Winter Cocktail Tasting

Saturday, February 12th

4 - 6pm

Prospect Wine Shop

322 Seventh Ave. (btwn 8th and 9th)

Park Slope, Brooklyn

www.prospectwine.com

Cinnamon, star anise and oat/honey vodka are featured in this winter's cocktail selection.  Stop on by and sample The Arrow, an aphrodisiac blend of cinnamon vodka, homemade creme de cacao and jasmine essence.  Along those lines is also The Barry White which is made of star anise vodka, creme de cacao, pomegranate juice and blood orange essential oil.  Finally and quite by surprise is The Breakfast of Champions, a luscious concoction of oat and honey infused vodka with milk, chamomile water and sandalwood oil.  It's cold out, come have a drink!

Cocktail Lab, Winter 2011

Last summer I started out the Year in Vodka with some herb infused spirits with fresh floral notes.  In the autumn I experimented with dried fruit and nut infusions.  This winter I tried my hand at some spices and grain flavored vodka.  Cinnamon vodka turned out to be a huge success and it pared nicely with homemade creme de cacao as well as, surprisingly, orange juice.  Star anise vodka pared nicely with pomegranite juice creating something that tastes a lot like an old fashioned Good n' Plenty candy.  Ginger turned out to be a big disappointment and came out rather dull indeed.  A friend picked up some dried persimmon which made a delicious subtly sweet brew, better served alone so as not to mask its subtleness.  The surprise concoction was the sweet and satisfying honey and oat vodka.  Don't turn your nose up just yet.  I found the recipe on Chowhound and it was something they picked up from Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

Star anise floating in vodka

Every season I experiment with a different batch of flavored vodkas.  When I'm done I gather some mixers I think might be appropriate, make lots of ice and make sure I have plenty of clean glasses.  Then I host an evening with a few women friends which we've come to call Cocktail Lab.  All three invited guests - Diane Fargo, Lori Firpo and Rebecca Winzenried - are all well-traveled, been wined and dined and do their fair share of cooking.  They are Foodies with sophisticated palettes, a pretty tough crowd.  Together we compose a drink which I then shake up for us and split into four short glasses.  Then we all taste and discuss.  Alterations are made and the next cocktail is attempted and so on and so forth until the recipe has been perfected.

Come and sample the finished creations at the next tasting on Saturday, February 12 from 4 - 6pm at Prospect Wine Shop, 322 Seventh Ave. in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The Communal Table: Don't Be a Fry Baby!

On Saturday, November 20th, I'll be presenting at this event.  The Communal Table brings art, ideas and activism right to the table.  Writers, performers, artists, scientists, chefs and friends come together to talk, listen and share wonderful meals.  This event's theme is oil and all of the food is from oil producing countries.  There will be discussions about our nation's reliance on oil and the problems surrounding it.  I will be talking about essential oils and infusing vodka with them.  Join us if you can!  This event is a mere $30!

Autumn Cocktails: The Recipes

Here are the recipes from the latest cocktail tasting.  It's hard to say which one was the favorite, everyone had their own.  I know the first to run out was the Black Dog but I suspect that's because of the homemade Creme de Cacao.  Enjoy!

The Bindi

one jigger pistachio infused vodka
one ounce milk
quarter teaspoon rosewater
one teaspoon agave nectar
one drop clove oil, 20%

Give the combined ingredients a good shake and strain into chilled martini glasses. Finish with grated nutmeg. 

Black Dog

2 ounces pear infused vodka
one ounce creme de cacoa
one drop labdanum absolute dilution, 10%
splash of soda

Give the combined ingredients a good shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. 

The Kashmere

one jigger fig infused vodka
one jigger pear nectar
two drops coriander oil, 10%
splash of seltzer

Give the combined ingredients a good shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.  

 All of the essential oil dilutions can be found at www.herbalalchemy.net

Autumn Cocktail Tasting

Saturday, November 13th

4 - 6pm

Prospect Wine Shop

322 Seventh Ave. (btwn 8th and 9th)

Park Slope, Brooklyn

www.prospectwine.com

This seasons offerings include vodkas that have been macerated with dried fruits and toasted nuts.  Come and sample the The Bindi with pistachio vodka, rosewater and clove oil, or the Kashmere with fig vodka, pear nectar and coriander oil.  The Black Dog is pear vodka with homemade creme de cacao and the unexpected addition of a dilution of labdanum absolute, a sticky substance with dark amber tones.  It adds a mysterious perfumed note to the cacao.

Building a Hoop House

To extend the growing season my plot neighbor, Janet Murray, and I built a hoop house.  It was an ambitious project and we were flying without a net, so to speak.  We both did our internet research on hoop houses and cloches and we talked to some other gardeners but we discovered there's not a lot of information out there for gardeners of our caliber, that is to say community garden gardeners.  Most of what we saw was way too big for our purposes, or too precious and expensive.  We needed something fitting for your average urban victory garden.  We decided to put our heads together and build one together on her plot and share it.  I had started lettuce in late August and it was coming along nicely so our plan was to transplant my lettuce to her plot, leaving me with the opportunity to amend my soil between now and spring planting season.


