Monday, December 19, 2011

Off to Europe... See You Next Year!

I'm off to Paris, France and Bad Ischl, Austria for the holidays with Nic. When I return, I'm sure to have plenty of material to cover from my trip (as well as some items I meant to report about before my trip). Hopefully, I'll be drowning in great French wine and traditional Austrian beer.

In the meantime, if you're interested in what I'm up to you can follow me on Twitter. I hope to dispatch a few tweets, if not several, while I'm in the old world - particularly when I'm in Paris. 

Au Revoir and Auf Wiedersehen!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Susan Soorenko and Carla Hall Want You to Meet Alchemy & Moorkeno's


Carla Hall and Susan Soorenko are crafting sweet dreams in Silver Spring, Maryland right now. 

Tucked away just outside of The District's city limits, you will find a factory rendering a vision of the good life through treats.

If you aren't familiar with Susan, you should be familiar with her clever brand of ice cream, which can be found in sixteen Whole Foods locations in and around Washington D.C. 

You can also find her products in various other independent or organic markets.

Anyone who has watched the past few seasons of Top Chef knows Carla. She's vivacious and funny. 

Since the competition, Hall's become a point of pride for locals in the restaurant and food industry. Currently, she's one of the hosts of ABC's daytime food show, The Chew.



Susan launched the original Moorenko's Ice Cream Cafe in McLean, Virginia but has since moved her operations to Maryland. Moorenko's website reads:
"Lovingly local, and frankly, fabulous.  That pretty much sums up the frozen desserts made by Moorenko's Ice Cream in Silver Spring, Maryland.  Our artisanal ice cream is made in small, carefully monitored batches (that means we have to taste every batch, but we're willing to make that sacrifice for you)[...] Our goal is to spoil our customers for any other ice cream!"
Warmed by her passion for ice cold treats, Susan lures her customers to a world of frozen food that most people wouldn't think possible.




Carla's developed her own line of cookies with Alchemy and hopes to win over not just your sweet tooth, but also your savory tooth. Alchemy's website reads:
"Our artisan cookies are baked to perfection and contain only the finest ingredients – European-style butter, organic sugar, flours, couverture chocolate, artisan cheeses, fresh nuts, seasonal fruits"
Mexican Chocolate Chip. Hawaiian Wedding. Goat Cheese with Dried Cranberries. 

There were few containers where I didn't pull out a cookie bite packed with flavor.

Some of Moorenko's perks include a seemingly endless catalog of flavors and, more importantly, allowing clientele to customize ice cream to whatever flavor they desire.

Of course, if one chooses to do so, he or she would begin consultation and coordination with Susan to ensure, collectively, that a high quality product is crafted to satisfaction.




Moorenko's flavors that stuck out for me: the Campari and grapefruit sorbet as well as the prune and Armagnac ice cream (naturally - this is a booze blog).

The Campari and grapefruit had a bright and cleansing taste. The Armagnac ice cream blended bits of prune in with each rich brandy-flavored scoop.

Hall urged us to pair many of her sweet petite cookies with the hot tea being served - and this proved to be a delicious combination that didn't overload the tastebuds with sweetness.

Carla's savory cookies were paired with Syrah from a winery called Vint Hill.

Want to make your own vino? Vint Hill will set you up with grapes. You craft your own wine complete with a customized label.

Also, accompanying the cookies was a port-style wine made by La Grange Winery in Haymarket, Virginia called Snort (seriously).

By the end of the media event, I found myself charmed by both women and their products.


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

"Happy Days Are Here Again!!!"

Happy Repeal Day everyone! Make sure you pour yourself (and at least one other person around you) a glass of beer, wine or spirit to celebrate your Constitutional right to booze! 

Cheers!!!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Booze Exploding at 8900 Frames Per Second

Cinematographer, Ty Migota, filmed the opening credits of something called How To Get Laid

Then, he took the unused clips and produced an entertaining short called Phantom Cocktails

I think about that famous scene from...
where everything explodes. Watch it and prepare to be mesmerized.

(h/t: DW)