champagne - - Page 2

by bakersroyale

Sunday Brunch Cocktail On a Stick

You know what goes with brunch besides buffet-size food portions that can break your zipper? Cocktails. Really, what other day of the week can you order a drink at 10am and not worry that your sunburnt nose will be suspiciously given a once over as an indication of a pickled over-indulger? I mean, who decided drinks at 10am on a Sunday is totally acceptable but asking for a drinking at 10am on a Tuesday is not.

So as a workaround I’ve combined a traditional Sunday brunch cocktail with an everyday, any time of the week treat: a cocktail popsicle.

That’s right, what you are looking at is a Kir Royale-inspired Popsicle. Since I couldn’t stand to freeze good champagne, and cheap champagne — well, sucks — I used Prosecco instead and muddled some fresh blackberries, with a splash of lime, a bit of zest and some crème de cassis.

Lick your drinks away, my friends!

by forkitude

Come Hither, Sweet Vosges Truffle

I am kind of a chocolate freak.
I think a truffle a day keeps the doctor away.
Because truffles are more delicious than apples.
Life is not like a bowl of apples, it is like a box of chocolates.
You really never quite know what you’re going to get.

As is the case from exotic chocolate maker Vosges, which produces things like bacon chocolate, oyster infused cream truffles, and enchanted mushroom chocolate ba rs.

The Vosges Luxe Sweet Coquette Truffle Collection is more of an experience than a box of chocolates. My sampling included instructions on how to eat them:

be present, see, touch, smell, snap, taste, linger and ponder your next move.

Okay, I like it. I rarely follow instructions, but these seemed to be well thought out and cover most of the senses. In fact, I’m gonna have to tell you about each one of these babies:

Kumamoto Truffle: kumamoto oysters, champagne, 36% cocoa butter white chocolate, pearl dust.

Oysters and chocolate? Don’t ask questions, just do it. Beyond the creamy, dreamy white chocolate goodness, the taste inspired visions of the sea. Not the sea as in a ferry to Ellis Island, but the sea as in that Cialis commercial where the couple is relaxing in clawfoot bath tubs overlooking the ocean. There is a hint of oyster cream that will probably make your lady rip her clothes off.

in Holiday 2 comments

by Roo de Loo

What to Drink on New Year's Eve? Make it Rare

We”re not usually huge wine snobs here at ES, but New Year”s Eve is that one night when you can”t show up to the party with a jug of Carlo Rossi and expect everyone to cheer. And sometimes even Champagne in a can isn”t enough to impress. So we”ve asked a genuine vino expert to share some tips on how to kick your NYE wine selection up just a little bit.

I recently stumbled across MCF Rare Wine, Ltd., a bespoke wine shop in Manhattan”s West Village offering a carefully chosen collection of wines and an unapologetic attitude that emphasizes old-fashioned customer service and honesty. You won’t find a bottle of Sutter Home or Yellow Tail here, nor the obligatory hard liquor mini-bottles for your next flight. What you will witness is owner Matt Franco researching the next great find, unpacking a delivery, printing shelf labels, sweeping the front stoop—and if you’re really lucky—offering his soft-spoken but decidedly opinionated take on any of the eighty or so wines that adorn the tiny shop. Matt offers ES-ers an inside track for that perfect New Year’s bottle that will ensure 2011 is a year to remember:

ES: Last year everyone recognized my cheap bottle of Prosecco, in spite of the foil bag and curly ribbon. Their reaction—“Oh, I’ve had that before (sigh).” Thoughts for a special bubbly that won’t break the bank?
MCF: Domaine Taille aux Loups Montlouis Petillant “Triple Zero” NV $25
Winemaker Jacky Blot does some amazing stuff in the Loire Valley in France and this is one of his most interesting creations. Made from fully ripe Chenin Blanc grapes, the “Triple Zero” refers to the fact that there is no sugar added at any of the three traditional times during production. Crisp, aromatic and expressive, this is more interesting than Prosecco and more wallet-friendly than Champagne.

in Drinks / Holiday 1 comments

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– We have a cheating debate! (Our favorite kind of debate.) When cooking dal, GC/DC claims:

Curry Powder is cheating, almost like using garlic powder, you should have used combo of spices instead.

But scott retorts:

Curry powder isn’t cheating. It’s a great shortcut and is essentially a blend of spices that go into a basic curry recipe though it has nothing to do with curry leaves. Garlic powder on the other hand doesn’t resemble garlic at all.

Thoughts?

– They’re not the only ones picking on gansie’s ingredient choice this week. Britannia:

in Drinks 1 comments

by gansie

A Promise I Will Keep

The contempt I maintain toward measuring has seeped into my cocktails. Even though it barely ever works (although my friend Tim can eye the hell out of a drink), I refuse to pull out a jigger to ensure proper proportions.

But that is because I think I found the secret ingredient, er, science behind enhancing an otherwise unsuccessful cocktail.

in Drinks / Endless Cocktails 6 comments

by gansie

Head-On Cooking

Editors’ Note: Here’s more from LC. Reminder – her mom’s a chef; she’s clueless in the kitchen.

So, I was at Whole Foods the other day milling about the fresh fish and it occurred to me I had never cooked a whole fish. As in one that looked like a fish with its head on and everything.

Whole Foods had the cutest looking trout and I thought I should try it since I was just going to make it for myself and if I screwed up:
a) no one would have to suffer along with me
and
b) I could submit it for Friday Fuck Ups.

I did get a little nervous about the preparation so I called Babs, my mom and a chef, for instructions.

LC: Mom, I’m in the grocery store and about to buy some fish. How should I make it?
Mom (getting her chef voice on): What kind of fish?
LC: Trout, with the head on and everything.
Mom: OK, get some shallots and lemon. Saute the shallots in butter and wine with salt and pepper. Squeeze some lemon on the fish and then throw it in with the shallots. To make an actual sauce reduce the shallot sauce in a little wine and maybe broth.
LC: I only have red wine, though. Will that work?
Mom (deeply sighing and wondering if, despite 9 months of gestation and 30 years of raising me, actually gave birth to someone so incompetent): Yes, red wine is fine.

I bought the trout and realized I actually did have a white-ish wine, Champagne (which frankly goes better with a white fish, Mom). Plus, it was rapidly going flat in my fridge. So I bring you…

in Fish / Recipe 6 comments