Author Archives: msshoescocktails

Catching up

Posted on January 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

Alright, so I know we’ve got A LOT of catching up to do on Top Chef. Our last recap/drink pairing was the holiday episode (!), so let’s review.

top_chef_familydinner

In episode seven, Toby Young, the hardass Brit, joined the judges’ gang and two cheftestants had to be eliminated. Immunity couldn’t have been more important this round. Radhika won the ultimate-sweet-treat-without-sugar Quickfire Challenge with her bread pudding. The Elimination Challenge allowed the chefs to cook whatever they wanted, because up ‘til now that haven’t been cooking anything great. Their dishes were served family style and they judged each other. Jamie won with her scallop dish and it was sweet redemption. Melissa and Eugene were sent home, and they’re already forgotten. Fabio, the mediocre but charming as hell chef, delivered another winner with “It is Top Chef, not top scallop,” when referring to Jamie’s dish. He makes us weak in the knees. And he knows it.

top_chef_farm_episode

Episode eight brought back former Top Chef winner Hung for the Quickfire, and the cheftestants went down on the farm for the Elimination. Divided into teams of lamb, chicken and pork, the cheftestants used the fresh home-grown ingredients from Blue Hill Farm to make dinner. Carla, Jamie and Stefan, of Team Chicken, were the winners. Ariane was sent home and I was ticked. Leah is annoying. Even Tom Colicchio said in his blog, “The response to the elimination of Ariane was mammoth.”

The most recent episode was Restaurant Wars. The Quickfire started with a one dish tasting that represented each chef’s restaurant concept. Radhika and Leah were Stephen Starr‘s favorites so they were rewarded (or cursed) with being team leaders. Radhika chose Jamie, Carla and Jeff for her old spice trade style resto, Sahana. Leah chose Hosea, Fabio and was stuck with Stefan. Good lord, he is overbearing and arrogant – but, I also think he can cook. Not sure of the challenge count at this point, but I feel like he wins a lot, or is often in the top. Anyhoo, they delivered the Sunset Lounge as their Asian influenced resto.

Fast forward through romance drama between Leah and Hosea and Radhika’s weak leadership qualities. Sunset Lounge won by a hair and why? The Euro Duo. The charming and thoroughly self-aware Fabio was excellent in the front of the house, and the best dishes of the night were Stefan’s desserts.

stefan-dessert-1stefan-dessert-2

To pair with Stefan’s orange chocolate parfait and the ginger and lemongrass panna cotta, I offer the first dessert wine I ever tried. And, it was on a first date. While in college in Williamsburg, Va, Mr. S&C snuck a bottle of Essensia into a movie theater for us to enjoy. Made from 100% orange muscat, the wine is sweet yet refreshing, with a nice accompaniment of orange blossom and apricot aromas.

Shoes and Cocktails wants to know: Who’s your favorite cheftestant? Or, who is your pick to win? Share a comment below.

posted by Ms. S&C

Leave a comment

Posted in wine

Tagged ,

S&C diversion–more funny stuff

Posted on January 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

Advertising execs can’t get enough of the phenomenom beer-is-to-men-what-clothes/shoes-are-to-women. Last week, I shared the Goldstar Beer chart. Here’s a Heineken beer “freakout” ad that is sure to be a viral hit.  The video is in Dutch, which may make it that much more enjoyable. The language of beer is universal.

posted by Ms. S&C

Leave a comment

Posted in beer, diversion, shoes

Tagged ,

We are one, indeed

Posted on January 21, 2009 | 1 comment

What do the stars wear when they come to Washington, DC, to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama?  Apparenty, wet leggings and Christian Louboutins are the hot items.  The shiny “wet” leggings look was practically designed for concert garb.  Beyonce and Shakira rocked them at HBO’s “We Are One” show at the Lincoln Memorial.  And, we could spot that signature red sole anywhere – Shakira and Mary J. Blige touted their Christian Louboutin boots while on stage.  Oprah’s a Louboutin fan too because she wore them during her Monday show at the Kennedy Center.  Though I can’t find a pic, trust me, it wasn’t the first time we’ve seen her in a pair.  I don’t think we’ll see the First Lady in either, but I know she won’t disappoint.

shakira-hbo-concert2

beyonce-hbo-concert

Was2124504

P.S. Shoes and Cocktails wants to know:  If you went to an inaugural ball, we’d love to hear from you!  What did you wear?  What did you drink?  What did other people wear?  What did other people drink?  Details, please.

