happy additions to your cocktail.

summer drinks -

cucumber water, lavendar simple syrup, brown sugar rosemary simple syrup.

add booze and shake! :)

summer sangria

this will make both white and red!

2 bottles of merlot
1 bottle of a newzealand sauv blanc
1 bottle of bubbly
brandy
strawberries, slice em.
blueberries
mango, chunk it up
basil
oranges
fresh. grapefruit juice

soak strawberries in brandy overnight if you can.

3/4 bottle of brandy goes to the red sangria, in a large bowl. add 2 bottles of merlot. oranges, strawberries, blueberries, basil, and brown sugar


1/4 brandy to the white sangy. add the bottle of SB, add strawberries, mangos, i may or may not of slipped a shot of st. germaine and 2 shots of gin in there, and topped off with some bubbly.

heavenly divine sangrias.

salad!

dressing: (thank you magic bullet!)
apple cider vinegar, white raisins, evoo, s&p, oregano, carmelized onions
tip: warm the raisens in water until they are plump before magic bulleting.

spinach, goat cheeze, roasted red peppers, dried cranberries, almonds, dressing

portobello burgers and roasted yams*.

1) yams*:

wash

slice + half (skin optional, usually preferred, and recommended)

tossed in evoo, s + p

minced garlic^

roasted at 350 until done (about 20 minutes)

*can be substituted for sweet potatoes. the grocery store just didn't have any so yams, it was.

^maybe a bit of cinnamon & sugar would be nice in it's place.

2) grill the burger and the bun:

toss mushrooms in evoo and s & p first!

3) the fixings:

.baby spinach

.red onions

.provolone

.lemon honey mustard

.and the yams that were originally thought of as a side dish

.herd butter on the bun tops (that simply means "some rosemary and thyme or parsley or something like that...")

.avocados very suggested but not shown here

honey lemon mustard.

*this photo does not do any justice.

this mustard spread can be used as a dressing or as a condiment... or for some thing more creative if you can muster one up. (ehhhh. sorry!)

and, you have to leave a lot of this one up to chance. *may be hard for the unintuitive. ;)

what you need, which most people probably have:

mustard (preferably spicy and seedy.)

lemon juice and pulp and guts (no seeds..)

balsamic vinegar

honey (preferably local and raw)

salt + pep

extra virgin olive oil

keep adding listed ingredients until it is to your taste and consistency preference. stir/whisk/fork in any type of bowl. use pointer finger to see "when it's ready..." (off the record). if you end up with a lot of honey lemon mustard because of this technique... well, put it in a jar and use it again when you feel the need. it lasts forever.

note: the best part about this spread is that everyone usually has these ingredients, but no one ever has all the same kinds. so this inevitably comes out different each time it is made.

concoction inspirations.

this is a more complicated but equally simple recipe for summertime drinks that can be altered severely due to individual taste but still not loose a bit of flavor.

this specific drink:

1 part limeade

1 part water

sliced cucumber

fresh lemon wedges

fresh grapefruit wedges

muddled strawberries

ice cubes

cap. shake. serve with a lemon balm/mint leaf if you have them in the garden. ;)

optional suggestions:

hendricks gin or st. germain or both

also:

switch fruit juice to just water or use any fruit compilation you can imagine. if it's fresh, and you put it in a mason jar and you shake it and you serve it cold, it will probably taste good in the summertime. especially with some hendricks or st. germain....

cool cucumber water.

this one is easy.

slice some strips of cucumber with a carrot/potato peeler.

put it in a mason jar.

fill it up with water and ice cubes.

shake.

serve cold on a hot day.

It must be the weather

Today I had an overwhelming sensation to use crab meat. I really did. I was thinking maybe some crab rangoons with cream cheese, scallions, a bit o ginger, garlic, red onion, etc... But then I remembered someone telling me how difficult it is to make a perfect crab cake. I wanted to see how close I could get without following a recipe. Here goes:

1 Gala apple, processed
1 Large yellow onion, processed
1 red pepper, processed
1 sleeve of white flour buttery crackers (I used trader joes social crackers) * I also used a couple pieces of whole wheat bread and about a cup of rice crispies , all processed. yay for magic bullets!
18 oz of crab meat
4 tblsp of fresh lemon
1/2 cup of chives, chopped finely
1 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan chz
2-3 cups of panko bread crumbs
1 cup mayonaisse

4 tblsp minced crushed garlic

1 stick o butter
1 egg
* Go veg! : 1 portabello mushroom, processed

Quick! The Aioli!

Bowl - 1 cup of mayo, more or less depending on how much you like aioli.

Whilst processing the red pepper, over a tblsp of red pepper juice was produced. So. I used that, along with a tblsp or so of the processed red pepper and a tblsp of lemon juice and a modest handful of chives, add salt and pepper to taste. Done and done.

As for the rest.

