Tag: cocktail

The Urban Modernist Cocktail

Shawn Leave a comment

UM CocktailI’ve been listening to an online radio show from Hamilton, Ontario called Urban Modernists for the last seven years. Hosted by Greg (aka Afternoons In Stereo, who I’ve plugged many times alongside many meals) each episode is a journey into the deeply obscure and funky world of nu-jazz, funk, breaks, latin and afrobeat that has had a serious impact on both my ever-evolving musical tastes and I dare say my life in general. I’ve found a majority of my favourite artists (Shawn Lee, Jimi Tenor, Pitch ‘n Scratch, The Bamboos, The Haggis Horns, Quantic and his Combo Barbaro and soooooo many more) listening to this proto-podcast and obsessing over setlists intoned by the velvety-voiced host/DJ.

But, I’m sad to report that Greg’s days of putting needles to wax and expanding the minds of us morlocks over the airwaves and interwebs has come to an end. A couple weeks back he dropped the final episode after a decade-long run and I’ll admit to getting a little emotional. Read More

Watermelon Mint Refresher

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Watermelon Mint RefresherWatermelon, Lemon and mint are a classic combination of summer flavours. They kick it in salads, smoothies, sorbets, a legion of various desserts and cocktails… So many cocktails.

This is one such cocktail! Elevated miles above the obsessively photographed, overly-sticky mass of vodka/watermelon rabble out there on the interwebs thanks to its high quality ingredients and the careful blending (yeah it’s one of those, dust off ye olde margarita-o-matic) of flavours by my talented mixologist wife. Read More

The Lady Sage Cocktail

Shawn Leave a comment

Lady Sage CocktailIt’s now safe to say that 2014 was the year without a winter here on the West coast. I’ve done my best not to rub it in the face of my Eastern relatives, but seriously… T-Shirts in early February. It’s been a good, good year!

Already the fennel, sorrel (more on that in another post!) tarragon and various tough, fibrous perennials are returning to the garden wasteland to stake out their spaces like suburban families awaiting a parade.

The gnarly old rosemary and sage bushes spent the mild non-winter locked in combat for more territory, each trying to stretch wider and taller than the other. I hacked the tops off both of these beasts on the weekend to let the rest of the garden in on the sunshine party, now I’ve got a kitchen table covered in herbs. The rosemary is no problem, just hang it and dry it out for later use. But what the hell do you do with pounds of sage leaves? Read More