Drinkboston.com interview w/ Josey Packard of Drink

The first few times I went to Drink Josey Packard was the bartender who served us. The first time I went she made me a Vesper, and another time she made me a damn fine Manhattan. So today I was pleasantly surprised to come across this interview with her on Drinkboston.com.

In addition to bartending, she's also a musician and used to be the lead singer of Chelsea on Fire. Who knew?

Oh, and btw, if you haven't been to Drink you should go!! I like to go when it isn't crowded, because a big part of the fun is sitting at the bar and watching the bartenders do their stuff. It's like watching artists or craftsmen. There's no drink list. You either tell them the name of the drink you want, or you tell them what you're in the mood for and they'll serve up a cocktail that fits the bill. One bartender even made up a cocktail on the fly, and it was killer! And if you don't believe me, then you can trust the Boston Phoenix, which declared Drink home of the Best Artisan Cocktail.

The Globe interviews Adam from The Boston Shaker!

Through Facebook magic I found this Boston Globe article about The Boston Shaker:

When Adam Lantheaume began following cocktail culture in earnest a few years back, he'd go around to his favorite bartenders and ask them how he could replicate their recipes. The only problem was a lot of the specialty ingredients and mixing implements they were using weren't readily available for home use. "Whether it was a Boston shaker or a mint julep cup I'd say, where can I get that? No one consistently stocked them," he said. "Or I'd find things that looked good but weren't functional."

It's very cool to see The Boston Shaker (and Grand) get some publicity!

Sip & Shop @ Grand - St. Germain!

This Saturday, May 30th, is Sip & Shop day at Grand! This week the liqueur of choice is St. Germain! Mmmm... St. Germain...

Oh, and everything in the store is 10% off!

So stop by Grand between 2 and 6 PM to get yourself a tasty treat.

(For directions, click on Grand's link in the Links section...)

Fun at parties

I heard about two party ideas today that I thought were pretty cool.

The first idea is an Iron Alcohol party. Each guest brings the spirit of his or her choice and makes a cocktail. I suppose you could call it an Iron Cocktail party, but Iron Alcohol sounds more hardcore.

The second idea Power Point Karaoke. Each guest must take a random power point presentation downloaded from the web and present it. The more vague the power point presentation, the better, especially if it is on a topic the presenter knows next to nothing about. Or maybe the more vague and technical the better... After all, BS definitions of highly technical terms could add to the entertainment.

Or, maybe if you want a really great party you could combine these two ideas. Round 1 is Iron Alcohol, followed by Power Point Karaoke. Let everyone get sloshed*, then have them bullshit presentations!

*Disclaimer: All participants of an Iron Alcohol party should be of legal drinking age and drink responsibly.

Terminator Salvation - Better than expected

I saw Terminator Salvation last night, and it was better than I expected it to be. I think this was mostly due to the action sequences, which were more interesting and at times more suspenseful than in the 2nd and 3rd Terminator movies. It was also refreshing to have the movie set in the hellhole future than in present day Earth. I think that helped them break out of the formula.

As far as the plotting goes, the movie wasn't the best, but somehow was able to hide the plot holes better than other films. One plot point that maybe was originally supposed to be a surprise wasn't, since it was revealed in the trailer. But, even if it hadn't been in the trailer, it would have been preedictable. And, while there wasn't any time travel involved in this film, because it's part of a series that have had time travel, it still had some of those annoying time travel plotting issues.

But, overall, I enjoyed the movie and was glad I saw it. Unlike Star Trek, however, I won't be offering to see it again with any friends who haven't seen it yet.

Google Doodle!

Google is taking votes on the best doodle for its website. Doodle for Google 4 is a competition for K-12 students to create a redesigned Google logo for the homepage, and you can vote on the best design in each age group! To learn more and vote, go here: www.google.com/doodle4google/index.html

Wolverine: Saved by Hugh Jackman

I cannot say as many good things about Wolverine as I can about Star Trek. The plot was so-so, with an annoying pointless action by a supporting character that I'm sure was put in just so we could see the supporting character strut his stuff. Lame, lame, lame.

Good things I could say about the movie are these:

1. It's better than the third X-Men movie.
2. Getting Wolverine's back story was interesting, but lately I've found than the "origin" movies of a series such as Batman seems to be more interesting than what follows.
3. It was fun. (But just "fun," not "FUN!")

And, finally, the main reason to see Wolverine was Hugh Jackman, who sadly didn't have much to do in the film acting wise, but still has enough charisma to carry the film. So, go see the film if you're a Wolverine/X-Men fan, and/or you like Hugh Jackman. But I would suggest you try for the matinee showing.

