BlackBook

With the turning of the new year, House Special is going into hibernation. Fortunately, we’ve salted away a pretty solid back catalog of recipes and party ideas. Over the past few months, we’ve concocted cocktails, learned how to pair wine with vegetarian meals and everything else, cribbed a spaghetti dish from Isaac Mizrahi, picked up cheese and chile educations, mixed tempeh and tequila, figured out how to make our apartments look less like urban wastelands, and infiltrated the cocktail menu of one of New York’s best bars. Oh, and we’ve made a red velvet cupcake for Megan Fox. Before we prepare our departing toasts, we’ve got a last recipe for the cold months ahead. It comes to us from Brian Di Giorgi, senior sous chef with the Rose Group (Guastavino’s and 583 Park Avenue), who sat down with Stephanie Kramer and shared some thoughts about entertaining at home. Happy New Year!

Bourbon. The very word conjures something classic—say, a chance encounter at a dive bar in a ’40s film noir. The girl’s got moxie, so she takes it on the rocks, the same as the mysterious stranger with his brim pulled low. She matches him drink for drink as the clock ticks on toward midnight. At the witching hour, she gets up to leave and sidles past Mr. Tall/Dark/Handsome, and her satin heels are nearly out the door when he reaches out and pulls her into a long, smoky kiss. I’m not promising bourbon can do this for you. But try ordering it the next time you saddle up at your favorite watering hole. Chances are, the bartender will have a decent selection. Because bourbon’s back, baby, and with a bang.

It’s New Year’s again, and whether you think it’s the ultimate party or the ultimate amateur night, you’re probably drinking a sparkling beverage. Notice that I didn’t say “Champagne.” You can only use the word Champagne for sparkling wine if it comes from the Champagne region of France, and is made in the serious and complicated old-school method. With the economy still in the tank, it may be better to venture beyond this esteemed region (and its $30+ price tags) and find some bottles that are unique and affordable, while being every bit as bubbly.

Sometimes I’m short on New Year’s resolutions. I mean, I’m already trying as hard as I can. Do I really need to cook up more constraints? To which a friend always suggests “Eat slower and floss more.” And at the turn of every year it still works as a resolution. I could always be healthier. Even when drinking. In that spirit, VeeV sends along a “New Year, New You” cocktail. “The Eco-Aid” keeps the calorie count under 100. The alcohol, VeeV, is infused with the antioxidant-rich açaí berry. And you’ll feel even better knowing that VeeV donates $1 to the Brazilian rainforest with every bottle sold. (VeeV is also a carbon-neutral spirit, if you want to get an early start on one of the upcoming decade’s major trends.) The lemonade in the cocktail may be a little summery, but on a bitter day like this, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Time to throw in the candy cane, your package will most definitely not arrive by December 25. Therefore, gas station gifts for all (Ring Pops! Slim Jims! cigarette cartons!), and liquor for you. Seasonal lushes know there’s a drink for every festivity: New Year’s bubbly; red, white, and blue Jell-O shots; bobbing for bourbon apples. Christmas is eggnog, predominantly enjoyed by people with fat knees, and I refuse to participate. Luckily, there is an alternative—wassail.

I’d imagine it’s been years since your last visit to a rye field. You remember….that warm September afternoon, the way the stalks waved in the wind, the abundant sunshine that brought hope to the distant hillsides, the string section that almost made you cry with its interpretation of Bartok’s “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.” Or maybe rye brings you back to Soviet propaganda posters, where a babushka-wearing ingénue holds the grain in one hand and a beet in the other. I forgot all of these associations during an evening spent with some Jim Beam Rye Whiskey.

Inevitably there is one person on your Christmas list who a.) you’ve procrastinated buying for because they are ridiculously picky; b.) you completely forgot you needed to get something for; c.) got you something, and now you have to reciprocate. Never fear: unless they’re a teetotaler (which should have you questioning why you’re friends with them in the first place), wine is the best gift to give. For $15 you can get someone a solid bottle that will taste delicious if it’s opened with the Christmas goose this week. If you have a little more to spend, you can get a bottle for $25-$30 that will have you looking like a wine connoisseur. Better still, if you play your cards right, the person can age the wine for 3 to 5 years, and hopefully they’ll wait to open it until you come over to their house for dinner! It’s like a present for you and for them.

Never has there been a year I wanted to be a celebrity less. Even in ‘09’s waning days, they’re still dropping like flies. Chris Henry, age 26? Brittany Murphy, 32? If I were famous, I’d lock myself in one of my estates and not come out again until 2010. And that’s to say nothing of the scandals. There’s so much going on, it’s hard to not get all caught up in the lives of strangers. It’s a long-running human tradition, after all. The ancients looked to the gods, who also squabbled and cheated and died too young. People studied those lives closely as cautionary tales, or sources of courage. This time of year, though, is the time to keep up with the people we know outside of our flickering rectangles. I just had a vegetarian friend in town and took him out to Pukk. My buddy really enjoyed being able to order freely from an entire menu. I really enjoyed the cocktails. (The food was actually delicious, too, so good that for once I didn’t miss the meat.)

As 2009 draws to a close, the elaborate cocktail craze is still going strong. Recent additions like Raines Law Room, Rye House, and Mayahuel show that New Yorkers remain plenty into expanding their alcohol horizons. Working up an involved cocktail for home entertaining is a good way to expose your guests to something they might not otherwise know exists. Jim Meehan of PDT sends along a recipe that makes use of some intriguing obscurities.

Despite what those really fun Gap commercials featuring white people who can rap and fashion themselves into human sleds want you to believe, the holidays are not about adorable reindeer sweaters, but stress. How else to explain the pre-Xmas crazy flurries floating around this week? Shake ‘n’ bake Jessica Simpson dating vampireface Billy Corgan. Courtney Love unfriending Frances Bean: “I hate to spund cold…my daihgter is not always honest,” Love explains on her Facebook page. Nicole Kidman augmenting her Botox at the New York premiere of Nine with unblended white powder. Me, I can’t find the perfect Snuggie for my third cousin’s ex-wife, and I feel like my whole world is falling apart.