Lots of Delicious Travel and Exciting Projects
It’s been another whirlwind of a few months … lots of tasty travel and exciting work as well as the addition of a new mixology associate Andrew Bohrer to the Liquid Kitchen! As a former bartender at Vessel and opening bar manager at the Naga Cocktail Lounge (both listed in Food & Wine’s top 100 bars in the world) as well as most recently the bar manager at Mistral Kitchen, Andrew created national cocktail buzz around his creative libations. We are thrilled to welcome Andrew to our mixology team! Check out his blog at Cask Strength.
Speaking of blogs … on my blog Dishing with Kathy Casey, we will have some new guest bloggers such as Cocktail Quests’ Courtney Randall, Liberty Bar co-owner Andrew Friedman and cake lover Josie Plath. We have new posts and recipes every week and we hope you visit often.
It seems I’ve barely been home for 2 seconds lately, so here is a glimpse of my spring adventures. I’ll be excited to report back mid-summer with new travels, tales and tasty recipes!
Tales of the Cocktail on Tour: Vancouver
Tales of the Cocktail has moved into international territory and broken from its New Orleans roots this past March. Tales Vancouver was hosted at the beautiful Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in British Columbia. Tales on Tour was set for a different, yet fun and refreshing change of pace. (Definitely not as many sun glasses worn at the early morning seminars!)
Mass cocktail swag from TOTC: Vancouver!!!!
The whole event kicked off with a Canadian Professional Bartenders Association (CPBA) Welcome Reception held at the Vancouver Aquarium. Master mixologist David Wolowidnyk of WEST Restaurant & Bar as well as Director & Treasure of the CPBA shook up and stirred lots of great drinks while demonstrating his mastery and finesse of the Japanese bartending techniques.
Mixologist David Wolowidnyk stirring a tasty concoction!
The rest of my time there was spent attending amazing seminars by such cocktail luminaries as tiki god Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. Jeff is a total tiki beverage historian. His CSI-style seminar took us through the various origins of the Mai Tai cocktail and helped us come to our own conclusions. Too fun!!!
Beachbum Berry holding up his book Sippin’ Safari!
I then geeked out with Dave Arnold at The Science of Cocktails: New Techniques Behind the Bar followed by an informative and fun seminar on The History and Importance of Ice in Cocktails by renowned mixologist Charlotte Voisey and Jon Santer.
It was definitely great to have Tales up in the Pacific Northwest- my neck of the woods. I can’t wait for Tales of the Cocktail this summer, July 20-24 in New Orleans, Louisiana where I will be presenting a seminar on H2O Cocktails with the Modern Mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim and master distiller Thomas Kuuttanen from Purity Vodka. Come shake some fun up with us and get your tickets soon!
Mom 2.0 Summit Conference
In April I headed to the Mom 2.0 Summit Conference! This huge conference was held in beautiful New Orleans, Louisiana. (I sure seem to be spending a lot of time there!) My team and I were there with Almond Accents. We whipped up lunch for 400 people, passed out some delicious snacks and bites at the booth and met lots of great people. Check out my recipe for the Calypso Cous Cous Almond Salad with Shrimp that we made for the lunch.
Dale DeGroff comes to Seattle!
“King Cocktail” Dale DeGroff was shaking it up at my Food Studios-Liquid Kitchen this past spring for a Cointreau event. He guided attendees through a spirited tasting of orange liquors and a sampling of Dale’s cocktails. Cointreau also announced the 2011 Mix-Off Competition where I get to be an expert mentor for the finals at Tales of the Cocktail. If my mixologist wins not only do they get a trip to France – but I do too! Afterwards we served up some of Dale’s cocktails. It’s always an honor to see Dale and watch him work.
Dale and I enjoying a cocktail!
Here is a one of my favorite Dale DeGroff cocktails:
Bitter Rose
1/2 oz Cointreau
2 ounces Plymouth Gin
1/2 oz Roses Lime Juice
1/4 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz Fernet Branca
Dash of Grenadine
Garnish: rose petal
Directions: Assemble all ingredients in a Boston shaker filled with ice and shake well. Strain in to a chilled martini glass and garnish with a rose petal.
TV, Books, and More!
I’m so excited to have been chosen as one of the 101 featured mixologists in the legendary spirit writer Gary Regan’s newest book, Annual Manual for Bartenders, 2011, which includes the recipe for my Bollywood cocktail. It’s an amazing book for any mixologist or budding bartender. So please support this great writer and order your copy today!
If you missed my latest episode on New Day Northwest all about what to do with that extra Easter candy you can still catch the video and recipe here.
If you’re still thirsty then try out my Tea’Thyme cocktail recipe found in the Food & Wine: Cocktails 2011 book due out this summer! I penned the vodka chapter – so stay tuned for more…
Food Bank Gourmet!
Family Works Food Bank had an amazing and successful fundraiser event in late March. They asked celebrated chefs and restaurant owners Rachel Yang of Joule/Revel and Amy McCray of Eva to team up and lead an interactive cooking demo using only food bank ingredients. I was happy to be asked to emcee the event. It was amazing to see and taste the amazing dishes they cooked up for a great cause. Please remember to support your local food banks!
Chef’s Rachel Yang, myself and Amy McCray!
Foster Farms’ Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest!
Foster Farms is looking for recipes! If you have an amazing chicken recipe that you think is great and deserves some recognition, make sure you enter the Foster Farms’ Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest. Recipe applicants have until May 31st to turn in recipes for a chance to win a grand prize of $10,000 and a year’s worth of Foster Farms’ chicken! For contest info, click here. A family owned company since 1939, Foster Farms prides itself in raising locally-grown fresh chicken available in grocery stores on the West Coast. The Washington state finals will be held at my Food Studios and I am lucky to be a judge again this year!
2010 Judges: Jamie Peha, myself and Cynthia Nims!
Where to catch Kathy next:
Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen™ Season Two – Coming Soon!
I’ll be filming Season Two of my cocktail show Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen soon with Small Screen Network! I’ll be creating some refreshing summer cocktails and d’lish appetizers. In the meantime, check out past episodes for some libacious inspiration.
May 13 – 17: Manhattan Cocktail Classic: New York, New York
The Manhattan Cocktail Classic is just around the corner! This part conference, part cocktail party and part festival-style liquor and spirits event is open to the industry and to the public! I’ll be presenting the seminar “Three Mixologists, Three Cocktails, Three Ways (or Cocktail Ménage á Trois)” and teaming up with Small Screen Network and fellow renowned mixologists Charlotte Voisey and Jamie Boudreau as we each give our spin on the French 75, a Margarita and the Old Fashioned while discussing the history of the classic versions and our inspiration for our modern versions. For event and ticket info, click here.
June 1 – 4: International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference: Austin, Texas
The IACP Conference is an annual conference where worldwide culinary professionals get the chance to meet up and take part in lively discussions/seminars about the latest trends in the culinary world. I’ll be presenting a seminar this year titled “It’s Better to be Bitter” where we will be tasting bitters and discussing the growing bitters phenomenon. For those industry friends, I hope to see you in Austin. For more information, check out the IACP site.
I’ve also been blogging for Amazon’s Al Dente so I hope you will visit there as well to see what new things I am cooking up this summer. Here’s wishing you all a tasty and d’lish summer! – Kathy
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