Not my step-father's Star Trek

Friday night I saw Star Trek and was quite happy with it. I am, not however, a Trekkie, or even much of a Star Trek fan, so my enjoyment of the film might be quite different from that of a true fan. In fact, growing up I wasn't all that thrilled with the original series, which my step-father watched almost every Sunday or Saturday afternoon. Maybe I was too young to follow the plots, or maybe it was a case of familiarity breeds contempt. So the latest movie reboot felt like a breath of fresh air.

For starters, it took me a while to get used to seeing actors younger than me playing some of the leads. However, there was a certain charm is seeing the characters start out at the beginning of their careers, most of them fresh out of Starfleet Academy. And, it was great fun to see Kirk as bright ne'er do well skirt chasing bar brawler from Iowa. More sobering, and perhaps this helped anchor the movie, was the depiction of Spock not as someone who's purely logical, but as someone who is struggling to find his way as a half-Vulcan/half-human. To me that seemed more realistic than than the original series's portayal of him. But maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to the original.

I would say Star Trek is worth seeing in the theater, at full price. I would even go so far as to say it is sitter worthy for those of you with children.

Mint Juleps at Grand!

This Saturday, April 25th, from 2-6, LUPEC will be making mint juleps in honor of the Kentucky Derby! And, everything at Grand will be 10% off. Sounds like tons of fun! But, alas, I won't be able to go. I'll be out of town. *sigh*

Songs for the Jet Set

I just received Songs for the Jet Set from eBay. If you are looking for authentic 60's/70's jet set music this might not be for you. Instead, this is a compilation of quirky, kitschy music that evokes that 60's/70's era when people still dressed up to go flying. Most of the songs have a happy, carefree feel to them. The standouts are "Leslie Phillips in Santiago" and "Kites Are Fun" by Tomorrow's World, "Barbarella" and "We Can Fly" by Loveletter, and the fun, sexy "I Am a Kitten" by the Fantastic Everlasting Gobstoppers.

The only song that doesn't seem to fit is "Schoolgirl Psychedelia" by the Fantastic Everlasting Gobstoppers. It has an edgy electronic sound to it that reminds me more of the 80's. I like it, but it just doesn't seem to fit with this collection.

If I have a cocktail party I'm playing this CD in the background. But, since it's only 30-40 minutes long, I may have to buy the other CDs in the collection - there are two more volumes of Songs for the Jet Set.

Scoville Sour

2.5 oz Hendrick's gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey simple syrup
1/2 oz maple syrup
1/4 tsp cayenne and espelette pepper mix

Now that I have a bottle of Hendrick's I've been making myself Scoville Sours.

I don't have any espelette pepper, so I used white pepper instead. I was told with white pepper the mix should be mostly cayenne, but that was too hot for me. I make my Sours with a half cayenne/half white pepper mix. If I get some espelette I imagine I'll have to readjust the cayenne amount.

The cayenne pepper goes well with the sweet and sour taste of the lemon, honey syrup, and maple syrup. I think the honey and maple give the drink's sweetness more depth than you'd get just using a simple syrup.

A note about the drink - it yields more than a four ounces. When making it, I either have to use a larger glass, or I end up sipping the cocktail from the glass before pouring out the last bit. Since it has cayenne pepper, hurriedly sipping the drink to make more room can be a little uncomfortable.

The cocktail used to be served at No. 9 Park, but when I was there for Restaurant Week I was told they no longer make them. What a pity!

(For those wondering, the honey syrup is one part honey, one part water, stirred over heat until the honey has completely mixed in.)

Fake subway maps

A few weeks ago I read about Transit Authority Figures' fake subway maps on Apartment Therapy. One of the maps is of Cape Cod, so I just had to order it! I received a nice note from the owners telling me the map should be shipping later this week. I'm debating whether to order the maps for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. It'd be nice to have a complete set, but my spending was a little out of control in March, so I want to rein things in for a bit.

Google Sync for Blackberries

I downloaded Google Sync for my Blackberry a few weeks ago. It's a handy app that synchronizes your calendar and address book with GMail and Google Calendar. For the most part, I like it. Since I do not use MS Outlook on my home PC, I didn't have a way to enter addresses and appointments on my desktop. Everything had to be entered on the Blackberry, which can get tedious if you want to edit multiple addresses, etc. Plus, since it's Google, I can update my calendar and contact list from any computer as long as I have access to the web.

You can have Google Sync run in the background on your Blackberry to regularly update Google every two hours or so. Or, you can choose to manually synchronize. I chose the automatic option since I am prone to forget to regularly update things.

You can also choose how far in advance you want the appointments to be synchronized. I chose to have it update appointments scheduled for the next 24 weeks, the maximum period. The minimum period is four weeks.

