Maybe I have too much time on my hands, though I can't see how that's true with my hectic schedule.

Maybe I am just naturally curious.

But I somehow got it in my head that I needed to "invent" a cocktail using the strangest possble ingredient I could think of. I chose beets. But you know what? Beet cocktails are not strange at all, in fact they are quite trendy. Just surf the web if you don't believe me. I did.

Mark Bittman featured a beet cocktail in his column. It's a version of a gin and tonic blushed red with a beet infused simple syrup served in a salt-rimmed glass. The whole concept did not really appeal to me. I am a G&T purist. But I did like his frozen beet stem as a swizzle stick!

Master Mixologist Michael Cecconi has one he calls a Root Cause. It's a beety-based riff on an a whiskey Manhattan. Clever and very intriguing...

I found a recipe for a Spiced Beet Cocktail in Bridget Albert's book Market Fresh Mixology. How does a Beet Mojito sound to you? Well that's already been done too by Chef Katsuya Fukushima at Café Atlàntico, in D.C.

Did I mention that I am going to Panama to lead a cooking demonstration highlighting recipes from some of the grandest restaurants of the Hollywood mystique? I am practising these recipes here before I go, hoping to get your feedback. I started yesterday with an iconic 1980s Plantains and Caviar with Black Bean Puree appetizer from the restaurant that defined the outsized egoism of Hollywood in the 1980s– Trumps. I am looking back to the glamorous beginning of the restaurant tradition in Hollywood today by featuring a cocktail from The Cocoanut Grove.

You see, I was invited to Panama by a group of rather glamorous ex-pats (Boquete Gourmet) who get together and learn about food by inviting chefs and other food-obsessed freaks like me to come to the beautiful town of Boquete, near the Costa Rican border and cook. I am doing an evening of small plates highlighting recipes from several legendary Hollywood restaurants.

It’s funny how cathartic the simplest things can be.

Cooking Red To Remember. At first “blush” it seems like a beautifully simple way to honor and remember the many millions of people affected by AIDS/HIV. So when Angela at SpinachTiger (shyly) asked me if I would participate. It was easy to answer, “Yes, of course”. It’s a noble gesture and a great way to raise awareness about a disease that is still horrifying in global proportions.

But when I sat down to write the introduction to my first entry, Oysters with Red Mignonette, I was surprised by the emotions that came boiling to the surface.

You see what I remember about AIDS, especially during those early years was the public condemnation too many of the first victims had to face as an added burden to the bewildering and overwhelming process of dying.

It’s my Birthday! Yep, today is the day. November 11^th. Eleven/Eleven!

Don’t ask how old I am though, not that I wouldn’t tell you; it’s just that I have not quite decided how old I am going to be this year. I used 32 for way too many years. I can’t really get away with that one anymore. So I gotta think of a new age. Once I decide you’ll be the first to know. I promise.

In the meantime what are we going to do to celebrate? I am not really a “gifts” kind of person. Presents always make me uncomfortable, in an “I’m not worthy kind of way”. It’s always excruciating, even when I love the present, because I always manage to come across as ungrateful. I can be such a prickly bastard. I don’t know why. In actuality I have never been given a gift I did not love whole-heartedly. I just have trouble expressing it in any other way than an “I’m not worthy” kind of way.

It’s kind of like that scene in the movie Harold and Maude. Harold gives Maude a lovely token of his love and she flings it into the bay as Harold watches in astonishment. She then sighs contentedly and says, to Harold’s confusion– “so I’ll always know where it!” It’s not that she didn’t love her present, it’s just the emotions of the moment overwhelmed her, and she acted unconventionally. Well, I am kind of like Maude, only younger and not as good looking… so don’t make any jokes, ‘cuz I’ve heard ‘em all before!

James Bond is a (fictional) man of many talents. I would say that along with “international man of intrigue” and “lady killer” we should also consider his talents as a mixologist and poet. Because in the 1953 Ian Flemming novel Casino Royale, Mr. Bond combines both skills to memorable effect.

    "A dry martini," [Bond] said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."

    "Oui, monsieur."

    "Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

    "Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

    "Gosh, that's certainly a drink," said Leiter.

    Bond laughed. "When I'm...er...concentrating," he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name."