Post card from Palm Springs

Hello Sonoma, from the land of cacti and tumbleweeds.  Oh, and insanely good citrus.  Me and Mr. B popped down to Palm Springs on an über cool and ridiculously brief Virgin America flight to frolic in the desert for three food and sun-filled days, celebrating my birthday — yes, more celebrating! — and to prime our inner thermometers for Sonoma’s soon-to-be chilly weather.  After doing a major investigation of the scene for you, I have concluded that Palm Springs is THE spot to visit when y’all are in need of a warm weather jaunt.  Here are my favorites:

To stay

The Parker: We arrived and were immediately tossed amongst the production crew filming a music video, no idea who the starlet was, even after asking her name, nor did we care.  The video and the starlet, though, surely were immediate proof of the Parker’s cool.  The property is multiple acres, gobs of atmosphere.  Pétanque courts belly up to the pool bar, bright yellow awnings and reed-striped, French-inspired cafe chairs, hammocks hung between the shaded palms, all yearning for long afternoons simply doing nothing more than slipping into the pool or possibly requesting another smoothie.  Theparkerpalmsprings.com

To eat

Jiao Palm Springs: Find house-made dumplings and swoon-worthy pork buns on “Dim Sum Sundays,” and the rest of the week; a dizzying array of gloriously prepared noodles, surprisingly authentic stir fries, and many other beautiful, modern Asian plates.  Jiaops.com

Workshop Kitchen + Bar: Come to this architectural treasure to experience mind-blowing cocktails and fancy nibbles. Workshoppalmsprings.com

Cheeky’s: This Uptown spot is always crammed with diners digging into boot-shaped Bloody Mary’s, just-pressed juices, and a thoughtful selection of creative breakfast and lunch choices. Cheekysps.com

Mr. Parker’s: Diners pass into this dimly lit room off the movie set-like lobby of the Parker Hotel, through a psychedelic painted door, and into what feels like another world; a world with a curiously low ceiling and bizarre sixties artwork.  Leather tufted booths are crammed with European artist-types ordering gigantic martinis, monstrous shrimp cocktail, and hunks of steak au poivre.  Theparkerpalmsprings.com

What to sip

In the hot-hot, bone dry desert, sipping wine somehow seems unfitting.  Something over ice, over a whole lot of ice, while lounging poolside or while watching the tangerine-colored sun sink behind the towering black rock mountain, seems more suitable.  In Palm Springs, cocktails are king.  Perfectly made, perfectly retro-sized vodka martinis are served at old-school spots such as Melvyn’s, while fruity fresh juice concoctions such as the ‘Orange Breeze’ or the ‘Pomelo Italiano’ have been devised as the ideal thing to sip while baking in the sun at the Viceroy hotel’s elegant adults-only pool.  The Asian-inspired, ridiculously creative specialty cocktail menu at Jiao, a favorite desert hipster hotspot, boasts pretty, juice and sake-based drinks that we couldn’t stop oggling.  The ‘Salty Guava Dog’ with fresh-pressed guava or the ‘Japanese Jackie’ filled with freshly squeezed Key Lime juice and cedar-aged sake are magical when paired with a pork-filled bao and a sliver of a desert crescent moon.

Nowhere were the cocktails more expertly crafted and more festively presently than at Workshop Kitchen + Bar.  The menu reads more like a handwritten journal of epic adventures thru time and from around the world, kept possibly by Hemingway himself.  A whimsical tale accompanies each drink’s description, each charming anecdote more fanciful than the last.  Cocktails with intriguing names such as the ‘Jack Rose,’ the ‘Sangaree,’ and the ‘Matador #2’ are prepared with hard-to-find liquors, house-made syrups and bitters, gratings of spice, and muddles of just-picked herbs.  Each cocktail is either shaken dramatically with over-the-head thrusts or side-to-side gyrations, or stirred with a flourish.  The ice-cold, frothy liquid is then emptied into its correct glass; whether a super-heavy highball or maybe a fancy, paper-thin coup, and, if required, strained over its ideal ice cube; one huge rectangular boulder, thin shavings, or small, glass-clear cubes.  Zane, the utterly dapper, vest-clad barkeep, placed before me what was easily the most delicious liquor drink I have ever had the pleasure of putting to my lips.  The ‘Higgins’ was an addictive combination of warming spices and tart acidity.  It tasted of the islands, of cinnamon, of the bygone days of exploration and adventure, of cavorting around the Caribbean.  The Higgins is an brilliant combination of my favorite Italian vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula, dark, sweet honey, and darker and sweeter rum that I am determined to recreate for all these long, cold, wintery evenings to come.

Those Italians

It seems they produce so many of the delicious things I love in this world.  Carpano “Antica Formula” just so happens to be another one on that list.  I happened upon a tall, moody, antique-ey looking bottle of the stuff when living in Carmel.  I yearned for a cool weather apértif to chase away the bone-chilling cold I was constantly suffering from down there, something to replace my warm-weather sipper, Lillet.  A brilliant, if not chauvinistic Italian distiller originally produced this mysterious liquid, way back in 1786.  The very same man invented – invented! – Vermouth.  He thought the local red wine a bit too manly for the ladies, so he concocted this mixture of sweetened white wine, which he then brewed with various herbs and spices.  I suppose good old Antonio Benedetto Carpano knew a little something about how to please the ladies, because it was a hit.  Carpano’s “Antica Formula” is most popular as a mixer, heaven in a Manhattan, and a no-brainer in a Negroni, but I believe in Antonio’s original vision and prefer my Carpano simply over ice, possibly a wide peeling of fragrant orange zest tossed in.  Its bracing acidity makes it lovely as an apértif or a digestif.  What it tastes like is hard to define; it is almost medicinal, with the tongue curling bitterness of orange pith, but with complex sorghum and molasses flavors of raisin and sweet, burnt toffee mingle, which all mingle with a hard to place spice.  I sip it when I am too full, but wanting desperately to eat again and I’ve been known to sip it after dinner, if I ate with a bit too much enthusiasm.  I love Carpano most as the rains arrive.  It is as scrumptious sipped between smooches in front of a roaring winter fire as it is with friends who don’t wish the night to end.  Find Carpano Antica Formula locally at Sonoma Market and find my go-to fall cocktail recipe the “Higgins” here, as well.

The Higgins Cocktail

Recipe thanks to Workshop Kitchen + Bar, Palm Springs

Makes one cocktail

From the bar menu: “Amber rum, cinnamon infused Italian vermouth, local honey and fresh orange juice. A cocktail that sets about with good intentions, sensibly heading to work but takes a wayward glance towards the beach and suddenly enjoyable errors are being committed. So, cheers! Be warned, while there are no beaches in Palm Springs you might feel the sudden urge to play hookey.”

• 1 oz. Amber rum
• 1 oz. Carpano Antica Formula
• 1 oz. Fresh squeezed orange juice
• .5 oz. Honey-cinnamon syrup (2:1 honey to water infused with cinnamon sticks)
• .5 oz. White whiskey

Shake well, pour over very cold, large ice cubes, and garnish with a wide ribbon of orange zest.

Gotta have ingredient: Carpano “Antica Formula”