A Summertime Drink to Part the Clouds

It’s summer in California… kinda. Just like it’s sunny and warm… kinda. If you live in this glorious state, you know to what I’m referring. For all the assumptions made about our weather, Mother Nature really felt like sticking it to us this year.  It is gloomy. It is gray.  And when the sun comes out, people rejoice in the streets. I’m beginning to feel like I’m living on the east coast during the other 9 months of the year.

But fear not, residents and non-residents alike!  I have a cure to help make the sun come out and it just so happens to include one of my favorite summer fruit… Watermelon.

If you don’t like watermelon, you should probably leave this site and never come back.  Kidding!  Don’t go!  But really, what’s your problem?

Watermelon is the quintessential summertime fruit and the perfect antidote for hot (or foggy and miserable) days. When I was little (I have to admit, with all the references I make on this site to my childhood, I’m beginning to feel a little like Rose from The Golden Girls telling stories about St. Olaf), 

I would spend my summers in Calistoga, a small town located in the Napa Valley.  My grandparents had a decent little farm, sans animals, surrounded by vineyard, and my sister and I would run amok all day, every day. In the afternoons, my grandma would serve us round, thick slices of cold watermelon. She’d place it in an old pie tin, hand us a spoon, and send us outside where we could spit out the seeds as we ate. This was, of course, when watermelons still had seeds…

In California, watermelon can be had year round, but it truly only tastes sublime May through September. Personally, I find it tastes best when it’s crisp, juicy and sweet; basically, sun-ripened perfection.

Thus, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to basil-infused watermelon lemonade. If there was a Victorian gent* hanging out in my apartment, reading over my shoulder, I have a feeling he’d exclaim with vigor, “BLASPHEMY!  Watermelon and BASIL intruding upon the sanctity that is lemonade… Never!” Luckily, I’m by myself as I type this, and let me tell you, once you try this recipe, you will want to make it over and over and over again. 

"Well, I just don't know what to think of that.

Watermelon and basil, my fanny!"

I found this recipe in Cooking Light magazine a few years back. It sounded interesting, but honestly, once I finally made it, I was blown away by how delicious and refreshing it is. Do not be weary of the basil; the herb is used to infuse the simple syrup, which gives the drink its sweetness, and the leaves are strained out before the syrup is added.

Basil-infused watermelon lemonade is the kind of fancy pants drink that is incredibly easy to make, but sounds wonderfully complex and difficult to the people you serve it to (even dubious Victorian gentlemen will have to concede).  It has also been known to bring out the sun.

This may just be a rumor.

But you should find out for yourself.

Happy Drinking (and cheers!),

Elizabeth






Even Buddha can't say no!





Basil-infused Watermelon Lemonade**
From Cooking Light Magazine, August 2007


1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
8 cups cubed, seeded watermelon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 juicy lemons)


Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Stir in basil; chill 1 hour. Strain sugar mixture through a sieve over a bowl, and discard basil.

Place watermelon in a blender; process until smooth (attempt to not eat watermelon while preparing it... Fail miserably. Take awkward, unflattering photo of yourself.)

Pour watermelon puree through a fine sieve into a large bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids.

Combine watermelon liquid, sugar mixture, and juice in a pitcher; chill.

Watch as the sun peeks from behind the clouds. Enjoy.

* Speaking of Victorian gentlemen, get excited for the arrival of a dear friend of ours in the coming weeks. A distinguished fellow, he is sure to tickle your fancy (and your taste buds)! Stay tuned...

** I tweak this recipe every time I make it. Personally, I think the amount of basil simple syrup added to the watermelon juice is too much!  I also don't measure out the watermelon like this recipe does.  I buy two small, ripe watermelons and use 1 and 1/2 of them. I find it makes an excellent amount of juice.  After adding the lemon to the watermelon juice, I pour the simple syrup in slowly, constantly tasting it until I find it is just right!

*** For the naughty imp in all of us, a cocktail version (with booze):

Basil-infused Watermelon Lemonade Martini

1 1/2 ounces chilled vodka

1 ounce basil-infused watermelon lemonade

1/2 ounce basil simple syrup

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice.  Cover shaker with pint glass and give it a whirl!  Strain liquid into chilled martini glass. Garnish with small basil leaf. Serve.  Makes one martini.

**** For the parents who need a delicious, healthy treat for their children (sans booze, naturally):

Pour basil-infused watermelon lemonade into popsicle molds (like these). Freeze in freezer. Serve to children (or adults!) and watch as their eyes sparkle with delight!

Cocktails to Beat the Hair Blues

I have trust issues when it comes to my hair.  I feel most women and gay males can relate to this fact; I don’t trust just anyone with my complicated locks!  Thus, I’m sure you can imagine how frightened I was when my hairstylist announced she was moving to Hawaii.  For good.  As in, never coming back (I miss you, Joanne!). 

The difficulty in allowing someone new to cut (and maybe color…) my hair stems from a horrible ‘do I received in 1996 from a very pregnant woman most likely high on whatever hormones were raging through her body. As a naïve pre-teen in the throes of puberty, I walked into her salon asking for a trim and left with a bob that would truly only work on a girl with pixie-like bone structure.  I am not a pixie. I am not Natalie Portman.

