Approachable, everyday recipes
I’m declaring this the summer of the Hugo spritz. Light and refreshing, it’s the perfect drink anytime of year but especially wonderful in the summer.
I had a Hugo spritz for the first time a few weeks at Novella, a great Italian restaurant in Powell. It was love at first sip. I immediately knew I had to buy some St-Germain and recreate it at home. With all this hype, I hope you like it as much as I do!
…
Okay, Okay, I know I said just last week that I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes. But then I discovered that if you make a homemade one with actual pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice it’s actually delicious. So truth be told, I like real pumpkin spice lattes, but I don’t like the fake ones that are overly sweet and don’t even have pumpkin in them.
This recipe is so easy. Just throw everything in the blender, blend for 30 seconds, heat the mixture and stir in some espresso or really strong coffee, and viola! Real pumpkin spice lattes!
…
David Sipress Cartoon from The New Yorker
Is anyone intimidated by white wine? Red wine, sure, I feel like I kind of know what I’m talking about, or at least know what I like. But white wine? Forget about it. I think my intimidation stemmed from not knowing much about it or finding a white wine I truly enjoyed. Then it was 90 degrees out and suddenly I decided, this was the summer I was going to learn about white wine.
My first step was to go to my local wine store, The Twisted Vine and ask for help. This was the best thing I did. I told one of the owners my feelings on white wine and what I liked and didn’t like. I don’t like Chardonnay because I don’t like the oaky-ness of it. I don’t like Riesling because I don’t like super sweet wines. And I don’t like Pinot Grigio because I don’t think it tastes like much. Turns out I’m not alone.
The owner started asking me more questions and we came to the conclusion that I like white wines that are crisp and have mineral undertones. This lead to my new found love of French white wines. He suggested a few to try, all under $15 a bottle (score!). I bought a few (or 6) bottles and began my “research.” I can honestly say I enjoyed all the French white wines I took home. More importantly, I’m not so intimidated by white wines anymore. When I’m out to dinner I stick to the French whites, from a region I have had a few bottles from, and have continuously had good luck.
The process of finding wine you enjoy can be intimidating when it should be fun. Here are some of my suggestions to finding wine you love:
Cheers!
To continue with my love of peaches, here is my favorite peach cocktail, the peach bellini. Peach bellinis are delicious no matter what, but wow homemade ones are amazing! They would be ideal for summer entertaining, brunch, or lounging by the pool. But lets be real, a bellini would make any summer activity better. Even yard work…
Bellinis are an Italian sparkling wine cocktail made with sweetened peach puree and prosecco*. The peach puree is usually sweetened with sugar, but I used honey instead. I think honey is the key to the cocktail. This is because you want the bellinis to be subtle, not overwhelmingly sweet. Plus, peaches and honey were practically made for each other.
The same idea goes for the sparkling wine or prosecco you use in this cocktail. You want something not overly sweet, so Brut usually works well. Don’t feel like you need to spend a fortune on the sparkling wine, I use Trader Joes brand or a $12 bottle from my local wine store.
…
Rich ordered an amazing lemonade based cocktail when we went to lunch with his family at the Granville Inn a few weeks ago. The cocktail was made with berry vodka and sparkling lemonade. It was a good summertime drink. So good that Rich and I immediately started to think about how we would put our own twist on it at home.
…