cocktails | kimberly ah

Dec 10 2013

Whiskey Chat

On Saturday night, Naoto and I cashed in our silent auction winnings from the Forest Park Community Garden fundraiser. We hosted a Whiskey Chat and invited friends over to hear Nick speak about the history of whiskey, the different whiskies, the process of making whiskey. While Nick was talking, we enjoyed sampling different whiskeys and eating tasty snacks. We had everyone bring a bottle of whiskey so we could have a little variety to sample and Nick (a whiskey aficionado) brought his entire collection with him so we could sample a wider variety…isn’t that incredible? (That’s his collection up there on my china cabinet…plus he brought a ton of tiny “airplane bottles” of mainstream whiskeys and weird flavored whiskeys like Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey–ick). Naoto was really excited to see that Nick had a Japanese whisky in his collection. They spent some time comparing his to our bottle…both bottles tasted pretty peaty to me!
Nick had a powerpoint and handouts so it felt very formal and informative but fun and casual at the same time. It was a small enough group that we were all able to sit around our dining room table. In addition to the obligatory pistachios and cheese array, we made “funeral buns“. I found the recipe on Pinterest and they sounded just decadent enough to go with whiskey…a hearty and buttery bite. We substituted turkey for ham and they were delicious! They will be the next party staple. Our friend Karen made pimento cheese spread–another future party staple. In our research of things to serve with whiskey, pimento cheese came up…and I’m so glad it did!In the kitchen, we had a little “bar” set up with ingredients for Old Fashioneds and Manhattans. I typed up the recipes on little cards so people could help themselves. I think most people ended up drinking the whiskeys straight, but a few of us enjoyed the classic cocktails.

Oh, what a night!

In case you’re interested, here’s a list of the whiskeys we all shared:

Cedar Ridge (my personal favorite bourbon, from Iowa)

Old Overholt (a $15 rye, recommended by Kathy, that has been my Manhattan staple lately)

Breckenridge (a Colorado bourbon)

Eagle Rare (a Kentucky bourbon)

Koval (a Chicago bourbon)

Tagged celebrations, cocktails, food

Nov 12 2013

A Cocktail for 11/12/13

Happy 11/12/13 (though, if you’re living outside the US, you probably don’t write it that way)!

In honor of this once in a century occasion, I will be mixing up one of Kathy’s Apple Old Fashioneds. Naoto and I tested these out last week (though we used a 1:1 ratio of apple whiskey and rye because we had an early morning the next day!) and I highly recommend this twist on my favorite cocktail. The Leopold Bros Apple Whiskey is a nice fall treat if your home bar is looking for something different. I think Kathy’s recipe balances out any extra sweetness in the apple whiskey, but if you like your drinks on the sweeter side, you could go straight apple whiskey and omit the rye.

Are you doing anything special to celebrate 11/12/13?

Tagged cocktails

Oct 23 2013

1 Comment

adventures, cocktails

North Shore Distillery Tour

A few weeks ago we went on a distillery tour of North Shore Distillery. North Shore is located in an industrial area all the way in Lake Bluff, Illinois, quite far from Forest Park, but totally worth it!

Last year, I tried North Shore’s Gin No. 11 for the first time in a simple cocktail at a local bar and I fell in love. I always try to research new-to-me gins and bourbons, so I went home and looked up North Shore and added it to my gin wish-list. When I found out North Shore hosts distillery tours and tastings, I couldn’t wait to go! Derek, the North Shore distiller, gave us a tour of the distillery. We got to meet Ethel, the handmade German still (seen at the top in all of her copper glory). Ethel really is the star of the show. She does most of the work at the distillery, and she even has her own Twitter account. She and Derek are quite the team it seems. Derek is a chemical engineer, so he brought a little bit of science to the discussion, but mostly talked about the craft and his passion for creating tasty gins, vodkas, absinthe and aquavit. Everything about North Shore is done by hand, from the creating of the spirits, to the bottling to the labeling–Derek even hand-signs each and every bottle. After the tour, we got down to business in the tasting room. We started with the vodkas, North Shore and Sol, a citrus vodka. I really loved the Sol. North Shore uses actual citrus and chamomile. And, unlike other flavored vodkas where the flavors are added at the end, the citrus peels and chamomile are incorporated in the vodka during the distilling process. The taste is really fresh.