posted by Ms. S&C

1 Comment

Posted in shoes

Tagged , ,

Killing the blues

Posted on January 19, 2009 | 1 comment

I’ve said it before, woman cannot live on shoes alone.  This fact was made clearly evident when I ran across these silk rose covered clutches at Boden.  And pairing this gorgeous bag with these patent trimmed peep-toe slingbacks, and maybe this bow coat?  It is a positively swoon-worthy look.  Enough to kill my winter blues. Spring, where are you?

flower-clutch-brown1

boden-slingbacks

 

boden-slingbacks-redflower-clutch-red

posted by Ms. S&C

1 Comment

Posted in shoes

Tagged , ,

S&C diversion–cheap jokes

Posted on January 16, 2009 | 1 comment

What goes through your mind when someone says “Let’s go for a drink”?

goldstar-ad

A friend of mine forwarded this clever ad from Goldstar Beer. While it is the equivalent of a cheap joke, depicting oversimplified cliches about men and women, I giggled. There are two more flowcharts in the ad campaign that involve toliets and relationships, but my good conscience keeps me from posting the images here.

posted by Ms. S&C

1 Comment

Posted in beer, diversion

Tagged ,

S&C advice–what to drink for the Globes?

Posted on January 9, 2009 | 1 comment

Ms. S&C,
After two weeks of drinking champagne over the holidays I need something new for the Golden Globes on Sunday night.  I’m not having a party, so I truly don’t need an entire punch (although, it would be a challenge I’d have to accept).  Any suggestions for a fancy pants drink while watching the Globes?

Many thanks,
Looking for a little fancy

————————————-

Dear Looking for a little fancy,
I may have a cocktail for you.  While your bar might not be stocked with this spirit (mine isn’t, yet), St. Germain is definitely au courante.  A product of France, this tres stylish liqueur is made from handpicked elderflower blossoms.  I recently tasted it at EatBar, a place that serves of-the-moment cocktails with fine ingredients.  EatBar’s Alchemist Cocktail (I know the name makes it sound like a science experiment rather than a lavish cocktail) contained St. Germain, Sazerac rye and lemon, shaken thoroughly, strained into a martini glass and garnished with minced lavender.  It was aromatic and divine.  And, while I know you said you wanted a break from champagne, the signature St. Germain Cocktail contains champagne (or dry white wine, Prosecco or Cava) mixed and club soda.  Maybe you could think of it as a really fancy pants spritzer?

My second choice would be the Ritz Cocktail.  Aptly named for this occasion and another-fancy-pants-drink-because-its-French.  I really love it.

Hope this gives you some inspiration — let me know what you decide!

Happy watching (and drinking),golden-globes
Ms. S&C

P.S.  Which Best Actress Nominee do you think will wear the best knock-out shoes?  Anne Hathaway, Angelina, Meryl Streep, Kristin Scott Thomas, or Kate Winslet?  My money is on Kate.  After the show, we’ll have to dish about our fashion faves.  And more fun, the fashion faux pas.

————————————-

St. Germain Cocktail

Ingredients:

  • 2 parts Champagne (or dry white wine, Prosecco or Cava)
  • 1 ½ parts St. Germain
  • 2 parts sparkling water or club soda
  • Lemon (for garnish)

Directions:
Stir ingredients in a tall ice-filled glass, mixing thoroughly. Garnish with a lemon twist.

————————————-

Ritz Cocktail
This recipe is a variation from many I’ve seen, but I think it is much better (no need for orange juice).  Recipe by Dale DeGroff; presented by Phil Greene at the MOTAC Holiday Cocktails Seminar.

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz. Martell’s Medallion VSOP Cognac
  • ½ oz. Cointreau
  • ¼ oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
  • ¼ oz. fresh lemon juice
  • Champagne
  • Flamed orange peel for garnish

Directions:
To make one, shake cognac, Cointreau, lemon juice and maraschino liqueur with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then top with chilled champagne.  To make a batch, multiply first four ingredients by the number of drinks you’d like to make, stir well in a pitcher, then strain into chilled cocktail glasses, about one-third full each.  Top each with chilled champagne.

