Bring in the New

Spoiler alert, I’m gonna talk about the super fun bubbles from Argentina you too could be ringing in the new year with at the end, but first, how about a little catch up?

What a year it has been. Actually, it’s the first year in a while that has felt like a real REAL year, with in-person stuff and everything. And yet I have so many things I want to be better in 2023. I want to feel refreshed, because I am still a touch torn down. I usually keep it light and breezy here but I’m going to be real, the last few years have been a special sort of hell, with the occasional kiss of heaven, and I know not just for me. Physically and emotionally I’ve been through some shit, from seizures due to my body’s inability to maintain a reasonable level of sodium, to a bunch I won’t get into. But it’s been an exhausting few years.

Of course there has been the good too. I went to Italy twice last year. I keep saying that to myself because it feels like a triumph. I wrote a boatload, both scripts and wine/spirits/food stuff. I acted in some animated things and a spec episodic show, and took part in a bajillion table reads of other people’s scripts. I figured out I’m definitely bisexual. Late blooming but here I am–sex with women is great! Highly recommend. I started my own writer group, which has been invaluable both for the camaraderie and for forcing me to actually finish scripts–oh yeah I also finished a pilot and have the outline for a movie.

So what now in 2023? Honestly, so far the only big plan I have is too keep a “best of” contenders list of things I drink so that I can round them up and in a year share them with you. I taste a TON of things and my computer brain usually puts them in the “this is useful now or could be in the future for an article” but I seldom make a note when my mind gets blown. Maybe I’m not getting blown enough take that to mean what you will. Anyway. That’s my promise is in a year I’m gonna have a “best of” list. I’m also going to look for representation for my script writing. I also plan to continue healing my soul and keeping my health (and electrolytes) up and keep acting and…OH big thing…

I’m gonna start a Youtube wine show. It’ll be a crossing of wine education with some silliness thrown in and I want it to be both useful, and a place people can tune into because they’ll feel like I am their own personal wine buddy. Right now the working name is “Taste with Elle” cause that gives me leeway to throw in the occasional cocktail of food note. I’ll let you know.

And I AM gonna get a cat. Another black cat because ever since having one I can’t go back. I’ve been spending a lot of time scrolling for pussy and not just cause the bi thing.

But what to drink for the new year?! I am drinking this on New Year’s Eve eve actually but carry it forth with you as an idea for the future! I’m 99.99 sure I have not had traditional method sparkling wine from Argentina. I am putting it out there that I have-not been to a wine region in the Southern Hemisphere. Argentina, you don’t have to cry for me if you bring me to your vineyards.

So, I give you your new thing for 2023…MASCOTA VINEYARDS UNÁNIME SPARKLING WINE. It’s an intriguing blend of 85% Chardonnay and 15% Malbec, straight out of the Uco Valley, a subregion of Mendoza that boasts ridiculously high altitude. It exudes rich n ripe vibes straight out of the glass and into my nose–I smell ripe pears, pineapple, honey and sweet corn. Full body with a friendly sparkle, the bubbles are subdued. All the aromas come out in flavors on the palate, plus some browned applesauce and caramel drizzle. It’s a voluptuous but tenderhearted bubbly, outspoken but gentle.

Try it.

One last “for 2023” thing…getting even more acquainted with bubblies from around the world. I need to do that. That was the test I came closest to not passing in my WSET Diploma. And (one more MAYBE) if I decide to go after my MW I need to be on point for EVERYTHING.

But most of all myself. I can be here for you but I can’t let myself treat me poorly. The last few years I’ve been trying to get back on track. And I will.

Unprepared Pairing

I don’t drink Malbec. That much. Maybe that’s because it feels so much like a food wine to me, and I don’t eat.

Jk I’m an actor in Los Angeles. I eat sometimes. Especially when it’s free.

I won’t tiptoe around it. Last week, I was on a movie set and saw that craft services (aka “crafty” aka where to get snacks between meals and everyone’s favorite place on set) had…UNCRUSTABLES. That frozen aisle pbj sandwich on-the-go. So I tucked one of the pb and grape jelly ones into my bag for later. Because as I said I eat sometimes, but not on set.

At home, I had it with a glass of Trapiche Malbec and deduced that a) Uncrustables is a perfect food and b) it is THE perfect pairing with a rich Malbec and c) a good Malbec is even better with food.

You guysssss–you know how good peanut butter and jelly is? Somehow Uncrustables has the right proportions, but also is cute, with the fun of the crimped edge that gives you a little extra bread pull in some bites. I don’t know how they do it but damn, it is just right.

The grape-y and nutty and wheat trifecta is complemented by the richness of the Malbec, whose velvet tannins do a little dance with the fatty peanut butter. And the sweetness of the grapes in the jelly are mitigated by the dryness of the grapes in the wine and ALL of that happens at the same time. It’s a gorgeous thuple.

I suppose some people look to wine writing for fanciness, but here I am to advise on frozen pbj pairings. Or maybe I should take up more food posts again–to be fair my last post was devoted to cheese so I would like to think I am doing the good Lordess’ work. And now for your tasting notes!

The Trapiche Medalla Malbec 2020 was made to celebrate Trapiche’s 100 year anniversary. The nose is sweet. I know, I know, a smell can’t be sweet, but it smells of sweet fruit and a soupçon of tobacco. The body is full and tannins velvety. The oak is talkative, and the fruit (red and black, plums and raspberries) follows, then comes creamy vanilla extract-style vanilla. But there is a pep in this Malbec’s step. A flood of blackberry juice mid-palate. A bit of crunchy earth and cedar grip that comes in at the end, so that’s super funsies. A bit of spice and another hit of juice-laden red plums comes at the ens.

This wine is a lot. If you like a big New World red you’ll like it. If you like brawny meat I think you’d like it with that? From what I remember of meat? It also would do well with stuffed red peppers methinks. And it is AWESOME with a grape jelly Uncrustable.

As I write this, I am on a different set, and while crafty did have dark chocolate Milanos and multiple flavors of Nature Valley granola bars (amongst other things), a crafty with Uncrustables has set my bar high for crafty. The Trapiche has inspired me. Onwards artists!

It ain’t LA if…insert podcast reference here

 

I promise a finale to the cru Beaujolais series very soon.

It ain’t LA if you aren’t selfie-ing up a storm and self-promoting like crazy so I take this self-indulgent moment to say if you haven’t yet, please take a listen to The Whine Situation! We pair funny people’s whines with wines. No it is not for a wine professional. Just people who want to laugh and possibly learn a little about wine.

We are on iTunes, Stitcher, Youtube, and you can stream anytime from Libsyn! YAY.

This week we tackle the whine of why people have to hate on LA. So this post is meta or something.

Please listen. Subscribe. Rate etc the whole shebang. Get in.

 

Maybe there isn’t more than this Provençal life and that’s not too bad so fuck you Belle.

I’m a beast. I’m not provincial but all the same fuck you Belle! I like that the baker has bread like always! What if I showed up and he’d gone hipster and was selling gluten-free cupcakes? That would suck.

I’ll take a wee bit of province and a wee bit of Provence, thank you.

Provence!! Cue lavender fields and olives.

Strike the olives. I hate olives. Although they do grow in Provence.

Actually if truth is told I generally am not too into the Provence pinks. They tend to be too pale, too easy-going, too…well I start singing the “there must be more” Beauty and the Beast song.

Dang I guess I’m a hypocrite. I want the provincial bread. But not always the provincial Provençal wine. Got it?

Fortunately there is justttttt enough interesting stuff this Provençal wine.

And there is a bit more in my life.

Like this non-provincial Provençal wine, it has a lot of the same all but mixed up just enough to keep me going back for more. Living and wine.

