Posts Tagged ‘cocktails’

Cookbooks: Extra Credit

Last weekend I knew I wanted to knock the book of ice cream recipes that came with our ice cream maker off my cookbook list. Every time I use the ice cream maker we have, I’m shocked by how easy it is.

This thing was not pricey, but is completely amazing. I recommend it 100%

This thing was not pricey, but is completely amazing. I recommend it 100%

I decided to make the cream cheese ice cream… but it was almost TOO easy, you know? With this thing, you mix the ingredients together in a bowl or whatever, then chill them for a few hours. Then take the bowl of the ice cream maker out of the freezer (where it lives), hook it up, pour the stuff in, and let it go for like 20 minutes. Then you have soft serve! You can then freeze for longer if you don’t like soft serve for some freakish reason. Or if, like me, you decide to make red velvet ice cream sandwiches!

Ice cream goes in a cake pan to firm up so that I can cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter

Ice cream goes in a cake pan to firm up so that I can cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter

After making up the cookie dough and chilling it in the fridge overnight, I rolled it out and cut out cookies with the biscuit cutter:

I thought this step would be the hardest, but it was way easy compared to rolling out pie crust (which I am of course a pro at)

I thought this step would be the hardest, but it was way easy compared to rolling out pie crust (which I am, of course, a pro at)

Then you chill those guys on the baking sheets for awhile and stick them in the oven. They don’t take long.

Cookies!! Wait till they get to room temperature before putting them in the freezer too

Cookies!! Wait till they get to room temperature before putting them in the freezer too

After everything has been frozen to satisfaction, it’s assembly time!! Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this because I had to work fast so the ice cream didn’t melt. Using the same biscuit cutter, you just press out rounds of the ice cream sheet and smoosh them between two cookies. Then Steven was in charge of wrapping them in plastic wrap.

Now they are just waiting in our freezer!! Happy summer!

Now they are just waiting in our freezer!! Happy summer!

The cookbook project is now at 69% completion because I (well, Steven) got through The Ultimate Book of Cocktails the same day! He’s way better at mixology than me.

Planter's Punch: Steven version

Planter’s Punch: Steven version

According to the book, “This long, refreshing, old colonial drink originates from the sugar plantations that are dotted throughout the West Indian islands.”

1 measure/1.5 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 measure/1.5 tbsp orange juice
2 measures/3 tbsp dark rum (we always use KRAKEN, because that name. And it’s delicious)
0.5 measure/2 tsp grenadine (Steven uses the juice from a can of maraschino cherries. Because we’re classy)
dash of bitters
soda water of lemonade, chilled

Steven is more of a gin fan (to me, it tastes like Fresca that hates you) so for himself he made this:

Horse's Neck!

Horse’s Neck!

Apparently: “The name derives from the shape of the lemon rind that hangs in the glass.”

1 lemon
2 measures/3 tbsp gin
dry ginger ale

Cut the entire rind from a lemon, spiral-fashion. Dangle it from the rim of a tall glass so that it hangs down inside. (I think Steven skipped this step because it was too annoying even though it is the whole point lol)
Add cracked ice and the gin, and then top up with ginger ale. You can also add a dash of bitters if the mood takes you (see? this book is awesome).

"Let me take a picture of your process"

“Let me take a picture of your process”

The Best Cider Ever

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary! I prepared a delicious feast of warm things, because it was really cold and raining outside.

Anyway, one of the recipes I found was a four hour slow cooker apple cider recipe! If you have a slow cooker, there’s no reason not to try this. If you don’t have one, how do you eat on weekdays? You could probably also make it in a pot on the stove.

First you take about 8 cups of cider from the store and put it in your slow cooker with six sticks of cinnamon:

I may have pretended they were olympic divers as I threw them in

Then you take an orange, poke holes in it with a toothpick, and fill those holes with cloves!

The weirdness of how it looked and felt was only eclipsed by its weirdness after cooking

Then cook on low for four hours, until it smells delicious and you’re super cold!

Steven had his with rum and a cinnamon stick, but I went for plain.

But there was nothing plain about it! Delicious and spicy and warming from the inside out! This is a recipe I will definitely be making again. Like maybe everyday this winter? We’ll see.

Also, since it was our anniversary, we finally lit this cool Halloween candle we got as a present! The spooky skeleton bride and groom seem perfect, but the best part is the red insides that drip down gradually like blood!

So romantic!!! And gross

Way more exciting than eating freezer burned cake!

Calculus and Cocktails

Steven and I are brushing up on our calculus. For a variety of reasons, including my childhood association of math with family and fun. And something about Steven’s work? I don’t know, the point is calculus and cocktails are alliterative, which gives me permission to do this:

Oh yeah

The Calculus

My mom lent me the annotated teacher’s edition of this text book, Calculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic. AP* Edition. Plus a solution’s manual! Combined with my vague memories of junior year, we should be all set!

The answers are in blue, but we usually hide them with a card

We’ve actually been doing this for a little while (before we thought of the cocktails part, see below) so this was section 2.2 Limits Involving Infinity. It involved a lot more looking at graphs to decide things than either of us remember doing in highschool, but maybe that’s because I’ve blocked out everything before chapter 3.3 (I peeked ahead) and Steven went to highschool back when calculators probably filled entire rooms.

I mean, he is turning 27 this weekend; so old right now!

The Cocktails

Of course, Steven has always been into making fancy drinks (and food, for that matter), but things really took off two weeks ago, on Carrboro Day(!), when he bought an in-depth book about cocktails from the Carrboro branch library book sale.

A dollar well spent.

It not only has lots of recipes (and good pictures!) but information on how various liquors and liqueurs are made, how to make fancy garnishes, and the history of liquor and specific cocktails. Exciting!

These were the two he made yesterday:

For me, a Jamaica Sunday

So maybe I drank half of it before remembering to take a picture

Ingredients: 2 measures dark rum, 1/4 measure honey, 1/2 measure lime juice, 2 measures sparkling lemonade

You combine the honey and rum first, then add the lime juice, and finally the lemonade.

This drink was great, especially since I really like lime. It wasn’t too sweet or sticky like some cocktails, and the honey+rum combination made both of them taste better. Steven thought it was too strong-tasting, but he never had his taste buds sanded off by Taaka, so there it is.

For himself, Steven unashamedly made the Pink Pussycat.

Totally confident in his gender identity

Ingredients: 2 measures gin, 3 measures pineapple juice, 2 measures grapefruit juice, 1/2 measure grenadine

Just shake em all up together.

Steven really liked this drink and recommends it to anyone who doesn’t like tasting alcohol, but likes grapefruit. I didn’t, because all I could taste was the pineapple juice, a flavor I like, but not on its own.

In conclusion, this is the best combination of things ever!!! Thank you, alliteration.

Next time: Chapter 2.3, Continuity and probably something involving sweet tea vodka

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