Have I mentioned I am in a bit of a beer phase? Well, I am. I don’t know what’s gotten into me! But, I don’t really care. I am quite pleased with this current fascination. I’m reading The Naked Pint, walking down to Beer Bar more often than I should and sort of neglecting my wine cellar (sorry guys)(but not for long!). When I decided to fire up my grill for the first time, I went down to Silverlake Wine to pick up some beers for a little tasting of sorts. Because, really, what else could make a perfect sunny day with grilled meats any more perfect?

The Bruery‘s Saison Rue. Brewed with rye and…brettanomyces. Brett! On purpose! Wine lovers everywhere gasp. It was delicious. Not my favorite Bruery bottling I’ve ever had, but everything they make is pretty freaking great. Would be interesting to see how this beer is in another year or so. Never thought about cellaring a beer before, but The Bruery encourages it for this particular beer.

Koshihikari Echigo beer. Kind of like Kirin. It’s made with Koshihikari rice and malt from Niigata’s first microbrewery. It’s a “gulp it on a hot day without thinking about it” kind of beer. Nothing mind-blowing here.

I’ve heard about Moose Drool (I mean, how can you not pay attention to such a name?) and always wanted to give it a try. I’m not much of a brown ale kind of gal. And I’m still not. Big ups to Missoula though! And the people with the balls to name their beer after an animal’s saliva.

As the sun was setting, we got down to some eating with the Saison Rue as our beer of choice. Hot dogs, grilled corn, sweet potato fries. Summer- I’m ready for you. I’ve prepared. I’m certainly getting this whole beer drinking thing down.

On The Lamb touched down again yesterday to officially ring in the new year with a good luck brunch. We served 4 courses of yummy stuff and I started everyone off with a cocktail- what I’m going to call the Winter Citrus Dreamsicle Fizz. Where my love of push-up pops and prosecco collide.

I needed sherbet to make this drink happen and I had never attempted to make one before. So, why not give it a shot? I followed NY Times recipe tester Jill Santopietro’s video and recipe for Tangerine Sherbet. I adapted it a bit. See the recipe below with my substitutions.

1/2 teaspoon gelatin
2 1/4 pounds tangerines ( I used pomelos, oranges and sweet lemons)
1/2 cup sugar (I used just a little over a 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled. (I used 1/2 heavy cream and 1/2 coconut milk)

Check the video for how to bring it all together and how to make it without an ice cream maker! Also- I recommend leaving in some of the orange zest (Jill’s recipe calls for straining it out). It makes the drink, well, prettier and gives added citrus flavor and aromas as the sherbet melts in the glass.

To compose the drink, it’s pretty darn simple. Scoop sherbet with melon baller or small ice cream scoop, drop in champagne flute. Top with prosecco (I used one of my favorites- Sommariva) and float a few drops of orange blossom water right on the crest of the bubbles.

Ever wonder what the “liquor cabinet” of a teetotaller looks like? While making kibbeh this morning at my grandparents house, I went snooping and I spied some REALLY old bottles of booze. As well as the piece de resistance – a bottle of Mogen David vino. Ha!

I also spy a photo of my 7 year old self in a red satin pajama set and a pair of my Nana’s knee high black boots. Always at the height of fashion.

A price tag revealed that this Mogen David bottle was purchased at Rite Aid for about $3. Who knows when it was purchased, but my guess is sometime around the year of my birth. Concord grapes, ya’ll. It’s a party.

Don’t you just love the design and colors of these labels? These bottles are from the late 70′s and early 80′s. After I inspected and properly documented them for the relics they are, I put them back in their dark home above the fridge. Which is where I’m sure they’ll stay for at least another few decades.

If you missed what I found in my parent’s cabinet last Winter, take a look.

Current temperature: 104.

While I am slightly delirious and borderline heat stroked, let’s play a little game of word association for a minute. OK- It’s hot as hell and I’m sweatin’ like a whore in church. Church. Where do I go with the family to worship (only at Christmas…let’s get real)? A Presbyterian church. Presbyterian.

The Presbyterian. This is all going to make sense shortly…just hang in there.

