Vintage is always in style but it seems even more de rigueur with the recent popularity of retro shows like Mad Men and the desire to be frugal in our economy. Recessionistas everywhere are grabbing up neat thrift-store gems and fun retro kitchen pieces to add a little old-school charm to their cooking space. And why not? The kitchen is a fantastic place to showcase really oh-so-fashionable retro items, from long-lasting stand up mixers to über-cool blenders like my 1950’s garage sale find. Searching for vintage cookware is fun to treasure hunt and usually inexpensive unless you’re looking for something really unique and specific; vintage shops and online resources like Ebay and Etsy put cheap, chic classics a click away.  Whole collections are often available as sets, and make wonderful display pieces, adding a little bit of tradition and kitsch to your own kitchen! Plus, you’re reusing  which is environmentally-minded and resourceful, too.

Maybe you’ve got all the pots and pans you can handle already, but consider using a set of vintage spice pots as windowsill planters for ready-to-pick fresh herbs. Retro mugs hung along a wall make a super-cute, artsy point of interest in your kitchen. Items handed down to you can make for special, one of a kind conversation pieces so pull out that old stand mixer your grandmother passed on to you, polish it up and set it on your counter!

I have quite the collection of vintage kitchen pieces, but one of my favorites is this rocket-style Waring blender. It is from the 1950’s and I snagged it for a real bargain at a garage sale. While it is obviously super-retro, there is still a sleek, modern side to it that makes it both a beautiful showcase piece and a fantastic go-to workhorse in the kitchen!

Another of my fab finds is a tin 3-in-1 Lightning Shredder, circa the 20’s-30’s and the precursor to the food processor! It originally came in a set of three different shredders with a handle, but even on its own, this piece is a great bit of vintage kitchenalia. And I love that it has giant holes for uber large shreds!

A trip down vintage lane wouldn’t be complete without a fun, kitschy gadget like my 1950’s Maid of Honor hand-held egg beater/hand mixer – it seems equally at home in a retro kitchen or a modern one with its bright red plastic casing and cute design!

So, whether your kitchen is rocking some family heirlooms or you’re a diligent thrift-store hunter, make sure you proudly display your vintage cookware!

-Kathy

Stanford Restaurant and Bar is teaming up with Widmer Brothers Brewing for a great promotion to find the Ultimate Burger to feature in Stanford’s menu! They will be collecting recipes until March 31st, so make sure to turn in your prized personal, favorite burger recipe.

Grand prize: $2500 in cash, a year’s worth of Stanford’s gift cards, and contest winner’s burger featured in Stanford’s menus!

For more information about the Ulimate Burger Showdown contest, check out the contest website.

I gathered up the team and we headed for Vegas, baby! And the VIBE was great!

We just recently got back from Vegas and had an amazing time at the VIBE Conference! This is the 2nd annual spirits and liquor industry conference where beverage industry leaders, national restaurant accounts and spirit brands come together to discuss all things beverage, showcase tasty new products, learn new things and get inspired. This year I shook it up for the opening night’s Celebrity Mixologist event at the William Grant & Monin “Americana themed bar” with Charlotte Voissey, a world-renowned mixologist! My drink was a play on the soda fountain: the  ROOT n’ Rye Float made with ROOT liquor, Hudson Rye, Sailor Jerry and a dash of Fee’s Old Fashioned Bitters. This was shaken and served up with a beautiful “float” of foam made with Monin French Vanilla Syrup. And of course I had to have a little bling bling in there… a dusting of edible gold flakes!

Charlotte Voissey and me at the VIBE Celebrity Mixologist Event

The next day I led a workshop-style seminar with my team about Cocktail Alternatives: Raising the Bar – Without Raiding the Bar! (a tasting discussion on non-alcoholic drinks). We held a lively discussion on what’s new on the non-alcoholic horizon, sampled mocktails such as the Yuzu Mizu and discussed all the cool beverages I have seen on my travels to the Middle East and Asia. The seminar ended with participants making their own non-alcoholic concoctions. You can see a brief overview of the seminar at the VIBE website.

My Yuzu Mizu mocktail

After all that, there was still time to party, eat at great restaurants, dance and party some more! If you’re in Vegas…you might as well live it up! Yeah! We can’t wait for VIBE next year!

My team and me having a blast in Vegas!

It’s Clammin’ Time!

My friend Scott and I cleaning razor clams

Last Saturday, March 19th was the 5th Annual Razor Clam Festival! I hosted this year’s festivities once again which kicked off with a Firemen’s Pancake Breakfast. There were a lot of  chowders to taste for this year’s Clam Chowder Cook-Offs — the professional and amateur competition! My chef team and I tasted and judged close to 30 chowders altogether! After a great festival, it was time for some clam digging! Stay tuned for a detailed blog with the official winners Clam Chowder Cook-Off competition winners and recipes!

