As I’ve been doing most of my socializing outside the house this week, I have no lovely cocktail to share today! But since I did enjoy several tequila concoctions at Tacolicious in the Mission this week, with Sharon (Ms. Casa Murriguez herself) and tomorrow is the granddaddy of tequila soaked holidays, here’s a little digital margarita for you all. Given the tastiness of the Paloma I sampled there, I might need to get on a new illustration…

(Tacolicious, btw, was pretty delicious and packed with the weirdest Mission crowd, even at 5:30 on a Wednesday. So interesting that a somewhat expensive taqueria would thrive smack dab in the middle of the Mission. Now just to get that crowd as our own customer base….)

Has it seriously been 5 MONTHS since I’ve done a cocktail post? Wow. Rest assured, I have not been abstaining from imbibing during the same period.  Here’s one of my new favorites.

First of all, St. George Spirits is awesome. They are based in Alameda, and  until the last few years, have focused pretty exclusively on creative infused vodkas (think Buddha’s Hand citrus and chipotle. yeah.). They have a great tasting room and tour and if you’re in the Bay Area, you need to get there now.

Despite the fact that their vodkas are delicious, vodka is pretty much my last choice when it comes to liquor. Thankfully, St. George Spirits has added absinthe, a single-malt whiskey, a bourbon, rhum agricole, and a series of gins to their line-up. (The fact that the St. George Spirits gals were super nice, bought a lot of my art, and kept Steve and I well-lubricated at the La Cocina gift fair in December doesn’t hurt my opinion of them either. )

Last week I picked up their Dry Rye Gin and decided to whip up a version of the classic Manhattan, swapping the traditional rye with the rye gin. The result? Absolutely nothing like a Manhattan. Much more spiced and peppery. The rye gin on it’s own is super complex, with 2x the juniper as in normal gin. The spiciness and bite of rye is present and welcome. Oh, and pretty freaking delicious.

Dry Rye Manhattan

• 1.5 oz St. George Spirits Dry Rye Gin
• 1 oz sweet vermouth (I used my trusty Caprano Antica, but I think a less complex vermouth would suit this better and not overpower the gin)
• few shakes of bitters
• amaro cherry (because they are delicious)

Combine all ingredients, except cherry in a glass with ice. Stir for about a minute until thoroughly chilled. Strain into a chilled low ball glass.* Pop the cherry in.

*Do you like my glass? Yeah you do. Mid 1960s. Picked a set up in a Palm Springs thrift shop last month.

Happy New Year pic by Kimra

Happy New Year, meat lovers!

We took a much needed break from December 22 until January 2nd, involving much San Francisco-based festiveness, crabs, families, a trip to Dallas, and then New Year’s with friends in a house up in Cloverdale in Sonoma, CA.

And now that we’re back, I’m raring to go, but sadly my body is not cooperating. Too much computer time, poster rolling, and art making in the last few months has left me with washwoman’s wrist, aka, gamer’s thumb, aka tenosynovitis. Basically, big time pain in my wrist, thumb, and index finger of my money-maker hand. I’m on doctor’s orders to rest it (and also eat a lot of ginger, turmeric, and rosemary) so expect a blog lapse for a couple of weeks here. After that, I’ll hopefully be back in fighting form, ready to kick ass in 2012!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Bazaar Bizarre last weekend! It was a great way to kick off  the holiday season, despite the one vegetarian heckler who visited our booth. We thankfully had some beers from nearby City Beer Store so the awkwardness quickly faded.

Would you rather have some delicious food and tasty beverages while you shop? Well, this is your weekend for sure.

On Friday, December 9th is the 3rd annual La Cocina Gift Bazaar, from 5pm to 9pm, at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (Mission, at 25th). La Cocina is an awesome local food business incubator, which provides support to low-income food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their businesses.

If you love food, or are shopping for a food lover, you seriously don’t want to miss this. In addition to food vendors (both take-home and eat there, like Wise Sons Deli pastrami, mmmmm….), there’s going to be a “tamale alley”, featuring tamales from around the world (there’s no way that it won’t be delicious) and a pretty crazypants live auction. This should honestly be a ton of fun. There is also a silent auction going on RIGHT NOW online.

We’re talking things like:

• The ultimate picnic courtesy of Delfina – including a pig roast, side dishes, a keg of freshly brewed beer and maybe even some square dancing.
• Evening with a Monger at Bar Bambino
• Cocktail class for two at Beretta
• Private tour of Blue Bottle Coffee’s Oakland Roastery, followed by a single origin cupping, demos and half pound of beans for each guest.
• In-home ramen and kimchi class from Hapa Ramen’s Chef Richie Nakano followed by, well, ramen!
• Be a brewer for a day at Magnolia Pub
• Dinner for two in the Chez Panisse kitchen

And like, a WHOLE lot more. Insane, right? You should totally come. Check out more details, including information on the eBay aution, here.

After you’ve had your fill at La Cocina, you should also hop on over to the Holiday Market Market trunk show at Rare Device, from 6pm to 9pm, featuring work by my biz ladies pals, lemonade handmade, Kendra Renee, Sharon Z Jewelry,  1.by.liz,  Casa Murriguez, Bird vs. Bird, and Noteify. There will also be a raffle and a paid gift wrapping station to benefit 826 Valencia. Rare Device will also be offering 15% off all of their regular merchandise (excluding the trunk show and art show). At 1845 Market Street @ Guerrero.

And Saturday afternoon is the final New Taste Marketplace of 2011, at St. Gregory’s Church, 500 De Haro,  from 12 to 5 pm.  This will be the normally awesome foodie grazing paradise, but now we’ve stepped up our game and have transformed this into another one-stop-shop for the food lover on your holiday shopping list.  This market, there will be arty vendors, including Geraldine Adams Art (selling food related art prints of illustrated recipes, vegetables and wine map of France), The Heated (durable, non-toxic and good-looking flour sack towels and market totes), Faerie Goatmother (all natural organic goats’ milk soap and face masks), Flock Home ( hand-printed linen dinner napkin sets, cocktail napkins, coasters, pillow shams, pin cushions, and tea towels), Buttons & Pears (funky aprons and hot pads), and me! You can also meet Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz, authors of Mission Street Food Cookbook,  and pick up a signed copy.

There will also be over 30 food vendors, selling take home treats like bacon caramels from Nosh This, pickles, coffee and tea, as well as “eat it there” food, like pastrami from Jablow Meats, dumplings, cheese balls and more. Check out the full line up here. There is a sliding scale entry fee for $0-$10,  with proceeds going to the Food Pantry at St. Gregorys.

Whew! I guess I better get back to work now! Hope to see you there.

Just wanted to pop in to let all the San Francisco people out there know that this weekend is the Bazaar Bizarre Holiday Craft Show, and I’m so psyched to be vending there! This is an even bigger event than last year and has moved to the Concourse Exhibition Center, East Hall, in SOMA. More details are here.

My mom is flying in tomorrow to help out with the show which is super exciting! We’ll be holding down the fort in booth 98, right down the middle aisle, next to Chronicle Books. Hope to see you there!