tropical iceland - pineapple & basil frozen g&t

maybe there should be a whole line of cocktails with names based on fiery furnaces songs. blueberry boat offers the most obvious possibilities, but i'm sure there are many more. it'll be nice to have a mission to keep me occupied as this summer slogs on, sticky and hot and not altogether optimism-inducing.  

i have to admit, i try not to watch the news. i think at this point i have a fairly good idea of how much information i can take in before succumbing to what mike calls a German mood (which is kind of ironic since he's the one with the Teutonic heritage) and my mom has referred to as "that morose Irish blood of ours." i don't claim to be more sensitive than the average person, but knowing the details of tragedy while lacking the power to change anything is a sure ticket to a gloaming dark apathy and pessimism that a) are not fun to experience and b) sure don't make me a treat to be around. 

all that to say, i try to be aware of what's going on in a broad sense, but shy away from learning more than i have to. i'm sure that's not the best way for everyone, and i'm not even sure it's the best for me, but in a world of randomness and sadness and, it's true, great joy, it's what i need to do to maintain some equanimity in my day to day life. otherwise i just get my heart broken open again and again and it all feels too hard.

finding a balance doesn't mean sticking my head in the sand entirely, though. it's more like taking in the broad strokes of the bombings and the plane crashes and all of the conflicts and and and

but then not reading too many of the smaller, more personal, more 

"and this child who got blown up loved her dog and the color red and wanted to be a marine biologist when she grew up." that kind of thing doesn't help me understand the world better and DOES make me very sad.

anyway, this is turning a little (lot) too downer-y for something that was supposed to be about a nifty tropical drink that you eat with a spoon. oops. sorry. to be fair, i made it before the world totally fell apart. however this IS a nifty tropical drink you can eat with a spoon. so that's something! it's bracing and chilly and bitter from the tonic and herbal from the basil and pineapple-y from the pineapple.

you just chop up the pineapple into little bits, chop the basil into even littler bits, and dump both into a shallow-ish dish along with gin and some (preferably fancy) tonic. toss it in the freezer and stir it a little with a fork every few hours, as if you were making a granita (which you basically are). it gets slushy after 4 or 5 hours (at least in my freezer) and you can eat it then, but it's even better if you leave it overnight. at that point, instead of being slushy, it's crispy and crunchy and tastes like eating magic snow. but slushy's good, too. you do you.

also you can pour coconut cream over it like they do sometimes with snow cones - it makes it more like a delicious sweet creamy piña colada that way.

the only sad thing about this drink is that you have to wait for it to freeze. in an uncertain and sometimes grotesquely terrifying world, i appreciate that simplicity. and i can wait.

*tropical iceland*
~ 1/3 of a pineapple, cut into tiny bits (you could probably use canned, but i feel like it wouldn't be as good. if you must, i think i had like 1 1/2 cups of pineapple, once chopped. but it's pretty flexible)
1 small handful of basil - again, flexible. i used maybe 2 tablespoons
1 cup gin
~ 3 cups tonic (i used 2 bottles of Fever Tree and 1 of Q tonic, since that was what we had. i figured out it totaled about 2 2/3 cups, but probably you won't have the exact random mix of tiny tonic bottles that we did, so use whatever. personally, i prefer the Fever Tree, but whatever kind you have is fine)
a tablespoon or so of coconut cream is not out of place if you like that sort of thing

this actually makes a lot of servings, because you put it in little glasses so it won't melt too fast and a little goes a long way. if you want it to be less strong, add another cup or so of tonic. it sat happily in our freezer for over a week and was still good at the end, so it's not like you have to eat it all at once.

let's all clink our glasses to better times ahead. sláinte.

ALSO i am fully aware that it's an incredible privilege not to have to live in areas of conflict and not to have to worry on the level of those that do. that is obvious, and you do whatever small things you can.

3-2-1 pomegranate!

the pet gods have not been smiling upon us here at chez livingawesomely these past few months. first maeby decided to eat something she shouldn't have and ended up in a cone of shame, then the dogs en masse decided to attack their cat housemate, which resulted in a cone for her PLUS a feeding tube and wired jaw (Not Fun + Very Expensive). finally darwin, above, has developed his first hot spot of the year and requires his own much larger cone.

so i guess basically if you need to borrow an elizabethan collar in any of several sizes, we've got you covered. also, we will be paying off vet bills for the foreseeable future. but i guess it'll still be cheaper than college, etc., for a kid, so i shouldn't complain.

