The Silk Rose

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Cocktails, Oscars

While I wait for a Netflix glitch to be resolved so that I can complete the Lubitsch screenings for my first screwball post, I thought I would share one of the cocktail recipes I created for the Oscars. Although I didn’t particularly enjoy it on the night, once I tinkered with the ingredients and proportions, I decided it was a keeper.

I came up with The Silk Rose to honor Argo, Life of Pi, and Zero Dark Thirty, which all take place in countries along the Silk Road, the network of trade routes across Asia. The drink itself is inspired by the Rose Water Fizz in Victoria Moore’s How to Drink, but with slightly different proportions and homemade grenadine instead of sugar to have another “Silk Road” ingredient in there. Plus the pomegranate gives it a lovely pink color to go with its name.

The Silk Rose
1/4 oz rose water
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz grenadine
1 1/2 oz gin
6 oz club soda, or to taste

For the grenadine, I used the recipe in Dale DeGroff’s The Essential Cocktail, which uses rich simple syrup at a 2:1 ratio, so 1 cup pomegranate juice, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup water per batch.

This drink is refreshing with or without the gin, but the rose flavor is very strong so it’s not for everyone.

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In Like a Lion

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Ballet, Cocktails, Fashion, Tchaikovsky

This past week or so has been incredibly busy and social and I haven’t had much time for blogging. Even before the craziness of Oscar weekend started, I headed out to the War Memorial Opera House with La Javanaise to see a delightful ballet program.

I had purchased tickets for Program 3 as an addition to my story ballet subscription. It was primarily due to this picture of the jellyfish from Le Carnaval des animaux in the ballet program:

I just thought this costume was absolutely gorgeous. And, indeed, the aquarium segment, whose music will be familiar to anyone who has seen Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, was probably my favorite. If you are not familiar with the piece by Saint-Saëns, it consists of 15 segments representing various animals, starting with the lion. I listened to it as a child, and this ballet would be great for children as there was lots of humor in it. In fact, the music itself was composed as a joke and contains a number of clever musical references. Except for “The Swan” segment, Saint-Saëns would not allow it to be performed during his lifetime.

The other feature of the program was the world premiere of Francesca da Rimini, based on Tchaikovsky’s tone poem, which in turn is based on a character out of Dante. Although I adore Tchaikovsky, I was never very much interested in this piece, but I did like the ballet. I’m not quite sure why there were zombie frogmen in it, but the lengthy adagio pas de deux was beautiful.

Even though I sort of wanted to turn around and see this program again, the rest of the weekend was spent viewing the remaining Oscar films I hadn’t managed to get around to yet. In 24 hours, I saw three more films: The Descendants, Hugo, and The Tree of Life. Although I liked The Descendants more than I thought I would, none of them impressed me and I’m quite content that The Artist took home the big trophy. As did I, since I managed a narrow victory over @FyodorFish in the Oscar pool.

Hugo was a bit of a disappointment really. It looked gorgeous (although I still don’t like 3D) and in that sense was a vast improvement on the book, but the pacing seemed completely off to me. Frankly, I was bored.

Of course, not as bored as I was when watching The Tree of Life, which, again, looked beautiful, but felt completely devoid of any meaning or true emotion. As I wrote to my sister, it was like bad Kubrick. And I don’t like Kubrick. I only really got interested at the end, when Malick seemed to be saying heaven was Goblin Valley in Utah, with a smidge of Death Valley. Now that’s a sentiment I can get behind.

I really wish I had seen Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy instead of either of these.

Ah, well, live and learn.

In any case, I discovered some good cocktails out of it. And now have crème de gingembre for all my ginger liqueur needs.

In a final blaze of Tchaikovsky, last night I attended the symphony to hear one of my favorite pieces, the Violin Concerto in D major. Attentive readers may remember that last year around this time I recommended skipping Black Swan and seeing the film The Concert instead, which is based around this piece. I had no idea who Arabella Steinbacher was before this performance, but I loved her playing, which had an extremely smooth and deep tone—there were times she almost sounded like a cello. The immediate standing ovation after the first movement was surprising (generally there’s not even clapping between movements), but well earned.

Brava, Arabella!

