The Moscow Mule - another Ginger Drink Delight

I've loved ginger beer since I was in college and enjoyed it for the first time at a place called Eats. Eats opened the same year I moved to Atlanta, and became an instant weekly stop for Emory students who coveted their cheap prices on pasta, jerk chicken and other comfort fare.

Their jerk chicken was sinus-clearingly spicy, but became a real experience when paired with their super-charged imported ginger beer which sent flames up the afore-mentioned sinuses. Since I was relatively good kid, the Jerk Chicken+Ginger Beer combo was my idea of the ultimate rush at the age of 18.

When I have TV and cocktail night on Friday's, I am not looking for a rush. I do enjoy a tasty beverage though. I discovered a cocktail recipe for something called the Moscow Mule in Bon Appetit magazine (who knew they did cocktails). It's basically Ginger Beer, Vodka and lime. Simple, straight forward and an appropriate rush for this spice-hound. I enjoyed a couple of these while catching up on Knight Rider the other night.

Check it out on Bon Apetit.

Person Over Board

Last year, when I was at this little hotel beach bar in Hope Town, a picturesque little harbor town in The Abacos, I enjoyed a delightfully sinful cocktail with just three little ingredients. As I sipped two of them down (a little too quickly), I thought, “surely I can remember this recipe and make this when I get home.” My memory of that day goes into a fog beyond that notion so I remembered neither the name of the drink nor what was in it. Luckily, I found myself at the very same bar (at least I remembered where it was) and knew the drink as soon as I saw it on the painted drink menu board on the wall.

The P.O.B. (Person Over Board) is an aptly (and politically correct) named mixture of Southern Comfort, Myers's Rum and just enough pineapple juice to keep you from coughing up the first two ingredients. This time I only had one, but as it followed two cocktails at another beach bar 30 minutes earlier, this drink was promptly followed by a 3 hour nap as I could safely set myself down without fear of falling over-board myself. I don’t recommend this cocktail near water or work associates you don’t want to know better.

The Big Ginger

This one is dangerous. My friend Alex turned me on to this today
during happy hour at a local Irish mega pun called, ironically, The
Local. It is 2 oz of Jameson topped of with Ginger ale, lemon and
lime. Don't loose your pants.

Atrea "The Choir" Rhone Blend

This wine is beautiful and well balanced.I love white Rhone Valley wines.
This is from Mendocino California but, it's good!

Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio

	I don't remember who have this to me, but I enjoyed it. Light grapefruit and a little green on the nose and a smooth finish. Held up to bring resealed for a few days to boot.

When Sangria goes crazy

I recently had a little party celebrating my 33rd birthday - I called it "The Power of 3" as all my major events have stupid names. The vague reference to the TV show Charmed was lost on most folks.

The menu was Mexican themed (loosely) and was originally to feature three drinks - one of which was a Mexian version of Sangria called "Agua Loca". It goes down smooth - too smooth as many of my guests discovered as they stood up to walk home (most all of them lived in the neighborhood, so I was not enabling reckless activity.

It's a ballsy punch of rum, vodka, wine and enough fruits and juices to fool you into thinking you're drinking something healthy. Here's a link to the recipe.

Mark Bittman provides a Rosetta Stone to sours

I love Mark Bittman's "minimalist" approach to food and drink. Here he's providing some guidelines to making many of my favorites - definitely a reference resource I'll come back to often.

http://www.nytimes.com/export_html/common/new_article_post.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2008%2F06%2F25%2Fdining%2F25mini.html%3Fex%3D1372132800%26en%3D23a472e09a6f22a7%26ei%3D5124%26partner%3Dpermalink%26exprod%3Dpermalink&title=Add%20a%20Splash%20of%20Ad-Lib&summary=Master%20the%20pattern%20for%20sour%20drinks%20and%20you%20can%20mix%20hundreds%20of%20cocktails%20at%20home%20without%20a%20book%20or%20recipe.&section=The%20Minimalist&pubdate=June%2025%2C%202008&byline=By%20MARK%20BITTMAN