Champs Elysées Cocktail

I’ve been watching David Lebovitz’s live instagram stories for the past few weeks, not every day but quite frequently. They start at 6pm Paris time which is 9am pacific time here. That’s Apéro hour in France, the equivalent of happy hour in the U.S. But at 9am I’m not always wanting to think about french cocktails that early. He’s promoting his new book Drinking French, and I’ve been learning quite a bit each episode. 

I saw one not too long ago featuring this Champs Elysees cocktail with his guest Margot Lecarpentier, who owns a bar in Paris. Apparently she’s sort of a rock star in the bartending world. Honestly this drink is so good I can understand why. It’s kind of a sweet and sour flavor, it tastes a lot like a green apple Jolly Rancher candy. I kid you not. It’s so delicious!

Her recipe is all in milliliters so I did my best to translate to ounces, but some ml measurements don’t really translate well into ounces so figured out the teaspoon or tablespoon measurements which worked out a little easier. For example 40 ml equals 1.35256 oz. I rounded up on all the measurements and it worked out fine. 

A few thoughts on liquor because some liqueurs and spirits can cost quite a bit and I didn’t want to spend a fortune trying out a new cocktail.

I did a phone order with a local liquor store and asked for the small bottle of Chartreuse, I think it was 375ml, but when I got there they said they were out of stock so she asked if four tiny bottles (50ml) were ok, and I mumbled underneath my mask that it was fine. These small bottles might be a good option if you just want to try some new cocktails without investing in the larger bottle. I think they were about $6 a bottle. 

Apple brandy. The original recipe called for Calvados which can get a little pricy too, so I ordered E&J apple brandy, it’s inexpensive and tastes very very good! So you don’t have to break the bank to have a good cocktail!

Oh, and the original recipe tops the drink with a dash of Angostura which I’m out of so I skipped it, you can try that if you like.

Hope you are all well as we continue to stay home and keep a distance. I’m being super careful when I go out which is about once a week. And thanks so much to any of you that work in healthcare or in the service industry. Cheers!

Champs Elysées Cocktail

• 25 ml  (1 oz) (about 1/2 lime) lime juice

• 10 ml (.5 oz or 2 teaspoons) simple syrup 

• 15 ml (.75 oz or 1 tablespoon) chartreuse green 

• 40 ml (1.5 oz) calvados or apple brandy

Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with a few cubes of ice, give it a good shake and strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon peel. Top with dash Angostura bitters (optional)

Old Fashioned Cocktail

Old Fashioned Cocktail. It all starts with Bourbon. Kentucky Bourbon. We went to Kentucky over the holidays to visit with Jeff’s family and friends, I wish I had more photos to share of the farms, the distilleries, the cows, but it was a more personal trip rather than an Instagram trip. And I’m glad that it was. There are moments that are better left with memories in your heart than photos splattered on Instagram. That said I did have some wonderful food and drink. I want to end this year with a cocktail, as I often do, and bring you the Old Fashioned Cocktail. 

It can be made with either Rye or Bourbon, but I think Bourbon is the best choice in this case. The original way of preparing it is by muddling a sugar cube with the bitters. I didn’t have sugar cubes so I made a simple syrup instead. I also don’t like cocktails too sweet so this made it easier to get the sugar ratio to my liking. 

As with many old old recipes, the origins are not clear. But It has its roots in Louisville, KY which claims to have first invented the drink. From there to New York City, who knows? In any case it’s a wonderful cocktail. A couple things I’ll note, the more orange tasting the better (rub the orange peel on the rim), also it’s ok to go heavier on the Angostura bitters if that’s what you like. It’s sort of like adding salt to food, everyone has their taste. 

This year (well the past few years) has had its share of ups and downs, so I’m looking forward to more ups than downs in 2020, lol. It’s been quite a decade! (egads!) I’ve lived in four different apartments and now in one house that we own, over three states and 3000 miles. I started the blog in January 2013 while I was looking for work in San Francisco, it was a fun creative project and still is. I learned a whole lot about cooking, photography and myself. So I guess I’ll always remember the “teens” as my food blog years. Where will I go from here? I’m not sure. We’re always in a place of self discovery, that will never end. But I hope to share what I’ve learned over the years in some capacity. So we’ll see. I wish you all the very best in the coming year and going forward. Cheers! Bourbon! Yeah! Happy New Year! :)

Old Fashioned Cocktail

• 1 teaspoon simple syrup

• 2 good dashes Angostura bitter (adjust to taste)

• 2 ounces bourbon (I use Buffalo Trace, but Maker’s Mark or Woodford Reserve are good options too)

• Orange twist

• Bada Bing Cherries 

Mix the simple syrup and bitters in a chilled rocks glass. Add Bourbon and stir. Add one large ice cube, or a few small cubes, stir until chilled and properly diluted, at least 30 seconds. Garnish with orange twist on the side of the cube and Cherry.

Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup water

In small pot place sugar and water over medium heat, bring to a simmer and remove from heat. Allow to cool. Transfer to jar and refrigerate. 

Lemonade

Is it summer yet? Ah tomorrow is the first day (I asked Alexa). We had a preview of it last week with a couple days reaching close to 100° so I decided to make some Lemonade. It’s so refreshing and nothing matches fresh squeezed lemon juice. This is my favorite time of year here in Portland. The garden beds have been planted with four kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, three kinds of peppers, radishes and butter crunch lettuce + 2 kinds of basil. And, I put some potatoes in a bucket to see if I could grow them. Oh and pickling cucumbers, I’m super excited about that. A couple years ago we planted regular cucumbers and it produced so many cucumbers we couldn’t keep up, we offered some to our neighbors and they’re like no, no more cucumbers! lol. Ah! So it was 2015 not a couple years ago, I made a salad, a soup, Sesame Noodles with Cucumber and infused them in Vodka. I’ll call that the year of the cucumber. I hope this year will be the year of the tomato, for some reason our tomatoes didn’t do so well last year, very strange because they are usually the easiest to grow. We will see how it all turns out. The raspberries are just starting to ripen, and it looks like a good year for them, many many berries with more still blossoming. So you can count on a raspberry recipe soonish. Lemonade recipe below, I didn’t do any fancy infusing or anything, this is just your basic Lemonade, I used 3/4 cup of simple syrup but I think I could have gone with 1/2 cup, but it’s up to you and what you like. Enjoy!

Lemonade

• 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice. about 6 lemons

• 3/4 cup simple syrup

• 3-4 cups water

Add lemon juice, simple syrup and 3 cups of water to a pitcher, stir and taste, add more water or simple syrup as needed. I didn’t use a whole cup of syrup and I thought it was sweet enough. So best to build up the flavors and taste to your liking. I ended up using 3.5 cups water.

New Year’s Cherry Bourbon Cocktail

I was poking around our bookcase the other day and came across the book Imbibe! which I’ve never read, and still haven’t. But it did get me googling the author’s name David Wondrich, which brought me to Imbibe Magazine’s website (what a great site!) There are so many cocktail recipes it’s hard to pick one. I chose “The Dewberry Hotel’s Panic Button” definitely not for it’s name (although it's not hard to imagine a cocktail being named as such in 2017) but that it contained bourbon and two liqueurs that I’ve been wanting to try out for a long time. Amaro Averna, an Italian digestif, and Heering Cherry liqueur. I made the drink exact to the recipe, but it didn’t look like the drink in the article, however it tastes really good. Jeff thought it was sweet, but I didn’t find it too sweet, lots of earthy flavors with a taste of cherry that’s not overwhelming. I recommend using a large ice cube since they melt much slower than traditional ice cubes, here I used Tovolo Sphere ice molds, we have similar size large cube trays but these seemed to work nice for this style glass, plus they look like snow balls. Oh and just about the best maraschino cherries I’ve ever tasted are Bada Bing Cherries. Wishing you all well for the new year! Goodbye 2017, you were a really weird year. Cheers to 2018!

New Year’s Cherry Bourbon Cocktail

• 1 1/2 ounce Bourbon
• 3/4 ounce Amaro Averna
• 1/2 ounce Campari
• 1/2 ounce Heering cherry liqueur
• 1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
• Large ice cubes or spheres
• Maraschino cherries

Shake all the ingredients with ice to chill, then strain into a glass holding a single large ball or cube of ice. Garnish with cherry.

Recipe adapted from Imbibe Magazine

10 Summer Favorites

It’s summer! I love summer even when it’s scorching hot. I’ve put together ten of my favorite-make-again summer recipes. Below is a mix of salads, desserts and keepin’ kewl iced drinks. Picking berries, shucking corn, drinking bourbon iced tea - oh yeah!

Berry + Cherry Galette

Berry Clafoutis

Margarita Ice Pops

A Summer Salad!

Watermelon with Feta + Basil

Cherry Tomato Galette

Quick Dill Pickles

Cold Brew Iced Coffee

Cucumber Infused Vodka

Bourbon Iced Tea with Mint