proof vodka, Día de los Muertos, Vol. 107

Tweet

Día de los Muertos is a Mexican and Latin American holiday where family and friends gather to pray for and remember loved ones who have left this earth. Its traditions include building private altars to honour the deceased, using sugar skulls and marigolds and leaving the favorite foods and beverages of the departed at their grave sites.

spiked mayan chocolate 2 cups whole milk • 1 tablespoon light brown sugar • 4 ½ oz good bittersweet chocolate, chopped • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon • pinch cayenne pepper •  2-3 oz proof vodka • cinnamon sticks

Place the milk and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove pot from heat and stir in the chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper with a wooden spoon. Allow chocolate to melt for about 3 minutes. Reheat the hot chocolate over low heat until it simmers. Strain the chocolate into a measuring cup and pour into mugs. Add 1 oz of proof vodka to each mug. Stir with cinnamon sticks. (2-3 cups)

 

This weekend, don’t miss the Dia de los Muertos at the Brickworks.

Join us for a special celebration of Mexican culture and Latin American traditions with all day family-friendly events including live music and dancing, face painting and crafts for the kids! Saturday, November 3, 2012
8am–2pm
The Pavilions (http://ebw.evergreen.ca)

 

The Farmers’ Market will feature special Latin American vendors: ChocoSolChocolate Traders
 Bringing special treats! Agave y Aguacate
 A journey through authentic Mexican soul food with Chef Francisco Alejandri. With more than five hundred years of culinary heritage, Mexican cuisine is more than tacos and burros! Pancho’s Bakery
 Pancho’s is a Mexican company offering truly authentic Mexican pastries and churros in Toronto since 2009. This Mexican specialty is made of a sweet-dough spiral, deep-fried, coated with cinnamon and sugar and filled with chocolate, caramel, jam or plain, and served with hot chocolate or coffee. As a special for the event, they will be featuring “Rosca de Reyes” and “Pan de Muerto.” ESÉ
 Serving up LA-style Mexican food in Toronto. Drop by their booth for breakfast or lunch and try Huevos Ranchero, Vampiro Tostada and Huitlacoche Quesdilla. Oxala
 A Mexican and Portuguese street food pop-up. Menu for the day: "Huarache," a thick and crispy corn shell topped with melted cheese and chorizo, lime potato mash, pickled cactus and spicy salsa. Found in the streets of Mexico city el Huarache is a traditional dish made for the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Steve Lorreta 
Sugar skulls. Made to decorate “ofrendas” which are built in people's home's as well as in public spaces to commemorate the dearly departed.

Sweet & Savory Tamales Competition Our local food court we be transformed into a Mexican Mercado where four special guest chefs will prepare tamales for you to taste and vote on your favourite! Revenues from the sales of the ballots go to support Children's Food Programing at EBW. Participating Chefs: Pedro Quintanilla from Bloom Restaurant • Luis Valenzuela from Torito Tapas Bar • José Hadad from Frida Restaurant and Mad Mexican Salsa • Rossy Earl from Supi Cucu

 

Community Altar Come early and join Gabriela Ituarte as she shares her Mexican traditions and culture. For the construction of the Altar, you are welcome to contribute pictures of members of your family that have passed away and you want to celebrate and/or orange flowers.

Not to miss! The Frida & Diego Passion, Politics & Painting Exhibit at the AGO runs from October 20, 2012 – January 20, 2013 (http://www.ago.net)

He painted for the people. She painted to survive. The exhibition Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting features more than 80 works on paper and paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and more than 60 photographs of the couple, whose shared passion for each other and Mexico's revolutionary culture during the 1920s and 1930s have made them Mexico's most famous artists. During their lifetime together as a married couple, Rivera achieved international prominence as a muralist, while Kahlo's intimate paintings were embraced by the Surrealist movement and the Mexican art world but not well known in the broader context of art and modernism.

To enhance your experience, AGO Restaurant, FRANK has created a prix fixe Frida and Diego lunch or dinner menu. (http://www.ago.net/frank)

 

Weekend Forecast:

Saturday: Variable cloudiness and a high of 6 degrees

Sunday: Cloudy periods and a high of 5 degrees

proof whisky, walking dead, Vol. 106

Tweet

We’re back. Recently, we were contacted by a certain group of researchers, sharing the same name as our brand. The funny thing is, we both deal in spirits. We weren’t sure whether to send them a cease and desist letter (kidding guys) or to partner up with this far-out bunch. Well Scoob, hang on to your Scooby snacks, we are in for a spooky treat.  We would like to formally introduce you to proo(f) Paranormal Researchers of Ontario.

