The Shared Sip

Cinnamon + Hibiscus Campari Spritz

09.19.17

This summer I’ve loved experimenting with spritzes—the classic Italian drink traditionally composed of a bitter liqueur and sparkling wine. You may even remember one of my recent posts that was, in fact, a spritz, despite it’s name. They’re at once complex and simple, sweet and bitter, refreshing and soothing.

As summer comes to an end, I don’t want to send spritzes packing—in fact, I’m here to argue that the traditionally warm-weather drink should definitely be sipped year round. It works on cool fall evenings, perfect for weekend brunches and even as a nightcap.

This variation brings in a hearty hibiscus flavor, which really compliments the Campari, as well as a warm cinnamon note. You can add as little or as much cinnamon syrup as you like—it’s delicious any way you pour it.

Hibiscus leaves are easy to find—typically at most Whole Foods or specialty markets in the bulk bins or spice section. If you can’t find them, fret not—forgo the infusion and simply use Campari as-is.

I’m excited to play around with other spritz variations this winter—I’m thinking a spiced pear or pine liqueur spritz would be perfectly sipped fireside.

Cinnamon + Hibiscus Campari Spritz
makes 1 cocktail; build each individually

1 oz hibiscus-infused Campari (recipe follows)
.5 oz cinnamon bark syrup (recipe follows)
4 oz dry rosé
Seltzer or club soda
Cinnamon stick and orange peel for garnish

Assembly
Build cocktail in a rocks glass filled with ice, starting with the Campari and ending with the seltzer. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and orange peel!

Hibiscus-infused Campari
Combine 1/2 cup Campari and 1 tbsp dried hibiscus leaves in a mason jar. Shake well and allow to steep overnight (at least 12 hours). Strain leaves and store the infused campari in an airtight container.

Cinnamon Bark Syrup
Combine 1 oz cinnamon stick shards (from about 3-5 sticks) with 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the bark to steep in the syrup overnight. Strain bark from the syrup and store in the fridge for up to 2 months.

Brunch Cocktails / Gin / Party Cocktails / Punch

Raspberry, Cucumber + Mint Punch

08.26.17

Confession: I’ve been keeping the perfect summertime cocktail from you. Truth be told, I’ve been drinking this raspberry, cucumber + mint punch all summer long—on lazy Saturdays, warm evenings, and I even whipped a batch up for friends when I was out at Fire Island in New York in June. It’s a pretty simple cocktail but a total crowd pleaser. And I’m sorry for keeping it from you (don’t hate me!).

My mom (see also: my #1 fan and avid cocktail enthusiast) actually introduced me to this drink, which she spotted in a magazine. We made it together and it was an instant keeper. I’m calling this a punch because it’s easiest made in a larger batch, but I’ve also halved it when I was making the drink for two. The best thing about this is that you can’t really mess it up. If you add too much sugar, just top it off with more soda water. If you don’t muddle enough raspberries, you can always throw a few more in.

I know it’s almost September—did I mention I was sorry?!—but there’s still time to sip this punch as the dog days of summer come to a close. Can you think of a better way to end the season?

Raspberry, Cucumber + Mint Punch
makes 4-6 cocktails; adapted from Sunset Magazine

1 ½ c. raspberries, plus a few for garnish
Half of an English cucumber (regular will work too, just scoop out the seeds), sliced
3 tbsp fresh mint leaves, torn in half, plus more for garnish
¼ c. sugar
3 oz fresh lemon juice
8 oz gin (I used Tanqueray – a london dry gin works well here)
8-12 oz seltzer

Assembly

Fill 4-6 lowball or rocks glasses with ice. Set aside.

In a large pitcher, muddle the raspberries, cucumber slices and mint leaves. Add sugar and lemon juice and continue to muddle until all of the juices have been released from the cucumber and raspberries. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the solids and return to the pitcher. Add gin and stir well.

Divide the cocktail amongst the glasses and top each with 2-3 oz of seltzer. Garnish with a raspberry and mint sprig.

Want more end-of-summer sips? Here are a few for inspiration!

