Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

Category: Food & Drink

  • Belly Up To The Bar: Going Ape edition

    “Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”

    Ah, Chuck Heston… If anyone needed a nice stiff drink more than Taylor, I’d hate to be that poor bastard.

    I first made this as a goof for a party, but we all decided it was so damn tasty it went into our regular rotation. And, yes, you will have to buy a bottle of Créme de Banana, but it is worth it.

    The Planet of the Apes

    2 oz dark rum
    1 oz pineapple juice
    1 oz orange juice
    1/2 oz lime juice
    3/4 oz créme de banana

    Shake together with ice and serve up in a martini glass or over large chunks of ice in a whiskey glass. Fresh juices are highly recommended.

    And avoid the temptation to go with Myers, the dark rum of many a frat boy’s nightmares. Appleton Estate VX Jamaican Rum is my go-to for any dark rum application.

     

    Derpetologist’s Spot the Not: Mitch McConnell

    Slightly less challenging version of Spot the Not

    1. Nobody is happy about losing lives but, remember, these are not draftees.
    These are full-time professional soldiers.

    2. We need to strengthen and save Social Security for today’s workers.
    If we don’t act now, this system, born out of the New Deal, will become a bad deal.

    3. The problem with the world today is people have put away their Bibles.
    They’re living by the law of the jungle and not the law of the land.

    4. We all know that Social Security is one of this country’s greatest success stories in the 20th century.

    5. The Patriot Act is one of the most important and overdue pieces of legislation in a generation.

    6. Under ordinary circumstances, I would have opposed such a measure.
    Government intervention in the marketplace cuts against all my ordinary impulses. But this was not an ordinary event.

  • Tuesday Afternoon Links

    Brett is having his wallet molested by a mechanic, so you get links from me today. And none of them are NSFW except maybe this one and that one.

    “Secret” space plane Boeing X-37B

    Spaceplanes, motherfuckers.

    Tunnel at plutonium uranium extraction plant collapses in Hanford (TW:Autoplay video): The AP reports no workers were in the tunnel at the time of collapse. Workers at the site have now been evacuated. Workers farther away were told to remain indoors. Destry Henderson, deputy news manager for the Hanford Joint Information Center, told NBC News. “There are no reports of injuries, no reports of a radiological release.” Gojira hardest hit. (h/t Playa  Manhattan)

    Good Korea elects a new president after forcing their last one into early retirement for being an utter putz. NYT has a great primer on the election and current geopolitical situation in the region. DAEHANMINGUK (대한민국), bitches.

    When all you have is hunger all news looks like a food pun

    Good Gravy: Trump is Poutine his Chips on the Table to Cover the Kurds

    Sessions to review Obama-era policies on drug-crime sentencing “If new charging instructions are implemented, it would mark the first significant move by the Trump administration to bring back the drug war’s toughest practices — methods that had fallen out of favor in recent years as critics pointed to damaging effects of mass incarceration.” (h/t OMWC)

  • Belly Up To the Bar

    Cocktail of the Week by Riven 

    Other varieties not pictured: lemon, cranberry, peach, sweet tea, orange, and unflavored.

    So, my prelimary internet research tells me that this cocktail goes by a few different names: Ruby Red Mule, Austin Mule, Grapefruit Mule, etc. They’re all fitting since it’s basically a Moscow Mule made with a flavored vodka instead of your standard, boring vodka that aspires to taste like nothing.

    This is the brand of flavored vodka I recently discovered at the liquor store (where they greet me by name almost every Saturday) and subsequently fell in love with. I’ve only tried two flavors–the lemon and the grapefruit–but they’re excellent. I’ve found they go well with the mixers I tend to have on hand–various bubbly flavored waters–but other folks reviewing them online say they’re also tasty just diluted with a bit of water over ice. I prefer my mixed drinks to sparkle, but that’s just my preference. The company is Austin-based, so you can buy them knowing you’re supporting the good, ol’ U.S. of A.

