Category: food

Cocktail of the Week: Winter Bourbon Smash

2014-02-02 19.56.54

It rained today. And if you’ve been following the news here in California, you’d know that rain is a pretty big deal right now. Besides alleviating, if only by a very little, the drought the state is experiencing the weather also made actually feel like Winter. To honor the rain, and the mood it established,I decided to make this winter smash that D had mentioned to me earlier this month.

I’d never made a smash before and this isn’t your standard anyway, playing on the rule that a seasonal fruit should be in the drink by using a jam or preserve. But, it did sound delicious and sitting on the couch, sipping this cocktail while comfortably wrapped in a blanket while listening to the rain fall outside was too wonderful an image not to make reality!

The ingredients
The ingredients

Winter Bourbon Smash

  • 1 oz. raspberry jam (any jam or preserve will do)
  • 1 oz. bourbon whisky
  • 1/2 oz. TripleSec
  • 1 to 1 1/2 oz. orange juice
  • splash of club soda

Add 1/2 cup ice, preserves, bourbon, triple sec and orange juice to a shaker and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.  Pour into serving glass with a few ice cubes and top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with orange slice.

PS – Depending on the size of the holes in your cocktail shaker you might have to use a jam that doesn’t have a lot of fruit chunks and seeds in it or be comfortable scooping infused jam out of the shaker after draining out as much of the cocktail as you can.

2014-02-02 19.56.37

Another wonderful drink! The bourbon and raspberry jam complement each other perfectly. The two work on each other smoothing out their rough edges, the bourbon’s bite and the jam’s sweetness, until you are left with something eminently drinkable.

Cocktail of the Week: Grandpa Burkart’s Margaritas

2014-01-26 18.42.55 D’s grandpa makes good margaritas. Funny story, the first time I met him he offered me a drink and I wanted to make a good impression so I said “sure” and he made himself and me a Bloody Mary. I thought, “Cool, I can drink tomato juice with some vodka in it. Easy.” That was before I drank any of it though and found out that really, it was mostly vodka and hot sauce with a splash of tomato juice in it. Grandpa Burkart had three of them and wasn’t even phased. I ceded at two and then handed the keys to D because she’d be having to drive… His margaritas are just as strong, made of equal parts lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec. They do taste great though…

The ingredients
The ingredients

Margaritas

  • 1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice (I used Meyers)
  • 1 part tequila
  • 1 part triple sec

Combine equal parts lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec in a container. Shake. Store in freezer for at least three hours. Serve in margarita or martini glasses with salt or sugar-lined rims.

The mix
The mix
After sitting in the freezer for 24 hours
After sitting in the freezer for 24 hours

2014-01-26 18.43.12Grandpa Burkart knows how to make a margarita! Despite not having any lime juice (the ones in the pictures are just for display), simple syrup, or any of the other things you sometimes see in recipes these are still the best margaritas I’ve ever had. If you want something a little dryer you can use regular lemons instead of Meyers. Just be careful as these pack quite the wallop, though you wouldn’t know it from the taste!

 

J.R.R. Tolkien Inspired Meal!

2014-01-18 19.11.38

 

A friend of mine started a new blog, Project A Month, at the beginning of the year. Each month he introduces a project and then he and his design, plan and execute. The first month was to:

Make a meal based on your favorite movie, book, song, or game – Whatever your favorite piece of entertainment is, there’s bound to be some way to make a meal based off it. Maybe food is a central component to a pivotal scene, or perhaps a character happens to be a spicy chicken. Either way, this month you need to think hard about what meal would represent and give homage to your choice. Be sure to take pictures of the process, write down your recipe, and explain a little bit about the choices you made.

I loved the premise of the blog and wanted to participate. I mentioned it to D and she also thought it would fun. The first problem though was coming up with a favorite anything to be our inspiration for the meal. I knew I wanted to do the project with D, instead of us each doing our own, and that meant that the book, movie, song, or game had to have meaning for the both of us… It didn’t take too much rumination to settle on J.R.R Tolkien’s Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as our inspiration. The two of us not only grew up with the books but we’ve read them too each other as well during our courtship and marriage. I felt we got lucky with our pick as Tolkien infused his work with a love of food and eating (especially his hobbits…) Almost immediately I knew I wanted to do a take on the Elves’ magical lembas bread that served as the main staple for most of the Fellowship’s journey to Mordor. D said we should do some sort of hearty breakfast to go with the bread and call it “second breakfast.”

Lembas Bread
Lembas Bread

My first thought for Lembas bread was a multigrain loaf, full of nuts and berries. This fits with the description of the bread in LOTR but wouldn’t make for exciting eating or recipe making. I then thought a biscuit might work, something like hard tack but not so bland. The biscuit idea finally lead me to a scone. A scone was perfect: sweet, filling, transportable. I looked up a basic scone recipe and then went to tweaking! Continue reading “J.R.R. Tolkien Inspired Meal!”

Cocktail of the Week: Elderfashioned

2014-01-18 18.56.35

The Godfather really didn’t turn out well… I’m still disappointed in how much I didn’t like that drink.  This week we’re going for something a really simple. Almost as simple as the very first cocktail, the Old Fashioned, except we’ll be putting in a little St. Germain to sweeten it up.

2014-01-18 18.47.28

Elderfashioned

  • 2 parts whisky bourbon/rye
  • 1/2 part St. Germain
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir and serve in a old fashioned glass on the rocks (I like the one big square ice cube); garnish w/ an orange twist

2014-01-18 18.56.42

A note of caution: St. Germain’s is sweet, really sweet. You might be thinking, “only 1/2 a part to two parts boourbon?!” Yes, only 1/2 a part! D wanted more St. Germain in her cocktail and it turned out too sweet! If you follow the recipe you’ll end up with a sweet twist on an Old Fashioned, if you go any further you’ll end up with dessert! D and I really like the Elderfashioned. Especially, since it takes some of the edge off of the traditional Old Fashioned, mellows it a bit. Owing to its sweetness this would make an excellent digestif, you can skip dessert even!

%d bloggers like this: