Don't Call It Retro: The Cosmopolitan Cocktail Has Always Been in Style

 I hear there is a revival happening right now- a retro cocktail revival. Something about the "fluorescent nostalgia of old school cocktails" as noted by Sam Stone in Bon Appetit magazine this month. In the article they described a new version of the electric green Appletini showing up in a cocktail bar in New Orleans. I have no problem with a comeback story. I love the idea of a phoenix rising out of the ashes. The issue have here is that this drink made popular in the 1990's is considered "old school" as if it were a classic gin martini garnished with a single green olive-the kind my grandmother would have ordered if she actually drank that sort of thing. Designating something that was popular in the 1990's as retro also signals to me that I am now officially old and I don't like to be reminded of that since I will forever think of myself as 25 and impossibly young.

Other "Comeback Cocktails" listed in the article (Neon Retro Redux) include the Cosmopolitan made popular in the late 1990's -early 2000's by Carrie and her fabulous friends in "Sex and the City".  But I contend that this very cool drink never went out of style and it continues to be top on my list of go-to's. And those four ladies will always represent the epitome of a cool, strong female power squad. I think we need to channel that energy now more than ever, don't you?

Recently, though the ever glam Cosmopolitan cocktail reached an even higher rung on my list when I had one -dare I say, "the best version I have ever tasted"?- at Fisherman's View Restaurant in Sandwich, MA. Not your typical SATC vibe, a nice-tame place overlooking the water that was way too crowded on a Saturday night after Labor Day but the cocktail was perfection: bright pink hue disguising the booziness of the vodka, eye pleasing contrast with the lime wheel garnish but the best part was the balance of tart and sweet from the ingenious swap out of a cranberry shrub for the typical cranberry juice cocktail.  I am salivating just thinking about it now.

Now this is a reboot that I can get behind. 

The Fisherman's View Restaurant calls theirs the "Cape Cod Cosmo". If you are ever in Sandwich, MA be sure to stop by and sample it for yourself. Until then, make this at home as this version tastes pretty close to theirs.

Best Cosmopolitan 

(makes one)

3 oz. vodka

2 oz. cranberry shrub*

1/2 oz. triple sec or cointreau

1/4 oz. lime juice

lime wheel for garnish

Add all ingredients except lime wheel to shaker full of ice. Shake vigorously until shaker has frost forming on the outside. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with lime wheel. Serve dirty rocks on the side.

*Cranberry Shrub

(makes enough for multiple cocktails)

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup water

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup sugar

Add all ingredients to a medium size saucepan. Bring to boil them simmer for 15 minutes on low.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a glass jar with lid. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Breakfast Sandwich❤️

It's literally the least I can do. He is barely home at all this summer. Off to work, playing golf, baseball or hanging out with his girlfriend. Everything I want for him the summer before he heads off to college. Except that I miss him already.

So, I get up at 5:00am to see him off. I make him a breakfast sandwich to go. Crisp bacon, one egg cooked over hard- yolk broken, no longer runny, topped with melted cheese. Two slices: one to glue the bacon to the egg and another to glue the bacon to the top of the sandwich. Toasted everything bagel, a skim of sweet butter, wall to wall. Cut in half and loosely wrapped in foil. I rest it on a folded piece of paper towel so that he won't be tempted to wipe his greasy hands on his khaki work shorts. Don't forget the iced (black) coffee, leftovers from yesterday in a to go coffee cup.

"Bye mom, love you."

"Have a great day. Love you."

Some have made comments, teased me for continuing to make my son's lunch for him to take to school everyday his senior year in high school just as I had been doing since he started preschool. Was I doing too much? Was I not allowing him to grow up? Coddling him? I mentioned these feelings to my friend Sheila. 

"That is your love language. Don't stop."

She is right. I felt so validated. 

I am going to make that sandwich everyday until he leaves for college. Then I am going to make it again when he comes home. I hope I get to make it for a long, long time. 

Breakfast Sandwich 

(serves 1)

1 everything bagel, sliced open

1 1/2 slices cooked bacon (see Precooked Bacon below)

1 egg (preferably from Val's chickens)

salt and pepper

approx 1 tablespoon of salted butter

2 slices of American cheese

Toast bagel. While bagel is toasting, heat small frying pan on medium. Add slices of precooked bacon (cut in half so that all three pieces are the same length) to the edge of the pan. Once the bacon begins to heat through, add about a teaspoon of butter to the pan on the opposite side. After the butter melts, crack the egg and slowly add it to the pan so that the white begins to cook as you add the entire egg. Use a spatula to contain the egg in a small area. Salt and pepper the egg. Once the egg begins to set, gently break the yolk and mix it around. When the egg is completely set, flip it over and top with one slice of cheese. Place bacon slices on top and top the bacon with the remaining slice of cheese. Lower heat to low and cover.

Meanwhile, butter the bagel wall to wall. After a few minutes, remove egg from pan and place on lower half of buttered bagel. Place bagel top onto sandwich and slice in half. Wrap sandwich in tinfoil.

Serve with a thermos of iced coffee (black, leftover from the pot that was brewed day before). Don't forget the napkin/piece of paper towel for greasy hands.

 

Precooked Bacon

(makes 1 package of bacon)

1 package bacon

Turn on oven to 425 degrees. No need to preheat.

Line a rimmed baking pan with tin foil.

Line up bacon strips in an even layer on foil lined sheet. Try not to overlap, squish them in but make sure all the pieces lay flat.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, checking often. Flip the slices with tongs about 10 minutes in. Remove bacon as slices cook to your liking onto a paper towel lined plate. (The outermost slices seem to cook the fastest.)

Once cooled, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator before the man/boy comes home and eats it all for a snack.