to help me refrain from boring complaints about the pets and the weather (which, OH MY GOD it's so hot and humid already), i have taken the liberty this Memorial Day to fix a drink before the socially-accepted hour of 5 pm. but what's the point of having a monday off if you're not going to have a drink during the day? (aside, of course, from thinking about the sacrifices people have made for our freedom and other solemn and important things)

pomegranate molasses is what happens when you boil pomegranate juice down with some sugar until it's quite thick. it's not really molasses - it's more like cooked-down grenadine (real grenadine, not that fakey pink stuff). it isn't that sweet and definitely has a molasses-y rich flavor that i find very appealing. you can use it in any number of things - last night we had some in a dressing for grilled eggplant and zucchini and it was quite good.

i've never really seen it in drinks, but i try not to let that stop me. this is a very simple cocktail that i like to serve in a tall glass with lots of sparkling water - this makes it refreshing and not-too-strong, which is perfect for when it's hot.

which it is. TEXASSSSSSSS

i used tangelo juice, as this tangelo has been lumping and bumping around in the fridge for a while now. oranges or grapefruit would also be good. or maybe meyer lemon, although i don't think it's currently the season for those. something fairly sweet and citrus-y is what you want.

then it's really a 3-2-1 kind of deal - mix 3 tablespoons (aka 1 shot) gin, 2 tablespoons juice, and 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses, then fill the rest of the glass with sparkling water. get out a straw, if you have one, and sip up while trying not to think of going back to work tomorrow.

at least it's a short week! (if, of course, you're in america. if not, you're probably going about your monday as per usual. sorry.)

you can also do a little folderol of citrus zest if you feel fancy.

*ingredients*

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons citrus juice (if you want to use lemon or lime, they'd prolly be fine, but you might want to add a little sugar or honey or simple syrup to taste)
3 tablespoons gin (1 shot/1.5 ounces)
sparkling water to fill

listening to: oh god, i love aesop rock so much and was moderately excited about his new album with kimya dawson (of moldy peaches fame-ish), but i tried to listen to it and it was not my thing. for instance, there's a song that just lists a bunch of sandwiches - Turkey! / Montecristo! /  Grilled Cheese! / Meatball! / Liverwurst! / Shrimp Po'boy! / Fluffernutter! / Shawarma! / Reuben! / Cuban! / BLT! / Eggplant parm! / Chicken! and etc. ad infinitum.

gin z'herbes

it's almost 5 on a friday here and after the week we've had in casa livingawesomely, it's not strange that one's thoughts turn to cocktails. 

this one could be celebratory or sorrow-drowning, which not-coincidentally makes it perfect for a week of ups and downs in which i finally got a job (!) and our darling pug maeby had to have emergency surgery to remove the felt furniture floor-protector thing she appears to have eaten (dogs will eat the stupidest things, honestly).

luckily she's fine (staples and sad-face aside), the job will help pay for her $$$ surgery, and i don't start til monday so i can be home with her for a few days as she recuperates. i'm also extremely lucky in that the job is basically my dream position and i will be able to do a lot of good for the community while putting my legal training to good use. so, overall we're ending the week on a high note.

i'm also a bit surprised to note that the ol' herb garden is still going strong. i haven't been doing a lot of cooking over the past couple of days while the pup was in the hospital, so i've been craving green things and freshness. we already had some gin in the freezer and simple syrup (1:1 sugar:water, boil, let cool) in the fridge, so making this was a snap.

i wanted this to be extra-herby and i like a little salad in my drinks, so i just muddled mint (a couple of sprigs each of chocolate mint and orange mint), mexican tarragon, pineapple sage  basil and italian parsley in the glass with about 1 tablespoon of simple syrup. it was maybe 1/4 cup total herbs, not packed down. you can of course use whatever you have handy, but i like a mix of at least a couple of things so you get the variety of flavors - some savory, some less so.

then just add some gin (more or less a shot, depending on your week!) and fill the rest of the glass with sparkling water. you could also use tonic instead, and leave out the simple syrup. but i really like not having other flavors (like bitter quinine) getting in the way of all those herbs. you could also muddle and then strain out the leaves, but as i said, i like the swampy gardeny aspect of it and i enjoy eating the different leaves as i come across them. as ever, go with your lights.

so cheers to everyone surviving this week and let's all cross our fingers that next week and the weeks after that give us some more normal old boring wonderful times to be grateful for.

