Shaker one here, just back from taking a mixology class at Surfas. Wait, what?? You don’t know about Surfas? If you are in the Los Angeles area, head over to 8777 W. Washington Blvd in Culver City. There you will find a sort of cooks and eaters nirvana…..a wonderful selection of ingredients, tools, just about everything your kitchen doesn’t even know it wants yet. And they hold classes. Which brings me back to where I began….
Mixologist Mitch Harris held a fun one hour class on making fresh cocktails. For the uninitiated/mixology virgins, Mitch went through the basics of bar tools, using fresh ingredients and how to shake a cocktail. The class was very hands on and Mitch was eager to answer any questions and get us all involved in shaking and tasting. He walked us through 2 of his signature cocktails and then encouraged us to create one of our own. Of the two he made, I preferred the Pomegranate Delight- with fresh blueberries and basil. He also made a Sweet Blueberry Lavender Martini, but I still prefer the Rain Relaxer Lavender Lemonade martini or the Provencal for a lavender ‘tini.
We then paired up with a partner and got creative. My new martini pal Jenny and I made a martini with ruby red grapefruit juice, vodka, a little bit of fresh mint and then Monin Lemongrass syrup, garnished with a fat juicy blackberry. Pretty tasty! I will have to grab some of the lemongrass syrup and make this for Shaker Two. It would be a perfect summer cocktail. I’d say close to 
. We were proud of our efforts.
All in all an enjoyable evening. Everyone was very friendly and I found an ingredient I hadn’t tried yet (the lemongrass syrup). I look forward to more classes with new recipes…….maybe even a bit more advanced for those of us whose home bars are already well stocked. For someone just learning how to craft fresh cocktails at home, I highly recommend this class.
Thanks to Mitch and his partners at Paradise and to Surfas for hosting. Well done!
