Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 50
July 13, 2014
Summer at the Mercantile
Every few months (roughly seasonally) we “re-set” the flagship Beekman 1802 Mercantile in Sharon Springs, NY, not only to show off the new things we’ve come up with for the season, but also to create a new experience for customers who keep coming back.
Take a look around “Summer”
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The flagship store is a testing ground for new products. If people fall in love with them as much as we have, they’ll eventually find their way into the online Mercantile. Stay in and say ‘hi’.
July 12, 2014
A Night at the Opera
Since its inception in 1975, the Glimmerglass Festival (like Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts) has brought hundreds of thousands of people into a rural area for an unparalleled cultural experience.
Since assuming the role of Artistic and General Director in 2010, Francesca Zambello has taken the summer production series to new acclaim. Equally as important, she has engaged the surrounding communities in the production and excitement of the season creating both a cultural and economic impact in our area of upstate NY.
This year, we have a special affinity for one of the productions.
Synopsis:
The owner of a grand country estate invites his city friends for a weekend of bucolic frolic–hilarity and enlightenment ensue.
Does this storyline sound familiar? Ariadne in Naxos was written in 1912 which only goes to show that city folk and country folk have considered each other exotic creatures for a long, long time.
With a sly since of humor and a nod to Sharon Springs, Francesca has incorporated several winks and nudges to Beekman 1802.
For perhaps the first time ever, Muck Boots go to the Opera. Take a look:
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If you are going to be anywhere near our part of the world this summer, please check out Ariadne and the other amazing productions at Glimmerglass this year. For more information on tickets, click here
Special thanks to photographer Karli Cadel for documenting the day.
July 10, 2014
Five Beautiful Things
Artist Ron Isaacs
When I first saw Ron Isaacs wood carvings, shown below, I couldn’t believe my eyes. That, as it turns out, is precisely the point. Ron perfectly explains his process and his motivation in his artist’s statement so I’ve included it here.
Ron Isaacs in his own words:
Claes Oldenburg once declared the harder he looked at a thing, the more mysterious it became. That notion is my muse.
I could use real objects to make assemblages, installations, or collages, but that’s too direct. My basic technique of building elaborate relief constructions of Finnish birch plywood and painting them in trompe l’oeil fashion has its own deep satisfactions of process and problem- solving, but it also serves as a means to understanding the objects. Trompe l’oeil (“fool the eye”) could be a gimmick to show off technical skills – a fairly shallow if entertaining enterprise – but for me it’s a way of expressing my love of the visual world. I would hope that whatever technical skill I have might be seen as being in the service of my personal vision and not as an end in itself.
That an object made of one material can take on the outward appearance and “reality” of another is of great importance to me– and perhaps part of the reason that historically, making art became allied with making magic.
Click here to see more of Ron’s artwork.
July 2, 2014
Five Beautiful Things
Native American Art
This week, the two nations that comprise the vast majority of North America’s vast continent will celebrate birthdays. Both Canada and the United States have existed as sovereign nations for centuries. Canada turned 147 on July 1 and the U.S. celebrates its 239th on July 4. But long before there were any European settlers on these lands, nevermind national borders, there were Native American tribes. From the Navajo to the Haida, from the Lakota to the Inuit of the far north, our two nations share a relationship – one that has been tested and sometimes very painful – with a multitude of indigenous tribes and generations of families who have lived on these lands for thousands of years.
I have always been fascinated by Native American lore and legend, which is best expressed through their beautiful stories of creation and through their highly-symbolic artwork and carvings. Each tribe expresses its cultural genesis artistically, demonstrating a rich and reverential respect for the natural world – something I believe our modern Western culture is in serious danger of losing – through visual metaphor and iconography. For a good review of Native American art and culture, click here. Below are five Native American artworks and carvings that reveal the strength of their cultures’ beauty.
The Chatter for July
We’ve lobbied really hard for Garrison Keillor to give up life in Lake Wobegone and move to Sharon Springs, but thus far he has not answered our letters or returned our calls.
Sharon Springs has beautiful people and above-average children, too, so on to Plan B.
What is a small town village without a small town paper to keep track of what everyone is doing?
Nancy Pfau, the town historian, is now editor of our own little paper.
Each month you can check back here for a new issue and follow the lives of the real village people. If you pay a real visit, you may even want to submit a story idea of your own!
You may not live in small town, but at least you can pretend.
See below for the July 2014 Issue
July 1, 2014
Gartending with Negroni
I’ve always been fond of the cocktail named the Negroni. There is a story behind this venerable cocktail that is told again and again. I’m not sure if there is truth in it but it sure tells a vivid picture. There was a Count with the either the first name Negroni or his last- and he was particularly interested in getting soused. Soused as in similar to my little friend Klaus who just returned from Massachusetts. But as I digress into Klaus’s journey to the North Shore where he mixed up dozens of cocktails for my third book, Count Negroni still is waiting for his time in the sun. We will get back to Klaus in a moment.
Count Negroni was fond of three liquors during his time at his local watering spot. But it’s really not certain, to myself- or to Klaus, if the good Count had a belly-ache, (Campari, one of the ingredients, is good for a belly ache) and of course the gin element, (generally good for what ails ye) and the sweet vermouth element, (hair tonic, worm elimination from the belly…) Let’s just say the Count was buzzed after a few Negroni cocktails!!!
Klaus likes that too! He LOVES getting soused, especially on the Forth of July!
