Friday, January 22, 2010

This One's on Me - A Winter Cocktail

When Winter's at the door--as it has been for the last week here in the Bay Area, the third in a series of tropical drenchings having just passed through, dropping several inches in some places--you feel the need for something to warm the cockles of your heart, and keep your cojones from shriveling.  
Here's my latest concoction, a Winter Cocktail that suggests the bracing freshness of new snow powder, with a spicy sweet undertone.
3 Parts Gin
2 Parts Peach Schnapps
1 Part Banana Liqueur 
2 parts fresh squeezed lemon juice
Shaken hard and served up in a frosty cocktail glass.  
A favorite accompaniment to cocktails is salted pistacios roasted in the shell. Open each cracked shell with your nail, or pop'em in your mouth and split them there. The green nut's one of the classic treats.    


Jennifer Bartlett said...


Thank you for your nice comments on my blog. Yes, the Red Herione is an actual film. It is the first Chinese "kung fu" movie, which is ironic because it is decidedly feminist. The music was composed by a modern group. The picture you asked about wasn't that interesting -just a postcard for a reading I did.

I am writing more about disability (and feminism) at and disability and yoga at

Also, my second poetry collection is finally coming out next year. Yeah! Sorry the Eigner was delayed.

Best, Jennifer

Kirby Olson said...

Estimate the calorie count on these two treats. Pistachios seem to have plenty. I don't know about gin or the other spirits.

Curtis Faville said...


I don't expect everyone to like cocktails. Hell, half the world's afraid of alcohol, and the other half is hooked on it.

What to do.

Millions of otherwise completely normal and well-adjusted people enjoy a martini before dinner three days out of five, and it appears to do them no harm.

The tavern rats who drink six packs at a time, or punch down cheap straight shots of uncut whiskey--well, they belong in a special program or something. Ugh.

In the UK, people do more social drinking (in pubs, etc.) than we do, and it seems not to do too much harm. I decided at some point to see how many different mixes I could concoct (or copy from guides) and I must've made 2000 different ones by now, never more than two at any given time. I don't have the alcoholic urge, but maybe the coffee urge. I was hooked on strong coffee during my 40's for a while, but I quit for six months just to prove to myself that I could.

If I had to quit drinking tomorrow, my only regret would be the bottles of unused goods that sit in my liquor cabinet. Otherwise, there's no necessity to do it.

The worst nuts, I believe--as far as fatty oil is concerned--are cashews. Magnificent when roasted in salt, but full of glue.

J said...

So complicated, Sir F. Chianti coolers, after a hard day of crime: Gallo & & 7-up (or club soda). Or, if your heart's up to it, Smirnoff & 7-up. Ice, shaken not stirred. Maybe shot of Grenadine, lime or tablespoon of Tang.

Replace Smirnoff with Everclear for summer phunn, follow with few grains of chiba, Best of Stan Kenton and ...Esmeraldissima

Kirby Olson said...

Cashews are quite tasty. I don't know where nuts come from. From trees, somewhere, I suppose. Do peanuts grow on trees, or out of the ground. They always just appear in the supermarket. But where do they come from?

I saw a neat documentary on cheeseburgers on the History Channel last night. The guy tracked down where the buns come from, the cheese, the meat, the onions, the lettuce, the mustard and ketchup, and even the Mt. Olive pickles (a factory in North Carolina -- !).

Pistachios are neat. I wonder if they dye them the red and green color for Christmasy reasons.