During the OTHER Winter Sports

Halftime.


The Winter Sports crew are taking a halftime break for February!  During this time we're going to woodshed our craft a little, refining little things and taking the opportunity to kick out some new drink ideas for the second half of the season, which will start up again in March.  


So Thank You all for an excellent first half!  We expect not to go dormant during this little break-- we have a lot of picture posting to catch up on, and we're also planning on starting work on The Book.  More details will come, but for now lets call it a very visual cookbook..  and we're going to cover everything from big smiles to black outs.  All in about 2 dozen recipes.  I'll leave it to you to fill in the blanks..  and in the meantime I may try posting a few actual recipes here on the blog.  I'll keep you posted!


And see you all at Trust this weekend!

Winter Sports 3

Twenty Ten.  The Age of Aquarius.  A Shift in Consciousness.  The end of time as we know it?  Its hard to get away from the sense that something big-- like cosmic big-- will be going down in the next few years.  As we finally shifted into a new decade, I was struck by my rediscovery of the feeling that New Things might once again be possible.
Does this mean that, from 2000-2009, we were in lock-down?  Hmm.. maybe more like Probation, I thought.  The first decade of our new century, and the first of our new Millennium-- it makes sense that from 2000 through 2009 we were in a transition mode.  Time will tell if the prophets and starreaders will feel justified in the way that the twenty-tens turned out.
But I can say with confidence that our hearts were in the right place: we wanted to step up our game, polish our skills, and do this new age right when we threw Winter Sports 3 last month.  We wanted to jump into TwentyTen with our Aquarian bells on.


To that end.. some of the photos and cocktails from TwentyTen's first Winter Sports:  number Three, on January 16th, 2010.

Specialty Cocktails
Whiteout.  Glass and Glacier.  A splash of Draft Sake combined with Boodles Gin and finished off with a touch of St. Germain, cradling a rough-hewn chunk of ice in a sipping shot. 
Good Morning.  A New Years' Mimosa for the New Age.  Combine champagne and grapefruit juice with a sprig of fresh Rosemary, in a champagne flute.

(Top, Nick and Ikuyo.  Above, Daniel, Janko, Kitsy, and Kitsy's hat.  Below, Josh and Sylvia, and below that, Ted.  All photos by Josh Umami.. err.. um, except probly the picture of Josh and Sylvia.  Anyone know who took that one?)

(Below, Tyson and Jan.  Below that, Sarah and Karen.  Bottom, Jameson, with a shadowed Aron behind the bar.  I need more photos of Aron!)

So this is roughly half of the photos Josh took at Winter Sports 3..  I'll post the other half, and the remaining two drink descriptions, very soon.  I love how Jameson looks completely timeless in the above photo, and when combined with the Winter Sports foliage and my kitchen, is almost impossible to locate in Time.  Timeless, or outside of the constraints of time.  Out-of-time?

(Top, Daniel and Janko.  Above, Amy Lee and Farazana, in front of photos from the evening.  Below, John, Ted, and Jameson, Ted is mixing a Sons and Daughters with Aron's lemongrass simple syrup.  Also below, Sylvia and Valerie) 

(Below, Andrea, Seth, Tobias, and Karen on the sofa.  Below that, the crowd; Tobias, Ryan, Valerie, Nick , and Remy, and at the bottom, Kitsy, Shanti, Remy, and Nick.  Like always, photos by Josh Umami.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/umamichan/)   RocknRoll!

Whiteouts

Thank You.


That was awesome you guys.  Seriously.


Josh's photos and the full menu coming soon.

Like a Lightning Razor Sky

Tonight!


Your Stylish Presence in Requested at tonight's Winter Sports.


Tonight at 9 pacific we do Winter Sports III (or !!! if you want to), the first of the new decade, and to kick it off in the right vein of the new emerging consciousness, we decided to try our hands at something pure and aquarian.  The result is a does of a new, as-of-yet nameless, but nonetheless elemental mixture of cosmology and pure glacial primacy.  We're thinking of calling it the Glacial Melt, or the Alpine Race.  Bring your suggestions with you tonight!


The (???)
Like a Iceberg adrift offshore along the Grey Gardens.  A sipping shot of Boodles Gin and Draft Sake tempered by a splash of St. Germain and held together by a rough-hewn chunk of ice.  


See you tonight!

Only, It Wasn't Snowing

(Above, everyone at the end of the night, vaguely left to right, Ted, Sara, Rachael, Matt, Seth, Bert, Cori, John, Cathy, Kenny, Kailin, Tobias, Aron, Sylvia, Nick, with the menu, Brook, Karen, and Steph.  All Photos by Josh!  Below, Rachael and Cori.  Below that, Sara, Seth, and Sylvia. )

(Below, James and Mo, and Josh and Amanda.  I think Helen took the picture of Josh and Amanda, but Josh took the other one.)

Below, Philip and Sylvia.  Bottom, Sue, Roberto, Taylor, Aleks and Alvin.  Thanks Josh for the beautiful photos!  Many more coming soon!)

Revolutions

Huge Thank Yous to Everyone Who Came Out Saturday for the Second Night of Winter Sports.  


It was an awesome and lively crowd on Saturday-- thanks to everyone who came out before heading up to TRUST, thank you to everyone who came later and brought the second and third waves, and thanks to all who hung with us for the whole evening.  (...and a very big and quite special swooping Thank You to our lovely guest from Los Angeles.)


Thank you too to everyone for rocking such winter finery as you were.  We've got some beautiful photos by Josh to post.. they are undergoing the transition from analog to digital and should be ready to put up soon.  Hope you got a preview from Josh at the party-- they are truly gorgeous and I can't wait to post them and show them off.  