    Anyway, here it is. I mix this directly into a copper mug on a kitchen scale because I’m precise AF like that.

    2 ounces / 60 grams of Deep Eddy Ruby Red

    4 – 6 ounces / 120 – 180 grams of your favorite ginger beer

    All the juice from one quarter of a ripe lime, and I ain’t kidding about all the juice, neither.

    Give it just a short stir so you don’t lose all of the bubbles, and that’s pretty much it. You can’t tell if you serve it in a copper mug, but it is really quite pretty if you serve it in a glass mason jar like some kind of redneck or hipster. Of course, being self-respecting menfolk, I’m sure most of you would prefer not to showcase to the world that you’re drinking some kind of pink, girly drink, but this really is very tasty. I’m going to be drinking plenty of these on my deck this summer; well, these and other Deep Eddy concoctions, anyway!

     

    Spot the Not by Derpetologist – famous women on Clinton breaking the glass ceiling

    1. Now, it’s up to us to elect Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most experienced presidential candidate in history, to the White House where we need her to be.

    Faceless men and nasty women

    2. There’s so much more women need to accomplish to feel like we have arrived in American culture. Hillary Clinton’s nomination is hopefully the beginning.

    3. She’s strong, smart, bold, and kind. She’ll be an amazing president. It’s time for a Mrs. President, and I can’t think of anyone better than Hillary Clinton.

    4. I feel a tremendous rush of pride because this is a woman who is more than qualified to be president. Isn’t it interesting how a barrier seems insurmountable — until it comes down? I hope girls across the country are thinking, “That could be me.”

    5. I won’t say that I never thought I’d see the day when a woman would be nominated for president, because as a feminist, a mom and a leader of a national women’s organization, I knew this day would come. But I’m particularly proud that it is Hillary Clinton who is making history today.

    6. When Clinton graciously committed herself to campaigning for Obama and unifying the party, I was sad yet proud. When she made her 18-million-cracks-in-the-glass-ceiling speech, I wept. She will be a great president who will do her best to unite the country. I wish her the goddesses’ speed.

  • Fur Friday

    Because I am hungry and Fur Friday is my petty fiefdom we’re going to skip the sexy bears and Mink Stole this week in favor of a condiment: furikake. For those of you who don’t know, it’s dry mix of shredded nori/gim, sesame seeds, sugar, salt. Common varieties mix it up with various fish flakes (bonito or salmon), and MSG…because Japan. It’s a quick way to make a plain meal of white rice taste like it isn’t a plain meal of white rice, but it’s also used on soups, noodles or wherever you need to punch up the flavor of something. Because I live in a Bladerunner-esque future LA–a jumble of pan-Asian and American influences, but lacking replicants–I can also get that shit sprinkled on kettle corn at A-Frame in Culver. It’s tasty. Buy some, put it in your face. You’ll thank me later. Or you won’t because you’re a bunch of ingrates.

    This use deviates from the authorial intent of furikake as a “rice seasoning”

  • Belly Up To the Bar

    Cocktail of the Week by SugarFree – The South Side

    The sublime South Side is as easy drinkin’ as it gets and a crowd-pleaser; interesting enough for the fussy mixologist and tasty enough for the “but I don’t like gin” twits. I prefer Hayman’s Old Tom gin for this application, but any gin will do. Or vodka for the sorority girl in you.

    South Side

    2 oz gin
    .75 oz lemon juice
    .75 oz lime juice
    1 oz mint simple syrup
    1 oz club soda
    1 mint leaf

    Lightly bruise the mint with a muddler, mix everything together and serve over ice. Or omit the soda water and shake with ice and serve up.

    Mint Simple Syrup: 

    Small batch: combine 7 grams of mint leaves, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup water, bring to a boil and then strain when cooled. Yields 3 oz of syrup.

    Large batch: combine 42 grams mint leaves, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 water, bring to a boil and then strain when cooled. Yields 18 oz syrup.

