Basil Lemon Drop Martini

My brother just returned from St. Maarten where one of our favourite restaurants is owned and operated by a family friend. Temptation Restaurant is all about fine dining and the most interesting of cocktails. Have a vacation planned to St. Maarten? You'll have to get to Temptation; it's worth the trip.

Paul Peterson bartender extraordinaire at Temptation gave us his recipe for this absolutely incredible Basil Lemon Drop Martini. As you've already heard, lemons are in surplus these days and this recipe just raises the bar up yet another notch. Paul has been the gold medal winner twice in the Taste of the Caribbean bartending competitions. When you try this martini, there will be absolutely no doubt in your mind that it was created by someone with a refined palette.





2 oz. Absolute Citron (we used regular Absolute)
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz basil syrup
1 oz pineapple juice

To make Basil Syrup:

We made a large quantity to have on hand because we knew we couldn't just have one.

4 cups sugar
4 cups water

Bring to a boil to make simple syrup, cool, refrigerate
Take a handful of fresh basil leaves, put them in a blender and just cover with simple syrup. Blend well.

To Make Martini:

The proportion above is for a single martini; just adjust the proportions.
In a shaker, put ice cubes, vodka, basil syrup and pineapple juice. Shake together and pour.





Visually, once you pour this martini and let it sit for a minute, you'll notice that your basil syrup will have some settling in the bottom of the glass. The martini is beautiful to look at and the finish is smooth with a hint of basil.



Paul - you rock!!! This martini is probably the best I've ever had. It's no wonder you're a two time award winner.

Lemon Drop Martini

Time for Giz to run away from the cold of Toronto and spend some time in warmer climes. I do have to admit, though, that the winter this year has been extremely moderate so really not too much to complain about. As in past years, we have some fun with mixology while we're on vacation. The good news is that the Betty Ford Center is only minutes away. Last year's drink of choice was an Appletini . This year we checked the Food Network and found a Lemon Drop Martini. Tart and sweet, let me just put a caveat on this drink - go slow and savour. It has an incidious kick to it, but oh so yummy.


Ingredients

1 ½ ounces vodka
½ ounce triple sec (you could use Cointreau)
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
4 -5 ice cubes superfine sugar, for the martini glass rim lemon twists

Directions

Chill martini glasses in freezer for at least 10 minutes prior to serving.
Place Vodka, Triple Sec, lemon juice and sugar into a cocktail shaker with 4-5 ice cubes and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.
Run the lemon twist around the edge of the chilled martini glass and dunk in a small amount of sugar for a coated rim.
Pour the strained martini into the chilled glasses and serve.

Ahora

Ottawa may not be a hub for Mexican food...but we do have Ahora (and a few other places of varying authenticity).


It's a small, casual restaurant (almost fast food style), in the market. After picking your dish, you go up to the front counter to place your order. The food is then brought to your table. Even though it was -25 out, I couldn't resist getting a margarita.



The taste was great until I realized that the rim was covered with salt (I thought it was sugar)...after mixing the salt into the drink. I don't fault the restaurant because salt around the rim is (apparently) common and is meant to bring out the flavour of the margarita. Personally, I find the flavour combination gross.

We started with an order of chips and salsa. There wasn't much to them, but I took advantage of the hot sauce selections at the front of the restaurant, which made them more appealing.



For the main, R had a Burrito Grande. His verdict: "It was okay".



I quite enjoyed my Quesadilla de Pollo. Again, the free hot sauces were much appreciated.



In general, I'd go back... But, judging from other online reviews, I'm not as big of a fan as others who have visited the restaurant. I'd probably wait until summer to return because I found the restaurant to be quite cold. It's also hard to "swallow" the summer feel of the place when it's -25 out. The tables are fairly tightly packed in there, which is fine, unless your neighbours feel the need to yell the entire time. I think they got the hint when I yelled to R, "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Gotta love the Canadian-style passive-aggressiveness. Service was friendly, price is good.

