Golden Birthday Punch

A few weeks ago, I finally celebrated my long-anticipated Golden Birthday!

The party was perfect: my family and friends came to celebrate with me, decked in gold of course, and everything went off without a hitch. The food and the punch were both delicious, the gold decorations and paper rosettes looked great, and everyone seemed to have a really great time. My sweet mom even made me a golden birthday cake! The party was absolutely fantastic in every way.

Besides seeing all of my beloved friends and family members, the best aspect of the party was definitely the punch. I had been looking for a punch recipe to serve for awhile, and when I stumbled upon this one I knew it was "the one". It had all the right ingredients for a good punch--gin, sparkling wine, and grapefruit juice (my favorite). Everyone loved it so much that it was gone in the first hour! It was a total hit.

Thanks to everyone that made my day so wonderful. I love you all!



Golden Punch
Adapted from Food and Wine

Serves 16

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups chilled club soda
2 cups gin
3 cups fresh grapefruit juice + a few grapefruit wheels for garnish
1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sweet vermouth
4 1/2 cups chilled sparkling wine
Ice

Stir together sugar and club soda in a large pitcher until dissolved. Add gin, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, and sweet vermouth. Stir together and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Transfer mixture to a punch bowl, stir in sparkling wine, and add grapefruit wheels to the top. Serve over ice!

Cold Brewed Mint Iced Tea

FINALLY, the temperature lowered itself back down to the 70s. It's about time! I really wanted to share this beautiful cold brewed mint tea recipe with you today, although I think it would probably be more refreshing on those 100-degree days. Don't worry--I won't wish them back just for tea.

If you haven't made cold brewed tea before, now's the time to start! It's the easiest drink to make, and the variations are endless. This mint tea, by the way, is pretty boring compared to some of the tea recipes out there, but this is the way I make it day-to-day. If you want it fancier, by all means go for it! Cold brewed tea contains less caffeine too, so don't worry if you drink more than one glass.

Happy tea drinking! Enjoy the weather while it lasts (and come back soon for a little mini-series on how to use your CSA greens)!


Cold Brewed Mint Iced Tea

Makes 8 servings

8 black tea bags
10 or so fresh mint leaves
64 ounces cold filtered water

Fill a large pitcher with water. Add tea bags to the side of the pitcher and secure if needed. Place mint in a cheese cloth or a tea ball and add to the water. Put pitcher in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours. If you like the strength of the tea and mint, remove both from water and enjoy! If you want it stronger, keep in refrigerator until desired strength. Add more mint leaves for garnish.

La Paloma

Let's have a cocktail, shall we?

Summer is the perfect time for a refreshing drink, and there's definitely nothing like a La Paloma on a hot June day. Made with Mexican grapefruit soda and tequila, this drink would go perfectly with some yummy carnitas tacos or marinated halibut on the grill. Think margarita with a fruity twist...yum!

Happy Thursday!



La Paloma

Makes one cocktail

1 1/2 ounces tequila
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice (half a lime)
2 ounces Mexican grapefruit soda, such as Jarritos
2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice

Pour tequila over ice in a salt-rimmed highball glass. Add lime juice, grapefruit juice, and soda. Stir together and garnish with a slice of lime.

Dr. R's Cold Remedy

Hubby and I are both home sick today. It's pretty pathetic actually; we're curled up on the couch with our mugs of tea, a box of tissue, and a packet of cough drops. Gotta love cuddling while breathing through your mouth. So sexy.

Once in college when I was sick, I went to tell my choir director that I couldn't come to rehearsal (I had lost my voice to boot). Being the "commitment guru" that he was, he quickly jotted down the recipe for a drink remedy, shoved it toward me, and told me he'd see me tomorrow. I was pretty annoyed that he assumed I'd get better in one day, but I took the scrap of paper home with me and thought, what the heck. It can't hurt.



I can now say, this remedy is my go-to drink whenever I have a cold. Sure, it doesn't taste the best, but with some honey and a stuffed up nose, you won't even realize it! :) I've grown to really love the taste and I truly think it makes a huge difference in how quickly my cold disappears. Dr. R, if you're reading this, you were right. It's a good recipe.

'Tis the season for colds, so go try it next time you've got one! It's a must-have.



