The Red Shaker » Page 16

Hotter than a…. (use euphemism of choice)

Jul 122009

Howdy Shaker fans, Shaker Two here with a quick weekend post from Shakerland. I just got back from a lovely weekend in Palm Springs with old friends. I thought I would write a little post recapping a fabulous find in this Shaker’s world.

So for those not familiar with Palm Springs, it is a kind of resort town east of Los Angeles and historically known for being a playground for celebrities (its heyday being in the 60’s with the likes of the Rat Pack, Doris Day, Bob Hope and many other stars of years gone by escaping the wilds of H-wood for this little oasis in the middle of the desert) and retirement folks and the gay community. A mix of mid-century modern and Spanish architecture nestled at the base of Mount San Jacinto…in the desert.

Keyword here being desert.

Meaning this shaker spent the last couple of days in what felt like a blast furnace. 114 degrees to be precise. Don’t give me the line about it being a dry heat. Anything over 95 is hot. I am from Texas, I grew up in hot. I am not a fan of hot – at least weather wise.

To try and avoid and counteract some of this lovely weather, my friends planned a trip up the tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto for a nature hike with some lovely views of Palm Springs below. It was 25 or so degrees cooler up there, so that was nice. Until we descended back into the center of hellfire. We took a bit to shower, then headed to the Riviera Palm Springs for a couple cocktails (the three of us all being dirty in our selection – ratings from mildly profane to X-rated on the dirty scale.) the bartenders served up some fine examples. Mine even had some gloriously delicious ice chips in it. Water it down, you say? I took it as a bonus to help keep this girl cool. The Riviera has recently been remodeled into a gorgeous homage to it’s Hollywood Glam history. Fabulous – go check it out just for the interior alone.

Next we went to dinner at Wang’s in the Desert. This is a lovely Chinese restaurant with good service, tasty fried wonton and fabulous mandarin pork and tangerine beef. They also had a tasty concoction on their drink menu that propelled the night into full speed. Here is the description from their menu:

Palm Springs Iced Tea Cocktail $5.5

Cool and refreshing cocktail made with

Seagram’s Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka,

Lemonade and a splash of Soda

served on the rocks in a 1/2 liter personal carafe

I was skeptical, but my friend Jim said I needed to try this. I mean seriously – Sweet Tea flavored VODKA?!? It sounded foul. Jim basically said shut up and order it.

I did.

O. M. G. In a million years I would not have believed that this would be good. I would have been so wrong maintaining that belief. This was a luscious alcoholic Arnold Palmer. It was smooth, cool, refreshing and had a kick. I would also like you to note the price. $5.50 for a half liter carafe. squeeeeeaaallll!!!

Our trio inhaled a couple of these each, then moved onto another hotspot: Hunter’s. On a whim, we asked if they had the Sweet Tea Vodka and could they make us an Arnold Palmer with it. Joy! They did and they could. Katy bar the door, let the drinking begin. This version was made without the soda, so had a bit more of a kick then the Wang’s version – but just as effective in smoothness, flavor and refreshment. Cost: $5. I am used to $12-$14 per drink. It was like Christmas in the desert!!

I cannot WAIT to hunt the Seagram’s Sweet Tea vodka down and enjoy a summer of gloriously refreshing AP’s with a kick.

Serve them over ice with a spring of mint and wedge-o-lemon if you choose.

Cheers!

Stay tuned. We may fit in a little shake for Bastille Day……….a bientot!

Red (White and Blue) Shaker Night!

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Jul 052009

America, F yeah! Oops, sorry. for those patriots of more delicate constitution, Happy 4th of July!~

Tonight’s theme is all American, red white and blue ‘tinis. And we’d like to welcome our first Special Guest Star:
Kim! Can we say, Kim is the guestest with the mostest….she dove right in there mixing ‘tinis and crafting one of our highest rated efforts to date. But more on that later…..let’s dive right in to our first round.

As we graze on warm spiced nuts (heh), olives and caprese bites we sample the:

#13 Cucumber Cooler Martini

From a Texas warm weather drink recipe collection. Refreshing, pleasant, not too sweet. Would be great over ice in a tall glass (Kim- maybe with gin instead of vodka?), we enjoyed this.

Ratings ranged from
(Shaker One)
(Shaker Two)

Helpful hint: use the immersion blender to muddle. Much faster.

And on to round 2 with the #14 Cosmo-not Martini.

Ok, well Shaker One had recipe fail here and read a key ingredient wrong. Also, we neglected to notice that this was a non-alcoholic(!?!?!?) ‘tini (oxymoron, I know). So Kim tweaked, tinkered and twirled (hi Simon!) and created Kim’s Cosmo Haute!

Delicious! We needed two rounds of this. Soooooooo tasty. Brava Kim~!
Perfectly balanced peach, cranberry, citrus…..they all play so well together. Your mouth will be happy. Trust us. Um, ok. Don’t actually trust us, that’s a bad idea. But make this drink. You won’t be sorry. Mmmmmmmm.