2015 Château de Pampelonne Cotes de Provence

Meow meow.

Enough philosophical babble, here are the deets!

Eye: pale pink slightly salmons, quick thin tears.

Nose: clean, medium intensity, cherries, peaches, sweet cherries, and your standard brook. Babbling brook.

Taste: dry, medium acid, medium alcohol (13%abv), medium body, medium intensity, sweet cherries, tangerine, grapefruit, stones n stuff, finish is medium. So there is so much is medium in this it borders on boring but has enough complexity of flavor to just end up balanced.

Quality? Good, medium price n so on. Get the fuck in whilst ye can or I’d never share this “medium”(hint: it’s more than medium) booze.

Love, 

Me, from me non-provincial corner of LA where you see more tortilla makers with their tortillas like always than you do French bread makers. And that’s okay. As long as they keep the gluten in.

Cocktail TED talk

    
Hey dudes! No recipe or recommendations today because…I have been prepping all week to see just how much basic cocktail knowledge I can give in 8-10 minutes Wednesday night. The show will also feature talks about everything ranging from Horse Psychology to The Black Panther Party to Iceland.More info: https://ucbtheatre.com/show/5392

Come play!

Pairs Well With Queso

We took a hiatus. “Girls” may be over for the season, but we wanted to keep drinking. And so we did. And put it on digital for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy this beverage, please. I did.

Ps thank you Captain Morgan for the barrage of rum. It was delightful. 

Pps Everyone PLEASE get some friggin’ queso.

Pairs Well With Queso (makes 2)

• 2 1/2 oz grapefruit rum 
• 1 1/2 oz bourbon (used my favorite standby Maker’s Mark)
• 1 1/2 oz dry vermouth 
• 1 1/4 oz Purely Syrup Habanero simple syrup
• Tonic water
• Mixture of cane sugar and sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1/2 a grapefruit

Press a glass into the grapefruit, then dip in the sugar/paprika mixture.

Shake everything else but the tonic. Strain and top with tonic.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip on bread. Dip in bowl. Dip da dip dip dippity do

Ohhhh my goodness. I am finally done with the season of Girls on GIRLS. Although we will be rolling out cocktail-making segments soon.
And in between doing a bunch of live shows that ran the gamut from improv to sketch to contortion for comedy, I decided to pull out some of the posts I had had in my drafts for a while. This is one of them. A recipe I’ve enjoyed enough to make more than once. That’s a big compliment from me because having to vet new cookbooks leaves little time for old favorites. The genius work of Joy the Baker keeps me coming back.

Here’s the deal:
I LOVE a sandwich. I cannot dislike anything involving ample carbohydrates.

Here’s the other deal with a sandwich though:
I only love it if I can eat it on a plate with a knife and fork so I can deconstruct and reconstruct as I like. Here, a bite of the whole sandwich, there, a forkful of filling. Then a leftover bit of bread from where I swiped the filling. That I may butter.

The third and final deal with a sandwich is that I rarely actually eat things that are supposed to be served on carbs ON the said carbs. I devour bowls of spicy salsa with a spoon pretty much daily. It is not so different from gazpacho right? Then I butter the chips.
And I rarely eat the cheese on cheese plates atop the slices of baguette that come with it. I nibble each bit of fromage individually. The better to really taste the cheese, my dear. Then I butter the baguette.

So I made this dip and enjoyed deconstructing a sandwich made with it, and still had leftover dip to gobble from a bowl. And at some point I ran out of bread but I always keep back-up butter.

Take home lesson from this blog post is this: ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP BUTTER.

