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Jul 15

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Summer cocktails: Improvisation! Grapefruit margarita spritz

This summer has been particularly good – life has been slower than normal, full of relaxed meals and time outdoors and good time with friends.  Food has been fresh, simple, and flavorful, and evenings have been slow, relaxed, and full of great conversation. While things here keep getting warmer and warmer – soon it will be too warm to spend time in the yard while the sun is still up – we’re getting everything we can from these evenings.

Grapefruit_margarita_spritz

In fact, there’s not much better than sitting in the backyard after work, on a warm evening, with a cocktail in hand and a tasty, fresh snack nearby. A perfect image of summer.

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Jul 9

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Go-to cocktail: Sparkling wine with bitter orange

Let’s talk about sparkling wine with Aperol. Let’s talk about how pretty it is, when it’s warm outside and there’s a lawn chair in the middle of the backyard. Or when it’s on a table at a fancy restaurant on a tiny side street in Vienna, when you’re celebrating two years of marriage with your love.

Spritz_1

Spritz_2

While we were in Germany and Austria, we couldn’t walk into or by a restaurant or cafe without seeing about 1,000 bottles of Campari or Aperol lining the shelves behind the bar.  These bitter orange liqueurs are not nearly as common here in the United States, but almost every menu we saw had a sizable selection of simple cocktails with one or the other – as straight-forward as Campari and soda up to four- and five-ingredient cocktails.

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Jul 7

6 Comments

Pie crust: to chill or not to chill? (Also, strawberry pie!)

I’ve made a decent number of pies in my life – some better than others – but until a year or so ago, I never paid that much attention to the crust or the technique behind it. See, I’m not so picky about pie crust. It’s a flaky, light and crispy crust: “It’s so flaky and crispy! I love it!” It’s a chewier, doughier, denser crust: “It’s so chewy and dense! I love it!” I’ve generally made whatever crust recipe comes along with the pie recipe I want to make, and while I’ve sometimes cursed the dough for not rolling out easily or for completely falling apart when confronted with baked filling, I’ve left it up to fate.

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Jul 5

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Workshop recap: Can I learn to can? I can. I can can.

I’ve been really interested in learning how to can for a few years now, which is why it’s on this year’s Food List 2011. Canning is definitely a trend amongst foodies, but for good reason. Yes, it’s retro. Yes, it’s back-to-the-farm, which is both trendy and justifiably important in its own right.  But canning is also a great way to preserve large batches of food and to extend the season for fresh, local produce. It’s also particularly handy for making and giving food-based gifts, which has a variety of benefits and implications (including: meaningful hand-crafted gifts, more awesome food for everyone).

Canning

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Jun 28

Buttermilk anything cake

Sometimes I go a bit overboard with fruit. Summer comes and suddenly there are peaches and apricots and cherries and everything all over the place, and I just can’t help myself. I buy boatloads, and then we end up needing to eat eight pieces a day just to make it through.

Buttermilk_cake

Buttermilk_cake_peaches

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