Icewine

I was surprised to find out that X has never heard of ice wine before. I suppose that's because there aren't any in France.

Ice wine is so named because this is wine that is made with grapes that have been frozen whilst still on the vine. Since the water content in the grapes are frozen, it produces a more concentrated wine & therefore sweeter. I've always associated Canada with ice wine but apparently Germany is a big producer too.

Generally served as a dessert wine. We enjoyed our bottle, courtesy of my sister in law, after a very hearty meal.

Orgo's amazing cocktails

Me & my cocktails. What can I say. Knowing that fact, all my friends have been telling me about the rooftop bar at Esplanade that has a Japanese mixologist (that's what they are calling them nowadays). Of course, I had to check it out.

So after our show, we hung around the Esplanade till they opened at 5pm. When you have a 4 year old on tow, you have to start the party early. So of course we were the only ones there & it gave me the opportunity to nose around & snap away. I love the open concept & even tho there are private rooms, they are like glass cubes on the terrace.

I'm sure it would be real pretty at night.

That aside, I got down to the business of ordering my martini. OMG the selection ! I couldn't decide - pomelo & basil, dragon fruit & vanilla, apple & shiso - such exciting combinations. I decided to place my faith in Fazlie, my server aka Mr Smooth Operator (I swear that's what his name card says) for his recommendation.

Strangely enough, the bar is tucked away so I didn't get to see Mr Tomoyuki Kitazoe work his magic.

So here it is - a soursop & calamansi martini.

Absolutely delicious ! A good cocktail when it's done well, hhmm.


I can't wait to go back again to try out the rest. Wanna join me ?

Drinks with a view

Going for drinks after work is a luxury I can no longer afford now that I have The Girl.

Everyday after work, I need to pick her up from school so that doesn't really leave me with any room for happy hour (not unless I bring her with me which I have done on several occasions). But a girl got to have her girl's night out.

So last Friday after leaving The Girl with the babysitter, I went for my first happy hour. The glass of wine had never tasted so good. We had a wonderful view of the construction of the integrated resort - I'd even go so far as to say it looked pretty with all the lights at night (we were far enough not to be bothered by the noise & dust).

Overeasy is at One Fullerton just below the hugely popular Butter Factory, notorious for their long queues. The bar snack menu is extensive & you could easily fill yourself up without venturing to the dinner menu which I didn't even bother to look at - we devoured the sliders (I guess named after the white castle mini burgers) & fish sticks.

From the looks of things & given the proximity to my office, I'll be heading back again.....when I can next book the babysitter. As much as I look forward to seeing my daughter at the end of the day, I need my me-time & cocktails too.


Overeasy
#01-06 One Fullerton Road
6423 0701

Caipirinhas & the party is on

This edition of my series on drinks, is brought to you courtesy of Gaby who lugged back several bottles of cachaça (sugar cane rum) from her last trip to Germany. If you've not heard of it, caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil. It's available everywhere & you can even have them made right on the beach.

It's what a summer drink is all about - refreshing & delicious. Well even though we're huddling in our turtle necks & sweaters, there's no reason not to enjoy a caiprinha or 2 or 3.

This is how Gaby make her yummy caipirinhas

1. First start by cutting up one whole lime into small pieces & put that into a glass
2. Add 1 Tbsp of sugar
3. Using a muddler, crush the limes till you get all the juice out
4. Next filled the glass with crushed ice (ice cube is not going to cut it, it has to be crushed ice. In fact she owns an ice crusher - they must be drinking a lot of caipirinhas, well I'm just saying)
5. Then pour in the cachaça till it fills the glass
6. Stir well mixing the lime juice with the cachaça
7. Serve & enjoy

That's Loïc using a muddler to crush the limes

That's Gaby very generously filling the glasses up with cachaça

Voila
Top it with a very festive straw
& you have it, caiprinha

Gaby also prepared nachos, guacamole & salsa
I brought bolinhos de bacalhau, of course

Muscat de Beaumes de Venise

It has been a while since I last posted on drinks. Well, that's because X hasn't been home & even tho I like a glass of wine with my meals, I don't like to drink cocktails or aperitifs alone.

