maple cocktails

Our March cocktail theme for our little cocktails Zoom group yesterday was maple, premised on the idea that in March, the sap is running in the trees, and it's maple syrup time.  Honestly?  I never need an excuse to enjoy maple.  Good Canadian that I am, I adore the stuff.  My sister?  Would rather have Aunt Jemima.  I shake my head at her.

Because of my work schedule this semester, I end up missing the first half of the drinks session.  So by the time I made it to Van's, he had almost finished making the Buttermilk Maple Gin Flip that had kind of fascinated us when we saw the recipe.  I got to taste some, and I have to say, I liked it.  It's a rich drink, what with the whole egg in it.  Rather like an eggnog with just a bit of tang to it.  Once I arrived, we moved on to a different cocktail:  the Nor'easter Rum Cocktail.

I liked this one even more.  It's a rum-based spin on a Moscow Mule, and it was refreshing.  We munched on the contents of a cheese tray and sipped. 

Had we more maple syrup on hand (we used up all that Van had in the fridge), I would have wanted a second one.  Ah well.  A successful evening nonetheless!

April's theme:  brothers!

you know what I love?

Liver.

Unapologetically.

Liver. 

Honestly?  I don't need the bacon, but some good onions really enhance the experience.

I credit Annalee, who, years ago at Don Diego's incited me to try some duck livers from some birds that she had broken down for dinner.  Sauteed quickly, a light vinaigrette and a sprinkling of crumbled blue cheese.  Holy gosh, they were good.  A revelation to me, which is odd.  I had loved braunschweiger as a child (really loved it to the point of taking sandwiches with it for school lunch).  On the other hand, I love my late Mum, but she cooked meat to within an inch of leather, and her approach to the calves liver that she made for her and Roy was very much that.  I hated liver as a child.

But oh, I love it now!

This past Friday, while we were in the desert, we wandered over to Wally's for a nice evening out.  Some oysters to start with,

and a raspberry souffle to share for desert,

but as with, oh, every time that I go there, I had the liver for dinner. 

Bring on the old school restaurants that still make it.  And they make it very nicely indeed.  Van opted for the same, and Conrad politely declined a taste because he DOES NOT APPRECIATE LIVER.

Oh, and as a reminder (and thank you Liliha Bakery Waikiki), I love Spam as well.

Me?  A food snob?  Kiss my grits!

more snow!

Driving back to the condo this morning, I saw that the clouds from the past two days had lifted above the mountains and that - wow!  yes! - there was snow up there. 

Mount Wilson, which looms over Pasadena, is high but not super high (about 5700 feet above sea level at its summit), so that snow is coming down to a relatively low elevation.  It makes me wonder what the views of the mountains from south of downtown LA must look like, what with the city skyline against them.

It's been a cold and wet winter here.  In past years, we've made it into the 80s (and, I think, even the 90s) in February, and definitely by this point in early spring.  Not this year, no.  Rainfall for the season will double the average, or pretty close to it, and most of LA County is out of drought.  Everywhere is so green right now, and lots of flowers are blooming on the hills and roadsides.  It's so lovely, so welcome.

And that early morning sun beyond city hall looked glorious as well today. 

Happy Thursday, everyone.

special dinner

People get weird about cooking for me.  I wish they wouldn't.  I seem to have a fearsome reputation as a food snob or something else, and honestly?  It's not all that fair to me.  

I recall once, waaaay back in the 90s when I worked at the restaurant, being at a potluck and having someone tell me in a friendly manner that they could tell where I must be sitting because surely I was offloading other people's food into the large plant pots, right?  And I chuckled, I am sure, but I was kind of offended deep down.  Someone cooks for me, and I am appreciative.  Make me some Kraft Dinner?  Thank you for taking that time, I will enjoy it thoroughly.

(I get a little different when it comes to restaurants - that's a situation that involves an exchange of monies, and I thereby have expectations, not that the food be "fancy" or anything like that, but that it be cooked properly.)

