Dragon Fruit Rum Cocktails

This would be great for Valentine's Day! The color is so bright, fuchsia pink that it looks totally fake, but it's all from the dragon fruit. You chop it up and infuse the rum with it (dragon fruit has almost no flavor so it's really just for the color). It's super tasty and beautiful.

Makes 4
Ingredients:
1 cup white rum
1 dragon fruit, 3/4 chopped up and 1/4 reserved for garnish
1 tbsp superfine sugar
1 tsp honey
juice of 2 limes
juice of 2 tangerines
tonic water

Directions:
Mix the rum and the chopped dragon fruit in a bowl or measuring cup and let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two. It should turn a bright fuchsia.

Lime Ginger Soda

My brother in law got me the Thug Kitchen cookbook for Christmas last year, and it's hilarious. (Read more about it here.) It's totally vegan and has lots of healthy recipes, but it's riddles with curses words and is fun to read. I made this fresh soda from their recipe. It's so fresh and tasty and bright; great plain with soda water or with a little booze thrown in. 

Wine Tasting on the North Fork

This post is about a month late. Every September, Jamie and I go wine tasting on the North Fork. It's so beautiful and a great way to bring a Saturday, and Petunia can come too (most wineries allow dogs). It's such a fun fall activity.

Nectarine Shrub

I tried the shrub recipe with nectarines (instead of blackberries) last weekend - yum! It's also the most beautiful color, a bright pinky peach. I topped these with a little soda water to lighten them up. 

Blackberry Shrub

This is such a great fruity but not-too-sweet summer cocktail. I saw the Bon App's Shrub Recipe and given my propensity for vinegar, I could resist. You can use any ripe summer fruit. I chose blackberries because they're Jamie's favorite. They were so light and delicious, and dangerous because you hardly taste the alcohol. Don't let the vinegar scare you. No one knew there was any vinegar in them until I told them how the cocktails were made. Can't wait to make them again, and try with another fruit! Maybe nectarines??

Pear-Bourbon Cocktail

Jamie loves bourbon so we always have it around. Last weekend, I wanted to make a special cocktail and I love pears, so enter the pear bourbon cocktail. My grocery actually had Goya pear nectar, which is delicious, so I was in luck. I made a ginger-spiced simple syrup to go with it, and topped it off with a thin slice of pear and then for fun some tiny pear hearts speckling the bottom. Good for Valentine's Day!

Champagne to go

I picked up a few of these as a hostess present. The champagne is pretty good. It's from Francis Ford Coppola's winery. The concesus was that it's weird to drink champagne out of a can with a straw, so we poured them into champagne glasses. I do think it would be perfect for a picnic as it's a bit inconspicuous. 

Dog-Friendly Brooklyn Bar - Bar Great Harry

Now that we have this little monster, it's harder to justify going out on the weekends and leaving her at home. We did a little research and found that Bar Great Harry on Smith Street in Cobble Hill allows dogs (so does Barrow's Pub in the West Village). We brought Toonsy there last Sunday when it was beautiful and sunny. All the doors were open and it was airy and nice. Petunia was tired out from her walk and had a nice snooze on a bar stool.

Mudslides

I can't wait to have people over for dinner so we can serve these as dessert. So decadent and tasty! You can use different types of ice cream. Works really well with cookies and cream, or, in this case, with vanilla ice cream and oreos.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 shots dark rum

1 shot kahlua

3 oreos, and one for garnish

2 cups vanilla ice cream

splash of milk

some chocolate (I used a few pieces of Mast Brothers dark chocolate)

pinch of salt

Whipped cream

Directions:

Put rum, kahlua, 3 oreos, ice cream, milk, salt, and chocolate in a blender and pulse until smooth with a few little chunks. Pour into glasses, top with whipped cream. Break the oreo in half and put half on top of each. That's it!

Rooibos Ice Tea

I tasted this delicious rooibos ice tea at the DasDog stand at the Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town. It was a hot summer morning and this was an amazingly refreshing hybrid between iced tea and juice. It was earthy from the rooibos and was sweetened from a bit of fresh orange juice and honey. I had been craving it since and finally got my act together to try to recreate it last weekend. 

