Madeira

Had a thing of Madeira left over and it doesn’t last forever so we found this recipe for a drink called “Yankee Notions”, which we riffed on, substituting a squirt of agave syrup for the 1/2 ounce of “chamomile cordial”: 2 1/4 ounces bourbon, 1 1/4 ounce Madeira and three dashes Angostura bitters.

Cassis

This recipe for a modified whiskey sour is good, and put to use the new bottle of cassis I got at the store. Costco agave syrup substitute for simple syrup.

Aquavit

The Scandinavian liquor Aquavit or Akvavit is the type of hooch that shouldn’t be too cheap. If done right it’s quite good, however, and is tasty with pickled fish, which may be a little bit of an esoteric selling point I suppose.

This Norwegian Wood cocktail is worth returning to again and again, until you realize that good Aquavit may be kind of a pain in the ass to get a hold of: four parts aquavit, four parts Laird’s Applejack (we used Calvados), three parts sweet vermouth, one part Yellow Chartreuse (we used Strega) and one dash Angostura bitters.

Asian Ingredients

The SkyFOODS store in the Skyview Center in Flushing is boffo crazy and you can validate your parking if you spend enough. Here are some impulse purchases.

Chinese broccoli is also known as Gai Lan; it’s immediately recognizable if you get dim sum out; this was that exactly; pre-packaged bag lasted many days through many recipes: Stir Fried Beef with Chinese Broccoli (Serious Eats); Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) with Minced Garlic (Salu Salo Recipes); Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) with Oyster Sauce (Steamy Kitchen).

Chinese chives are not those dinky overpriced things in the clamshell but rather these reedy behemoths you can make chive pancakes with: Chive Pancake (Spice the Plate).

If you look up sweet potato leaves, most say they’re sort of like baby spinach but less bitter, which makes sense when you eat them; a hit; simply cooked, they’re a great side: Chao Fan Su Ye – Sweet Potato Leaves Stir-Fried with Garlic (Chubbypanda).

Blended Scotch For More Than Scotch & Soda

Looking up stuff in the PDT book, I found a cocktail called the “Professor” using rum, port and sweet vermouth. I noticed in the note that it was a variation on the Chancellor cocktail, so I looked up that (I have a thing about rum, which is my own problem) and found this: four parts blended scotch, two parts port, one part white vermouth and two dashes orange bitters. As the link notes, scotch is an odd cocktail ingredient, but this was good . . .