    I include the large batch of the syrup because the real magic of the South Side its ease of scalability. For large parties where you need to not be chained to the bar mixing drinks or small parties where you are looking to get everyone extra hammered, the South Side is well-suited for mason jar cocktails.

    South Side – Mason Jar

    One 1/5 of gin
    9 oz lemon juice
    9 oz lime juice
    12 oz mint simple syrup
    10 oz club soda
    10 mint leaves
    10 8oz Mason jars

    Mix and split between the mason jars, placing a mint leaf in each. Store in a cooler with clean ice and encourage guests to top off the jar they take with ice.

     

    Spot the Not by Derpetologist – Quirky Sci-Fi Writers

    1. He never brushed his teeth, and they were literally green. Deeply embarrassed by this, he developed the habit of holding his hand in front of his mouth when speaking.

    2. He was gaunt with dark eyes set in a very pale face (he rarely went out before nightfall). For five years after leaving school, he lived an isolated existence with his mother, writing primarily poetry without seeking employment or new social contacts.

    3. He wrote over 117 novels and over 2000 short stories, but his works were used only as filler material in pornographic magazines. He committed suicide by drinking Drano.

    4. He hated flying and only flew twice in his life. He rarely traveled long distances.

    5. His mother was warm but changeable of character and had an identical twin who visited them often and who disliked him. He was unable to tell them apart and was frequently coldly rebuffed by the person he took to be his mother.

    6. He has a reputation for being abrasive and argumentative. He has generally agreed with this assessment, and a dust jacket from one of his books described him as “possibly the most contentious person on Earth”. He has filed grievances and attempted lawsuits; as part of a dispute about fulfillment of a contract, he once sent 213 bricks to a publisher postage due, followed by a dead gopher via fourth-class mail.

  • Yummy Chili for the Spawn

    By But I like cocktails and lurking

    If you have a house full of children or grandchildren and don’t have a lot of time, this should do the trick. My grandfather called this ‘cowboy stew.’

    I have no idea why.

    1 pound ground beef
    1 12 oz bag of frozen chopped onion
    1 tablespoon chopped garlic or 1 teaspoon powdered garlic
    1 package of chili seasoning for 1 lb of beef
    1 capfull of Zataran’s liquid crab boil
    1 teaspoon ground cayenne (if you like hot)
    1 beef boullion cube
    1 -28oz can of chopped tomatoes
    1 -10oz can of Rotel tomatoes
    1 -15oz can of whole kernel corn
    1-15oz can of seasoned black beans or ranch style chili beans (go with the black beans)

    Corn chips
    1 bag pre-grated cheddar or Mexican mix cheese

    This is a very simple chili /not chili that you can toss together in a few minutes. The only real effort required is to brown the beef. If browning it in a skillet is troublesome to you, then get a microwave cooker/drainer for meat or just put it in a covered microwave-safe bowl in the microwave. If the beef is frozen, then 1 lb takes about 4 minutes on high. If not frozen, 2-3 minutes. If that doesn’t do it, repeat at 1 minute intervals until all of the pink is gone. Drain it, chop it in the bowl with a spoon, and mix in the chili seasoning.

    Put the cooked, seasoned meat in a pot. Dump in all of the other ingredients willy-nilly. Turn heat up to medium high until the mix boils. Turn down to simmer and cover. Stir occasionally. When the onion is cooked to clear it is done. Start to finish this should take less than an hour.

    Serve in a bowl over hand-crushed corn chips (I like restaurant style chips, some people prefer Fritoes). Top with grated cheddar or Mexican mix cheese. Don’t wear a sombrero when you cook or eat this. It is Tex-Mex, not Mexican. Cowboy boots are OK.

    If you are slopping your young spawn with this leave out the cayenne. I don’t, but they love it anyway.

    For all of you non-bean chili people there is no insult, nothing I can say, that will punish you as severely as a life without black beans in your chili.

