Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 74

A Rosemary Primer

Latin Name:  Rosmarinus officinalis. Roughly translation: “dew of the sea.” It has earned this reputation by needing no water other than the humidity of the sea to thrive along coastal regions.

Other Common Names:  Anthos

Interesting Historical Trivia: Rosemary has a long association around the globe with remembrance. Ancient Egyptians placed rosemary branches across the coffins, and this tradition continued into the era of Shakespeare. (From Hamlet: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” From Romeo and Juliet: “Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter?”) In the 16th century it was burned daily in hospitals to kill germs, and used as a symbol for fidelity during weddings.

Proven Scientific Uses:  Rosemary is high in caffeic acid and rosmarinic acid; these compounds have been proven to have antioxidant effects and are being studied as potential therapies for cancer, liver toxicity and inflammatory conditions. Rosemary is also high in carnosic acid, which has been proven to protect the brain from stroke and neuro-degeneration.

Folk Remedies: Native cultures infused rosemary in oil and used it for various skin conditions, hair loss, and aromatherapy to eliminate stress, prevent hypertension and clear the sinuses. It’s considered a good volatile oil and can be added to hot water and used as a hair rinse for a clean scalp, boil a sprig and steam your face and clear your sinuses, throw sprigs in the corners of your pantry to discourage bugs. You can even boil a sprig in two cups of water and use it as an antiseptic cleaning solution. Some herbalists also believe that rosemary can help slow memory loss associated with alzheimers.

Common Culinary Uses:  Roasted Chicken, pork, lamb, and potatoes.

Unusual Culinary Uses:  Apple pie, Lemon Rosemary Cake, popcorn (see below.)

Can I grow it?: Rosemary is a perennial plant from zone 7-10, and can sometimes overwinter in zone 6. In zones 1-5, rosemary can either be replanted every year, or grown in pots and brought indoors to a sunny window over winter. Can be started either from seed or from starter plants. Requirements: Full sun, good drainage.

How do I store it? Fresh rosemary can be frozen for up to 2 months. Another great storage method is to prepare rosemary infused oil, which can be used when making French fries, popcorn, or sautéing vegetables.

Check out the slide show to learn how to make rosemary oil:

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Mercantile Renovation Progress

Team Beekman has been hard at work getting the new Mercantile location ready for our Grand Opening during Garden Party Weekend (June 1st & 2nd.) Here are some “before and after” shots to share what we’ve accomplished this month. Most of the exterior work will commence soon, now that the weather is warming.

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Gartending: Syrupy Sweet

 

A lovely Spring Cocktail should entice the imbiber towards the more herbaceous flavors of the season.  As a young man, I remember making tinctures of the aromatic leaves of the eucalyptus tree and preserving them in gin or vodka for use during times of stress or duress.   Simple sugar syrup would be added to this tincture of and some black peppercorns would be added to the mix.  Then the syrup would rest in the dark recesses of the refrigerator for weeks on end until the syrup/gin mixture became a thing of rare beauty.  Bursting with aromatics of the earth and the grassy haunting passion of that thing called Eucalyptus, this aromatic ingredient is just marvelous in a cocktail.  It tastes exotic.  Klaus is fond of the exotic and the sublime.  He is just waiting for spring to arrive in his cocktails.   Or will the cocktails just come to him?  I’m not sure.  But one thing is for certain.  Klaus is thirsty, which means I’m thirsty.  And a thirsty writer is a thing of interest to Klaus.

I think simplicity is what is called in cocktails for the early spring.  The flavors are just starting to burst out of the soil so they need clarity.  Pure flavors- carefully prepared with love make a Eucalyptus syrup so perfect.  It’s also an old ingredient.  Eucalyptus dates back to early 19th century and the flavors of this oil are most persuasive.  The color is also magical; a hint of salmon is what I see in the bottle.  My friend Humberto Saraiva Marques has created a couple of syrups that speak clearly of the past satisfying our craving for nostalgia in every sip.  Klaus is awfully interested in nostalgia since he came out of the soil over 100 years ago.  That means Klaus is nostalgia incarnate!  Maybe that’s why he’s so fond of historic cocktails?  He’s certainly fond of Apothecary Cocktails.

I would know.

It’s snowing again.  Large fluffy flakes this time.  The frigid air is saturated with humidity.  The temperature is hovering around 40, yet the snow flakes drops from the clouds in soft, pillowy bursts.

Humberto’s syrups are in front of me in their bold glass bottles, their packaging with a old fashioned flip top closure.  His old fashioned flavors are Eucalyptus and Mimosa.  Opening the Mimosa, I’m greeted with a burst of pure Mimosa flowers.  The color is a pale golden yellow in hue. This isn’t like the bastardized cocktail by the same name comprised of reconstituted orange juice and a sparkling wine of an uncertain provenance.  The Mimosa syrup is floral and happy bursting with the aromatics of the Mimosa flower.  Yes, happy.  Tasting the Mimosa syrup is like walking into a garden surrounded by aromatic Mimosa flowers.  They work their way through your subconscious.  The Eucalyptus Syrup is deeply mysterious and it takes your senses on a journey to the past.

Klaus says enough with the tasting notes already.  Take me to the good stuff already!

Two cocktails grace the gartending column this time.  The first named Marrakesh Sour is a bit of sweet, a bit of tart and all delightful. The key to this cocktail is to use the best ingredients at your disposal, if at all possible.  If you cannot find the original ingredients you certainly will have to rework the drink, impossible-maybe. Contact me for details.

I suggest doing what you can to find the correct ingredients.

 

Marrakesh Sour Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 oz.  Hendrick’s Gin

1 oz. Mimosa Syrup from The Bartist

1 cucumber round (peeled)

sprig of garden fresh mint (it’s out there if you look hard)

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 egg white

½ oz. Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water (lemon flavor)

Hand cut ice made from Mavea “inspired” filtered water frozen with lemon zests (see note below)

3 drops- Bitter End Thai Bitters

 

Preparation:

Hand cut your lemon zest infused ice and place in an Old Fashioned glass to cool the glass

Into a Boston Shaker dry shake the lemon juice and egg white with 1 oz. Mimosa Syrup

Fill Boston Shaker with bar-ice

Shake for 15 seconds and strain over the hand cut ice into the Old Fashioned glass

Garnish with cucumber wheel and 3 drops of the Bitter End Thai Bitters and a sprig of mint

Note for ice:  Filter your water and zest a few lemons into your ice tray, then freeze overnight.  Hand cut the ice to your desired shape for your cocktail

 

Night train to Alcatraz Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 oz. Templeton Rye Whiskey

1 oz. Eucalyptus Syrup

.25 oz. Sorel (Jack from Brooklyn)

.25 oz. Carpano Antica

.50 Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur

.25 Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water

4 drops Bitter End Thai Bitters

 

Preparation:

Pre-cool a Collins glass with hand-cut ice

To a Boston Shaker, add:

Templeton’s Rye

“Bartist” Eucalyptus Syrup

Sorel

Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth

Barrow’s Intense Ginger liqueur

Fill ¾ with bar ice

Shake for 15 seconds

Strain into the Collins Glass dot with 4 drops of the exceptionally savory Bitter End Thai Bitters and finish with a pinwheel of lime

 

Do a jig for Klaus!

5 Beautiful Things

 

Five Flying Houses

When Laurent Chehere got sick of his job he started saving money. Eventually, he quit and embarked on a year-long trip around the world, seeing all the places he had always dreamed of seeing, taking thousands of photographs along the way. Upon his return to his hometown in France, he simply could not return to the grind. He had been changed. He was so inspired by the lands he had seen and the people he had met that he decided to embrace his true passion full-time: photography.

