Vesper Martini

On the seventh day of Christmas my bartender made for me, an (almost) authentic James Bond martini….

Both Mr.Surly and I are big James Bond fans. So when it came to Day 7, I immediately thought of agent 007. We have a bar book we bought that contains the authentic drink of James Bond, with directions straight from Ian Flemming's Casino Royale.

The drink's name is derived from Vesper Lynd, the double agent James falls in love with. Russian vodka is used to symbolize Vesper's ties to the Russians. The orange twist is used to compliment the Lillet Blanc, which is made from oranges and a combination of french wines and is a substitute for vermouth. Our bar book said to garnish with an orange to compliment the Lillet blanc, even though Bond asked for a thin slice of lemon peel. (Click here to watch the scene from Casino Royale where Bond (Daniel Craig) orders the drink).

Bond prefers his martini served in a champagne coupe** but not having those, we opted for a martini glass. I love the look of the champagne coupes, I must add some to my stemware collection.

Mr.Surly claimed this drink; I had a sip and it was really, really good. But also very, very potent, so one drink and you'd be feelin' real good.

We didn't have Gordon's dry gin, but we used Bombay Sapphire which is a dry London Gin, so at least it's British, which I feel is appropriate.

For vermouth we used Martini and Rossi dry vermouth.

Chai Eggnog

On the sixth day of Christmas my bartender made for me, Chai Eggnog to share with others besides just me...

I wanted to include some traditional Christmas drinks with some kind of twist to make them different. I love Chai lattes, so it was a no-brainer to add Chai concentrate to spice up the eggnog. I just wish we had the National Lampoon's Christmas moose mugs to drink it in.

Can you believe I have never had eggnog before? Am I the only one? It just never really appealed to me because I don't like milk. But after tasting this, I'm totally a fan, maybe because of the Chai. I really wanted to use coconut milk instead of regular milk, but we didn't have any. I will make this again for Mr.Surly and myself using coconut milk. Mmmmm, it will be like a coconut chai latte spiked with booze.

If you can't find Chai concentrate, here is a good recipe to make your own from spices and sweetened condensed milk.

It Does a GI Tract Good

I have been a terrible food blogger lately. I've relied heavily on the help of others for my posts because I haven't been well enough to make anything. I had a renal venogram last week that I'm still recovering from. I never thought putting a small catheter with a camera in my vein would hurt so much. I was unable to be completely sedated because I had to follow commands, such as: "breath in deeply", "hold your breath", and "is that where your pain is"? 'Lucky' me, I was the first patient at the hospital to have this procedure done; I was the first patient they have seen who actually has nutcracker syndrome. Needless to say, the doctors and surgeons were pretty excited to see me and my rare condition.

They snaked the catheter/camera up from my right femoral vein (in my groin) all the way up to my left renal vein. I could feel every where the doctor snaked that catheter. I even asked if it was supposed to be so painful. My nurses were wonderful, they felt bad for me so they were rubbing my head and giving me more pain meds every 5 min. Even though it was painful, I found it fascinating what modern medicine can do. Afterward my insides felt like spaghetti; like someone had taken a knife to my insides, just chopping and slicing away.

After all that, the doctor looked at my images and was unable to make a recommendation on what to do next because he has never seen nutcracker syndrome before. He is going to consult with other doctors before putting me through an invasive surgery involving making a new renal vein to bypass the compressed one.

Anyway, I'm sorry to go into all that, but I just wanted to let you all know I'm not (completely) lazy; I've been dealing with a lot of things. And the next two weeks will be filled with doctor appointments, questions, and decisions about a possible surgery. For this reason my cooking has dwindled down to almost nothing. Poor Mr.Surly has been reduced to eating canned soup and Lucky Charms.

Sorry about my little rant that has nothing to do with this delicious apple brandy, Calvados. I was introduced to it back in August while on vacation. We went out to eat at a wonderful French restaurant and I had forgotten my Creon pills. These are pills that contain 3 pancreatic enzymes to help me digest my food; I have to take them every time I eat anything. Well, I ate the meal anyway, knowing I was going to be in a lot of pain later.

We had after dinner drinks and I chose this apple brandy that sounded good. Little did I know how good it would turn out to be. First of all, it tastes phenomenal; great apple flavor. After my first sip, I felt the warm buring in my throat and all the way down my esophagus; relaxing everything. By the time I finished my brandy (just a few ounces) my entire GI tract was relaxed. I didn't even feel the ill effects I usually feel when eating without taking my enzyme pill. The Calvados had relaxed everything, dulling my pain.

Ever since we returned from vacation we've been looking for this brandy for me. I want to have it around in case I eat a meal that causes my abdominal pain. Mr.Surly finally found it for me. He also bought these brandy snifters/cognac glasses that are supposedly made for french brandy.

Now, I'm not a medical expert, so I don't know if this would help all people with abdominal issues (maybe it would exacerbate it in some). All I'm saying is that it works for me. And for you lucky people with no GI issues, it makes a wonderful after dinner drink.

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Spicy Hot Bloody Mary

While on vacation in August, for some reason, someone in Mr.Surly's family got a craving for a Bloody Mary. No one really knew how to make a bloody mary, so Mr.Surly's sister, an aspiring NYC bartender, took charge of the task. The result was delicious; so good, in fact, that once home Mr.Surly requested a bloody mary one Saturday afternoon. I had to text Surly-SIL (sister-in-law) for the recipe. She gave me the ingredient list but I had to play around with the ratio's to get it to Mr.Surly's liking (it took a couple of attempts).

Warning about these; they are hot and spicy. If that isn't your thing, just use regular V8 and maybe omit the creole seasonings.