The Hangar One Tour

About two weeks ago, Rob and I made the perilous trip down to Alameda to check out the Hangar One distillery and meet up with the good folks of Hedonia and In Praise of Sardines. I call it perilous because the roads and sidewinding ways of Alameda pissed me off to the point that Rob and me almost turned around to go back home. Seriously Alameda, fix it.

Hangar One is a small distillery that works in small batches to create truly awesome eau de vies, specialty vodkas, and creative spirits. They pride themselves in using localized ingredients, such as Buddha's hand, kaffir limes, mandarin blossoms, and in the works... chipotle pepper (all these from grape based vodkas of course!).

Upon entering Rob and I were treated to a small glass of Qi, a liquor based on Lapsang Souchong tea. The tea itself is like black coffee, you have to get used to the flavor. I am and love the burnt cedary taste, but in liquor it takes on new properties of spice and maybe a bit of cocoa. It' was good but at the same time, bitter and dark. Something to get used to for sure, but the smell was intoxicating and lingered well.

The vodkas each extrapolate some beautiful flavors; for instance the raspberry has the audacity to pleasantly surprise you with a real fruity flavor and no candy like artificial flavorings. Meanwhile, the Buddha's hand was very fragrant and citric.

The tour was informative and very well run. The guide was hilarious and knew her stuff. Props indeed. My only complaint would be the tour seemed awfully short. I suppose if you are in the area, drop by and check it out. Sacramento area people, is it worth the drive? Yeah, I would say so; getting there is a bitch, but we were very happy we did. The tour is all standing the whole way though, due to this Rob threw his back out pretty hard (this was compounded on working to much the past few days) and we had to take him home and miss out on our dinner plans.

It's fun, educational, and a chance to get a little bit tipsy at 1pm on a Saturday. Total snaps.

"It's all about me, and what I know!" - Alti, Xena (Season 6)

I'm not normally a fan of memes, but I had a block of time to kill for once and figured why the hell not? Plus Amy and Tea both tagged me for this so how can I say no? So here is some stuff you don't know about your favorite blogger:

1) I worked in a cafe run by a total crazy eastern European guy. I worked there for four hours; after that he called back, drunk as frat boy at pledge week, and said he changed his mind about hiring more help. I was paid out of the till for the four hours and sent home. Probably a good thing too. The special was a mocha thingy with cookies sticking out of it, which inevitably sink to the bottom of your drink and become nasty mush.

2) I am a total nerd in some respects. I have every season of Xena in my DVD collection, I watch them so often that Rob now can tell give you character histories just from absorbing the information through osmosis. Plus, how can you not love Alti and Callisto as villains?

I also am addicted to Final Fantasy games and other like minded RPG video games. The past three months, when I can, I have been trying to save the world of Ivalice.

3) I don't like driving more than 60 minutes at a time. Otherwise I fall asleep, or need a book on tape to keep me awake. It's not a good thing.

4) I grew up in Mission Viejo, in Orange County, California. I have toured castles in Spain, seen the ruins of Ephesus, bartered in the fish markets of Greece, seen the Blue Mosque in Turkey, encountered death in Austria, seen poverty Slovania, had a home cooked meal in Slovakia, crossed a bridge for luck in the Czech Republic, almost bombed in Israel, set off an alarm in a restaurant by accident in Italy, scuba dived in St. Kitts, was fooled by a glass cannon in Nevis, saw two European towns in St. Barts, visited Mexico many times (got sick once), saw the Queen run into a bunch of naked gay men in Canada, chillaxed in Costa Rica and seen what there is to see in most every state except I believe Maine and Alaska. I am only 23, and still have a few more places on my list to go before I die.

5) My eventual career goal is to be a professional writer of some sort and a college English professor so I can be paid to lock myself away and do reseach projects, which I love. I mean, I am happiest when I have a 40 page paper due and have open time to research as much as I want, then in the end turn it in to my professor after getting permission to go an extra 15 pages. Pure F*&%'en Joy.

6) BONUS! My friends from way back and I adopted the word shibby from an on-line comic called Boy Meets Boy. This comic helped get through hard times in life more than once, and always cheered up my day. It's sadly no longer going, but two of the characters got a spin off comic. The art starts kinda funky, but progresses and is now truly professional and shibby. Worth reading just to watch the evolution of an artist, but also funny, fantastic and light hearted.

