Busy Nothings

It’s about beer and you can read it here.

Teaberry is a brand new establishment in downtown Fargo that offers Boba teas.  These drinks are mixtures of tea, flavorings, milk, and little chunks (or balls if you like) of tapioca starch that sit on the bottom of the cup.  A very large straw is then used to suck up the chunks of tapioca along with the tasty drink surrounding it.  Teaberry also serves some cocktail-like tea beverages (non-alcoholic) and a few sandwiches. 

It is a very zen-like inside.  The owner told us that all of the construction had been done by his wife, his business partner, and himself.  I was impressed.  Everything inside was clean and soothing with just the right amount of decoration to keep things interesting.  Here’s a picture:

There are a number of flavorings that you can choose for your Boba tea.  If memory serves, green tea, strawberry, taro, green apple, passion fruit, and raspberry are on the menu (along with many others that I cannot remember).  We inquired as to what the owner’s favorite Boba tea was and he said it was a combination of green apple and passion fruit.  Katelyn ordered that one and I chose the taro (another recommendation).  Both of the drinks were wonderful.  The green apple and passion fruit was pretty sweet but with a bit of tartness from the green apple and the presence of the neutral flavored tapioca chunks, it really worked.  The taro was less sweet and had sort of an earthy feel to it, which probably shouldn’t be surprising since it is the root (or corm to be more precise) that is primarily used as a foodstuff.  It thought it elegant in this drink as it added just the right bit of sophistication.  And they were both great on a bike ride on a summer’s day.  Here’s what the drinks looked like:

The second picture is of me using a straw (which I generally eschew with vigor) to drink the Boba tea in Island Park in Fargo.  The wide straw is absolutely necessary because the tapioca chunks would plug up any normal-sized straw.

We also had one other drink.  It was a white gourd cold tea “cocktail.”  (It can be seen in the picture above.)  It may have been the most refreshing thing I have ever tasted.  Sure, I was very thirsty from the bike ride I was on but this drink was amazing.  Just a hint of sweetness was matched with orange and what seemed like green tea (I could very well be wrong here).  And then, on top of all of those flavors, was the white gourd which was, much like the taro, a bit earthy and understatedly full-flavored.  We both loved it. 

Teaberry is found in downtown Fargo in the space where Salad Express used to be.  The address is 119 Broadway, Fargo, ND 58103.  I hope that everyone will go out and support a great little business like this that serves wonderful stuff. 

Paul Carns was kind enough to show me one his new toys.  It’s called a Lagerhead Black and Tan Turtle.  As you can no doubt guess from the name, this handy little tool is used to create a homemade version of a Black and Tan.  In the United States, a Black and Tan is a mixture of two beers: Guinness and and either Harp Lager or Bass.  It is a layered drink that, as Wikipedia explains:

“taking advantage of the fact that Guinness is “carbonated” (nitrogenated) with a nitrogen and carbon dioxide mixture that is less dense than pure carbon dioxide. The density of nitrogen gas (N₂) at STP is 28g/mole but is 44g/mole for carbon dioxide (CO₂).”

In other words, the Guinness is lighter than the lighter colored beer and will hence sit atop it.  However, to get this effect, you have to be a wee bit careful how you pour in the Guinness.  (Obviously, you start making the drink by pouring in the Bass or Harp first.)  Pour too fast and the beers will mix thus ending any hope you might have of creating a layered drink.  The solution is to add the Guinness slowly and that is what the Lagerhead Black and Tan Turtle does.  You pour the Guinness on top of turtle which then gently and evenly pours the Guinness into the glass.  Here’s what Paul did with the turtle:

And here’s the end result:

Apparently, you can make some mighty fine coffee from the droppings of civets.  These animals poke around coffee plantations, eat the choicest berries, and then pass them through their digestive tract more or less intact.  Savvy people then rummage through the dung, extract the beans, take off the outer layer, and then roast.  This coffee, because it has been partially digested, has less caffeine and is less bitter than regular joe.  And because it is so rare, it sells for $600 dollars a pound; the British Royal Family can afford and enjoy it.  Other places sell it for $30 a cup! 

Kristin, a former co-worker of mine, was kind enough to share a recipe with me on my birthday.  She didn’t give exact amounts but I think with some experimentation, we should be able to figure it out.  Here are her directions: 

Make a simple syrup, adding fresh ginger slices to the pan to infuse as it’s cooking. Using your favorite vanilla ice cream recipe, omit the vanilla and add some ginger syrup instead.
Chop up candied ginger chunks to your taste and add to the ice cream mix, then make it up in your ice cream maker.

Sounds pretty good, huh?  Simple syrup, of course, is just a mixture of sugar and water.  I use a 1:1 ratio of water to sugar but other recipes differ.  Probably, for a 1/2 cup of sugar and water each, you would need about 1 T of ginger.  What a great homemade flavoring!  Maybe you could make a cocktail out of that as well.  Hmmm.  Maybe a ginger martini: 3 parts vodka and 1 part ginger syrup shaken in ice.  Or how 1 part ginger syrup, 1 part vodka, and 4 parts soda water over ice with a slice of lemon?  Sounds pretty good to me. 

