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Getting in the Spirit: Our Guide to Seasonal Cocktails, Part III

Jillian — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:42:50 +0000

Nothing says Christmas like a cup of hot booze. Presents and peace are totally awesome, but baby, it’s cold outside,* and a steaming mug of liquid courage emboldens me to face the chilliest of nights. And what a wonderful welcome for guests, when they enter your home, lit with candles and a crackling fire, and are given a drink to warm the body and stoke the soul’s fire. Though the days grow longer, the temperatures will dip even lower in the coming months, and so it is time to gather our quilts and cast off our wits for a few hours of companionable, intoxicated merriment. Here are five ways to achieve a delightful winter buzz:

The Hot Toddy. I don’t know what’s in it, but doesn’t it sound sassy and old fashioned? I’m kidding. I mean, it’s obviously saucier than your grandma at a USO dance, but I know how to make one. I just used the internet, duh. A Hot Toddy combines whiskey, honey, lemon juice and hot water. Perhaps a little more medicinal than festive, this makes the list because there are likely a few hungover mornings and sniffly afternoons in our near future.
Hot Buttered Rum is Malcolm’s favorite. I bet it tastes like a hot boozy Werther’s Original. Combine brown sugar, hot milk, dark rum, butter, and nutmeg. Yum. This is why I married him.
Mulled wine should always be simmering somewhere during winter parties. Doesn’t it seem so cozy? You stir brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves into red wine, in a big heavy pot on the stove for 30 minutes until hot, then add port wine and brandy.
Spiked Hot Cider is slightly more autumnal than winteris, but I think it would be so lovely for an afternoon cookie exchange or knitting circle. I would use rum, and steep a fruity tea or fresh ginger for another dimension of flavor. How excellent would this be with my olive oil orange cake and a scoop of french vanilla ice cream?
Swiss Mrs. is the name of a fantastic drink I just made up. It’s grown-up cocoa, double duh. Add peppermint Schnapps to your favorite hot chocolate, done. There’s also the Swiss Mr., which is made with Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur. These would be perfect apres sledding treats, or you could pair them with a Croque Monsieur and Madame and spend a snowy day, fat on the couch, watching a trilogy. I suggest Indiana Jones.

If nothing else will, your friend booze can keep you happy, healthy and warm this holiday season. Drink up, kids.

* somewhere. I wore shorts to the mall.

Getting in the Spirit: Our Guide to Seasonal Cocktails, Part II

Jillian — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:51:57 +0000

You already know which Champagne cocktails I do not condone, now let’s discuss those that make the cut. I crave simplicity and honestly for the holidays I will most likely use Cava or Prosecco when serving a crowd (and by a crowd I mean anyone more than me. Hands off my Champs, peeps!) In no particular order here are my five favorite sparkling drinks perfect for Winter Solstice, Christmas, or whatever you’re celebrating this time of year:

1. The Mimosa. It even sounds gracious. Mimosa. It’s sunny and healthy and best consumed in the morning, before any guests arrive.

2. For the Formosa add Triple Sec to the classic cocktail; so similar to the prim original and yet it sounds like something a skeevy Italian waiter whispers in your ear.

3. The Poinsettia calls for Grand Marnier or Contreau, cranberry juice and a wedge of lime. I include it here because it is beautiful and classic, but to me it sounds rather sour and poisonous.

4. A Bellini is what I would rather have, even though peaches are not a winter fruit. Perhaps if you are somehere fabulous and Mediterranean this potent potable that combines both juice and puree will lubricate your Christmas feast.

5. Finally, a Black Velvet is nothing more (and nothing less) than sparkling white wine and chilled stout. I think I want this most of all. It’s hearty, festive, and goes very well with my fancy red dress and patent leather shoes.

Get your paper party poppers and many bottles of bubbly and gather friends and family around a crackling fire. Here’s hoping your troubles are well out of sight, at least while you indulge in a few proper effervescent bevvies.

