With Thanksgiving just around the corner, every marketer and their mother is trying to sneak their products onto your holiday table. One of the most interesting press releases I received this year was from the folks at Florida Orange Juice. Their suggestion for how to add orange to the turkey day table? Whip it up with your sweet potatoes.
Is this a thing? Has anyone tried it? I’m unsure whether to be intrigued or appalled…
I’m going to be upfront and set this post up properly: I’m a baker, not a griller. I’m not saying that because I rock heels over flip flops for weekend outings. Grill’n is just not my thing. As a result I’m the worst kind of griller. I’m always lifting the hood a few too many times and turning the heat up and down too much—I grill with self-doubt.
So for this recipe it wasn’t bravery that stirred me to action. Nope. It wasn’t even the Esquire article about this new breed of female master grillers, that is, until I got to the grilled margarita recipe. Grilled drinks?
Yeah, go ahead, I’ll wait while you grab your tongs.
Here’s what I made after grabbing mine: Grilled Mango Smash. Think sweet mango grilled to the point when the sugar is sweated to the surface for a dark smoky carmelized flavor. Lighting up that sweetness is the fire from the tomatillo and quietly but confidently nudging its way in is a slight peppery bite from the basil. And finally, lying beneath all that is a layer of that belly-grabbing barbeque flavor. It’s awesomeness on a stick.
For an unknown reason, I find day drinking more socially acceptable when it’s warm and sunny outside. Given the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having for the past few months, my spring (and end of winter) have seen their fair share of drunk brunches. Even though mimosas and bellinis are synonymous with single 20s girl brunches (or at least that’s what twitter tells me), my weapon of choice is normally beer or bloody marys.
But on one particularly Saturday, after a morning of volunteering and sweating, my favorite brunch bartender suggested he make me a “manmosa.” His story is this: one day a bunch of big guys came in and ordered mimosas….but he figured he could do better, and make something a little better suited to these men. Apparently the real “manmosa” is supposed to be vodka, beer, and orange juice. Even though I love to drink, that is *not* something I can drink before 1pm without some serious consequences, or my “friends” calling me an alcoholic.
The “manmosa” I was served was better (and not modified for me! This is his recipe):
Read More›
The Velvet Pith from Bourbon Steak in Washington, D.C. is one of those wintry egg white cocktails, but re-imagined for summer: cointreau, whipped egg whites, freshly grated nutmeg and fresh basil.
More of Bourbon Steak’s summer cocktails, after the jump.
Read More›