Queen of Cashmere Daybook

February 12, 2010

Happy Chinese New Year, Firecracker!

Filed under: Cocktails & Libations, Culinary, Culture, Various & Sundry — Tags: , , , , , , — Queen of Cashmere @ 11:59 AM

mottahedeh_main

This year,  Lunar or Chinese New Year coincides with Valentine’s Day.   Instead of designing my own mash up celebration, I’m inclined to singularly celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Tiger instead.  Sorry, Cupid.

We have needed new dinner plates in my home for a while.  In searching for a red and white pattern to replace my chipped and pale Bernardaud Louvre dinnerware, I considered these and these.  Ultimately, I purchased the Red Dragon pattern from Mottahedeh.   The dragon, a mythical animal that is revered by the Chinese, symbolizes benevolence and good fortune.  It is also the ancient royal symbol of the Chinese Emperor.  Royal.  Undoubtedly, that speaks to The Queen on some subliminal level and must have been the deciding factor in my chosing  this service.  

Now that we know there will be a party,  and it won’t involve paper plates, we can focus on the menu.  Chinese tradtion dictates eating dumplings to usher in wealth and good luck for the upcoming year.  I can roll with that, for sure.  This year, since I’m a little under the weather from some recent surgery, we will have to order in.  Auspiciously, my favorite restaurant in Chicago just happens to be Asian and is just around the corner.

BigBowl_cedar outside

I jokingly call Big Bowl on Cedar my second kitchen.  We eat there at least twice a week — if not more.  Whenever we have guests in from out of town they unanimously request to eat at Big Bowl, too.   It’s a place where the food is excellent, the vibe cool, and the prices are like a kiss on the cheek.  Add these attributes to a culinary conscience that adheres to authenticity, quality and sustainable resources and it doesn’t get much better than this.  No wonder there is a well worn path from our front door to theirs.

To make things really festive, how about a Hibiscus Martini? 

Do you recall last month when I recounted my story of sabrage at a party hosted by a gentleman named Adam?  That would be Adam Seger, a Chicago mixologist of great acclaim whose latest creation is a liqueur called Hum Spirit –a lush and sophisticated, 70° potion.  Hum is rum infused with an exotic blend of hibiscus, kaffir lime, cardamom and ginger. 

Hibiscus + Rum = HUM.  De-lish!

CT CT DrinkHum0110003.jpg       Big Bowl Hibiscus Martini

      In shaker, pour over ice

      2oz HUM Spirit Liqueur

     1 oz. Yuzu Sour Mix

      1/2 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake and strain into a martini glass and ganish with a wedge of lime and a star anise.

Enjoy!

January 2, 2010

Ride a Cork Rocket

Filed under: Cocktails & Libations, Various & Sundry — Tags: — Queen of Cashmere @ 2:57 PM

I like the fact that January1 fell on a Friday this year.  One doesn’t have to get down to good clean living and fulfilling resolutions until Monday.  It gives us a little more time for revelry and reflection.  Funny, how I never thought those two things would go together but they do.  It’s the times we are living in.  Perhaps will all get back to a little revelry this year.  Mindful revelry.

If yesterday was portentous and full of possibilities of how 2010 might unfold, I’m in for a banner year.  Let’s hope so since it will roll in on the heels of one of the worst years ever.   Although I’m still standing and my family is safe and together, I never again want to go through the global uncertainty and personal emotional morass that 2009 served up in a jumbo sized portion.  I’ve had a not-so-elegant sufficiency to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.  As the Germans like to say, I’m ‘holding my thumbs’ in expectation of better times.

And yesterday better times there were a plenty.   I spent part of the day with my good friend Marsha.  We met in 1989 at a champagne tasting at the long shuttered Johanna’s Wine Bar here in Chicago.   That is a lot of miles ago and a long setting of the cement of our friendship.  Yesterday, Marsha and I attended her friends Adam and Wayne’s New Year’s open house.  I haven’t had such a great time at a party in absolutely forever.

