Here’s our nifty little strawberry patch:

They are covered, as you can see, with a little tent of netting that is high enough for people to go inside to pick the berries, and also high enough to keep birds away from all but the berries very, very close to the outer perimeter. We still get some slugs this way, but it is the best way to keep your berries from being eaten before you get to do the eating! Notice also that the wide netting means that bees can get in to pollinate! They are good at that.

When the strawberries are ripe, you go under the netting and pick them. Here’s a ripe strawberry along with some not-yet-ripe ones!

So pretty and red!

So far, we are getting tons of strawberries this year:

We got about 3-4 quarts the first week of strawberry picking, and 4-5 quarts the second. And they are big and ripe and juicy. We’ve had strawberries for a couple years now, and each week, we’re getting as many strawberries as we’ve ever gotten in a year before, which is pretty exciting!

We made a whole lot of things with strawberries in them! For two weekends!

Let’s start with a cocktail. I’m going to give you three variations on a similar recipe. I made one for my dad, who pretty much only drinks highballs and punchy drinks with a very little liquor in them, and then I’ll show you how to make a stronger and more sophisticated drink in two ways– one sweeter, one less sweet.

Here’s the Daddy Version:

Daddy Version Ingredients:

1.5 oz vodka
.5 oz limoncello
6 strawberries
Lemonade or Pink Lemonade to top

Daddy Version Instructions:

1) Put vodka in glass with strawberries cut into chunks and muddle well until strawberries are thoroughly pulped.
2) Add ice, limoncello, and lemonade

Here’s the Lady Version:

Lady Version #1 Ingredients:

2.5 oz Dogfish Head Brown Honey Rum
.5 oz limoncello
.5 oz cognac
4 fresh strawberries, plus one for garnish
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon thyme

Lady Version #2 Ingredients:

2 oz Dogfish Head Brown Honey Rum
.5 oz limoncello
1 oz cognac
2 fresh strawberries, plus one for garnish
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon thyme

Lady Version Instructions

1) Add rum, thyme and strawberries (cut into chunks) to shaker with ice
2) Muddle well until strawberries are fully pulped.
3) Add cognac and limoncello
4) Shake!
5) strain into chilled cocktail glasses and serve with a whole strawberry.

But that is only Strawberry Cocktail #1!

Fraise

Ingredients
2.5 oz Rogue Pink Spruce Gin
.5 oz Ramazzotti
.5 oz Domaine de Canton
3 ripe strawberries plus one for garnish
2 dashes Fee Bros Whiskey Barrel Bitters

Instructions
1) Add gin and strawberries (cut into chunks) to shaker with ice
2) Muddle well until strawberries are fully pulped.
3) Add Ramazzotti and Domaine de Canton
4) Shake!
5) strain into chilled cocktail glasses, add two dashes bitters, and serve with a whole strawberry.

This past week, I had the sublime pleasure of having quizzicalsphinx in the house. The thing is, when it comes to our imbibement habits, we could not be more dissimilar. In that I drink copious amounts of excellent liquor and she drinks non-alcoholic beverages only.

So I made her her own very special strawberry drink:

Red Beer

Ingredients
6 strawberries, cut into chunks
3 oz GUS grapefruit soda
.5 oz grenadine
.5 oz pomegranate molasses
Newman’s Own Pomegranate Lemonade to top.

Instructions
Put strawberries in glass with ice and crush with muddler.
Add all other ingredients and stir!

And finally, the last drink, which is a more negroni-style one.

Fragola

Ingredients
2 oz Comb 9 gin
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula
.5 oz Fernet Branca
4 strawberries, cut into chunks
2 dashes Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters

Instructions
1) Add gin, ice and strawberries to shaker.
2) Muddle until strawberries are fully pulped.
3) Add Carpano and Fernet Branca, shake.
4) Strain into short glasses, add bitters!

But that isn’t all the strawberry things we made!

My mama also made strawberry shortcake. Let’s talk about strawberry shortcake a little. This is one of my favorite foods. When I was a little kid, there were a couple years when I asked for this instead of for a cake-cake on my birthday. Excellent, huh?

It doesn’t really need a recipe, because all you need to do is whip some cream, make a batch of your favorite biscuits, slice open the biscuits and there you go. Beautiful and delicious!