Dancing the night away with a Rosemary Mandarin Tango!

Seattle Dances! was a hit! Plymouth Housing Group’s second annual auction and dinner event brought in lots of people to watch a new group of Seattleites dance their pants off… but not literally! If you remember, last year I put on my dancing shoes and danced the Charleston! This year, I put my dancing shoes away (thankfully!) and shook up some fun with my tasty Rosemary Mandarin Tango cocktail! This blends in the complex character of Moon Mountain vodka with the sweetness of a Cuties Clementine and the herbal note of fresh rosemary.

Rosemary Mandarin Tango
Makes 1 drink
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/4 Cuties^® Mandarin
1 1/2 oz Moon Mountain Vodka
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz honey syrup*
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1 oz brut champagne
Garnish: small sprig of rosemary

Bend rosemary sprig and drop into mixer glass. Squeeze and drop in Cuties Mandarin.
Measure in the Moon Mountain Vodka, lemon and honey syrup. Fill with ice. Cap and shake vigorously.
Strain into a large martini glass. Add a splash of champagne. Garnish with rosemary.
* To make Honey syrup combine 1 part local honey and 1 part hot water. Stir to combine. Store refrigerated.
Recipe © Kathy Casey Liquid Kitchen™

Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen

The first season of my cocktail show Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen^TM on Small Screen Network was a hit and I appreciate all the great responses! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet log in today and try out my Luxury Piña Colada; a little taste of summer which is just around the corner! We start shooting the next season this spring!

As you may know, I had a fantastic trip to Kuala Lampur over the holidays to develop the bars and nightclubs at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It was a crazy-busy visit but I did get a chance to sit down with Time Out: Kuala Lampur to talk about mixing up my favorite spirits with some d’lish flavor pairings! Make sure you check it out to get some ideas about unique taste combinations… don’t quote me on that Dr. Pepper comment, though!!! I swear I DID NOT say that!

It’s Tea Thyme! You read that right… Food & Wine online is featuring my lovely Tea Thyme cocktail. It marries English breakfast tea-infused vodka, a little splash of lemon juice, local honey like my own Liquid Kitchen “5130” Honey, and a pretty sprig of thyme for garnish to add a fresh, herbalicious note. This classy cocktail is perfect for a grown-up tea party! Cheers!

Savory Chicken Cupcakes?? Yes indeed! And a $10 thousand dollar recipe contest!

This year’s Seattle Food & Wine Experience was a sell-out hit! With wines from over 10 countries and lots of fantastic nibbles from local culinarians there was a lot to see and taste! I was at the Foster Farms booth where my team was serving up my Savory Chicken & Bacon “Cupcakes” with Tabasco Cream Cheese Frosting while I was signing complimentary copies of my Northwest Table, courtesy of Foster Farms. If you weren’t able to attend or did and didn’t catch the recipe, look no further as I’ve included it below, and if you fancy yourself a great cook and are a resident of Washington, Oregon or California then get creating and enter the Foster Farms recipe contest.

Kathy Casey’s Savory Chicken & Bacon “Cupcakes” with Tabasco Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 24

Cupcakes
1 cup small diced Foster Farm’s raw chicken breast (about 12 oz wt.)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup each 1/8-inch-diced onion, celery and red bell pepper
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
2 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained well
8 strips cooked bacon, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup chopped)

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
Garnish: 2 thinly sliced green onions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F

To make the cupcakes: Spray nonstick mini–muffin tins with cooking spray. Set aside.

Cut chicken breast into 1/4-inch small pieces. In a small skillet or sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chicken breast and sauté for about 3 minutes moving around the pan with a spoon. When chicken is three-quarters cooked then add the onion, celery, and bell pepper for about 3 to 4 minutes more, until vegetables are just starting to get tender. Add the garlic and sauté about 30 seconds more. Let cool.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and Old Bay seasoning; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and sour cream.

Once the cooked mixture is cooled, add the cornmeal mixture to the egg mixture, and mix lightly. Fold in the drained corn, bacon, and cooked chicken and vegetables. Do not overmix; fold in just until evenly distributed.

Divide batter between the prepared mini muffin cups, fill to the top – you will get about 24 cupcakes. Bake the cupcakes for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in cupcake center comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove them from the pan and let cool briefly on a wire rack before frosting. The cupcakes can be made up to 1 day in advance, covered, and refrigerated before frosting. Refrigeration is imperative if making in advance. (If reheating them, warm them for minute or so in a 350-degree F oven before frosting.)

To make the frosting: In a small bowl, mash the cream cheese with a fork, then whisk in the milk and Tabasco until smooth and creamy. Top each cupcake with about 1 teaspoon of frosting then sprinkle with green onion for garnish. Serve warm.

