For this month's Mixology Monday, Paul at The Cocktail Chronicles has suggested an interesting topic: Blog Love. In essence, this is where we highlight drink recipes that we've picked up from other cocktail blogs, as well as word or two about the drink blog(s) we love and why. Minimum 500 words, no grading curve.

I kid. At any rate, since delving into the world of amateur mixology sometime last year, I've discovered and bookmarked a wealth of food and drink blogs, all of them excellent. Paul's blog is just one example. I'm not exaggerating when I say that these bloggers are a rare breed: Well-read, well-informed, funny, sharp, unfailingly interesting and entertaining writers. Many of them are professional bartenders, many are simply home enthusiasts. Either way, they know their stuff.

One of my favorites is Married...with dinner, authored by Anita and Cameron, two self-described "San Fransisco food dorks" who know from great cocktails. One of their entries from a while back concerned the Painkiller, a delightful tropical highball that I think can only fairly be described as a Pina Colada on steroids. It's a nice little number to have in your repertoire for those times when it's hot outside, you've had a long day at work, and everyone around you is working your last nerve. Or for parties. Your guests will love you. And probably try to make out with you.

Despite the fair amount of fruit juice and other numbing agents, this drink is definitely one where you'll want to use quality dark rum. I ran out of my usual Black Seal and so had to make do with Captain Morgan - it was pleasant enough, but I'm sure Black Seal (or Anita and Cameron's recommended Pusser's) would make the drink fantastic. No complaints here, though.

Painkiller
4 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice
1 oz Coco Lopez coconut cream (which I can't find anywhere here, so I used a different brand)
2-4 oz dark rum (I went with 3)
whole nutmeg

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with a grating of fresh nutmeg and a pineapple slice, if desired.


As for the 411 on my own blogging efforts: I've been writing this blog for about five years now, but it was only recently that I started blogging about cocktails, because it was only recently that I started exploring alcoholic drinks beyond beer and coolers (or "alcopops", for the American readers). Shortly after I turned 19 (the legal drinking age in Canada), I decided to try making my own Martinis, the gin kind, just to see what the big deal was - after all, which cocktail is more firmly engrained in the pop culture consciousness than the James Bond staple? I walked into a liquor store as a legal customer for the first time, picked out a small bottle of Beefeater and some Martini & Rossi vermouth, and mixed them up. I was largely unimpressed, although at that point I can't even remember if there was a proper cocktail shaker in the house, so I can only imagine the various faux pas I likely committed while making the drink, right down to the amount of ice I used. I may even have shaken the thing. At any rate, I quickly moved on to Black Russians and Chocolate Martinis, and continued drinking Corona and Smirnoff Ice like any good alcohol newbie.

Fast forward about three years, and after some enlightening bar-hopping and Internet browsing, I'm discovering the joys of Sidecars, Margaritas, Manhattans, Pina Coladas, Pegu Clubs, Mojitos, Daiquiris, and other sundry liquors and libations...including the authentic, proper Martini (a remarkable creature it is, too). I've boned up on my knowledge of bourbon and scotch, and find myself drooling at florid descriptions of obscure liqueurs and vintage cocktail ingredients. In short, I've been converted, and it's largely thanks to all the enthusiastic food and drink bloggers on the Web. I've listed my favorites in the Links section (although it needs an update), but there are a host of others that are only a mouse click away, each filled with excellent knowledge and smart humor. Check them out.

Listening to the radio the other day, amidst the ubiquitous (and awesome) "Umbrella" and the tiresome (if catchy) "Makes Me Wonder", I heard "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's. You've probably heard it, too. Nice song, well-written and heartfelt, a little on the sappy side. But it's most notable for illustrating how much the Internet has changed the way we listen to music, and more importantly, how it has changed the music industry as a whole.

"Hey There Delilah" was released as an album track by the Plain White T's, a largely unknown indie act, in 2005. Now, two years later, the song is sitting at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, setting itself up nicely as the main contender to knock Rihanna's "Umbrella" off the top spot. I don't know how it got there - I'm not sure anyone does, least of all the band - but I'm willing to bet a pretty penny that three or four years ago, this never would have happened. "Hey There Delilah" would perhaps have become a fan favorite, charting somewhere in the 20s or 30s on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, but there's no way it would have found itself among the T-Pains and Fergies on the radio airplay spectrum. No, "Hey There Delilah"'s success is firmly rooted in the digital download revolution, which was made concrete a couple of years ago when Billboard starting counting digital single sales toward its formulation of the Hot 100, previously devoted to airplay and physical single sales only. People heard "Delilah" somewhere - perhaps a friend recommended it, or they read a positive review in a magazine - and they downloaded it in droves, and the snowball kept growing. It's the same phenomenon that rocketed D4L's "Laffy Taffy" to #1, despite the fact that it's one of the most lazily produced and ill-conceived rap tracks since the dawn of the genre. For whatever reason, people liked it (or they enjoyed it from an ironic standpoint - please God, tell me all those downloads were for the sake of irony), and the Billboard charts bespoke of the song's popular online demand. And lo, there it was every hour on 106.9 FM, driving me crazy.

The public is now dictating which songs make it into heavy radio rotation more than ever before, and they're doing it through the power of the Internet. For all the talk of how music downloads and iPods would deal a death blow to traditional radio, it seems the two have a more symbiotic relationship than the Chicken Littles of the the music industry would care to admit. Flukes become chart-toppers, indie acts have their day in the sun, careers are made or broken based on how many mouse clicks that "Buy Song" button receives today. It's exciting to envision what else lies in store for the ever-tightening relationship between the music industry and its consumers, and it's refreshing to know that if listeners would rather hear a different Gwen Stefani song than the one record executives choose as the next single, well, that's the one they'll probably hear. Bring on the revolution.

Needed parsley and some lemon slices (ala Ina Garten's recipe), but still damn tasty. I think it's the butter, mostly. Butter, garlic, black pepper and lemon zest seem to be miracle ingredients whenever I cook - a little bit of any of them and even the blandest dish becomes suddenly tastier. This recipe uses all four. It can't fail.

Fiddling with food photos on a slightly better digital camera that I've borrowed. Mine is a measly 2 megapixels with no manual mode. I'm waffling between getting a 10-megapixel PowerShot with some nice bells and whistles, or a Digital Rebel SLR, which is less portable but takes lovely pictures. It's also a few hundred dollars more expensive. Damn my measly paycheck.


I love these sunlit drink shots, like the Screwdriver is gazing out the window longingly, dreaming of a better place. "Oh, if I could only be sipped out on a patio somewhere."