His series called “Flying Houses” demonstrates to me what can be achieved when we truly embrace our imaginations and our creativity. There is beauty in these photographs, certainly, but the most beautiful thing about them is that they were created at all. What if Laurent had chosen to remain in his mundane job, working Monday to Friday in a grey office building under fluorescent lighting. These photographs, and thousands of other beautiful images he has taken, would never have existed. Following your dreams and your passions is not an easy decision. It is a road peppered with worry and self-doubt, uncertainty and, yes, some danger. It takes hard work, persistence, patience and a few doses of good luck but we have to let go of our safety nets to really fly – even if falling is a possibility. Very often it is just the fear of falling that makes our fingers slip.

Let Laurent’s wild imagination and beautiful imagery be an inspiration to you. What have you always wanted to try? What is your dream? Perhaps, you are already living it!

Visit Laurent’s website for more of his images.

All photographs by Laurent Chehere from his series Flying Houses.

 

 

A Monster Truck Primer

A lot of people think that The Amazing Race is over for us. But the beauty of The Amazing Race is not just that we got to visit a lot of places in this world that we wouldn’t have otherwise….but it’s also that we got to meet 20 other super-cool people whom we never would’ve met otherwise.  And through them, we’re still sharing all kinds of amazing new experiences. (Even better…none of us have to be eliminated at the end of them!)

One of those amazing individuals we met is Rob French, a champion Monster Truck driver. He and his wife Kelley, (a champion rodeo rider,) are based in the tiny town of Boston, Georgia. We had a great time with them on the Race, and learned a lot from each other.

Rob recently came through Utica on a Monster Truck tour, and was kind enough to invite us to a show. It was our first Monster Truck Show! We’re not sure how many of you have had the chance to attend a Monster Truck rally, so we took good notes and lots of pictures.

Here’s Rob in action…(his truck is on the far track):

Click through the slide show below and learn what we did about the world of Monster Trucking. Thanks again, Amazing Race, for making our world bigger once again.

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Inside OUT

 

 

In the April 2013 issue of OUT, editor Aaron Hicklin profiled Beekman 1802 in an article with the exceptionally clever title Mind Your Manors. 

To accompany the essay, photographer Alec Hemer captured a rare glimpse of the interiors of the Beekman farmhouse.   What we love about having a photographer visit is that they always look at the farm in a way that we haven’t.  To have someone examine your environment so intimately is like seeing your world through an entirely new set of eyes.

Take a look at these exclusive images that DIDN’T make the final edits… and welcome to our world.

 

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To read the article and see more images from the photo shoot, click here

To see more of Alec’s photography, click here

5 Beautiful Things

 

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

I have a long list of dead people I’d like to meet. Call me morbid, but I love the idea of resurrecting some well-chosen individuals for a round-table discussion on art, philosophy and life. One such individual is Spanish artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo. He is not well known and his place in art history is often relegated to a mere mention sandwiched somewhere between the Renaissance and the Baroque. Sad, considering his tremendous imagination and his fearless ability to paint his fantasies.

In 1562 Arcimboldo became court portraitist to Emperor Ferdinand at the Habsburg court in Vienna. He was also the court decorator and costume designer. Arcimboldo’s flamboyance found its way into a series of beautifully grotesque paintings he did of the seasons and the elements shortly after his appointment to the court. He personified each by shaping the portraits using a variety of pertinent objects, creating a visual puzzle of hidden faces within faces or objects masquerading as human features. The resulting portraits are suprisingly modern and striking against their solid black backgrounds.

With the changing seasons very much upon our minds, I thought I’d introduce you to Spring (1563), Summer (1563), Winter (1563), Water (1566) and Vertumnus, the Roman God of the Seasons (1590).

 

All portraits by Giuseppe Arcimboldo: oil on panel.

 

If you could go back in history, who would you like to meet? Tell us in the comments section below.

Krups Espresso Machine Giveaway!

