The Black Tie

So apparently there are these things called "movies" that people see in a gigantic room on a ginormous screen at a "theater". I'm not sure who these people are, but they must enjoy this activity because there is an awards show devoted to the very best movies from the year. I thought the only movies out there happened on Friday nights while eating pizza and playing Candy Land. And they typically involve animated characters and musical dialogue. No?

Well, if you are fancy enough to watch the Oscars this weekend, you should make it a real event by whipping up one of these Black Tie cocktails. This is basically a slightly sweet martini made with black vodka, Créme de Cassis, and an egg white for a little added drama.

Enjoy with popcorn, potato chips, or fancy two-bite appetizers while sticking your pinky out in a delicate manner and judging red carpet dresses. (You know you're going to!)

Black Tie

Makes 1 cocktail

Total time: 5 minutes

• 1 1/2 ounces black vodka
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• Scant 1/2 ounce Créme de Cassis
• 1 egg white

1. Combine all the ingredients except black vodka in a cocktail shaker WITHOUT ice for 10 seconds until frothy.
2. Add a few ice cubes and shake until chilled for an additional 10 seconds.
3. Strain into a glass and set aside.
4. Rinse cocktail shaker and fill with a handful of ice. Add black vodka and shake until chilled.
5. Pour the vodka into a chilled martini glass, then pour the frothy egg mixture over the vodka.
6. Enjoy!

*Notes: Adding the black vodka after shaking the egg white helps keep a more clean, white foam for the top of the drink. The Créme de Cassis may create a slightly rosey color to the foam, but it won't be as noticeable.

Witch's Cold Brew

Happy Halloween, friends! I don't know about you, but with all the stuff to do today I could really use a pick-me-up. Or at least something to look forward to when the madness of trick-or-treating is over. Witch's Cold Brew is cold brewed coffee spiked with some cinnamon simple syrup and vanilla rum. It's a simple concoction that is made even better by the addition of nutmeg scented whipped cream. So, face the evening head on and whip up one of these beauties when you are ready to settle in for the night!

Witch's Cold Brew

Makes 2 cocktails

• 2 cups cold brew coffee (for ease, pick some up from your local coffee shop)
• 2 1/2 ounces vanilla vodka
• 1 ounce cinnamon simple syrup
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg plus more for garnish

1. In a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice, combine the coffee, vanilla vodka, and simple syrup.
2. Stir until chilled and strain into two tall, ice-filled glasses.
3. Whip the cream and the nutmeg with an electric hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
4. Finish the drinks with a dollop of the cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Cinnamon Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 cinnamon sticks

1. Combine the sugar, water and cinnamon sticks in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer the syrup until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
3. Strain and cool before storing in the fridge or using in a cocktail.

Cocktail Friday: Grapefruit Vodka Soda

It seems like it has been 5 million years since I posted a cocktail here and I must say that I've missed it. Cocktail Friday was something I started back in my Tokyo Terrace days for a couple of reasons. First, I was really hoping to cut down on our budget for going out. Living in Tokyo, it was easy to blow through a good chunk of change between eating out at Izakayas, spending a few hours at Karaoke, and indulging in a little sushi (all of which go well with Umeshu Soda). We started having at-home happy hours on Friday evenings, which we would often invite our friends to join, which saved us some dough on drinks and apps. Sometimes we would go out afterwards, but a lot of the time we would just make it a stay-in kind of night. The second reason I started Cocktail Fridays was because I didn't know much about anything but wine and I wanted to expand my horizons. This was a great way to hold myself accountable when it came to learning about various spirits, mixers, etc. Fast forward to today and I still love taking classic cocktail recipes and making them new with the addition of new and unusual ingredients. This Grapefruit Vodka Soda is a perfect example.