I also made strawberry ice cream. I’m not as good at fruit ice creams as I am at chocolatey and herbal and caramely type ice creams, but this one came out really well!

Ingredients
2 3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup half & half
1/3 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
2 cups chopped strawberries

Instructions
Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar together until frothy and pasty.
Mix 3/4 cups of the cream and the half & half together in a saucepan, cook just until boiling, remove from heat, wait until it stops bubbling.
Add 1 Tb of the hot cream to the sugar and egg mixture, whisk quickly to keep the eggs from cooking.
Keep adding the hot milk to the sugar and eggs in small increments, whisking and pausing between additions, until 3/4 of the hot milk has been added.
Pour the milk/egg/sugar mixture back into the saucepan, heat over medium heat, stirring frequently until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and chill for at least four hours.
Once chilled, add heavy cream and stir until well mixed. Stir in strawberries.
Put entire mixture in ice cream mixer and follow instructions for your ice cream mixer until frozen. Put finished ice cream in freezer.
Chill for at least two hours in freezer.
Serve with strawberries, whipped cream, or just plain!

That is the end of the strawberry adventure! FOR NOW!

Share/Bookmark

By Monday, the chickens were much fluffier and were developing more adult feathers!

Also, our new hive was really seeing some activity. Hive #1 has so much honey we are going to be harvesting next weekend, hooray! It’s crazy, you can smell the honey in the air from like ten feet away. Our new hive is a hive of blonde bees, and they are very pretty and redder in color than our other bees. It’s neat because you can tell them apart by sight.

Yesterday, my mom made the most awesome nachos and salsa ever. I can take zero credit for any part of this meal except that I dumped some of my pickled hot peppers on the nachos, so good. Oh, and I picked the asparagus, but I’m going to post another post, probably tomorrow, about cultivating asparagus in your garden!

The nachos have steak, cheese, black olives and peppers on them, and the salsa is black beans, grilled corn and grilled onions, tomatoes, avocado, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and a little cumin. Yum!

Anyway, here is the cocktail I made to go with the nachos and salsa:

Happy Accident

Ingredients
2.5 oz Depaz rum
.5 oz Elisir MP Roux
.25 oz cognac
about 6 sprigs of oregano
about 4 sprigs of chamomile, plus three chamomile blossoms for garnish

Instructions
Put rum, oregano, chamomile,in a shaker with ice and muddle well
Add MP Roux and shake
Coat chilled cocktail glass with cognac
Pour drink into glass, add blossoms

And here is the drink I made today. This is my first drink using Boyd & Blair, which is the vodka I’ve been waxing poetic about to everyone I speak to. And you can consider this my first entry into the “drinks that absolutely require the flavor of vodka” category :-P

Drink Me

Ingredients
2.5 oz Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka
1.5 Tbs chopped wood ear mushrooms, reconstituted if dry
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
.5 oz black pepper-wood ear syrup (basic simple syrup with 2 tbs wood ear mushrooms, 2 tsps black pepper added)
.25 oz Dolin Blanco vermouth
6 drops white truffle oil

Instructions
Crush peppercorns slightly
Leave vodka to sit with mushrooms and peppercorns steeping in it for about 5-10 minutes
Strain vodka into a shaker with ice, add syrup and shake
Coat glass with vermouth, add contents of shaker
Add of few of the vodka-soaked mushroom pieces back to the glass
Add truffle oil in little drizzles

The best thing about this drink is that not only is the drink yummy, but you end up with vodka-soaked mushrooms that are freaking amazing. I’m actually going to save them to use in other stuff.

Share/Bookmark

1) Tarragon Sazerac

This isn’t an especially unique drink, because it’s just a slight twist on the original, but my mom wanted Sazeracs for Mother’s Day.

Ingredients for 2 cocktails
7 oz rye
1/4 oz absinthe or Pernod
3/4 oz tarragon syrup*
2 sprigs tarragon
6 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Instructions
Add rye and syrup to a pitcher with ice and stir
Coat two chilled old fashioned glasses with absinthe, discard remaining absinthe.
Pour contents of pitcher into glasses, add bitters and sprigs of tarragon

*Tarragon syrup: made with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup fresh tarragon sprigs.

