FIZZY RHUBARB SHRUB

I don't know about you, but I take immense pleasure in a good drink. Coffee is a daily necessity for me. I try to be diligent about my water intake. But really I find nothing more refreshing than a fruity, homemade beverage.

I'm guessing most of you are hip to the shrub thang, but if shrubs are new to you, you're in for a treat. If you're solidly in the ultra sweet soda-y camp, you might find the vinegar hit of a shrub to be odd, but if you're like me and dig a drink that's sweet, tart, and bubbly all at the same time, shrubs will treat you right.

Rhubarb - always a good player in the tangy-sweet world - seems a perfect springtime star for a homemade shrub.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound rhubarb, sliced into into 1/4 inch semicircles
• 2 cups light agave nectar
• 1/2 cup good quality apple cider vinegar 
• sparking water
• optional for serving: sprigs of fresh thyme, kumquat slices, or an orange twist would be nice here

In a medium mixing bowl, combine sliced rhubarb and agave. Cover and let sit at room temp for 48-72 hours. Strain, reserving syrup. Add good apple cider vinegar to the liquid and you’ve got your shrub. (Feel free to add more vinegar if that suits you, adjusting the tang to your liking.) Transfer syrup to a lidded container - and keep in the refrigerator.

( You can discard the rhubarb slices, or I save them in a separate lidded container and add them to my morning bowl of granola and Greek yogurt.)

I'd suggest combining 3-4 portions sparkling water to 1 portion of shrub, but feel free to make a more concentrated or diluted shrub depending on your taste. Serve over ice. Add a little citrus or fresh thyme if you please. You can also add a splash of rhubarb shrub to your cocktails.

DREAMY BOURBON SOURS

You know that feeling? When something tastes just right?

One little sip of this Bourbon Sour leads to another. Your taste buds try to pinpoint exactly what's at play in the delectable concoction... Citrus, for sure. But what kind? Orange? Lemon? What's that hint of sweetness mingling with the bourbon? Maple syrup? You take another sip. Wonder about these things. Smile. And sip some more.

When our friends Dave and Roxy came over for dinner last fall, they brought cocktail fixins and when I saw the ingredients going into Dave's mix, I knew the drink was going to be good - but I didn't know it would be this good! Dave was kind enough to share the recipe and so was his original source, James Schaaf - thank you Dave and James.

We've now made this cocktail many many times for friends. Those who've tasted it always ask us to whip up another batch the next time we get together. With Labor Day just around the corner, you know what to do to make your friends happy.... a backyard BBQ with Bourbon Sours sounds good, doesn't it?

INGREDIENTS (per drink)
printable recipe

• fresh juice of one lemon, pulp and seeds strained (Meyer's are fantastic, if you can get them)
• 4-5 dashes orange bitters
• 1-1 1/2  tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 ounces bourbon or whiskey of your liking

Fill a big mason jar or cocktail shaker with all ingredients, including a few ice cubes. (Feel free to make one, or many cocktails at once.) Give everything a good shake and you're good to go.

Place fresh ice into a glass (or glasses) and pour the chilled, mixed cocktail over the ice. Discard the ice used for shaking.

Sip right away.

LIMONCELLO ON CAPRI

On a hot summer day, who doesn't crave a cocktail that is cold, fresh, and lemony? Well, it is damned hot here in Capri, and this island is covered with hearty citrus dripping with huge lemons so Limoncello it is!

Capri dons its fair share of sunburned tourists, mega yachts, bejeweled sandals, and bad dance music blasting into the night. Beneath the glitz, there is a heartwarming undercurrent of luscious gardens producing not decorative flowers to please the tourists, but loads of happy fruits and veggies. If you step away from the piazzetta and wander the narrow walking paths, you find nestled amongst the hotels and luxury villas humble, country-style gardens bursting with food - kiwis, squash, grapes, tomatoes, green beans, arugula, figs, rosemary, kumquats, olives. Glamour isn't the only priority on Capri, clearly the folks here care about the homegrown food as well. I dig that.

I wanted to share a little taste of the island with you guys and many claim that Limoncello finds its origins on Capri. The chilled sweet citrusy liquor is a nice end to dinner on a summer's evening. It takes a bit of patience to make your own (curing takes 2-4 weeks), but I think it's worth the wait.

Note: Use organic lemons, if you can. The drink gets its flavor not from the juice of the lemon, but from its peel, and that's where most of the pesticides reside in non-organic lemons.

INGREDIENTS adapted from "Lemon Zest" by Lori Longbotham featured in the NY Times
(printable recipe)

• 6 lemons (Sorrento Lemons are used in Italy. Meyers are a nice American substitute.)
• 1 750 ml bottle vodka
• 1 1/2 cup sugar

Wash all lemons. Use a vegetable peeler to peel each lemon (try to avoid getting much pith, the white underbelly of the peel). Place the peels in a jar large enough to hold both the peels and the entire bottle of vodka. Cover peels with the vodka. Cover the jar and place in a cool spot for 2 weeks allowing the vodka to become infused with the lemon flavor. (Use the now-peeled lemons to make a nice lemonade to enjoy right now, because your Limoncello will take a while to cure.)

After two weeks of curing, make a simple syrup by combining 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a medium saucepan on the stove top. Heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Set aside simple syrup until cool. In the meantime, strain lemon peels from the vodka and discard the peels. When the simple syrup has cooled, add it to the lemony vodka. Cover again and let cure for at least another 5 days and up to two weeks before drinking. If you can remember, agitate the bottle once a day.