There are a few downsides, however. For starters, any dates you already have scheduled on your Blackberry will not be uploaded to your Google calendar. Only appointments you enter after installing Google Sync will be added to Google calendar. I find this slightly annoying because I have doctor's appointments for next year that I've entered in my Blackberry already.

Another drawback is that you cannot choose the automatic update interval. I would rather have it update every 3-4 hours instead of two. The reason for this is the third drawback: the automatic updates require a data transfer each time between your Google account and the Blackberry. This tends to drain the battery. Since using the app, I've noticed that I have to recharge my battery more often. It isn't a major problem, but it is a nuisance.

Easter Dinner 2009

For Easter I treated myself to a rack of lamb with spicy plum chutney (made by the Virginia Chutney Company). Because I really shouldn't eat an entire meal of meat I had sauteed cauliflower as a side.

To cook the lamb, I first scored the fat so the chutney could work its way into it while cooking. I then mixed some of the chutney with salt and garlic powder. My reasoning was that normally you'd rub salt onto the lamb, and since I didn't think the chutney didn't have any salt in it, I thought I had to add some. (It turns out it does have salt in it. Oops.) I was worried that if I added salt directly to the meat it would rub off when I spread the chutney on. I could be wrong in this. Anyway, after mixing the salt, garlic powder, and chutney, I spread it on the rack, covering the top part where the fat was, the sides, and the front (non-Frenched side). I cooked the lamb in the oven at 325 F for approximately 45 minutes.

For the cauliflower, I sliced two shallots and crushed a clove of garlic. I sauteed these on med-low with one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of canola oil (those not as health conscious could use two tablespoons of butter). Once the shallots were soft and on the verge of carmelizing, I added the chopped cauliflower florettes, pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes. I can't remember if I added garlic powder, however. I suppose it wouldn't have hurt ;) I sauteed the cauliflower for 20-30 minutes.

Overall, it was satisfying meal. I was worried that it would be too hot, since both the chutney and the cauliflower have red pepper flakes. But, this wasn't the case, and both provided enough sweetness to make me happy (I have a sweet tooth). However, I think others might have found adding red pepper flakes, onions, and garlic to the cauliflower may have been unnecessary. I had thought about just sauteeing the cauliflower with nothing but butter, canola oil, and salt and pepper to let the natural flavor come through more. Then again, cauliflower has a subtle flavor, so maybe not. I think next time I make a rack of lamb I'll pull it out a little sooner. As it was, it was a nice pink, but I prefer my lamb to be closer to red - I like my meat as close to rare as possible while still being cooked. This is easy to do with a single chop, but with an entire rack it's harder to pull off since you need to keep in long enough for the center to cook.

(If you don't want to go to the Virginia Chutney Company's website, the spicy plum chutney has plums [duh], white sugar, brown sugar, apples, vinegar, raisins, carmelized onions and ginger, mustard seed, salt, and red pepper.)

Whole Foods Market: A Fine Purveyor of Food Crack

Food crack: noun. Exceptionally high quality and good tasting food that elicits an "I must have this food NOW" reaction in humans that can be called addictive. Regular consumption of food crack is likely to deplete one's cash reserves.

I went to Whole Foods today to buy some lamb for tomorrow's dinner. My sole purpose was to buy lamb. However, because it was Whole Foods, and they had samples, I ended up buying more.

The first hit was in the produce section where, as usual, free samples of cheese and jam spreads to go with the cheese were available. Today the culinary money trap was robusto cheese with spice plum chutney. It was GOOD. Initially I resisted the temptation to buy some, but the longer I spent in the store the more I thought about it. I ended up circling back to the produce section to grab some of the cheese and a jar of the chutney. My rationalization was that I would use to the chutney with the lamb. My plan is to spread the chutney on the lamb and roast it. I have no plan for the cheese other than to eat it with the chutney in the next few weeks. Bad for my heart, but good for my bones.

The second hit was the Tonnino tuna in garlic and olive oil. When I was in Whole Foods a month or so ago a woman was giving free samples and explaining the product. She said it's high quality tuna, and very flavorful, and goes well with pasta (or "pah-ster;" she was British) and doesn't need mayonaisse. I was tempted then to buy a jar, but I had already had a bunch of items in my basket so I didn't get any. Today, I remembered the tuna and told myself it'd make a tasty lunch to take to work. So I bought a jar. Which was around $8. And very small.

I did resist other goodies there - the beautiful looking cooked shrimp, the intriguing shrimp salad, and the fresh looking tuna sushi rolls. Oddly, I'm never tempted by the chocolates at Whole Foods. That is probably a good thing.

I used to envy a friend who lived within walking distance of a Whole Foods. And, to some extent, I still do. However, the fact that any Whole Foods is at least a 20 minute drive from me is probably a good thing for my financial well-being.