Oscar Cocktails

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Cocktails, Oscars

With up to ten nominees these days, I’ve completely given up trying to represent all films with food at my Oscar dinner. This year I decided to serve southern BBQ in honor of The Help and then themed cocktails for the other eight nominees. Shockingly (or maybe not), I had to buy only one additional ingredient for my bar this week in order to make all of the following. Can you guess what it was?

L’Arbre de vie (or, The Tree of Life at Midnight in Paris)
2 oz applejack
1 oz lime juice
½ oz grenadine
Pomegranate seeds for garnish

The debate rages on as to whether the fruit Eve took from the Tree of Knowledge was an apple or a pomegranate, but this drink hedges its bets by using both. Why the nod to Midnight in Paris? Because this cocktail is essentially the Jack Rose, featured in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

The Moneyball (or, The Green Monster)
½ oz green Chartreuse
½ oz lime juice
3 oz Champagne
1 twist of lime

What better way to say money than a green drink using Champagne?

Méliès L’Artiste (or, Ode to French Film)
1/3 crème de gingembre
1/3 gin
1/3 simple syrup
Champagne topper

This drink is a variation of the French 75, probably invented on the battlefield in the closing stages of WWI, which means it could represent War Horse as well as Hugo and The Artist, but how could I resist including the drink below?

War Horse’s Neck (or, I’ll Take Any Excuse to Serve Bourbon & Ginger)
2 oz bourbon
8 oz ginger ale
2-3 dashes lemon bitters
Horse spiral lemon peel

The Horse’s Neck is named for the shape of the lemon garnish, but it’s obviously just a dressed up bourbon and ginger, my go-to drink for years.

Extremely Strong and Incredibly Good
2 parts rye
1 part tawny port
Cherry bitters
Orange garnish

This is a Ruby Manhattan, that is, a Manhattan made with port instead of vermouth. In principle, I’m choosing to pretend that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close isn’t really one of the nominees, but I love rye too damn much.

The Descendant (or, Tequila Sunrise, Hawaiian Style)
4 oz. fresh pineapple juice
1½ oz tequila
½ oz grenadine
½ oz orange liqueur
juice of 1 lemon wedge
crushed ice

I chose this recipe for the Chi Chi to represent The Descendants because you add the grenadine last to make descending swirls in the glass. Too perfect.

Which one of these is most appealing to you?

How to Drink

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Cocktails, Wine

As many of you know, I am always on the lookout for good cocktails, or, failing that, good books about making them. I posted last fall about Dale DeGroff’s The Essential Cocktail, which has served me well and should be on the shelf of everyone who is serious about their personal bar.

Right alongside should be Victoria Moore’s How to Drink.


I learned about this fabulous tome on Rowley’s Whiskey Forge—a blog for anyone who loves cooking, eating, and drinking (not necessarily in that order), or even just reading about said activities. I can’t do justice to his beautifully written review of this book, so I’ll just link to it here. Suffice it to say, How to Drink is extremely readable, while also providing plenty of recipes and essential information about brewing coffee and tea, choosing wine, and stocking your bar. Moore even has a section on making your own elderflower cordial!

After covering the basics, the book is organized by season, which takes me back to the days where you could tell what time of year it was by whether I was drinking a gin & tonic or a bourbon & ginger. Of course, now I live in San Francisco where seasonal drinking has less relevance, but that just means that practically every day is potentially a Pimm’s day. Lucky me.

Royals and Rulers

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Book Salon, Cocktails

Money and titles may be hereditary,” she would say, “but brains are not…

—The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

This month’s book salon topic was novels dealing with royalty. Attendance was sparse. Royal wedding fatigue? If so, C. would probably recommend Mark Helprin’s Freddy and Fredericka, a parody of the British royal family.

Otherwise, the Wars of the Roses seemed to guide much of the reading, with The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel as selections. Much was made of the two Thomases (More and Cromwell), their portrayal through time, and how history is written by the winners.

Beneath every history, another history.

—Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

On the lighter side, yet still somehow involving people being beheaded, I also listened to the Classic Tales Podcast audio of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Part spy novel, part romance, it’s a fun, quick read for all ages.

The complete list of suggested books can be found here.

Martini Count: 0 (Instead I tried the horribly named but absolutely delicious Strawberry D’Amour—Grey Goose vodka, strawberry purée, simple syrup, lime juice, with muddled fresh basil and a black pepper rim.)