Cocktail Friday: Paris Stranger

My sister, Rebecca, is back with an enchanting story of the Paris Stranger and a cocktail with the same name for this week's Cocktail Friday! These posts make me want to sit on the deck with her, chatting about all of the things. If only Minnesota were a little (or a lot) closer...

This summer, I read a book by Kristin Newman called What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding. It's a hilarious account of Newman's real life travel adventures as a young, single comedy writer. It was funny, fun, and full of surprisingly wise observations about life and travel.

One of her travel edicts is to do the thing you are supposed to do in the place you are supposed to do it in. You know, eat pretzels in Germany ... ride camels in Egypt ... drink vodka in Russia ... etc.

As I read, I thought about all of the places I've been and all of the times I didn't do the thing I was supposed to do in the place I was supposed to do it.

For example:

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY OCTOBER NIGHT IN PARIS. My friends and I had met up with a parisian friend-of-a-brother (or something) who led us through Montmarte to a popular cafe for drinks. The cafe had two or three smallish rooms and all of them were suffocatingly full of people. We pushed ourselves against a wall to watch and wait for some chairs to open up.

As I scanned for leavers, my eyes unwittingly caught on a handsome face in the back of the cafe. It was years ago, but there is a picture burned into my brain of a man with light hair, thin, broad shoulders, an Oxford-ish look, with those smiling eyes that tend to make me go stupid, drinking beer. I was completely smitten. A dapper gent. A dapper, dapper gent ...

Anyway, I turned back to my friends, forcing myself to not ogle the thing I reeeeeeally wanted to ogle in the back of the room. Eventually, we realized no one was going to leave and decided to move along. As we turned to go, I cast one last look at my new favorite face in Paris ... AND GUESS WHAT!

Our eyes met! He smiled! He waved! AT ME! AT MEEEEEE!

Instantly, my head was full of thoughts:

Did he think I was someone else? Was someone behind me waving back? Was he making fun of me? (A particularly destructive-yet-common thought I have when something like this happens)

So I did what any insane person does: I turned my blushing face away as fast as I could and walked away.

I just walked away.

Once outside, I told my friends what happened and they almost insisted we go back. But I, in my determination to keep myself from ever facing scary things, said, "No, no. It's not a big deal. It's nothing. Never mind. Let's keep going. Never mind."

The end.

I could write a whole book full of sad stories like that one. I mean, aren't you supposed to fall in love with a stranger in Paris? If you have the chance? So many times, life has handed me something and said HERE! TAKE IT! IT MIGHT BE WONDERFUL! And I've looked down and said, "Never mind."

So, as a kind of penance, I'm calling this week's cocktail the Paris Stranger.

Cheers to him, whoever he was, and whatever he was waving at. Next time, I promise promise promise I'll make the scary move.

Paris Stranger

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 oranges, peeled
• 1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
• Whiskey
• Ice

Instructions

1. Run oranges and ginger through a juicer (you know, the one you bought for making green juices and then never did). Add one or two shots of whiskey in ice-filled glass and top with orange-ginger juice.

Cocktail Friday: Big Ginger

I never tire of visiting Minnesota. Maybe everyone feels that way about their home state. When we moved to Japan I felt like the missing would never cease. As it turns out, I was right. Four years in Tokyo followed by nearly 2 in Colorado and I still miss it. What I realize more and more every time is that leaving my home state means leaving my family, which gets harder each time. Instead of being sad about it, I am focusing on the fact that I have a family and a childhood home that are hard to leave.

When we moved into our house in Denver, my parents came to visit. My dad brought us a bottle of 2 Gingers Irish Whiskey, which is made at a distillery in Ireland. (It was only distributed in Minnesota in the beginning, though now it is available nationwide.) We lit a fire in our chiminea and stood outside, the hum of the nearby freeway ringing through the night sky, and toasted to our new home with a round of Big Gingers and an Irish blessing.

Our house has been good to us. I think the symbolic act of the toast, our glasses making the familiar tinkling sound as each rim met another rim, helped start us off on the right foot. I'm thankful for our small, cozy home. I'm thankful for family. And I hope I can create a childhood home for our son that makes him want to return, no matter how long the journey.

TGIF and cheers to you my friends!

Bless This House

Bless this house, o Lord, we pray.

Make it safe by night and day.

Bless these walls so firm and stout,

Keeping want and trouble out.

Bless the roof and chimney tall,

Let thy peace lie over all.

Bless the doors that they may prove,

Ever open to joy and love.

Bless the windows shining bright,

Letting in God's heavenly light.

Bless the hearth a-blazing there,

With smoke ascending like a prayer.

Bless the people here within...

Keep them pure and free from sin.

Bless us all, that one day, we

May be fit, O lord, to dwell with Thee.

Big Ginger

Ingredients

• 2 parts 2 Gingers
• 2 parts ginger ale
• wedge of lemon
• wedge of lime

Instructions

1. Fill a collins glass with ice.
2. Add the 2 Gingers then top with the ginger ale.
3. Garnish with the lemon and lime wedges.

Cocktail Friday: St. Paddy's Vietnamese Coffee

This week has been a tough one. I've been sick since Sunday and it just won't quit. I wake up in the morning feeling like maybe today is the day I'll be back to normal but it just hasn't happened. It's been a good reminder that I need to take better care of myself overall. More time for exercise, paying attention to what goes in my body, and making sure there is enough 'me' time scheduled each and every day for some mental relaxation.