A few weeks ago, we posted a notice on Facebook that Farmer John’s coffee maker had died….right at the beginning of kidding season. Despite its name, kidding season is very serious. With approximately 250 goat births scheduled over a period of just three months, John doesn’t get a lot of sleep. In fact, all he gets is short naps, rising every few hours to go check the barn to see which does might be going into labor.

Needless to say, coffee is very important to John this time of year.

Here’s what John looks like when the first goats are born:

And here’s what he looks like about halfway through:

There’s no telling what he’ll look like by the time the last kid is born. (Just teasing, John!)

Part of what we love about having such a fun Facebook community, with virtual neighbors from around the world, is that we never know who will see our posts. (And the occasional pleas for help.)

We were surprised and delighted that someone from Krups USA happened to see the post about John’s broken coffee maker and offered to send John a new Krups machine!

And better yet…they sent a second one for us to use in a giveaway for one of our virtual neighbors (that means you.)

The machine that Krups USA has chosen for the giveaway is a really fancy one….top of the line. (Too bad we can’t enter ourselves. And Mom, you can’t either.)

It’s a Krups XP5280 Espresso Machine. It’s got a precise tamping mechanism, multi-directional milk frother and amazing 15 bar pump. If you don’t know what that all means, you don’t have to. Just know that it retails for, like, $400 and makes the best espresso, cappuccinos, and lattes you can imagine. And it’s pretty…stainless steel. Pretty matters.

For more info, check out Krups USA website.

For your chance to win it…simply answer the question below in the comment section:

QUESTION: The time I most needed a good cup of coffee in my life was…

Rules:

1. One entry per person.

2. You must live within the Continental United States.

3. No entries after Wednesday, March 27.

4. Winner will be selected at random, and we will announce the winner on this page on Thursday, March 28.Good luck!

Is Faintly Bigger Than A Village?

Remember Faintly? Our wee littlest goat born on Beekman 1802 Farm this season?

Of course you do. She’s bigger than life. (Even if she’s smaller than most everything else.)

A few weeks ago we brought her inside the house to show you all the things that she’s bigger and smaller than.

We then decided to take her into the village to see what else she compares to. Our friend Chris Stout-Hazard helped us take pictures.

Wanna ride along?

We’ve got plenty of room.

Faintly doesn’t take up much space.

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First stop?

The Sharon Springs Free Library.

Is Faintly bigger than a stack of books?

She sure is, or so it looks.

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Next stop…Cobbler & Co. Gifts.

Is Faintly bigger than a bunch of bears?

Just a bit, but they’re not scared.

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On to the Post Office.

Is Faintly bigger than a letter bin?

Faintly?

Faintly??

She can be, but by just a chin.

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Across the street, Faintly stopped at The Liquor Cabinet. (Just to look.)

Is Faintly bigger than a bottle of fizz?

She izz! She izz!

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The nice women at the bank wanted Faintly to visit them next.

They thought that Faintly would be bigger than their money sorter.

They lost the bet. She’s a quarter shorter.

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Faintly stopped next at Adelphi Paper Hangings.

Is Faintly bigger than a very full bucket of very sticky wallpaper glue?

 

We decided it would be best not to find out.

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All this posing can build up quite a hunger, so we stopped to visit with Tony at The Black Cat.

Is Faintly bigger than somebody’s lunch?

 

She’s not, unless she takes a munch.

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Faintly saw some friends over at 204 Main Bar & Bistro.

Is Faintly bigger than a pint of beer?

 

That much is true, it’s crystal clear.

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All this posing can be quite stressful. Off to the Spring House Spa.

 

Is Faintly bigger than a massage table?

 

No. But it’s softer than her scratchy stable.

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Faintly’s friends Chris and Roger opened the Love Decades Showroom.

Is Faintly bigger than their big tall chair?

 

Nope, but she looks cute up there.

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Faintly had one last very important stop she really wanted to make.

She was very excited that Chief Baxter and Stacy Wojciechowski said she could go inside the Sharon Springs Firehouse.

Inside was something she’d always wanted to see if she was bigger than.

She was pretty sure she would be.