  • Belly Up to the Bar

    Cocktail of the Week – The G & T and a Guilty Pleasure by RC Dean

    I have noticed a number of gin and tonic fans in the glibertariat, to the point where some of you actually make your own tonic from scratch (quelle artisanale, non?). I thought I was being hardcore by not using store-bought tonic and going with syrup-n-soda water tonic, but dayum, it honestly never crossed my mind to make it from scratch. I know some homebrew tonic recipes have been bandied about already; I would appreciate it if you could repost in the comments here.

    Gin and Tonic

    3 oz. gin (I’ve been using The Botanist, but its probably overkill and I could get away with something a little less expensive/refined).

    6 oz. tonic water (my preference for store-bought is Fevertree Indian, but its been at least a year since I didn’t do the home-mixed version).

    Splash of lime, lime garnish optional.

    For store-bought tonic, pour everything over ice in a highball glass. The proportions aren’t critical here.

    For home-mixed, grab a handy measuring glass, add gin, tonic syrup, lime, top off with soda water from your trusty siphon (or add seltzer or soda water from a can or bottle), pour over ice in a highball glass.

    I like the Liber Spiced Tonic Syrup, but there’s a bunch of them out there I haven’t tried. Now that we are getting into the summer season (when RC likes him some G & T), I’ll probably order some other brands and do a little experimenting. The Liber is strong – for the recipe above I use around ¾ ounce, and I suspect ½ ounce would be fine. If you’ve never had anything but Schweppes, this will be almost unrecognizable – pronounced bitter flavor, some body (of all things in a mixer), and a lot of flavors going on.

    I live in Arizona, where our summer drink season is long. I find that I lose my taste for Scotch in hot weather and even for rye or bourbon to some extent, and I drink mainly gin, rum, and tequila cocktails. We’ve already covered some of my favorite rum and tequila cocktails, but there is one more Casa Dean regular I have to put out there: the Jack and Coke. We use Mexican Coke made with cane sugar, which delivers a better drink. Mexican Coke is not hard to find in Arizona – I actually get mine at the local hardware store.

    But seriously, RC (you’re undoubtedly thinking), Jack and Coke? Frankly, it’s a nostalgia thing. Mrs. Dean and I both remember these from our high school and college days, and nothing takes you back like the tastes and smells of your youth. Cocktailing is about enjoying a drink, about whatever works for you. Gearing up, adding some showmanship, all that is fine if you have fun with it; if you just like to keep it simple and cheap, well, de gustibus, my friends. You can call my Jack and Coke a guilty pleasure, but when it comes to cocktails in my book, there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure.

    Calvados update: I snagged a bottle of the Berneroy XO. Not as refined as the Busnel Vielle Reserve VSOP, with more of a kind of pronounced winter apple flavor. For something like this, though, a little more rustic isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

    Spot the Not: Lyrics from National Anthems by Derpetologist

    1. What the alien power has seized from us, we shall recapture with a sabre

    2. So we have taken the drum of gunpowder as our rhythm and the sound of machine guns as our melody

    3. He who is a true man is not frightened, but dies a martyr to the cause

    4. Oh God, bless our bullets, bayonets, and grenades

    5. The path to glory is built by the bodies of our foes

    6. How can this fiery faith ever be extinguished by that battered, single-fanged monster you call “civilization”

    7. Let us all fight, every one of us, for our black country

    8. And if we have to die, what does it really matter?

    9. Countless fighters died for our beloved people

    10. Facing the enemy’s gunfire, march on!

    11. There sat in former times, the armour-suited warriors, rested from conflict

    12. Do not fear a glorious death, because to die for the motherland is to live

  • Easter in Romania

    Romanians tend to love their holyday feasts. So much so that the news next day has a section dedicated to how swamped the ambulances were by people sick from overeating or over drinking. Binging is often the norm, for reasons, I assume, and can be the subject of some sort of study or other.

