At this time of year, no one would blame you if you were a bit partied out. From Thanksgiving to New Years tends to be a glutton-fest of rich food, sweets and frequent libation. I’m eager to revive the ol’ Friday Cocktail Tradition around here, but sympathetic to folks who may be feeling like a…
Dish
Thai Red Curry Cabbage Salad
A few months ago I planted a half-bed of Caraflex cabbage, a new-to-me variety that has become my official favorite fresh eating cabbage. This pointy-headed cabbage has performed wonderfully for me on dense spacing, so I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve made basically one thing with it. That’s not to say the cabbage has gone to…
The Basil Bliss
It’s been an unseasonably warm, late spring day and we’ve been digging a duck pond. It’s time for a drink. It’s not quite warm enough for the icy summer staples (gin and tonic, I’m looking at you) but the moody drinks of winter are just too emo for a day of high cirrus clouds against a clear…
The Rhubarb 75
It’s not quite strawberry season, cherries look like small, hard green marbles and peaches are just a fuzzy dream. But there is rhubarb. Rhubarb is a strange edible. Not really a fruit but typically used as one, poisonous except for the stalk, tart and astringent and stringy when raw. Who was the first brave gatherer that…
Chocolate Mint Mojito
Mint isn’t just mint. There’s peppermint, spearmint, ginger mint, apple mint, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, lime mint and on and on. (Anyone ever seen Best in Show? Yeah, varieties of mint are kinda like the “I can name all the nuts” scene.) Different mints have different levels of super potent compounds that give them their…
Bitters and Soda: A Refreshing Mocktail
I know this might come as a shock, but most evenings I don’t actually want a boozey drink. And there are plenty of afternoons when a true cocktail would be inappropriate anyway (I prefer to be sober when I pick my kid up at the bus stop.) But sometimes I want…something. That’s where this easy,…
Tamarind Tequila Rita
Right, I know. Tequila. You’re saying to yourself, “I don’t drink tequila. See, there was this one time in college and all I remember is I woke up on that grassy patch in front of the Mechanical Engineering building when the sprinkler started and hit me in the face and somehow my underwear was on…
The Hemingway Daiquiri
Ernest Hemingway is one of my father’s favorite authors. I grew up surrounded by The Old Man And The Sea, The Sun Also Rises and For Whom The Bell Tolls (about that last one – don’t ask). My favorite Hemingway piece has always been The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Or maybe A Clean,…
The Gin & Ginger Cocktail
If one were really, truly stretching the definition of healthy, one might consider this cocktail medicinal. Fresh citrus combines with raw muddled ginger root, a bit of botanically infused gin and bitters and just enough sweetness to help the delicious medicine go down. The result is a bit spicy, a bit lip-tingly and undeniably delicious:…
The Dark and Drizzly Cocktail
I keep trying to love that classic cocktail, The Dark and Stormy. Perhaps it’s my lack of Gosling’s Dark Rum, or my lackluster appreciation for rum in general that does it, but The Dark and Stormy’s combination of dark rum, lime and ginger beer has yet to win me over. To me, The Dark and Stormy…
How To Make Simple Syrup
I was at my local Yuppie-Hippie market and saw that you can actually buy Simple Syrup for cocktails. Like, pre-made, with a label and everything. A beautifully designed 12-ounce bottle of the stuff will only set you back about $7. Wait, SEVEN DOLLARS? For sugar water? It’s really quite shocking that I don’t get thrown…
Beet and Apple Salad with Yogurt-Dill Dressing
My kids love this salad. It’s full of big, chunky pieces of roasted beets and apple, and has a mild, creamy dressing. And it’s bright pink, which adds to the fun. If you want something a little more sophisticated than a Barbie Ferrari colored salad at the dinner table, just spoon the dressing over the…