Muscat wine is sweet & generally a dessert wine but over here, it can also be served as an aperitif. One of our favorites is from Beaumes de Venise, a region not too far from here.

Serve it chilled or on the rocks. The snack shown is the chorizo & pistachio cake that I've already made a couple of times now.

Home made Tomato Juice

I came across this @ Simply Recipes & the moment she mentioned V8, it sealed the deal. I couldn't wait to try this out. So right after I packed the Girl off to school, this was the first thing I did. We were eating tomato salads almost every meal, it was time to do something else with the tomatoes.

It's yummy. I might try it with more celery the next time (either mine were a little old or I didn't put enough) & did anyone mention Bloody Mary ?

Home made Tomato Juice
source Simply Recipes

1.5 kg of very ripe tomatoes, cored & roughly chopped
1 1/4 cups of chopped celery with leaves (I will add more next time)
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp sugar (depending on how ripe your tomatoes are, add to taste)
1 tsp salt
pinch black pepper
8-10 drops of Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce

1. Put all the ingredients into a pot (she mentions using stainless steel not aluminium so that it doesn't affect the acidity of the tomatoes). Bring to a boil, uncovered until the mixtures is soupy, about 25 mins

2. Force it through a sieve. Cool & then chill in the fridge

Makes just under 1 litre. I'll make a bigger batch next time & freeze it.

Mojito

Way back at this post, I asked which is our other Cuban favorite & of course, it's the mojito. That's why we grow mint in our herb garden. We make this fairly frequently at home.

Although you can find the mojito on almost any decent cocktail menu, sadly most are not made the way I like it - they are either not sweet enough, not enough mint or worse, once in Singapore, I tasted a mojito at a very popular bar using calamansi lime which is just so wrong.

Here's how we like our mojito.

Mojito
(makes 2 glasses)

Find a tumbler to mix & crush the ingredients. Throw in several sprigs of fresh mint (be generous) then add 2 Tbsp of regular or brown sugar. Crush the mint with the sugar - the correct tool is the muddler but I use my wooden pestle. Next add 1 lime already diced. Then crush again with the mint & sugar. Making sure to crush the lime of their juice. Next add rum (2 or 3 or 4 shots) & ice. Pour all into a shaker & mix well. Add sprite or 7-up. Pour into tall glass - with lime, mint & all. Enjoy !

Cuba Libre

This is our drink. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we met in Cuba. Or that when we met, we were drinking this or weren't we ? It's all a little fuzzy. But it's our favorite aperitif before dinner.

Pour one part rum & two parts coke into a glass & top it up with ice. Stir well then squeeze lemon or lime juice over & garnish with a slice of lemon or lime. It's served here with cut up pieces of the ham & olive cake that I made the other day.

The next feature would be another Cuban favorite. Do you know what it is ? Leave in the comments if you do.

This one is for all my friends in NY

X & I love cocktails. I blame it on NY cos it is afterall the capital of cocktails. As for X, I don't know what is his excuse.

I'm starting a series of our favorite cocktail drinks starting with lychee martini. What better way than to acknowledge New York's love for martinis. You name it & the bar tenders there can make it - shaken, stirred, dirty, saketinis, appletinis, water melon martinis, the list goes on.

Here's how we do a lychee martini. Pour one part lychee juice (found in canned lychees) with one part vodka (of course, if you want it to be less alcoholic you can do 2:1) then add lots of ice into cocktail shaker. Shake thoroughly. Pour it out into martini glasses (without the ice). Serve it well chilled with 2-3 lychees.

This post is dedicated to all my friends in New York who may have, at one time or another, shared more than a few drinks with me (you all know who you are). Cheers !!