Candied ginger is a “gourmet” ingredient.  You can probably find it at Williams-Sonoma or some store like that.  But if you don’t have it, certainly some toasted, chopped nuts would not be out of place. 

Thanks Kristin!

Here’s a few pictures from my birthday.  First, is part of my family having dinner with me at the Snapdragon restaurant:

The next pictures are some co-workers and myself at our favorite Granite City Food and Brewery.  The main photographer is the guy in the Vikings jersey.  (Funny story about that: Dan asks him Mom for a Kevin Williams jersey for Christmas.  Mr. Williams is a stud defensive tackle for the Vikings.  Instead, he gets a Troy Williamson jersey.  Mr. Williamson is a chump wide reciever for the Vikings.  Moral of the story: Dan was a nice enough guy not to return the jersey.) 

I found an interesting cocktail recipe over at the blog “Teaching and Learning and a Wee Bit of Cooking.”  The recipe for Lavender cocktails calls for vodka, soda water, lemon, and lavender syrup.  The latter ingredient is a brilliant idea.  All you need to do is take equal parts of sugar and water, bring to simmer, let the sugar dissolve, and then add some fresh lavender that has been crushed in a mortar and pestle or your hands.  Her recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of lavender for 1 cup each of water and sugar.  What you end up with is an intensely floral and fragrant syrup. After making the syrup, I set about to making the drink.  I didn’t have any soda water on hand so I just made a drink of Ketel One vodka and the syrup on the rocks.  I used a ratio of 3 parts of vodka to one part of lavender syrup.  It was a sweet drink but it was wonderful.  It was like drinking in all the best parts of a flower.  The essence of the lavender shone through beautifully, the sweetness of the syrup softened the vodka, and the vodka was an unobtrusive and pleasant platform to take on the flavors.  I will have to try the version with the soda water and lemon-to try it out and to make a drink that is not quite as strong.  Do give this a try, you won’t be disappointed. 

Now that summer is in full swing in North Dakota, my thoughts are turning toward some of my favorite hot weather cocktails.  My favorite is a plain citrus-flavored margarita on the rocks.  Here’s the recipe I use:

Fresh Margaritas, from The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook

4 tsp grated lemon zest

4 tsp grated lime zest

½ cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup fresh lime juice

¼ cup superfine sugar

Pinch of salt

2 cups crushed ice

1 cup 100 percent agave tequila, preferably reposado

1 cup Triple Sec

Combine the zests, juices, sugar, and salt in a non-reactive vessel.  Cover and refrigerate until the flavors meld, 4 to 24 hours.

Divide 1 cup of ice between 4 margarita glasses.  Strain the juice mixture into a 1-quart pitcher.  Add the tequila, Triple Sec and remaining ice; stir or shake until thoroughly combined and chilled, 20 to 60 seconds.  Strain into ice-filled glasses; serve immediately. 

The margaritas produced form this recipe are bright, deeply-flavored, refreshing, and astonishingly high in alcohol content while tasting like the best citrus-ade you’ve ever had.  (So be careful, especially if serving to hot and thirsty guests.)  Here’s a couple of hints to aid your mixing:

1.  Don’t have superfine sugar?  No problem, simply give regular granulated sugar a ride in your food processor or blender for 30 seconds.  This procedure will reduce the size of the sugar granules and make it easier for it to dissolve into the citrus juices.  Or simply just use sugar.  I am fairly confident that all of the sugar will still dissolve.

2.  Do salt your glasses before serving.  Not only does it make the glasses look far more attractive, it adds a nice salty punch while drinking that provides a counterpart to the sweetness of the drink.  However, do not plunk down the $5 or $6 for any product purporting to be a margarita salting kit.  You’ll get nothing of value.  Instead buy a box of Kosher salt (if you don’t already have some in your kitchen already) and get a salad plate out of your cupboard.  Put about 1/8 of an inch of salt on the plate.  Take a lime wedge and rub the rim of the glass with it.  Then dip the glass in the salt.  You should have a perfectly salt-rimmed glass. 

3.  The zest of the citrus fruits in this recipe is crucial.  It is what adds that nice, bright, deep, citrus flavor that is, I think, the hallmark of a great margarita.  But how best to get at that zest?  Don’t use a knife because more likely than not, you’ll take too much of the peel off.  And that is a very bad thing.  The very outer edge of a citrus peel is great-full of those essential oils that we love.  However, just under that peel is that white pith.  That substance is bitter and foul-tasting.  You do not want that in your margarita.  To me, there are two zesting methods.  The first is an inferior method but should work alright.  Take a vegetable peeler and take off thin strips of the citrus peel.  Then take your chef’s knife to the peeled strips until it resembles finely grated zest.  This method is more labor-intensive than the next and holds more danger for acquiring that pith.  But, if done carefully, it can be done.  The second method is to use some sort of grater.  A box grater would work here but I like to use a microplane grater.  Here’s a picture:

All it takes is to rub the fruit against the grater and very fine shreds of zest come off.  It is so easy and there is no danger of getting any of that pith in your recipe.  This is one of those tools that I think every kitchen should have.  Go ahead and spend about $10 to buy this item.  You’ll love it.  It works great with Parmesan and other hard cheese.  You can also finely grate nutmeg and garlic with it.