1. Put bread crumbs in large bowl.
2. Melt stick of butter in frying pan and simmer chopped onions med low til cooked. Add mixture to bread crumbs.
3. The bread crumbs should still be a little dry, add egg and lemon juice to mixture until all is moist.
4. Add the rest of the red pepper, the apple, and a modest handful of chives. And a couple of tablespoons of minced garlic. 2 - 4, depending on your taste for garlic.
5. Here's where I split. My 2 roomates are veggie, so I made a little batch for them, processing a half a portabello mushroom and adding that to the mix. The rest of the batch I used a ton of crabmeat, 18 oz, for some really crabby cakes. ahah. Mix it in and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, whatever, to taste. I love using pink himalayan sea salt, cracked black pepper, white pepper, love it!
6. Roll into balls of a size you would like to eat. For appetizer portions, I like to do a meatball size. Entrees, 2, 2.5 meatballs mushed into one. I roll the balls in panko bread crumbs and either store them to be cooked later on, or place them on a cookie sheet with tinfoil.
   
   
7. Bake those biddies for 12 minutes at 425 or until the panko bread crumbs are browning.
8. Drizzle with red pepper aioli and SERVE! I love a sprout and spinach garnish.

~ 25 appetizer crab cakes, or ~ 12 entree crab cakes.

UPDATE: I tried making crab cakes again for my family a few days later. I nixed the parm cheeze and used about half the bread crumbs. I added a little parsley and a scoop of mayonaisse. They were delicious... Wayyy better! But if you were gonna stick with the portobello, I would keep the same amount of bread crumbs and cheeze, add parsley, no mayo. muah.

god bless the indian summer

salad :

mesculn grns

balsamic vinegar reduction
strawberries

blue chz

mmmm corn :

corn cobs

butter

mayo
cayenne pepper

fresh parm cheese

cilantro

garlic

onion powder

onion

olive oil

sugar

s + p

milk - soy, rice, or cow.

corn: throw some corn into a pot of water, maybe 3.5 inches of water.

add a few tblsp of sugar (be generous), a pinch of salt, and a splash of olive oil

and a quarter of an onion, in chunks.

boil or steam for less than five minutes and let soak for a few hours.

aioli: depending on how many corn cobs, but fancy yourself a little bowl of mayo and add a tblsp of melted butter. some s+p. a dash or so of onion powder. simmer some diced garlic with olive oil + throw that in as well, leftover olive oil/garlic can be thrown into corncob pot. add some splashes of milk, and wisk the aioli mixture. it should not be soupy, it should be thick but not as gobby as the original mayo mixture.

grill the corn cobs til they have charred slightly.

put the corn on a platter, cover the centers with the aioli and let the cobs sit in the remaining mixture. sprinkle cayenne pepper as desired. add fresh parm chz. add bits of cilantro, everywhere. serve. enjoy.

finches, bicycles, penis pupcakes

Finally went to darwins cafe in cambridge, near central square i think. the name alone should have gotten me there sooner, but i can't complain, it was a wonderful day...

i had a lovely conversation with ms. ashley rose, while dani snoozed on the couch. very cool place, a lot like how i would want my dream cafe to be (but with some tweaks of course).

I had a faaaaantastic sandwich there :

• ciabatta bread
• arugula lettuce
• goat cheese
  some vinaigrette
• roasted portabello
• caramelized onions
• sliced turkey

I loved it because it featured some things you wouldn't normally see in a sandwich for practical reasons, like the little arugula leaves and goat cheese crumbles. it was delish.

delish.

these photos aren't justifying enough savory goodness.

modified summer cob salad.

paul's mom's bean salad (modified) atop a garden salad.

• bean salad - perfect for summer, i've been making it a few times a week...
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can corn. and if you like corn as much as i do, do two cans. and if you like corn even better than that, make it fresh by boiling a few cobs for a minute with 5 inches of water, a pinch of salt and sugar, and then grilling it for 4 more minutes, and slice off cob. mmm.
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can gorgonza beans
• 1/2 european cucumber, diced
• 1/3 fresh jalapeno, diced (be careful cutting it, cover your hands and remember to wash immediately afterwards, my hands and eyes were burning a full day after...)
• 1/2 squeezed lime/lemon (with pulp) OR a tblspoon of lemon juice from bottle. depending on what you like.
• a shit ton of chopped parsley and or cilantro. i like both.
• a couple tblsp of mayo.
• a couple pinches of sugar
• salt/pepper as desired

So that's the bean salad. mix that in a big bowl and you'll have plenty of leftovers that won't last long. And I put a cupful atop this garden salad

• ice berg lettuce (it's all i had...)
• fresh bacon :)
• diced tomato
• mexican cheddar
• crumbled feta
• lime juice
• s/p

summer delish... Alyssa's funked out tuna sandwich.

4 cans of tuna, squeeze out all the moisture

couple spoonfuls of mayo

squeeze an entire lime and put lots o pulp in there

lots of cilantro and parsley
tomatos, european cucumber, jalapeno --> diced (and optional)

salt, pepper

on toasted whole wheat bread

and maybe some avocado slices on top. mmm :)