Cherry Blossom March Madness at Station Kitchen and Cocktails

Sakura Manhattan

by AJ Dronkers, Associate Publisher, EdibleDC

Spring has arrived and soon everyone will be celebrating the iconic return of the Cherry Blossoms. The National Park Service  announced the peak will fall between March 18-23. Want to have your mood do some spring blossoming? Start with cherry blossom cocktails. Two versions are being served starting Thursday March 17 at Station Kitchen & Cocktails inside Embassy Row Hotel in Dupont Circle.

It's all part of a spring celebration and their own March Madness. Each night, Station Kitchen & Cocktails will be serve up a series of cocktails at their bar, sixteen to be exact. Each of the artisan cocktails is competing in "cocktail march madness" brackets. The cocktails that perform the best each night move-on. Make sure you swing by and cast your vote!

And now for some cherry blossom inspiration--here are two cocktail recipes for the season.

Sakura Manhattan

2oz Rittenhouse Rye .75 oz Carpano Antica .5 oz Dolin Dry 2 dash Cherry Bitters Stirred and serve up.

Yoshino Rickey

Yoshino Rickey

1.5oz Bluecoat Gin .75oz Lime .5oz Tart Cherry Juice .5oz Lemon Balm

Shaken and served tall over ice.

A Calming Tonic for a Busy New Year

Hannah Hudson Photography

By Susan Able. Photographs by Hannah Hudson.   

When Rano Singh welcomes you into Pansaari, her Indian spice store and grocery located on buzzy 17th Street's restaurant row, you know you have arrived someplace special.

Rano Singh, Pansaari

The walls are covered with tiles imported from her native India, lined with long shelves of the freshest spices. Behind an inlaid marble bar, amazingly fragrant chai tea, South Indian coffee and her own kombuchas are served, as well as Indian food. A committed locavore, Singh buys her lemongrass and mint from a local farm, and the honey is from a beekeeper in Washington, D.C.

Pansaari feels more like the living room of a friend with very comfortable Indian furniture. It’s a place to linger in conversation and soak in the smell of fresh spice.

Singh explains that in India a “pansaari” is the spice grocery. The first consult for ailments is to the pansaari for spice-based remedies. Tonics, such as fennel water, are commonly used. On a cold winter night, Singh offered up a glass of 100 Jor Bagh, a calming tonic with a recipe unique to her family in Jaipur, India. Based in Ayurvedic nutrition, Singh considers this a balancing drink for digestion—all the various ingredients, which are steeped into a tea, have healthy and unique medicinal properties.

“I just feel better after I drink it,” explained Singh, who has a glass after her daily yoga. “It balances me.”

A Tonic Recipie:  100 Jor Bagh

Recipe by Rano Singh.  Makes 2 gallons.

A glass of 100 jor bagh. hannah hudson photography

This calming tonic is as tasty as it is soothing. It is important to add the ingredients in the proper sequence to preserve the essential elements. It makes 2 gallons, which will last up to a month if refrigerated.

• 2 gallons spring water
• 2 cups fennel seeds (if you have a choice, choose the largest ones)
• 12 stalks lemon grass, washed and chopped—root, leaves and all
• ½ cup cardamom pods, crushed
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 6 bunches mint
• 1 cup honey
• 4–6 lemons

Take a large pot, add the 2 gallons of spring water and bring it to just under a boil. Add the fennel seeds and chopped lemon grass. Bring to a full boil for 3 minutes and turn off the heat. Add the crushed cardamom and cinnamon and let it steep for an hour.

Bring the pot to a boil again and add the mint bunches; cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the mixture steep for 6–8 hours.

Strain the solids out. To the liquid, add the honey and stir it well until it dissolves. Add the juice of 4-6 lemons, to your taste. Drink chilled from the refrigerator or slightly warmed as a tea, but no ice. It dilutes the mixture and is frowned upon in Ayurvedic tradition.

Pansaari is located on the lower level of 1603 17th St NW, Washington, DC. www.pansaari.com

Winter White Mulled Wine

Winter-White-Mulled-Wine

Sponsored by Spice & Tea Exchange.

If you love to cook, The Spice and Tea Exchange is a perfect store to swing by anytime if you are shopping in Old Town or Annapolis, or weekending at the beach. Holiday seasonal gifts are aplenty here, it is hard to leave without trying something new--whether you are a spice and herb junkie and love trying new things, a discerning tea drinker or just love kitchen accouterments--almost certainly you'll leave with new things for yourself and gifts for others!

Joy Quinn-Whalen is the owner of three Spice & Tea Exchange stores—in Alexandria, Annapolis and Rehoboth. After graduating from business school and working as a consultant, she started looking for a consulting entrepreneurial opportunity. After happening onto a Spice & Tea Exchange in Florida while on a business trip, she left with a big shopping bag and an idea for starting her own franchise. She found out that it Spice & Tea Exchange was a small but growing franchise, 11 stores at the time in 2009; now 44. It was 2009 and there were a number of vacancies on King Street in Old Town, Alexandria she lived. After doing some analysis, she and a business partner (Taruna Reddy) opened their Old Town location on King Street in 2010 and an Annapolis store on historic Main Street in 2011. Quinn-Whalen went solo in 2013 to open two additional locations in Rehoboth Beach, DE and her fourth store in Ocean City, MD in 2015.

Quinn-Whalen describes her stores as a “wonderland of fine, savory, exotic spices and spice blends, gourmet teas, flavored sugars, salts, seasonings and accessories.” Spice & Tea offers unique and hard to find spices for the creative home cooks; many are specially blended onsite. Most custom blends are targeted to the cook who wants to prepare flavorful, healthy, fresh meals without huge effort, excess time or complex recipes. Quinn-Whalen is proud of the quality of her products and the knowledge of her staff. Check out their website for seasonal chef series, tea tasting classes and demonstrations: The Spice and Tea Exchange.

Winter-White Mulled Wine

Yield: 8-10 drinks Total Time: 35 mins Prep: 5 mins Cook: 30 mins

TSTE® Mulling Mix Spice Blend is used to craft a lighter-bodied mulled white wine full of wintery flavors. This warm & easy-to-make drink contains pear, cinnamon, and other lovely seasonal hints with an inviting scent that’s perfect for seasonal parties.

Ingredients from The Spice and Tea Exchange:

1 pkg TSTE® Mulling Mix Spice Blend

2 TBS TSTE® Raspberry Sugar

2 TBS TSTE® Vanilla Sugar

Cinnamon Stick - Korintje (optional garnish)

From the Grocer

2 - 750ml bottles Sauvignon Blanc wine

5 cups pear nectar

1 fresh pear (optional garnish)

Preparation:

Combine both bottles of Sauvignon Blanc wine, 5 cups of pear nectar, and TSTE® Mulling Mix Spice Blend in a slow cooker or in large saucepan on stove top.

Heat on very low heat for approximately 30 mins or until spices infuse to desired taste.

Combine the  TSTE® Raspberry Sugar and TSTE® Vanilla Sugar and rim each glass.

Ladle mulled wine into glasses. Garnish each glass with a pear slice and cinnamon stick. KEEP beverage warm in slow cooker until gone!

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