Back in January, a friend at work pitched an idea on our internal watercooler blog: what if we start a creators club, with the end goal of presenting our work as an online exhibit? Before this happened, I had set an intention in January to draw this year, so I thought, what the heck, and I signed up.
We had a 12 week timeline to create our piece of art. For 10 of those 12 weeks, I wondered what I would make for the exhibit. I drew in my daily journal with ink. I doodled. When I set my intention in January, my goal for 2024 was to create a botanical journal. But as I drew every day in the early part of the year, nature and botanicals weren’t what I enjoyed drawing. Instead, I enjoyed drawing everyday objects, little reminders of quiet time in the morning with my coffee, or car chats while getting boba with our daughter, or a relaxing cocktail at the end of the day.
You see where I’m going here?
As I drew these little things in my journal, I wondered, I’m already doing this journal, how could I build on this to make something… more? Something extra, so that it’s special for the exhibit? I thought intentional composition, paint, and working on unbound paper were a good starting point. From those constraints, and the fact that I was running out of time, I finally decided to draw and paint a list of my favorite drinks. It’s called Wet Whistle. There’s a little more about it on the Creators Club website we launched today, along with creations from others who work at Automattic and like to make art.
Yesterday afternoon, I closed my laptop on work, went out to the garden to snip rosemary and thyme, and came back in to pull out two saucepans and the sugar. I made a batch of rosemary simple syrup and a batch of thyme simple syrup for two cocktails I want to try with my girlfriends this weekend: an Apple Cider Whiskey Rose(mary) cocktail and a Lemon and Thyme Whiskey Sour.*
I felt freed the other day when I wrote about cramming for the week. I didn’t realize how much I was holding inside until it was out. Laying out my stress, and acknowledging that I need to exercise and journal to help keep me balanced, changed the way I approached the rest of the week. I checked the driving distance to my Girls’ Weekend destination (6-7 hrs), our check-in time (4pm), what time the liquor store opens (10am), and when the pool had open lanes to reserve (9am).
The times work out perfectly. So now, this morning, on the first day of my five day weekend, I’ll throw all my stuff for my trip in the car, swim, shower at the pool, arrive at the liquor store at opening time, and then hit the road with a phone full of podcasts and music to listen to. I’ll arrive shortly after check-in along with one of the other early arrivers, and the weekend will begin!
*Thank you for y’all’s suggestions when I requested autumn cocktail ideas! If we can find everything for it, we’re going to try this Autumn Leaves cocktail. Another friend requested tequila on the liquor run I’ll make this morning. I’m scared about that.
In a little over a week, I will join four women I’ve known for 30 years for an annual Girls’ weekend. We’re all trying to figure out what we want to drink in our few days together, and we decided we’ll each come up with a signature cocktail and bring the ingredients for it.
We wondered whether we should do themed drinks: something seasonal? Something historical? Regional? A cocktail inspired by our favorite book?
I promised everyone I wouldn’t choose a gin-based drink. Though gin is wonderful, and maybe my love for it is tied to my love for literature from the 1920s, I’m the only one of us who appreciates it.
But gin-free is fine. I like bourbon, too. And whiskey. And rum (dark). Scotch, not so much. Nor vodka; too bland. I love Manhattans, Boulevardiers, Old Fashioneds. I also love a basic Daiquiri (lime, simple syrup, and rum — not sweet frozen dacquiries, though those have their place on summer vacations). So a little bit of darkness, a little bit of tart or bitters, a little bit of sweet. But I want something special, something different for this time together with my oldest friends.
We’ll meet on the South Carolina coast in early October. I’m leaning into autumn right now, so I’m kind of feeling something seasonal. Do y’all have any ideas?
Lemon balm gin smash? I’m not sure if that’s the right name.
Recipe (my first cocktail creation!)
1/2 lemon, squeezed, then cut into quarters Leaves from 2 sprigs lemon balm 3/4 oz honey syrup* 2 1/2 oz gin
Squeeze 1/2 lemon into cocktail shaker. Cut the remaining lemon rind in quarters and drop them into cocktail shaker. Add lemon balm leaves and honey syrup. Muddle until the oils from the lemon and balm are good and distributed. Add gin, then ice. Shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into chilled martini glass.
*To make honey syrup, combine equal parts honey and water in a sauce pan (1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup water). Warm and stir until honey dissolves, then cool. Store in refrigerator.