Savour Stratford: Part I

A couple of years ago, for our birthdays (which are 3 days apart), Giz and I went to Prince Edward County for their festival.

This year, we decided to go to Stratford, to partake in some of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Savour Stratford.


We arrived in time to try out the "VQA Wine and Chocolate Tasting". Chris Guilliani from Chateau des Charmes Vineyard in Niagara and Kristene Steed of Rheo Thompson Candies in Stratford walked us through the chocolate and wine pairings.





Both Giz and I were really impressed with the tasting. For only $15, you get 5 pieces of chocolate and 6 glasses of wine. Not to mention the educational information about how to properly sample chocolate (letting it melt in your mouth) along with the wine. In the video below, Chris is making a compelling case for buying VQA wines:



Here is some more information about VQA wine..

Every VQA wine meets the following standard:

Wine must be made from 100% fresh Ontario grown grapes — no concentrates are permitted - Grapes used must meet a quality standard for each variety (measured by natural sugar content in the ripe grapes)
No water can be added in the winemaking process
Labels must be truthful and accurately represent the wine in the bottle
All wines except for sparkling wines must be vintage dated and meet vintage requirements
All wines must be packaged in glass bottles with cork, synthetic or approved screwcap closures
All finished wines are evaluated by an expert taste panel and a laboratory analysis and must meet minimum quality standards before release.

Since I convinced Giz that she shouldn't drink too much of her wine (she was driving...safety first) and let me drink the rest....I was feeling pretty good by the end of the tasting. It worked out perfectly too because I'm about as chatty and ready to talk to strangers after drinking about a bottle of wine as Giz is sober. So, off we went to the farmer's market set up as part of the festival.

The market had a nice variety of produce, preserves, etc...




We saw these neat fruits at Sea Buckthorn Orchard's stand. Apparently, "Sea Buckthorn is rich in many essential nutrients. It contains high concentrations of Vitamin C, carotenoids, fatty acids as well as phytochemicals that are known to have strong antioxidant activity".

What's with all of the Golden Retrievers in Stratford?


Nice to see the Farmers Feed Cities folks there:


Farmer's Feed Cities, an organization with a vision of being a driver in ensuring a thriving and sustainable farming industry in Ontario. They promote a greater understanding of the significant contributions made by farmers to the wellbeing of Ontario.

We still have another post coming, to talk about one of the main events of the festival...

A Cure for Stress - The Niagara Region

It's been a fun few days in the life of Giz. We decided to take a few days and take a short jaunt to Niagara Falls . It's pretty fortunate that The Falls are only a short hour's drive from my home. Although I've visited several times, the magnitude of The Falls is nothing short of incredible. Since Niagara Falls is right on the border that separates Canada from the U.S. we have a view of both the Canadian Falls and the American Falls. It's fair to say that the Canadian side is far more spectacular to look at.

Canadian Falls

U.S. Side

I don't think my view from a hotel window really shows the power of the Falls but if you come for a visit, I'd be happy to show you both falls and you be the judge.

We had a plan! Chillaxin' was part of the plan as was being able to participate in some of the local fun things. The Niagara Region is known for it's wines so we booked a full day tour of several of the wineries do do some tasting with a stop for lunch at Olson Foods at Ravine. The restaurant is run in partnership with Ravine Vineyards in St. David's, Ontario. It's a noteworthy restaurant and bakery since it's run by one of our Canadian celebrity chefs Anna Olson. Anna is known for two Food TV shows. The first is called Sugar where we followed a sweet journey in the life of a pastry chef who delights us with accessible baking.







Visiting the restaurant was part of a whole experience. As part of the BloggerAid View and Review group, I'll be receiving Anna's newest cookbook Fresh by Anna Olson for review. The book is also the name of Anna's second Food TV show.



