Nate took me to the Barrio Logan section of San Diego, which I adored. Colorful houses and storefronts dotted the streets, signs were in Spanish, and grocery shops boasted three avocados for a $1. BARGAINTIME.

It’s that sort of neighborhood– still predominantly catering to the Mexican community (it’s dubbed El Barrio for chrissake) and won’t break the bank in all things culinary. In this economy, or in any economy, it’s so necessary.

When we first drove past Patty’s Fruitland while looking for parking, I knew I had to go in. The front is painted watermelon pink, and it’s called Patty’s Fruitland! How awesome is that?

Nate had other plans for me for lunch (which I’ll get into in my next post), but my wish was granted when we walked by afterwards.

Patty’s Real Fruit Cornucopia.

Patty’s menu has all sorts of stuff: salads, juices, smoothies, tortas, even hotdogs. I need to try the “Especial Torta Loca” next time.

I had a huge lunch (you’ll see), so I just wanted a simple agua fresca. I didn’t see those waterfall fountain machines anywhere in the shop, so I asked the guy behind the counter if he had any agua frescas. He stared at me blankly, as if it say, “Stop asking me stupid questions, we’re a juice bar, of course I do.”

He didn’t say that though and was really sweet and asked me what fruit I wanted. Watermelon? Pineapple? Mango? Papaya it is.

I heard ice. The blender went offs. He scooped in some papayas. Et voila! I have never had FRESH, made-to-order agua fresca before. It was awesome!!!

I pulled out a wad of cash, expecting to shell out at least $5. It is fresh papaya, afterall. He rang me up. ONE DOLLAR AND 75 CENTS. WAAA!!! I was totally floored and had to ask him twice how much it was. No really dude, how much. Cheapest juice drink ever! I’m NEVER going to Jamba Juice EVER AGAIN. Nor am I buying any too-sticky-sweet juice in a bottle. Flying to San Diego and going to Patty’s would be much cheaper.

Plus, I can enjoy the sweet street art.

PATTY’S FRUITLAND
1789 National Ave
San Diego, CA
T: 619.231.1252

Juan McCain

Inspired by Mr. McCain’s Panamanian roots (he was born in the Canal Zone), this cocktail combines Panamanian anejo rum, aged Irish whisky, bitters, and sour cherry juice for a potent yet tasty cocktail that has the potential to make you as unhinged as McCain himself.

In a double rocks glass filled with crushed ice, build:
Liberal dose of Angostura bitters
2 parts Ron Abuelo Anejo Panamanian rum
1 part Redbreast 12yr aged Irish whisky
1 part simple syrup
Fill with sour cherry juice
Give glass a light stir and top with a few more dashes of Angostura.

Baroque Obama

This cocktail, inspired by our beloved prez-elect (there goes that media bias again), is my interpretation of an obscure and long forgotten cocktail called the Baroque Cocktail, invented by the long-defunct Baroque Restaurant in NYC. The original is comprised of Jamaican rum, gin, sugar, lime juice, and Maraschino. This Obama-inspired version instead uses African rum, American gin, organic Hawaiian cane syrup, Hawaiian Plum extract, organic lime juice, and Maraschino. Those of you who were benevolent enough to attend the Obama fundraiser at Ms. Gleeson’s a few weeks ago got a chance to taste this–benevolence has its rewards. And since people seemed to enjoy it, the recipe’s below.

Place the following ingredients in a cocktail shaker with fresh ice:
2 parts Starr African Rum
1 part Aviation gin
3/4 part organic Hawaiian cane syrup
Dash of Hawaiian plum extract (sometimes labeled “Li Hing Powder”)
1 part organic lime juice
Splash of Maraschino liqueur (ie Luxardo)

Shake vigorously (so as to “wake up the drink”) and strain in a chilled cocktail glass. Cheers!

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below!

Paystyle was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles (aka Tehrangeles) before moving to Brooklyn with his wife and co-pilot Vanessa Bahmani who provides the stunning photography of Pay’s cocktail concoctions. Return every Wednesday for his weekly Happy Hour column.