For the garnish:
The aroma and flavor in citrus fruits is concentrated in the oil cells of its peel.  By extracting the oil, you can add the essence of the fruit to drinks.  Large, thick-skinned navel oranges are recommended for flaming.  Slice a piece of the peel about the size of two quarters, light a lighter (no butane) over the drink, and squeeze the peel over the flame.  The oils will catch fire as they fall on the surface of the drink.

posted by Ms. S&C

1 Comment

Posted in advice column, cherry liqueur, cocktails, cognac, cointreau, S&C categories, spirits, st germain, wine

Tagged , , , ,

Change is afoot

Posted on January 7, 2009 | 5 comments

Shoes & Cocktails is so excited to announce that we have a new contributor to the blog!  Miss Mojito, or Miss M for short, will be joining the S&C enterprise as a regular blogger.

Ms. S&C has been considering changing things up and adding a fresh new perspective.  And, Miss Mojito is a perfect addition.  She is the younger sister of a dear friend, and she has the same funky, yet classy, personal style.  A few years ago when Ms. S&C was visiting Charlottesville, VA, and ran into Miss M, she was wearing an adorable pair of red cowboy boots, and recommended that we try a French 75 on the Downtown Mall (or, maybe it was a French 76–I hope I’m remembering this correctly).  Regardless, she was way ahead of the latest trends even then.

Miss Mojito currently lives and works in the Richmond, VA, area.  Her hobbies include writing, playing with her kitchen appliances, sampling new food and drinks, and dreaming of accessories.  Her favorite footwear trends include gem tones, sculptural shapes, boots, boots, and more boots (be still my heart!).  And as you might guess, Miss Mojito lives and breathes for that delightful Cuban cocktail from which she borrows her name.

Please join us in welcoming Miss Mojito!  We can’t wait to hear from you!

5 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged

Too much of a good thing

Posted on January 5, 2009 | 5 comments

Isn’t too much of a good thing what New Year’s Eve is all about?  When Ms. S&C likes something, she kinda gets all consumed by it.  Take Duffy’s Rockferry album for instance.  Once she got it for her b-day, it was in heavy rotation on her Ipod for weeks.  Everyday on the metro, she would listen to the whole album beginning to end (she’s usually a shuffle kind-of a girl).  Now that the Duffy newness has worn off, she’s moved on to T.I’s Whatever You Like.  Damn, that song is catchy.  And, let me tell you — it made the metro ride to work today at least bearable.  The first day back after the holidays is the pits.  Absolute. Pits.

Ms. S&C’s obsession fascination with punch has lasted a lot longer (yes, it made the 2008 Year in Review list).  When given the opportunity to make a holiday cocktail for LKO’s New Year’s Eve party, she could not resist.  Taking cues from the autumn spiced punch and LC’s champagne punch, we came up with this delicious Shoes & Cocktails exclusive — a sparkling cherry punch! This drink’s bright, festive color make it a perfect holiday cocktail.  It was a splendid way to start off the night!

angelas-nye-punch-003

After recently trying a Ritz Cocktail with maraschino liqueur, I knew I wanted to use cherry liquor in something, so I replaced the apricot brandy from the champagne punch.  And, I feel like if you are going to go through the trouble of making simple syrup yourself, you might as well infuse it with something.  I made this simple syrup with cranberries mainly because I had a leftover bag of them in the freezer, but also because I wanted something with the deep red color (I thought more cherries in the syrup may be an overload on cherry flavor).  The frozen cherries were a delicious little surprise at the bottom of the cup, and they helped keep the punch cold.

Sparkling Cherry Punch

Ingredients:

  • 4 bottles of champagne
  • 2 bottles of white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
  • 8 oz. cranberry infused simple syrup (see ingredients and directions below)
  • 8 oz. cherry brandy
  • 1 bag of frozen pitted cherries

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl.  Stir.  Easy schmeasy!

Simple Syrup Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 bag frozen cranberries

Simple Syrup Directions:
It is recommended that you make the simple syrup a day in advance to maximize the cranberry flavor.  Combine water, sugar, and cranberries in a saucepan.  Bring to boil, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Cover and chill for 12-24 hours.  Strain bits of cranberry from the syrup.

S&C wants to know: What fun, festive drinks did you have to ring in the new year?  Share your NYE drinks below!

5 Comments

Posted in cherry liqueur, cocktails, fall/winter cocktails, spirits, wine

Tagged , , , , ,

Year in review

Posted on December 30, 2008 | Leave a comment

As we get ready for a new year, reflection is inevitable.  Of course every year brings some ups and downs, but those of us over here at S&C are an optimistic bunch.  We don’t have too many regrets.  After all, we’ve got a lot to be happy about — great family, good friends, our health, not too much economic misfortune.  Not to mention, this blog.  As we say goodbye to 2008, we leave you with a list of our favorites.

