Epic Smoked Bloody Marys For Your New Year’s Brunch
By Nancy Loseke with Glenn Tiede
January 1 is officially National Bloody Mary Day. The timing couldn’t be better. Even if you don’t require a “hair of the dog” hangover cure after New Year’s Eve revelries, you now have an unimpeachable excuse to quaff one of America’s most beloved brunch cocktails. Though the origins of this restorative beverage aren’t clear, food historians often credit a professional bartender, Fernand Petiot, with combining equal parts of vodka and tomato juice in the 1920s when he worked at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. He later claimed he spent years tweaking the recipe until it resembled the classic drink we’ve come to know and love. The cocktail was said to be a favorite of Ernest Hemingway who was trying to hide his matitudinal alcohol consumption from his wife.
Warren Bobrow , CONTRIBUTOROpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Warren Bobrow: iPhone X
Problem-Lack of humidity Solution: The Cannador
It’s hard to live in an apartment without modern heating systems that provide humidity along with the warm air. Such is the case again this year, and with the recent cold snap, the air inside this apartment is tinder dry- sparks fly from the fingertips without much hesitation. The same holds true for the fragile medicine, better known as cannabis that should be treated as kindly as fine (read: expensive) wine. Humidity and temperature seem to aid in the aging of this very expensive healing material and not everyone has the ability to run out to the store and buy what is fresh. Those of us on the East Coast have to jump through hoops with regards to our medical cannabis- it’s really pricey so it’s probably best not to wait until it turns to dust before re-hydrating it. Mold can form and all bad things can happen from there on. Remember in High School when you hid that bag of weed from your mom? She was still making your bed back then and you were worried she’d find your stash and rat you out to your dad.. So you stored that pathetic mass of brown leafy material in a plastic bag until you smoked it all, but it went all moldy first. What was that nasty “basement” smell and taste? Storing your cannabis in a plastic bag is just bad for it. There is no reason for you to store this costly material in a plastic sandwich bag, so stop this practice- RIGHT NOW. You should be using a glass jar. Not just any glass jar, but one from the Cannador. But first, what is a Cannador? This is a craft product that will preserve and protect your herbs. Whatever you’ve been doing before is fine, and this method has worked for you pretty well, or at least well enough until now. The Cannador is the very best humidor for cannabis that money can buy. A Cannador is what you should be using now. You don’t have to spend all your kid’s soccer money on the high end, six jar and storage version (but-it wouldn’t hurt..) You can buy a simple two jar version. When you are ready to spend your money, go all out and purchase that wonderful object of your desire. The six jar, humidor with its nifty internal storage humidor (pictured above)
It’s that time of year where people look back on the achievements and milestones of the year that was. I created this list in reaction to the number of posts I was seeing “Vote for Me”.
From being born in virtually subtropical Johannesburg, South Africa, Steve Stern spent his formative years in the temperate climate of Israel and then suddenly uprooted to sub-freezing Wisconsin just after the Yom Kippur War. After that, he landed a suburban life in Great Neck, New York. His NYC inflection is a dead giveaway of where Steven Stern is from, and it guides his direction in life, that entrepreneurial spark that comes from being from New York.
Of all the books that I’ve reviewed this year, my favorite so far is the new book written by my friend Cheri Sicard, named: “The Easy Cannabis Cookbook” and easy it is! Reading this well laid-out book is not difficult, even for those of us with ‘older-eyes’…remarkable how a detail like this can bring so much pleasure- or the constant search for reading glasses! This book is not a hodge-podge of information, it is carefully constructed to bring simplicity into your life, should you choose to medicate yourself using edibles. I’m not a great expert on cooking with cannabis and this book makes it sensible to experiment with the luscious sounding recipes that would be right at home- even in a non-cannabis kitchen. Recipes like the Chicken Matzo Ball Soup resonate with my Jewish heritage and the Slow Cooker- Beef and Bean Chili begs for an icy day and snow down your back. The section on staples is easy to read and simple to reproduce, the breakfast section makes me pine for tomorrow morning and the snacks section throws a party that is less of a chore and definitely never a bore. You’ll be laughing your way into the couch- depending on the strain you choose, and these are never aimed at the collegian out for a loud buzz. The recipes are carefully and thoughtfully dosed. Less bang and more introspection, if you take my drift. It’s never good to be that person who overdoses on every edible because they took too much.
A touch of the cap to the Nova folks who have built a decarb device that makes for stress-free decarbs… Cheri does demystify the decarb process for those who are unable to spend money on technology over simplicity in the toaster oven…
A unique and ‘highly’ helpful section on measurements brings the modern mathematic age into the age of the hard to pin down, possibly absent-minded cook, especially when the cook is under the subtle haze of some fine Kush? Keep your wits about you because this is a very delicious combination of enchanting recipes and pertinent intelligence. It’s up to you really, the recipes are really that good- even if you aren’t a chef- there is something for you here. And for those who think that cookbooks should never be cooked from, this book tests! The recipes don’t just read well, they act well too! Photography is inviting and even the electronic copy that I received has that ‘new book smell’… Well, not really but it is a delicious way to end one year and begin another with this quality package of user-friendly recipes.
Not the same old recipe book for brownies, either- with lip-smacking descriptions like: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (my favorite) or the individual Lemon Berry Trifles. I can’t resist a classic English Trifle. A lovely thing of rare beauty. A tangle of dreams and wishes that Cheri attains the kind of success that is rarely found in food-writing. This is not a stoner book, but an elevated book- a healthy adaptation of a 5000-year-old healing method. A wonderful book to page through and hopefully experiment with. To good taste!
Jane West is a real person! A real mom and a real celebrity of her own hard work and never-ending, entrepreneurial efforts. Jane is effortless and cool, in a high-mountain, Colorado-Mountain Cool- kind of way- and she has Ultra-LUXURY with a uniquely feminine twist on her mind. This is an exalted place to be, in the tall seat at the front of the room, crowded by mere onlookers. Jane is at the top of the class with her gleaming line of chic and well designed cannabis smoking accessories. And she wants you to know she is different and therefore unique. There is a distinctively feminine approach to the Classic- one of the multitude of well-designed, non-antagonistic cannabis smoking experiences. This device is a true classic dug-out pipe- exceptionally modernizedfor the successful woman about town- who doesn’t want to shout when she medicates. The design of the ‘cigarette’ portion of the classic dug-out is sleek and finished with a tiny Jane West logo and flat matte finish. It does not shout, and smoking through the tiny chamber is cool and care-free. Jane West sent a Classic for review and the results couldn’t have been more wonderful. First of all, her packaging is eye-catching and crisp.
Warren “The Cocktail Whisperer” Bobrow has lived many lives. After graduating from Emerson College in ‘85, he worked in television as an editor at PBS in New York City. That position led him to TV and radio engineering in Maine at WNET-TV, but his heart just wasn’t in it. Unemployed and poor in Portland, before it was chic to live there, Bobrow took a job as a dishwasher and salad prep cook in a local restaurant, which ignited a passion for the culinary arts.
Warren Bobrow: iPhone X
Warren Bobrow iPhone X
