Culinary Fool

Afternoon’s Spoils

09-Jul-2006

When I was finished making jam, I had a bit of raspberry puree left over. Hmmm. What to do with it?

Well, it didn’t take me long to figure out a plan. It was going to be another warm day and what do we all like on a warm day? Why something cool, refreshing… even frozen!

I decided to make frozen raspberry daiquiris. Pulling various combinations out of my head I came up with something I thought would be pretty good. And it is, but I think I might make slight modifications next time.

Here’s what I did:

Frozen Raspberry Daiquiris

1 cup of fresh (or frozen) raspberry puree
4 oz of fresh lime juice
4 oz of simple syrup
5 oz of rum (I prefer golden but use what you like)
1 oz of Chambord – today I used Whidbey’s Loganberry Liqueur because I had it open or you could also use all rum
2 trays of ice

Add all ingredients to a blender and process until completely smooth. Store in freezer until ready to use.

This makes quite a large batch of daiquiris, which is great! If the mix gets a little too runny while blending or for any leftover mix simply place in the freezer and allow to get slushy. I used to keep a pitcher of frozen daiquiris in my freezer at all times. They won’t freeze solid with the alcohol in the mix. It’s very nice to come home after a long day at work, pull the frozen mixture out, scoop a little into a glass, change into lounging around clothes and by then it’s thawed enough so you can sip a perfectly cooling concoction.

My "standard" daiquiri is a strawberry-banana version, so the raspberry was a new thing for me. There was a little too much lime in this version. Raspberries are not as robust in flavor as strawberries. I think I would reduce the lime by about 1/2 oz next time. Although I might also try adding a bit more simple syrup.

The raspberry puree had not been strained which meant there were quite a few seeds in the drinks. This doesn’t bother me – especially since as the daiquiri melts the seeds all drop to the bottom – but you could always run the puree through a sieve prior to measuring the 1 cup portion, if you prefer.

See a recipe update here.

This Morning’s Project

09-Jul-2006

Red seems to be the color of the week! Today’s project was a batch of raspberry jam made with berries I picked up at yesterday’s Farmers’ Market. I love making jam and have to actually make myself not make too much. I was very good with the strawberries – I made two batches but have already given one entire batch away. And I only bought enough raspberries for this one batch plus a few leftover for snacking on. Or maybe making some sort of crisp with some apricots I also picked up yesterday…

Treasure – Bottled Rubies

07-Jul-2006

One of my favorite things to do for the summer is to pick up a sampling of rosé wines and then taste them throughout the warm summer days. Last year I made a good attempt at getting wines from France, Spain and Italy. This year I wasn’t as disciplined and just sorted through all the boxes of treasure brought in just for the summer. I ended up with mostly French bottles with one each from Spain, Australia, Oregon and Washington.

I always buy the local rosé with a bit of trepidation – the local vintners are starting to get it and each year I hope that I will find some local wines with the characteristics I love. The berry smells, fruity palate yet with a dry finish – a thirst quenching sort of wine. Perfect for sipping on the deck during the dog days of summer – or at least as dog dayish as we get here in Seattle!

I have especially good hopes for the one I picked up from Oregon, the Elk Cove. This winery is already well respected for it’s Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. This is a Pinot Noir rosé and was just delivered to Esquin as I was checking out. Luckily, I ended up with one bottle short of a case and deiced to grab one more (for the additional discount). When I went to the rosé area the staff guy standing there pointed this one out as he had just set it up – lucky break for me! When I grabbed it the woman ringing me up was so jealous – all the staff had been waiting for it to come in and she was planning to take a bottle home to taste after work tonight! I love it when something I choose seems to resonate with those most knowledgeable!

The other nice thing about rosé is that most bottles are fairly reasonably priced. Several of these I purchased today are $8 or $9. The most expensive one was $17. Most were $11 or so. It’s a fairly easy wine to pick a few and not have to feel bad if something doesn’t meet your expectations.

Okay, enough writing – I think I’m off to do some sipping!

Over on The Spirit World…

30-Jun-2006

The last week on The Spirit World brought us some worldwide adventures, among other things!

