Yerbamate

Feel the good energy! Yerbmate was introduced to me by my friends X and S, who met and married in Paraguay before moving to Helsinki (and briefly, Vaasa *sour face* haha). They were so generous to share a bit of culture from Paraguay at X's Carnival style birthday party, in which the attendees represented over 8 countries!

Yerbamate is a product popular throughout parts of South America, made with the leaves of a certain holly bush. There are known properties of caffeine in this drink, so it rivals other types of drinks, like tea and coffee. Traditionally, the Yerbamate (or 'herb cup' as an indirect translation), is enjoyed from a guampa with a bombilla. The guampa can be made from a hollowed gourd, or in this case from the special green wood of native trees. The bombilla, also shown in the picture above, is a small metal straw with a sieve at the end. That's convenient, because the sieve eliminates the need for tea bags or a tea ball.

After a little sharing and dancing (and dress up and face painting), we were also treated to some veggies pastries and kim chee sauce (a Korean version made by our Scottish friend, P) and numerous candies from the UK and US.

Buen Provecho! Y Feliz Cumpleanos, y Feliz Carnival :)

Coctails 2: Treats from Baltimore, Washington, MD

I saved this clip from the newsmagazine 'Foodservice Monthly' because I thought it might bring me inspiration down the road. I found it again while brushing off my dusty thesis papers now that I intend to pick it back up for the final stretch. But pardon this procrastination.... I just have to post these drinks!

Firstly comes a list of interesting coctails from the B&O American Brasserie, in Hotel Monaco in Baltimore, MD. These have been created by Brendan Dorr.

Washington Nightcap: Madeira with Drambuie and warm apple cider with roasted nut garnish

Orient Express: Sake, lychee and ginger root juice, lemon bitters, and simple syrup

Hobos Cola and Bourbon: Bulleit Bourbon and home-made cola (love the idea of homemade cola)

Parfait Poire: Absolut Pears, pear puree, fall spiced syrup, and a splash of champagne

Boxcar Beer: Tröeg's Nut Brown Ale, Scrumpy's Organic Cider, St. Elizabethäs Allspice Dram

Smokestack: Sazerac Rye, Dolin Sweet Vermouth, fig jam and liquid smoke

Freight Train: Square one botanical vodka, Dolin Dry Vermouth and mixed olives

B&O Manhattan: Woodford Reserve Bourb0n, port, angostura bitters, and maple syrup

Cable car: Captain morgan spiced rum, orange curacao, and lemon juice with a cinnamon sugar rim

Scotch Cobbler: Famous grouse scotch, orange and lemon slices, Dolin Blanc

Pom-Nectar Margarita: agave tequila, organic Agave nectar, pomegranate and fresh lime juice

Orginal Martinez: Bombay dry gin, sweet vermouth, luxardo maraschino cherry liqueur, angostura bitters

Next comes from the Sou'Wester in Washington, D.C., created by Carlton McCoy:

Tropic Thunder: 10 Can rum, coconut-grains of paradise elixir, pineapple juice

Root Beer Float: Jack Daniels Whiskey, Sou'Wester Root Beer, Vanilla Bean, Angostura bitters, soda and vanilla nuage

Tantris Sidecar: Remy Martin, Busnel Calvados, Countreau, Green Chartreuse, Lemon and Pineapple juice

Negroni My Way: Plymouth gin, Carpano Antico Vermouth, Campari, soda and orange wheel

Finally, from PS7's coctail menu, created by Gina Chersevani:

'Yes we Can'ton: Cava, Domaine de Canton, pineapple

the Situation rum: Mount Gay XO, Cointreau, hibiscus tea

Hibiscus Margarita: Sauza blanco, lime, hibiscus

Recession blues 'the Cure': miller lite, domaine de canton, ginger

Pilgrim's Plunge: Apple and Pear infused Bombay Sapphire, lemon, rosemary

Gnome's Water: Hendrick's, cucumber water, lemon, lavender syrup

'Ale'ments: warm apple ale, rum, cardamom

Grape Smash: cuca fresca, red grapes, grapefruit, cinnamon

Sun and Sand: Rootbeer crust, fresh orange, brugal, vanilla

g.H. Sazerac: Old Overhold Rye, Kubler Absinthe, shiraz syrup

Toasted Spice Apple Cider Punch: Hose made apple cider, navan, bourbon, toasted spice

'San Guisto' Sips: currants, aperol, griner veltliner

Gina's Gibson: Vodka or Gin with pickled cippolini

Best of all, these coctails are all made non-alcoholic if you request.

Other things I liked about these recipes is, aside from their originality, were the use of garnishes, flavour infusions, fresh fruits, home-made ciders and sodas, and finally the use of herbs that one might not expect in a coctail, such as rosemary.

Other parts of these recipes I have had to research for lack of better knowledge. I could ask A, a certified bartender, but even some of these he is unfamiliar with.

Coctails!

A sample or two of the coctails listed in the infamous A21 bar's menu. A21, named for it's address on Annankatu in Helsinki, was voted world's best coctail lounge in 2008. We went to check it out one night for after dinner drinks and found a few delish drinks we just had to save these ideas.

From the 'Suomi' (Finland) list, there were quite a few creative ideas.

Ronnvik Martini: clouberry puree, Beefeaters, and a hint of black pepper
Suomen Neito: Finnish berries, Bombay Sapphire, and sprite
Birch cooler (I'd love to know how they got the essence of birch into a coctail!)
Sea Buckthorn Sour: Jaloviina, sea buckthorn, orange bitters, and orange juice
Apple and Cinnamon Breeze: apple jam, absolut vanilla, and cinnamon
Rhuba Martini: rhubarb puree, basil, and Grey Goose vodka

A few of the others that I thought were particularly creative are also, listed below:
xxx: Anejo, blue agave tequila, balsalmic vinegar, agave sugar, rosemary
Rose petal martini
Cherry foam rum manhattan: the cherry foam looked so cool!
Pear and ginger cooler: based with tequila and bear, with a hint of spicy ginger

There were also a lot of other classics, like the Knickerbocker, Blinker, Singapore Sling, Rye Fashioned, and Side Cars (their 1st class version is made with Martell L'Or cognac and sells for 87 euros each). Starting price for coctails is 9,50 euro, and many are under 15, but beware of a large tab if you intend to stay a while!