Tonight we started out with a photo shoot for the spring issue of Edible Austin magazine. Not surprisingly the night (d)evolved into a Dale/David Project (D/DP) cocktail mixing session. We made quite a few cocktails. As it became apparent how things were going to shape up this evening, we called Tipsy, who was on his way home from work. He was instructed to pick up a fried chicken feast.

(Photos by Jenna Noel)

Since I can't stand to see to-go boxes on the table, and since we unanimously agreed that the mood called for fried chicken, and since we were too far down the cocktail mixing path to actually fry chicken ourselves this evening, Tipsy picked up some chicken and we transfered it to a vintage Corning "Cornflower Blue" dish. I have a lot of these, the full complement of small-d democratic homewares of 1960's-70's

Back to the cocktails: first up was the Fernet Branca Cocktail (D/DP #103), which is comprised, as its name may suggest, of Fernet Branca, sweet vermouth, and gin. That's it. Stirred with ice and garnished with a flamed lemon peel, the drink is menthey and refreshing, though not a particularly appropriate component of the fried chicken feast that we were putting together. It was saved for the end of the meal.

This cocktail was herbal and menthey and reminds me that I need to pay more attention to that bottle of Fernet Branca that has been sitting in my liquor cabinet

The Dubonnet Cocktail(D/DP #104) is made of Red Dubonnet and Gin, garnished with a lemon twist. It is served either on the rocks or up in a cocktail glass. I opted for the former, and found it not a bad accompaniment for fried chicken and biscuits.

For dessert, I decided we would enjoy a trilogy of Grand Marnier drinks, since there were three of us and since I hadn't mixed a Grandma drink in a while. But then as I began assembling them, I got hung up on the layered beauty of the B52 (shooters are in short supply at Tipsy Manor) and made three of those, on top of the two other Grandma cocktails.

The B52 (D/DP #105) is made with Kahlua, Bailey's, and Grand Marnier, layered in a cordial glass. Though the book does not specify, I believe the drink is taken as a shooter.

The drink in the cocktail glass is the Boulevard (D/DP #106), which according to Dale, comes "from G. Selmer Fougner of the New York Sun, 1935." I don't know who that is but the drink is a keeper. The other cocktail is called "Dale's Absolutely Guaranteed Aphrodisiac" (D/DP #107), a name much more complicated than the cocktail itself. The Aphrodisiac was created for a "Cocktail Challenge" article in New York magazine, date not given in Dale's book. However the challenged issued was to create an "absolutely guaranteed aphrodisiac" with "no fruit". An admirable challenge indeed. Dale's combination of cachaca and Grand Marnier: Good? yes. Guaranteed, well, not so sure, but I like where he's going. As Valentine's Day approaches and the flood of bullsh!t press releases pours in featuring chocolate- and raspberry- laden cocktails, it is good to know that at least one bartender out there thinks that a cocktail of busted South American rum and French orange liqueur makes for the sexiest drink imaginable.