I first made this cocktail for my sister, Rebecca, the vodka soda lover in the family, when she was visiting us a couple months ago. My cocktail ingredients were limited, since I hadn't been keeping things stocked during my pregnancy. However, I scrounged up a bottle of vodka from the freezer, grabbed a grapefruit that was hiding in the fridge, and cracked open a can of my very favorite sparkling water: pamplemousse (aka grapefruit) from La Croix. Yep. That's all I used to whip up a fresh, seasonal version of the classic vodka soda. Easy peasy, no?

I may be 100,000% sleep deprived with our new little bundle of joy, but getting back into the routine of sharing a fresh and easy cocktail with you each and every week helps me feel more like myself. Plus, this is easily adaptable for those of us who need more mocktails in our lives. Just omit the vodka. Done and done. The grapefruit wedges are enough to make any old sparkling water feel more elegant and fun.

Cheers to that, I say. Cheers. To. That.

Grapefruit Vodka Soda

Makes 2 cocktails

• 4 oz vodka
• 4 oz pamplemousse sparkling water (or any variety you prefer)
• 4 grapefruit wedges

Fill two short glasses with ice. Pour the vodka over the ice and the sparkling water over the vodka. Squeeze the juice from one grapefruit wedge and float it in the glass. Stir gently to combine and garnish with remaining grapefruit wedges. Enjoy!

Cocktail Friday: Honey Rhubarb Martini

My sister, Rebecca (who also blogs here), will be taking the reigns on Fridays for a while and I am SO excited about it! Armed with her trusty iPhone and lots of Happy Hour experience, I know she will be bringing some great stuff to Set the Table! This time, she and my mom teamed up to bring us this beautiful Honey Rhubarb Martini.

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My mom and sister cook the same way. They throw things together without thinking too hard about it; they sense it. Meanwhile, I'm leaning over their shoulder like a pest asking,

"Why are you doing that?"

"Is it really supposed to look like that?"

"Are you sure it'll turn out? What if it doesn't turn out?"

They cook the way I play music. The next chord is a four chord and the next is a minor sixth and there is a little change in rhythm here and let's throw in a seventh chord here. I can't explain it. I sense it. When you feel like that about something, pay attention. It probably means you've found the thing you are supposed to be doing.

Last night, my mom improvised a cocktail out of one of the only things ready to pick in our Minnesota garden: rhubarb. At first, it was going to be a rhubarb margarita but, by the time she was done, it was a gorgeous, cold, pink rhubarb martini.

And as always, it was delicious.

Honey Rhubarb Martini

Makes 2 cocktails

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup rhubarb cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• 3 shots vodka
• 2 shots rhubarb syrup
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 large lumps ice

Instructions

For the Simple Syrup:

For the cocktail:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the honey, water, rhubarb cubes, and grated ginger.
2. Heat and stir at medium heat until the rhubarb is soft.
3. Place hot saucepan into a larger bowl filled with ice.
4. When cooled, strain into a small jar or pitcher.
5. In a cocktail shaker, combine the ice, vodka, rhubarb syrup and lime juice.
6. Shake until well chilled and pour into your favorite martini glasses.
7. Garnish with fresh lime and/or rhubarb.

Cocktail Friday: Cherry Vodka

My sister, Rebecca (who also blogs here), will be taking the reigns on Fridays for a while and I SO excited about it! Armed with her trusty iPhone and lots of Happy Hour experience, I know she will be bringing some great stuff to Set the Table! Here is her first shot (no pun intended) at Cocktail Friday: a delicious and beautiful cherry vodka recipe. My name is Rebecca and my drink of choice is Vodka Soda with Lime. And I'm not sorry. To me, it's like a palatable, unsweetened limeade. Simple and clean.

Vodka is traditionally made from potatoes or grains and distilled three(ish) times in a process that renders it nearly flavorless. The word itself is a diminutive of the word for water in Russian. I've read that the earliest vodkas had an unsavory smell and, as efforts evolved to clean up the smell, so too went the taste. Or maybe that's conjecture ...

The lack of flavor, however, has a surprising way of making other flavors go gangbusters. Certain foods have flavor profiles that can only be brought out by alcohol (that's why we use vodka in tomato sauce - it amps up weak tomatoes). Vodka, with it's clean taste, brings out these new and stronger flavors without adding additional complexity.

