Return Redux

Whooo, sudden absences and apologetic returns!  It's becoming something of a regular event.

Chalk this one up to equal parts intimidation and laziness.  Over the last few months, I've been doing a lot less original mixing, and much more of two alternatives: easy long drinks, and carefully sampled classics.  The former includes endless, mindless riffs on the Collins or Gin & Tonic or a quick sangria; a tall, inoffensive, easily assembled drink is about all you need sometimes.  The latter involves mixing the same thing over and over again with small variations in recipe and proportion.  I see this as a really helpful exercise to compare different brand, test the effects of small changes on a known recipe, and hone my palate, but it doesn't exactly make for interesting reading.  I write here when I think there's something worth writing, and that has been recently lacking.

I'm quite impressed at the number of really good cocktail books and blogs floating around these days, and when I read them it's hard to feel especially creative.  When I try an original recipe, the result is often a bit disappointing in comparison to those culled from other sources.  That doesn't exactly stop me from trying again, but it does discourage me from writing down my recipes.  Which has to change, I think, for two main reasons.  First, these are people who have spent much more time experimenting and refining than I have, and it's crazy to expect that every one of my own drinks should rival theirs.  Second, the whole point of a log is to remember and refine, and I'm doing so only in fragments.

So, in the spirit of getting back on track, allow me to present a whole slew of recipes that deserved to be recorded (or at least I thought so at the time).  I'm transcribing these from a notepad usually reserved for writing down phone numbers or sketching ideas.  They're a bit all over the place and none of them have names, but they are finally here.  Enjoy.