notes from a wineaholic/absinthe

also know as "the green fairy" absinthe is the bohemian bad-boy of liquors. made popular during the late 19th early 20th century by nontraditional, marginalized artists, writers, musicians and actors of the unorthodox and anti-establishment set, it was portrayed as dangerously addictive due to the fact that it contained a psychoactive chemical called thujone. By 1915 absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries except the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire; but was revived in the 1990s. when i was in Portugal about 7 years ago i brought back a bottle in my luggage because it was practically impossible to get here in the U.S. that was a great trip, Portugal. two weeks of an amazing amount of partying. the first week we would go out at 11pm and not leave the dance clubs 'til about 9 in the morning. head to the beach to sleep it off, recuperate and start all over again. the second week i punked out and slept on a float in the pool most of the time. i stayed with my friend Marita at her mom's house and it was just a great time. Mari's grandmother, grandfather and aunt came to visit while we were there and her grandmother made the most amazing paella ever. Mari's mom got a little twisted 'cause she thought we were a little out of control and she tried to punish us one day by forcing us to go shopping really early one morning at the Portuguese version of Costco. well, we were still giddy with liquor and what have you, probably had just gotten in when she dragged our asses out of the house, and we made complete idiots out of ourselves in the store by making fun of things and laughing like freaks, practically rolling on the floors while Mari's mom looked on and couldn't wait to get us out of there. she probably regretted that decision for sure. that was a great trip.
this song by Madison Avenue was the soundtrack for those two weeks:
"DON'T CALL ME BABY"

watch this space...part two

the second of the taste testings was held this past weekend, hosted by my BFFF Marita. this time the pastas were paired with meat sauces. pizzaoile, ragu and goulash were the sauces and rigatoni was the pasta of choice for all. the pizzaiole sauce had chicken and fresh oregano (very delish), the ragu was a bolognese with a little difference in that the carrots were cut into small chunks rather than grated for a traditional bolognese, and the goulash had beef in small bite size pieces with a slightly sweet red sauce. it was all delish but i'm a big fan of bolognese so the ragu was my favourite. rigatoni was a great choice for these dishes because it is a large tube which catches alot of sauce inside. Nelson and Francesco are still working on many things but they are doing alot to perfect the menu. it was a perfect spring evening so the tasting was done outside on the deck, which was better to accommodate the very large crowd this time (word is getting around and the restauranteurs-to-be are now sought after for what is sure to be the next craze...taste testing parties!, who knew?)

THE GOULASH


NELSON AND FRANCESCO


THE MOTLEY TASTING CREW


EVALUATING THE FOOD


YOURS TRULY AND THE HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST

watch this space...

my friend Nelson has decided to take his work into a very different direction and is considering going into the food industry. last night he had a group of his friends and family over to his place for a taste testing, which is the first in a series he and his chef partner, Francisco, will be conducting to survey public opinion of some dishes they are considering. when Nelson was first speculating about this Francisco, who is from italy, suggested a sort of "fast-food pasta" style of place which he mentioned are popular where he is from and which they both agreed might be a niche which they could market here. Francisco is a pretty amazing guy who worked in commodities in italy and also when he first came to the united states; but then decided to satisfy his personal drive to be an artist and has been making his living partly from art and partly from house painting for a while now. somewhere along the way he also became a really good cook. anyway last nite it was the vegetarian pasta dishes which were featured and we sampled and critiqued five; a penne with asparagus, ham and calamata olives; a rigatoni with zucchini and a rigatoni with roasted peppers; a thin spaghetti with a puttanesca sauce and a spaghetti with gorgonzola and walnuts. Nelson and Francisco are still working out many of the basics but decided to start on the menu a little at a time. i told him i would be more than happy to lend my palate to his cause, and i will be following their progress and documenting it via this blog so watch this space for new developments and wish them alot of luck.

SOME OF THE TASTE TESTERS, JOHN AND MARITA


THE PENNE WITH ASPARAGUS, HAM AND CALAMATA OLIVES


THE RIGATONI WITH ROASTED PEPPERS


THE TEST KITCHEN

one of those days

you ever have one of those days that you think, "jesus fucking christ! that's it, i've had it" and no amount of food can help, it' just all about the drinks. i like to start out with a vodka gimlet, or as my friend Odalys calls them "airplane fuel". yum! it's actually a somewhat old-fashioned cocktail that i'm doing my best to help make a comeback. or maybe a gin and tonic, and make sure you have limes around for this or you can just forget it. my friend Marita and i are totally into G&Ts. she prefers to call them T&Ts because she also prefers the tangueray gin but i'm not so much of a liquor snob. it's Mari's birthday today and she's picking me up around 7 to do some celebrating. i'm actually taking a little time off this weekend and it's starting tonite. yesterday was John's birthday and we're leaving tomorrow morning to visit our friends Catherine and Odalys. they live in the mountains in Bethel NY and we haven't seen them since august. they used to live just a few blocks from us here in the city and then they bought the cabin a few years ago and winterized it right away. we helped with some of that and man was that alot of work. about a year later Odalys decides that she wants to move up there full time and then Catherine went some months later. it took them some time 'cause they had to find jobs up there and Catherine is a nurse practitioner with and HIV care specialty so that was tough. they finally made it and we miss them alot. i'm bringing some of my schoolwork as a token of sincerity; but you know how that goes. whenever we get together there's always food and drink involved...i think that's mari now, later...ok, so it's now much later and of course there's been food and drink. it was sushi and beers at Dominick and Grant's. my favorite sushi is a place called Yuka on the upper east side, 2nd ave and 81st st. their fish is so fresh and their portions are huge compared to many places. we also got to listen to the debut of their awesome debut recording as Faux Furnishings, "Lydia, Look!". visit them at www.myspace.com/fauxfurnishingsofficial, or just use the link on the side over there. so much luck to them! it was a good time, shout out to Guitar Heroes Lauren, Jacob, Dominick and Guitar "Super"Hero Grant, also Scott, Steven, Izzie, Jennifer, and my BFFF Mari, happy fucking b-day you brick house!