In fact too much as I said prior with a few dozen cocktails produced for Klaus’s cameo performance at Glenn Scott’s studio in Beverly, Massachusetts. Glenn is Klaus’s photographer friend having shot the last two books. (Apothecary Cocktails and the forthcoming Whiskey Cocktails) Klaus made some pretty potent drinks for the crew and he is still calling out for icy cold shots of his favorite elixir, Fernet Branca!
This summer Klaus and myself are going up to Maine to make cocktails, I mean MOCKtails at Stonewall Kitchen.
What Klaus wants to make for the Forth of July has a kick to it.
The Negroni that Klaus loves is pretty simple. It only has three ingredients.
The Cocktail Whisperer Negroni uses Barr Hill Gin instead of Beefeater. If you cannot get Barr Hill, I’m sure you can find Beefeater. It also uses Campari and Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth. Punt e Mes is also delicious or any of the New York State Vermouth that is knocking the socks off of your palate, one sip at a time.
The Cocktail Whisperer Negroni
Ingredients:
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica is my choice)
1 oz. Barr Hill Gin (Made from grain and raw honey with juniper)
1 oz. Campari
Lemon zest
Prep:
Into a cocktail mixing glass, fill ¾ with ice
Add the liquid ingredients
Stir 20 times to chill, but not dilute
Strain into a rocks glass with one cube of ice and twist the lemon zest over the top, releasing the oils
The next drink is the one that Klaus and I are performing for our class at Stonewall Kitchen in Maine. I call it the 1808 Fizz. Klaus still isn’t sure what the 1808 stands for, but one thing is for certain, with a dose of either vodka or gin, you have a drink that will take your sense of concern away. Hide the car keys!! Klaus is coming over for your Fourth of July Fireworks!
The 1808 fizz has one ingredient that needs to be made beforehand. That is the grilled grapefruit juice. I’d grill 3 inch thick slices of grapefruit to give them some color and char, cool and then juice. You can do this the day prior. It gives the grapefruit a chance to mellow and take on the charred flavors.
I also suggest finding brilliant new tangerine syrup from Massachusetts named Fruitations. There are many fruit syrups on the market and I love many of them, but I’ve yet to find tangerine soda syrup that isn’t too cloying and is not too tangy either. You don’t have to do much to cocktails made with Fruitations.
Sorel is a highly expressive bitter/sweet liqueur that tangs of the islands, yet it is made right in Brooklyn by the ever-ambitious Jackie Summers. Jackie is better known as Jack from Brooklyn and his liqueur is unique in every way. An mélange of Caribbean spices, warm notes of tropical fruits and freshly ground herbs, Sorel is fragrant and humble with your time. I recommend it highly.
Barr Hill is Klaus’s favorite Gin. Made carefully with love in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, this gin is made with an unlikely ingredient- and that is HONEY. Raw honey to be exact makes this gin speak in languages not yet discovered. There is beauty in each and every sip of Barr Hill gin. I suggest DrinkupNY if you have trouble finding it where you live, or use the handy store locator on their well designed web-site.
Klaus and I are firm believers in bitters. Bitters are what give craft cocktails their backbone and add depth, balance and humor to a mixed drink. They finish a drink with a flourish and give that umami- third sensation to a craft cocktail that is indescribable. Bitter and sweet… Life itself cannot hope for anything more profound says Klaus as he reaches for a tall bottle of Angostura Bitters. Klaus knows that when he has a bellyache in his little ceramic belly, Angostura and seltzer water cures him every time.
The 1808 Fizz
Ingredients for two thirsty revolutionaries…
4 oz. Barr Hill Gin
1 oz. Sorel (from my friend Jackie Summers)
2 oz. Grilled Grapefruit Juice
1 oz. Fruitations Tangerine Soda and Cocktail Syrup
6 oz. Polar Seltzer
Fresh Mint
2-4 drops Angostura Bitters
Prep:
Muddle some fresh mint in a cocktail mixing glass
Fill ¾ with ice
Add the Barr Hill Gin and the Sorel
Add the juice and the Fruitations syrup
Cap and shake hard for 15 seconds
Pour over ice in two Collins glasses with fresh mint as a garnish and dash Angostura Bitters over the top
Serve and Klaus will be right over… Happy Fourth of July from Klaus!
June 30, 2014
Popping Up All Over
June 28, 2014
Ideas for Summer Entertaining
June 27, 2014
A Country Affair
We were so fortunate that as a wedding gift our friends at Country Living magazine hired photographer Jessica Antola to document every single minute of the day.
In honor of the first year anniversary, they’ve shared some never-before-seen photos from the day
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Do you want to see all the drama of the day? You can stream or get the DVD of the Beekman Wedding Special on Amazon. Click here
The Gift of the First Year
PAPER
The gift of the first year
Is paper
Paper?
The stuff that
Lines birdcages
Wraps fish
Spews from the printer in a never-ending stream of work
Blows down the canyons of New York City on a cold winter day
Overflows the can at the corner of West Fourth and Jones Street
That
Gets ink our your fingers on a beautiful Sunday morning
Is a template for the knowledge of the ages
Is a canvas for the likes of Rembrandt and Degas
Streams down at the stroke of midnight in Time Square in celebration
Enshrouds even the smallest gift with anticipation
And records the precious thoughts of one lover to the other?
Ah…
Paper!!!
