Like much of the world, I have been inspired this past year by "Julie & Julia" - the blog, the book, the movie - wherein a depressed 30-something New Yorker decides to cook her way through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", 300-and-some recipes, in a year, and blog about it. I too wanted to come up with a project, something that I could tackle nearly every day, something new, something ambitious, enjoyable, educational, that I could also write about. Tonight, after several glasses of Castillo de Almansa Reserva 2005 (quite good), while flipping through Cocktail Genius by Allan Gage 2004, it came to me. Over the course of the next year, I will make every one of the 300 cocktails in this book, and never again will I have to say, "I think a mimosa is orange juice with champagne, but I'm not sure." I will be able to order Highland Slings with confidence in cocktail bars all over the world, serve Mayflower Martinis to guests, and welcome myself home with a Body Shot after a tough day at work. As a Mennonite girl, I was not raised in a home that was comfortable with the regular consumption of alcohol. There was a bottle of kahlua in the cabinet that Mom would occasionally break out, splashing a little on her ice cream if she was in an adventurous mood. I sometimes snuck a few sips to my room. Other families served wine with supper and sat around drinking rum and Coke while playing cards on a Friday night - not ours. At my grade twelve graduation party I had to bum sips of beer off my friends while nursing my thermos of hot chocolate and pretending to be drunk. Of course I have learned lots since then, in the past (ahem) eighteen-or-so years, but now, before I get old, maybe it's time to get serious, get organized, become a connoisseur.
Tonight I will begin at the beginning, as I happen to have all of the ingredients on hand, at Chapter 1, "Vodka". I don't like vodka very much. I recently discovered gin, which combined with tonic water and a wedge of lime is just about perfect. However, according to Cocktail Genius, vodka's "versatility and mixability... has made it a firm favorite in bars all over the world", and I am looking forward to exploring its potential as a base for all manner of fruity concoctions.
The cocktail is called a Caipiroska. I muddle a segmented lime with brown sugar and sugar syrup, which I've become adept at cooking up, as it's an ingredient in the raspberry gin punch that I fell in love with last summer. I do not have crushed ice. I do not have ice - so I am making some while writing this. My kids are at karate, accompanied by their father, and my undisturbed time is limited. I sew Jule's grey Webkinz kitty's mouth back on while I am waiting, then log on and slowly, slowly, on our slow high-speed internet upload a photo of a sunset in our backyard, because it is pink and lovely and makes me want a cocktail.
I break up half-frozen ice cubes with a fork and add them to my tall blue glass, which is supposed to be a old-fashioned glass, whatever that is. Then 2 measures of vodka. Is that the same as 2 ounces? Whatever... a couple of shots of vodka should do. The final result is really quite sour. Did he really mean an entire lime, chopped up? Who is this Allan Gage anyways? What are his qualifications?
I have homemade guacamole and salsa, though, which should go well with this. It is all very reminiscent of Mexico, nice for a cold snowless November night in Canada. Oh wait - vodka, I think, is Russian.
I have a long way to go.
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