I tag Gigi Cakes, Pie is the New Toast, Restaurant Whore, S'kat and the Food, and What Did You Eat?. I expect full reports by all of you or else I go Xena on your @$$.

Cupcake Blogs!

Quickie post but you want to see some cupcakes that really take the cake? Go check out these two up and coming cupcake bloggers. They're quite shnazy and a lot more skilled than I am (I have no ability to make my cupcakes pretty or use a piping bag). Anyways, go check out the Toffee Tumble Cupcakes over at Cupcaketastic made with choux pastry and hard crack toffee (Rob said, "Oh God, I'm in heaven. Make those."

Another cupcake to check out is the White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes over at E Cupcake who seems to have drilled into my psyche and made me love her.

Chai Latte Cupcakes... ahhh, who doesn't love chai? I know I do, as does Gigi over at Gigi Cakes. Here you'll find fabu baked goods on a wild ride of sugar and spice.

These blogs are only about two months old, but based on the cupcake recipes they have developed and their photography, I think they're going to be great resources for every cupcake fiend out there.

Strawberry Cupcake - Five Ways

I've always wanted to do a fancy petit fours (or in this case fives) kinda' dessert or appetizer. It just seems so swanky and chic. Penelope came over to spend the day with me so we could catch up and just be bitches, and I wanted to involve her in this project. It was fun, exotic, and just in time for Valentine's Day!

The cupcake was odd; it was fruity but didn't resound of strawberry. It was a quandary, too hard to describe, but it was good none the less. Plus it came out an odd grey-purple color. The frosting luckily resounded of strawberry and really backed up that pink color. The cupcake tasted of strawberries. Ah but lets move on to the flavors...

Balsamic and Black Pepper Reduction
This was the favorite by far. The idea came to me as during summer, Rob and I do the Italian thing and macerate our strawberries in balsamic vinegar and pepper. We made this into a reduction and drizzled it on the cupcake. Pow! Zing! Pop! The reduction develops a surprisingly slight, lemony pizazz that pleasantly contradicts the strawberry flavors. It dazzled the senses.

Cilantro
This was the flavor we were really eager to try and at the same time understandably weary. Strawberries and cilantro actually share many of the same flavor compounds, thus they compliment each other nicely. The cupcake is sweet, but the single peppery leaf whispers in the back on the mouth and creates a nice finish.

Chocolate & Pink Salt
We at first used only a dark 60% cacao chocolate and that was pleasing. Chocolate and strawberries. Pink and black. It's classic. The addition of pink salt elevated this to a new platform of flavor; it enriched the chocolate to new heights.

Himalayan Pink Salt
Salt naturally enhances flavor, and it does no different here. It accented the strawberry flavors, ans the salt went wonderfully with the sweet. It's was definitely the wild card of the plate.

Orange & Cointreau
Orange oils and the orange liqueur mixed into a syrup created a fruity, cavity inducingly rich, and viscous lushness to the cupcake. Orange and strawberry go well together in strawberries romanoff so we knew the royal flavors this conveyed would give it presence amongst the other cupcakes with more bite.

Strawberry Cupcakes
Makes 36 mini cupcakes -or- 12 regular cupcakes
Adapted From Rickpoon Flickr and E Cupcake

What You'll Need...
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup strawberry sauce (see below)
1/4 cup milk

What You'll Do...
1) Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

2) Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.

3) Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Measure out milk and strawberry sauce together. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine. Add about one third the milk/strawberry sauce mixture and beat until combined. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.

4) Scoop into cupcake papers about half to three-quarters full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes). Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350F until a cake tester comes out clean. If using a mini cupcake tin, bake for 8-10 minutes and use Pam For Baking to grease the pan. Scoop into slots until three-quarters full.


Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
What You'll Need...
8 ounces or 1 package of cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
approximately 1/4 cup of strawberry sauce

What You'll Do...
1) Bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl.

2) Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy. Add half of the sugar, beat until combined. Add strawberry sauce until you achieve the right color and flavor, making sure not to add too much or the frosting will be too soft. Gradually add remaining sugar (more if you have to) until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.