My hair is wavy and kinks in the front, I have a large, heart shaped face, and to top it off, I possess practically zero skills in the art of hairstyling. Basically, only specific styles work for me.

Having read this, most people would assume I took great care in looking for someone new.  However, desperation of having not had my hair cut in 6 months, as well as being in a wedding in a few weeks caused me to act. I was walking my dog two weeks ago when I passed a salon in my neighborhood. The people working inside looked young and hip, but not crazy-hip (i.e. no one resembled Edward Scissorhands or Flea).  Upon entering the salon, I discovered new clients get 20% off on their first cut.  Score. I booked an appointment and returned a week later.

Embarrassed, I showed my new stylist the split ends I’d been cultivating for months and explained in great detail what not to do with my hair.  Maybe there was a language barrier.  Maybe he has a hearing deficit. Maybe I didn’t actually explain as well as I thought I did (in actuality, this is most likely the case).  Either way, I left the salon that day looking like a lhasa apso.

Let me preface this mini-rant: he completely nailed my color.  I love it.  It looks the way my hair did before I hit 20, which is exactly what I was going for.  The cut, however, was reminiscent of a hair-era that should forever be forgotten: the seventies.  Upon seeing it, a friend of mine told me it reminded her of Florence Henderson in a good way.  Sorry, but since when has any reference to Carol Brady’s hair been a good thing?

Needless to say, I was in the throes of depression for the rest of the day, and well into the evening.  Once night set, I realized there was only one thing that could lift my spirits: a cocktail.  Not just any cocktail, mind you; one that would soothe my broken heart as well as appropriately convey my desperate state in name, body and soul.  I mixed myself a Dark and Stormy.

                                  (My dog likes to commiserate with me.)

Have you ever had a Dark and Stormy?  Aside from the excellent name, it genuinely tastes like an alcoholic root beer.  Yes, please!  Starting with dark rum, adding the juice of a lime and some spiced simple syrup (incredibly easy to make by the way, don’t be scared!), and topping it off with ginger beer, a Dark and Stormy can cure many a bad mood, or at least aid a person in trying to overcome one. It did just that for me on that fateful hair day and helped wash away any hair nightmares I may have had in my sleep.

Looking in the mirror the next morning, I realized I still hated my hair.  It looked even worse with the added element of bedhead.  Ripping myself away from the bathroom mirror, I entered our dining room to see a bowl of lemons sitting near our sun-dappled windowsill.  Lovely. How simply lovely. And breathtakingly beautiful. 

As strange as this sounds, the lemons inspired me to hop in the shower and get over the hair blues.  Towel drying, brushing, blow drying thirty minutes later (albeit with the mantra “Hair grows out. It will grow out!”), I realized my hair wasn’t actually half bad.  In fact, I kind of liked it.  In fact, it no longer reminded me of Florence Henderson!  Score.

When things have a way of working themselves out in this manner, there’s really only one thing I like to celebrate with: a cocktail.  With the bowl of lemons just begging to be used, I figured a Lemon Drop was in order. 

I am not a fan of vodka.  Over the years, we’ve just had too many run-ins; they’ve left us embarrassed, cringing and hating one another.  Having said that, I cannot ignore how essential vodka has become in today’s age of mixology.  Vodka has the ability to absorb flavor incredibly well, which makes for a delicious drink, especially one that also involves sugar and lemon juice.

So I mixed one up.  I toasted my hair-do (previously thought hair-don’t).  And I felt great.

Happy drinking (and cheers!),

Elizabeth

Simple Syrup

1 part water
1 part sugar

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the water and sugar. Syrup is done once sugar is completely dissolved.

To make flavored simple syrup (a delicious and complex addition to any drink), simply add whole spices (like vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, anise pods, allspice berries, cloves, etc.) and strain them out of the syrup before adding.

Dark and Stormy

Juice of one lime (about half an ounce)
½ ounce simple syrup (see above recipe)
1 ½ ounces dark rum
Ginger beer

In a cocktail shaker with ice, vigorously shake lime, simple syrup and rum. Strain into a glass filled with ice.  Top drink with ginger beer (try Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew, which can be found at Trader Joe’s).

Lemon Drop

Juice of half a lemon (about half an ounce)
½ ounce simple syrup (see above recipe)
1 ½ ounces vodka (obviously, the better the vodka, the better the taste).

Chill martini glasses in freezer. Once cold, rim lip of glass with lemon and dip them in a plate of sugar. In a cocktail shaker with ice, vigorously shake lemon juice, simple syrup and vodka.  Immediately pour into the prepared glass using strainer.

To jazz up this drink, feel free to add some grated ginger or flavored syrup (raspberry and pomegranate are great additions for flavor and color.  Torani is a great quality syrup to use).


** A note on the cocktail shaker mentioned in the previous recipes. We recommend you use this shaker with a pint glass instead of this set with a top.  There are a few reasons for this recommendation.  One, the metal tops have a tendency to stick when you're trying to remove the metal top after shaking.  Two, they can rust really easily if not cleaned properly.  In using the metal shaker with a pint glass, you get easy removal and less of a mess.