Fruit

Limoncello

OK, so the thing about summer is that it’s so frickin’ hot that I never really have any motivation to cook anything. Who wants to stand in front of a hot stove/oven when it’s 95 and humid? I mean, yes, I have A/C, but just knowing that the air outside is thick enough to swim through really takes away a person’s appetite. So lately all I really want to do after work is sit on my couch, in my air conditioned apartment, and suck down an endless stream of cold beverages.Frozen margaritas, rum punch, lemonade, daiquiris, agua frescas…etc etc. After a string of recent posts on summer beverages, my friend Karen accused me of getting lazy with my blog. How rude! I obviously did...

As soon as I said I was going sit on my ass all day and do nothing, I got the urge to bake. And, of course, the more I thought about baking, the stronger the urge got, until it could no longer be resisted. Sigh. What can you do, right? Lets just chalk it up to me being totally dedicated to this blog. So, why mille feuille? Because I saw Anthony Bourdain eating it on “No Reservations” last night, and it looked pretty tasty. Plus, he spent at least 15 minutes waxing eloquent about the virtues of this quintessential French dessert, so I knew it had to be good. Now, I wanted to try it for myself, but I wasn’t feeling up to making my...

“Today I don’t feel like doing anything, I just wanna lay in bed. Don’t feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone, ‘Cause today I swear I’m not doing anything.” I’m loving this new Bruno Mars song today! It really captures the way I feel about how my Saturday is going to be. Today, I’m not going to do anything but lay on the couch, relax (maybe nap), and drink a ton of this super delicious, refreshing, and delightfully boozy pomegranate-champagne punch. Happy long weekend, everyone! Pomegranate-Champagne Rum Punch (Adapted from Ezra Pound Cake’s recipe) ** Tastes kind of like sangria, but sweeter. Yum! Ingredients: - 1-1/2 cups pomegranate juice - 1 cup lemonade - 1/4 cup white rum...

Man, it was hot today! The weatherman predicted thunderstorms all week, but there was nary a raindrop or storm cloud in sight. By the time I got home it was 88 and sunny. And just a little muggy, ‘cuz you know, it’s summer in Virginia. Basically, it was the perfect day for an icy cold pitcher of fresh, homemade lemonade. Times like these, I really wish we had furniture on our balcony. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to recline in a lounge chair on the balcony after work, sipping from a frosty glass of lemonade, enjoying life and basking in the warmth of the fading sun? That’s like, poetry, almost. But, without the aforementioned lounge chair on my balcony, I had to settle for...

Remember when we were younger and watermelons could only be bought in the summer? A cold slice of the juicy red melon was always something to be looked forward to at picnics and bbq’s when the weather was nice. And the seeds! Kind of a pain to eat around, but fun to spit at your friends and try to see who could spit them the farthest. Just don’t accidentally swallow any of the slimy little buggers though — a watermelon will grow in your stomach! Nowadays you can walk into any grocery store pretty much any time of year and pick up a juicy, sweet melon with no seeds. Isn’t that mind-blowing? I can’t decide how I feel about it — on the one...

I think it’s pretty obvious by now that I’m a girly drink kind of gal. I mean, I could try to roll with the boys and throw back beers and booze on the rocks, but why suffer? I like sugar. I like fruit. I don’t like the taste of alcohol. It would just be silly to pretend otherwise. Sure, I suppose if I could acquire a taste for beer my bar tabs would be a lot lower, but…not worth it. I need to have fruity, blended drinks in my life, damnit. Daiquiris are pretty high on my list of favorite blended drinks, not only because they are sweet and fruity and delicious, but also because I associate them with summer, hammocks, sandy beaches, and...

I’ve had a serious crush on Tom Colicchio since the first season of Top Chef. He’s bald, but so sexy! I think it’s his wry stoicism that really does it for me. Not to mention, he can cook. So, when I found out that he was also responsible for bringing food trucks serving a menu inspired by one of my favorite fantasy books to the streets of NY and LA, my cup of love for him runneth over. One of the items on the Game of Thrones-inspired food truck menu is a treat that is much loved by many of the book’s characters: lemon cakes. I’d always pictured them to be like mini lemon bars, but Tom’s creation is a little more elegant — miniature...

I wanted to make trifles out of my strawberry rum pound cake a couple weeks ago, but my stemless wineglasses proved to be less than satisfactory vessels for putting it all together. Nothing layered properly, and my fingers kept smearing stuff. So, I ordered a set of mini trifle bowls, and they arrived a few days ago. What is trifle, exactly? It’s basically a cake-based parfait, with layers of cake (usually pound or sponge), custard, fruit, gelatin, and whipped cream. Yum, right? I didn’t have pound cake or sponge cake lying around, but since there was still some banana bread left over, I decided to make a Bananas Foster trifle. I originally wanted to make the characteristic Bananas Foster rum sauce for my trifle,...

I was going to make pate a choux last night, but on my way to the pantry to grab flour, I was stopped in my tracks by the scent of fermented fruit. Again? I just finished those frickin’ strawberries! Have they come back to haunt me? Further investigation led to the discovery of two very ripe bananas on top of the fridge. Crap. I had bought a huge bunch of them last week to eat for breakfast, ate a couple, skipped breakfast a few days in a row, and then completely forgot about the stragglers. And now they were reasserting their presence in a big way. I didn’t want the sad bananas to go to waste, so I scrapped my plans for pate a...

It’s the weekend, the weather is 82 degrees and sunny, and I’ve just been treated to a delicious sushi buffet for lunch. Could my birthday get any better? Yes, but only if you throw in a pitcher of freshly blended strawberry margaritas (and a nap)! Tequila and I never used to be friends. But, that’s probably because my first experience with it was at a frat party where some guy poured lime juice into a solo cup full of Jose and said “here, have a margarita.” I took one sip and immediately spat it back into the cup. Yuck. Never again. But, because I never wanted to drink tequila after that, I never got violently sick from it — Jose and I never “broke up,”...

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Fruit

Limoncello

Strawberry Mille Feuille

Pomegranate-Champagne Rum Punch

Classic Lemonade

Watermelon-Lime Agua Fresca

Mango Daiquiris

Lemon Cakes

Bananas Foster Trifle

Caramel-Whiskey Banana Bread

Strawberry Margaritas

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