From the category archives:

cocktails

Farnum Hill Cider

This weekend, we made a grand lunch for dear friends. This lunch involved some scrumptious recipes like slow-roasted pulled pork sandwiches and a spicy vinegar-based barbecue sauce (thanks to my hubby), sweet potato gratin (thanks to a great recipe at food52.com) and a luscious caramel pudding (thanks to Deb at Smitten Kitchen). It was quite

Pomegranate Packs-a-Punch

This is a bit of a traditional holiday punch with an actual punch. I like to taste the actual liquor in my punch, don’t you? And the bright color is just divine, making it a worthy and special holiday or perhaps superbowl party option.
The base recipe was shared by a dear friend, and I modified

Homemade Baileys

I realize homemade Baileys may be too rich or silly for some of you, but my friends live for a small nip at the holiday season. As guests left my home last year, I sent them packing with hugs and little glass bottles filled with well-chilled homemade Baileys, tied with brown ribbon. (This year, they’re

Homemade Cordials

One of my favorite treats to shower upon friends and family (besides my holiday giftbox, of course) is a teeny bottle of my homemade cordials. I’m no cordial expert and, in fact, I’m not quite sure that I’m using the term correctly for these concoctions I scheme up. But I do feel quite cordial after

Cucumber and Lime Spritzer

As far as I’m concerned, one of the keys to eating less is drinking less. I’ve been eating less, a lot less, which means I’ve been drinking less.
Alas, as far as I’m concerned, one of the keys to enjoying Summer is drinking – not boozy, unnecessary drinking, but the kind of drinking that involves a

Organic Limoncello

Today was one of those days where I totally deserved this entire bottle of Limoncello. I was in the garden most of the day, a big chunk of time spent in that very bed in the above photo. It was over-run, weedy and totally misshapen from clunky Spring growth. On hands and knees, I dug

Giada’s Side Car Martini

The other night, we had a virtual cocktail party. It was the perfect sort of party, one attended by only two couples. On a whim, we called a couple of our best friends in the entire world and, wow, they weren’t busy working or traveling or catering or being Ohioans.
Dan and Cass were in the

Bourbon Peach Punch

I was at a wedding not that long ago when the groom came up to me and said, “I thought of you while I was at the wine store – and I bought an extra case.” Now I’ve never been known to drink an entire case of wine in one night (that I can recall),

Watermelon Margarita

Forget orange, lime or even pomegranate juices. I’ve been head-over-heels for watermelon juice since the season started and found a glorious way to integrate it into my weekend cocktail hour.
You could buy a large melon, scoop out its meat and mash the juice from it. I opt for the easy path. My local farmer’s market