Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 99
June 1, 2012
Gartending: Rum Pum Pum
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For the Spring and Summer growing season, we bring you a new feature at Beekman 1802, the Soused Gnome. He’ll teach you how to “gartend”–create perfect seasonal cocktails using fresh ingredients from the garden.
Barbancourt Rum is from Haiti. It is made in the French Style. That means there is not a bit of American Bourbon Oak used in the aging process. They use oak from the Cognac region of France. This flavor of grape instead of grain makes this rum most beguiling in a cocktail. Instead of drinking vanilla and sweet sugar addled rum, you are drinking the fire of the Cognac residue in the casks. For anyone who enjoys being a rum fanatic; put down that glass of candy laced vanilla syrup and pour a glass of fine French Style rum down your throat.
It’s much different than the others.
I love Solerno Blood Orange Liquor. This is a magical potion in a gorgeous Murano style glass bottle. The aromatic flavors of the Sicilian Blood Oranges is enrobed in a potent mix of herbs, spices and powerful 80 proof spirits. Solerno lends itself easily to cocktails made with rum and the addition of the Bittercube Blackstrap Bitters extends this drink into another realm of cocktail deliciousness.
But how does this drink lend itself to the garden? I would say that the addition of grilled peaches freshly picked from the trees and freshly squeezed orange and lime juices will elevate a wonderful mixture of flavors into something quite different. The addition of coconut water ice cubes will deepen this cocktail to a tropical delight.
I added some freshly squeezed orange juice to the mix and a cocktail is born anew!
Twoubabdou Cocktail
Ingredients:
For several cocktails worthy of a Voodoo Trance!
4 Shots Barbancourt Haitian Rum (3 star, aged four years in oak)
2 Shots Solerno Sicilian Blood Orange Liqueur
Freshly Squeezed Orange and Lime juices (about ½ cup each)
Grilled Peaches (slice peaches in half, then grill until crusty and sweet)
Coconut water ice (freeze sweetened coconut water into an ice tray overnight)
Preparation:
To a pitcher muddle the grilled peaches with the orange and lime juices
Add the Liquors and a cup or two of regular ice
Mix and add one or two medicine droppers of the Bittercube Blackstrap Bitters
Strain into tall cocktail glasses filled with coconut water ice
Sip to the strains of Haiti located deeply within your subconscious.
Warren Bobrow is the Food and Drink Editor of the 501c3, non profit Wild Table on Wild River Review located in Princeton, New Jersey. He has published over three hundred articles in about three years on everything from cocktail mixology to restaurant reviews and travel articles. Learn more from his website, The Cocktail Whisperer, or by visiting his blogs at The Daily Basic, Foodista, and Williams-Sonoma
May 30, 2012
5 Beautiful Things
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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We’re calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week
The Container Garden
Small, urban spaces – such as the ones I have called home my entire adult life – provide some unique challenges to those of us with green thumbs. Limited space, limited light and often little to no actual land upon which to sow can leave the garden addict in a state of serious withdrawal.
My solution has always been houseplants. I surround myself with my favourite specimens (ferns, cacti, succulents and the occasional cyclamen) so that I can see and touch something green, smell the fullness of the foliage and soil and trick myself into thinking I am outdoors.
Balconies, terraces, courtyards and front steps provide ideal settings for container gardens. Whether you are growing your favourite tropical plants or the most delicious heirloom tomatoes, containers provide a humble – but no less rewarding – alternative to acres and acres of land. Space limitations and the confines of containers also force the gardener to be creative, both as a grower and as a designer. Grouping plants by colour and shape, alternating leaf patterns and textures, staggering various heights to create depth and dimension can create a visually-stunning tableau of greenery on any stoop or balcony. The container itself, whether ceramic or iron or galvanized, can be as whimsical or as grand as you wish, providing plenty of opportunity to let your personality shine.
Below are examples of some excellent container gardens that have inspired me.
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Photos
1. Martha Stewart Living magazine, March, 2002
2. Martha Stewart Living magazine, March, 2002
3. Greenwellies.tumblr.com
4. Woonblog.typepad.com
5. House Beautiful, June, 1987
Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he’ll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.