3) Rosemary’s Green

Ingredients for two cocktails
6oz Dogfish Head Jin
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Chili-Rhubarb Syrup
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup fresh rosemary sprigs plus two whole sprigs
1/4 oz cointreau or other orange liqueur
2 lemon slices
4 dashes Fee Brothers’ Rhubarb Bitters

Instructions
Chill two martini glasses
Add syrup, rosemary, and lemon juice to shaker with ice and muddle until rosemary is well-bruised.
Add gin and vermouth, shake
Coat glasses with Cointreau, pour out remainder
Strain into glasses, add bitters, rosemary sprigs and lemon

This drink might sound like it has too many ingredients, but it was really good. It was also one of those ones that got better the longer it sat.

3) Busy Bee

Ingredients for two cocktails:
6 oz Hurricane Rum
4 Tbs Acacia Honey
1/4 cup fresh curly leaf basil plus 2 large whole leaves
1 Meyer Lemon
4 droppers Urban Moonshine Citrus Bitters

Instructions
Chill two martini glasses
Reserve two half-moons of lemon for garnish
Add honey, lemon juice, and basil to shaker with ice and muddle
Add Rum, shake
Strain into glasses, add bitters, basil leaves, and lemon slices

And now it is time for Ice Cream!

Rosemary-Honey Ice Cream

Ingredients for 1 quart of ice cream
10 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 2/3 cups light cream
3 egg whites
5 Tbs Acacia Honey
1 Tb Rosemary-infused olive oil
3 Tbs white sugar

Instructions
Take rosemary leaves off tough twigs
Add rosemary to food processor to chop
Add honey, sugar and olive oil to food processor and process until ingredients become a paste
Add cream to food processor and blend
Whip egg whites in mixer until they form soft peaks
Add cream mixture to mixer, mix gently just until egg whites are folded in
Put mixture into ice cream freezer, follow your ice cream freezer’s instructions

This is possibly the best-textured ice cream I have ever made, ever!

Share/Bookmark

1) Rhubarb Capirinha

Ingredients for 2 cocktails
6 oz cachaça
2 oz rhubarb syrup*
1 stalk rhubarb
1 Tb sugar
1 lime
Ice

Instructions
Fill 2 rocks glasses with ice
Cut rhubarb into 2 4-5″ pieces
Roll rhubarb in sugar and set aside
Cut lime into eighths and put in pitcher.
Add rhubarb syrup and muddle.
Add cachaca
Pour contents of pitcher over ice, including lime pieces
Add 1 piece rhubarb to each drink.

2) Spruce Juice

Ingredients for 2 cocktails
6 oz Rogue Spruce Gin
6 strawberries
2 oz Acacia Honey
1 small Kirby cucumber, trimmed but not peeled, or about 4″ of another larger cucumber
1/4 oz Absinthe or Pernod

Instructions
Put ice in two martini glasses to chill
Set aside 2 slices of cucumber and 2 strawberries
Cut remaining cucumber and strawberries to a 1/2″ dice
Put honey, cucumber, and strawberries in shaker and muddle
Add ice to shaker
Add gin to shaker, shake
Remove ice from glasses
Coat each glass with Pernod, pour out excess
Pour contents of shaker into glasses, garnish with strawberry and cucumber

3) French Mojito

Ingredients for 2 cocktails
6 oz white/silver rum
1 Meyer Lemon
1 oz lavender syrup
1 cup fresh mint sprigs, plus 4 sprigs
Club Soda

Instructions
Put ice in two highball or rocks glasses to chill
Cut lemon in eighths, put in pitcher
Roughly crush mint and add to pitcher
Add lavender syrup
Muddle contents of pitcher
Add rum and stir
Remove ice from glasses
Add mixture to glasses, including lemon pieces
Top off with soda
Add mint to garnish

4) Rhubarb Manhattan

Ingredients for 2 cocktails
6 oz bourbon
2 oz sweet vermouth
2 oz rhubarb syrup
4 dashes Fee Brothers’ Rhubarb Bitters
2 4-5″ pieces of rhubarb

Instructions
Add ice to martini glasses to chill
Put ice in shaker
Add all ingredients but rhubarb to shaker and shake
Remove ice from glasses and pour
Add rhubarb to garnish

*We have a lot of rhubarb growing in the garden, so I made a lot of rhubarb syrup.