North Fork Wine

We're usually on the South Fork of Long Island, but for our anniversary (it's been a year today!) we wanted to head North to do a little wine tasting. It was so much fun! The weather was perfect and each winery we visited was great. It was really fun to see the differences between them and try all of the wines.

I think Palmer was our favorite - the setting was so pretty, and the 2009 Reserve Cabernet Franc was great, and the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon was really rich and deep and interesting, and the 2012 Pinot Blanc was fruity and crisp. We also went to Lieb, where our favorite was the 2008 Reserve Cabernet Franc. The tasting room is modern and somewhat industrial, and there's not much charm with vineyards in view or anything, but the staff is very attentive and explains the wines really well.

Beecher's for Dinner

So I've stopped at Beecher's before for lunch to pick up some of their amazing mac and cheese, but I went for dinner for the first time last week. What a great spot! Down in the basement they have a cute restaurant. The menu is cheese heavy but there are some other things too. It's also happy hour until 7 and they have some great drink and food deals ($7 for mac and cheese, $7 for a cheese plate, and $7 for the nightly special cocktail!). I couldn't resist the mac and cheese, so we got that, a cheese platter, and a beet salad with cheese curds. Yum! The cocktail was a yummy citrus infused vodka with a little sparkling water and I think a tiny bit of simple syrup. It was tasty without being too sweet. Great place to go for dinner or after-work cocktails and snacks.

Growler Station

Do you have a growler? Jamie and I love them! We used to live right above Blind Tiger and would fill up our growler with fresh microbrew beer anytime we had friends over. Then they stopped filling growlers and we moved a few blocks away, so ours has been gathering dust on top of our kitchen cabinets.

I walked by the Growler Station last night and decided it was time to start up our fresh beer drinking again. It's so cool! I had been meaning to go. They have tons of canned and bottled beer and about 25 beers on tap. You can buy a growler there, fill yours up, or, if you forgot yours or don't have it handy (like me last night) they fill up a plastic soda style bottle for you! We got one of my favorites, Southampton Publick House Biere de Mars. It's also cheaper than filling it up at a bar. The Biere de Mars was $13 but there were some on the list that were $11 (and some that got up to $25). Next time you have people over, go get a couple of different beers and have a tasting! I think we might, too!

Bortolomiol Prosecco Doc Treviso

Need a good prosecco for Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season? I can't wait to try this one! I love my proseccos dry, and according to Bon Appetit, this one is extra-dry, drinkable, and versatile. What's not to like? Check out some more party tips in Bon App's "For Those Who Like to Throw Parties."

Hudson Clearwater

Now that we're all back in the city for the fall, it's time to enjoy the beautiful September weather. All summer I would hear, "Let's go out for drinks - where can we be outside?" I don't think the outdoor seating needs to end yet. A few weeks ago I went to Hudson Clearwater. This hidden spot (the very attractive owners have shunned PR, don't advertise, and have no signage) has the cutest outdoor patio and lots of tasty cocktails. The lights strung above and the ivy create such a fun, pretty atmosphere to escape the city. They have a full menu, although we only sampled a few appetizers (the spinach empenada was flaky and salty and the perfect thing to nibble on with cocktails).

This beautiful concoction was a beet margarita with jalapeno. It sounds odd, but was actually pretty good, and the most striking color! Bright magenta. The first sip seemed a little off, but the earthiness of the beet juice, the spice of the jalapeno, and the zing of the lime actually go together quite well. I also felt healthy having the beet juice (even though there was plenty of tequila as well). The dark and stormy (a personal drink favorite) was also tasty. Definitely a good spot to go - get there early because it fills up!

Hudson Clearwater
NW corner of Morton and Hudson, walk a few doors down on Morton and into the courtyard.

At my sister's request, I'm going to try to start putting up more restaurant review. Stay tuned!