May 25, 2012
Gartending: Root + Rye
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For the Spring and Summer growing season, we bring you a new feature at Beekman 1802, the Soused Gnome. He’ll teach you how to “gartend”–create perfect seasonal cocktails using fresh ingredients from the garden.
This cocktail sounds like a song from long ago.
Root and Rye, a nickel will buy you some…
I love the flavor of Root the USDA Certified Organic Root Tea. It’s really not what you expect on the first sip. What is Root? Well, it’s USDA Certified Organic Root Tea. What is Root Tea you ask? Root Tea is a combination of roots and spices, herbs and other all- natural ingredients. A long time ago root teas were used in back-road country medicines as cures for a variety of ills. From fevers to other ailments, each roadside doctor would have in his bag a variety of old fashioned ingredients that healed in often unexplained manners. These root teas also contained alcohol and it wasn’t long before they morphed into ingredients to make a highly potent root beer.
Prohibition came around and the formerly alcoholic root beer got some carbonation and became the soda we know today. Root on the other hand is not like a candy syrup flavored vodka or sickly sweet cordial. It is unique in every way. Now I can’t tell you that it will cure a headache, but I can tell you that Root mixed with the small production, hand-made Rye Whiskey from Tuthilltown in New York State’s Hudson Valley makes for a fine cocktail.
I like to mash some home cured Apple Jack cherries into the mix for a luscious take on the famous Manhattan Cocktail. A very twisted version at that.
So how so we make the Root and Rye cocktail sing strange songs? By singing along with the Soused Gnome!
Root + Rye
Ingredients
to make two historically incorrect cocktails…
3 Shots Rye Whiskey from Tuthilltown
2 Shots Root- USDA Certified Organic Root Tea from Art in the Age
Carpano Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth
Mint from the garden (I prefer Kentucky Colonel Mint)
Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
Preparation:
To a cocktail shaker, muddle a handful of your mint to release the oils
Fill shaker ¼ with ice
Add Root
Add Rye
Shake until frosty
Strain into a short rocks glass with an orange zest in each glass and some ice
Finish with a splash of the Perrier Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
Warren Bobrow is the Food and Drink Editor of the 501c3, non profit Wild Table on Wild River Review located in Princeton, New Jersey. He has published over three hundred articles in about three years on everything from cocktail mixology to restaurant reviews and travel articles. Learn more from his website, The Cocktail Whisperer, or by visiting his blogs at The Daily Basic, Foodista, and Williams-Sonoma
May 23, 2012
5 Beautiful Things
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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We’re calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week
Martha’s Sunken Garden
Outside her kitchen door, on the front side of her house, is a space Martha Stewart refers to as her sunken garden. It is a large expanse that connects her main house (the Winter House) to a second house on the property, called the Summer House. Visitors must access the garden by stepping down into it, hence its name. There is also a possible reference to the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg, Florida: a four-acre botanical paradise filled with tropical and sub-tropical plants.
Each summer, once the weather is warm enough, Martha raids the greenhouse and brings out her enormous tropical plants: palms, agaves, cycads, cacti and succulents planted in vintage urns and handmade pottery by her favourite potter, Guy Wolfe. Their destination is always the sunken garden because of its long hours of exposure to sunshine.
The photos below were taken by Martha on a particularly foggy morning one day in June, 2008. I have always loved how mysterious and majestic the tropical plants look amid the wisps of fog, silhouetted against the grey. Martha’s placement of the plants is casual but purposeful: staggered height and shape, groupings of similar and dissimilar varieties, leading the visitor from one vignette to the next, between Winter House and Summer House.
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Photos:
All photos by Martha Stewart.
Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he’ll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.
May 20, 2012
Spring in the Airwaves
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As spring scents tumble through the village of Sharon Springs, and new products are laid out in the mercantile in their perfect packaging, we felt it was the perfect time to bring some new aural treats into the shop for our visitors. The Mercantile playlist has grown quite lengthy over the past year. While it’s a much better rotation than when the shop first opened and Brent played only one Natalie Merchant album over and over, I do think Megan might lose it if she has to hear Fleet Foxes just one more time. There are some amazing artists that have emerged in recent months, and while many of us crank the radio whenever Gotye’s “Somebody that I Used to Know” comes on, you’re truly missing out if you haven’t heard the infectious happiness of “In Your Light.” And the sweeping storytelling found in the Of Monsters and Men album is so catchy, we often play the album in it’s entirety.
