« The Thing ».That’s it’s nickname for my Tatooom’s espresso martini. Or « The Thing ».
Tatooom’s Espresso Martini
Ingredients
2 oz of Kettle One Vodka
1 oz of Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur (cold brew coffee liqueur from Australia)
1-2oz of Umbria espresso depending on size of glass (Umbria is from Pacific Northwest of United States and espresso pods papers are made from recycled pineapple pulp)
1-2 bar spoons of simple syrup if your espresso is bitter or you prefer a sweeter drink as the simple softens the sometimes harsh espresso flavor
3 drops Chocolate bitters (add cocoa nibs to rye whiskey and let it sit in a closed jar at room temperature until chocolate desire chcokatebflavornisnacjieved. Longer is better if you ask me.
Coffee beans for the garnish
Method
Add all ingredients to a mixing tin. If your espresso is hot, add this to ice first and let it chill. Then add all ingredients and shake. Strain into a coupe glass.
Several months ago I was thinking about creative was to garnish my martinis. This, a way. Black pitted olives from a can stuffed with feta cheese. You will find yourself saying Spanish queen green pimento stuffed olives who?
Feta Stuffed Black Olives
Ingredients
1 can of pitted black olives
Feta cheese of choice
Method
Open the can and drain the olive juice. Reserve for a dirty martini or not. Slice or break feta cheese apart and stuff olives. Try not to eat them all before making the martini.
My riff on the carajillo. What is a carajillo you ask? It is a coffee hard liquor drink. This one traditionally made using espresso and Licorice 43. I added some zing. Spicy ginger orange goodness creating an extra kick in a glass. It’s called the Sapid Canary.
Sapid Canary
Ingredients
3 Slices of Fresh Ginger
2 oz Umbria Espresso
2 oz of Luxor 43
1-3 Pinches of Cayenne Pepper (quantity depending on desired spiciness)
Method
Wash ginger. Scrape the skin using the edge of a spoon. Slice the ginger. Add ginger to the mixing tin. Muddle the ginger. Add all other ingredients. Then, add ice. Shake and pour over fresh ice.
I Scoop of Agent Nateur & Dr. Will Cole Holi Mane CollagenPowder
I Scoop of Sprouts Living Epic Vanilla Lucuma Protein Powder
Method
Add some hemp seeds to a saucer. Using a pastry brush, the back of a spoon or your fingers rim the glass with Manuka Doctor multifloral 80+mgo honey. Dip the honey rimmed glass into the hemp seeds. Set aside. The honey tastes great and is an excellent adhesive for the seeds. Add all other ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared glass
Glass: pretty coupe glass (the one photographed is from Crate & Barrel
1/2 Cup of chilled chopped red beets (cooked or raw)
1/2 Cup of frozen mango chunks
1/2 Cup of frozen pineapple chunks
5-8 Dates (pitted and soaked in water)
2 Tablespoons of cashew butter
2 Tablespoons of dark maple syrup
1 Tablespoons of coconut oil
1/8 Tablespoons of Himalayan pink salt
1/4 Tablespoons of turmeric
A few dashes of fresh ground black pepper
Handful of skin on raw almonds
Very large handful of fresh washed and cleaned spinach leaves
Large handful of coconut flakes
Method
Soak your dates in water to softer before adding to the blender. Add all ingredients to a blending machine. I use Cuisinart. Blend together until smooth. Voilà .
Glass: fun colored glass (my glass is a vintage poppy trail china glass from 1970s)
Garnish: toasted coconut flake, shaved beets, chia seeds, shaved cashews-whatever you like or no garnish at all
freshly ground black pepper three or four turns of the pepper grinder
1 can of Root Beer
Method
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until smooth. For the first round, I poured the mixture into unlined and unoiled ice cube trays. The remaining mixture that didn’t fit into the ice cube trays was poured into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper and lightly oiled with avocado oil. All vessels were placed directly into the freezer overnight. The mixture freezes softly and needs to be blended to create a smoothie-like soft serve texture. Think of it as soft serve ice cream. Once blended and creamy, pour it into a glass or bucket and top it off with root beer.
