Binkomonster!

Satan's Whiskers and a Calm Soul out on the Ver-Ahn-Da

 
Ok that there? Is one happy little VeePee.
He's had a whole day of grand adventures. Dim Sum. Getting dirty at the park.
Napping at Whole Foods. Extra long bubble bath with the CEO. And now? In his little office filing things. Bizzy, and happy little man.
Which brings us to the other staff. What have we been busy doing?
What else? Researching more cocktails!
Behold, our new recipe last week.

Hello my friends. So nice of you to stop by on a Saturday night to pay a visit. Mr. Glass? Meet Ms. Peychaud's Bitters. Oh and over there? Oh that's The Honorable Tanqueray Rangpur. Just in from Bevmo. We don't know much about that Vermouth guy. Always see him hanging around, but well dressed. And well mannered. Now you'll excuse us as we have to pay our tributes to Mr. Hendrick's. Well, maybe drag him into a dark room when no one is looking and....

The ice. We always start with the ice. Interestingly enough, whilst perusing the intarwebs this week, we came upon a gem of a site. Not only cocktail recipies, but little instructional tidbits on things like zests, mint, straining techniques, and (lo and behold) ICE. Turns out, ours is perfect. Hee.

Sigh. The lemon. Citrus addict. Can't help it. Goes in EVERYTHING.
Made a promise this week however, to try and expand the skills to make things that require ingredients other than lemon. Or lime.
And it's proving not as difficult as originally thought.

Sustenance. Before and during cocktail imbibing is usually a pretty good thing. Costco? You are evil. Bulk size nuts. With salt.
We've had to hide these. Otherwise things would get ugly.

Ingredient one. Hangar One has apparently been busy of late. Turns out they have a spiced pear vodka. And a chipotle one! (That apparently is really good for Bloody Mary's, we'll have to put that to the test).
But spiced pear vodka? How can you go wrong?

Aaaand our good friend, Canton. Potent to be sure. But SUCH a good mixer.

We'll skip with the pleasantries of the mixing and go straight to business. That would be 'the pour'.

 

Final product. Cloudy enough, but if you squint real hard, you can see the luscious little maraschino cherry (the REAL kind from Italy, not the neon red crap you get at your local A&P).

 

The verdict? The CEO seems to like it. Good enough for us. And now, to retire to the rest of that cocktail we have 'marinating'. Happy Saturday.

Getting better...

What you are viewing is a wonderful noir snap of the Binkomonster Lounge. Which has a new setup this evening. Euler passed away on Monday evening, and since then Tesla has been in the 'Fish Hospital Ward'. We've now remedied the whole situation by setting up a gorgeous ADA tank/lighting system on the top floor. Modern tank, elegant lighting, real plants, fresh bubbles, awesome filter, and, a new friend. His name is Positron (you know, because he is so small in comparison to Tesla). Both denizens seem to be very happy and doing well which is not only relief, but comfort. The CTO has spent the better part of the night (after setting up the whole contraption) nursing a delightful Negroni (of course) and watching the fish-to-fish interaction. Better than TV. Much more relaxing. Until we were sucked back into the 'vortex of the man' for a brief 20 minutes or so. We've since been instructed on the error of our ways, and Outlook has been shutdown in favor of doing some silly photo snaps, and sucking down some Hungarian wine to finish up our evening. Work will be there tomorrow. But for right now, it is time to enjoy the peace here in the Palace.

Back from Europa...

   

So the pretty little view of the castle above is one taken during an opportune moment of afternoon sunshine.  We like the way light happens to bounce off of the martini glass collector, and light up the shaker, and filter through the glasses at the ready. It's evening, and we've had a libation or two, so we are diligently pecking away another update seeing as how there has been radio silence of late. But with good reason. You see, duties for 'the man' took us on adventures over to Europa. We only returned last Monday from a sojourn that saw us treading paths in London, Germany, Sweden and Paris. And we are now back at the castle, reunited with a tribe that missed us terribly. Back to our creature comforts, comfy bed/chairs/drinking implements and what-not. Lest the reader infer erroneously, we *much* enjoyed our adventures. Good wine. Good food. Culture. And some Shopping. Our return voyage home we also were lucky enough to enjoy a special treat, an UPGRADE on the tin dragon. Ahhhhhh. The ability to stretch the collective legs, the relative comfort that actually allowed for sleep, cocktail service (and well, tea for the CEO). In short, the perfect ending to a quick but enjoyable romp through the old country. Thanks United. You have no idea how happy you made the Binkomonster folks. Unfortunately, being back means being back to the grind. Sigh. A pictorial essay on our travels is forthcoming, but in the meantime, we're keeping busy tending to piles of fan mail, and baking cupcakes. Our board member gives at least a full interested sniff...