My new favorite cocktail

The Cyn Cyn from Cyrus
1oz Cynar
1/2oz Dimmi
1/2oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
1/4oz Lime Juice
1/4oz Simple Syrup
1oz Grapefruit Juice
shaken, stained, and served up with an orange twist.

I forgot to mention. You can double up on the vermouth in place of Dimmi, since it’s hard to find. Perhaps you could substitute Luxardo maraschino for that sweet floral note has.

Cheers!

Shiso-jito

This used to be my favorite cocktail. From Morimoto in Philadelphia.
3 shiso leaves
2 lime wedges
2oz. citrus vodka. You could substitute with shochu or rum.
1tsp candied ginger
1oz. ginger ale

Prepare like a Mojito with ginger as replacement for sugar. Save 1 wedge for garnish.

My Top 50 albums of 2009

1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
2. Girls – Album
3. Japanadroids – Post-Nothing
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. The Dodos – Time to Die
6. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
7. Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement
8. Passion Pit – Manners
9. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. Real Estate – Real Estate
11. The XX – XX
12. Glee Soundtracks volumes 1 & 2
13. St. Vincent – Actor
14. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – It’s Blitz
15. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Self-titled
16. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
17. Mos Def – The Ecstatic
18. Matt and Kim – Grand
19. Delorean – Ayrton Senna EP
20. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt II
21. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
22. Ghostface Killah – Ghostdini Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City
23. Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
24. Beirut – March Of The Zapotec – Holland
25. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There are Mountains
26. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
27. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
28. Up soundtrack
29. Koushik – Tell Me What You See
30. Metric – Fantasies
31. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
32. Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy
33. Do Make Say Think – Other Truths
34. Jay Z – The Blueprint 3
35. JJ – JJ N˚ 2
36. The Antlers – Hospice
37. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
38. Doom – Born Like This
39. Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
40. Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
41. Them Crooked Vultures
42. Cass McCombs – Catacombs
43. Oh No – Dr. No’s Ethiopium
44. Jim O’Rourke – The Visitor
45. The Comet Gain – Broken Record Prayers
46. The Thermals – Now We Can See
47. Grand Archives – Keep In Mind Frankenstein
48. Russian Circles – Geneva
49. Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon The End of Day
50. Maxwell – Blacksumersnight

My Top 20 songs of 2009

Mostly in order of preference:
1. Mayer Hawthorne – Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out
2. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
3. Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
4. The Dodos – Troll Nacht
5. St. Vincent – Actor out of work
6. Japandroids – Young Herarts Spark Fire
7. Delorean – Seasun
8. Camera Obscura – French Navy
9. Mos Def – Auditorium
10. Matt & Kim – Lessons Learned
11. Phoenix – 1901
12. Cass McCombs – Dream Come True Girl
13. Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
14. Tycho – Coastal Brake
15. The xx – Crystalized
16. Andrew Bird – Oh No!
17. A.C. Newman – There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve
18. Ghostface Killah – Baby
19. Animal Collective – My Girls
20. The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

Thanksgiving cocktail

1.5 oz Bushmills
1 oz Canton ginger liquer
splash of St. Elizabeth allspice dram
fill with Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider
served in an old fashion glass over rocks

I’ve always wondered what to do with all that extra Martinelli’s. Not sure what to garnish with, perhaps a twist of lemon.

NB Be careful with the allspice dram, it’s mighty potent

The French are soooo coool

That even Americans are seemingly cooler there. From La Blogotheque:

top 10 albums for the first half of 2009

So far 2009 is looking like a really solid year. I didn’t struggle a bit to come up with names. Can’t wait to hear what else will be coming out (Wilco!)

1. Japanadroids – Post-Nothing
2. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – It’s Blitz
3. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Self-titled
6. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7. Matt and Kim – Grand
8. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There are Mountains
9. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
10. Toss up between whatever album I just haven’t gotten to so far, Animal Collective et al.

Breakdown of Giants offensive woes

It’s well documented how anemic the offense is this year. But I was startled to see that the Giants are 22 and 5 when they score 5 or more runs.

Giants (38 – 32)
runs scored
5+   4-
w  22  16
l    5     27

Dodgers (47 – 24)
5+  4-
w  32  15
l     5    19

I stated tracking this 2 weeks ago, and since the Giants have had 2 losses in which they scored 5 or more runs. Perhaps the bats are heating up as the pitching has been feeling the stress?

Inclusionary Commercial?

As Inclusionary housing has been making in-roads on the affordability of housing in cities across the country, it seems to follow that the same could be done with commercial properties as well. What I’m thinking is a similar structure of 10 – 15% of lease-able space is designated at median rent rates for a city. It could be a great economic boom to entrepreneurs who are looking to enter new markets. Why settle for Panda Express, when you can have a more authentic experience at your local strip mall?

How would you select seems to be the next question. Perhaps it would only be available to first time business owners, or the would be tenant lives in the city. Just a thought.

Bandol

I just popped open a nice bottle of Domaine Tempier Bandol. I’ve never had Bandol before but after reading about it in A Hedonist in the Cellar and have been tempted ever since.

I was able to find one the other day and have been itching to open it since. Chez Panisse has had one on their wines by the glass list since they’ve opened, so I figured it’s a natural for food. I had some braised pork belly done with some soy sauce, shaoxing wine, 5 spice, and lemongrass in the fridge. The two seemed like a fit, for some unknown reason. As it turns out, my hunch served me well.

Pairing asian food with wine has been an ongoing area of study. Seems like old world is the only way to go.