Orient Express

Thanks to a great DailyCandy deal, Jamie and I finally made it to Orient Express in the West Village. It's really cute and a great date spot. It was quiet with dim light and very charming and fashioned like an Orient-Express train. They're known for their cocktails, and they're great! We had the D&S and the Danube (pictured). The D&S was a dark and stormy with a twist - Jamaican jerk seasoning. It was kind of spicy and reminiscent of a bloody Mary. The Danube was very refreshing with vodka, lime, and cucumber. Jamie thought it was a bit too thick. The food was yummy and good for sharing. Kind of Turkish inspired (after the route of the famous Venice Simplon-Orient-Express). We had the pastirma (a Turkish dried meat), a delicious cheese plate with several cheeses and accoutrements, and Hungarian sausage. Great date spot! Probably more suited for winter. Also, would be great to sit at the bar with a cocktail and split an appetizer.

La Vieille Ferme Côtes du Rhône

During my semester abroad in Paris I developed a great appreciation for Côtes du Rhône wine - mostly because it was dependably good and even more importantly, cheap! At any marché in Paris you could spend under 5 euros for a decent Côtes du Rhône. I still rely on it now for having people over or in this case for a mix of cooking and drinking. I made my red wine barbecue sauce this weekend and grabbed this pretty affordable ($11.49) bottle. After the sauce, I had about half left and poured myself a glass - it was great! Really smooth, no dry-mouth aftertaste. I poured a glass for my friend who exclaimed that it was, "lovely." I think that's a perfect description. It isn't too full bodied, but it's easy to drink and has a very nice taste. Highly recommend it for a dinner party where you don't want to spend too much! Pull off the price tag and no one will know you didn't. Plus I love the chickens on the label!

Cisco Brewery

I was in Nantucket two weekends ago and stopped at Cisco Brewery - a local brewery on the island (which is also a distillery and a vineyard). It's out by Bartlett Farms and is surrounded by farmland. It was a sunny May day and all the locals were there with their dogs. We did the beer tasting - so much fun. We tried 10 different beers, all served in mini beer steins. My favorites were the Whale Tail Pale Ale and the Grey Lady wheat beer. (Whale Tail Pale Ale is now available in a lot of Whole Foods.) I knew Jamie would like the Bailey's Blonde Ale - a really hoppy variety - so I brought him home a growler as a souvenir. Some people did the wine tasting which was cool too with creative blends like Pinot Gris with cranberry. If you find yourself in Nantucket, this is a great way to spend an afternoon! (Also, stay at the White Elephant Cottages! I'm biased, but they're super cute and right near town.)

La Croix Belle 2005 Coteaux du Languedoc

 

I was at dinner Monday night at one of my very favorite restaurants (La Sirène) and stopped at the wine store on my block to pick up a bottle for the occasion. Winesby is a teeny little spot on Jones Street and they have a great, but small, selection of reasonably priced wine. I asked for a red and said I liked Côtes du Rhônes, Barbaresco, Negroamaro... He gave me a couple of options but I settles on La Croix Belle (above). He described it as having a strong flavor with lots of notes of berry and a musky undertone - a very strong flavor, not to be had with anything light. Luckily, we were heading for saucey French food. It was a big hit and I made sure to snap a picture of the bottle for future reference. It had a great, robust flavor and went very well with the tournedos and lamb we ate. It was $17 at Winesby (you can also order here) - perfect to pick up for a dinner party. And Jamie's mom may order a case!

St Barts Rum

Just got back from a wonderful and warm family vacation on St. Barts and am in withdrawal. Every time I'm there, I stop at Chez Ginette. It's definitely not a tourist trap, as many places on the island have become, and Ginette is always there surrounded by her dogs. She only speaks French, so come armed with your French/English dictionary or memorize, "Je voudrais quelque bouteilles de rum." She'll take you into a back room that's filled with shelves of home made rum punch. (Technically "punch" but with an alcohol content of 38% - very potent.) There is an overwhelming variety of flavors like hibiscus, myrtilles (wild blueberry), and ginger, but my favorite is the passion fruit. It has the tart and sweet flavor of passion fruit to mellow out the white rum a bit, and the seeds floating in it have a little crunch and a great flavor. The faint of heart might mix it with a little juice or soda, but if you want the real Antilles experience, just pour a little glass with a few ice cubes and crank up the heat.

Also, I think the warning sticker on the back is pretty funny.