Sal takes us into the Romanian world with his first-hand experience with Tuica
Next, I give you a bit of a preview from our latest Cooking Club meeting with an Indian Cocktail
Robert goes into the world of Chartreuse with The Bijou
Drinking Like a Monk is the theme for a party and beer tasting Donavan was planning
Then Lara takes us to Mexico and memories of a special Margarita with Damiana: Goddess of the Baja
For Happy Hour at Home it’s (sort of) back to my childhood with Watermelon Martinis and Fried Chicken!

Vinado: The Site & the Party

28-Jun-2006

I’ve been thinking about this post for a few days after I attended Vinado’s opening party last week. And I’ve decided that I need to talk about the site (and concept) and the party separately and make sure the experience with one does not necessarily reflect on the other.

Okay, enough with the veiled references and on with the post!

Vinado is a new online wine shop that has some really great ideas and lots of potential. Basically they are bringing wines of the world right into your home. And at discounted prices. Now a quick look at the retail prices they list and what the winery’s websites list shows some discrepancy in just how much the discount might be. I found that the Vinado website often listed the list price as higher than what the winery listed. However, I also found instances when they were exactly the same and even, occasionally less than the winery’s price. The net though is that Vinado’s discounted price was always less than the winery’s price. So basically, you will get a discount from the winery price just maybe not quite as much as you might think.

There are several things I like about the site. First, in my initial poking around it has seemed very easy to navigate. You can look at wines by region or by fun categories such as "Sailing Wines", "Beautiful Wines Under $20", and "Vinado.com’s Choice". In addition they have a handy recipe section and, even better, a pairing feature.

Entering Pinot Noir as my wine, brought back ten interesting sounding recipes. Alternatively, they need to do some work on the reverse pairing – entering a food didn’t work out so well, unless you entered one of their recipes. I would think that entering a generic term like "oysters" would have brought back something but the system had some trouble there. Still the idea is great and their pairing "lessons" are quick bites of useful information.

Right now they can only ship wines to Washington but will be expanding out to 30 states in the next couple of months.

The site has much more than I’ve mentioned so you should check it out.

Now, about the party. I was lucky in a couple of ways.

M2 scored tickets to the event and took me as her guest so that meant I didn’t have to pay to get in and we were able to enter at the earlier press and special guests time, an hour prior to the general opening. These were both good things.

I’m not really sure why people can’t seem to get wine tasting flows straight – I mean these types of events have been going on for so long, you’d think there would just be generally accepted principals on how to do it right. I’m not sure if the fault was with Vinado or the W Hotel catering staff but the layout created huge bottlenecks once the event was opened to all.

Adding to the flow issues, and this was Vinado’s issue, was that for each wine you had to get your "passport" stamped before they would pour for you.

So, in affect you were in two lines for each taste. While I liked the idea of the passport for tracking what was being served, what I tasted and what I liked, I did not like the idea that Vinado was using it to limit people to just one taste per wine.

This seemed a little punitive in some ways. I mean most people had paid $40 for entry, no small amount for a wine tasting. And, I’m sure there are some people who abuse the tasting procedures, but in general you just don’t see that happen at most events. People can only drink so much at a tasting in a limited amount of time. Does it really hurt if someone goes back for "seconds" to certain wines – especially since that normally means they will skip something else? So putting this gating system in place was unnecessary and awkward.

I have noticed that the next event in Seattle, planned for July has been moved to a different location, so perhaps Vinado decided that the room at the W was not right for their needs. Perhaps they are seeking to rectify the organizational challenges based on what they learned at this first event. If that’s the case I think that is great! I guess time will tell.

So while I can’t whole-heartedly recommend the events, they might be worth a try. On the other hand, I do think checking out the website is something you should do.

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

25-Jun-2006

I’m not a huge ice cream fan. Don’t get me wrong! I really like the stuff but I hardly ever have cravings for it. Unless it’s summer and I’m making my own. And it’s extra special when the fruit is your very own. This is what I made today. Yum! This is pretty much perfection.

This is an easy recipe, too. Basically strawberries, sugar and cream. Oh, and they add a little citrus juice to brighten the strawberry taste. It was a good idea. This is a very strawberry ice cream!

July 9th: Updated with recipe.

Strawberry Ice Cream

12 oz strawberries, hulled
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
6 oz caster (superfine) sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Puree the berries in a blender, leaving a few chunks if desired. Combine puree with orange and lemon juice and sugar. Set aside (in refrigerator) for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar.

Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Combine it with the puree and then whisk together.

Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Note: I meant to measure the actual amount of fruit juice I used but forgot to write it down. :-( I believe it was about 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1/4 up of lemon. Also, I have this ice cream maker and by the end of the freezing time the ice cream was starting to push its way out the top – this makes a pretty big batch.

Long Shadows Vintners

25-Jun-2006

The event that brought me to Vintage Lounge at Daniel’s Broiler was a wine tasting for Long Shadows wines. I was not familiar with this winery but the description of it sounded very intriguing, especially since Allen Shoup is the founder of the winery and the visionary behind it. Always a Washington wine advocate, he is considered by many to be the father of the Washington Wine Industry. Many of you may recognize his name since he was at the helm of Château Ste Michelle for many years and started their interesting partnerships with other winemakers.The two most notable resulted in Eroica, a German-style Riesling made in partnership with Dr.Ernst Loosen of Germany; and Col Solare a super Tuscan style wine made in partnership with Marchese Piero Antinori of Italy.

The name of the winery is a tribute to a select group of individuals, who shape the wine industry with their benchmark wines and wineries. All wines made by this winery will be partnerships with these great vintners, using their expertise, knowledge and vision but using Washington grapes.

At the tasting we had the opportunity to try the first six of the wines that have resulted from these partnerships – what an amazing powerhouse of a lineup! Most of these wines are celebrating their first release and are in very limited supply with 300 – 700 cases being produced of each. The exception was a Riesling which is in it’s 2nd year, I believe and had a production of 1200 cases.

The wines we tasted were:

2004 Poet’s Leap Riesling – partner Armin Diel of Scholssgut Diel, Germany
2002 Chester-Kidder Red Wine, a Bordeaux blend of primarily Merlot – partner Gilles Nicault, a French Winemaker who now resides in Washington
2003 Pedestal Merlot – partner Michel Rolland of Pomerol, consultant to over 100 wineries
2003 Pirouette, red blend of primarily Cabernet Sauvignon – partners Philippe Melka and Agustin Huneeus of Napa Valley
2003 Feather Cabernet Sauvignon – partner Randy Dunn of California
2003 Sequel Syrah – partner John Duval of Australia’s Penfold’s Grange

For more information on all of these wines, the associated winemakers and to sign up for their wine club, visit the Long Shadows website.

Recently on The Spirit World

23-Jun-2006

On my San Francisco trip I stopped by The Slanted Door for a cocktail or two.
Then a quick trip to Boston finds me at No. 9 Park
Nika provides a great non-alcoholic summer alternative she created, Tart Summertime Kiwi-Lime-Ginger Cocktail
Robert gives us more information on the Pisco Sour
Donavan gives you the scoop on Beer Radio
We take a quick virtual trip to Slovakia to learn about Borovička
Yesterday’s Happy Hour at Home, brings recipes for Muddled Lemonberryade and Caramelized Onion Zin-Burgers

Daniel’s Broiler: Vintage Lounge

21-Jun-2006

What do you do with a clubby cigar lounge when the state you’re in bans all smoking in restaurants, bars and lounges? Well, if you are Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue you turn it into a new upscale wine tasting lounge! Last week R and I had the opportunity to attend a guided wine tasting at the new Vintage Lounge. Turned out there was a familiar face from my new wine tasting group attending, too!

The room sits at the very back of the Daniel’s bar area. I actually had never realized there was a cigar bar there. When you enter the room you still get that stale cigar room smell, unfortunately, but they’ve done a decent job of cleaning and once in the room you really don’t notice it. I imagine the odor will linger as long as they leave the leather furniture in the room. The room itself is very cozy and clubby – leather chairs, a fireplace, and library looking displays and cabinets.

They had a special system put in place, a Cruvinet, that allows them to preserve and dispense wine. This is what allows them to sell high-end wines by the glass. According to their site:

The 30 "Cruvinet Selections" are all wines that have been rated 90 points or higher by Wine Spectator, Robert Parker and Wine Enthusiast. The "Cruvinet Selections" are both domestic and imported and are diverse in style, varietal type, and vintage. These wines are appropriately served in Reidel stemware.

