"shots" news and stories

Some fresh fruit juice shots. Photo: Jennifer Iserloh

My neighbor Susan recently gave me this charming book about old fashioned cocktails. The author stresses throughout the book that the base of a delicious mixed drink comes from premium spirits and fresh juices -- no bottled mixes. He's got some real concoctions in there from what he considers a "gentler" time when specialty cocktails and sophisticated entertaining reigned supreme.

I really like the idea of a homemade drink, especially when it comes to entertaining. But I've never been able to handle those bar shots that people try to get you to down when you're out for a night on the town.

Continuing with the "numbered cocktail" theme, I think this is the first drink of the Happy Hour series I've posted that's served in a shot glass.

This is the 747. Not sure why it's named after an airplane, but some cocktails have mysterious origins. This is made with Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Cream, and Frangelico. From those ingredients I'm sure you can tell immediately what it might taste like and if you'd like it or not.

Those of you that are familiar with the Jell-O experiments of MyScienceProject.org will be glad to know that a new batch of tests was added this month. Apparently the folks at MyScienceProject got lots of responses from their previous attempts to pack as much booze into a Jell-O shot as possible. On the new page, they're testing the benefits of using unflavored gelatin (yum), blooming it first, and then cutting it with grain alcohol or Bacardi 151 instead of vodka. After producing plenty of barely palatable Jell-O shots, the only logical thing to do was set them on fire. It's a shame there wasn't a buffet nearby.

As a side note, NPR recently featured a story about wine-infused gelatin.

[Photo: MyScienceProject.org]

I recently set up my home espresso machine. I am not an espresso novice, but this is the first machine I’ve had in my own kitchen. Based upon careful research, I selected the best machine I could find. And by “careful research”, I mean to say that I got a good deal on a good-looking machine. Fortunately for me, it is also an excellent machine that offers great performance, especially for a countertop model. It has a 15-BAR pressure pump and high quality brass hadware inside. The sleek, retro styling and small size are nice bonuses, in my opinon.  I have a Francis!Francis! X3.