proo(f) zombie 1/4 oz fresh lime juice • 1/4 oz fresh lemon juice • 2 oz white cranberry juice • 1/2 oz Apricot Brandy • 2 oz proof rum (optional - replace 1 oz proof rum with 1 oz proof spiced rum*) • ½ oz lychee juice (from can) • 2 dashes bitters • 1/4 oz Grenadine (for garnish) • canned lychee fruit (for garnish)

Combine all liquids (with the exception of the grenadine) in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake.  Strain into a tall thin glass filled two-thirds with ice. Garnish with whole lychee fruit. Drizzle a little grenadine over the lychee fruit.

*proof spiced rum 500 ml bottle proof rum • 1 vanilla bean • 1 star anise • a few cloves • 1 cinnamon stick • 1 piece allspice • 1 piece orange zest

Add all the spices to a 500 ml bottle of proof rum. Cover tightly with a lid, shake a few times and place in a cool, dark spot or in the refrigerator and let sit for at least 24-36 hours. Make sure to check it every day to ensure that you are happy with the intensity. You can remove certain flavours as you go, to intensify the ones that you like most. We tend to remove the citrus after day one, and keep the vanilla until the very end.

 

gruesome halloween garnishes We generally like to keep things looking as natural as possible when it comes to food and drink. So, instead of rushing out to buy rubber spiders and spooky swizzle sticks, we hit the grocery store. There are many fruits, veggies and, yes, cured meats that can make a drink look really disgusting and creepy. Here are some options.

dead fruit or veggies (anything pickled, dried or jarred) Bulk Barn carries a really good selection of dried blueberries, dates, blackberries and apples. Pickles, olives, sundried tomatoes, etc. also resemble creepy crawlers and things that may have escaped the cemetery. Mixed with the right colour of drink, it can look really gross, but taste really good.

food carvings Carve a pumpkin face out of an orange or carrot or make shrunken apple heads

seeds & nuts such as pumpkin, black sesame, poppy, almonds, pomegranate seeds or bloody teeth

cured meats pepperettes, cooked bacon, cocktail weenies, prosciutto

glassware You can also have fun with a range of glassware. Try using smoked retro glass, depression glass, black or orange glass, mini chemistry bottles or test tubes – anything that looks old. Have fun with your presentation!

 

'(f)ear is the only variable'proo(f) is a team of Paranormal Investigators based in Durham Region, Ontario. We conduct objective research and investigations into the unexplained.

Our team consists of 4 experienced professionals who collectively have been studying and researching the paranormal for over 20 years. Our priority is to try and provide answers and relief to people troubled by events they cannot explain. If you or someone you know could benefit from our help, please contact us today. To get in contact with us, you can email your questions, comments, concerns, or places of interest to: info@proofcanada.com (www.proofcanada.com)

Proo(f) is currently pitching a series and sent us a link to their concept episode
AND here is a video of proo(f)'s very own Katie, mixing the proo(f) zombie

 

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror movie written and directed by Oren Peli. The film centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of found footage, from cameras set up by the couple in an attempt to photograph what is haunting them. Originally developed as an independent feature and given film festival screenings in 2007, the film was acquired by Paramount Pictures and modified, particularly with a new ending. It was given a limited U.S. release on September 25, 2009, and then a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. The film earned nearly $108 million at the U.S. box office and $194 million worldwide.

These movies are CRAZY scary and they have just released Paranormal Activity 4. Here is the trailor If this series is too much for you, you may want to go old school and revisit the Ghostbusters Trilogy. It’s a classic.

Speaking of the grotesque...we attended the Zombie Walk at Nathan Phillips Square on Sunday and we were a little creeped-out to say the least. 

Toronto Zombie Walk is in its 10th year. This year, however, was the first year that it partnered with the Heart & Stroke Foundation. (www.torontozombiewalk.ca)

Blog TO did a great piece on all of Toronto’s best haunted buildings. We thought that we would check out the Keg for ourselves, so we have booked a dinner there on the weekend. The Keg Mansion (515 Jarvis Street 416-964-6609 www.kegsteakhouse.com)

If you are truly interested in finding out more about toronto’s spirit life, check out one of these toronto ghost walks:(http://www.muddyyorktours.com)(http://www.hauntedwalk.com)(http://www.tourguys.ca)(http://burlingtonghostwalks.com)

Spooky Weekend Forecast:

Saturday: Drizzle and a high of 9 degrees

Sunday: Gloomy and a high of 7 degrees