Spicy Spinach and Artichoke Dip/Spread adapted from this recipe by Joy the Baker
Olive oil spray
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
A few handfuls if baby spinach
2 pieces of whole wheat bread
1 Tbsp. cream cheese
2 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded
3/4 c. Chopped artichoke hearts
Pinch of fleur de sel
1 heaping Tbsp. Cottage cheese, mashed with a fork until relatively smooth
1 1/2 tsp. Sriracha
Butter
Spray a pan with the oil and sauté the garlic a bit then add the spinach, an cook just until wilted. Take off heat. Spread the bread slices with the cream cheese. Stir together the spinach mixture, Swiss cheese, artichoke hearts, fleur de sel, cottage cheese, and Sriracha. Heap as much as you want on top of cream cheese on one piece of bread, (save the rest for another sandwich, or if you are like me, eating out of a bowl) and top with other slice of bread, cream cheese side down. Spread outside of sandwich with butter and cook Ina skillet on each side until browned to your liking. Because it is all about you.

Dunham Daiquiri

I have major issues spelling daiquiri. And I am generally a good speller. But I keep getting tripped up on this one. I keep wanting to add a c. I think that is because there is a thing called a dacquoise. It is layers of meringue and buttercream and I really want to make one. And maybe I will have time now that my web series is done.

Done for now. This was the “Girls” series finale drink! But I plan to keep making funny drink-making videos maybe every month or so.

I wanted to make something to honor Lena Dunham. Since she is a writer I thought a riff on a writer’s favorite drink would be apropos. I recently discovered the joys of a well-made daiquiri, and since Ernest Hemingway has one named after him I thought a Dunham Daiquiri was in order.

I turned to my arrangement of random booze and started playing. Then I asked the cocktail subreddit if they had ideas. Then I experimented more. This involved multiple tries to get a good balance. But I think I have it.

One more note–in the video somehow me adding the lime juice got edited out. But I did add it.

Here ya go:
Dunham Daiquiri a variation by moi
2 oz. rum (the clear type–I used Bacardi which is not fancy but not bad)
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice (don’t use pre-squeezed, if you do you may as well not bother)
1/2 oz. demerara simple syrup (combine two parts demerara sugar to one part water in a small saucepan and heat and stir until it is dissolved–don’t let it boil!)
1/2 oz. tawny port
1/4 oz. fernet branca
Shake it up.

The GodDaddy

This episode was called Daddy Issues. Only two more of these acting-career-oriented posts I promise.
There is a drink called the Godfather I felt could use some sprucing up.  I called my mom’s dad Granddaddy.
Hence the multiple reasons the GodDaddy was born. A riff on Godfather and not to be confused with Godaddy. Great website host. Terrible drink I’m sure. 

 
THE GOD-DADDY a riff on the classic Godfather 

• 2 oz. rye 
• 1/2 oz. amaretto 
• 1/4 tsp. syrup from Luxardo cherries 
• dashes angostura

Stir n strain. 

Candy, Jason and Reese’s

This week’s episode of my dear darling Girls on GIRLS web series was Bridgid-less but guest-full.

Are you ever weirded out by art imitating life? The day I happened to have Jason Stuart, a comedian who is quite at home talking about being gay was the day that a character on the show we were discussing comes out to his wife. Whaddaya know. Jason and I both were into the serendipity of that moment. For all Jason’s work including his own web series go here.

And then there was my need for a dessert drink.

And along came Candy Washington, who I have the biggest woman crush on. She’s spectacular. Check out her goodness here. And Candy’s taste in candy is top-notch. We share a favorite: Reese’s peanut butter cups. You really cannot do better in the candy game. It is the simplest and the best. Like her!

The Candy Washington. Now with more alcohol.

Shake it up.

The Candy Washington an original by Ellen Clifford

2 oz. dark creme de cacao 1 oz. vanilla vodka

1 oz. Bailey’s Irish cream

1/2 oz. 1/2 and 1/2

1 Tbsp. powdered peanut butter (I used Just Great Stuff)

1 tsp. Dutch process cocoa powder (I used Hershey Special Dark)

mini Reese’s peanut butter cups

Shake all but the peanut butter cups. Strain into chilled glass. Spear mini pb cups on toothpicks to garnish.