Drink of the Week

is coming. no really, it is. i actually have two, one with booze and one without, both with lemons. lots and lots of lemons. be back later with the recipes and names (that's the tough part).

The Briny Breeze - - Drink of the Week

Oh my God? Where have I been? This is crazy. It's not that I don't care about you, no, that's not it at all. I've just been so busy. But no Drink of the Week, that was just rude. I will continue to do my best. Sometimes my best just kind of sucks. Sorry. While we are on the subject of Drink of the Week, let me introduce you to the Briny Breeze. I named it after this little town in south Florida. It's a little mobile home park right on the ocean and it is amazing. Especially if you happen to have a polaroid camera with you (which I did). So, without further adieu . . .

The Briny Breeze

5 small pieces of Watermelon (i used a melon baller, because melon ballers are fun)
3 mint leaves
1 oz vodka
A generous splash of Rose's sweetened lime juice
A splash of Cointreau ( I also tried it with a splash of Campari and that was good, too. I just feel like I always use Campari, but Campari is really, really good. Especially in summer.)
club soda or tonic water

Plop your melon balls into a glass along with the mint leaves (i tore mine into pieces - - it feels naughty) and the vodka and then muddle it up. Add all of your splashes and stir. Fill a second glass with ice and then pour your muddled mixture over the ice, top off with club soda or tonic water. Garnish with melon balls, mint and lime - - you could even sugar the rim if you were so inclined. Now drink it!

Chamomile Mint Iced Tea

All is not lost. I am still doing a drink of the week. Thanks for sticking by me. I have been so busy with work/photography/creative endeavors that my food adventures have been few and far between. I still intend to provide a Drink of the Week each week and then reinstate twenty bucks once I have a bit more free time. Let's take it easy, shall we? Sit back, relax and enjoy something soothing.

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Lisa and I had lunch at one of my favorite places, Le Pain Quotidien. I was planning on having a glass of wine with lunch (I deserved it!), and then I saw a carafe of chamomile mint iced tea go by and the wine went out the window. Shall we take a break from alcohol this week? Let's. Actually, here's a deal for you. Drink this and let me know if you come up with some sort of alcohol-y twist on it and I will do the same. We can meet back Monday with our results.

No real recipe here. I just steeped a bag of their amazing chamomile tea with some mint leaves and a bit of sugar. After about 5 minutes I poured it over a tall glass of ice that was filled with new, fresh, pretty mint leaves. Then I took a picture of it (you don't have to do that part), and then I gulped it down.

Honey, Drink This!

Hello and welcome to my Drink of the Week. First question. Is it wrong to concoct a Drink of the Week at 8:15 Friday morning? I hope not, because that is what I just did. Last night after my shoot I took myself on a field trip over to BevMo. Drink of the Week heaven. I didn't even bother with their awesome 5 cent wine sale. I just b-lined it over to the liquor aisle (actually liquor aisles - - there's lots of them). I was talking to my friend Bobbi at the time and she mentioned a great liqueur called Aperol. She said it was quite similar to Campari, but a bit more flavorful and fragrant. I just so happened to be standing in front of the last bottle of Aperol as she was telling me this, so I grabbed it. A touch of fate in the liquor store. I read the label, "based on an infusion of orange, rhubarb, china and gentian." Which means very little to me (how is something based on an infusion of china?), but I was intrigued. Just a hop, skip and a jump (and no, i didn't hop, skip or jump in there . . . it's for storytelling purposes) down from the Apertol was the sweetest bottle of booze I have ever seen, Barenjager honey liqueur. Outfitted in it's own little woven jumpsuit, it was too irresistible to pass up. So I bought that, too, thinking it may take care of some of my "honey not dissolving in cold alcoholic beverage" problems. I also grabbed some simple syrup. My last bottle went bad. Apparently you are supposed to refrigerate after opening. If not, bad, bad things happen. And then I found the missing link, in the form of the cutest little soda bottles you have ever seen (even cuter than that damn sanbitter). Tart Cranberry Soda comes in a four pack of little glass bottles with solid red caps. It's all natural cocktail soda with cranberry essences and "champagne" bubbles. How good does that sound? I got some bitter lemon flavor as well (and they have cute solid yellow tops). I paid for my things and rushed home, but by the time I got back I was just too tired to concoct. My usual tasters were nowhere to be found, so I just went to bed instead. I woke up early this morning with my Drink of the Week juices flowing (literally and figuratively) and produced this little gem of a cocktail. . .