When I purchased our jug of Tanqueray at the liquor store the other day, the woman at the cash register said, “Oh, gin! What do you use gin for?”
And I thought, “Everything?”
“Martinis,” is what I blurted out. “Really cold. With big fat olives.”
Her coworker stopped what he was doing, ready to share in the joys of gin. “With just a hint of dry vermouth,” he said. I nodded.
“Tom Collins,” he continued.
“Gin sling,” I said.
And that honey grapefruit Gin Gila recipe from the Beach House album, or the Cucumber Gin Gimlet recipe from the Tennis album, both from Vinyl Me Please. Or my favorite cocktail when we eat out on summer nights, something with gin and honey and lavender, usually with “Bee” in the name.
In July, when the herb garden is out of control, the basil gin smash.
“What about appletinis? Are those gin?” the cashier asked.
I looked at her coworker. “No,” we said together.
A few days later, I was walking the garden, as I do multiple times per day. The lemon balm is flourishing, and lemon balm is one of my favorite scents on earth. I just want to bury my face in it.
I wondered, can I make a cocktail out of this? Maybe a variation on the basil gin smash? And with honey?
So I tried it tonight. It was my first attempt at creating a cocktail recipe. And omg, y’all, it was delicious. I’m not sure how much of it was the lemon balm, and how much of it was just the combination of lemon and honey, but I don’t really care. Whatever it was, it worked. It went down way too easily. I have to actively stop myself from having another.
Thanks to conversations at work today, I have a lot more lemon balm experiments to try. Some with gin, some with bourbon.
Summer is the best season. Especially when you have a garden full of herbs and flowers for cocktails.
My husband and I don’t get out alone much at night these days, what with children and all, but when we do, a new favorite thing to do is visit classy bars and order swanky cocktails we’d never make at home.
Actually, scratch that. Change it to we never make as well at home.
At home I like to make relatively easy cocktails that require only basic ingredients: gin martinis, rum or whiskey sours, Tom Collins in summer, Old Fashioneds in winter. If we want to get fancy in summer we’ll make basil gin smashes.
For all of those we use economical brands of liquor, and we make them in our formica-countered kitchen.
I love getting dressed up, ironing my hair, and going out for cocktails. I have fond and vivid memories of three nights out, and the associated cocktails I drank. Though two of the nights involved basic martinis, which I make all the time at home, the drinks were elevated by the quality of the gin, the elegance of the service, and the atmosphere of the establishment.
Miami, Florida: The Regent Cocktail Club
The Regent Cocktail Club, courtesy of Southern Living
Oh, The Regent, how I love thee. The picture above absolutely captures the experience of The Regent Cocktail Club: bowties and waistcoats, dark wood, fine glassware, and lots of charm from the bartenders. I ordered a martini there, and it was worth every penny of the price.
Each barkeeper had his own style of shaking cocktails, and it was like watching a dance to see the three of them behind the small bar: pulling glassware out and turning it; shaking high and low for one keep — above his head then down to his waist, above his head, down to his waist, like he was playing a musical instrument — while another keep shook outward and with a small twist from torso to chest; garnishing tumblers with fresh mint, creating lemon curls for martinis, placing ice cold crystalline glasses on silver trays for serving.
My husband and I lounged on a leather couch, watching the patrons at the bar, while we sipped our drinks. There was one man, lean and dressed in a slim, trendy suit, who was obviously a fixture at The Regent; the keeps knew him, and he made himself at home. He talked to everyone who came in and sat near him, or moved to a new stool if the ones next to him became empty.
We couldn’t hear the conversations at the bar, but we watched body language. My favorite scene was watching as a woman got bored when her date was polite to this regular, and got sucked into a conversation, ignoring her completely. The date realized his mistake and moved, incrementally, to the far side of his stool from the regular. He tried to turn his body towards the woman accompanying him. But the trendy-suited fixture leaned in, his entire body pointed toward the man, while the man, polite to a fault, would not be rude to the Regent regular. The woman poked around in her glass with a stirrer, stared at the ceiling, checked her phone.
Eventually her date turned his back to the regular to face her again, but it was too late at that point. She slipped her arms into her cardigan sleeves, and they left. The regular moved two bar stools to his left and started talking to a new patron who had just arrived.
I really loved being there, and I highly recommend it. The people-watching was brilliant. Fair warning, though: be prepared to spend some money if you ever decide to visit.
