Who says tequila is made for margaritas only? This sweet and savory summer cocktail mixes the hard stuff with fresh strawberries, basil, lime juice and — for an extra foodie touch — balsamic vinegar. We approve.
Corzo Italian Sipper
1 ¼ oz. Corzo Silver
2 strawberries
1 sprigs of fresh basil
4 drops of balsamic
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
2 oz. distilled water
2 packets of Splenda or similar or 1 oz Agave Nectar
Serve over the rocks in an 8 oz. glass
Method: In a mixing glass muddle fresh strawberries and basil, add the rest of the ingredients with ice, shake 20 times and serve in a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with a fresh spring of basil.
“Can you find a use for this?” Nick, more told me than asked me, as he ditched two leftover baguettes at me and market manager, Rebbie, as the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market was closing up.
I slathered goat cheese on the baguette when I got home, topping it with a tomato, for an easy after-market lunch before a good deal of napping took place. The next day I had plenty of baguette left. It hardened by then.
How could I use it: croutons, french toast, bread crumbs… Nothing excited me. I then remembered the panini press that’s been sitting in my apartment unused for about, well, since I moved into my apartment 4 years ago.
I wanted to squeeze a fried egg into this breakfast panini. Because really, how could I eat a sandwich before noon without an egg? The sandwich turned into an elaborate kitchen mess: sauteing garlic scapes with spinach, browning sun gold tomatoes, tearing basil, shredding smoked cheddar and baking bacon.
The problem I realized is the width of the baguette. There was no fucking way all of this would fit.
Now that we’ve been blending and freezing poptails for a few weeks we decided it was time to open up the….er bar, and put your requests to work.
First up is the Mai Tai. Poor Trader Vic, here is yet another iteration on his classic creation. We figured everyone has been getting bastardly with his drink, that well, we need one to claim as our own.
We started with a Maui Mai Tai, from there we stayed true to keeping our poptails budget friendly by skipping the orgeat and kicking up the sweet and sour combination by going au natural with some fresh fruit. What we didn’t skip: the rum, more accurately, the three rums.
My mom is PISTED. Like super crazy mad, sad, frustrated, disappointed, pisted. My mom is a soap opera fan. She’s been watching All My Children for almost 40 years now. Yea, I said 40.
Every day she tapes the soap, which airs at 1pm EST, to watch later that night. Growing up I would watch with her. We would paint sea shells at the kitchen table and engage with our “friends” as they married, divorced, cheated, gave birth, died, mysteriously found the way back to Pine Valley with amnesia, and died again.
But no more. ABC yanked both All My Children and One Life to Live off the air…for a food (and lifestyle) show. My mom is someone fairly unconcerned with food. She eats to survive, not for pleasure, so you can imagine her fury knowing a food show (that has plenty of its own channels) will replace her soap. Luckily, AMC will transition online and continue to dazzle audiences with outrageous plots.
Starting September 26th, the one o’clock hour will feature The Chew staring Mario Batali, Michael Symon, Top Chef Carla Hall, “entertaining expert” Clinton Kelly and “health and wellness enthusiast” Daphne Oz (says press release.) ABC is furthermore calling its new food show “innovative and groundbreaking.”
Yesterday ABC released a “behind the scenes” (aka totally staged with fake moments of enormous laughter) teaser. Everyone’s giggling and super buddy buddy. I’m sure the show will be lighthearted, filled with quick tips for busy parents and party ideas for yuppie couples. But I hope it’s more.
Anyone worth their fleur de sel knows that wine is the proper drink to accompany good food. It’s time-honored, suitably French (therefore snooty) and an excellent way to blow a whole lot of money to impress your date.
But what if there was another beverage? One which offered just as much flavor, went just as well with your meal and wouldn’t break the bank? Is that something you would be interested in?
As I made my way around town during my second annual Philly Beer Week Pub Crawl, it occurred to me that — in so many ways — beer is superior to wine. It’s sacrilege to say this, I know, and it would certainly not have been true twenty years ago, in the days before the craft beer revolution. But in 2011, the flavors, experiences and overall vibrant culture attached to beer appreciation offers a more dynamic experience to a larger audience than wine does.
How so? Well…
1. It’s Cheaper than Wine. Think of the best wine in the world. Then think about how much it would cost for a glass of it. The mind reels. I had what I believe to be the best beer in the world — Russian River’s Pliny the Younger — and it was about $10 for an eight ounce pour. While frugality isn’t the main thing you want to strive for when you’re talking about booze, just think about how quickly you can develop your palate and learn to enjoy the “big boys” when you only have to lay out single digits for the privilege.
Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda taught women many important lessons, as beautifully captured through the tumblr Things I Learned From Sex and the City. But before scrolling through, I never knew how much they talked about food and not just funky tasting spunk.
Chocolate or vanilla? Are you kidding me? Milkshakes are the latest classic comfort fare to get a foodie-fied makeover, and we’re liking what we see. From bacon and bourbon to sweet potatoes and cereal, these creative innovations from chefs and bloggers around the country would make your grandmother’s milkshakes blush.
1. Cereal Milk Milkshake
Blogger Savory Notes took everyone’s favorite end-of-bowl treat — cereal-steeped milk — and turned it into cereal-flavored milkshakes.