Before we get to the photos, though, I want to post the menu up for posterity..
Ted's cocktails Saturday night were focused on being holiday-ish without going overboard-- with just enough sweetness to be appropriate and just enough dirtyness to be inappropriate.  


Specialty Cocktails
Cabin Fever.  A Reason to Stay Indoors.  Hot Cider served in a glass mug with couvoisier, white rum, and a cinnamon stick.
Forget About It.  When You Want it to Linger A Little.  Cold Sparkling Cider with Tequila and a dash of Chartreuse, served in a champagne flute.
Wartime Behavior.  A Bite from Beautiful Lips.  A shot of Courvo and a splash of St. Germain in a Ginger-rubbed glass, served to sip.  And Bite.
Debutante's Regret.  The Hidden Crazy Eye behind Big Sunglasses.  Champagne and Courvoisier with Cool Whip if you're dirty.  Served like Bubbles.. but the Cool Whip will give you away.


Thank You Ted and Thank You Josh for your magics!
Cheers and I'll be back soon with some photos!

Danse Au Hasard

(Top, Charlie and Ted.  Above, Cori!  By Josh Umami.)

(Top, Devon, Ryan, Brain, and Mo.  Middle, Christina, Megan, Alison and Nick, and above, Megan, Christina, and Alison.  Beautifully polaroided by Josh!)

(Two above, Ted and Sara.  Immediately above, Belan and Brain.  Woo!  Below, Nick and Andrea.  Bottom, Erik.)  Thank you everyone for coming to hang out with Ted, Josh, and I!  Can't wait to see everyone this Saturday for the second night of Winter Sports.  See you then :)

Countdown

This
Saturday.




Hello Everyone.  Join us this Saturday for Winter Sports Heat II!


Just as the first round of Holiday Parties reaches a close, I think we all feel the need to kick back with some non-holiday themed-- but nonetheless sartorial-- merrymaking.  Think of it as a warmup for 2010!  We're putting the finishing touches on our menu this week, and working out the kinks, but details are as follows:

Your Stylish Attendance Requested at the Winter Sports Heat II

on Saturday, December 12th.

From 9 pm on and on and onandonandonandonandon.. 

Beautiful Beasts of the Present

(Top, Helen, Mark, and Paula!  Middle, Seth, Sara, Emily, Ikuyo, and Allie... Above, Sara, Emily, Ikuyo, and Allie.  

Below, Nick, Christina, Alison, and Megan.  Also below, Brandy and Jameson.  All by Josh of course!)

(Below, Sylvia, Kenny, Erik, and Cori.  Bottom, Steven and Kailin.  Photos by Josh)

Happy Thanksgiving

(Top, Cori, with hidden Kenny, Steven, and Kailin.  Above, Daniel and Charlie.  Below, Chika, Jared, and Chris hydrates.  Photos by Josh Umami!)

(Above, Ted and Seth, who invented something really gross when he put whipped cream on a PBR.  Below, Sylvia and Christy.  Btw Happy Birthday Sylvia!  All by Josh)

(Above, Karen catches Josh in the act.  Below, Nick, Bilan, and Brian.  Thanks Josh for the rad photos.  More coming next week!)

High Cream

Thank You.

Massive Thank Yous to everyone who came out for the first Winter Sports!  Especially to the people who I hadn't met before!  You guys brought the party to a whole new place.  We had a TOTAL blast!

(Above, Ikuyo, Gerald, Nick, Em, and Allie.  Emily was carrying around that whipped cream canister all night.  Below, Ted, Cori, Andrea, and Nick, finishing a drink.   Polaroided by Josh Umami!)

A few more things I'm thankful for (its only a few days until Thanksgiving, u know) before I wear it out-- Thanks to EVERYONE for trying our cocktails.  After everyone warmed up with a Wartime Behavior or two, we added a new drink to the menu:  Halfway thru the party, to compensate for a sudden shortage of St. Germain (blame Ted's ridiculously good French Gingers) we coined the French Mexican, our own cinematic aggrandized version of what it know in less cinematic times as Tequila with Sparkling (French) Lemonade.      

This move led to a little bit of debate on the floor about what was the most popular drink of the night.  The first half of the night had a great spread; the Wartime Behavior and No Sadnesses (thank you linguist Erik) putting up solid competition for the French Ginger and the Debutante's Regret, both of which seemed to capture everyone's need to warm up and ease into the evening.  By the middle of the night, No Sadnesses were storming the place.  But even with the introduction of tequila to level the playing field after the departure of French Gingers from the menu, I think the Debutante's Regret solidly took the second half of the night.  

(Above, Ryan, Brian, and Mo.  Below, Sara and Seth, who holds a Debutante's Regret.  Photo by Josh)

So is this what puts the Sports in Winter Sports?  A room full of rad, creative people plus a freshly-minted menu of new cocktails on the wall, and each cocktail vying for drinkage throughout the course of an amazing evening?  Could be, given how we didn't drink nearly ANYTHING besides the five drinks on the menu all night...  Its a good story.

But is that the answer?  It does make a good story, but here's the thing:  I'm not sure we need to know what puts the Sports in Winter Sports!  We don't need an excuse to get together and have a blast.  We just need a venue.

(Below, Em and Ikuyo!  Photo by Josh)

One other sporting-type idea comes to mind.  Let's make ourselves a game to shake up winter hibernation in the Northwest.  A season of friendly tussle between our energetic selves and the rainy quiet.  One night a month!  To get together, rock all night, bring more friends together, and punctuate the grey until next summer!  Next Winter Sports is coming up in a few weeks.  Hope to see you all there!

Thanks to Seth and Sara for this post's title.  They kept saying things like High Cream while drinking Debutante's Regrets.. Funny