2 posts tagged “holiday”

It’s a holiday weekend, so why not start a little early, right?  A couple of weeks ago, while we were at Lola in Cleveland, we tried one of their signature martinis -- Hot, Dirty & Bleu -- and really enjoyed it.

So, continuing the apparently recurring themes of reconstituting other restaurants drinks and a new affinity for spicy drinks, here it is:

3 oz     Vodka (and use the good-stuff)
¼ oz    Olive-brine (from the jar of olives you’re going to use as a garnish)
¼ oz    Dry vermouth
~5 drops Tabasco (or other hot sauce)

Hot Dirty Bleu

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously.  Strain into a chilled martini glass and serve with a skewer of bleu-cheese stuffed olives.  The cold, cold martini, the salty-bleu cheese-olive taste and the spicy hot sauce are a really great mixed sensation.  I recommend using a vinegar based hot-sauce (if you have one) and nothing that’s been thickened – I think it will disperse better in your drink.  Also, while I'm a fan of the traditional gin-martini as well, I think hot sauce and gin sounds really terrible.

(Of course, you can make it as “hot”, as “dirty”, or as “dry” (varying the vermouth) as you like – that’s sort of the joy of martini-making…)

Bottoms-up!

Wow - either the QotD has gotten better, or my ideas for posts have gotten worse… but my idea this morning was to write about Dia de los Muertos.

Jen had a good post yesterday about Halloween and how we should let people have fun with it, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown more fond of Dia de los Muertos.  Last year, I wrote about it some – and won’t repeat myself too much – but I’ve really grown to appreciate the way in which both life and death are commemorated in this observance.

For these days (All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day) the dead are remembered and join with the living in their favorite activities – eating, drinking, dancing, and generally having fun.  It is a great way to contribute to the oral history of the family by telling some of the favorite stories of those that had passed on.

Last year, I thought about my mom a lot as she had just died the year before.  This year, I’ve been thinking about my dad and what I would place at his commemorative place – I think it would be bowling paraphernalia, a radio to listen to Phillies games on, a roast turkey dinner, a couple of cans of Miller Lite, and probably a roll of duct-tape.

For me, I would want to have some tennis gear, my Eagles hat, maybe some of my scientific papers, and a bottle from the family vineyard (we're not related, but I like to pretend that we are).  And of course we’d need a little music (these guys hang out on our side table this month).

Mariachi

14 comments

Oh, and I’d be sharing the turkey with my dad.

What about you?