Kevin Drinks Beverages

From time to time there is occasion to imbibe, and while those occasions have become less frequent over the years, they also have called for somewhat more creativity. So for Bernie's birthday, I decided to make a cocktail that celebrated the waning weeks of summer (why is it still so hot outside???).

Bernie's Birthday Cocktail

So, some people like to follow recipes, and if I had Googled blackberry ginger gin cocktail I'm sure I would have found lots of recipes. For me, that's no fun. So I set to work trying to figure out how to put those things together in a cocktail, because they sounded delicious together.

Blackberry Syrup

This required several attempts and at the end of it, I'm convinced that I didn't do this the right way. More to come later.

I bought some fresh blackberries from Costco, mixed them with the juice of one lemon, a cup of water, and a cup of sugar. I then boiled it too long, and strained it through a fine mesh strainer. After it had cooled slightly, I had some blackberry jelly. It would have been quite delicious on a scone, but not quite the consistency I was looking for.

On the second attempt, I bought some cheaper frozen blackberries and attempted to juice them in a juicer. This did not produce anywhere near as much juice as I was hoping.

Luckily, I had bought a second bag of frozen blackberries, and I went back to the first method, except I didn't boil it too long, and I mashed the blackberries up with a potato masher. This worked reasonably well, and I had a syrup of the right consistency.

Ginger Juice

As it turns out, ginger juice is really potent. I juiced some fresh ginger juice. Like way too much of it. At first I was mixing about 1 teaspoon of ginger juice with 2 tablespoons of blackberry syrup, and it was just crazy gingery. I ended up mixing about 2 tablespoons of ginger juice with the entire batch of blackberry syrup (all three attempts mixed together).

That amount of ginger = too much ginger

Further Research Needed

The above two sections turned out okay for a first attempt, but I think for future attempts there is no need to separate the two. I think I can put a couple pints of blackberries and a few slices of ginger into a food processor, then mix them with the water and sugar to make a blackberry ginger syrup with no juicing required. Feel free to contact me if you would like to be a taster for the next batch.

Mixing

This turned out to be rather important. Don't stir. Shake. Listen to 007. Mix the blackberry ginger syrup in equal parts with gin (Costco had 1.5 L of Seagram's for $18 - why are you trying to turn us into alcoholics Costco?). Add ice to a shaker and shake vigorously. Pour into a glass and add 2 parts cold soda water. Top with a slice of lemon.

Results

I forgot to take pictures at the party, but it was a big hit!

Porkchops, Chutney, Sweet Potato Mash

Sometimes rather than decide what I want to eat, and then go get the ingredients from the grocery store, I like to be inspired by what I find there. This can sometimes have great results, and other times can result in wandering the grocery store aimlessly for an hour, getting hungry, and just buying something from the hot foods section. Fortunately, Veronica has no patience for aimless wandering, so our trip to Whole Foods was fruitful and inspired (I use the word fruitful intentionally, as you will see later).

Veronica (impersonating Kevin): "I'm Kevin. I don't know if I want x or y. I'm going to put x in the cart. But wait what about y? Oooh look at j and k! Wait let me go over to..."

I don't know what she's talking about. That's not what I sound like at all. Save it for your next guest post.

Anyway, I went straight to the proteins and looked around until I found some pork chops. They were a bit thinner than I preferred, but they looked pretty good, and I had some mangoes back home that would pair well with pork. Pork with fruit is a pretty classic combination, but Veronica doesn't like sweet and savory things together, so I was determined to convert her.

I went to go ponder a side. I suggested fingerling potatoes, but Veronica insisted that we get sweet potatoes for a sweet potato mash.

Pork Chop

Ingredients

• pork chops
• soy sauce
• apple cider vinegar
• salt
• black pepper
• cumin
• cayenne pepper
• oil

Directions

This is probably not a particularly helpful picture.

1. Heat a pan on high heat with some oil. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and let it sit for a while. I didn't put any amounts on the ingredients because it kind of depends on how many pork chops you got in your package at the store. Also I didn't really measure anything, so I really couldn't tell you anyway.
3. Add the pork chops to the hot pan and brown for about 1 minute on each side.
4. Finish in the oven to your desired doneness. The FDA no longer suggests that you cook pork to death, so if you like your pork a bit pink, go for it! You just need to get up to 145 degrees.

Mango Chutney

This was highly improvised, and I'm not sure that I'm allowed to call it mango chutney, but it kind of tasted like chutney. Actually, Veronica said that it might be the best chutney she's ever had. I'm pretty sure it's just because I loaded it with ginger and she's obsessed with ginger, but still.

Ingredients

• 1 mango
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped or grated ginger root
• 1 green pepper
• 3 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp curry powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• (most recipes call for onion but I didn't have any - probably would help)

Directions

It's easy!

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over high heat.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat.
3. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sweet Potato Mash

Veronica mostly made this. I tried to cook the sweet potatoes in the oven, but it was taking way too long. I would recommend boiling them. (Veronica: "I told you so.")

After that combine with milk, butter, salt, pepper, curry powder (it was a curry type of day), and Greek yogurt (for a healthier creaminess), and mash it all together with a potato masher.

It tasted better than it looks.