Luckily, it's been a beautiful week. The sun has been shining and the sky is a bright blue. Thanks to the warm and soothing sunshine, I've been able to spend time with my little guy outside where I can sit in a comfortable chair and watch him as he plays. It's been a bubble-blowing week over here. Right at this very moment, Riley is taking sips of water from his cup and spitting it on the grass saying, "I want ta grow deez!" I do too, buddy. I do too.

I may not be feeling well but that certainly doesn't mean I'm going to deprive you of a cocktail post the weekend of St. Paddy's Day. That would be wrong for so many reasons. I decided to take Vietnamese coffee- one of my very favorite things- and give it a little Irish twist with a shot of whiskey. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Is it spring where you are? You trying to "grow deez"? If you haven't taken a few minutes to sit in the warm rays of the springtime sun, I encourage you to do that right now. Get your face all up in that warm glow and soak in some vitamin D. It works wonders.

Have a fun and safe weekend, friends!

St. Paddy's Day Vietnamese Iced Coffee

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons dark roast coffee, finely ground
• 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
• 2 oz Irish whiskey

Instructions

1. Begin by spooning the coffee into the top of a Vietnamese metal coffee filter.
2. In the bottom of a heat proof glass, pour the 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk.
3. Set the filter on top of the glass and pour boiling water over the coffee grounds until the water almost reaches the top.
4. Let the coffee drip through the filter on top of the sweetened condensed milk.
5. Set the filter aside carefully- it will be hot!
6. Stir the coffee until it is blended with the milk.
7. Fill a glass with ice (some of it will melt so fill it extra full). Pour the whiskey over the ice followed by the coffee. Stir to combine.

Cocktail Friday: Lavender Honey Sidecar

I started working in restaurants when I was in college. The first was a café on campus. I made milkshakes, pizzas, burgers, and lattés for masses of sleep-deprived, starving college students. I like to think that I did my part to nurse hangovers and fuel all night study sessions. The next place of employment was at a classy restaurant off campus where they graciously trusted me to work behind the bar. I had had exactly zero experience mixing drinks, but they were very patient with me and helped me to learn the basics of cocktail mixing, stirring, shaking, and everything in between. They never said I did a bad job, which is either because they wanted to spare my young college-girl feelings, or because I wasn't terrible. After a while, I moved on to waiting tables at the same restaurant, which I much preferred. Still, I attribute much of my initial interest in cocktails to La Rana Bistro in Decorah, IA. If you ever find yourself in that area of the U.S., I highly recommend stopping in Decorah. It's a sweet little place and much more beautiful than most people expect for that part of the Midwest. 

Lavender-Honey Simple Syrup

Lavender-Honey Sidecar Cocktail

I didn't learn to make this particular cocktail while working at the bistro, but I did think about my time in Iowa the first time I made it. Something about the honey-lavender syrup made me think of, as the sign says when you enter the state of Iowa, "Fields of Opportunities". It's funny how a scent can bring you somewhere totally unexpected. As far as I know, there aren't lavender fields anywhere near Decorah, IA, but with the first whiff of the dried flower I was transported there anyway. That's the thing about food. Or drinks, in this case. Sometimes the smell or taste brings you someplace you didn't know you needed to go. I haven't physically been to Decorah in quite some time, but I welcomed the brief reminder of a place so dear to my heart.

So, a little about this Lavender-Honey Sidecar. The recipe for this lovely cocktail has been calling my name for a couple years. I only just got around to trying it out a little while ago and immediately smacked myself in the forehead for not doing it sooner. The original recipe calls for brandy, but I didn't have any on hand. Then I remembered a whiskey sidecar that I had on a visit to the Brown Palace in Denver a while back and decided it might work well here. Fortunately, I was right. I'm pretty picky about my whiskey cocktails but this one was right up my alley. Softly floral from the whiskey and the lavender, with the gentle sweetness of honey which was cut by fresh lemon juice and a splash of Cointreau. I am sometimes wary of cocktail recipes that incorporate ingredients easily mistaken for a cold remedy, but this was perfectly balanced and clean on the palate. Even my whiskey-loving husband enjoyed it!

My recommendation for this weekend? Sit back, enjoy the smells, sounds, and sights around you, and see where your mind wanders.

Lavender-Honey Sidecar

Adapted from a recipe in The Art of the Bar

Makes 1 cocktail

1 1/2 ounces whiskey (or brandy, as called for in the original recipe)

3/4 of an ounce Lavender-Honey Simple Syrup (recipe follows)

1/2 ounce Cointreau

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

A dash of orange bitters

Fine white sugar or granulated sugar for the rim of the glass.

Put your sugar in an even layer on a small plate. Use enough so that when you dip the glass in the sugar, enough will collect on the rim to be visually appealing. I usually use about 1/3 cup, even though not nearly that much ends up on the glass. Using your clean finger, put a dab of honey on the tip and trace the edge of your cocktail glass, making sure the honey is in an even, consistent layer but without clumps. Turn the glass upside down in the sugar to coat the honey and gently turn right side up. Set aside while you make the cocktail.

In a shaker, add the whiskey or brandy, simple syrup, cointreau, lemon juice and bitters. Fill the shaker to the top with ice and shake vigorously for about 30 seconds. Pour through the strainer of the shaker into your cocktail glass and serve immediately.

Lavender-Honey Simple Syrup

1/3 cup Wildflower honey

1/4 cup dried lavender

1/4 cup hot water

Combine the honey, lavender, and water in a small bowl and stir to combine. Let steep for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour. Pour through a fine mesh strainer and use immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.