Honey, Drink This!

1 6.3 oz bottle of Tart Cranberry Soda

Ok. Before I go any further, I know you may not be able to get this stuff, so be creative. Use club soda or tonic water, cranberry juice and maybe a splash of Champagne (if you are sophisticated enough to have splashes of Champagne just laying around). Oh, and please, please let me know if you do get creative and in the process come up with something amazing. I'll be sure to post it.

1 oz Barenjager Honey Liqueur
2 oz Aperol
2 oz white wine ( i used some pinot grigio i had open, try whatever you like and let me know).

Combine ingredients in a glass, stir and fill with ice. Garnish with a blood orange slice (not because it's relevant, but because you can. remember, you are a foodie)
drink and enjoy.

Success!

Determined not to be beat by the semi-failure of last week's Drink of the Week, I experimented with perfecting it. Molly (and Brandon) - - THANK YOU! Brandon suggested to Molly that I don't need to juice the cucumber (which I was absolutely dreading), but instead I should just muddle the cucumbers with the other ingredients and it would work fine. Fine? It was Perfect! I got out one of my nicest pitchers (I just knew this drink was going to deserve to be in a fancy pitcher) and filled it with cucumber slices, mint leaves and a little bit of sugar (I thought maybe the grit of the sugar would help with the muddling. No idea if that is true. I often do stuff like that) and muddled away. And then muddled some more, and some more. Then I squeezed half of a lemon over the muddled mess and poured tonic over the top almost filling the pitcher. I used tonic rather than club soda, since it has sweetness and bitterness - - just like me. A splash of rose's sweetened lime juice and a big hearty stir and we were ready to go. I took a test sip (uh - yum!) and popped it in the fridge. Now I was giddy with excitement. This was good. So much better. Dumb Mr. Q Cumber soda trying to screw up my Drink of the Week. I'll show you. Lisa and Jeff arrived about an hour later (plenty of time for the drink to chill to perfection) and I quickly served up a round of elixirs. Andrew said that he didn't want one quite yet, but I poured him one anyway. I was just that confident. For it is quite possibly the drink of the summer (I know it's not summer yet, but it was 92 degrees yesterday so that must count for something). We drank the whole pitcher quite quickly and then mourned the fact that I was out of tonic and cucumbers so we would have to switch to somethin boring like beer. I'll definitely be running out to the store today for more cucumbers, and you, my friend, should do the same.

New and Improved Cucumber Lemon Elixir

1 medium cucumber (not the fancy kind, the old school kind)- peeled and sliced
1 lemon
1 big handful of mint leaves
1/4 cup sugar (any kind will do, just don't use powdered sugar, silly)
1 liter tonic water
gin or vodka (tried 'em both and they both taste great)
rose's sweetened lime juice

In a large pitcher muddle the cucumber slices (make sure not to slice them too, too thin), mint leaves and sugar. Then add the juice of half a lemon (slice the other half for garnishes). Top off with tonic water and a splaaaaaaaaash (that's a bigger than normal splash) of rose's lime juice. Stir and chill.

To serve: Add one ounce of vodka or gin to an ice filled glass. Fill glasses with the cucumber mint mixture. Stir. Garnish with mint and lemon. Drink. Enjoy. And don't forget to eat the cucumber pieces - - they are delicious.