Next we tasted the gins. No. 11 is big and bold and No. 6 is light and flowery…I used to think I liked No. 11 more, but once I tasted them side by side, I realized how much I enjoyed them both and that they each have a place in my cocktail repertoire.

Then we learned about Aquavit and tried it for the first time. Aquavit is originally Scandanavian and it’s a savory spirit. Caraway, cumin, coriander and other botanicals are distilled in the alcohol and then the Aquavit is aged in oak. It’s definitely something different. I kind of wish I had tried it in a cocktail (North Shore has some ideas here) so I could see how it works with other ingredients.

Lastly, we tried the Sirène Absinthe Verte. My only experience with absinthe is in a sazerac, so I kind of knew what to expect. North Shore’s absinthe was good–we drank it with a bit of icy cold water.

After the tasting, those of us who weren’t driving (thanks for taking one for the team, Brett!) enjoyed a cocktail. Because of liquor laws, North Shore Distillery cannot serve other companies’ alcohol. This limits some of the cocktails the distillery can serve. But don’t think this is a bad thing–it just means the cocktails are crafted with homemade liqueurs and fresh ingredients. All of our cocktails were amazing handcrafted creations.

If you live in Chicago I highly recommend a North Shore Distillery tour for a unique Saturday adventure. Thanks for having us, Ethel!

(And I definitely recommend taking along a designated driver!)

Tagged adventures, cocktails

Oct 18 2013

1 Comment

cocktails

Cocktail Perfected: The Martinez

Naoto is working a ton. We don’t get to see each other a lot during the week, but Thursday nights are sacred. Naoto comes home at a decent hour and we have a little week night date night. Last night our date consisted of dining on spaghetti squash (my recipe needs a lot of work), watching the Blackhawks lose and drinking a Martinez. (Yes, we are very wild around the Adami Hasegawa household.)

Upon returning from The Girl & The Goat, I immediately began researching the Foghorn cocktail I had enjoyed (gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino, bitters). I found the Martinez, a precursor to the martini. The original Martinez is heavier on the sweet vermouth than the gin (often a 2:1 ratio), but of course, I prefer the taste of gin, so I have been making the lighter version of the cocktail. I’m not sure either one is exactly the Foghorn, but it’s a good make-at-home substitute that I can always enjoy (since it involves staples from my bar and very little effort!)

The Martinez

2 oz gin (I used Letherbee)

1 oz sweet vermouth

1/8 oz (or 1 barspoon) maraschino liquor (Luxardo)

2 dashes orange bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice until thoroughly chilled and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange (or lemon in a pinch!) twist. Enjoy on the couch on a weeknight date.

For more “Cocktails Perfected” click here.

Have a good weekend! I’m super excited to attend an LWA Halloween Mail Art Party at Greer tomorrow! I can’t wait to share next week!

Tagged cocktails

Sep 24 2013

5 Comments

adventures, cocktails, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, what's for dinner

Scenes from the Izakaya

Naoto & I spent several evenings in Japan with family and friends drinking and dining in izakayas. An izakaya is a Japanese pub. The style is similar to tapas where you order several small dishes and share. I am not a huge food sharer (once I ate Ethiopian food with a guy with a head cold…it scarred me for life!) but I am a huge fan of the izakaya. I love the casual atmosphere. I love when you walk in and every. single. server greets you, no matter where they are in the restaurant. (I always feel like Norm walking into Cheers!) I love the hot towel (oshibori). I love that Naoto can order some “safe” dishes for me, and some wild and “crazy” dishes for himself and the family. (See whole fish below…Naoto had the honor of eating the head.)Most izakaya menus are entirely in Japanese. The first time we went to Japan, Naoto tried to read the entire menu to me. That got annoying, (I’m sure for both of us) so on this trip, I just told him to order what he wanted, and to make sure there were a few things that I would enjoy. I mean, there was really no point in him telling me about the six-headed squid on the menu when I would never eat it.