The B&O American Brasserie in Baltimore was our most recent cocktail adventure, and is the only one in this list where I ordered something other than a martini. We walked to the B&O from our hotel near the Inner Harbor, and I was delighted to see the trains on the B&O logo: the B&O Railroad! Monopoly!
Inside was warm, dark, and cozy. It was Easter evening, so it’s hard to judge what the ambiance is usually like, but it was pretty subdued when we were there. The cocktails (and the Cheddar And Milk Stout Fondue) more than made up for the sparse patronage, though. My husband declared that his Coppertop No 1 was possibly the best cocktail he’s ever had — and he’s not prone to hyperbole. Made with “Dorothy Parker” gin, Yellow Chartrreuse, ginger syrup, lemon juice, and pink & black Pepper, the Coppertop was clean and light with gin and citrus, yet warm & spicy with ginger and pepper.
His was quite good, but I’d go back for the Farmstead: Bulleit bourbon, Solera sherry, lemon juice, basil syrup, and lemon bitters. I’m a sucker for basil in a cocktail.
Anna Maria Island, Florida: The Beach Bistro.
Inside the Beach Bistro, Anna Maria Island, FL
The food at The Beach Bistro is life changing. I think I’ve written about it on my blog before. But since this is a post about cocktails, I have to say that their Tony Jacklin martini is life changing too. It was so cold it felt like drinking liquid ice. And those blue cheese stuffed olives. My god. The balance of flavors was sophisticated and perfect. From the cocktail menu:
“THE TONY JACKLIN” Bombay Sapphire martini with Maytag blue cheese olives … Icy blue, like Tony’s nerves.
I remember delighting in every small sip of that martini, and of the visual of how clean and cold it was. I don’t remember much after the martini, but that’s kind of the point, right?
For the month of April, I will publish a 10-minute free write each day, initiated by a prompt from my prompt box. Minimal editing. No story. Just thoughts spilling onto the page. Trying to get back into the writing habit.
One of my favorite summer cocktails is a rum daiquiri (recipe below). With only three ingredients, it is clean, cold, fresh, and simple. Buy a bottle of rum, a few limes, and some sugar to make simple syrup, and you can make one anywhere you have access to ice.
Or so I thought.
Our first night on vacation I went to make myself one – I had prepped simple syrup earlier in the day and was all ready to go – and I realized I didn’t have a shaker. Cocktails with citrus should be shaken in order to get a fresh bubbly flavor, but you know, vacation rentals don’t always have all the tools you’re used to having at home. I banged around in the cabinets to be sure I couldn’t rig something, then shrugged my shoulders and resigned myself to stirring.
The drink served as a rum, lime, and sugar delivery mechanism, which isn’t all bad, but it tasted flat and I didn’t make another.
The following night my husband and I both wanted daiquiris, but we wanted them to have the zing we craved – the zing you can only get from shaking, not stirring. So I banged around in the cabinets some more, double checked where the wine glasses were stored, triple checked the cupboard with the blender. No cocktail shaker. I wandered back into our bedroom to brainstorm with my husband, and then I saw our solution.
A few months ago I received some WordPress swag after guest hosting a writing challenge on The Daily Post. The box included a tee-shirt, a copy of The Year Without Pants, some stickers, and an insulated Klean Kanteen bottle with a sealable sippy lid (aka “Cafe Cap”). I love this bottle. It keeps my water icy in the summer and my coffee steaming in the winter.
And with a screw top cap that can be mostly closed off, on vacation it serves as our cocktail shaker. I forgot to close off the sippy hole the first shake and I flung sugar-lime-rum everywhere, and when you do close the sippy hole it doesn’t seal perfectly for vigorous shaking, but the minimal drink loss was worth it: the daiquiris were fresh and not flat, shaken and not stirred. Sometimes you have to improvise.
Rum Daiquiri recipe (makes 1 drink)
1.5 – 2 oz rum
juice of 1/2 large lime
3/4 oz simple syrup*
ice
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker (or Klean Kanteen bottle with lid closed) and shake vigorously for ~ 10 seconds. Strain over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with lime wedge.
*To make simple syrup, heat equal parts water and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved (we use a lot of simple syrup in our house so I usually mix 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water per batch). You do not need to stir constantly, nor do you need to bring it to a boil. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and allow to cool. If you are in a hurry to use it in drinks, cool it in an ice bath to avoid melting the ice in your drink and watering it down.
Butterfly Mind 