Cucumber Lemon Elixir

Oh my God, I know. What a boring name. At least it will help you remember the ingredients. Also, this drink comes with a proviso. You can only drink it if you promise not to hate me when you discover it is not the most awesome Drink of the Week you have had. Ok? Because it could be better. Aaaaaaaand, I'm gonna fix it. I'm gonna make it better, but you might not like how I do that. I'll explain. After the soda tasting I decided I had to use Mr. Q Cumber soda for a Drink of the Week, which was a brilliant idea (sort of). Mr. Q Cucumber soda has one fatal flaw: it's just too sweet. So the drink, although good, is not great or awesome or any other adjective that implies above average. The entire time I was making it I felt a little unsure, but I knew I had to see it through, and hey, maybe you like sweet. Maybe it will be just perfect for you. I don't know. My usual taste tester (my brother, Jason) informed me (after I slaved over this drink) that he does not like cucumbers. I think he gets it from our Dad, who also doesn't like cucumbers, except he would never admit that. He would always say that he was allergic to cucumbers and I remember thinking there must be something seriously wrong with him because cucumbers are a very funny thing to be allergic to. I once had a boyfriend in college that gave me some horrible smelling perfume for my birthday. Old lady perfume, I mean, come on. I told him that it gave me an allergic reaction and I would not be able to wear it, but assured him that I am heartbroken over it, since I loved it so much. So I guess we all have our "allergies." Fortunately for me, my other taster (Andrew) has no cucumber allergies and was able to sample the drink. "Mmmmmmmm. Honey, this is good. Buuuuuuuuuut. I think it is a bit too sweet for my taste." This comes from a man that can eat all of the candy in his Easter basket (yes, he still gets an Easter basket) in one sitting. So, I knew at that point it was definitely too sweet. Well my plan is to (this is the part that you aren't going to like, because it will make this drink a total pain in the ass) juice some cucumbers, add club soda, a bit of simple syrup and all of the rest of the ingredients. This way I can control the sweetness. I can't imagine you will want to do this, too, but I feel like I have to. I will let you know how it goes. For now, try to enjoy this, and if this isn't your thing or you are allergic to cucumbers (wink, wink), try this or this.

Cucumber Lemon Elixir

6 oz Mr. Q Cumber Soda
1 oz Vodka
1/2 Tbl Robert Lambert Meyer Lemon Syrup (who am I kidding?)
Juice of one Lemon
6 - 10 mint leaves
Cucumber slices for garnish

In the bottom of a sturdy glass, muddle the mint leaves. Add soda, vodka, syrup, lemon juice and stir. Pour over ice. Garnish with cucumber and try to enjoy.

XXX

Don't let the name fool you. There is nothing salacious about this drink. Plus, it is actually half good for you.

So I was desperately trying to come up with a Drink of the Week last night. Yes, I procrastinated until the last minute, AGAIN. I quickly realized that I needed to go out into the world and get some new ingredients, because one more gin based drink with cointreau or campari will probably make you hate me forever. That said, bear with me (at first i thought it was bare with me, then i looked it up and that would mean get naked, which kind of works with the triple x theme), I have one more drink to offer you with the same old, same old. For the record, I did try to make a drink called "The Dirty White Girl" (how amazing is that name?), but the results were unappetizing to say the least. Apparently if you mix cream soda and bailey's it coagulates like spoiled milk. Oh, and I did try to make a drink using Pernod. I had a bottle someone gave me from a cookbook shoot. I took one sip and then immediately spit it out into the sink - - "Black licorice, eech, yuck, gross, gross, GROSS! I need something to get the taste out of my mouth", I screamed in Andrew's direction, "Help, help, yuck, Oh my god." He was kind enough to give me a spoonful of tomato sauce he was making for some lasagna. It totally neutralized the awful taste in my mouth, so if that ever happens to you, go for the jar of tomato sauce.

Back to the drink. I really wanted to make a drink that Andrew would like. He has been a bit left out the last couple of weeks, since he doesn't like champagne or juice, and then it hit me - - XXX Vitamin water. Yes! Let me warn you, this is not a sophisticated drink. This is not a drink you try to impress people with, or even drink with grown ups. This is a "down and dirty, get drunk, cause you can't stop drinking it, because you can't taste the alcohol and it feels like you are in college again." kind of drink. So the next time you need something like that, here it is.

XXX
6 oz XXX Vitamin Water
1 oz Vodka
1 oz Chambord
1 oz Cointreau
A splash of Rose's sweetened lime juice.

Shake with ice, pour into a plastic cup filled with ice(cause a glass just seems too sophisticated - -i only used one for photographic purposes), drink, enjoy, repeat.

PS. How gorgeous is my new cocktail shaker? I bought it at this fine establishment.

PSS. Andrew liked it!