And then we decided to actually eat some food. The booze was lonely. We had quite the feast with Shaker Two’s mom’s pigs in a blanket, mini cheesie burger sliders with carmelized onions (Shaker One rocks the sliders…mmmmm) , sweet potato fries and Shaker Two’s delicious Orzo salad

And, because we thought it would be so cute, we chose a blue tini:

#15 The Blue Print!

I shall let the peanut gallery comments speak for themselves:
“Ohhh, Windex!” “It burns!!!!!”

Yeah, so the pretty ones don’t taste so good. Kinda like in real life.

Rather than waste all that boozy goodness (we’re all about recycling and repurposing – especially vodka) we remixed that bad boy into-

#16 The Octopussinki!

Now this is even better than our last salvagetini. Inky pretty color, nice flavor. Not bad. This may just about hit a 3 olives.

(Shaker Two’s working on her home made ice cream! Two flavors! We are very excited)

Tonight was doubly productive, as we have come up with several more Shaker night plans/menus for the future. Stay tuned for…. luai-tinis, field trips, Russian night, Sake-tinis, MadMen night, south of the border themes, Trailer Trash ‘Tini night, vodka tastings and numerous other evenings of silliness we have talked about.

oooh… next round is coming up.

Warm mini apple pies with home made cinnamon ice cream. OMG, yum on the cinnamon ice cream.

#17 Coconut Cream Pie Tini.

(Emong joined in on this one – he was also a bit let down.)

Ok sadness, disappointment, remorse.

Again, it sounded so much better than it tasted. Meh. You know, they have the five stages of grief? We need to make the five stages of martini disappointment. Delicious description, lovely ingredient excitement, mixing glee, pouring/straining anticipation, tasting fail. 1 1/2 olives.

Take a pass.

(Side note… we all found it rather funny as we realized we were now measuring vodka in measuring cups – saves time rather then count out jiggers.. but still… measuring cups!)

Come back soon. You know we get thirsty often. Good night and see you next time. Same channel, same shaker.

Lushes out.

Overall, another lovely evening ‘tini tasting, despite several bailing guests. An excellent ending to a wonderful holiday weekend. Celebrate, marinate, macerate!

The Stripe Report

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Jul 022009

Shaker Two says thursday is the new friday this week, so Emong and I decided to begin the holiday weekend early. Emong, freshen my ‘tini, will you?

What? We’re not shaking in until SUNDAY???? How ’bout if we just keep a nice steady buzz on until then, and you girls can catch up later? Kthnks.

Friday Night Lights

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Jun 262009

Good evening lushes and bon vivants. Welcome to the latest Red Shaker night. Tonight we usher in another fun-filled fabulous weekend and say goodbye to a work week filled with PC drama, accounting headaches and general client stupidity. Needless to say, we both really, really need some fortified adult beverages. (Did I say really? Cause, really).

This evening we present to you an Herb-stravaganza! We feature fresh herbs from Shaker Two’s Patio Bar and Shaker One’s Balcony bar. Take a ride with us, break in your weekend, get a little drunk. You’ve earned it, we’re sure.

We begin with:

Thyme and Garlic Cheese Dip and the #10 Lenin-ade Martini
(yes, Lenin…..as in Vladimir, not John).

We give this martini
(Shaker Two says 4 1/2 over ice in summer and you can’t argue with genius). This was quite nice….light, subtle mint flavor, a summer ‘tini for sure.

Moving right along, our second course is

Carrot Ginger Soup Shooters with #11 Ginger Lime Martinis.

Oh my, this is a genius pairing. I probably love the ‘tini more than Shaker Two. I am a ginger superfreak. The kind you don’t bring home to mother. Shaker Two says the dollop of sour cream was the perfect accompaniment to the soup…the ginger and the carrot were perfectly balanced. (she still liked my vichyssoise better, I can tell). As we pat ourselves on the back , we move on to our next course:

Caramelized Onion and Sage Tart with #12 Blueberry ‘tinis

Shaker Two’s onion tart review: “I just want to grab a pillow and sleep in it”
Shaker One: My tart says thank you. 🙂 And you can send it flowers tomorrow. No Daisies. 😉

And the ‘tini? Mmmmblueberriesandboozemmmmmm…….
This was not a bad start at all, the blueberry flavor was a little too subtle and would definitely upgrade the rating if it were enhanced more. Next time we’ll infuse a simple syrup with the muddled berries.
Could go higher with more “blueberry smooshiness”. Heh.

And then we rolled ourselves into the kitchen for :

Mini Chicken Pot Pies!

Wait, WTF!?! Where is our next drink? And Why, in the name of all that is holy, am I still sober? Something is wrong here. Deeply wrong. I’ll just let Sheridan review my pot pies whilst I correct my alcohol imbalance.

Take it away, Shaker Two:

buzzin like a happy little bee here… can I just say I want to move in with Shaker One and would happily pay for all groceries and specialty items for her cooking alone. (Shaker One: the hell- she proposed earlier- where’s my damn ring??? I prefer platinum).

