The Weapon Against a Hot Summer Day

Friends:  The solution has been found.  Why sweat in pain and muck through another hot evening?   The heat can be conquered, and the Collin's family of gin drinks offers a weapon you won't regret crafting.  It's now my new favorite drink of the season:  

The Cucumber-Basil Collins.

It's a fun effort:  Infuse hendricks or tanqueray with cucumber slices in an air-proof container for about 3 days.  Shake it once a day (and smell it...aaahhhh).    Done.     Get a Collins Glass.    Now all you need is basil, 1/2 oz simple syrup, juice from one lime, and a dash of club soda.  Lightly muddle the basil with the simple syrup, pour in the gin, then the ice, mix, and there you have a drink.... WITH a very drunk cucumber from the infused gin container to garnish. 

Enjoy. And keep cool! 

Austin

My New Favorite Drink - at Lemaire

My favorite specialty cocktails change month by month, week by week.  When I find one I like at the particular bar in question, I stick with it.  If one must try them, then one must.   This week and last its been the Bee Knees at LeMaire. Two months ago it was the Blanc and Bleu at Can Can (they got rid of it), three weeks ago it was the Strawberry Basil Collins at LeMaire (no longer serving!), and now it's Bees Knees, (again at LeMaire) and it's one of their staples.  It's won me over, and not just because it's a good go-to classic cocktail that's been around forever - it's because LeMaire takes the Bees Knees to a better level. 

The Bees Knees,
as it looked on Saturday.

The first time I experienced it, Mark, the server suggested it.  "Diligence" and "suave" are two words I'd use to describe Mark. Just the right touch and every level of respect you'd like and hope for whilst being served.. a drink.  Thanks Mark.      Gin is my natural go-to in mixed drinks.  Admittedly, I prefer gin.  It just works and I like juniper.  I feel healthier drinking it too.  Silly.  

On a spring night in Richmond, Bees Knees is something I haven't been able to resist- and at LeMaire it's mixed with house made lemonade and a honey-thyme gastrique (or agave, if they haven't the gastrique).  Thank you Ben Eubanks for developing this quenching "farm-to-glass" approach to the classic Bees Knees drink.   Bra-vo. 

Richmonders, if you need a solution to the recent heat and consequential sweaty evenings, sidle into LeMaire and try the Bees Knees.   Just make sure they serve it over ice (good call to my friend Thompson) in a highball and with a sprig of thyme to garnish.  That's how it was developed and that's how it should be served.   Depending on what bartender is not following directions or what attitude or laziness he may possess, you could get it served wrong, as I did last Saturday.   Be aware and be vigilant!   Servers like Mark will understand.

Enjoy your drinks. Go to LeMaire. 


Austin

LeMaire at the Jefferson Hotel has a great bar, with lovely bar snacks and a bar menu.  Located at 101 West Franklin Street - open till 2am.. or so. More on LeMaire later.   

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in Richmond

Finding a good Chocolate Chip Cookie can be tough.  A couple years ago I discovered a store in Richmond that really offers the best in the way of a decent chocolate chip:   It's a little place in the Fan called Shields Market.   If you're a Richmonder you know of Shields Market and its mother across the street, Joe's Inn.  For some Fannites Shields Market is a staple for any variety of home needs: Hoegaarden beer, Limonada, Devonshire Double Clotted Cream... and milk and eggs.  Amazing.  Gourmet.  Cute.

The cookies (and other homemade goods) are made at Joe's Inn and then sold at Shields Market.  While consistency in the quality of their homemade products is not their strong point, it's always a pleasant stroke of luck when the Chocolate Chip Cookie Craving calls and Shields Market rises to the need when you need a quick fix.  

Tonight I visited Shields Street after finishing a less-than-satisfying "meal" at Cinebistro (why did I even have expectations?).  After skirting up the Cary Street Road corridor, my chocolate craving was in full force.  How to satisfy?  Either a run to the chocolate jars at Strawberry Street Market, or a perusal of the baked goods at Shields Market.  I decided Shields Market, but with the caveat that if the cookies felt hard or looked old, I'd retreat without regret and would go home to the Klondike Bars that lay stacked in my freezer.   But, what luck!  The chocolate chip cookies were fresh and soft.  Yessss.   I swooped one up like a hawk and rushed out.   "Keep the change!"    I'm surprised I didn't pick more than one up or took a gaze through the rest of the store to find something else I didn't need.  I was on a mission though.  And, I was talking to someone special on the phone and couldn't be bothered with distracting myself with other temptations.   Now I'm wishing I'd have explored the "Beer Cave."  Oh well. 

The Chocolate Chip Cookie was perfect.  Really.  Moist, even on the edges, slightly gooey, filled with flavor, imperfectly shaped, not too huge or thick, not too crumbly, not too doughy, not overly chocolaty, and with a slight note of vanilla.      

"Smock" is the name I'll give to the kindly and timid attendant that is always at Shields Market whenever I go in (which is always in the evening).  He's been there forever it seems, and always has a smile.  After leaving the Fan, I come back and have a tinge of nostalgia, knowing his beaming face and cute slouchy self will still be there.   A sweet VCU kid that does care.  He always asks me if I need a bag or if I need anything else.  He smiles as he helps me pick out the right cookie variety, and on more than one occasion he's given me a free cookie.  Ken and I used to be charmed by him because of his sing song cadence and overall positive demeanor.   Why can't all convenient store workers be like Smock? 

Try the Chocolate Chip Cookies at Shields Market; you won't regret it.  And if you're feeling extra sneaky, stick the cookie in the microwave for 20 seconds and then just... sit... enjoy... and make sure the organic milk is nearby.

-Austin

Shields Market is hidden in the middle of the fan at 206 N. Shields Street, between Grove and Hanover Avenues.  They close at 11:30pm.