In Deference to Drinking Alone, Pandemic or not!

My mom would query me, do you drink alone? As if it were sinful or symptomatic of an underlying problem and may lead to addiction. My response: I live alone, do I need a companion to drink? If I have guests, I am more likely to indulge in more than one cocktail, and that may lead to trouble or an after-morning headache! Follow along and discover the Corpse Reviver 2, a cocktail concoction for post tippling relief! For deeper meaning of the actual word Cocktail, do mosey to Online Etymology Dictionary! .

The Day After by Edvard Munch

My go to Friday supper is Champers and Popcorn, the perfect pairing. Microwave fresh kernels in a small brown bag, melt butter, add a smidge of Himalayan Rock Salt or Sea Salt from your travels- everyone buys salt when they travel don’t they? One should, it eats up absolutely zero real estate in your baggage, makes lovely gifts and never gets stale! Pop the bubbly, nothing more satisfying. Served in a proper bowl, with linen napkin, dress it up!

When I travel, I frequently dine alone in elegant restaurants. I am certainly not going to miss the world’s best restaurant in Bangkok because I would be sitting alone. As it turned out in BKK at Gaggan, which had been voted No.1 for four years as Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant, the concierge mentioned there was a new Chef’s Table and would I like to see it and decide where to dine ..yes, please! In the end, I met other travelers and we were thrilled with the theatrical chef presentations, all 25 courses! Often in Europe, a hostess will offer me a stack of magazines, which I decline, my travel journal and camera are the perfect companions…I’m a copious note taker. Many bartenders have taught me various methods to make my favorite cocktail, a Rye Manhattan. Dine and sip at a bar and you will always learn restaurant secrets, be served petite bites of chef’s delectable cheese or a bartender’s treasured port. There is much to be learned at the bar, dining and drinking alone is never boring or lonely!

Digital drinking, zoom cocktails during pandemic doesn’t provide much inspiration for me. I would rather be in a foreign country and absorbing local culture.

Zoomable Pandemic Cocktails fill pages of newsletters, in looking forward to a forthcoming escape, planned pre-pandemic, to Paso Robles for the Bruce Munro Filed of Light at Sensorio.

I am moseying my way down the coast and settling in at the newish Hotel San Luis Obispo. Owned by the same peeps of Hotel Healdsburg, their cocktail page offers a weekly concoction, my first question to the bartender at the roof top High Bar, is there a personal inspiration for this drink: Corpse Reviver No.2… The San Luis Obispo Mission Cemetery is blocks away, if there is a secret, I intend to learn it!

Corpse Reviver Cocktail

Brief research yields that the Corpse Reviver family of cocktails are sometimes drunk as alcoholic hangover “cures”, of potency or characteristics to tongue in cheek be able to revive even a dead person. Corpse Reviver No. 2 is a classic, juniper-heavy London dry style. Faintly bitter fortified Lillet wine and a dash of absinthe are also said to settle a queasy stomach, be forewarned: four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.

Yield: makes 1 cocktail. Ingredients
• 1 oz. gin
• 1 oz. Cocchi Americano or Lillet Blanc
• 1 oz. Cointreau
• 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1 dash absinthe
• Orange peel, for garnish
Instructions

  1. Shake all ingredients together in an ice-filled cocktail shaker; strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Cheers!

Noma Cofounder, Chef Mads Refslund Private Dinners at Auberge Cabo!

Cabo Scoop! One of the world’s most acclaimed chefs, Mads Refslund, will celebrate the season of gratitude in Cabo. Auberge Resort Collection in Cabo has organized this VV special Thanksgiving feast – stay at Esperanza or Chileno Bay Resort and enjoy private dinners with chef. This November 24 – 28, meet and dine with World Renowned Visiting Chef, in an amazing private in Villa dinner program or intimate group dinners.

An enticing look at Esperanza Resort Cabo

Co-founder of Copenhagen’s Noma, four times named the world’s best restaurant, Chef Mads will draw on land and sea to create a gastronomic event at Esperanza or in your private villa at both resorts. Fanatically dedicated to terroir and to food that is sourced locally and sustainably, he’ll make use of the bounty of the Sea of Cortez and the many organic farms in and around Los Cabos. The result: a culinary experience that could only happen in Baja California.