Oops! Drink of the Week. . . JUICE

I didn't forget about Drink of the Week. I swear! Thursday night rolled around and I just couldn't find any inspiration. I wanted to make some sort of sangria, because the weather has been so beautiful - - just begging for fruit floating in wine. I didn't have any ingredients, and I just felt a bit overwhelmed. Then I thought, "I might be turning these folks into alcoholics. Does the Drink of the Week always have to be a booze fest?" I then answered myself (out loud, of course), "YES!" Well, no booze fest for you this week. Let's take the week to cleanse ourselves while I pay homage to all of you with a fresh squeezed juice. Yes, that's right. I said it. JUICE. All of your comments inspired me to break out the juicer (yes, the one I just had to have, used once, and shoved in the cupboard)! So I woke up Friday morning and I juiced. My friend Jamie was here so she juiced. Andrew - - not so much. Actually, I didn't even ask him, because I thought it might put him off of all juicy liquid substances for the rest of his life. Now let me say that I was scared. Really, really scared. I did not think this was going to taste good and the memory of my first juice laden with beets and ginger - - Gag! But, I persevered. I did it for you. I had to. I'm such a martyr. This is what I used. I think it needs a bit of tweaking. Believe it or not, it was actually too sweet. I will definitely keep you posted, and I promise that next week you will have booze!

2 small apples
2 carrots
3 handfuls of spinach
4 celery sticks
5 kale leaves

ps. the froth is the best part.
pss. our computer was out of commission yesterday, so that is why i am posting today.

Manhattan Transfer

So I realized at about 7pm that I needed to create a drink of the week. Remember? I promised I would give them to you on Fridays now, so you could enjoy them all weekend long. Well, It was a beautiful day here in Southern California. The kind of day that makes you want to sip on white wine, sit in the sun and forget about the fact that taxes are due in less than a month. Unfortunately, I was only able to think about taxes - - the white wine and sunshine never came to fruition. Yet, I was also able to create a phenomenal drink of the week. My inspiration...the enormous orange tree in our backyard that is so fruitful one would think i put fertility drugs in the soil. I didn't. In case you were wondering.
Let me start by saying that I am not super fond of screwdrivers (the drink, not the tool. I actually find the tool quite useful). Screwdrivers were our drink of choice senior year in high school, and as you can imagine, we often drank too many, and we often got sick, and it often smelled. My disdain aside, I decided that the screwdriver would be my basis for this drink. I screamed out the back door for Andrew to pick me a few ripe oranges off the tree. He came back with oranges that did not look ripe to me, but as it turns out they were ripe and they were phenomenal. So I squeezed them all in to a glass pitcher and then grabbed a grapefruit and a couple of blood oranges I had laying around and squeezed them, too. Oh, and yes, I just happened to have blood oranges laying around, that's what foodies do. Now, this is where it gets a bit tricky - - for you, not for me - - because,I just started pulling a bunch of stuff out of the fridge, the pantry and the liquor cabinet. I realized I don't actually come up with drinks that people can just make that day. Noooooooo, that would be too easy. Instead I grab as many hard to find (lets call them aspirational) ingredients as possible, pour them in a glass and then say, "Hey! Hey, you! Look at me. Look what I just made. Jealous?" I'm probably going to continue to do it, but I at least wanted you to know that I was aware of it. Back to the drink. Into a glass of ice I poured the juice mixture to just over the half way point. The glass should always be at least half full, right? Then I added a shot of Grey Goose L'Orange Vodka, and then I started with the splashes.
A splash of:
Rose's Sweetened Lime Juice
Rose's Grenadine
Campari
Robert Lambert Blood Orange Syrup (I know, I know)
Cointreau
Mixed it all together, and without even taking a sip, ( I already knew it was going to be amazing)handed it off to my brother. His expression after his first sip assured me of that. Then it was off to the master drink tester. I wasn't super confident, since Andrew isn't much into juice (unless you count vitamin water as juice). He reluctantly took a sip after inspecting the contents of the glass and sniffing it. I think he said something like, "Not bad. I could see how someone would really like this if they liked juice." Then he apologized for not liking juice and handed the drink back to me. I loved it. But wait, I still had to come up with a name. I proceeded to make dinner, eat dinner, wash dishes, all the while trying to think of a name and nothing. Then I walked myself into the bathroom, sat down to pee and two words popped into my head. "Manhattan Transfer." It was like magic. I have no idea why, or how, but they just did, so I decided to go with it.

Kir Royal

In honor of my upcoming trip. We celebrated the booking of our tickets with something similar. Champagne and a splash of Chambord. The actual recipe calls for Champagne and a splash of Creme de Cassis. Delicious.

