Happy New Year!

The Architect and I wish you a very happy new year!  For those of you having a New Year's Eve party, I will share my friend Noelle's fabulous champagne punch recipe.

Champagne Royale Punch - Serves 12 or so.

Ingredients

4 bottles of chilled champagne.  No need to use the good stuff.  A cheap asti will do.
1 cup raspberry liqueur.  We used DeKupyer Razamatzz.
1/2 cup orange liqueur.  We used triple sec.

1 quart of cranberry juice cocktail.
1 bag each of froze strawberries and raspberries.
1 ice mold.  We used a bundt pan for the ice mold.

Directions

Fill a bundt pan with the cranberry juice cocktail.  Throw in half a bag each of the strawberries and raspberries.  Freeze until firm.  Can be made one day ahead.  When ready to unmold, invert the bundt pan onto a plate and place in the bottom of sink.  Run hot water over the top of the bundt pan to release the ice ring onto the plate.

In a punch bowl combine the raspberry liqueur, triple sec, and champagne.  Add the rest of the frozen strawberries and raspberries.  Stir to combine.  Add the ice ring you made with the cranberry juice.

Cheers!

Image from our trip last year to the Icehotel in Sweden.

Ice Cube talks about Los Angeles and The Eameses

Things I knew about Ice Cube:

1. He's a rapper.
2. He was in the rap group NWA.

Things I didn't know about Ice Cube:

1. He studied architectural drafting before becoming a rapper.
2. He has a healthy appreciation of mid century architecture in and around Los Angeles.

This video is a nice homage to L.A. and The Eameses.  Best line in the video: "The Eames made structure and nature one. This is going green 1949 style, bitch. Believe that."

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving means fall and fall means it is decorative gourd season.  So after you have stuffed yourself silly and watched some football, read this lovely Ode to Fall.

Note: There is colorful language.

CLINK! Barrel aged cocktails

You know that I really like mixing and drinking cocktails. Well, Four Squares and I stumbled across something that takes cocktails to the next level. Okay, maybe not the next level, but at least to a different level-barrel aged cocktails. The idea is simple-mix up a very large batch of spirit based cocktails (sorry, fruit juice and eggs just won't work), without ice, pour into a charred American Oak barrel and wait. For a while. Maybe anywhere from 5-7 weeks. Be patient. Decant. Pour into a mixing glass over ice and stir until well chilled (these will all be stirred, refer to my post Shaken vs. Stirred). The effect is sublime but different for different drinks. The charred oak will exert a different influence based on what is in the barrel and for how long. The effect on whiskey would be expected to be much less emphatic than the effect on a clear spirit such as gin. My initial research supports this, although given only a small sample size (which of course I plan to address in the very near future, staring now!). I've included some photos of my first go at this, which incidentally is a Manhattan. I used a 2L barrel. Next up is the Negroni and the El Presidente.
I would be remiss if I didn't cite my muse-Jeffrey Morgenthaler. I believe he deserves credit for at the very least introducing this hair-brained idea to the US. Check out his blog post on the subject, and if you are ever in Portland go to Clyde Common and order up a barrel aged cocktail for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

CLINK!

Barrel aged Manhattan

Recipe for my very first batch of barrel-aged Manhattans:

600 ml Four Roses Bourbon

300 ml Noily Pratt Sweet Vermouth

30 ml Angostura Bitters

So, I siphoned off one drink worth of Manhattans prior to putting about 1L into the barrel. It is a very good drink without aging, I must say. A little sweeter than I am accustomed to, definitely some caramel from the bourbon and more than a hint of earthiness from the sweet vermouth. Also I used a little more Angostura bitters than usual, so there is certainly a very herbal balance, especially on the back end. Nice feel in the mouth and lingers with alcohol for a few seconds after it goes down.

Fast forward 36 days. An unqualified success! The result is a robust Manhattan with a distinct yet mild wood flavor and aroma, but nothing that overpowers the essence of the drink. It is still very clearly a Manhattan. Otherwise, the flavors have melded together nicely and it goes down very smooth. The initial rough edges have definitely smoothed out.  The wood is a little stronger towards the back end, right before the finish. Still a little concerned about the bitters-probably too much in this batch but I’ll remedy that in the next batch.  Also, I'll probably leave the next batch in the barrel a bit longer so that it picks up even more of the wood.

CLINK!

Weekend Plans

1. Art Conspiracy is Saturday - 150 artists, bidding starts at 20 bucks, with music from Datahowler, The Hope Trust and J. Charles and the Trainrobbers.  Proceeds from the auction benefit Music Angels, a group that provides piano lessons to children in Dallas-area hospitals.  Buy your tickets here.

2. Saturday morning take your puppy up to Addison to get a holiday photo with Santa.  Proceeds from the photos benefit the Greyhoud Adoption League of Texas.

3. Saturday and Sunday is also the Lakewood Homes Tour and Market.

Odds and Ends

Here are some items that have been piquing my interest of late:

1.  A while back I read that Sprouts had pretty much committed to being one of the flagship anchors at the much anticipated but much delayed Lake Highlands Town Center (LHTC).  What was slowing the process down was that LHTC was looking for a co-anchor, which was rumored to be a pet store chain.  Well according to the Lake Highlands Advocate Magazine blog, Prescott Realty (the LHTC developer) says that they are "considering all alternatives to ensure the highest potential for a financeable project."  Was anyone from Prescott Realty at the Exchange Club's Oktoberfest two weekends ago?  That place was packed!  The people of Lake Highlands are dying for development.  Here's hoping the retail will finally get finalized so we can see some progress.

2.  Ok, well some progress is coming to the LHTC on the residential front.  It looks like construction could begin as early as November on the first 200 units of apartments as part of the mixed use development plan for LHTC.  Apartments are great.  But being able to walk out of those nice brand spanking new apartments to a grocer to pick up dinner, all without using a car would be even better!  See images of the future apartments here.

3.  Looks like some demolition will be coming soon to the shopping center at the corner of Audelia and Walnut Hill that was the former home of a Walmart Neighborhood Market.  That shopping center will be the future site a residential sub-division.  Home builders New Leaf, Highland Homes and Nobility Homes are the builders for the development.  Lots are about 9,000 sqft with the average home price being $700,000.00 (yikes!).  I've heard it will be a gated community and there will be a gate right at the end of Spring Branch which leads into White Rock Valley North.  I think a gated community is the wrong way to go.  Nothing says elitism like putting your homes behind gates and setting up a gate to keep out the folks from a neighboring subdivision.  A subdivision that has a blue ribbon school (White Rock Elementary), well maintained homes, and lots of friendly neighbors.  I hope the developer will reconsider that gate at the end of Spring Branch.  If we want to get development into Lake Highlands the residents all need to band together, not further divide ourselves into little enclaves.  I also hope there will be some modern construction since New Leaf is one of the builders.  If it is all turrets, french chateaus and faux Spanish, maybe a gate would be a good idea after all.