Up With the Birds – Coldpay
40 Day Dream – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Janglin – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Eyes Wide Open – Gotye
In Your Light – Gotye
When I Fall Asleep – The Head and the Heart
Cats and Dogs (Alternate Version) – The Head and the Heart
Wait – M83
Primitive Girl – M. Ward
Wild Goose – M. Ward
From Finner – Of Monsters and Men
Six Weeks – Of Monsters and Men
Orion & Dog – Sea Wolf
Turn the Dirt Over – Sea Wolf
The Orchard – Sea Wolf
Have you picked your official song of summer? Tell us in the comments section below and maybe it will make the Mercantile mix!
May 18, 2012
Josh’s Early Summer Reading List
There’s not a lot of time to kick back with a good book this time of year…but these are the ones I’m eye-ing for those 10 minutes between when the sun goes down and I collapse into bed:
Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry
We were recently gifted this book, and we can’t wait to dig into the recipes. The photography is mouthwatering enough, but the fun, contemporary recipes will entice even the most reluctant jar-ophobe to give it a go.
Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight?
Now don’t go getting any ideas…we’ve got enough to take care of already on the farm. But this new book by our friend, comedy writer/producer Dan Bucatinsky, is simply hilarious. It’s “Modern Family” in book form. Only even funnier. The endorsements alone should convince you. – Rosie O’Donnell, Lisa Kudrow, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dan Savage, Neil Patrick Harris…
All Creatures Great and Small
Have we already put this on classic on our reading list? We forget. But it’s a book we keep in our bedroom to pick up and read a chapter or two when the mood hits. Sometimes it makes us feel better about our Beekman projects. Sometimes it makes us feel worse. But it always makes us feel warm and tingly all over.
Tell me, what are you reading?
Josh’s Late Spring Reading List
The sun is up a little longer. And so are we. Here’s how I plan on spending my evenings…hopefully not in front of a fire for a change!
Back to Basics – We love this book. We love the updated version of this book. It’s a terrific guide to doing all the things we set out to learn when we bought this farm – cheesemaking, jam preserving, dying wool, how to cut and stack firewood. Everything you need to know to live life simply.
Slow Love – We were so excited to learn that this former editor of House & Garden magazine was a big fan of Beekman 1802 and even shopped the Mercantile for Christmas gifts! We love what she has produced, too–a book about finding a more meaningful way to live.
Martha’s American Food – We always look to Martha for staple recipes. (Whenever we’re unsure of a traditional classic recipe we cross reference Martha, Ina & The New Basics. ) In Martha’s latest book, she shares her take on American Classic recipes, from ribs, to pot pies, to cobblers.
The Journal Keeper – We talk a lot about seasonal living and making the most out of each one. In this unflinching and poetic memoir, this writer takes a look at the final seasons of life, including love, aging, caring for parents, and spirituality.
The Fire Island Cookbook – We loved this cookbook (it even says so on the back cover.) Arranged by full menu, it shares recipes for creating many memories of summertime entertaining. And also thoughtfully assembled so that you can actually enjoy summer activities with friends instead of toiling in the kitchen all day.
White Truffles in Winter – This author will be on the farm this summer doing a Radical Sabbatical. In this book she weaves a sensuous story of food and longing, war and romance. I wanted to eat every page of this book. Can’t wait to see how working on the Beekman Farm works its way into her next book.
Tell me…what are you reading?
Gartending: Rhuby + Rye
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For the Spring and Summer growing season, we bring you a new feature at Beekman 1802, the Soused Gnome. He’ll teach you how to “gartend”–create perfect seasonal cocktails using fresh ingredients from the garden.
