Monday, July 23, 2012

Oui, chef, un Sazerac.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Tales of the Cocktail, a week long celebration of the libation down in the Big Easy.  The cocktail elite, liquor brands big and small, as well as notorious writers and obscure bloggers (such as yours truly) will be there to learn, taste, and toast to the cocktail.  Our schedule is jam packed with seminars, tastings, and opportunities to meet master distillers from some of our favorite brands.

Excitement, is an understatement.

Being that this is our first trip to New Orleans, we've been brushing up on our New Orleans history and naturally, drinking many Sazeracs. 


Image via The Roosevelt Hotel

Here is the recipe, in case you are thirsty:

Sazerac Cocktail

2 oz Rye Whiskey (Bullet Rye, Sazerac Rye, Wild Turkey 101, etc)
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
4 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
1/2 t. Absinthe, Pernod, or Herbsaint Liqueur
1 Lemon Peel Twist

But the tradition is really in the process. 

This cocktail requires two chilled old fashioned glasses, one prepared with an Absinthe wash with the excess thrown away.  The other is used to stir the Rye, the simple syrup, and the bitters.  If you're using sugar cubes instead of simple syrup, muddle the bitters and sugar together before adding the Rye.  Once mixed, the cocktail is then poured into the first glass, and the lemon peel is squeezed into the cocktail to release the citrus oils, swiped around the lip of the glass, and then discarded.



The Sazerac is rumored to be the first American cocktail, that is one that was not "a mixture of spirits of any kind, water, sugar and bitters, vulgarly called a bittered sling".  But we can see the Sazerac's roots in the Cock-Tail of eras gone by.  The Sazerac of the 1850s was made with cognac, Sazerac-de-Forge et Fils cognac, and were mixed by a Mr Sewell T. Taylor at the Merchants Exchange Coffee House.

The bar was later bought by Aaron Bird, and its name changed to The Sazerac House, where the house cocktail was the Sazerac, featuring locally made bitters made by Antoine Amedie Peychaud.  Some claim that the first Sazerac was actually poured by Peychaud, who originally served them into double-end egg cups known as coquetiers (pronounced koh-kuh-TYAYS).  Legend has it that the word "cocktail" was born as coquetiers stumbled from the lips of imbibers turning into cock-tail.

The cocktail was later featured in the 1908 edition of The World's Drinks and How to Mix Them by William Boothby, but used Rye Whiskey instead of cognac.  This switch is credited to the Phylloxera Vastatrix aphid that was killing all of the vineyards in France (a phenomenon also credited to the increasing popularity of absinthe in the late 1800s).  Rye was commonly available in New Orleans at the time, and continues to be a traditional spirit of the region.

The Sazerac was made the official cocktail of New Orleans on June 23, 2008. The cocktail has come to symbolize the city, as seen in this scene of Treme where Janette surprises restaurant critic Alan Richman with the cocktail:


We plan on doing plenty of taste testing while in NOLA, it seems as though there are some variations on the process of this legendary drink, simple syrup or a cube a sugar and water, or the type of Rye Whiskey used, absinthe, pernod, or the NOLA traditional Herbsaint...  But of all of the possible variations, it seems that the structure of the cocktail is steadfast, and so are it's fans.

Follow us on twitter  for cocktail by cocktail updates at Tales of the Cocktail.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Tastier in Paper

Being that we spent a good many of our years studying the History of Art, we have always had a soft spot for the still life, specifically those of the Dutch Masters.  Beautifully arranged cheeses, vegetables, fruit, and goblets of wine have made stomachs rumble for hundreds of years.

But now, in the age of gluttony and instagram, we've have literally millions of images to make us drool.  Naturally, we're always appreciative of a new methods of temptation.  That brings us to today's find, the collaborative work of artist Agnes Cecilia Fideli Siri Charlotte Sundqvist, photographer Olivia Jeczmyk, and stylist Joanna Laven, who replicate said still lifes in paper (bugs and all).







We don't know about you, but these beautiful works make us want to rearrange some lighting in our apartment so that every meal is in chiaroscuro!






We love the mix between paper and contemporary ceramic, giving these photographs a bit of a lost in time feel.


via

xxG

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Sugar Series - Sugar Panes, The Work of Rebecca Holland

Being designers, we're big fans of minimalist art.  Judd, Andre, Smith - you know the cast of characters.  But in our opinion, their work is missing that certain....tasty quality...