Rivington Punch – A Summer Spritz
Poolside Pineapple Daiquiri
La Croix Shower Spritz by PUNCH (I’m really into spritzes right now, OK!?)
Rhubarb Mint Mojito by Broma Bakery
Summer Breeze by Zacapa Rum
Dragon Bramble by Beautiful Booze

Boozy Eats / mezcal / Tequila

Drunken S’mores Ice Cream

07.20.17

I don’t know if S’mores Week is an actual thing or not, but one of my favorite blogs, Dessert for Two, is celebrating (with these insane mini s’mores baked Alaskas), which is good enough for me! Cue this delicious (and also frozen, due to: insane summer heat wave in California) Drunken Mezcal S’mores Ice Cream!

You know how when you buy ice cream at the store, you rush home SO EXCITED BECAUSE ICE CREAM DUH and then you dig in and it’s often a little…disappointing? I know. Been there. There are never enough mix-ins, AMIRITE? The container says: “loaded with chocolate chunks, swirls of caramel, brownie in each bite!” Reality says: You spend 20 minutes channeling your inner paleontologist, digging through the ice cream to unearth one of the 3 chocolate chunks, then putting the carton back in the freezer where it will accumulate freezer burn and you toss it 4 weeks later. The struggle is so real.

That’s where homemade ice cream comes in. You can literally add anything you want to your base, and as much of it as your little heart desires. So that’s exactly what I did here. The mix-ins to ice cream ratio is a little embarrassing, tbh. But really this is no time to pretend like we’re counting calories over here. Save that madness for January. Read More

Aperol / Brunch Cocktails / st. germain / Wine

Rivington Punch // A Summer Spritz

07.10.17

I’m always looking for a standby summer sip, beyond my go-to margarita or gin & tonic. I love a spritz, but wanted to add a little sweetness and sub in rosé (there is never a wrong time for rosé!) which is basically summer in a glass. I love any chance I get to use my St. George raspberry liqueur too—and it’s great in this drink, since you only use a splash. Topped off with bubbly water and voila—summertime soiree is complete! Read More

Party Cocktails / Sangria / Wine

Cherry Compote + Peach Sangria

06.27.17

With the summer solstice arriving last week, it’s official: summer is here! Living in wine country (Sonoma County to be specific—we live just south of Healdsburg, a quintessential wine town if there ever was one), I drink a LOT of wine. Kyle and I typically drink a glass with dinner at night, and are often stopping into local wineries.

As much as I love just sipping wine, I also love to play with it in cocktails and food (dessert especially!). I had a chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc that was feeling a little neglected, and the cherries on my counter were at their peak ripeness. Sangria it was!

I can’t believe I’ve never posted a sangria recipe here! If I had to choose, I would probably favorite red sangria over white, but the warm summer months beg for a white wine or rosé sangria. I made a cherry compote using just cherries, sugar and brandy, which I think really adds something to the sangria without loading it up with a lot more booze. Top it off with fresh stone fruit and your afternoon is officially spoken for. Happy summering!

Cherry Compote & Peach Sangria
makes 4 cocktails

1 bottle of crisp dry white wine (I think sauvignon blanc works well here, but you could also use any dry, light white)
1 cup cherry compote (recipe follows)
handful of fresh cherries
1 ripe peach, nectarine or similar

Assembly

To 4 wine glasses, add a healthy dollop of the cherry compote (1-2 tbsp). Fill halfway with ice. Add a few fresh cherries and a couple slices of the stone fruit. Top with white wine. Drop an extra cherry and slice of peach on top and you’re set!

Cherry Compote
adapted from Bon Appétit

1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and sliced in half
1/4 cup brandy
2 tbsp sugar

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a saucepan; reduce heat to low. Simmer until cherries begin to release their juices, about 10 minutes. Remove cherries from pan and let the sauce continue to thicken until it’s a syrupy consistency, about 20 minutes. Add cherries back to the sauce and store in an airtight container in the fridge. Keeps for about 2 weeks.