There is also red shiso available sometimes. We have a weekly Wednesday Green Market right outside of our work, and there’s one vegetable stand where you can find a lot of Asian stuff, from Japanese eggplants, hishito pepper (non spicy skinny peppers) to shiso.

They sell both red and green shiso, and they are cheap as hell. At any Japanese grocery store, it’s about $1.49 for 10 leaves, but there, a whole bunch, I mean, HUGE bunch, is sold for only $2. What a bargain.

I’ve bought a lot of green shiso and I was googling around for the usage of red shiso. One usually uses it when making umeboshi (the pickled plums those Project runway whores had to eat when they went to Japan).

Anyhow, I saw this recipe for red shiso juice, and I made it last week, and decided to do it again this week. I made last week’s version using apple cider vinegar, and it tasted too heavily vinegary. So I went all over the town last weekend to find citric acid. Citric acid basically tastes sour, sort of like crystallized lemons, and it adds sourness to dishes. Apparently Passover cooking uses some of it, and I went to Zabars, thinking they would surely have it.

I bought 7 bunches for $14, plus raw sugar (similar to brown rice, cane is not so stripped down, hence the color is a bit darker), citric acid (aka sour salt). Here are the ingredients: shiso, sugar and citric acid. The bright dark red shiso is pretty.

Anyhow, boil 5 liters of water, and add the cleaned shiso. As soon as the shiso is in the water, it starts losing its color. It is interesting to watch the dark red rendering into the water, and the leaves become very green.

Once the shiso is totally drained of its flavor and color, take it out of the water. Look how green the leaves are now. I thought about saving it, but it had lost all its flavor, so I dumped it.

The water color is so dark, it’s almost black.

And magic happens after adding citric acid.

End product. Beautifully pink, refreshing, AWESOME. I bet mixing this with Shochu would be very nice, but I mixed it with rum. Tried with vodka, but it wasn’t too impressive. I have to experiment for the best mixture. Of course you can drink it virgin with seltzer.

Two findings:

1.) After dumping entire bag of sugar into the pot, it was sooo sweet, almost disgusting, but it took 5 teaspoon of citric acid lost all the sweetness, and just became sour. I bet many candy companies use to this trick disguise sugar by adding citric acid.

2.) This tastes very refreshing, and feels healthy, you know, herb juice, like it cleanses your body. So you drink too much.

This sort of crazed single lifestyle (never quite “swinging” however) also means an empty refrigerator. No joke, my fridge contained only eggs and half & half for 3 weeks. It was totally depressing.

I’ve had an epiphany of sorts. I need to improve my quality of life. It’s shit right now.

So this weekend I stayed home. I watched 5 movies for work, screened my phone calls, baked bread again, and vacuumed (er, swiffered). I went out just once to pick up my dry cleaning (I had dropped it off a month ago), go to the farmer’s market and finally bought light bulbs (nothing more depressing than a half-lit apartment). It was a weekend of personal cleansing and serious down time.

Aside from a well-lit apartment and bread baking, quality of life also means squeezing your own oranges. I’ve had this awesome vintage juice squeezer that I bought in college, that has been collecting dust since moving to NY. Blood orange season started a few months ago, and I would just pass them by at the market. It was time.

They are a little pricey, I got 5 for $2, which is on the cheap side. But they are gorgeous!

From Cali. HOLLA!
Def bloody.

My juicer! It’s Umami Mart green, and I’ve had him for 8 years. I’m sorry I neglected him for so long.
3 oranges yields only this much juice, but is a good amount for me. Blood oranges are significantly sweeter, with a tart finish.

What does one do with the rind? It was so sad to just throw these out.
Blood oranges remind me of Italy. I remember buying them at the market when I lived there and squeezing them every morning. Happy memories. They even sell blood orange juice in the grocery stores there- Matt was obsessed with this stuff when we went in October. Yes, he even took this picture.

There’s something so gratifying about squeezing your own oranges rather than pouring it from a carton though. It’s a soul-pleaser. Blood orange season is going to end at any moment now, but I’m determined to always have oranges in my fridge now to remind me to stop, slow down, squeeze, and enjoy life a little more. OMG that is so cheesy.