Last night, while Conrad was out of town, I enjoyed dinner with Van (and Olive, of course).  And wow, did I appreciate it.  And loved it!  So much.

Van had planned and prepared a nice, candlelit dinner for us, a treat on a Tuesday night.  We started off with some deviled eggs and olives to snack on

and cocktails (The Fallen Angel - yum!)

to take out and sit on the patio with.  He had put some potatoes in the oven to bake in the meantime, so we enjoyed the early evening before it got dark (and too chilly), and we sipped and chatted, having such a nice time.

I stayed out of the kitchen as much as possible, doing a very little to put some wine and water on the table.  He asked a question or two, and I was happy to provide advice, but that man is absolutely capable of putting a nice meal on the table, so I gratefully let him do so.  I watched him prepare the lobster,

and got all the more excited about the surf-and-turf ahead.

Oh yes, surf and turf!  Wow, a classic:  steak and lobster. 

A good potato each (and he cooked up some pancetta chunks to sprinkle on it), some green beans, a bottle of chardonnay.  We sat at the table and savoured the meal.  Oh so much.

I cannot state enough how much I love having someone cook for me, and all the better to have someone I love cooking for me.  Thank you, Van, so much for that Tuesday evening.  Now to make a nice dinner for us in return!

another reminder

This girl?  Has stolen my heart.  Yep, utterly.

So darn beautiful.

these guys

Look at them!  So cute.  Van and Conrad, riding the No Stress Express in Honolulu.  A real pleasure to join them.

Yeah, they'll hate if they ever see that I posted this photo.😂

Fête

Our special meal in Honolulu (well, they were all special in their own way - I was delighted by the coffee and pastry shop

that Conrad and Van found, and Orchids was lovely) was at a James Beard Award winner called Fête.

I love love love Waikiki, truly, but it was nice to get over to Chinatown where there are some really interesting restaurants, bars, and stores (not to mention the lei shops!) .  Van had found the restaurant in Sunset magazine, and we were happy to try it.  Even better?  The available seating was at the bar. 

Now then, if you have ever read older posts about our beloved and now gone Yoshi's, you will know that I very much enjoy sitting at the restaurant bar to eat.  I love watching the cocktail craft and talking with the bartenders.  So I was thrilled with our seating.  We didn't talk to the bartenders much that night, a measure of how very busy they were, but we still had some enjoyable interaction.  I did like it when he breathed a sigh of relief that all three of us were having Last Words, a fairly easy drink to make.

My summary:  I'd go back.  I would want the entree to be served a little hotter in temperature, but I liked the Korean bavette just the same. 

I seem to be a sucker for fried eggs these days.  The local cheese was fine (I loved the banana jam),

the deviled eggs were pretty tasty,

and the roasted carrots were among the best things I've eaten in some time. 

We all agreed on that.  So good!

And the service was entirely enjoyable.  Bellies full enough, we headed back to Waikiki on that Saturday night, looking forward to sleep and a last full day on the island.

Shangri La

It's not all cocktails and more cocktails and some food and more cocktails around here, you know.  We do try to do some culture as well.

After I managed to get some sleep (and wow, was I loopy when I woke up!), and then after the drinks and light bite at the Royal Hawaiian, we headed to the Honolulu Museum of Art.  Sadly, we did not tour the museum.  Instead, we caught the shuttle to go to Shangri La, the old Doris Duke estate just the other side of Diamond Head from Waikiki.

Shangri La is a glorious estate, truly.  I can only imagine evenings in that living room (which is about the only room still furnished as it was)

or dining on the patio with that view. 

A swim in that pool in the morning, perhaps?  Surely!

Duke's travels introduced her to a range of Islamic art from central through south Asia.  The estate now operates as the Museum of Islamic Art, Culture, and Design.  It's the only such standalone museum in the United States.  And there are delights all throughout (and yes, that is a bit of Christian iconography in the hearth).

Objectively, the items were fantastic, and I loved many more than I took photos of.  I admit, though, that I was badly fatigued.  Conrad and Van wandered through,

and I sought out places to sit and relax.  Not entirely, though - I did see all the available gallery spaces.