Party Cocktails / Vodka

Harissa Bloody Mary with Antipasti Kebabs

05.27.17

To me, a bloody mary is right up there with a margarita—a super simple drink, but a total go-to. I love that you can tinker with it based on what you’re in the mood for (olives? lemon? lime? spicy? mild?). For this take on the cocktail, I wanted to use harissa to add spiciness, rather than my usual tabasco. If you’re not familiar with harissa, don’t worry—I wasn’t either. It’s only recently been added to my kitchen, as I saw it incorporated in more recipes I wanted to make. It’s a chili pepper paste that originated in North Africa, but is probably most often associated with Middle Eastern cuisine. You can find it at most specialty markets in the international aisle—and it keeps well too, since you’ll be using it sparingly.

For the kebabs, use whatever you love! I built mine with a mixture of my favorites: spicy dill pickles, sweet cherry peppers, balls of mozzarella and an assortment of charcuterie. This would be great for a bloody mary bar at a party—guests could show off their kebab creations! Who doesn’t love a bite with each sip?

One other note: I used a store-bought mix for the base of this. I KNOW. Blasphemy, right? Not so fast. There are so many great bloody mary mixes out in the market these days, to slave over the exact spice additions to tomato juice sounds a little silly to me. Plus, you can totally jazz up a store-bought mix, too. In addition to the harissa, I added celery bitters, a squeeze of lime juice, a dollop of horseradish, and a dash of chipotle chili powder. So good.

Harissa Bloody Mary with Antipasti Kebabs
makes 2 cocktails

2 cups bloody mary mix, of your choosing
4 oz vodka – I used Humboldt Distillery Organic Vodka
2 teaspoons harissa
1 tbsp horseradish (more or less to your liking!)
4 dashes Fee Brothers celery bitters
2 wedges of lime, squeezed
pinch of chipotle chili powder
For the rim: combine equal parts old bay and salt.

Assembly

Rim two highball glasses with lime, then dip into the Old Bay/salt mixture. Combine all other ingredients in a shaker with ice, including the lime wedges. Shake until very cold, about 20 seconds. Strain into the rimmed glasses filled with fresh ice. Top with an antipasti kebab!

brandy / Cognac

Brandy Old Fashioned

05.10.17

If you’ve never had a classic Old Fashioned, first: shame on you. Second: it’s one of the best cocktails in existence. Perfectly boozy, sweet and bitter, it covers all the cocktail bases. A traditional Old Fashioned is made up of bourbon or whiskey, a sugar cube or simple syrup, and bitters. Of course, there are many variations—I just had one in NOLA with demerara simple that was to-die-for—and it’s a classic that begs for a little experimentation.

I had a brandy old fashioned at Sonoma Cider just up the road in Healdsburg (PSA: their new taproom is awesome). Besides crafting some amazing ciders, they also distill their own apple brandy. Though I did try a flight of 6 ciders (no brainer there), I also snagged their cocktail menu and ordered up their brandy old fashioned. It was perfectly sweet, unique, and a drink I knew I wanted to recreate at home. Read More

Travel

New Orleans Cocktail Guide!

04.27.17

Earlier this year, my BFF and I decided to meet in New Orleans for a weekend of girls-only eating, adventuring, and—of course—cocktailing. She flew in from NYC, I from San Francisco, and we arrived in NOLA ready for a long weekend of catching up and exploring the city together.

If you’ve never been to NOLA, you’ll quickly discover that it’s probably one of the most charming, cultured and interesting cities in the U.S. Full of tradition and nostalgia, the city culminates into this amazing metropolis where historic buildings and creole cooking are juxtaposed against trendy cocktail bars and innovative restaurants. One second you’re sauntering down Royal Street in the French Quarter, and the next you’re perusing your way through a hipster marketplace in mid-city. It feels both packed with stories from centuries past, and begging for new stories to be created by tourists and locals alike.