Strawberry Sauce
What You'll Need...
2 cups of fresh strawberries, cut in half and stem removed
sugar to taste

What You'll Do...
1) Macerate strawberries with about 1-2 tbs sugar for 15 minutes.

2) Put strawberries in a small saucepan and heat under medium heat with lid on. Cook strawberries for approximately 15 minutes till strawberries cook down and become soft and saucy. Adjust sweetness with sugar until you get the desired sweetness.

3) Using a hand blender, puree until you get the desired smoothness or chunkiness. Cool before using in recipe.


Orange Cointreau Syrup
What You'll Need...
1/2 cup of Cointreau
4 good strips of orange zest
1/2 cup of sugar

What You'll Do...
Combine all over medium heat until bubbling and all sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to low and let bubble for 5-8 minutes. Let cool, it should be a thick syrup. Drizzle on cupcake.

Balsamic Reduction
Take a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar and a few grinds of black pepper and let come to a boil at high heat. Reduce to low and let reduce for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Drizzle on cupcake.

Chocolate, Salt, and Cilantro
Sprinkle on the salt. Place a leaf or two of cilantro on the cupcake. Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler and drizzle on cupcake.

See Flickr Set Here

Boy, O' Boy! (The Waterboy - Sacramento, CA)

So, here is the review as promised, sadly I forgot my camera that day *head hit keyboard*. I'm also tired as I just had a bit of cutting done on me at the hospital (nothing serious), so I hope you enjoy this!

I was lucky enough to recently have a fabulous meal thanks at The Waterboy for an Edible Sacramento meeting with Darren, Ann, Jennifer, and Steven. It's a place that's been touted as one of Sacramento's best restaurants, and let me tell you it lives up to that reputation. Using seasonal, local ingredients, it presents surprise after surprise!

After first stepping in, you notice the high ceilings, the tasteful art, the classy tables and chairs. All beautifully done. Nothing else to say.

We first were first presented with some roasted marcona almonds and an antipasto platter. Best. Snacky Plates. Ever. The almonds were butter with small flakes of salt allowing them to pirouette on your tongue. The various cured meats, bruschetta, and cheese were fabu, and the olives! So well herbed, such eloquence in the subtle oils, I was smitten! The only quirk about the platter was the fact they gave us four pieces of bread, yet there were five of us. A small hiccup, and more bread was made available.

Soon a plate of various raw marinated fish was placed before us. Each was fresh and buttery, I was throughly surprised by this fact as I try not to order Monday fish due to past experiences. A pizzetta with housemade sausage, roasted red peppers, and onions was also served. It kind of contradicted every wine at the table, so as a first course it may throw things off, but on it's own it was spicy with layers of Italian flavors classically prepared.

The baby beet salad was rich with the various red and yellow beets seducing you with their color, deep flavor, and texture. Roasted almonds and watercress also gave variety in texture and flavors. The blood orange vinaigrette got a little lost in the whole thing, but taste great none the less.

I then had the mixed grill of lamb, quail, and pancetta. The quail seemed lacking in salt, but that was easily remedied. Served with a butternut polenta and wilted greens, it was a dish to remember. This was it, it had beat Mason's hands down.

And it only got better. Chocolate brioche bread pudding that warmed the entire body! Soft gingerbread with meyer lemon sabayon and candied ginger eased you into warm smiles and laughter! Boston cream pie was playful in it's presentation and taste!

Each wine was truly fabulous. I would give you a run down, but when it comes to wine Garrett don't know jack. Jennifer made the decisions, which is a good thing as she worked at a vineyard in Ojai so she knows what's down and what to leave echoed. Darren knows whats what too as he works in wine. Yeah, they roll like that. Each wine perfectly complemented the meal, and the wait staff seemed to know their stuff, so I feel I could trust myself in their hands. (I really need to take a wine class, I'm suddenly finding so many I love!)

It was needless to say, an experience. A decadent one. A fabulous one. The menu is seasonal and changes abut every month, but from what others tell me, repeated visits never cease to amaze. Wine, music, and surroundings complete the meal. It's like stepping into a world where only good things can happen.

The Waterboy
2000 Capitol Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 498-9891