It turned out to be a bigger project than we thought so it took two weekends to complete. We met on the first weekend and measured the plot and came up with a lose plan.  Then we made our trip to Home Depot and headed straight into the concrete reinforcement area.  Straight away we found the perfect material (and if either of us could remember the name of it I'd state it here!).  To make the hoop we bought four pieces of ten foot long wire reinforcements.  Our idea was to attach the wire supports to a wooden frame of 1 x 2's.  After the wire supports were trimmed a couple of feet they were attached to the frame.

Next we set it up in the plot.  Then Janet fastened a brace across the top and the plastic was laid over it.  Another brace was bolted on top to secure the plastic (and prevent it from blowing off when we're out there harvesting greens in the snow).  Then we carefully transplanted my bok choy, Amish bib, red and green oak leaf and Tom Thumb lettuces along with Janet's ginger, black raddish seedlings and Italian greens.

We're proud of our homemade cloche.  It's a little rough around the edges but I learned a lot and will be thinking about this design and how to make improvements for next year.  In the meantime I should be harvesting lettuce until the end of the year before it gets too cold and dies back.  By mid February I can start new lettuce and not long after I can start a tray of vegetables to be transplanted after the last frost.  Considering this all cost us about $30, it should pay for itself rather quickly.  I'm looking forward to a continued harvest.

Putting the Herb Garden to Bed for Winter

Harvesting and Drying Roots

I've been the coordinator of the herb garden at 6/15 Green Community Garden for ten years now.  When I inherited the job it was a rubble strewn sloping weed patch with a large comfrey plant and a whole lot of lemon balm and mint.  I organized some members to double dig it and sift out the rubble.  The soil was amended with loads of compost and it was well worth all of the labor.  The soil is gorgeous - and if you're someone who loves to garden you know that soil can be gorgeous.

This was a really good year for the herb garden.  A lot of plants have gotten more established and are coming into their full glory.  Every year we add plants and it's now looking like a full lush garden with plenty of medicinal and culinary herbs.  However, the plot needs some order.  October is a great time to transplant so fellow member Elizabeth Kalin and I have spent some time the past two weekends working hard on making next summer even better.

We moved larger plants out of the paths so we could get into the plot with greater ease.  In so doing we moved the large marshmallow plants.  When I dug them up they divided easily so I planted most of them in the back of the plot and took home some roots to dry for winter.

Marshmallow root is a mucilagenous plant that is very soothing for inflammation and ulceration of the stomach and small intestine.  It's also useful for dry cough as it soothes the throat and expectorates.  It is also the source of the original marshmallow confection.  Commercial marshmallows substitute gelatin for the root.  I've searched far and wide  for a recipe and will try my hand at making the real thing this winter (to have with hot cocoa).  In case anyone feels brave and wants to try it:

Marshmallows from Real Marshmallow Root

1/4 cup dried marshmallow root
1 and 3/4 cups sugar
1 and 1/4 T gum tragacanth
2 cups water
2 egg whites, whipped,
2 t rosewater or orange flower water to taste

Simmer the toot in 1 and 1/2 cups of water for about 20 minutes.  Soak the gum in 1/2 cup water.  Stir the gum vigorously and plop it in the blender and cover and wait until the cooking root has made a slightly mucilaginous tea.  Strain out the root liquid into the blender and blend the root liquid with the gum paste very thoroughly.  Put this into a saucepan over a very low heat and stir.  It will be rubbery and will soften a little.  Add the sugar and whisk for a few minutes.  Quit when a candy thermometer reads 215.  Whip for two minutes.  Add the egg whites, beating a bit more to blend.  It will be very sticky.  "Pour" into a powdered sugar pan and wait to dry.  They are crunchy on the outside and melting on the inside when they're done.  Refrigerate.  (Recipe from lostpastremembered.blogspot.com)

We also dug up some angelica root.  The angelica plant has been a great source of amusement this past summer.  It was actually the original source of inspiration for making herb infused vodka.  The plant is an umbelifer in the same family as celery.  The stalk and leaves have a similar flavor and aroma but with a twist.  I discovered that it is the main ingredient in Chartreuse.  Angelica is good for indigestion, anemia, coughs and colds and is said to be warming.

Angelica root

The plant is in it's fourth year so this season it went to seed, which I collected in late summer.  Now it was time to process the dried root.  First I scrubbed it clean with a small vegetable brush and let it dry.  Then I began to untangle the massive thing and begin slicing it.  It's taken several days but I believe it's thoroughly dry now and ready to be stored in a jar for future use.  I make a cologne for men from an old recipe called Carmelite Water.  Carmelite nuns made it for King Charles the V of France in the 14th Century.  It calls for angelica root and I'm so pleased I'll be able to make it with a root I've grown and processed myself.

Angelica seed

Angelica root

http://www.etsy.com/listing/25365753/carmelite-water-by-herbal-alchemy