*ingredients* (roughly)
1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs - mints, thyme, parsley, cilantro, basil, sage - whatever you've got
1-howevermanyyouneed shot(s) gin
1 tablespoon (or to taste) simple syrup
sparkling water to fill the glass

indian summer

and now we've come to the weird interstitial time between summer and fall. here in texas, summer doesn't really give up the ghost until november sometimes, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to get out the scarves and start wearing boots again. this year, however, i'm trying to stop and enjoy whatever weather we actually have, since it's been a few years since i've experienced a texas fall.

the greatest thing about autumn in texas is cold fronts. the air will be still and sticky and you can't believe it's late september and then all of a sudden there's an electrical charge in the air and the wind starts blowing briskly from the north and the temperature drops 20 degrees in 20 minutes. it's very exciting.

this drink kind of reminds me of that, since it's full of summery gin and citrus and warming spicy ginger. it's refreshing, but not too light. the ginger and the use of the rinds of the citrus gives the whole thing some heft that's usually lacking in summer cocktails. thus it's perfect for this weird liminal time when you don't know what kind of weather the day will bring.

basically you probably need a food processor for this. all you do is cut the citrus into medium-sized chunks, cut the ginger into coins, and blend the whole thing up with some sugar. process it for a minute or so or until everything's well-blended.

then put the delicious sludgy mass into some cheesecloth to strain it. gather up the edges of the cloth and bring them together (if you don't have cheesecloth you could use a really fine strainer, probably).

then just squeeze the juices out as hard as you can. it's quite therapeutic. 

mix a little gin and some club soda and a few tablespoons of the citrus-ginger syrup (it's pretty thick and intense, so go with your tastes), and you have a friendly but assertive drink to keep by your side as we wave goodbye to summer and hello to fall.

*ingredients* (syrup for 6 - 8 drinks or so)

1 lime

1 lemon

1 small orange (i would spring for organic on all of these, since the rinds get included in the drink. no one wants a pesticide cocktail)

~3 inches of fresh ginger root

3/4 - 1 cup sugar

gin

club soda or tonic

instead of what i'm listening to, here's something else i wrote: http://thebillfold.com/2012/09/texas-london-texas-portland-texas/

it's about the many (many!) places i've lived over the last few years. also you should probably read the billfold and its friends the awl and the hairpin anyway, because they are good. 

elderflower/gin/lime/sparkles

elderflower! it is the taste of summer, if you are british. or the taste of the countryside. or spring? something like that. i think it tastes like citrus-y apple juice, with (perhaps obviously) kind of a floral thing going on.

i had some time to kill before picking my moms up at the airport the other day, so i went to ikea. the ikea in portland is right by the airport, which is not that close to anything i go to regularly, so i almost never make it to ikea. even when i do go there, i am usually picking up some sklosvangs or glovbrniks for around the house and i never remember to check out the food part of the store.

this is unfortunate, because as i discovered the other day, it is a wonderland of weird foodstuffs. there were like 8 kinds of jarred herring, several varieties of caviar spread in tubes, lots of crisp bread things, and interesting candies and drinks, among other treasures. well, i don't know about the herring. i couldn't bring myself to buy that.

i did get some elderflower syrup concentrate, however, and immediately started making plans.

there is an elderflower liqueur that i've seen around at the kind of bar that also features homemade bitters and bartenders sorry, mixologists in dandy little waistcoats. i have had drinks made with it and it is tasty and all, but i don't necessarily want to spend $40 on flower liqueur to have in my very own house. the syrup was like $4something. at 1/10 the price, it would have to be pretty bad for me to disavow its utility in my drinks cabinet.

so. the cocktail. i had some gin (as always. gin = summer, it is currently summer, so i have gin around. it's an easy equation) and some limes and some sparkling water. and now i have some elderflower syrup. so i mixed them together and discovered an eminently quaffable bevvie (ha!) that would be a hit at any drunken garden party to which you might be invited.

i don't like things too sweet, so if you have a drinks sweet tooth, you may want to change the proportions of this a bit. but really, it's just gin (a drink's worth - follow your heart), lots of fresh lime juice (i am not going to go on another rant about this, but seriously, squeeze your own limes. it is 1000% worth it), a couple of tablespoons of elderflower syrup, and sparkling water (or club soda).

it's so dreamy and is also quite refreshing. aside from garden parties, it would be more than welcome at a late morning brunch (i think? i don't normally drink gin at brunch myself, but it could be good if you like that sort of thing) or a lazy picnic.

or you can do as i do and have it with the weird toffee laces candy that you also bought at ikea and at first didn't care for but are now kind of obsessed with.