First, the food: unreal. I am not exaggerating when I say we were consuming something edible approximately 80% of the time we were in New Orleans. On the last day, we had about 2 hours to kill before heading the airport, and so we scarfed down muffulettas and pimento cheese sandwiches at Cochon Butcher, then proceeded to Johnny’s for shrimp po-boys directly afterwards—and mind you, we had already stuffed our faces that morning on biscuits and doughnuts for breakfast at District Donuts. I don’t think either of us ate for 48 hours after we got back to our respective cities. That’s NOLA in a nutshell.

Second, the cocktails. We visited many gems, but I think my favorites were Cane & Table and Seaworthy. Cane & Table has a tiki bent, with really innovative and interesting cocktails. The vibe is hip and sleek, bright and airy, located in the heart of the French Quarter. Seaworthy is in the CBD, and is darker, more speakeasy-esque, with tiny tables and kind waiters. Both are cozy and inviting, and spots you won’t want to tear yourself away from at the end of the night.

When you can’t eat or drink anything else (I’m not familiar with this phenomenon, but maybe you are), there’s so much to do in NOLA—we took a bike ride through the Garden District, rode the street cars through the city, and even ventured out on a swamp tour (so cool!). I already can’t wait to go back.

Ready to hop on a plane? Download my cocktail guide to New Orleans before you go!

Boozy Eats / Coffee Liqueur

Banana Bread with Coffee Liqueur Glaze

03.27.17

Don’t get me wrong—I love creating cocktails. But sometimes I like to play with liquor outside of the high ball. Enter: this spongy, non-too-dense, delicious banana bread topped with a sweet coffee liqueur glaze. YUM.

The bread can be thrown together in minutes, and the glaze is even simpler. Highly recommend working it into your weekend morning rotation. And while you’ve got the coffee liqueur out, don’t be afraid to throw a splash (glug?) of it in your latte. It’s the right thing to do.

Banana Bread

Find the full recipe over on How Sweet It Is!

Pro tip: Do NOT skip the turbinado sugar on the top of the bread—it. is. perfection.

Coffee Liqueur Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp whole milk
3 tbsp coffee liqueur – I used St. George NOLA Coffee Liqueur
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Pour over cooled banana bread. Allow to set 20 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

Gin / sake

Sake East Side

03.22.17

My introduction to sake was back in college—gathered with friends around wooden tables on a Friday night at one of Davis’s few Japanese restaurants, taking advantage of sushi specials and all-you-can-drink sake deals. I remember $2 bullets of Asahi and Sapporo poured into small glasses, with chopsticks hovering in parallel over the top. A shot of sake was poured, balanced on the chopsticks, and we yelled (obnoxiously, as college students do): Ichi, ni, san—SAKE BOMB! With a pound of our fists on the table, into the beer slipped the sake and we chugged until we could see the person across from us through the bottom of the glass. It was one of the more sophisticated times in my life.

Sadly, that was as far as my exposure to sake went. I never grew to like hot sake—something about the sourness and the warmth made my stomach turn. Cold sake was a little better, but nothing I felt compelled to seek out.

Recently, though, I set out on a mission to make homemade dumplings—and because I love a good theme night, I decided to make a sake cocktail to go with them. I scoured the internet for inspiration (my search terms were something along the lines of “sake cocktail for people who don’t really like sake”) and I came across a recipe from Food & Wine that sounded perfect—cucumber, mint, lime and gin—I was convinced I would barely even notice the sake.

And that was mostly true—this cocktail is refreshing and simple, but I do think the sake adds a little something that can’t be replicated by anything other sake itself. The bottle of sake I used is super reasonably priced ($14—and you’ll get a ton of cocktails out of it, or sip alone), though I think most dry sakes would work well. Even my non-cocktail-loving (or sake-loving) husband guzzled this one down in record time.

Muddle, shake, sip—and skip the sake bombs.

____________________

Sake East Side
makes 2 cocktails; adapted from Food & Wine

8 slices of cucumber
20 mint leaves
4 oz dry sake – I used Momokawa Silver
2 oz gin
1.5 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz simple syrup

Assembly

Muddle cucumber slices and mint in a shaker. Add ice and all other ingredients. Shake until well combined and very cold, about 20 seconds. Double strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a cucumber wheel.