Last summer, I bought fresh cherries at the farmers market, put them in an extra large canning jar, covered them with vodka, and let them sit on a dark shelf until Christmas. They were sour cherries so I didn't know what to expect. Let me tell you, t'was delicious. I drank my cherry vodka plain with soda water and ice and a lot of happiness. You can do this with any fruit, vegetable, spice, herb, edible flower, or combination thereof.

One more thing: from martinis "Shaken, not stirred," to Bloody Marys, to vodka red bulls (um, yuck?), vodka is surprisingly ubiquitous. And, while many of us have an eye out for all things locally crafted, vodka also comes across as annoyingly corporate. Enter: Local (to the Twin Cities) newcomer, Norseman Distillery's Vodka. It has my complete and *completely unsolicited* endorsement.

Cherry Vodka

Ingredients

• 1 bottle of vodka
• 1 lb cherries, or enough cherries to fill the bottle halfway

Instructions

1. Fill a jar with peak season cherries (or whatever).
2. Completely cover cherries (or whatever) with vodka and twist on lid.
3. Put on shelf and wait at least a month.

Cocktail Friday: Japanese Bloody Mary

I started planting some seeds yesterday. San Marzano tomatoes, basil, bibb lettuce, chard, kale and radishes, to be exact. Last year, though my intentions were good, I had to buy starter plants for every single thing we grew. The reason, you ask? Our beautiful, obnoxious, and far too curious black lab decided to tear up my seed trays last spring. Twice. So I eventually gave up and decided seeds were not in the cards for us just yet. I planted 28 tomato plants. No, I don't know where they will all go just yet. I think I'll cross that bridge when I come to it since there's no guarantee all the seeds will become actual plants. Some will go to better homes but I hope to have several to keep to myself so I can make lots of sauce and can it. I'm not going to get too excited just yet. While I don't think my thumb is black, it is not bright green. Gardening does not come easily to me and I've had quite a few mishaps. Baby steps, right?

Not only is it the season for gardening, we are heading into prime brunch season. Mimosas, Bloody Marys, various cheesy, hot sauce speckled, buttery egg dishes, bacon, and cinnamon rolls galore. Oh...healthy things too. None are coming to mind though.

I first made a version of these Japanese Bloody Marys in 2009. We were in Tokyo, Japan and had survived our first 6 months living a world away from all the things we knew and all the people we loved. Fortunately, we had quickly developed a Tokyo 'family' with whom we celebrated Easter. We spent the day on the banks of the Tamagawa, a river not far from the school where we all taught. We grilled, drank, laughed, and got minor sunburns. It was a fantastic day.

I've taken the recipe I used that day and fixed it up a bit. I added spicy shichimi togarashi, a blend of red pepper flakes commonly used in Japan, along with some wasabi for a horseradish-like bite, and salty-sweet soy sauce in place of worcestershire sauce. The result is a perfectly balanced Bloody Mary that has hints of its classic counterpart but adds a nice change to the world of Bloody Mary creations.

Cheers to Friday and brunch and gardening and Spring!

Japanese-Inspired Bloody Mary

Ingredients

• 2 cups tomato juice, low sodium
• 1 1/2 teaspoons wasabi paste
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon shichimi togarashi
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 5 oz vodka or gin
• celery salt
• Garnishes
• celery stalks
• thick cut applewood smoked bacon, cooked
• lemon wedges

Instructions

1. Put some celery salt on a plate. Using a lemon wedge, line the rims of two tall glasses. Gently dip the rims in the celery salt before filling each glass with ice.
2. In a large glass measuring pitcher, combine the wasabi paste, soy sauce, shichimi togarashi and lemon juice. Whisk until combined.
3. Pour the tomato juice over the wasabi mixture and stir to combine.
4. Put 1 1/2 oz of vodka in each ice-filled glass. Top with the tomato juice mixture and garnish with celery, bacon and lemon.