It was nice to be able to meet Anna and have her sign a copy of one of her books for me and get a sense of the person behind the talent. In spite of the fact that she was cooking in the back as well as taping her show at the same time, Anna made a point of coming out to chat for a few minutes.




We had the pleasure of tasting the Gewustraminer wine found at the Ravine Winery that shares the same property as the Ravine.



The Niagara Region is well known internationally for its world class wineries and its ice wines.



The Inniskillen Winery will be the vintner for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia this year.





and how gorgeous are the grapes at Chateau des Charmes








and of course not to be forgotten, the white grapes


now...this is what I call a cork board -



Weaving through the back roads of the Niagara Region, one of the must stop places along the way is the well known unassuming Picard Peanuts. Housed inside, one can sample and purchase literally ALL things peanuts.



Since "R" is the only human I know who absolutely adores dill pickle chips, how could I not pick up peanuts that taste like dill pickles.



Yeah, I know - pretty out there but well.... I love my son in law :). Psychgrad - she'll get half my stash of wines and ice wine. A really great few days.

Prince Edward County - Arts & Restaurant

Psychgrad did the introduction to our weekend in Prince Edward Country and shared our "Taste" and winery experiences with you. After a full day of tasting both foods and wines, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R before leaving for our evening dinner at a highly recommended restaurant in the area. The drive was about 28 kilometers but it was pitch black down winding country roads so we decided to put our hands into trusty "Emily", aka GPS. I'm not sure Emily knew the shortest route and directed us in what we later realized was a much longer drive. Since nobody really trusts my driving (I don't get it personally - just because my night vision is slightly impaired), lucky "R" got to be the driver.

Psychgrad's note: The GPS was affectionately named Emily after the automated attendant that works for Bell, a telephone provider that we all hate.

Now "R" is not the guy to use profanities very much but this ride was different. I thought keeping my mouth shut (a novelty for me) during this stressful, lights glaring in your eyes drive was a good option. A half hour late for our reservation we arrived at a very quaint looking place called The Waring House .

Psychgrad's note: I'll have to disagree on this one - R really held back on the swearing (and yo mama jokes) for my mother's sake.



We noticed that a variety of events were happening that evening - a busy pub, a happy looking wedding and a more subdued restaurant.

Psychgrad ordered a local wine from a local winery called The Grange



Good pick Psychgrad - a really lovely wine. The next day we actually visited The Grange looking for that specific wine but unfortunately it was sold out.

Psychgrad and I shared the Heirloom Tomato Salad - local heirloom tomatoes - really delicious in the height of their season. It was a promise of great things to come.
I must apologize for the pretty lousy pictures - it was pretty dark in the restaurant.



R ordered the pork chop. Is it me or do pork chops just seem rare on a fine dining menu?



No matter, "R" was pretty happy with his meal.

Psychgrad ordered the steak that turned out to be a good pick

I seem to have lost the picture of the chicken dish that I ordered.

The food was ok - not spectacular but ok. Since we had heard so many good things about both the restaurant and the chef we thought we must have hit a tough night. Service was slow and we thought our waiter, who seemed unfamiliar with the menu and the wines, was the owner's good friend helping him out in time of need.

Psychgrad's note: If you're going to charge top prices, the service should match it. To be fair, though, I think that this was a tough night for them. With the influx of people for Taste!, I would guess that the experience would be better on a different night.

I also think we were also anticipating having to drive back the 28 km in pitch darkness.

The next day we continued our journey visiting a variety of artisan shops that are well organized on what they call The Arts Trail.



Although we wished we could have more time (and money) to visit all of the artists, we also knew that it would be impossible so we stuck to particular ones of interest within close proximity to one another. I'm always amazed at the incredible talent and dedication artists have. Here is just a smattering of some of the very beautiful things we had the pleasure of seeing.









Sadly, the time flew by so quickly but what a great way to spend a weekend and I'm committed to going back and visit the places we missed this trip.