Pisco Bijou

If you speak French, you know that Bijou means jewel, and if you drink cocktails, you know that the classic Bijou is made by mixing three spirits whose colors represent three different jewels: diamond, emerald, and ruby. In the classic Bijou cocktail, gin is used for the diamond, but here, the diamond is Pisco, which plays very nicely with the aromatics from the chartreuse and the sweetness of the vermouth. If you don’t speak French, don’t worry, one sip of the Pisco Bijou will make you fluent and one drink might get you into a little bit of trouble: Voulez-vous un Pisco Bijou mon cheri?
Read more →

Some time ago, I was asked “do you take all the photographs on your blog?” and the answer is Yes! I write all the recipes, cook all the dishes, make all the cocktails, and photograph all the food and drinks. But if you’ve never photographed food, it can be very challenging. Why? Because no matter how good something tastes, you need to make it look like it’s going to taste great in the photo. In other words, of all the senses you can use to enjoy food: sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch, you can only appeal to the sense of sight in a photograph.
Read more →

Habanero Pisco Sour

In honor of the upcoming National Pisco Sour Day, which falls on the first Saturday of February each year, I was inspired to experiment with the traditional recipe. And like all good controlled experiments, I changed one variable at a time, proportions, citrus, and even the flavor of the simple syrup, then tasted the results. Several cocktails later, I found a spicy winner — the Habanero Pisco Sour.
Read more →