Pantree Owl take rather several.

Oh frak. I managed to kill my window and lose the post.I was almost late, but I was saved by the fact that there was a young lady opening for them. Half the band was gone (the whole string section) but I’ve mentioned before that they do very well with a partial group. This time they did a short set, Owls and Ostriches, Horse Song, and one with a name I missed. It took a moment to get the balance right for playing outside, but they started right after the previous musician, and the whole presentation was awesome. Two in a row means I won’t be mentioning that part again unless something goes either absolutely wrong or stunningly right. (I am going to run out of things to talk about though if my posts end up being “well they were totally professional and I adored the music. I guess now I have to actually figure out how one goes about reviewing music. Oh well, it couldn’t last forever.) I will say, for the larger venue of outside, they do need the whole band, but then to sound their absolute best they need the whole band anyway. This makes up for missing their show during Gencon. (Sorry, but it was my first Gencon in almost a decade. Couldn’t miss it.) Pretty awesome.

Japanese Tart

Based on the Japanese Slipper, this is another fruity drink that I greatly enjoy.

1 oz Midori
1 oz orange juice
2 key limes
1 oz triple sec

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Shake and strain into an Old Fashion Glass full of ice. Garnish with a piece of honeydew melon.

If you want a slightly larger drink, double all ingredients except the limes. They will still be tart enough to keep the midori in check.

Pantree Owl

There were several other bands at this one, though unless one of them just blows me away, I’m a gonna stick to writing about Pantree Owl. Concert’s a benefit for the Indiana Forest Alliance, hosted by Rachel’s, and it started right about 8:00, the first band’s sound check may have run a smidge over, but it was pretty close. Not really my thing, and a little loud at times. Good, but not spectacular.
I am very tired and I hope that Pantree Owl is the 2nd band not the 4th.

Oh yay! Ms. Papania is playing a piano and singing… signs look good for operation “get michael home so he can sleep before work!”

Whole band is here today. This should be good. Shortest sound check so far. They haven’t started their first song, and already they are showing much improvement on the “running a good show” aspect of being performing artists.
Sounds like they are about to begin. Time to close my book (Polgara the Sorceress if you were curious.)

The Strings are spectacular. I wish that every band I randomly went out and saw was half as awesome as Pantree Owl.

Oh you know what the internet is for?
No, not that. but that isn’t at all a played out joke. I mean no one has ever quoted avenue Q at me.
No the internet is for letting me direct you to things I am talking about.

Oh one of the songs where they do their sampleing in the middle of the song!
Hum… I think they should have kept the audience request for beer bottles instead of bringing their own (well bring emergency bottles in case, but do the request thing, Possibly seed the the audience with bottles just in case.) (see below)

Oh yeah, talking about…
http://www.myspace.com/pantreeowl especially Horse Song, (I haven’t listened to the version there, but it is listed as a rehearsal. Horse Song is one of their environmental sampling pieces.)

I do eventually want a cd, but I would need a lot more sound system to get any part of the experience of their performance.

Owls and Ostriches:
<3 I have an almost unbounded love for gentle strings in my music. Pantree Owl delivers. Ms. Papania's voice is, as well, most excellent, especially in pieces such as this. (V., B., and really anyone else, we must go to one of their concerts after you get back to school.)

Oh, I was wrong about the song previously. The beer bottle song is coming up. Nevermind. Horse Song! Yays.
This is why I need to be wealthy enough to do things like sponsor artists.

By the way, when I say "environmental sampling, I mean sampling from items in the concert's immediate environment. They also have a lot of sampling from other sources. Everything or almost everything that they play has sampling or sound effects from environmental sources. (Babydoll reminded me of this.)

Their stage craft has finally caught up with Pantree Owl's musical skill. This is a most excellent occurrence, and I am glad that I didn't decide that I was just too damned tired to go to a concert tonight. Now I must post and depart. The sleep monsters are going to eat me.

Aqua Slipper

I’ve decided to go twice weekly with the cocktail posts and as I feel like it with the others.
I keep forgetting to include extra sugar for my experiments with vanilla vodka. But that is a note for another post I suspect.

1 large blackberry.

3 key limes

1 oz blue curacao

1 oz midori

Served in (frosted) Martini Glass

Squeeze the blackberry so it just starts to drip into the martini glass then place it at the bottom of the glass.

Squeeze the limes into an ice filled cocktail shaker.

Add curicao and midori.

Shake until well mixed and strain into the frosted martini glass.

This is a variation on the Japanese slipper, with the key lime giving it a different sort of kick from the original cocktail and the blue curacao giving it a very pretty aqua color instead of the greenness of a Japanese slipper. The blackberry should be only lightly mashed to add a little bit of flavor but mostly whole so you can eat the newly infused droupe at the end. This cocktail is not improved in the least by the addition of 1/2 oz of vanilla vodka. (Vanilla and berries and melon and oranges sounded like a good idea at the time.)

Next either a layered drink or possibly something with rootbeer. (Where next = some time after this Friday.)

Whiskey Tart

Not my favorite drink, but it has a history of going over very well at parties, this is a variation on the Whiskey Sour.