Enter the talented Ms Rebecca Holland, who has been around for a few years making incredible sculptures using beet sugar and electric pigments.  (We know the magical qualities of candy very well - it starts as a crystal, can be heated, manipulated by hand, cast, or grown into bigger crystals!  Amazing!)  She casts the sweet stuff in panes, blocks, strips, pours it, and crushes it, but using the sweet medium to inspire the viewer to think about space in a new way.

Green Planks 2007

One of our favorite installations was in 2007 at the Barry Whistler Gallery in Dallas, Texas.  Included in the installation were bright yellow cast sugar cement blocks sealed in polyurethane, 78 inch Green Planks in a variety of citron hues leaning perilously against the gallery wall, and a luminescent line that brings to mind the work of Dan Flavin.  Two strips of brightly colored candy bend around a corner, and when seen from afar the lines appear to be one continuous line, visually connecting the two spaces. 

Upon first glance the panes seem to have the same properties as glass, but upon realizing their crystal make up, they seem so much more fragile and treacherous.  The pink and chartreuse hues tease the viewer, making the panes seem more playful than fragile.  It's the color that makes these panes so magical - they seem to emit light, glowing in the gallery space. 

Pink Sheets 2007

Barry Whistler Gallery 2007

Sugar Blocks 2007


Hot Candy Lines 2007

In another one of our favorites, Glaze (2003),  Ms Holland covered a floor of the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, with Green Candy - letting the candy slowly melt into a drain in the corner of the room.  Additionally, she has done installations using crushed candy, defining a strict boundary with the luminescent crystalline dust. 

I think it is important to make our environment more visible and bring up the question of how much of our physical world we really see. Nowadays we are numbed by noise, media, and virtual space, creating a situation in which we are less and less able to simply observe and discover our immediate surroundings.
via Spread Santa Fe



We can't seem to find a website for Ms Holland, and would love to see what projects she's coming up with next.  Perhaps a house made of those sugary cinder blocks?  After all, no shelter is permanent...

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

McQueen's Rainbow Dress, in Gummies

For those special events when the usual silk frock just wont cut it:



A dress made entirely of gummy bears (50,000 gummy bears, to be exact).

The dress, which was inspired by Alexander McQueen's Rainbow Dress, was created by the team over at TWELV Magazine for their debut issue.  The dress weighed 220 pounds, and took three weeks to construct.  The dress required three people to move and manipulate it, which is disappointing, mostly because we would love to wear this bad boy to our next gala.  Who needs couture when you're wearing dessert?


50,000 Gummies

To create the masterpiece, steel wire was twisted into the shape of the dress and covered with a sheet of vinyl. Then 50,000 gummy bears were painstakingly glued on by hand in a colorful pattern reminiscent of a Chevron rainbow.


McQueen's Rainbow Dress - Not as Tasty, Unfortunately

via Racked

Monday, July 2, 2012

'Tis Garden Party Season!

As all of America is in BBQ preparation mode for the 4th of July, we've got our eyes set on The UK, where the people are still in the throws of the Diamond Jubilee.  We have loved seeing all the footage; the Royals on Tour, the Big Lunch, that fabulous River Pageant. 

The Queen is doing her rounds, including a series of Garden Parties.  You may have missed the first ones at Buckingham Palace, but do not fret, there are two more; July 3rd at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and August 7th at Balmoral Castle.  Let us book our tickets!


We've got a serious soft spot in our hearts for British Gardens (we did a tour of them, didn't you know?), and we're even more a fan of them when there's sandwiches and punch being served! 

While you may not be able to make it to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in time for tomorrow's fête, you can make your own punch to serve in your own garden.  Then you can greet your guests as you peacefully meander around the lanes of your royal garden, the Royal Majesty of your own domain. 

Without further ado:

Beefeater Garden Party Punch

Mixing traditional British ingredients, including elderflower cordial and pressed pear and apple juice, with more recently feted produce, such as sparkling English wine, the punch is a completely British celebration.

Ingredients:

3 parts Beefeater London Dry Gin
3 parts Sparkling English Wine
2 parts Good Quality Pressed Pear or Apple Juice
1 part Fresh Lemon Juice
1 part Elderflower Cordial
½ part Sugar Syrup


Glass: Highball glasses, punch to be served in a punch bowl or large jug
Garnish: Pear and apple slices
Method: Stir all ingredients with a large ice block and serve.

Share This!