Ingredients
2 stalks rhubarb
1 cup sugar
3/4 cups water

Instructions
Chop rhubarb into 1/2″ pieces
Boil water with sugar in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved
Add rhubarb and turn to medium heat
Cook, stirring intermittently, until rhubarb has softened and “melted” and consistency is syrupy
Pass through strainer to remove stringy bits

Enjoy, everybody!

Share/Bookmark

Cranberry Margarita

#1: Cranberry Margarita

This is a take on a classic margarita where the orange flavored liqueur (usually Cointreau or Triple Sec) is replaced with cranberry. It also includes my recipe for margarita salt– I mix the salt with a little sugar– and the trick I use to rim glasses perfectly every time.

For 2 drinks:
2 limes
5 oz good tequila (I like Don Julio)
1 oz Black Duck Cranberry Liqueur
1 Tbs fine sea salt or kosher salt
1 tsp evaporated cane juice or white sugar
Ice

Chill two cocktail glasses
Squeeze lime juice into shaker with ice. Reserve squeezed lime peels for rimming glasses.
Add tequila and liqueur, shake.
Remove ice from glasses, take squeezed lime peel and pinch it around the rim of a glass. Run it around the entire rim so there is a thin coating of lime juice on both sides of the glass.
Mix salt with sugar to make tangy margarita salt.
Pour margarita salt onto a plate, shake plate to crate an even coating.
Tip glass upside down and lay wet rim flat on plate. Turn around until rim is coated with salt, set glass upright.
Repeat with second glass.
Strain drink into glasses, serve.

Bloody Manhattan

#2: Bloody Manhattan

Manhattans are one of my favorite cocktails, and need no improvement. This Manhattan, however, uses blood orange and lime juice instead of sweet vermouth, and a little cherry juice, to give it a nice sour cherry citrus twist. If you like sour patch kids, you will love this.

For 2 drinks:
1 blood orange
1 lime
5 oz bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
6 Morello cherries plus 1 oz cherry juice from jar
4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
Ice

Chill two cocktail glasses
Squeeze orange and lime into shaker
Add bourbon, cherry juice, and bitters. Shake.
Remove ice from glasses.
Pour drinks into glasses, garnish with 3 cherries apiece

Share/Bookmark

Tropical Storm

Ingredients for two drinks:
6 oz Hurricane Rum
1 lime
1/2 Kirby cucumber (small pickly-sized cucumber)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro plus 2 sprigs
2 Tbs brown sugar
Ice

1) Add ice to shaker and 2 martini glasses.
2) Squeeze lime juice into shaker.
3) Add brown sugar and chopped cilantro to shaker.
4) Cut two thin slices of cucumber and reserve. Chop remaining cucumber finely and add to shaker.
5) Muddle ingredients with wooden spoon.
6) Add rum and shake.
7) Remove ice from martini glasses, pour drinks. The little bits of chopped cilantro will come through the strainer– this is okay.
8) Add cucumber slices and cilantro sprigs as garnish.

Share/Bookmark

Blackstrap Bill

Ingredients for two cocktails
6 oz. black strap rum (Cruzan, Gosling’s Black Seal, etc.)
1 Ruby Red Grapefruit
1 oz Ginger syrup
10 leaves Pineapple Sage*
Ice

Fill 2 rocks glasses with ice and 1 pineapple sage leaf apiece & set aside.
Fill shaker 1/4 full with ice, add pineapple sage and ginger syrup, muddle.
Halve grapefruit. Slice two wedges and add to glasses. Juice rest of grafruit, then add juice and remaining pulp to shaker– do not add pith or skin.
Add rum.
Shake, pour, and serve.

*Pineapple sage is a type of sage that actually tastes faintly of pineapple. If you cannot get Pineapple sage, do not substitute regular sage. Try mint or basil instead.

As an additional note, I would like to tell you all that Chobani Yogurt just wrote to me offering me free coupons as a thank you for blogging about them! Awesome!

I am almost better from the thrush so I will definitely start the yogurts back up soon.

Here are some ideas for foods to do after yogurt:
1) Soup. It would be easy to pick a type of soup. I could either do chicken noodle or something like lentil or vegetable minestrone.
2) Vegetarian meats/packaged tofu/seitan/tempeh products.
3) Macaroni and cheese.
4) Another boxed dinner product, like couscous or those prepared rice packets.

Share/Bookmark