The Lazy Sunday

At about 6:15 Sunday evening I realized, "oh, NO!" I hadn't concocted a drink of the week. I was still feeling quite sick, and my folks had come in town to help celebrate my brother's 30th birthday. I knew, though, that I could not put it off another second. I had to give you a drink of the week and it had to be good. Fortunately for me, I had many test subjects to try the drink, which ended up being ahhhhmazing. Perfect for a lazy Sunday when you need a little pick me up and a little get me drunk.

The Lazy Sunday

Into a glass put equal parts gin and simple sugar (about an ounce of each)
then some hefty splashes of Campari, Cointreau, and Rose's sweetened lime juice.
next add a combination of julienned mint and basil leaves (these will get stuck in your teeth or hang from your lip as you drink. just do your best to get them in your mouth and chew, they taste delicious). top off with club soda, and of course, ice.

The first glass was such a hit that I made a whole pitcher for us to have with dinner. I would call this "whole pitcher" recipe kind of loose. I know I started with equal parts gin and simple sugar, but i definitely played around with the size of the splashes. I invite you to have fun with it. Splash all you like and drink up, cause it's delicious.

The Cat's Pajamas

Is it your birthday today?
No?
Cause I have a present for you.
Actually, I have two.
Two great friends of mine, Jamie and Lisa, inspired this week’s drink. Jamie told me about an amazing drink she had called a Dirty Girl Scout. I didn’t even need a recipe. The name alone was so phenomenal; it would just have to be the next Drink of the Week.

Dirty Girl Scout:
1 oz Crème dementhe
1oz Vodka
1 oz Kahlua
1 oz Baileys

Even though I had the recipe, I still wanted to test this it out and take a photo of it, but I couldn’t find any Crème de Menthe, and I thought I had Kahlua, but it turns out I didn’t, so I tried to make my own version of this drink. In the process I realized, once again, it’s just not that easy to make a great drink. I used chocolate liqueur, baileys, cream, peppermint schnapps (the only minty thing I had: a leftover from that awesome hot cocoa I told you about) and vodka. I confidently poured all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, loaded it with ice and shook. I was absolutely certain this was going to blow the original Dirty Girl Scout out of the water. Well, it was good, not great and definitely not Drink of the Week material. In order for it to be Drink of the Week I have to take my first sip and go, “Yum. Oooh that’s good.” and then shout, “Drink of the Week, Drink of the Week” while marching around the house with it as Andrew looks at me like I have once again lost my mind. None of this happened. I took a sip and said, “Alcohol-y, Damn.” I gave it to Andrew to drink and didn’t mention the “Alcohol-y, Damn” part. He excitedly took a sip and said, “Hmmm. Alcohol-y.” Back to the drawing board.

I figured since I already had out some quality drink making ingredients, I would let them inspire my drink, although I did put the peppermint schnapps away as I was disgusted at the fact that it couldn’t live up to the crème de menthe. Plus schnapps always sounds like something a drunk old man would have, a drunk old man with one of those drunk old man noses, all red and bumpy. So I measured and poured and shook and stirred and took one sip and said, “Yum. Oooh that’s good.” and then shouted, “Drink of the Week, Drink of the Week” while marching around the house with it as Andrew looked at me like I had once again lost my mind. I gave this one to my brother, and he talk one long sip and said, “Delicious, Wow!” So I grabbed it out of his hands and ran it into Andrew, hoping to get some sort of approval. He took a sip and said, “ Alcohol-y, really good, but alcohol-y.” I said, “No you don’t,” huffed and puffed and angrily snatched the drink from his hands. No one was going to talk about my baby like that. As I left he said, “Honey, the are both really good. Come back.”
Next I had to name my creation, and while I struggled for a minute to come up with some play on the Girl Scout theme, a Filthy Brownie, just didn’t sound appetizing. Although, some of my male friends might disagree. Then it came to me. When Lisa and I were trying to perfect The Bee’s Knees, she said it would be fun if we made a drink called The Cat’s Pajamas. Isn’t that a great name for a drink? So I thought about it. I’m in my pajamas, this drink tastes great, and I have a cat. Perfect! So now, without further delay, let me introduce to you, The Cat’s Pajamas (Thanks, Lisa).