Accompany Chef Mads on a foraging expedition to learn how to spot not just what’s edible, but what’s wildly delicious. The immersive dining experience showcases sea foraging and a custom multi-course meal built around Chef’s fire and ice concept. Gourmands can join Chef Refslund to scuba dive off the coast of La Paz, Mexico in search of seaweed and take master classes and workshops on how to use local ingredients in a sustainable, waste-free fashion. Refslund, one of the original proponents of zero-waste cooking, will also host one-of-kind dinners, cocktail receptions and more to showcase how some of the most neglected ingredients can yield the most extraordinary results.

YOUR PRIVATE MICHELIN-STARRED CHEF
You will have an extraordinary opportunity to have one of the world’s most acclaimed chefs prepare a private dinner for you in your villa. You’ll enjoy Chef Mads’s interpretation of Baja California cuisine, drawing on the bounty of the Sea of Cortez and the area’s abundant organic farms to concoct dishes that can be had nowhere else in the world. Savor wine pairings selected by their Master Sommeliers, with a special focus on the Baja Peninsula, also known as Mexico’s Napa Valley. He is available as a private chef for 3 nights only – Tuesday, November 24 to Thursday, November 26, 2020, for up to 10 guests. The cost begins at $5,000, including wine pairings for up to 10 guests. Private Villas are available at both resorts for this amazing opportunity.

For a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, November 26, 2020, the cost begins at $7,500 for up to 10 guests, including wine pairings. This dinner is a group dinner, the private Villa dinners are for you and your Villa guests only, at Esperanza and Chileno Bay Villas. If you have friends stay in other rooms, they are also welcome to your private Villa dinner!

VISIONARY DISHES, OCEAN BACKDROP
Seated on an oceanfront terrace at the magical Cocina del Mar, at Esperanza Resort, you’ll be transfixed watching Chef Mads in the outdoor exhibition kitchen, transforming the purest ingredients into visionary dishes. Reflecting his passion for sustainability, Chef Mads will also demonstrate ingenious ways to minimize food waste — culminating in an evening as enlightening as it is delicious with a menu that reflects the distinctive natural flavors of Baja California. Saturday, November 28th | 6:00 PM $145 per person, exclusive of beverages, service, and tax.

MEET CHEF MADS REFSLUND
A Danish chef living in New York City, he is an advocate for New Nordic cuisine and a terroir-based approach to cooking. His first cookbook uncovers how we can turn food waste into treasure. In the early years of his career, Chef Refslund earned his reputation working up the Copenhagen ladder at Michelin-starred restaurants Formel B, Restaurationen, The Paul, and Kokkeriet. Together with Rene Redzepi and Claus Meyer he co-founded Noma, which would go on to receive 2 Michelin Stars and was four times ranked the best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine.

Chef Mads Refslund

Auberge Resorts hosts two scrumptious resorts in Cabo – I survived Hurricane Newton at Esperanza with the professional care of one of our favorite GM’s, Marc Rodriguez. Our clients love both Auberge Resorts in Cabo- if you are a golfer, Auberge and Chileno are gems. Auberge has been a favorite of our client families for years, acres to roam. Set at the very tip of the Baja Peninsula, between two massive bluffs, and only a few miles from Cabo San Lucas, Esperanza provides stunning views of both the Sea of Cortez and Punta Ballena – Whale Point – lounge in winter and tally the humpback’s passing and breaching. Our clients love golf, tacos and icy margaritas at Chileno Bay Resort in Cabo. It is also home to the famed Comal restaurant. The resort has luxurious suites and many Villa accommodations and a private six-bedroom ocean front Villa, Brisa Del Mar.

Cabo has strict Covid-19 measures in place, as do both hotels. Treat yourself and indulge in a sunny warm safe escape.

Extremely limited availability. Reservations required, call us!