Positive, in fact.

What was it?

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Well, Faintly thought for sure she would be bigger than a big red fire truck!

 

…No such luck.

 

 

Gartending: Twisted Cherry Blossom

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Klaus invented a new cocktail!  This is not just any cocktail, mind you- but one that speaks clearly of the season.  But what season is that?  The dull time, just before the burst of spring.  The ground coming out of its slumber, mud all around, a few crocus flowers straining to move through the soft soil.  It’s going to snow in the next few days though…

A cruel joke perhaps?

The past few days, Klaus has seemed full of wanderlust.  He spent the time wandering through the International Restaurant and Foodservice Show in NYC.  He met the kind folks at Total Food Service Magazine and many others along the way.  Klaus admired the commercial ice machines, the electronic technology laden kitchen equipment and high-speed dishwashers.  He was so impressed!

Then, as if by magic, he tasted raw fish for the first time, cut deftly by a Japanese sashimi master.  This artisan of all things sashimi was flown in directly from Japan with his plethora of hand-made carbon steel knifes glistening in the light. (Just like the knives in Kill Bill)    Just around the corner from the sashimi master, his student sits on an ancient stool and hand-sharpens sushi knives as if his life’s work was to sharpen those knifes.  (And it was!)

Klaus commented that the stones appeared so wet as the sharpening student lay the blades down, nearly perpendicular to the stone, lying in a pool of water, the sharpening surface itself pure, as if in an excited state of altered reality.  Klaus was mesmerized by the motion of the sharpening master, one push against the stone, then the other side and so on and so on and…

But if there is one thing that Klaus knows how to do and that is drink.

Many top end Sake producers appeared in the Japan Pavilion at the show and Klaus started pulling me towards the broad tables, laden with sake from all over Japan.  Klaus didn’t want to extol over the immense pleasures of both jasmine and green tea, what he wanted was to get soused!  He was actually being quite insistent! Klaus was leading me towards a veritable Holy Grail of sake.  Smiling men and women were holding out little plastic cups of liquid history to Klaus.  He threw back his little ceramic head and drained a whole series of sake.  Some were fruity and light, the pinot grigio sake- served ice cold and meant to be enjoyed quickly.  Others were more introspective, like Burgundy, thick with sediment and possibilities.  Still others in the nearly unknown, creamy style of sake pleased Klaus to no end and I actually saw him stashing a few bottles worth in his little flask on his chest for the car-ride home.

Ah Klaus, you work in strange little ways.

The season for drinking sake is year round in Japan and Klaus suddenly realized the meaning of his own desire.  That is the absolutely freshest fish that money can buy, washed down with glass after glass of distinctive and crystalline sake from micro producers around Japan- as pure as the melted snow on Mt. Fuji.

Klaus told me that he wants to do a story on Japan.  Maybe he will be in the right place at the right time to attain a story of this merit?

Klaus?  Klaus?  Ah, he wandered off again.  Looking for another little glass of sake?  He’s so predictable.

 

Twisted Cherry Blossom Cocktail

Ingredients (for two friends or one thirsty gnome)

3 oz. Hiro Sake (well chilled)

1 oz. Bluewater Vodka (also well chilled)

3 oz. Blood Orange Juice (freshly squeezed)

1 oz. Royal Rose Simple Syrup of Tamarind

Crushed filtered water ice (Klaus uses the Mavea “Inspired Water” pitcher)

4 drops in each cocktail- Bitter End Thai Bitters

Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water- Lemon essence

 

Preparation:

Freeze filtered water ice overnight and crush, pack into tall Collins glasses

To a Boston Shaker filled ¾ with filtered water ice, add the liquors and the blood orange juice

Add the simple syrup

Shake for 15 seconds

Taste for sweet/tart quality

Pour over filtered crushed ice and finally add a few drops of the Bitter End Thai Bitters over the top… finish with a splash of the Perrier Sparkling Water and drink!

 

 Kanpai!