Ice cube tray batch needed the help of small spoon to be removed. Silicone trays would be better. The lined loaf pan was great. I picked up the parchment paper, transferred to the marble board and cut into pieces. I mostly stood in my kitchen eating the product from the ice cube trays. Luckily, I have since purchased better ice cube trays for this recipe.
Behind the scenes:
It’s me practicing my video eating from ice cube trays in a dim lit kitchen
Me again, in Tatum’s Tiny Kitchen practicing my video..Little frosty from my freezer..
Jalapeño peppers are fickle ones. Some spicy hot some spicy mild and some are more green in taste. Consistency is key when creating spicy cocktails. Mother Nature does what she does and that isn’t always the most agreeable to when selecting ingredients for year round menu cocktails.
How do we create the desired consistency for our year round cocktails? Bitters is one way. What is needed? A high proof grain spirit and jalapeños and some time. That’s it. Easy as that.
Jalapeño Bitters
4-10 jalapeños
10 oz of Everclear 190 grain spirit (it’s a whopping 95% alcohol by volume)
Method
Slice each jalapeño. Using a muddler, mash some of the slices extracting juice and crushing the seeds. Add all slices and muddle pieces to a container. Then add the alcohol to the same container. Cover with an airtight lid. Leave a room temperature for about a week. 7 days. Taste test for spice. Remove peppers once you have your bitters. Store in the refrigerator or at room temperature in a dropper bottle or sealed jar. Label and date.
making jalapeño bitters
So, wanna spicy margarita? Make it the same as you would and add your jalapeño bitters float at the end. Just like that.
I was having a conversation with two someones on different occasions recently. “It’s what we do when we are well that affects us when we are not well,” was the takeaway. This is a yummy, taking-care juice. As bright as the sun and feels good with every sip.
Golden Planet Juice
1/2 cucumber
3/4 Granny Smith green apple (I ate the other 1/4 while preparing the juice)
2 medium golden beets
1 cup of baby carrots
pinch of Himalayan pink salt
Wash and cut all fruits and veggies. Skin on or off. Feed produce though the juicing machine. Pour juice into bucket glass. Add pinch of pink salt.
Glass: bucket glass
Garnish: none
Where to buy the juicers and glassware and stuff? Blonde Behind the Bucket Storefront, of course. I may receive commission from eligible purchases.
This one goes down easy. Another question of is there or isn’t there alcohol in this sour. There is. It’s clear. It’s pretty and pale yellow.
May I introduce A Softer Side of a Gentleman (Jack) sour.
softer side of a gentleman
3 ounces of Gentleman Jack (goat milk lemons limes orange clarified)
1/2 ounce and a bar spoon of homemade fresh ginger simple syrup (bar spoon for the foam recipe below)
1/2 ounce of homemade toasted black peppercorn agave syrup (you can purchase a pre-made if you don’t want to make it)
generous pinch to 1/4 teaspoon of Cultures for Your Health citric acid powder (depends on how much pucker you want)
For the foam
1 chicken egg egg white for the foam
dash of cream of tartar (if using kitchen aid whisk attached mixer instead of canister)
1/2 ounce of clarified lemon juice
(1 1/2 teaspoons of agar agar to 8 ounces of lemon juice freeze 24 hours and throw using coffee filter fastened to a freezer safe lid container)
bar spoon of ginger syrup
pinch of pink salt
Add egg whites to a mixing bowl or canister cylinder. If using a mixing bowl and whisk add cream of tartar. Add salt and lemon juice and ginger syrup once soft peaks have formed in the mixing bowl.
For the cocktail.
Add all ingredients to a bucket glass. Add large clear ice cube (if you can). Crushed ice is great too. Add egg white foam.!
Garnish the cocktail with chocolate shaving, SLO food gold leaf for garnishing, Bamboo skewers and toothpicks to work with the gold, Vanilla candy pearls optional (sometimes I get carried away)