Keep your liquor in the freezer so that it's nice and cold whenever you are ready to serve it up.

Do you make your own Limoncello? P recently made Limoncello at home in Berkeley. It was delicious, but a little too sweet and without enough of a kick for me. We have yet to make this NY Times recipe, but it looks pretty darned good. When we get home, we'll experiment with some new batches. Maybe add some herbs. If you have any delicious tips to share with the rest of us, we'd love to hear...

FRESH BERRY DIGESTIF

I am on a David Tanis kick. I loved his platter of figs, and the first cookbook I bought after our travels, is heart of the artichoke. I made two of Tanis' recipes already today and have the fixings for another for tonight's dinner. I so appreciate that many of the dishes are super simple and quick to toss together. Tanis is great company in the kitchen.

Paul and I have been intrigued by the idea of making our own spirits, ciders, and beers. We have yet to take the plunge and brew our own, but I thought I'd get my toes wet by trying Tanis' Digestivo with Fresh Berries.

I think serving this berry digestif to dinner party guests would be a fun end to a meal. Or why not take a large jam jar full of the rosy concoction as a hostess gift, next time you are invited to eat at someone else's table.



INGREDIENTS from David Tanis' heart of the artichoke
(printable recipe)

• 1 cup fresh berries (Tanis suggests a mix of raspberries and blackberries)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups of vodka or grappa

Place washed berries in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Crush the berries and sugar between your fingers to combine. Pour vodka (or grappa) over the sugar/berry mixture. Stir. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.

Serve the digestif in small glasses. Use a spoon or small ladle to scoop some of the crushed berries into each glass. I would serve the digestif with tiny spoons so that everyone can scoop up the boozy berries. Why waste such deliciousness?

By the way... we also mixed the berry vodka with a little tonic for a delightful cocktail. Yum!

 

FRESH LIME FIZZ

What is it about Bali that makes us happy?  The tropical weather, colorful temples, family time, verdant landscape, open smiles, slowness. As I wrote a couple weeks ago, I am thinking of ways to take some of the magic of this trip home with us to Berkeley. Obviously we cannot take home the Balinese climate, amazing people, or their unique culture. But maybe the small joys of this place could work their way into our Berkeley lives, and into your kitchens as well!

On every menu in Bali, there is a list of fresh fruit drinks to choose from: papaya, watermelon, lime, pineapple, banana, lemon, etc... For Lilah, my 7 year old, these enticing drink menus even inspired her to really learn to read. All four of us guzzle down some kind of juicy concoction whenever we go out to eat. I try to avoid Sodas, filled with high fructose corn syrups and unpronounceable chemicals, but indulging in something cool, fresh, and homemade is a habit I would like to cultivate. We may not have ample tropical fruit available in Northern California, but we do have citrus, and plenty of it.

Almost daily, I have been making these Fresh Lime Fizzes for P, the kids, and myself. Seeing just how easy it is to whip up a "soda" at home makes me realize there is no excuse not to have citrus fizzes as a regular treat no matter where you are.

Wanting to keep these fizzes on the healthy side,  I tried them with honey instead of simple syrup. Paul liked the taste, but for me the flavor was a bit medicinal. I much prefer the simple syrup.

When we get home to Berkeley, I am going to get Otis' old fashion spritzer working so we can even make the sparkling water ourselves.

WATERMELON PUNCH WITH FRESH LIME AND CRUSHED MINT

Every time I go for Mexican food, I hope to find watermelon aqua fresca. There is something so perfectly refreshing about this drink for me. Making watermelon aqua fresca at home inspired me to concoct my own summer punch. I could slurp this sweet, tangy, minty punch all day long. If you are are looking for something a little stronger, add a some rum and you have a damned good cocktail.

When I was working on this punch recipe, P and I found ourselves tasting rummy cocktails at ten am - it felt totally decadent and made me think..... this would be a tasty drink to sip at brunch.

Note: Try to make your simple syrup, puree the watermelon, and chill both a few hours before you want to serve the punch. If time doesn't allow for this chilling time, just add plenty of ice and you are good to go.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups watermelon puree ( approximately 1 medium watermelon)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (approximately 4-5 juicy limes)
• mint leaves, 1/3 cup loosely packed
• 1/2 cup, plus 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• boozy option: light rum

Make a simple syrup. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a sauce pan. Heat until sugar has dissolved. Let cool.  The simple syrup you don't use for this recipe can be refrigerated and and  put to other uses in cocktails or to sweeten your iced coffee or tea.

Cut off watermelon rind.

Remove seeds if there are any.

Place approximately 2 cups of watermelon flesh into your blender. Using your fingers or a spoon, push down the watermelon chunks until they release a bunch of juice (this released liquid will help make the blending easier). Blend thoroughly. Do another batch until you have yielded 4 cups of pureed watermelon. You could strain the watermelon pulp at this point, but I really prefer the thicker texture of the pulp left in. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Juice limes.

Coarsely chop mint leaves. Crush mint with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Use a mortar and pestle if you have one, otherwise use a wooden spoon in a bowl to pulverize the mint and sugar. When you are done, you will have a well-integrated mint/sugar paste. Add paste to the lime juice.

Mix pureed watermelon and lime juice (with the sugary mint). Add 2-3 tablespoons simple syrup. How much simple syrup you use will depend on the natural sugar content of your watermelon and your own personal preference for sweetness.

Served chilled. Always give the punch a stir before serving to integrate the ingredients.

If you want to transform this punch into a cocktail, I suggest adding 2 tablespoons rum to every cup of punch.