The chicken pot pie. I have not had any in years, since most of my experience has been frozen dinners – those are okay.. but not great, especially after having some at some rather gourmet restaurants. Shaker One’s is close to the restaurant variety without being “uppity”. The pastry was nice, light and not overpowering to the mixture of vegetables, chicken breast and “sauce.” Fresh thyme compliments the blend and, as a whole, it is a fabulous rendition of a comfort food staple. I would totally bribe her to make this when I need a culinary hug. (Shaker one: anytime my friend)

OOH! Next round is DONE! I’m off to drink. BRB.

Ok, so we decided to wing it here, no net, no recipe……

Drunken Berry tini

Gorgeous color, amazing aroma. Ruby red, vanilla scented end of evening libation.

We could definitely improve this. But not a bad start. (Shaker One: Miss Shaker Two’s still flying higher than I am. WTF people.)

And we finish up this round to move on to our last course:

Raspberry Sorbet with Limoncello, Fresh Berries and Mint……

and here we stray from the ‘tini path. Apologies to ‘tini purists here. Avert your eyes. We’re breaking out of the vodka box.

A little happy juice ends the evening well. Ahhhh, nothing says welcome to the weekend like a little glass of bubbly. Champagne makes everything better.

The addition of limoncello was inspired. Fresh berries garnished the concoction and the flavors complimented each other. Shaker Two kind of mixed the sorbet and limoncello together making a bit of a smoothy consistency, giving rather devious thoughts to raspberry/limoncello shakes….

Thank you for coming along with us on another drunken journey.
We are plotting some 4th of July weekend fun, so stay tuned.

Happy weekend and happy drinking~!

The Stripe Report

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Jun 222009

You know, I don’t read a lot of papers….being a cat and all. But I think I’d have heard if they reinstated prohibition.

So, what’s a cat got to do to get a drink around these parts? I see plenty of bottles but not nearly enough booze on glass action. Chop chop ladies! Let’s get some shakers working. Soon.

Stripe out.

Lakers and Shakers

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Jun 142009

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we have a lovely beverage and snackie menu.

To begin with:

Chilled vichyssoise shooters with #5 Citrus martinis.

Nice clean, not too sweet. Would probably only have one.

Course two: arugula salad with warm bacon dressing and #6 The Lava Lamp Martini.

Wellll….we dearly wish we could love the lava lamp. It was pretty. However, it tasted like cough syrup. Nasty, nasty cough syrup. Unless you have a prescription or chronic bronchitis, take a pass.

Hating to waste the vodka. we invented the #7 Salvage-tini:

Basically the Lava Lamp, shaken up with lemon juice, fresh lime,etc…..the best we can say is that we rendered it drinkable. Take a pass on this. The residents of Pompeii had more warning. 1 olive.

And on to to the third course, Caramelized onion and Parmesan puffs with the
#8 Razzmary Tini

. Both delicious, but could add a bit more rose/razz to the next round.

And for dessert: Frozen chocolate souffles and the #9 Wedding Cake Tini!

OMG- we’re drinking cupcakes! Surprisingly, the combination of pineapple, cranberry and vanilla vodka rendered a concoction that tasted like a cupcake with butter cream frosting. The flavors were subtle and delightful. Delicious! Cupcakey! Mmmm!

Overall, an enjoyable evening with restraint. I could have had one more tini. Just a small one…….

Thank you for joining us and stop by again soon for another Red Shaker evening. And congratulations to the Lakers on their championship~ Next time I’ll make a Kobin-tini….and hog it all for myself!~ hee hee…….

The Stripe Report

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Jun 072009

For two drunk chicks, you’d think they would be more generous with the treats…….
Did I put enough Frangelico in this?

Special Correspondent, Emong, here!

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Jun 072009

Round One!

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Jun 062009

#1 Chuckleberrytini

Though we failed to note the “garnish with skittles” note in the recipe, this was not a bad way to begin our tini quest. Made a very pretty tini, could have used a bit more raspberry flavor and perhaps even a splash of lemon. Nice finish. Overall a decent tini.

Consensus Rating:
(Sheridan gives the name 5 olives!)

Moving along folks, onto the….

#2 The Continental Martini

Surprisingly less sweet than expected. Nice finish. Pretty color. Not bad.

Consensus Rating:

And that brought us to Sheridan’s favorite:

#3 The Pink Panther

Oh lord, how I wish I had a camera when Sheridan took a sip of this one. Note to self: No Campari for Miss Sheridan. Wow, picture a combo spit-take/sourpuss/omg what foul hell just arrived in my mouth face. It was awesome. I poured her a fresh glass of champagne to wash the taste out of her mouth. Heh.

The drink? Ok, you really need to enjoy Campari. It’s a very, very acquired taste. That said, for me it was interesting. No replacement for the Negroni or the Americano in the Campari world, but worth a taste. I can think of many better uses for champagne.

Sheridan Rating: negative 50000 olives
Stacia Rating:

(Sheridan is eyeballing me to finish the hell-tini so we can move on to dessert….drink up Stacia!)

And for dessert?

#4 The C hocolate Hazelnut Martini

Mmmmmmchocolateyboozemmmmm……….
I take back everything disparaging I ever said about chocolate/dessert martinis. consensus? Yum. Though Miss Sheridan was hoping for more of a nutella flavor. Rich, very desserty. You really only want one. A very tasty finish to the evening.