Dr. R's Cold Remedy

3 cups water
1 lemon, sliced
3 cinnamon sticks, broken
3/4 inch ginger, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
10 whole cloves

Boil water and add rest of ingredients. Simmer, covered, for ten minutes. Pour through a sieve and add honey to taste.




P.S. Do you ever eat Ramen when you're sick? My dad grew up in Japan, so it's something we've always eaten during the cold and flu season. I can't ever remember not eating Ramen while sick. This is my family's version of a great bowl of Ramen, "souped up" a bit (no pun intended):

-One package of Ramen (try a package that's MSG-free; you can find quite a few brands at specialty food stores or at Whole Foods)
-3/4 cup of roughly sliced cabbage
-1/4 teaspoon chili powder, plus more to taste
-1/4 teaspoon sambal or chili garlic sauce
-A small handful of scallions, thinly sliced

Add cabbage to boiling water for 30 seconds, then add package of ramen (and included spice packet). Once cooked, add chili powder and sambal and mix together. Sprinkle scallions on top.


(taken from my iPhone)

Vin d'Orange, Part II

Do you remember a few weeks ago when we made Vin d'Orange? Well, it's finally finished and time to drink!

It turned out pretty well, very cinnamon-y and not as much citrus flavor as I would've liked, but still good. Husband likes it by itself or over ice, I prefer it with some sparkling water. If we made it again I would probably take out the cinnamon and vanilla altogether, though I'm sure some would argue with me on that. Definitely a refreshing drink for summer and a great start to our liqueur-making future nonetheless.



And the winner of our champagne giveaway is....

We loved the idea of making a tart to go with our champagne, and though we had a few tarts to choose from, Cassie's Bake or Break Fresh Berry Tart recipe won in the end. We were excited to find a recipe that was very informative and helpful, as well as written by someone that obviously knows their stuff. We are looking forward to trying out this great recipe in a few short weeks. Thanks, Cassie!

(By the way, check out her amazing photography site here...she is incredible.)

A big thanks to all that participated in our giveaway, we really had a lot of fun. We always love hearing from you!



Voila, the china hutch! Still trying to choose some fun knobs to go with it; what do you think of these? We'll stick with one.

Vin d'Orange

On my morning walk to the "L" I pass a long bank of newspaper dispensers. It's your usual mix of free classifieds, junk magazines, and newspapers. I frequently see many people reading one particular free newspaper. Every so often I'll pick one up myself, and it's a fine paper except for the fact that it takes me about 5 minutes to read it from cover to cover. I remember the days when my dad used to spend 3 hours on Sunday morning reading the local paper, and it was full of informative articles and quality investigative journalism. Sadly, this is getting harder and harder to find. Fortunately for us, most reporting is now done through online mediums, making it easy to weed out the stuff you don't want to read. I find The New York Times to be one of my go-to websites to get a good mix of culture and timely news. Not to mention Dining and Wine!

I was looking through this delicious section one day during my lunch break and I came across a feature called the DIY Cooking Handbook. You may have suspected this about me, but I'm sort of a closet DIYer. Not so much in the Martha sense where I want to grow my own cotton and build a loom, but more in the roast-your-own-coffee, butcher-a-whole-chicken, and in this case, make-your-own-liqueur sense.



This is a traditional French liqueur and it is both tasty and versatile. Feel free to drink it straight-up or mixed with Champagne, Prosecco, sparkling water, or even a nice dry Chenin Blanc.

Warning: this recipe takes patience, but maybe you can pass the time reading your favorite newspaper. Whatever you decide, make sure to check back in 6 weeks with our liqueur results.

Vin d'Orange
from The New York Times

3 tangerines or oranges
2 lemons or grapefruit, or one of each
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 of a vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cinnamon stick
2 liters rose (about 2 1/2 bottles)
1 cup vodka
1/4 cup dark rum



Thoroughly clean all fruit, as you will be using the peel in the wine.

Slice fruit in thick wheels and place in a large container with a lid. Add sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick,  rose and vodka. Stir well with a spoon (not wooden; it could have bacteria in it that will hurt the fermentation process) and put the lid on. Place in the fridge for 6 weeks, shaking occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

After 6 weeks, mix in dark rum and strain out everything else. Store at room temperature or in the fridge indefinitely.