Now, trying these wines does come at a price but from looking at their current list it allows you access to some wines that are not commonly available, and certainly not by the glass. I noticed they had DeLille Chaleur Estate on the menu (pdf) – a good point of reference for me since I’d just purchased a bottle at the winery. At the winery the Chaleur Estate was $68 a bottle. At Vintage Lounge a glass will run you $32 or so. Not exactly a bargain, but again there may be times when you’d like access to something you normally wouldn’t be able to try. And, not all the wines are this expensive; I just picked this as an example since I knew the winery bottle price by heart.

On the other hand, while the lounge has its own appetizer menu they told me that the regular Daniel’s Happy Hour menu is also available in Vintage Lounge! During Happy Hour all appetizers are half price – it’s one of the best deals in town, in my opinion.

During the wine tasting we attended they served a combination of things we were familiar with and new things. For instance they were passing, the crab legs and jumbo shrimp from the regular menu; and ahi on cucumber and flank steak stuffed with cream spinach, two items I hadn’t seen before.

This may not end up being an everyday place but I can certainly see it being a fun place to stop by every now and then.

Vintage Lounge
10500 N.E. 8th, 21st Floor (In the bank building)
Bellevue
425.462.4662
Open daily at 4:00p.m.

Boston: Florentine Café

20-Jun-2006

Tuesday afternoon I had another opportunity to get out for a bit. After a full morning of meetings, checking in on another part of my team to see if they needed anything and tending to some email I was ready for a break before my evening activities.

Again, feeling the need to walk I set out toward Quincy Market and the North End. The interesting thing about Boston, is that in certain areas for no particular reason the streets are curvy. I guess it probably has to do with history and the necessity to wind around historic buildings instead of create straight thoroughfares through them. The result though, is that while walking I always need to have a map handy and even with that seem to end up taking a more scenic route than first planned! In this case it was fine, but there are times that has driven me crazy.

Once passing by the market area, I took a little diversion down to the wharf area for a little water viewing. It amazes me how much this area has been changing over the few years I’ve been visiting this city. From there I turned up into the narrow streets of the North End, home to the city’s Italian population.

It was mid-afternoon and, in general, the streets were quiet, with one exception. Those who could were gathered in bars, restaurants, pastry and coffee shops – anywhere with a TV, watching The World Cup games. So I passed several places with cheering folks spilling out onto the sidewalk as I walked around the area.

I finally settled on the Florentine Café as my choice for lunch, primarily due to the open windows, cheery flower boxes of pansies and the tables near the windows.

It seemed like the perfect place to enjoy a little lunch and the late spring afternoon.

While looking over the menu a basket of bread with perfectly seasoned olive oil was placed on my table. Olive-y and a bit spicy, this is one of my favorite comfort foods.

I decided to order a Mista salad and one of their pizzettes, the Bianco.

While waiting for my order I watched the world pass by outside my window and just enjoyed the relaxed and social atmosphere of the place. The soccer games were playing here, too, but the sound was turned off, so you could let it be as much or as little of a distraction as you wished.

My freshly prepared salad arrived and looked delicious. Crisp greens and slices of tomato, topped with a generous portion of fresh, thin Parmesan slices.

The dressing was simply a little oil and a generous amount of balsamic vinegar. Heaven! The salad was so large that I questioned my need for the pizzette but my order had been placed so there was nothing to do but wait for it to arrive.

I have no idea why they call their pizzas "pizzette", as there is nothing small about them! It was probably a good 13" in diameter and was overflowing the plate it was served on. But boy did it look great!

The Bianco is a caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza with Parmesan cream. And I’d say there is some garlic in that Parmesan cream, too! The pizzette is baked so that the prosciutto is crispy and then once the pizza is removed from the oven the Parmesan cream is poured over the top of it all giving you a combination of crispy and a bit gooey all at the same time.

I’m sure there were no calories what-so-ever in this dish! ;-)

Between my large salad and the richness of the dish I could barely eat a piece and a half of the pizzette.

I had the rest boxed up, thinking I’d have it as a quick breakfast prior to my next day, early morning flight. It turned out that it didn’t last that long – my evening dinner meeting and party were a bust, food-wise, so when I returned to my room later that night I was able to happily munch on Pizzette Bianco and go to bed happy!

Florentine Café

333 Hanover St

Boston

617.227.1777