green gold

If you look at our history of cocktails on here, a particular cocktail shows up time and again:  the Last Word.  Our house cocktail, so to speak.  And an essential ingredient is green chartreuse.

There was once a time when we could wander into Everson Royce and grab a bottle easily any time, or so it seemed.  Over time it became less likely we would find a bottle, and then it seemed that other stores we tried no longer had it.  A worldwide shortage, articles proclaimed, and we were left to wonder what to drink if we had none.

I’ve been hunting it down online regularly, keeping a stock on hand.  It’s a little ridiculous, I know.  But here we go, green gold on our bar.  This should keep us in cocktails for some time to come!

Victoria, for the first time in years

Nine days ago, Conrad and I made our way to LAX,

board a flight

to San Francisco, then another flight from there

to Vancouver, then rented a car and headed to the ferry, made the crossing to the Island,

and - 12 hours after leaving the condo - got to our room at the Hotel Rialto in Victoria.  At long last.  A view of city hall,

a bed to sleep in. 

And it was only dinner time.

A local friend wasn't wild about the hotel restaurant, The Palms Inspired Kitchen and Cocktails, and had advised going across the street.  Conrad suggested that, too.  But I was tired and had forgotten any advice.  So we went downstairs.  And you know, it was fine.  It needs work, but it was fine.  The bar looked pretty darn good, and I was able to order a martini made with Ungava gin,

which I am always delighted to encounter.  The glass of wine with my meal wasn't as good, and I think that drinking it with the food disguised that it was veering toward what Conrad calls sports bar wine.  The food was not bad.  An appetizer of scallops,

a short rib for my dinner,

a creme brulee for dessert. 

I'd rate the short rib as the best, and I'd suggest that they make the creme brulee smaller and not serve it with a chocolate dipped spoon.  Conrad's tuna was fine enough, though the dish was overloaded with ingredients. 

I liked his salad more than my scallops, and he preferred my appetizer to his.  It's all good.  It was food, and it was an excellent value, and we were alright and ready to unwind.

Until I got a message from Owen reminding me that we were meeting for drinks.  Merde!  Off we trekked, over to Clive's Classic Lounge to meet him and his boyfriend, Dale. 

So yes, we were tired, and yes, we had had a couple of drinks, but still.  So good to see Owen again and meet Dale for the first time.  And fun to have a cocktail in a lounge that seemed to know what it was doing.  The Deep Dark Forest for me, a smoked concoction. 

Tasty!

And then we got to go back to the hotel and sleep.

Wednesday came, and there was an event ahead, but that wasn't until mid-afternoon.  Time enough to go out, see the city a bit, get some things done.  I took Conrad through Market Square

where I used to go every weekend for comic books when I was in undergrad.  We headed over the water of the Inner Harbour

and into the VicWest area to a Starbucks,

grabbing breakfast and lattes before cutting through the roundhouse area

and then over to the waterfront to head back to the hotel. 

Not directly back, no. 

It was nice weather for a walk, and we needed to get a shot or two at Rebar so as to send one to Rachel. 

Inside joke, sorry.

After the walk and getting dressed, there were errands to do.  Banking, for one, and a stop into a nearby wine and spirits store where we saw this 3L beauty. 

I was sorely tempted.  Ah well.  And then on past City Hall

to the Victoria Public Market at the Hudson. 

The old Bay when I lived in Victoria.  I can see what they are trying to do with the space, but it's not quite there at this time.  Still, we had lunch and it was good.

The rest of our day was mostly taken up with the birthday party, but ah, that's a separate blog post.  In the meantime, a simple reflection.  Several years ago I went to my high school reunion, and I was disconcerted by how my home town was simultaneously changed and yet familiar.  I recognized things, I was confused by the loss of other things, and I was unsure about the things that were new or different.  A former friend asked me why I hadn't expected change.  I had, in fact, but that didn't stop the change from feeling odd to me.  I was from there but no longer of there.  I had a similar sensation with Victoria, but not as strong.  A city I knew when I was younger, when I was in undergrad at UVic.  I remembered some storefronts, I was perplexed as to what had happened with others.  Change, and I don't know how I feel about it.

Too long since the last trip to Victoria.  I shan't let that happen again.

I know I haven't done much of this lately, sorry

I have been cooking.  I cook most days, in fact.  But I haven't had much joy in the cooking lately.  It's dinner.  It's a meal.  It's perfunctory.

In recent days, I've been messaging friends on Facebook.  Folks I haven't kept up with in a mighty long time, folks I thought it might be nice to say hello to and catch up with.  One of them responded (yay!), and in the response said that they missed my cooking photos.  I realized that no, I hadn't been posting many.  So here we are.

Van (and Olive, not pictured - she's had a lot of attention on here lately!) came over late afternoon for dinner here.  I didn't photograph the dessert either, a mango brown butter tart.  Tasty enough!  Conrad will take some of the leftovers to NOLA tomorrow.

But I did take photos of the dinner.  Now that we have some of the Russell Wright dishes from Vancouver, I decided to serve the meal in them.  Tomatillo braised country style pork ribs with rice cooked in black bead liquor. 

Not a bad meal at all!  I was pleased with it for a change.  A little more salt, perhaps?  But it was good.

On a side note, and as you all probably know, we like our cocktails.  The Last Word is our favourite, a concoction that relies on green chartreuse.  That spirit is hard to find (though I shan't confess to our stockpile).  And some people suggest substituting Genepy.  I've had that before, and we do have some on hand, but Van had never tried it.  So I made a Last Word with the Genepy, and that led to me having Conrad

and Van

do a comparison of the chartreuse and the Genepy.  That was interesting.  Genepy is lower ABV and easier to drink, but the chartreuse makes a better cocktail, we agreed.

It wasn't all Last Words, though.  I also had a Preakness to cap the evening.

And now Conrad will be heading out of town.  Darn it.  Time with Van ahead (yay!), but it will be good to have Conrad home.

new tshirt

A salute to the liqueur that is critical to my favourite cocktail!

A side note:  my laptop died on Thursday.  Fun, right?  A new one is on the way, so I will not be blogging much until I have that and it’s all up and running.

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...