My mother sent me this fantastic book in the mail the other day. She earmarked page 4. That page has two cocktail recipes: The Presbyterian and The Most Famous of All Kentucky Breakfasts.  I am focusing on the former at the moment, clearly, but please take a gander at the top of the page if you want a chuckle.

On a day like today all I want to do is sit around in the least amount of clothing as possible and drink cold beverages. Therefore I have decided to “worship” the combined genius of cocktail god Dale DeGroff and the author of the book Albert W.A. Schmid (who took some inspiration from DeGroff with this cocktail.) I must add that I’ve been drinking “bourbon on the rocks with a splash of ginger and a lime” for years. So, I’m taking this as an opportunity to improve upon my age old libation AND cool off from this sweat-soaked heat wave.

I take advantage of every chance I can get to bring out my Ice-O-Mat. Crushin’ ice sure is fun.

Crushed ice + Bulleit bourbon + Reed’s ginger ale equals all kinds of awesome. The recipe also calls for club soda but I love my citrus sparkling waters, so I subbed a lemon sparkler. First- pour the bourbon over the ice.

Then add the sparkling water and ginger ale. I must say that Reed’s is a fantastic product; one of the best ginger ales I’ve tasted in a while and it’s all natural.

Finish off with some fresh lemon and you’ve got yourself one heck of a Sunday afternoon. Hallelujah!

What do mothers love? Tea. Scones. Clotted cream. Rose gardens. Museums with…art and pretty things. Where do you take your mother when she visits town? A place that has tea, scones, clotted cream, a ton of roses and a lot of art. Get thee to the Huntington!

The gardens are absolutely lovely. There’s a rainforest, a tropical garden, a sub-tropical garden, desert garden, japanese garden, chinese garden…you get the point. There is no short of variety here. And within the rose garden there is also a tea room. From the idyllic splendor of rose scented paths and floating butterflies, we entered….

A Doubletree in Ohio? A Best Western continental breakfast in Indiana? What is going on here?

After knocking back our respective rooibos (me) and english breakfast (mom) teas, we quickly packed up our scones to go and headed back into the sweet bounty of the Mother Nature.

Sorry Huntington, but seriously. You need to step up your game. In the future, I should have taken the advice of my friend Rachel and grabbed a pot of tea and a bento box in the amazing Japanese garden. Next time.

Ah, the joys of summer. Firing up the grill and throwing back some rosé. Could life get any better? Oh right…add to that line-up outdoor dining; something that is possible most of the year in LA, but somehow seems way more special and exciting in the summer months. So, on to the important stuff! The sipper: Domaine du Bagnol’s Cassis rosé.

This Provence rosé is truly delicious and the color is divine. To me, it’s basically like a really gorgeous prep school girl in pearls and shiny watermelon lip gloss that you love to hate because she’s so perfect but can’t help but love because she’s actually really smart and sophisticated (and nice.)

On the menu: sliders made from McCall’s hamburger blend on La Brea Bakery jalapeno onion rolls, brussel sprout salad and rosemary fries. Yum! There’s just something about rosé and grilled meat on a warm day. You feel me?

I cleaned my plate….and my bottle glass.

Where there’s a grill, there’s Andrea Calek. Well, not really. But a few weeks ago ’twas true.

sorry for the blur...that's how excited I was for meat

My dear friends Molly and Tyler had some people over for grillin’ and drinkin’.  I decided to add some vin naturel goodness into the mix of steaks and Memorial Day shenanigans. Babiole is an interesting wine from an interesting man in the Ardeche (Rhone); a sans soufre blend of syrah, carignan and grenache.

For a bunch of people that never drink wines like this, they loved it. Another one for Team Natural Wines!

Last but not least- many thanks to our dashing butler for the evening- Monsieur Willy.

Where: Cinespia Cemetery Screenings, Hollywood

What: Purple Rain

Who: A bunch of cool ass people. Including Dâm Funk on the turntables and keytar pre and post show.

Click here to put a little funk in your step courtesy of Mr. D Funk himself.

