We celebrated seven years of marriage last night. It wasn't the actual date of our anniversary, which only rolls around every four years (for the clueless, think Leap Day). Three years ago, on our first anniversary, we celebrated at Restaurant...
Continue reading "Kinkead's" »
Even though we both worked until 8pm tonight, Jill and I decided to cook our one Irish meal in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I stopped at the store and got:2 leeks6 gold potatoessmoked, peppered mackerelI also went over to...
Continue reading "Irish Stew" »
Jill and I were over in the Virginia suburbs buying a wedding present for our friends Matt Cutter and Maureen Creedon who are getting married this coming weekend. Since we had eaten in on Friday--the night we normally go out...
Continue reading "Starland Cafe" »
Jill and I had been interested in trying this new restaurant in Bethesda, Mon Ami Gabi, since it opened at the beginning of the year, but as we are normally eating out on Friday, we had always encountered a long...
Continue reading "Mon Ami Gabi" »
There's nothing like a slang dictionary to make you laugh as well as catch you up with another world. Ever since I started this electronic communication thing, I've been fascinated with slang and how people will adopt words and terms...
Continue reading "Today's Drinking Slang" »
Even though my friend Jim Henley says that you shouldn't post a poem within two years of its creation, I'm anything if not an iconoclaust, so I give you this one, in the style of both Ogden Nash and Dorothy...
Continue reading "Today's Poem: "The Rise and Decline of the Third Martini"" »
I immediately had to add the CocktailDB to my online hangouts in the sidebar. It's exactly what I was looking for as a bar reference site: explanations of ingredients (with suggestions for substitutions), a large drink recipe database, and a...
Continue reading "The Best Internet Bar Reference Site" »
Ever since acquiring my favorite piece of furniture, I've been delving into the mysteries of mixology bit by bit. It's one of those things that I was initially drawn to in college, due to a fascination for the intricate alchemy...
Continue reading "The Best Cocktail Shaker" »
Since everyone else (see Now This, Genehack) is sharing what they prepared for our communal Thanksgiving meal, I feel like I need to do the same. This is a recipe that I created based on a dish that I first...
Continue reading "Wild Winter Salad" »
This week's Cocktailian column features the Monkey Gland, a drink with an atrocious name but not a bad taste. I was surprised to learn that the version I've been making of this drink is the English version, albeit I make...
Continue reading "Monkey Gland" »
I have expatriated a bit from my own blog here to join forces with the good folks over at Martini Republic, where they've been willing to have me step behind the bar and become their new liquorblogger. As this is...
Continue reading "A Citizen Blogger of the Martini Republic" »
My latest entry over at Martini Republic is on Laird's Applejack and a cocktail made from it, the Jack Rose....
Continue reading "An Apple a Day" »
J reminded me that I need to sometimes post a link here when I make posts over at Martini Republic. We spent a fun weekend just outside of New York City in a bartending seminar called Cocktails in the Country....
Continue reading "Bartending Boot Camp" »
It's been a dry spell here, but finally an oasis is found: a new post at Martini Republic on new Silver Spring restaurant Ceviche and their unusual drink, Amor Prohibido....
Continue reading "A little love for Ceviche" »
Due to an entirely surprising coincidence, we enjoyed a bit of Morocco fest this past Friday. Friday nights are normally our nights out, which recently have been only to investigate Silver Spring downtown as we are still getting settled into...
Continue reading "A Night of Morocco" »
The Suburban Originally uploaded by engelcox. I picked up David Wondrich's _Esquire Drinks: An Opinionated & Irreverent Guide to Drinking_ from Half-Price Books when I was in Austin, and we've been having fun trying some of the recipes from...
Continue reading "The Suburban" »
Due to the annoying laws regarding interstate shipping, I am prevented from ordering wine and spirits and having them shipped to my residence in Maryland. A court ruling last year removed this obstacle in some states, by requiring states that...
Continue reading "Wine Shipping in Maryland" »
I just learned today that one of my favorite downtown DC restaurants, Red Sage, closed its doors on December 22 because its landlord wanted too much rent. Ever since J and I have lived in DC, Red Sage has been...
Continue reading "Goodbye Red Sage" »
Today's Washington Post featured a drink called the Unusual Negroni, substituting an Italian aperitif for the Campari and using Lillet Blanc to round the gin out. Having had the usual Negroni and finding it more than just a little bitter...
Continue reading "Blood Orange Negroni" »
We had a small gathering of folks over for New Year's Eve last night, and as I do on such occasions, I created a bar menu for those who wanted a mixed drink but would like to try something different...
Continue reading "Caucus the New Year" »
This past Friday, J and I celebrated the third "anniversary" of our wedding. We both took the day off from work and had a leisurely morning, sleeping in a bit, then going to visit J's horse, then working our way...
Continue reading "Our "Third" Anniversary" »
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