I love the flavor of Rhubarb and as I discovered just now the aromatics of Spicebox Spiced Rye Whisky from Canada is a match that is made for the garden. Soon the baby strawberries will be glistening in the morning dew. There is a magical flavor that comes from mashing these fresh berries in a glass then adding some fresh chervil. Chervil? What is that? Chervil grows like a weed in the garden and lends a peppery, tarragon-fennel aroma and flavor to a drink. I love it with the Spicebox and I especially like it mashed along with cucumbers into a glass of Rhuby. What is Rhuby you may ask? Rhuby is a magical elixir that comes USDA Certified Organic from the folks at Art in the Age. Rhuby is Rhubarb and the uses for a Rhubarb Liquor are very exciting to the home mixologist. After all, Rhuby makes your life as easier by carrying the essence and flavors of this 80 proof liquor into your memories of truly great cocktails. Rhubarb is a classic with the tiny strawberries and the flavors of tarragon and fennel from your chervil are just a surprise to your guests when you tell them what they are drinking. There are many creative uses for this rare, yet vivacious herb along with the spicy edge of the Canadian Rye Whisky and the addition of a healthy dose of the Rhubarb Liquor.
It’s one of those indescribable flavors. The green herbaceous nature of the chervil, woven with the Rhuby and an undercurrent of the Spicebox. Magic!
The Hazel Dickens Cocktail
Ingredients
for two subtle yet memorable cocktails
1 Pint baby strawberries well washed
3 Shots Rhuby (USDA Certified Organic Rhubarb Liquor)
2 Shots Spicebox –Spiced Rye Whisky
1 European Cucumber (peeled and sliced into coins)
Chervil (a handful, chopped very fine)
Fresh mint (for garnish)
Preparation:
Muddle a couple coins of the cucumber with a handful of baby strawberries
Add about a chopped tablespoon of the chervil
Muddle some more and add ice to the cocktail shaker, fill about ¼ way
Add the liquors
Shake and Strain into Champagne flutes with the garnish of fresh mint
Warren Bobrow is the Food and Drink Editor of the 501c3, non profit Wild Table on Wild River Review located in Princeton, New Jersey. He has published over three hundred articles in about three years on everything from cocktail mixology to restaurant reviews and travel articles. Learn more from his website, The Cocktail Whisperer, or by visiting his blogs at The Daily Basic, Foodista, and Williams-Sonoma
May 17, 2012
The Making of the Beekman 1802 Tabletop Birdbath
One of the newest designs from the Beekman 1802 Rural Artists Collective is our Beekman 1802 Tabletop Birdbath, hewn entirely from one piece of solid New York State Bluestone. They’re based on the design of Victorian Butterfly baths, and are individually crafted by a third-generation stone mason. We filmed the making of one recently…click below to watch!
May 16, 2012
5 Beautiful Things
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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We’re calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week
Martha’s Peony Garden
For Martha Stewart and her extraordinary ambitions – at home and at work – history has often been a reliable and inspiring guide. It was Elizabeth Von Arnim’s 1898 novel, for instance (Elizabeth And Her German Garden) which inspired Martha Stewart’s vast peony garden at her main residence in Bedford, New York.
The novel, which is semi-autobiographical, charts the horticultural struggles and triumphs of a high-society protagonist interested in creating a lavish garden. At her estate in Pomerania, Von Arnim had created an enormous, circular bed of peonies, profusely scented and sheltered within a tall hedge that formed the perimeter to protect the delicate petals from the damaging wind. The circle was more than 300 feet across and Von Arnim’s two daughters were said to have spent many of their summer days enjoying this little paradise, picking the stems for pretty bouquets indoors.
Taking a second look at Martha’s peony garden, then, and the inspiration becomes clear. Martha planted eleven double rows with 22 varieties of herbaceous peony plants, 35 plants in each row. She chose varieties that came in shades of pink (Von Arnim thought red peonies to be “vulgar”) ensuring various flower types: single, semi-double, double and anemone-type blossoms. She staggered their plantings to prolong the blooming season: some bloom earlier than others, extending the amount of time the plants are in blossom. All of the plants were purchased from Roy Klehm, owner of Klehm’s Song Sparrow Nursery in Avalon, Wisconsin.
Martha was so pleased with the results of her peony garden that she began a new tradition: an annual Peony Party! I’ve often imagined how intoxicating the beautiful scent must be when the beds are in full bloom. Peony fragrance is one of my favourites.
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Photos:
All photos by Martha Stewart.
Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he’ll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.