    Were I inclined to speculation, and luck would have it, I happen to be, I would say that partially it has to do with being a poor country with a history of privation. People who don’t usually get to indulge, pick a few holydays, save money, make effort and sacrifice other things, and have a couple of big meals. It may be a status thing – show your wealth via a big feast. Maybe it’s just a hang up from pre-modern times. Romanian weddings can be quite excessively lavish, for similar reasons.

    It may be the long lent before Easter. Seven weeks of no animal products, no meat, no eggs, no dairy, in late winter and early spring when most of the fruits and vegetables that would make going vegan easier do not grow, and the staples are potatoes, beans, cabbage, and maybe zacusca. Although few keep full lent these days.

    But this is not about why Romanians binge on Easter. It is about what they binge on. Which is lamb. And usually lots of eggs. And spring onions. And combinations of the above. Traditionally, a family buys a whole lamb, which is cooked and eaten nose to tail. Little is thrown away, and trying all the different dishes may be a reason for overeating.

    My family’s lamb was 11 kilograms this year, but as we do not really overeat as much as other Romanians (never has someone gotten sick from too much food), some of it goes to the deep freeze. Other parts are cooked as you may see in the following pictures of a full Romanian Easter Feast. I will not claim it to be typical of all or even most Romanians, but let’s say it’s authentic enough.

    The day starts with coloured eggs, which are smashed together before eating. One person holds an egg, another hits it with his own. The one doing the hitting says “Christ has risen” and the one on the receiving end answers “Truly He has risen.” And this goes on until as many eggs are smashed as people want to eat. The eggs are simply peeled and eaten with salt, pepper, and maybe mustard, with some cheese, radishes, and spring onions.

    Drob

    The meal is usually supplemented with drob, which is an Easter dish made thus: take the organs of the lamb and maybe a little meat, boil, chop finely, mix with beaten eggs and fine chopped spring onions, season to taste, stuff in the lambs stomach – properly cleaned in advance – and roast in the oven. White wine is generally drunk during this morning meal, although beer can be a substitute.

    The second meal of the day – first lunch, around 1 pm, and usually my favourite, is Ciorbă, which I am not always sure how to describe. It’s a type of soup which Romanians differentiate from other type of soup, which is just called soup. More often than not, Ciorbă is sour, but not always. Wikipedia link for the curious. Ciorbă depends on the ingredients and the souring agent, which is often Borș (more wikipedia) of similar etymology but different from Russian borsch, but it can also be soured with lemon, vinegar, pickled cabbage juice, or a type of Verjuice made from unripe fruit, most often grapes or cherry plums.

     

    Ciorbă one way…
    …And another way.

    The base of the ciorbă is mostly large bones of the lamb with a little meat – the best parts of meat are saved for grilling and roasting – the bors and all sorts of vegetables and greens. Easter being in spring, usually all sort of weeds start growing and are added for flavour. Sorrel, Rumex patientia, which I don’t know how to properly say in English, ramsons, and others. What is never missing is lovage, added during cooking and fresh chopped as a garnish before eating. My mother makes the ciorbă more sour than most – bors and sorrel contribute to this, which is how I like it and also makes a decent hangover helper.

    Besides the liquid, you get an piece of bone with some meat on it. The choice piece is traditionally the whole lamb’s head, especially for the brains – Romanians eat brains in lots of ways, mostly formed into patties, breaded and fried. I never liked the texture of brain so avoid it – this was considered strange when, as a kid people offered me the brain as a special treat, and I refused. Anyway, I don’t care for a whole lamb’s head, though my cousins liked it so much that my aunt had a huge pot and boiled five whole heads bought from the butchers in her ciorbă so each member of the family got one.

    By afternoon some barbecued lamb is made – usually ribs and chops and such – and the red wine is brought forth. The lamb usually does not have any sides – it is eaten with a lot of mixed greens salad. Not much to say about this one, it is meat on charcoal really.

    Whomever is hungry in the evening eats some of the over roast meat – with a sauce based on a ton of green onions and some wine.

    Cozonac
    More cozonac!

    During the day traditional pastry is also eaten.

