22 February 2020

From the bartender’s corner: Devil’s Margarita

Picked the recipe up from Liquor magazine. First, it is a riff of your traditional margarita. Instead of tequila, you put mezcal. You put the orange liqueur, simple syrup and lime juice as you would normally do. Now, for a twist, float some red wine on the drink.

I was not sure what to expect – but it actually turned out fairly palatable. No salt on the rim though – the acidic red wine and salt are going to mess it up.

Category: Cocktails | LEAVE A COMMENT
22 February 2020

Almost bounced back

It was a little depressing after my last run post to realize that age is going to eventually take running away from me. This morning I was trying to see if I could fight back a little. Just as I reached the trailhead, I got a call from Amitesh for an unrelated topic. He asked me how much was I going to run? 10K?

I had no goal. I just wanted to run the way I used to enjoy running. No measuring distance, speed or time. Run on the roads with lot of water stops and traffic stops etc. (Sometimes I would run for 5-6 hours). That is what I told him.

But that 10K he asked stuck in my mind. I thought I could prove to myself that I can beat age by putting a 10K in one hour. (which for me is very fast now).

Missed it by a minute. 1 hour 1 min. 6.2 miles (10K). Age got me again!! At least I finished out 10K. The challenge though is now I am increasingly wary of the pains in the joints and muscles. Let’s see how long this run versus old age lasts for me…

Category: Running | LEAVE A COMMENT
11 February 2020

Here is another puzzle

There are three archers – Hubert, Anamika and myself. Hubert is the world renowned, highly decorated Olympics champion from Belgium who is a “sure shot”. Meaning he never misses. Then there is Anamika – who is a amateur archer but has gotten her game to a point where she scores 2 out of 3 times. And then there is Rajib – yours truly – who barely knows which end of the arrow should point towards you. And I have an average starter’s chance of success – 1 in 3.

We find ourselves in a contest where we can only survive by killing the other two. (One successful shot with the arrow is enough to kill anybody). Also, we three are highly intelligent and know how to calculate probabilities of success. (With that level of intelligence, how we got ourselves into this situation is a good question but terrible for this puzzle).

The rules are the following:
Since I am the novice, I get the first shot.
Next, Anamika – being the second best shot goes. Of course, that assumes I did not aim at her and succeeded in which case Hubert goes next.
Once Hubert has had a chance (assuming he was still alive after I and Anamika had our shots), the cycle continues.
So it is me -> Anamika -> Hubert -> repeat till there is one person standing.

The question is: What should be my strategy as the first shot to maximize my chances of still living after the whole ordeal.

Category: Puzzles | 1 Comment on Here is another puzzle
9 February 2020

From the bartender’s corner: Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique

I have to admit there are not too many weirder cocktail names I have seen compared to this. I had no idea what this name meant. Studied it up and learnt that in the movie “Kill Bill” (which I have never seen), there was apparently a type of “Touch of Death” (look this one up in Wikipedia) where a person is hit in five different pressure points in the body. Then, when the person moves, after five steps, his/her heart explodes. Presumably leading to death.

Even after that explanation, I have no clue what connection this cocktail has to it. But something must have inspired Erick Castro – the mixologist at Polite Provisions in San Diego to come up with this name.

This has mezcal, sweet vermouth, coffee liqueur and chocolate bitters.

Fairly desultory to the nose and the palate.

Category: Cocktails | LEAVE A COMMENT
9 February 2020

From the bartender’s corner – Fire and Ice

A few days back, a colleague of mine – Denise Piatt – talked about a cocktail she had at Mockingbird Cafe in Dundee, IL. It is a bourbon based drink but she liked the kick of the jalapenos and cinnamon in it.

Last night I tried a variation of it. Instead of jalapenos, I muddled in some Ahi Chileno that we had brought from Chile. Instead of muddling cinnamon, I went with the Goldschlager cinnamon liqueur.

Additionally, this has maple and bourbon.

Was a great cocktail for the snowed in evening in Atlanta. And to go with the theme of Fire and Ice, I had it while sitting in 102 degrees water out in the snow!!

Category: Cocktails | LEAVE A COMMENT