The Cat’s Pajamas:
2 oz Chocolate Liqueur
2 oz Baileys
1 oz Cream
1 oz Dulce de Leche Liqueur
A splash of Amaretto

Shake with Ice, pour over ice, put in freezer for a few minutes, and then drink it.

The Bee's Knees

About ten years ago I bought this vintage “bar aid”, not that I needed any help drinking, I just thought it was cute. It was a little black box numbered 1 through 80 in white writing, and each number had a drink name next to it. In the center of the box was a little dial, so you could turn to the drink number and the recipe would appear. Well, as you know, this drink of the week thing was really becoming a problem for me. I was stumped. And then I remembered the bar aid, and it really helped. Although most of the drink recipes were quite old fashioned. And, many of them had eggs, or Benedictine - - neither of which sounded like things I want to drink for enjoyment. One recipe did catch my eye, number 13, The Bee’s Knees.

Bar Aid, #13 Bee’s Knees recipe: (I have to do it from memory, because the damn dial just broke and it is stuck on #5, Alexander’s Sister)
1 jigger of gin
1 teaspoon honey
juice of half a lemon

Shake well with ice and strain into glass.

Ok, so there are a few problems with this recipe, as my friend Lisa and I found out. First, when you pour honey into a cold liquid, it coagulates and all the stirring in the world won’t change that. Second, it’s missing a mixer (tonic, anyone?). And, third, it tastes like shit.

So we left the recipe on the drawing room floor, or better yet, in the kitchen sink and moved on, but the next day I woke up and I couldn’t stop thinking about The Bee’s Knees. It had definite drink of the week potential and I would not rest until The Bee’s Knees was just that.

First, Gin. I mean come on. This drink is just begging for gin.

Next, how to mitigate the honey mass: I poured two mini bottles of tonic water (20 oz total) into a glass cocktail shaker. It probably helps if they aren’t super cold, although mine were cold and this method worked. Then, I drizzled the honey (4 tablespoons . . . a lot, but it’s so good) into the soda, while at the same time creating a tonic water vortex with a stir stick, so that the honey never has a chance to do anything but dissolve into deliciousness.
Then I added the juice of an entire lemon and two shots of gin (this recipe makes 2 drinks, because you should share this with someone you really like). Pour that mixture over two glasses of ice, add to each, a tablespoon of maraschino cherry juice and garnish with two cherries and a lemon slice.

Drink and Enjoy.

The Bee’s Knees
20 oz tonic water
2 oz gin
4 tablespoons honey
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
4 maraschino cherries
Lemon slices for garnish

Instructions above.

PS. If anyone is interested . . .

Bar Aid, #5 Alexander’s Sister
1/2 Dry Gin
1/4 Crème de Menthe
1/4 Cream
Shake well with ice and strain into glass.

Drink of the Week

So I'm realizing that coming up with good foodie blog material isn't as easy as it had once seemed. My friend, Carin, called me this morning and asked what was going on with my blog. Seems it had been a few days since I had posted anything and apparently that is just bad blogging. People (strangely enough) seem to be curious about what I will write about next. Due to the amazing amount of pressure this puts on me, I had to invent a drink to try and get me through this very tough time, and behold . . . a new blog staple was born.

Introducing "Drink of the Week."

So the wine story that I was going to tell had to take a back seat, because this drink, my first d.o.w. offering, is just too good to keep to myself. It is a bloody gin and tonic, which at first sounds like a disgusting mix of bloody mary and g&t, or someone trying to talk in a british accent, but it isn't. It is a gin and tonic (please use bombay sapphire gin, that's important)with a splash of blood orange juice. The blood orange is an orange that some people have never heard of, but i have and i even had some in my house, so i must be a foodie. It has the most amazing "blood" colored flesh, which doesn't sound appetizing, but one look and you'll be sold. So the drink is simple, but very impressive and very, very good. So good, in fact, that it can be consumed in the dead of winter, a time that usually is not very welcoming for a gin and tonic. Enjoy!

Bloody G & T
over a glass of ice, pour one part gin to three parts tonic (remember to use bombay), then squeeze half of a lime into the glass. follow with a large splash of freshly squeezed blood orange juice, stir, and then top off with a lime wedge. Now drink up.