Blog Archives

Pisco Bijou

by  on  in Cocktails
Pisco Bijou

Pisco Bijou

If you speak French, you know that Bijou means jewel, and if you drink cocktails, you know that the classic Bijou is made by mixing three spirits whose colors represent three different jewels: diamond, emerald, and ruby. In the classic Bijou cocktail, gin is used for the diamond, but here, the diamond is Pisco, which plays very nicely with the aromatics from the chartreuse and the sweetness of the vermouth. If you don’t speak French, don’t worry, one sip of the Pisco Bijou will make you fluent and one drink might get you into a little bit of trouble: Voulez-vous un Pisco Bijou mon cheri?
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On The Chef’s Stage at SF Garden Show 2013

by  on  in Events
Pisco + Peru at SF Garden Show 2013

Pisco + Peru at SF Garden Show 2013

On March 21, I took the audience at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show on a gastronomical tour of Peru + Pisco during my first ever appearance at a Chef’s Stage. Though I’ve performed on stage before, it was not as a chef, but as a guest musician playing percussion with a Flamenco group from Spain at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. This time, instead of playing my hand drums, however, I would be performing solo, sautéing and simmering on a stove top, and mixing cocktails on a side table. In other words, almost the same thing, right? So how did I end up on the stage this time? It all started with an invitation from the Chef’s Stage Coordinator, Jay Estey.
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Saffron Pisco

by  on  in Cocktails
Saffron Pisco

Saffron Pisco

Today is National Paella Day, so to celebrate I decided to get back to the Pisco Lab and experiment with a new cocktail that used saffron. The color and flavor of saffron is very unique, and I really enjoy cooking with it, specially when I am preparing a seafood paella. But how would it taste in a cocktail? How would it go with Pisco?
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10 Tips for Cocktail Photography

by  on  in Cocktails

Some time ago, I was asked “do you take all the photographs on your blog?” and the answer is Yes! I write all the recipes, cook all the dishes, make all the cocktails, and photograph all the food and drinks. But if you’ve never photographed food, it can be very challenging. Why? Because no matter how good something tastes, you need to make it look like it’s going to taste great in the photo. In other words, of all the senses you can use to enjoy food: sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch, you can only appeal to the sense of sight in a photograph.
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