So while Naoto was devouring his fish head, I could eat sushi and sashimi, chicken skewers, goma-ae (pictured below, spinach with miso sesame sauce…I love this!), and other vegetable dishes.When we had dinner with Naoto’s family, we sat at a long table in the main room of the izakaya. The other times, with Hisae and then with Naoto’s friends, we sat in a smaller, private rooms. In Japan, the servers are not constantly checking on you like they are (for the most part) here in America. If you need something, you just ring a bell (as we did in one of the establishments) or yell out, “Sumimasen!” (excuse me) and the server comes to take your order or clear your plates or bring your bill. (It’s a beautiful concept…American restaurants, let’s talk about adopting this.)Because I’m not a huge beer drinker, and because I wanted to avoid a Tokyo hangover at all cost, I mostly drank cocktails. Usually they consisted of some kind of house-made liqueur (yuzu or lychee or peach or plum) and soda water, or some secret concoction. We also drank sake (of course!) and shochu (not my favorite). When we met up with Naoto’s college friends (Jessica and Keiichi, along with their son Ethan) we ended our meal with zosui, a rice soup made with chicken stock and other vegetables. Ours was cooked at the table, which was awesome because we were all cold and wet from the downpour we walked through to get to the izakaya. (None of us had umbrellas, which is unheard of in Japan.) The zosui had chicken, scallions, mushrooms, tofu and cabbage…Jessica literally stuffed the pot with the vegetables and they cooked down into the delicious broth. It was so comforting! Many thanks to our friends and family who made our izakaya visits so much fun!

Tagged adventures, cocktails, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Aug 08 2013

2 Comments

adventures, cocktails, what's for dinner

K&N and the Girl & the Goat

Naoto has been wanting to eat at Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat for years. Our neighbors have eaten there a few times and have raved about it so much. Naoto has been trying to get us a reservation for awhile now…he was especially anxious to eat there after we ate at Little Goat and had such a delicious experience.

Last Friday, we were able to go after one of his co-workers offered up her reservation to us. (Thanks, Missy!) So at five o’clock on a Friday night, we sat down to a dining adventure at the Goat. My favorite part was the cocktails. Don’t get me wrong–the food was AMAZING–but my cocktail, the Foghorn, was the scene-stealer (pictured above with Naoto’s boring beer). The Foghorn is, according to the menu, “SanFrancisco’s answer to the Manhattan”. It is made with gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and orange bitters, garnished with an orange peel. So simple, but when it’s the right mix of quality ingredients and good proportions, simple can be so good! It was sweet, but not too sweet and no one ingredient overpowered the others–a perfect drink in my book. I also enjoyed the Charlie Ross cocktail (gin, sugar and bitters)…so tasty!

The menu at Girl & the Goat is separated into three parts: veggies, fish and meat. It is a small-plate restaurant, where you order several things and share a few bites of each thing. I like this style of restaurant, because if something is underwhelming, it’s good to know something new and different will be showing up at the table soon. But, at Girl & the Goat, nothing was underwhelming.

We ordered six dishes (pictured in order below): Squash Blossom Rangoon (crab and yogurt inside a lightly fried squash blossom), Kona Kompachi Crudo (raw fish with aioli and pork), Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon (salmon with a peach panzanelle salad), Roasted Cauliflower (pure heaven, with pine nuts), Sweet Corn Goat Cheese Wontons (goat cheese wontons served with tiny heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn and popcorn!) and Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face (pork cheek served with a fried egg and potatoes). Every dish was really creative and interesting, but my favorite was probably the most simple–the cauliflower. Naoto and I roast cauliflower pretty often around here, and it’s pretty delicious, but it’s nothing like this. I can’t stop thinking that they must really have a secret to making it so good… I’m glad Naoto let me eat most of the cauliflower, and because of his generosity, I only had a bite of the pig face. He was crazy excited to eat Girl & the Goat’s most popular dish. Of course, we had to get coffee and dessert. Naoto got the Miso-Butterscotch Budino (a creamy miso and butterscotch pudding with cashews, pineapple and bacon toffee on top). After this dessert, and the other miso dessert at the Little Goat Diner, I’m convinced that Naoto has the utmost respect for Stephanie Izard and her skills with this Japanese ingredient. I ordered the Goat Cheese Bavarois (brown sugar cake topped with blueberries, caramel krispies and goat cheese). I would tell you that the creamy goat cheese was the best part of this dessert, but then I’d be leaving out how amazing the brown sugar cake was, and the blueberries, and the caramelized krispie gems…What I liked best about Girl & the Goat was that it’s a casual restaurant…no white tablecloths or pretentious servers…it’s just incredibly creative food in a comfortable atmosphere. We definitely want to go back again…the menu changes all the time, so it would be fun to go back in another season to see what’s new. And to get another Foghorn.

Tagged adventures, cocktails, coffee, food, summer

Jul 15 2013

1 Comment

Forest Park, Oak Park, home is a 1970s apartment, summer manifesto, thrifted

Saturday on the Balcony

Saturday was the last of a string of perfect summer days–low 80s, no humidity, sunny skies, gentle breeze…

Naoto and I had grand plans for the day, but we ended up lounging around on the balcony enjoying the weather and soaking up the rare gem of a summer day in Chicago. While Naoto caught up on reading the Japanese news (hence the laptop), I watered the plants, caught up on some letter writing and worked on cleaning my thrift store typewriter. It was a nice feeling of lazy productivity. While we were outside, this was happening inside: After lounging all day, it felt good to put on a dress and walk down to Cafe DeLuca for drinks and dinner. They make the best limoncello martini…a perfect drink for summer.Today, when I walked outside and into the thick-as-pea-soup, heavy and hot air, I decided that we made the right choice on how to spend a summer Saturday.

Tagged cocktails, forest park, garden, home, mail art, snail mail, summer

Jul 13 2013

Summer Manifesto in Progress

In case you are wondering how my Summer Manifesto progress is coming along…

* embrace the mornings (as in, get up and get something done before noon!) It’s sort of happening…

* tend to the gardens (balcony & community garden plot) So far, so good!! I haven’t killed anything yet! (The latest garden update is here and I will be doing a balcony tour next week!)

* take advantage of our Farmers Market in Forest Park (It’s in an inconvenient location & happens on Friday nights, but I want to support it so it sticks around!) I had to modify this one…the Forest Park Farmers Market was cancelled this year due to lack of participation. I found another market at the Hines VA that I’d like to try next week.

* travel to Boston Done! Read about it here, here and here

* take my camera out more often and practice Not done.

* make an anniversary gift DONE! (Read about it here.)

* master three more cocktails (Summer-y ones with in-season ingredients would be awesome!) Two down: the Blue Hawaii and the Vesper, and I have a few more on the horizon!

* host a Hawaii-themed party (We thought we were all partied out, but by mid-summer we’ll be itching for something new to plan!) We might do a mini Hawaiian dinner party with our neighbors.

* paint the bedroom (It’s the last big, nagging thing on my home improvement list!) Not even close to happening.

* create three pieces of art for our home (I have ideas…it’s the execution I’m lacking…) One idea just turned into a bigger idea, which means more procrastinating.

* participate fully in 30 Days of Creativity Done! Read about it here.

* start working on my zine idea (I’ve had the idea floating around for two years now…it’s time to get started. I have no dreams of selling it, I just want to create it.) July is apparently International Zine Month, so I think this could be my chance!

