Cocktail Fodder

Now if they were only in a squirrel... Photo by Cowfish, 24 January 2010, Wikimedia Commons

Dear Readers,

It is has come to my attention that it might be time for us to have one of those important “Father to Son”/”Blogger to reader” heart to heart conversations. The first thing your mother (editor) and I would like to say… (awkward pause)… is that it’s ok to be curious. And, its ok to experiment and try different things. But, it’s important to remember that some mistakes will last a lifetime. It’s important to always consider the implications and ramifications of our actions; both good and bad.

Yes, I am obviously talking about tattoos. And pregnancy. But I am also talking about free beer for your entire life. That’s right y’all. The Scottish brewery BrewDog is offering free beer for the rest of your life (two beers a week) as long as you’re willing to get their logo tattooed onto your naked body. Keep in mind, this is the same company that is stuffing their beer bottles inside of road kill. These fuckers, (haha, take THAT editor) will do anything.

Peel the label back, I dare ya'll...

This isn’t the first company that’s into both booze and tattoos. In fact, one of my favorite rums on the market is named after a famous tattoo artist: Sailor Jerry Spiced Navy Rum. (Fun insider trick: Peel off the Sailor Jerry label for a surprise on the other side.)

“Distilled in the US Virgin Islands, this 92 proof spiced rum is based on the ‘customized’ rums that sailors used to create when they had nothing better to do. Other rums are panty-waisted, soul-less, and ball-less in comparison.” - Joe Bartender of JoeBartender.com

I realize that a lot of you are perfectly happy with Captain Morgan’s, but remember, it’s ok to be curious. A liter bottle should cost around $20 dollars and can be found at most liquor stores. You should buy some. Just remember that 92 proof liquor is going to give you a little extra courage… so get ready.

In closing, we at Cocktail Fodder would like to express our appreciation of gimmicks. Our resident wine blogger, AWC, is prepared to offer a very special prize for the best Cocktail Fodder body-art logo. That’s right, we are letting you, our readers, design our new logo. So break out the sharpies and cameras and email AWC, at foddertalk@gmail.com, a picture of your Cocktail Fodder body art (butt art is encouraged). We will announce the winner next week.

Cheers

Hearts of Palm: mysterious and delicious.

If you work at a trendy wine shop in the East Village, you are bound to brush shoulders with some of the movers and shakers of the city and beyond. Matt Dillon once graced the store and proceeded to lick cheese off my coworker’s knife while his girlfriend strolled around the store looking for something “with a lot of fruit and some kick to it.” One of the more interesting and fulfilling encounters I’ve had at the shop has been with Food Network chef Aaron Sanchez. Restaurant owner, author, consultant and co-star of Food Network’s popular, Chefs vs. City, Chef Sanchez is one of the leading contemporary Latin Chefs in NYC and a regular shopper at Alphabet City Wine Company. We began talking about food and I eventually asked him to give me some simple, yet refined, recipes to impress and make one’s heart happy. He got back to me last week with three recipes. All of them, fittingly, use ingredients indigenous to Latin America.

Chayote

The first one I will share is Chayote and Hearts of Palm Salad. You might be asking yourself (as I did), “what the heck is a chayote?” Chayote is a tropical trailing vine which produces fruits. Although, it is treated more like a vegetable than a fruit; think of it as the summer squash from Latin America. Also known as Mexican Squash, vegetable pears, and Christophine – among other names – chayote can be enjoyed both cooked and raw. When lightly cooked it retains a nice crispiness; while raw chayote is usually added to salads or salsas. For this particular recipe the chayote is lightly cooked and then added into a salad. Enjoy!

Chayote and Hearts of Palm Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 garlic clove
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
• 2 pound chayotes (also called mirlitons; 4 medium)
• 2 (14 to 15 – ounce cans hearts of palm, not salad-cut), rinsed well and drained
• 2 large celery ribs, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation:

Mince garlic and mash to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt using side of a large heavy knife. Whisk together lime juice, oil, and garlic paste in a large bowl, then add onion, tossing to coat.

Halve chayotes lengthwise, then peel with a vegetable peeler and scoop out pits with a spoon. Cut chayotes crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices then halve slices lengthwise to make 1/3-inch-thick sticks (sticks will not be uniform). Cook chayotes in a 4 to 6-quart pot of boiling salted water until crisp/tender. It should be about 6 minutes. Drain well in a colander, then, while still hot, toss with dressing. Cool to room temperature.

Cut hearts of palm diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then add to chayote mixture along with celery, parsley, cilantro and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Gently toss.

Enjoy!

cocktailfodder.com!!!

We are now at cocktailfodder.com! That’s right, we made the jump.

That is all.

Ch-ch-ch-changesss.

Alright, maybe what we’re about to tell you isn’t that drastic. Well, come to think of it, it’s not even close…. but things are changing at the Fodder. When we posted A Feel for Cocktail Fodder, we mentioned that this blog would be filled with trial and error along the way; our goal was to seek out what works and what doesn’t, what people like and don’t like, etc. So in that vein, we’ve decided to reformat our Thursday content. Of course, we’ll still give you AWC’s brilliant footie posts, but we feel like we need to expand. There are too many other interesting areas of life we need to cover.

“Not Your Average Sports” Thursdays are morphing into a sports/pop culture/entertainment/fashion Thursdays; we admittedly haven’t thought of a catchy name yet. This change opens us up to a whole new world of Fodder. We’ll introduce you to our resident movie critic, AWC will enlighten everyone with his fashion passions, the Captain will give you his take on pop culture absurdity and I’ll lambast a few celebrities. Fun had by all. Hopefully it will bring you a whole new palate of Fodder. Enjoy!