2 oz Bourbon Whiskey
2 key limes
1 oz Simple Syrup

Halve the limes and squeeze them into a shaker half filled with ice.
Add whiskey and syrup, then shake well. Serve on the rocks in a low tumbler or old fashioned glass (or other 6-8 oz glass.) You won’t want to use more than a few ice cubes for this one, though with crushed ice, you can fill it pretty full. Traditionally this one is garnished with a maraschino cherry or half an orange slice. You can also “garnish” it by giving it a lid, either of the bourbon you are already using or of an overproof bourbon.

For a Boston Tart, add a dash of egg white to the shaker. Whenever using eggs in a cocktail, remember to shake extra well.

Mike’s Mojito

So, I’m not horribly fond of rum, though I like it better than other base liquors. On the other hand, coconut rum is quite tasty. Here’s how you make a mojito better.
4 oz Coconut Rum
3 key limes
1 sprig of mint
4 crushed sugar cubes or one ounce of simple syrup
Soda Water

Halve the key limes, squeeze one into the shaker and put the peel in the glass you are using. drop the other two limes into the shaker, add sugar, then muddle.
Bruise several mint leaves and then add to the shaker.
Fill shaker and glass with ice.
Add coconut rum to shaker, then shake vigorously.
Strain into glass and garnish with mint leaf/sprig.
Top the glass off with soda water and give it a quick stir. (Or leave it unmixed for an interesting set of layered flavors.)

Meloncholy and the Finite Sadness

This is the first post in my month of key limes. This one is actually pretty good, a light melony soda with a bitter twist at the bottom. Note, it may not quite work out the same way with regular Coke.

1 can Diet Coke (warm)
2 oz midori
1 key lime, halved

Squeeze the key lime into a pint glass. Drop the lime halves into the glass.
Add ice (3/4th full)
Pour the Midori over the ice.
Top the glass off with Diet Coke.
You get a bright green pool at the bottom of the glass with the dark brown Coke floating on top of it. The coke gains a hint of lime and melon, but when you get to the bottom of the glass you have what works out to a very tart Midori Sour.
I didn’t try it with regular Coke, but since sugar Coke is much denser than Diet Coke, it may mix more readily when you pour it into the glass. By the way, far better than the bull shot or the VBS.

Asparagus Chicken

This is a modified version of a chicken from my dorm room cookbook (in “progress”)
Ingredients
1 2-3 pound young whole chicken
1/2 pound of fresh asparagus
some butter or margarine
salt
garlic powder
poultry seasoning (if you have it)
1/2 small onion
some mushrooms (if that’s your bag, baby)

Instructions
Baking a chicken is a nice easy way to make a meal for several people or to ensure that you have leftovers for the rest of the week. While buying a whole chicken isn’t necessarily the cheapest way to get chicken, it is usually close. Whole chickens usually weigh between 4 and six pounds, but for our purposes we need something smaller. A 2 and a half pound young chicken is perfect for cooking in a dorm oven. Not only does it take less time to cook, but you can do it in a large bread pan, and there are fewer leftovers. I have already included instructions for a baked chicken earlier in the book, but it is a little different baking a chicken with vegetables inside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Take the chicken out of its package and rinse it well. Put a little butter inside the chest cavity, then put whichever seasonings you prefer in there.
Put the mushrooms and asparagus inside the chicken through the larger hole, making sure that the tips of the asparagus are inside the bird. You may have to cut the asparagus in half, which means you will need to
use a little less asparagus.
Put the chicken breast side down into the pan.
You can surround the bird with potatoes or what have you.
Smear some butter on the outside of the chicken and season it fairly heavily.
Cover the pan in tinfoil and put it in the oven.
After an hour take it out and turn the chicken over with the forks. Cover the chicken with foil and return it to the oven.
If you have a meat thermometer, the chicken is done when meat in the thigh is at 180 degrees. Otherwise, make sure that it cooks for at least 25 minutes a pound (remembering the half pound of asparagus. When
you poke it with a fork, only clear liquid should come out. When the chicken is done, take the foil off and turn the oven up to broil. Let it crisp the skin before removing from the oven.
Put the chicken on a plate then cut straight down the breast bone and pull the chest apart with the forks. Take the asparagus out. The ends that were sticking out may be a little wilted. That’s okay.

Some other things to try:
Put some whole waterchestnuts in the chicken with the asparagus.
Use brocciflower or cauliflower instead of asparagus. Broccili may not work well, and I don’t think it would taste right.
Serve with bread or fresh rolls.
Stuff with sliced carrots and onions and peppers.

1 oz Coconut Cream

I got myself the Oxo 2 ounce top down measuring cup. One of the coolest measuring tools for the cocktail crafter in existence. If you want to mix drinks, this belongs in your kit after a decent shaker and a strainer.

VBS

Quick on the heels of last week’s disastrous experiment with a Bull Shot, I tried a drink of my own devising. I call it a VBS.

1.5 oz Vodka
1.5 oz beef broth
3 oz V8
.25 oz lime juice
Worcestershire Sauce to taste.
Ground Red Pepper to taste.
Celery Salt to taste.

Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake briskly. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice and garnish with a celery stick and cocktail onion.

While this wasn’t great, it was about an order of magnitude better than a bull shot. Next week I’ll be trying something more my speed. Maybe a Japanese Slipper.