Drink
Because Cocktails at Home Are a Good Thing
You say Vermouth, I say Vermut
Did your parents have a bottle of vermouth? Somewhere in the back of the liquor cabinet, the label was yellowed and the bottle was dusty? Maybe they even left it to you in their will. Dust off the bottle and throw it in the recycle. Now, get thee to the store and buy a fresh bottle of red vermouth.
Grappa Grab: Cooking with Grappa
I cook with grappa and I’m proud of it! Drunken quail with garlic chips and crispy saffron rice. Intoxicated mushrooms.
Wine Philosopher: Paolo Rodaro
According to Paolo Rodaro, there are only four kinds of wine: red, white, good, or bad. If you taste a wine and think, “Hmmm…might be off.” and you taste again, and maybe a third time, Paolo thinks you are wasting time. You were right the first time, send the wine back. He uses real corks, dismissed screw tops as an abomination, politely listened to the virtues of glass caps and then changed the subject to sex. If you do not look a person in the eye when you clink glasses you will be condemned to seven years of bad sex! And so the conversation meandered during a lovely evening at the Enoteca Wine Club in Umbertide as we ate Antonella’s delicious food and tasted the wines from the Rodaro cantina.
Cocktails & Comrades, Bells & Balls A Blog Post in Two Parts
When we landed back in Montone, the party was already in full swing. It was a kick to catch up with our Italian friends: the winter was long and wet, the spring has been cold and wet. A few of our transient comrades were already here, a few more arrived as we touched down. Of cocktails and comrades we have plenty!
New Year’s: Let’s Drink Punch!
People are coming over, or you’re going to a house party. What’s an appropriate libation? Something that doesn’t require precision, can be made in batches, and won’t knock you or your guests on their fannys would be a good start. Punch to the rescue!!
New Year’s Resolution: Craft Cocktails at Home or Why Cocktails are Like Sex
It’s time to take the plunge and start making some creative cocktails at home. Discovering cocktails leads you down the same path as learning about sex:
*Infatuation: you throw vodka and rum into everything, pretend your are Capt. Morgan and drink with wild abandon.
*Experimentation: oh, gin is good; scotch is interesting, what happens when I add some bitters to the mix!
*Regrets: I went home with who?? I’ll never drink tequila again.
