The Spirited Cuisine

Hey y’all thanks for your patience. Spirited away by  new babies, holidays….. it’s all coming together.

Full recipes and pics to be posted in a few days.

Don’t forget to visit.

There are mixed drinks and then

there are mixed coffee drinks.

I invented a coffee drink.. just because  I liked the name. I was joking around with a bf back 4 years  ago .

We both enjoyed a good  coffee and  some good bourbon. I do live  just south of the mason dixon line! And I do favor a good cappuccino , So I  said well here’s a drink:

the bourboccino

And it was born.. we would take it in thermoses  hot or cold , accompanying us to  pretty sites, and laugh over my  brilliant concoction and how it would become famous … trust  a me  it’s one of my signature drinks  and yes one does laugh while sipping a bourboccino!

That bf is  long gone

but the bourboccino is here to stay

I was curious so I researched other “spirited” coffees and have selected two others that seemed just so cool. The Irish coffee is the classic we all know , but I found some winners!

These are not get up and go coffees, these are sip,relax, and go slow coffees

coffees to enjoy as part of the digestif with your friends at the end of a  meal  or hey

sip it alone

its all good

enjoy

The bourboccino:

The siciliano:

Spanish coffee:

Easy portabella pasta sauce

spinach fettucini

ciabbatta

limincello brownies

simmering  scents that carry us  away to special places

What is it about Italian food that just makes us feel so bella  vita ?!

This sauce happens when you just need that intimate evening with a partner,   a small group of friends, la  familia, mmm a nice glass of pinot grigio…..

I have made many pasta sauces from scratch.

This is what I call easy half scratch.

This sauce is dedicated to an old friend. a Texan bred, internationally and locally trained  chef  who taught me a couple of cool  tricks:

How to use knives properly.

The special secrets to an Italian sauce that have stayed with me.

He is no longer on this earth.

His talents live on.

Ahh those Mediterraneans!

Tel Aviv,  March 2018

my friend says; ” see that – its a whiskey tasting bar and museum across from us.”

ok, oh yeah..

I responded ;” Well lets check  this out!”

We go downstairs  into a deep underground

and

WE

enter another realm.

We have entered Whiskey Fantasy Heaven

My first son in law is an avid collector  of fine whiskeys and bourbons,this would have been a place where  at first his jaw would drop ,and then he would just be smiling the entire time.

This must have been an underground train at one time.

The setting; stone walls and stone  and brick  encased curved ceilings. Modern, yet old.  Smokey, elegant, bi level, dual sided,  and lit up  mirrored back drops of thousands of the most collected whiskeys from around the entire world, and yes a fine  cuisine to pair  with your tastings..

Presentation: level 10

This place,  by reservation only, and its a full house.

Whiskey Bar and Museum

With a whiskey and cigar room and a museum ,about yes whiskey

So my friends,  whisked away by whiskey.

The Spirited Cuisine matches its heart  to a whole new world!

So lets whisk something up together:

a salad so fine:

beets > avacados >feta >candied pecans,  and green salad with a ceylon whiskey dressing

yes thats my concoction inspired by  whiskey discovery heaven

and a drink called: “the dirty bastard”

Its variation;  My  invention

Warning : stay put or uber it !

Shakshuka el vino

Bourbon  maple gluten free pancakes with blueberry port infused sauce

Half whole wheat Challah bread

We cherish those simple things of life.

Those moments we want to capture ,and just hang out there , to  linger in that special space for as long as we can.

It was a special treat to have a visit from my son and his fiance as they are busy students.

my second grandkid, her dad., the second of my fabulous  sons in law, and  one of my grand doggies , all hanging around the kitchen on a laid back Sunday morning.

My son and his fiance have studied medicine abroad  where they learned how to make shakshuka quite well from scratch, in a country where mediterranean food is core.

As they were methodically preparing the Shakshuka,  of course  I said.. “hey guys lets try a bit of wine in there..!”

“sure thing momma”

I  was the  purveyor of the pancakes,  no I  did not add the bourbon until after I made an alcohol free batch for my best pal my second grandgal , I am after all a responsible glamma!

As  I am busy with the pancakes, my son tells me a story and I fell for it. Little did I know that it was something he wrote back in college when he was the writer and head of the comedy team .

Here is what he wrote:

Pancakes were definitely invented by some hungover divorced dad trying to bribe his kid with cake for breakfast.

” Daddy! this cake is flat!”

“Well–”

“And you’re making it in a pan! Mommy doesn’t make it in a pan”

“Yeah that’s cause its called a pan…cake.”

“Mommy doesn’t know how to make pancakes.”

“Oh , Well it doesn’t taste like a cake.”

“There’s no icing!”

“You don’t put icing on pancakes Silly ! ( laughing)”

“You don’t?”

“No silly! You put … (looking in the cabinet) uh syrup on pancakes!!”

“You do?”

“Yeah and ….sugar!”

“SUGAR!”

“And chocolate syrup. You can put. mm ..bananas on it or cherries or ”

“Sprinkles?”

“Sprinkles. Yeah.”

Hey its comedy.

But I actually could see this happening.

So  now this divorced mom.. revamped those pancakes.. !

‘a bit of bourbon to enhance the maple and vanilla in the pancakes.drizzled with a port infused blueberry sauce

and some wine to elevate the shakshuka..’

The  music that’s playing :

“suga suga you look so fine…”

FUN days those SUNdays.