For those of you living in a cave, not from the South or who are completely uninterested in horse racing- yesterday was the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby. I was throwing a party, wearing a large and in charge hat, screaming at horses and drinking a lot of Bulleit bourbon. And drinking it out of that lovely engraved (with my initials) julep cup you see above. It was given to me when I was born. If that doesn’t clue you in to the fact that I am from Kentucky, I don’t know what will.

Tom and Hollis Bulleit are also, clearly, from Kentucky. And they are pretty swell people. Tom is a friend of the family and Hollis is his incredibly talented, intelligent and vivacious daughter. She is living out here in LA now and traveling around the country acting as the world ambassador for Bulleit. But, it’s also great to have her right here in our fine city educating folks about bourbon and brown spirits. Bulleit truly is one of my very favorite bourbons. It is an incredible value for the price and it’s a great sipping bourbon as well as brilliant in cocktails. It’s well balanced but with a whole treasure trove of complexity on the palate. There’s orange, vanilla, ginger, oak, honey, cherry…and a whole lot of delicious.

photo by M. Quintanilla

Runaway mint and blackberry juice. Making cocktails for the crowd at the On The Lamb Derby party yesterday.

Just so you know where to find it and at the best price- you can purchase at K&L Wine Merchants in LA.

Blind Wine Tastings. That’s my jam. Throw in good friends, good eats….perfect Sunday evening material right there. When I was up in Napa for the Wine Writer’s Symposium, I received a lovely little gift bag from the Napa Valley Vintners. Inside were 3 bottles of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. After a week of cabs and chards at the symposium, I needed a little hiatus from all things Northern Cali for a while. Last Sunday, I decided it was finally time to pop some bottles. Call the friends, enlist cheese purchasing, ready the aluminum foil. Blind tasting time.

We drank them in no particular order. After covering them in foil, I had already forgotten what was what. There was no real scholarly approach to the tasting, we just discussed what we liked and why. After the third wine, we had a clear winner. Number 2. It was more elegant and restrained on the oak, lower in alcohol (coming it at 13.6%) and well balanced and had a nice acidity despite its rich cab fruit. Our second favorite unanimously was Number 3…coming in last was the first one out of the gate, Numero Uno. So, what did we drink? The reveal….

The “winner”- 2007 Frog’s Leap Cabernet.  88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot. From the winemakers:

“…what kind of cabernet to make? There were the closed, tight fisted, cough-and-hack Cabs of the late 70′s or the now popular pick-late, sweet fruit, high alcohol wines of the early 21st century. Instead of chasing fads we simply learned from the past, favoring the lessons passed on by generations of Bordeaux winemakers. Our attempt is not to emulate anyone, but rather to avoid sacrificing the balance between Cabernet’s ripe fruit character and its lean herbaceous side at the altar of over-extraction and manipulation.”

Runner-up was 2002 Cafaro “Alta Tierra” Cabernet (92% cabernet, 8% petit verdot) and lastly the 2005 Porter Family Vineyards Cabernet (85% cabernet, 12% syrah, 3% merlot- and the most expensive bottle of the 3). As you all know, I am not keen on reviewing wines and giving extensive tasting notes. Therefore, I will spare you my thoughts only to say that we favored a more balanced wine and Old World style.  Bonus wine- Jane, our host for the evening, had a bottle of 2005 Stag’s Leap “Artemis” Cabernet she had been holding onto for a special occasion. She had mentioned that she thought it might have gone bad as she came home and saw a few drips of wine under the bottle on the wine rack. We decided now was a better time than any other to see if it had indeed been damaged (I never mind being a test subject) and to compare to the other cabs. It was great! Super decadent and velvety but not at all cloying. Possibly a tie for first place.

Conclusions: I can’t say that after all of this Napa Cab-ing, that I am more likely to purchase a bottle of Cali Cab the next time I’m dropping dollars on a bottle.  As a varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon just isn’t my favorite.  I can say that my aversion to and prejudice of has subsided on the whole…

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Thank you to Jason and Jane for the hospitality and the opening of some Stag’s Leap in the name of research.