Getting in the Spirit: Our Guide to Seasonal Cocktails, Part I

Jillian — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:07:21 +0000

In an effort to banish from my sphere of knowing the phrase “Ron Ron Juice” I started researching holiday cocktails today. I began with the most edifying of bubblies*: Champagne, bien sur. What I gleaned quite quickly is that most Champagne cocktails are much lovlier in name than in formulation.

Take, for example, the Magna Carta, such a splendid title smacking of history and Britishness, which turns out to be, essentially, a margarita with a few drips of Champers. What tequila has to do with 13th Century England is a mystery, and more to the point, disgusting. Then there is the romantic, bordering on erotic, Arise My Love, which turns out to be a Champagne and creme de menthe concoction. Marie Antionette may have brushed her teeth with mint and bubbly, but I’d rather have my head removed. The Maimoun calls to mind smoking hookahs in a crowded souk, and calls for fig liquer, Amaretto, and mint (again!). I would rather wash my mouth out with an Arabian moustache. Finally, among our little list of gross examples, I present Happy Youth, which alternately sounds like a cheery Japanese candy or more sinisterly and the more you think about it, like a sleep away camp for future eugenicists. Either way I don’t want to sip this sickly sweet mixture of cherry brandy, sweet vermouth, orange juice, and sugar. I’m too old for that stuff.

I did manage to find a few more pleasing, simple Champagne delights, but those will have to wait until tomorrow. I’m off to light lights and make merry. I leave you with this quote from The Taming of the Shrew,

“Please ye we may contrive this afternoon, / And quaff carouses to our mistress’ health”

* Champagne containst trace amounts of lithium

Build Your Own Reclaimed Wood Spice Rack

Malcolm — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:21:18 +0000

This idea for a spice rack was inspired by Etsy seller “ReclaimFrames,” who does a lot of cool stuff with found and reclaimed wood. Our kitchen leans a little modern, and one of our pantry shelves has been lost to little bottles of spices, so this rougher look seemed like a good fit for us. Rather than have one shipped, I thought I would build my own.

There’s no real build log to present, here. The main frame of the spice rack is made of old, weathered wood from a shipping pallet, and the back of the spice rack is made of boards ripped off of a wooden fruit crate. Everything is nailed together with about a million nails, which I am hoping will rust and add to the overall look of the piece. A 6mm dowel was then threaded through to keep the bottles from falling out of the rack.

It ended up a little small; I may have to add another shelf, because we seem to have more tiny bottles of spices than even this rack will accommodate. I barely measured, didn’t use a square, and didn’t make sure anything was plumb or level. I eyeballed almost everything This was fine, for the most part. My only glaring error was in threading the dowel through; if you look at the second one, you will see I didn’t drill the hole straight, so the dowel ends up bowing a little bit. But that’s the beauty of building things in this kind of “outsider art” style…the mistakes you make only end up contributing to the “authenticity” of the finished product.

Inspiration: A Gallery of Pumpkin Carvings

Malcolm — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:57:19 +0000

After scouring Flickr for literally minutes, we put together this gallery of jack o’ lantern ideas to inspire you and get the creative juices flowing before you sit down with knife in hand. Though clearly awesome, we tried to avoid super-advanced carvings that require a degree in Sculpture from your local community college, and focused more on techniques you can acheive yourself at home, with no need for Dremel tools or artist’s chisels.

For more information, inspiration, pumpkin-carving tutorials, and more, be sure to check out PumpkinGutter and ExtremePumpkins.

The Most Glorious Soup in the Universe: Spiced Pumpkin & Pepper Chowder

Hearting Consumerism: Our Favorite Thing Today

Jillian — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:49:41 +0000

Smelling the cork is so over. These days wine is irreverent, just like us. It comes in boxes, jugs, and apparently, barrels. And it’s good. The next time you’re going to a party, instead of Two Buck Chuck or Veuve Clicquot bring this: Red Truck mini-barrel. It’ll make you feel so fine.