    Pasca, which basically means Easter cake, is made of a pastry with lots of cheese, not too sweet. Cozonac is pastry with various fillings – most often walnut or cocoa, sometimes Turkish delight. I prefer the walnut myself. The pastry also goes well with a nice glass of wine. In fact there is an old Romanian saying – Is there anything better in life than cozonac with wine? Yes, wine…

    And that is about it for this. Here’s some pheasants on the lawn on Easter day…

  • Ah!! Delicious, Delicious Cultural Appropriation

    By But I like cocktails and lurking

    I have mentioned before that there are five Mother Sauces in French cooking. One of those is Tomato Sauce, or Neopolitan Sauce. There are many, many variations on this one as anyone familiar with spaghetti sauce, lasagna, ketsup, or salsa knows. Today I want to talk about a tasty French/Indian/Spanish fusion we in Louisiana call Sauce Picquante (sauce peekahn). It has a unique flavor that, unless you know a couple of simple tricks, can be hard to obtain. It is going to be the base for a stew called (whatever meat you use) sauce piquante, in this case chicken and sausage sauce piquante. If you read my gumbo recipe, you will find this is very similar and equally easy.

    Probably not the best method, starting out.

    A sauce Piquante is essentially a fancy roux. Instead of starting with flour and oil, we use a little oil and tomatoes. The tomatoes can be in the form of tomato paste, sauce, canned tomatoes, or fresh peeled and chopped tomatoes. Put 12 oz to 16 oz in a skillet over medium high heat. Mash them and stir them around until they boil, just like the basic roux, until they start to cook down. As the water evaporates and the tomatoes thicken they will also start to brown but you want this to happen slowly. Again, if it smokes or blackens, you have the stove too hot. As it thickens, it will become tomato paste and brown. When it gets to be the color of milk chocolate, add in an equal amount (4-6 oz) of ordinary dark roux and mix well. There you have it. A sauce piquante is a flour/tomato and oil roux – what some would call a tomato gravy.

    My sister-in-law makes an excellent sauce piquante by mixing the flour into the tomato, then adding oil, and browning both simultaneously.

    If all of this sounds like too much work for a base, then I will let you in on a little secret. Tomato paste is made by cooking tomatoes down, putting them into a can, and then steaming the cans to pasteurize them for preservation. This process often browns the tomatoes for you. You may have noticed that some canned tomato paste is brownish in color. That isn’t oxidation from a leaky can, it is cooked tomato. We want it like that.

    If the paste is not already browned or browned enough straight out of the can, you can add a little oil and brown it very quickly in a skillet. Or not. It is nearly there anyway.

    Sauce Piquante in Five Minutes

    1 Six ounce can of tomato paste
    ¼ cup of dark roux (bought ready-made)
    One 12 -16 oz bag of frozen seasoning mix (onion, bell pepper, celery)
    One cube of beef boullion
    1 tablespoon of minced garlic or 1 teaspoon of powdered garlic
    1 teaspoon of Zataran’s liquid crab boil
    1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
    Dark chicken (8 boneless, skinless thighs or 4 leg quarters)
    About 2 lbs of Andouille sausage ( ¼ inch slices)

    Place all ingredients in a large stock pot. Just toss them all in willy-nilly. No need to mix or stir. That will happen when it boils. Add water until the level covers the meat, cover with a lid, and bring to low boil for one hour. Stir occasionally. Put away your ingredients and wash whatever dishes you have.

    Serve over rice.

    The easy way to make rice.

    – Get yourself a microwave rice cooker. It is a simple plastic pot with a snap-on lid and a vent. It only costs a couple of bucks. To make your rice, put two cups of water, one cup of rice (basmati best), two chicken bouillon cubes, one and a half tablespoons of butter, and about one tablespoon of dried, sweet basil in the pot. Microwave on high for 15 minutes.
    You can taste the rice but don’t let anyone else taste it before serving the meal. They will eat all of your rice right out of the cooker.