© 2011 by Kathy Casey Food Studios® – Liquid Kitchen™ www.kathycasey.com

Where to catch Kathy next:

April 14th – 16th: New Orleans, Louisiana
I’ll be cooking it up in New Orleans for the Mom 2.0 Summit this year! The Mom Summit is an annual event between moms, marketers, and social media specialists. I’ll be there with Almond Accents sharing my tips for delicious almond-related recipes! Check out this year’s event schedule and ticket info!

May 13th – 17th: New York, New York
If you happen to live or be in the area of Manhattan on those dates, make sure that you stop by the Manhattan Cocktail Classic! This is a part conference, part cocktail party and part festival-style liquor and spirits industry event. The best part: it’s open to the public! Come stop by and attend my seminar: Three Mixologists – Three Drinks – Three Ways (or Cocktail Ménage á Trois!) For event and ticket info, click here.

It’s been a whirlwind month so far and shows no signs of stopping with all the super-fun events coming up, so make sure you stay tuned to catch all the details of my adventures! Cheers! – Kathy

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Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@KathyCaseyChef), Dishing with Kathy Casey Blog or find Sips & Apps on Facebook for all my tasty travel tidbits.

If you haven’t signed up for my Newsletter, you can sign-up here.

Kristine Kidd, the food editor at Bon Appetit for over twenty years, knows a thing or two about home cooking and Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Co-authored with Williams Sonoma founder Chuck Williams, this book is destined to be The Joy of Cooking for this generation. Including more than a thousand recipes, useful sidebars, and a wealth of additional information, even the most uncertain home cook will look like a pro with this fantastic guide’s help.  Of course, being a Williams-Sonoma product, the book itself is lovely and sure to be a beautiful addition to any cookbook collection – but more importantly, this book is one of those go-to culinary bibles that will eventually get covered in spills and stains from being right beside you in the kitchen all the time! And that is the best kind of cookbook to have !

Continue reading on Amazon’s Al Dente Blog.

Modernist Cuisine – The Art and Science of Cooking, Nathan Myhrvold’s soon-to-be-released six volume set of books, are set to change the way we look at food science and are definitely at the absolute tip-top of my birthday wish list this year! Myhrvold recently held a 28-course dinner at his kitchen-slash-lab which my good friend Rebekah Denn of the Washington Post was lucky enough to snag a seat at. Well, at least we can all experience the dinner vicariously through Rebekah’s fab article; check it out here and enjoy a little culinary magic for yourself!

-Kathy

Don’t let the winter chills stop you from putting a little spirit this season! Using a complex-character spirit like Moon Mountain Vodka with quality ingredients will liven up any winter cocktail party. Moon Mountain is crafted from fine organic grain and purified water to arrive at a high standard of vodka; giving this vodka a smooth finish and a unique taste. Yes, vodka with taste! I made the Copper Moon and Envy cocktails for Moon Mountain Vodka, which I hope you will enjoy at your next cocktail party!

Shake up some fun!  -Kathy

Copper Moon
Housemade Spiked Cherries make for a lively garnish for this spirit forward cocktail.
Makes 1 cocktail

2 oz Moon Mountain Vodka
1/2 oz sweet red vermouth
1/4 – 1/2 oz Amaretto
dash of bitters (optional)
Garnish: 3 Spiked Cherries (recipe follows) on a pick.

Measure the Moon Mountain Vodka, red vermouth and Amaretto into a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice. Stir with a bar spoon until chilled.  Strain cocktail into a martini glass. Garnish with Spirited Cherries on a pick.

Spiked Cherries
Makes 1 cup

1/2 cup dried sweet pitted cherries
1/4 cup sweet red vermouth
1/4 cup Moon Mountain Vodka
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup hot water

Put cherries, vermouth, Moon Mountain Vodka, and sugar in a small bowl. Pour the hot water over the cherries and stir well. Cover and let sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours before using. Store, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 months.

Recipe Created for Moon Mountain Vodka by Kathy Casey Liquid Kitchen™

Envy
This is a great base recipe to get creative with. When in season try muddling in a few chunks of honeydew melon and add a 1/2 oz float of Reposado tequila.
Makes 1 cocktail

2 large sprigs fresh cilantro
1 1/2 oz Moon Mountain Vodka
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz agave nectar or 3/4 oz simple syrup
1 dash green Tabasco
Garnish: lime wedge and a small sprig of cilantro

Tear and drop the cilantro into a cocktail shaker. Measure in the Moon Mountain Vodka, lime juice, agave nectar and green Tabasco. Fill with ice. Cap and shake vigorously. Strain cocktail over fresh ice into a Collins glass or serve strained and up. Garnish with a lime wedge and cilantro.

Recipe Created for Moon Mountain Vodka by Kathy Casey Liquid Kitchen™