*ingredients*

gin!

elderflower syrup, to taste

juice from 1/2 a lime

sparkle water

gin/ginger/mango/pineapple punch

punch is a fun thing to make for any gathering of friends. it can be as complicated or simple as you want (i am fond of the idea of having sherbet in punch, but it seems like that doesn't happen as much as it used to).

the genesis of this particular punch was the fact that mangoes and pineapple were both on sale at safeway. it's not much, as creation myths go, but it is the truth.

first you must get some jars together (or, if you are fancy, get out your pitcher) and then you should cut up some coins of ginger (i just wash it and cut it up with the skin still on). for three largish (like spaghetti sauce jar-sized) jars, i used perhaps 2 inches of ginger root, cut in pretty thin slices. then cut up the pineapple (for instructions on that, see rhubarb-pineapple crumble) and the mango.

mangoes seem to intimidate people sometimes. when i was buying this one, there was an elderly fellow in front of me buying like a dozen of them and he was talking to the cashier about what a pain they were to cut up. apparently he was peeling them first and then trying to cut them, which to me sounds like an exercise in slippery fruit, futility, and sliced fingers. it is much easier to cut them up with the peel still on them, then cut the pieces out of the peel.

mangoes are sort of flat on two sides and if you use a sharp knife and hold the fruit so that the stem is facing up, you can cut down on either side of the pit. these are the larger oval pieces above. then there are just the two smaller side pieces and you're almost done! then just make hatch marks as above, push the skin in so that the flesh goes out as in the bottom part of the picture, and use a small knife to cut the little cubes off. so easy! and it's already cubed for you! i used a whole mango and almost half of a pineapple.

then just put the fruit and ginger in with some gin to soak. i let it soak on the counter for a good couple of hours - this infuses the gin with the fruit flavor and infuses the fruit with the gin. i used about a liter of gin in total - just try to get all of the things evenly distributed, if you are using more than one vessel.

after a couple of hours (and i'm sure it would be fine if it was longer than that), add some soda or similar. i used one bottle of grapefruit italian soda and then added some sparkling water to each glass as it was poured (the picture at top is post-italian soda addition). this made for a not-too-strong and very refreshing summer cooler.

we enjoyed it while picnicking and playing bocce ball, which is the preferred way to enjoy it, but it wouldn't be too bad if you sipped it at a cookout or similar.

isn't summer just the best?!

pink greyhound

when i walk our dogs,* i usually go on a route that encircles a different park at each end. the other day on this route, i saw three greyhounds - one in each park and one right in front of our house when i stepped outside. all were fawn-colored and they all looked exactly alike, except that they were all wearing different raincoats. yes! each dog was wearing a dog raincoat (presh), but they were different colors.

it kind of weirded me out, frankly. it felt a little gaslight-y, in some obscure way. maybe it was an omen of some kind. i don't know.

maybe it was just an omen to make this drink.

sometimes people make greyhound cocktails with vodka, but i think that's bs. vodka has its uses (bloody marys), but for the most part gin is where it's at.

at its most basic level, a greyhound is gin (fine - or vodka, i guess) and grapefruit juice. you can also salt the rim and call it a salty dog, if you'd like.

the pink greyhound is the same, but with pink grapefruit juice, preferably fresh-squeezed from texas ruby reds (which are inarguably the best grapefruits). i also put in a little squeeze of lemon juice and, since i had it in the fridge already (see - totally handy!), some rhubarb syrup. you could also use some club soda to give it a little sparkle.

this is such a sweet li'l pink drink - it looks adorable, but packs some punch. it would be a great addition to your memorial day get-together. just don't tell me if you make it with vodka. *things i almost invariably hear when walking our three dogs at once:

looks like you've got your hands full!
who's walking who?
lookit all those dogs!
you've got all different sizes! (this is true; they are all of different sizes)
are those all yours?
quite a pack you've got there!
what a motley crew! (sometimes said like "muttley" crew - clevs!)

pineapple-sage gin and tonic

say hello to an easy and delicious way to fancy up a classic g&t!

sage and pineapple go together amazingly well. the effect is a heady mix of tropicalia and some herby bitterness from the sage. with the sweetness and bitterness of tonic and the herbal juniper notes of gin, this is a great go-to for summer tipples on the patio.

in whatever glass you have handy, muddle 3-4 chunks of fresh pineapple with 3-5 fresh sage leaves (depending on how big they are and how much you like sage).

if you have a real muddler, so much the better, but a wooden spoon or its handle also works. just make sure to get them nice and smooshed and the sage bruised up so that its oils get all mixed in with the pineapple.

pour in a healthy glug of gin (a nice clean-tasting gin works best - you don't need anything too fancy or something like hendrick's which, while tasty, is expensive and has flavors of rose and stuff, which is unnecessary here).

add tonic (fancy tonics like Q or fever tree would be great, since they use real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, but something like schweppes is totally fine and is usually what i use, because i am poor).

add ice and perhaps a straw so you don't end up slurping some sage leaves (although personally i don't mind that).

drink up! repeat as needed.