Sabrage  is the slicing open a champagne bottle with a sabre.  And yes, I did this.  Inside.  At a crowded party.  Nervously – since I have always been a bit of a klutz.  OK, more precisely,  I’m a walking disaster but this time I nailed it – dead bang on.  And I have the trophy to prove it. Sabrage Cork Rocket

How that cork rocket flew!  And not a drop of bubbly hit the floor.  We drank it all toasting to a New Year that feels like it is going to be very, very good.

November 2, 2009

Champagne Brunch and a Doggy Bag

Filed under: Cocktails & Libations, Frocks, Interiors, Restaurants, Shopping, Society, Various & Sundry — Tags: , , , , — Queen of Cashmere @ 4:26 AM

Today is my BFF’s birthday.  Happy Birthday, Sara Dah-ling!  I adore you.  Your friendship is precious and ever enlightening.

Yesterday, we fêted Sara at a lovely Sunday brunch at Fred’s.  For those not familiar, Fred’s is the penthouse restaurant atop Barney’s here in Chicago.  It was the first beautiful afternoon after seemingly endless weeks of rain and everyone was out in force.

Fred's

 

In the window seat, I spied Alessandra Branca looking very chic in a Toscana shearling vest and drapey jersey skirt.  She was giving kisses to the cutest baby I have ever seen.  On her way out, I congratulated her on the launch of her new book  New Classic Interiors.  I’m going by her offices today to have my copy signed before she heads to D.C. which is the next stop on her book tour.

Let me just say, that the first person who conceived of putting a restaurant and bar atop a department store was an unparalleled marketing genius.  After plentiful champagne, I shopped my way home.  I’ll be paying that card off for quite some time.

I have been on a quest for a new handbag for absolutely ages.  So, on my way out of Barney’s and after beaucoup coupes des champagne, I  found the perfect purse.  And even now, after the champagne haze has cleared, I still really love it.  Unlike the red lipstick I got talked into which is definitely getting returned.

The bag, made by Nina Ricci and deemed the Brilliant Bowler (by Olivier Thyskens not by me), is embellished with a classic laurel wreath that has been butched up with whip stitching that makes it modern and a bit edgy.  A solid and sturdy everyday purse, it should stand up to anything that I can put it through. 

Nina Ricci brilliant bowler

 The biggest selling point however was it’s flat bottom and zippered top.  I have pretty specific requirements that my bag must fit all the essentials that I take with me when I am out and about.  This bag met them. 

It’s a perfect LouLou bag, don’t you think?

LouLou

September 1, 2009

Blueberry Lavender Mojito

Filed under: Cocktails & Libations, Various & Sundry — Tags: — Queen of Cashmere @ 4:48 AM

Blueberry Lavender Mojito

Last week, the hand-written sign perched atop the the tomatoes at Chicago’s Green City Market said:

  ”Fading fast.  Get them while they last.”

The same goes for the blueberries and the drink that  became the signature of my summer cocktail hour capping off adventures from Michigan to Maine.

Fresh and lovely tasting, I made this cocktail for friends to rave reviews while  converting even avowed non-mojito drinkers.  From the book, Market Fresh Mixology by Bridget Albert, the drink is like a kiss on the cheek for a summer’s day well spent. 

Tomorrow, I will buy a pint or two of the last blueberries of the season and a bunch of mint.  Friends and I will toast a beautiful, but all too short, summer.   I suggest that you do the same.

Blueberry Lavender Mojito

  • 10-15 mint leaves
  • 1 oz lavender simple syrup (1c water+1 c sugar, boiled with 1 TBP dried food grade lavender.  Strain and cool.)
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice
  • 15-20 blueberries
  • 1.5 oz white rum (full disclosure: I use 2 oz for a bit more kick)
  • Club soda

In a tall glass muddle the mint, lavender syrup, lime juice, 15 blueberries and rum.  Be careful not to over-muddle.  Fill glass with crushed ice and top with club soda.

Enjoy!

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