is also called a BearF*cker or a Jumpstarter for those faint of heart.
OMG.  I had to read the text underneath this drink several times to make sure I saw it correctly.  Let's begin with the recipe first and then we'll all have a good guffaw.

Recipe
2 cl* whisky
2 cl* Southern Comfort
3 drops Angostura bitters
Ice Cubes

* a cl is a centiliter which no one uses in the states...that should've been my first clue as to where this drink was originally from.  For our purposes, I used .5 oz. for a tasting.

Here are the directions that followed the recipe:

Somebody needs some botox.
First put the ice in the glass. Then pore the whiskey and the Southern Comfort
into the glass. Drip with the Angostura. Stir it together.
The drink was originally invented in my home town Arendal. Me and a friend was
looking for something that really gave a "kick". The name 2" 4" was given,
because its like to be hit in the head with a 2" 4".
------------------------------------------------
Holy crap.  I'm crying because I'm laughing so hard.  I'm not sure what's funnier, the poor spelling or the poor grammar.  So I looked up where Arendal is, the Deliverance banjo playing in my head, praying it was some back woods town in a southern state (calm down, I live in a southern state, I'm allowed to say things like that) and it's in Norway! What?! Alright, alright.  I forgive you and give you a pass for the grammar. 

Getting back to the drink, I give it a 2.5 out of 5.  I love me some SoCo but whiskey is not my poison of choice.  Tastes like it would put hair on your chest and I'm having enough hormonal problems at my age.  I could see myself in Vegas, at a blackjack table with a cigar drinking something like this.  But I stink at blackjack and cigars are gross (but I heart Vegas!) so nope, won't be having this one again. 

SN: As I reach the end of my review I have surprisingly found myself with an empty glass and a buzz, guess it wasn't all that bad :) Cheers!

Coming up next: 3 Mile Long Island Iced Tea (which I seriously may get to tonight)

What's For Dinner? Asian Glazed Salmon, Crispy Potato Cake and Cucumber Radish Salad

Most of my Facebook friends see my daily status updates of "What's For Dinner" where I describe what I'm cooking that night.  I get lots of comments like, "Stop teasing us." and "When can I come over?" and "How about a recipe?".  I thought I would share some of my (better) dinners on here so you can maybe try them for yourselves or just take away a little inspiration.

This night I made one of my favorite lighter summertime dinners using salmon.  I prefer to buy fresh salmon but frozen will do, especially for our busy schedule. 

I first took 4 skinless salmon fillets (you can keep the skin if you like that) and marinated them in a terriaky glaze.  You can buy it bottled or just simply throw together a sauce of soy, ginger, garlic and pineapple juice. 

While those marinated, I thinly sliced a cuke and a few radishes.  I then add white wine vinegar and a Tbs. of sugar which makes a pallet cleansing salad, like you would find in most Thai restaurants. 

While the cukes and radishes were soaking in their tangy, sweet pool of goodness I got started on the potato cakes.  I happened to have a bag of shredded potatoes used for hash browns which works awesomely as a time saver.  I swirled a small amount of vegetable oil in a non-stick skillet, let it heat up to med - high and placed piles of the potatoes inside.  I squished them down with a spatula and seasoned with salt and pepper.  These actually take quite a while to get a good brown crisp on them but it's worth the wait.

I have a handy, dandy grill pan that gets used almost every night of the week.  I heated up a bit of olive oil in my grill pan and cooked up my salmon.  Now some people like their salmon cooked hard but I like mine just done through so about 5 min. one side and 3 on the other.

I plated my salmon, my salad and my potato cake, adding a dollop of sour cream and some green onions from my garden to make a delicious, fresh, healthy, whole food meal.  Bon Appetit!