1) Ceviche

Ingredients For 2 cocktails:
6 oz Seneca Drums Gin
1 lime
1/2 fresh Red Chili Pepper
2 Tsps evaporated cane juice or white sugar
1/2 oz Absinthe or Pernod
2 sashimi-sized slices of raw, sushi grade tuna

Sugar Chili rimmer
2 tsps fine sea sale
1 tsp evaporated cane juice or white sugar
Dash of chili powder

Instructions:
Chill 2 martini glasses
Slice fresh chili pepper into narrow rings, reserve two for garnish
Add ice, gin, lime juice, sugar, and pepper to shaker
Muddle contents of shaker, then let sit while you prepare the glasses.
Thinly coat inside of both glasses with Pernod
Mix salt, sugar, and chili powder on a plate
Run used lime peel over rim of glasses, press glasses upside-down onto rimmer plate and rotate until they build up a fine coating
Place one piece tuna in each glass
Shake contents of shaker, then pour
Add pepper slices for garnish

Ceviche is one of my favorite dishes– although it comes in a lot of variations, the basic culinary method to create it is to “cook” a piece of fish by marinating it in citrus juice. Though the flavors vary based on region, fish, and chef, I wanted to create a drink that reflected the taste of a classic ceviche dish, without being too fish (except for the fishy part, of course!) and would double as a marinade for the piece of sushi-grade tuna in the bottom of the glass.

This is a very spicy drink (you can cut the spice by using a milder pepper or leaving the chili out of the rimmer, or letting the drink sit with the pepper in it for less time) and needs a gin with a strong flavor of its own to stand up to it. I tried five or six gins before settling on the Seneca Drums; my second-favorite for this was D H Krahn. This drink would also be very nice mixed with tequila if you prefer that to gin.

2) Cookie Crumbles

Ingredients for two cocktails:
6 oz bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
1 oz Faretti Biscotti Liqueur
1 oz Amontillado (I totally forgot to write down what I used!)
4 dashes Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters
4 whiskey-marinated Cherries (you can make these yourself or buy them)
2 dashes Extra Virgin Walnut Oil

Instructions:
Chill 2 martini glasses
Add ice, bourbon, liqueur, amontillado, and maple bitters to shaker.
Remove ice from glasses and add cherries
Pour contents of shaker into glasses
Drizzle oil very lightly on top. Do this very slowly, one drop at a time, to create a pretty design on the top of the surface of the drink

This drink was borne out of the idea that oil would float on the top of a cocktail very prettily. It’s a pretty sweet drink. Walnut oil is slightly sweet and tastes delicious with bourbon, and the Faretti, Amontillado, and maple bitters all add different complimentary nutty flavors. We ate this with short ribs and a cassoulet-style sauce.

3) LaSalle Griffon

Ingredients for 2 drinks:
6 oz Death’s Door Gin
1 oz Lavender simple syrup (you can purchase this or make your own)
1 lemon
4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1/2 oz St. Germain

Instructions:

Chill two martini glasses
Reserve two half-moon slices of lemon for garnish
Add gin, syrup, lemon juice, and bitters to shaker
Coat glasses with St. Germain and pour out excess
Shake and pour contents of shaker into glasses
Add lemon for garnish

This drink is named for the first expedition to sail the upper great lakes– LaSalle’s voyage on the Griffon. The Griffon is supposed to have been wrecked at Porte des Mortes strait (Death’s Door, in French), which is approximately where Death’s Door Gin is from (and where it takes its name from).

This is my first time tasting Death’s Door. It has a light, slightly bitter herbal, flavor and is slightly syrupy, but not so sweet like some syrupy gins get. My mother asked me to make a drink that would go well with deep-fried brussels sprouts, but this would also be good with salads or chicken. It was very light and flowery without being too sweet.

“I wouldn’t say that,” said my father.

That is because she was building this:

So that is pretty awesome!

Also, I wanted to share something that my friend serpentpixie made.  She made a video for her creative writing class that is just incredibly poetic and poignant and I love it. It is really inspiring me to think about ways I think about writing and multimedia.  Her LJ is mostly friends-only but she gave me permission to re-post the video so I could share it with you all!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

–Should have my own art

–Text was hard to read

–”Cute Stuff” was too vague and could be misread in that context

Thank you all so much for all your help! I really appreciate it, even if I sounded grouchy in some of my replies.

So I worked on more designs!  I finished two today and I’d like to share them with you and if people don’t mind feeding more back to me, I would love that!

I have to credit emo_snal with the idea for the echidna.

In the meantime, life is pretty good!  Watched American Idol Top 24 and there were a few decisions on the judges’ part from last week that I’m kinda WTFing at now, but I won’t spoil anybody!

I am not giving up on comics, but I do need to cut down on the number I am doing for now, because I have to take time to do my homework for class, and also, I need to spend more time preparing for MoCCA, because I WILL have a table. If you are going to be in NYC on April 10 or 11, you should stop by and see me! After then, I will try and figure out the right schedule for comics. I think it will be three days a week.

I am super excited about this whole thing. But I need to do a lot of work to get ready. I am crocheting hats, and working on minicomics. shinyredtype and I are working on an awesome little project for it.

If you offered to send something for the charity raffle– or if this is the first time you’re hearing about it– please contact me privately and I’ll work this out with you.  You have about a month to send things.

One thing I need to do is make a business card! I’ve never made business cards before.  Here is my first shot at one:

What do you all think?  I deliberately didn’t include my phone number, as I prefer working via email and I don’t want to give my phone number out to crazies.  Also, I like the idea of putting “cute stuff” as opposed to a specific jobby-job because I do so many things, and cute is probably the best unifying term.  Suggestions, advice?  Let me know what you think!

1) Rabbitini

Rabbitini

Ingredients:
3 oz Hendrick’s Gin (this recipe is intended for Hendrick’s and not another brand of gin)
1 Kirby (small) cucumber, or 1/2 large cucumber
2 tsps white sugar
1 pinch celery seed
1 oz Dolin’s Vermouth
4 dashes The Bitter Truth Celery Bitters
Ice

Chill 2 martini glasses
Slice 2 slices cucumber and reserve
Chop remaining cucumber, muddle in shaker with sugar and celery seed
Add gin, vermouth and bitters, shake
Remove ice from glasses and pour
Garnish with cucumber, serve

This drink is crisp and refreshing, with a nice celery-cucumber taste. It’s great with seafood and salads– we had it with a scallop and green apple salad.

2) Red Chocolate

Red Chocolate

Ingredients:
1 blood orange
3 oz bourbon (I used Buffalo Trace)
4 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Chill 2 martini glasses
Slice two half moons of blood orange, reserve.
Squeeze juice from remaining blood orange into shaker
Add a few slices of blood orange peel from squeezed orange to shaker
Add bourbon and bitters
Mix sugar and cocoa together on a plate
Moisten edge of glasses with water or tiny bit of bourbon
Remove ice from glasses, rim glasses with cocoa-sugar mixture
Add a small bit of water (about 1/4 tsp) to remaining cocoa-sugar mixture and stir with fork until dissolved
Pour cocoa-sugar mixture into shaker
Shake and pour
Add lood orange wedge for garnish

This drink has a wonderfully complex flavor that starts out very bitter for the first few minutes after pouring but then opens up and becomes smoky and rich. It would go well with beef or pork– we drank it with flank steak.