S&C 2008 Favoritesriding-boots

  • Favorite shoes:  Riding boots – so many colors, so many styles.  You can wear them with skinny jeans and tights.  Ms. S&C picked up a pair of really great patent leather ones and a pair of really, really cheap ones.  And, there are at least two more she’d like to have.
  • Favorite cocktail:  Black pepper gin rickey – gin has become Ms. S&C’s spirit of choice, and she can’t get over the combo of gin, lime and black pepper in this drink.  Message to Central: please put it back on the menu sometime in the new year.sangria
  • Favorite S&C-made cocktail:  Punches – Ms. S&C likes fixing cocktails for her friends, but a crowd of peeps can be intimidating and a ton of work.  Her sangrias and punches have been a life-saver.  And, she loves that they are so seasonal.
  • Favorite cocktail blog:  Since starting this whole blogging thing, the guys over at Scofflaws Den have been an inspiration. They are always up the latest cocktail trends, and they definitely know their way around the best bars in DC.
  • Favorite fashion blog:  another DC local, fashion is spinach is vintage-y, yet modern. We adore her personal style, and arespinachlong32 super happy that she’s joined Fashion Washington.
  • Favorite cocktail trend:  speakeasy-style cocktail bars – Hummingbird to Mars came and went during 2008, but fortunately, The Gibson has popped up as the new primo spot for innovative drinks and atmosphere.  Another trend that was a close second: election-themed cocktails, and we expect those to be revived, oh, sometime around Jan. 20.
  • Favorite fashion trend:  recession chic – while we do not dig the recession, we love the it-is-cool-to-be-cheap revolution, and we love bargains.

S&C wants to know: What are your 2008 favorites? Shoes, cocktails, or other — share a comment below!

Leave a comment

Posted in cocktails, shoes

Tagged ,

Eleven chefs a cooking

Posted on December 24, 2008 | Leave a comment

Just like her Christmas shopping, Ms. S&C is behind on the Top Chef recap/drink pairing.  But, there’s not another new episode for two weeks, so I guess we’re okay.

Episode six, or the holiday episode filmed in the summer, brought Martha Stewart as guest judge for the Quickfire Challenge.   Pray tell, why was mega-star-Martha only around for the Quickfire, and we got Rocco for a full hour?

Anyhoo, Martha came to the kitchen to judge the cheftestants one-pot-wonders.  The challenge was to cook an excellent meal using only one pot.  Some cheftestants took this one pot thing literally and cooked all ingredients together in one pot.  Some took it figuratively and cooked ingredients separately and washed the pot in between.  I was expecting Martha to scoff at the figurative group and be totally unforgiving for their lack of imagination.  Not the case.  Everyone was full of holiday spirit this week.  While she praised Hosea’s true one-pot paella, she crowned Ariane the winner with her cauliflower puree and herb rubbed filet.

elim_hosea

The Elimination Challenge had the cheftestants catering a holiday cocktail party for amfAR, using the 12 Days of Christmas for inspiration.  Yes, that meant someone had to turn “eleven lords a leaping” and “nine ladies dancing” into fancy appetizers.  Things took a dramatic yet uplifting turn when the refrigerator malfunction had all the cheftestants scrambling to save Hosea and Radhika’s lost ingredients.  Coincidentally, Hosea and Radhika ended up in the top three.  But, in short, the judges thought that the food stunk in general.  And the bottom three were so bad, they couldn’t choose one to send home.  Or, that holiday spirit thing allowed them to give the losers a break.  It turns out that pulling off Christmas in July, for a celebrity charity gig, is tough for aspiring Top Chefs.wc-pub-pint

Hosea ended up winning with his pipers piping smoked pork loin with chipotle mashed potatoes, braised cabbage and apple jus.  After having cooked a braised pork shoulder awhile back, with caramelized onions and chopped apples, I served my dish with a bottle of cider.  I think cider would be a good pairing for the smoked pork as well.  Tart and crisp, cider can be a delicious beverage, particularly during those warmer months.  I personally like Woodchuck’s 802 Dark and Dry because it is dark and dry, and the sweetness is toned down a bit.  Cider Jack is pretty good too, for a lighter option.

Leave a comment

Posted in beer, cocktails

Tagged ,