 Moreover, it all made me think about issues of collection.  Would all of these items have been sold to Duke these days?  Would her collection meet criticism for taking items out of their context - sometimes religious in nature - and turned them into ornament, into decoration?  As lovely as everything was, it didn't entirely sit right with me, and I regret that I was so tired that I didn't talk with the docents about the issue a little more.

I will recommend a visit to anyone going to Honolulu.  The city has a rich history and culture that not only takes in its Hawaiian heritage (and please, please, take time to learn more about that!), but also includes so much else.  Shangri La.  Look it up!

we may have a wee problem

Or, maybe we don't?

Our favourite cocktail, our home cocktail, is The Last Word.  Equal parts gin, lime juice, maraschino (liqueur, that is), and green Chartreuse.  That last ingredient is getting pretty tough to find in stores here in California.  Believe me, we look for it whenever we can.

Last year when it was becoming tough to find the spirit, I set to work tracking it down through online shopping.  And folks, I was successful.  I gave Van and Conrad each four 750mL bottles for Christmas, kept four for me (well, us), and gave my sister a bottle.  And I still found more, including a rather chance find of three bottles at Everson Royce nearby.  Success!  That should hold us a while, right?

And then while I was in Micronesia, four more bottles showed up.  Ah yes, in all the holiday rush, that one shipment didn't arrive and got forgotten by me.  And here it was.

So we have a stockpile.  At the condo here we have seven unopened bottles - a little over 5 liters of the stuff. 

Van has at least one bottle in progress and maybe an unopened one at this Pasadena house.  And I am pretty certain there are another 5 unopened bottles in Rancho Mirage.  Cocktails all around, right?

If you need me, I'll be settling back with a lovely Last Word...

when in Honolulu...

Oh, many things to do in Honolulu, but I cannot help but try as many mai tais as I can.  All to see which is the best!

First up, the Mai Tai Beach Bar at the Royal Hawaiian. 

I went a little off-script there, ordering a variation on the mai tai that was blended and included mint. 

Conrad and Van went with the house mai tai, so I did try that.  Judgment?  Decent, kind of sweet.  We had a light-ish lunch of a cheese and charcuterie board to go along with the drinks.

Next up, dinner at Eating House 1849, sitting at the bar.  This one was interesting in that it used some Campari. 

Conrad really didn't like that - he doesn't do well with bitter flavours.  I thought it was an interesting variation, but not one I wanted a second round of.  We shared some crab and pork dumplings

and then I had mahi mahi with red curry. 

So good!  The second drink veered from tropical and was, instead, a martini featuring a Hawaiian gin.

Third mai tai stop, at the Outrigger Canoe Club

over lunch in the bar before going out to relax on the sand and then go in the water. 

Ah, yes, swimming in the Pacific at last!  And then an afternoon cocktail at the bar again, though one a little lighter and non-tropical.

Fourth mai tai stop, back to the Royal Hawaiian. 

Once again I went off-script, ordering a mai tai-ish drink that included a coconut foam. 

I liked it, but one drink that afternoon was enough!

Fifth mai tai stop, Orchids at the Halekulani Hotel.  Oh, so good to be back.  It's long been a special place for me and Conrad, and I know Van has had his own fond experiences there.  The mai tai?  Classic. 

Funnily, Conrad and Van felt it's too tart, but for me, it's the best balanced and the most like we enjoy at home.  Hmmmm.  I had hamachi crudo on bone marrow,

which was a nice small appetizer, and then a very tasty spaghettini with bottarga and fresh tomato. 

For dessert we shared coconut cake

and a chocolate treat. 

The service started off a little, hmm, slow and inattentive, but I mentioned it to someone early, and they corrected course very very well.  The upshot, the winning mai tai and a fine evening indeed.

We did, by the way, have a nice bottle of wine with dinner at Orchids as well.  It's not all just mai tais for us!

But when I do get to Honolulu, I admit, it can seem that way.