    You can put this together and get it boiling in just five minutes with little effort. It has a very unique flavor and is hearty and satisfying. Outside of Louisiana, I have never had anything like it. It is the perfect dish for cold days or just plain ol’ hungry people. Be careful that no one overeats to the point of not being able to get up from their chair.

  • Belly Up to the Bar

     Cocktail of the Week – Polar Vortex

    Another ginger beer treat this week (last one – I promise). The funny thing is, I practically never used ginger beer until a few years ago, when I got into some authentical Dark and Stormies, decided to make them at home, and discovered the superiority of small batch ginger beer (Maine Root) and “home-made” (Pickett’s and soda water). When I saw how good ginger beer could be, well, I just couldn’t keep my hands off of it. Can’t recall where I originally ran across this, but its a regular at Casa Dean.

    As with the Dark and Stormy, there are a couple of ways to go at this – ginger beer out of the bottle, and make-your-own ginger beer.

    This beverage as seen from space (Thanks NASA!)

    3 oz. rye whiskey (can’t go wrong with Bulleit or Rittenhouse )
    1 teaspoon Amaretto, maybe a little less (honestly, I don’t have a brand preference here)
    1/3 oz lemon juice
    6 oz. ginger beer (see the Dark and Stormy linked above for your options)

    I use rye for just about any whiskey-based cocktail, even if the recipe calls for bourbon or similar. I just like the way it mixes, it seems a little smoother and a better neighbor for the other ingredients. The short teaspoon of Amaretto doesn’t seem like enough to make a difference, but it adds a nutty sweetness that is right at home with the ginger beer. The lemon juice kind of opens and brightens up the drink (yes, I have unintentionally made this without lemon juice or Amaretto, so I know whereof I speak). I’ve tried it with lime juice, and it just doesn’t work as well – for some reason, lime juice works with tequila or rum based ginger beer cocktails, but not this one.

    Anyhoo, this is a highball, so grab a big enough glass, pour the ingredients over ice, and you’re done.

    Pictured: the only calvado image that this site could afford

    During our discussion of sippin’ likker, KSuellington recommended Calvados (apple brandy from Normandy) in the comments. Holy crap, is that good stuff. I grabbed a bottle of Busnel Vieille Reserve VSOP and have been working it ever since. Good cognac is very nice, but its not on my short rotation (partly, admittedly, due to cost), but I find cognac to be a little thin and “hot” unless you spend truly impressive amounts on an XO. This Calvados stuff, though – nice body, just the right alcohol heat, and a deep complicated apple/pear thing going on. If I lived in Normandy, my liver probably would have exploded by now.

    Which raises another issue: glassware.

    Generally, I am fairly indifferent to the glass used for a particular drink. As long as its pretty much the right size, I’m good. I do have Scotch glasses (umm, actually, three different kinds, but two were gifts, OK?), and I do think Scotch is better out of purpose-built glasses than a plain rocks glass. I actually use a Scotch glass for most anything I drink neat. But brandy (and this proved to be true with Calvados) is notably better out of a proper snifter. Can’t explain it – when I tried the Calvados the first time, I used one of my Scotch glasses – very nice. Next time, I used the brandy snifter, and it just opened up and became a very close friend. Plus, for the true plutocrat fashion statement, nothing pairs with a tophat and monocle better than a brandy snifter.

    Spot the Not: Sonia Sotomayor

    President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden escort Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the East Room of the White House where the President will introduce her as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David, May 26, 2009. Vice President Joe Biden looks on at left. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)<br /> This official White House photograph is being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way or used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
    The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor

    1. Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging

    2. The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.

    3. I have a very close relationship with my sister. My sister is a precious jewel.

    4. I had no need to apologize that the look-wider, search-more affirmative action that Princeton and Yale practiced had opened doors for me.

    5. My diabetes is such a central part of my life… it did teach me discipline… it also taught me about moderation.

    6. I am a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. I am Puerto Rican, born and raised in the south Bronx. My test scores were not comparable to my colleagues at Princeton and Yale.