And three more from last year…

* find the ice cream truck We’ve found the truck a few times, but haven’t hopped in line. We are, however keeping a nice stash of Bomb Pops (pictured above) and ChocoTacos in our freezer!

* wear sunscreen & sun hats Still working on this one…hats are happening, sunscreen needs to happen!

* document summer & finish my summer minibook I’ve been collecting a ton of stuff & taking loads of pictures…

So far, I’m feeling good about things, but as I know from childhood, once July 4th comes around, summer kicks into high gear and time flashes before our eyes. So, it’s definitely time to check off some of those procrastination items (like painting the bedroom!)

How’s your summer list going?

Tagged cocktails, crafts, forest park, garden, gardening, summer

Jul 11 2013

1 Comment

cocktails, summer manifesto, Uncategorized

Cocktail Perfected: Vesper (-ish) Martini

The Vesper is another classic cocktail that’s been on my list for some time. Naoto brought home some Lillet on one of his many trips to the liquor store during his surgery recovery (he was drinking vicariously through me) and it’s been sitting on the bar cart just waiting to be opened.

So, when I decided to have our neighbor friends over to watch game six of the Stanley Cup Finals, I decided it was time to try the Vesper.

The original vesper was invented by James Bond in Casino Royale in 1953. It contained gin, Lillet and vodka. But I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t “water” down my good gin with vodka. So I left it out. I found this suggested variation here and I thought it worked nicely. I tried it with two different gins–North Shore No. 6 and Leopold’s–and for this, we (the neighbor friends & I) enjoyed Leopold’s more.

Vesper(-ish) Martini

2 oz dry gin

3/4 oz Lillet Blanc

Add to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake (or stir) until thoroughly chilled. Pour into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel. Enjoy while your team wins the Stanley Cup.

Tagged celebrations, cocktails, summer

Jul 08 2013

3 Comments

adventures, summer manifesto

Boston: Part 1

Boston seems like a lifetime ago. I guess that happens with vacations…you wait so long for them and then they’re gone and you’re left with good memories and the desire for another vacation (one that doesn’t end with the flu, hopefully!)

Naoto and I had a super-early flight on Friday (5:30AM!) so our first day in Boston was LOOOONG! We stayed with Naoto’s college friends, Mark and Lauren. They were gracious hosts and wonderful tour guides! They took us to all of the touristy things we wanted to see and to some amazingly delicious restaurants and bars…We felt lucky to have such adventurous local hosts!

After a hearty breakfast, we did a ton of walking on our first day. We saw every part of the city on our weekend visit, and I would say most of that happened on Friday. We spent most of the day downtown Boston (pictured above: looking way up at the John Hancock Tower, and the reflection of Trinity Church in the Hancock Tower) and then exploring the sights along the Freedom Trail, a route you can walk along to see many of the historic places in Boston.

We went to the Boston Public Gardens and looked at the gorgeous flowers and the ducks and swans in the pond. (pictured above: George Washington was sporting a Bruins jersey in the Boston Public Garden, in spite of the fact that they lost the Stanley Cup to Chicago, and Naoto having a ride on the ducklings)

Next, we went to the Paul Revere house (pictured above). I love, love, love seeing homes of historic people. These “museums” are usually small and have a handmade quality to the exhibits. I love seeing old kitchens and thinking about how much work it was to make a simple meal each day. I love looking at the simple furnishings and dishes. I love walking up old stairs thinking that Paul Revere walked up those same stairs back in the 1700s. I love reading the little mundane details typed on card stock and listening to the docent’s simple speeches about the house. I wish I had lingered longer.

We walked along the path to the Old North Church and the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, checking out little bits of history along the way until we were all walked out and decided to head home and get ready for dinner.

We had dinner at Stella, which is right in Mark and Lauren’s neighborhood. The food was amazing (I had the Braised Short Ribs & I’m dreaming of them now!) and the cocktails were fun. (That’s my Mango Vesper up above.) It was the perfect ending to day one.