Carebags: Kicking Plastic to the Curb, One Veggie at a Time

Tia — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:46:09 +0000

I am unashamed to confess that I am hopelessly addicted to cloth shopping bags. I have well over 30 of them breeding in my pantry, and continue to find ways to bring more home with me. Like the crazy cat hoarding lady down the street, I cannot have too many of them, and won’t part with any. I have even gone so far as to procure hideous vintage pillow cases, and cunningly upcycled them into matchy-matchy cotton bags for days when I’m feeling uber-crunchy.

The bags ride along in the car with me on days when I escape the house, and flee to the freedom of the grocery store to wantonly blow money on food. I have managed to nearly eliminate my plastic bag consumption. The odd rogue bag still infiltrates our home via my husband, but I no longer have bags full of bags hanging around under my sink, threatening to choke the life out of innocent dolphins at some unspecified point in the future.

Yet there was one area in which I couldn’t slay the plastic bag demon, and it plagued my conscience every time I went to the store: plastic produce bags. I tried giving them the heave-ho by just dumping my loose veggies on the conveyor belt, but that simply pissed off the clerks and people behind me in line. I tried to stop buying produce at large stores were the bags were the norm, and opted to go to smaller markets where the bags were not as plentiful. I grew my own food. I went to farmer’s markets. Try as I might, I couldn’t completely avoid taking plastic home with me.

A few weeks ago, I was poking around in the potato section of the local produce aisle, and spotted the answer to my searching – reusable fabric produce bags! On sale! *Trumpets in heaven resound* Carebags, a locally manufactured product, brilliantly enable you to kick the plastic produce baggie habit to the curb. 5 units come smartly packaged in a cotton carrying case, which you can clip on to your larger recycled shopping bags for convenience. Not only do they work well to tote and contain produce, but they also function effectively as bulk food storage bags. Easy to wash, convenient to use, Carebags have had a positive impact on my shopping habits. I’m in love, and I’m scheming to find a way to justify having more of them around. My new mission in life is to spread the good news of Carebags, and convert other green-minded shoppers to the totally plastic-free way of gathering groceries. What are you waiting for? Join me!

Etsy Finds: Bacon is Like a Little Hug…

Malcolm — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:18:19 +0000

Our friend Missy alerted us this morning to the incredible prints from Etsy seller “Nicodemus Green.” For $20, this original art makes a great addition to a kitchen that needs to be reminded about the importance of bacon in a spiritual life.

Weekend Project: Hibiscus Wall Graphics

Malcolm — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:12:26 +0000

I’ve long been a fan of the sharp, graphic wall treatments that oversize vinyl stickers provide, but knew that wasn’t an option in our house, where humidity is an issue. I wanted to try and recreate the look using just paint, and was able to transform a wall in about an afternoon.

I found the hibiscus shape that I liked, but was having trouble figuring out how to scale it up for painting on a wall, without using an overhead projector or the old enlargement-by-grid thing we learned in school.

Instead, I put my printer into “poster” mode, which allows borderless printing of up to 4 sheets across and 4 down, to produce a poster-sized print of up to around 33×44. I scaled the shape WAY up, glued the printed sheets together, and very carefully cut the shape out using a pair of scissors.

Because the shape is too complicated and the paper stencil is too flimsy to be painted on directly, and because I was going for a crisper, less handmade look, I first traced the shape very lightly in pencil, removed the stencil, and then painted the shape by hand. I found that using a mixture of fat and thin brushes worked best, and as the paint in the can stiffened up slightly, it got a little easier to work with. After everything dries, the pencil marks can be erased with a big eraser.

I am pleased with the overall effect, though next time, I would go with the base wall color with a tiny bit of white mixed in, instead of a whole shade lighter, as you see in the picture. I think the results will be a little more subtle, and you will look a little bit less like a crazy person who wanders around their house painting flowers all day. I might also paint a few more (my wall has three).

Oh, and, on the off chance you have been dying to have hibiscus all over your wall, you can have my original stencil (1.6MB download, right-click and “Save Target As”). Good luck!

Etsy Finds: Vintage Number Signage Edition

Malcolm — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:14:46 +0000

Inspired by the use of vintage numerical signage in this apartment, we turned to Etsy to help us find beautiful numbers to spruce up our kitchen. Here’s the best of what we found: