Whiskey or wine when the weather gets cold? You can have both. And add some ginger while you’re at it—for health benefits, of course.
2 oz Powers Irish Whiskey
4 oz Pinot Grigio
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced ginger
Combine all ingredients into a pot over medium heat.
When ingredients have dissolved, strain, then place back onto heat. Add 1 sliced orange and keep warm.
Pour into coffee mug. Garnishwith a slice of lemon.
If you’ve been to any hipster-affected Mexican restaurants in the past five years, you know all about the phenomenon of “Mexican Coke.” Imported from south of the border, Coke bottled in Mexico (and many other countries) is made with real cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup and thus tastes, well, a little bit more like there’s real food in it than regular Coke does. While no one drinks Coca-Cola for its healthful properties, it’s hard not to agree that the natural-sugar stuff is tastier. But did you know there’s also a “Mexican” Dr. Pepper, and that it can be had without going (quite) all the way to Mexico?
You see, when the soft drink industry switched to HFCS in the 1970s, one bottler in Dublin, Texas stood their sugary ground and kept making Dr. P with the natural stuff. Fast forward four decades and “Dublin Dr. Pepper” had become a local Texas institution. DP aficionados flocked from all over to sample the stuff, enthusiasts even began trading it over the Internet, and Dublin Dr. Pepper began distributing it further afield.
When the behemoth corporation that owns Dr. Pepper found out, they wisely capitalized on people’s passion for real-sugar soda and started distributing the good stuff all over the country, even though it costs them an extra few cents per can to make. Ha! I’m just kidding of course. They shut that shit down. Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (a name that just conjures up some kind of vomit-y sorority party jungle juice mix) sued Dublin Dr. Pepper for distributing their sugary soda and taking business away from other bottlers, who didn’t want to have to compete with the superior product.
The result: Today, the “Dublin Dr. Pepper” company no longer is allowed to make Dr. P, instead launching their own line of new sodas. And you won’t find sugar-sweetened Dr. Pepper popping up near you anytime soon. However, because the good drinkers of central Texas were already addicted to the real stuff, the Dr. Pepper Snapple group does make small batches of sugary DP (now without the “Dublin” label) strictly available only in that area. So if you happen to be driving through Dublin, Texas — conveniently located not really near anything at all — you can pop into a gas station, as I did recently, enjoy a small glass bottle of sugary Dr. Pepper, and dream about a day when American food is made from real food again.
In-Depth: R.I.P. DP, 1891 – 2012 [Texas Monthly]
How to celebrate the last few days of Hanukah while using up your Thanksgiving leftovers? Come on, this one’s obvious:
While you’re waiting in that godforsaken, winter-weather-ridden, full-of-grumpy-people calamity known as an airport the day before a national binge festival holiday, just be glad you’re not at the most crowded grocery store in the country.
The Man at the End of the Line is the story of one truly brave dude who stands between a seamless checkout experience and edible Armageddon at an especially frenzied outpost of Trader Joe’s.
Writer Sean joins us to show that poker night doesn’t have to be all about chicken wings and beer.
Hosting a casino-themed game night party for friends recently, I was struck with the urge to put together something a little more than average (food-wise, of course). Yes, a downscale game night with pizza and booze can be fun, but for this occasion we wanted something a little classier.
I poked around online to find some aesthetic inspiration—I used my iPad and found an iPad Casino and yes, I might have played a few games to get me in the mood too! Here’s what I settled on: I used the black and red color palette of the roulette wheel as inspiration for my blinis, which I topped with red and black caviar and laid out in a circle. In keeping with the savory theme I topped square crackers with red peppers and black olives to make hands of cards for poker, and stacked Chinese crackers in matching colors to represent chips. I grabbed some trays and set out some crudités and cold meats according to color to represent slot machines, and as a finishing touch I put the dips in little Vegas0style casino token buckets I had lying around.
The star though, was the roulette-themed caviar bites. Blinis are one of my favorite things to serve and they are quick and easy to make if you follow this recipe:
This way you can be Don Draper and have your holiday spices, too. This Autumn Old Fashioned includes a homemade syrup of orange, cloves, and all-spice, mixed up with bitter and — for an extra warming kick — a little tequila.
First, make the Spiced Orange Syrup:
Zest of 1 Orange
10 to 12 Whole Cloves
1 heaping tablespoon Whole Allspice
3/4 cup Water
1 1/2 cup Cane Sugar
Place all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat. Heat until sugar is completely dissolved (approximately 5 minutes). Strain. Discard zest and spices. Refrigerate syrup.
Now for the cocktail.
2 ounces Camarena Reposado Tequila
1/4 ounce Spiced Orange Syrup *
2 dashes Classic Bitters
Combine liquids in rocks glass over fresh ice. Stir. Garnish with orange twist.
