International Summer

This summer, unbeknownst to me, has turned out to be quite the international affair.

In April, I resigned myself to staying in the boiling Arizona heat all summer. Though, I was planning on driving back to California for a friend's wedding, then I figured I'd keep going up north to my parents' house for a week or so.

Well, in came May and I found myself in Puerto Rico with Paul's family, practicing my Spanish and (re)discovering that I love fruity island cocktails.

Then, two days later, moved! And then, a week later, crashed my car and had to turn the title over to the towing company... Now taking public transit and seeing a therapist for my back post-accident (which was very minor, thank God), I quickly realized I'd need to book a flight to the wedding, and my parents' house, and also... Portland for a long weekend. Talk about being a blur, everything has happened so quickly this summer, I've barely had time to breathe. 

And then, a week after my accident, I got a call from my dad that my 103 year-old aunt in France passed away. My parents and aunt were planning on flying out to France the next day! By the end of the afternoon, I, too, suddenly owned a round-trip ticket to France leaving the following morning. I barely have had time to comprehend what has gone on this summer, but it's been a whirlwind.

We were able to attend the funeral in France and served as the only family present at the service. I got to practice my French a bunch, and picked up reading materials to use with my students in the fall. But more importantly, I got to speak (well, read a Psalm) at the Catholic funeral. It was beautiful and moving, as was the burial that followed. I am glad we all had the opportunity to go and be present. Ever since I was little, my family and I would go visit her every two years or so. That continued on until 2008, and unfortunately that was the last time any of us saw her. We waited four years too long to go back.

Another nice part of the trip was the amount of work some family friends put into the final arrangements. That gave us two days to get out and revisit some of our favorite spots in the South of France. My favorite part, however, was organizing all of our aunt's affairs and seeing everything she did in her lifetime. She had some amazing pictures, documents, travel brochures and trinkets.

I picked out two things I wanted to keep to remember. One is a scarf with her name on the back (standard procedure for the retirement home where she lived, and I fully intend on keeping it on the back!). I didn't realize until I unpacked at home that it was a Hermès. The other is a small, beautifully-decorated champagne box. It is smaller than a champagne bottle, but I think it might have been for corks, wine bottle openers or handkerchiefs? Either way, it is cute and serves as a nice paper/note holder on my desk in the French office. Something I can always look at and remember.

Even at 103, life is short. Cherish the time you have with your family. Even if you live on opposite ends of the globe. They're never less than a day away. And if you can, travel with your family! It's important and is something you'll never forget. 27 years later, I remember nearly every single trip I've ever taken with my family. And it's made me the person I am today; the girl who is living on one continent, and constantly dreaming about the next. I have every member of my family to thank for that, since they've shown me a deep appreciation for travel, family history, languages and the ability to move your family for the promise of a better future.

(P.S., I'm seriously learning German and plan on taking courses at ASU in the fall/spring)

Week 30: Infused alcohol

Prior to this week, I’d never cut a pineapple. Others have done it for me and I’ve eaten pre-cut pineapple, but I never got my hands dirty while doing so. It scared me.

This week, I rolled up my sleeves and got down to business. Silly me, I didn’t even realized pineapples had seeds under their spiny skin! Fun fact for the day.

Once I had several pineapple spears, I cut them down farther and set out to infuse my own tequila. Yes, I started making pineapple tequila!

Infusing alcohol is pretty easy. Especially since luck would have me randomly purchasing small mason jars just the day before. In my quest to come up with something new, I browsed many crafty blogs and found a recipe for grapefruit vodka from Not Martha. Won over by this simple idea, I knew I could kill two birds with one stone and a.) cut my very first pineapple and b.) infuse my very first jar of alcohol!

All I did was fill the jar with pineapple spears and then topped off with lots of tequila (tequila and I aren’t really friends anyways, so why not make it taste better?). Note: When infusing alcohol, make sure to use the best quality you’ve got on hand. The fruit is only going to give it a hint of flavor, it’s not overpowering. In my case, the bf would have FLIPPED if I used all of our Patrón, so instead I went with a mélange of our remaining José Cuervo and then topped it off with Patrón ;)

As a tip for mild-flavored fruits (such as pineapple), most recipes I browsed said to leave the pineapple in the alcohol for up to two weeks. Then when ready, strain the liquid and use to your tastes.

After two days, I couldn’t wait to try it. I was so excited. So as soon as I woke up the second day, I took a spoon to my jar and tasted. What a horrendous idea that was. Even though it smelled like pineapple, it straight up tasted like tequila. I almost spat it out. Clearly it needed more time!

So four days later, I wanted to test it out in a beverage. My remaining pineapple was close to the end of its life and I honestly couldn’t wait any longer. So that pineapple tequila turned into this:

Yes, that’s a piña colada margarita! No I didn't have any mini drink umbrellas. Leave me alone for a few seconds while I pout.

Although it ended up being a lot more watery than I would have liked, the margarita tasted pretty darn delicious. And now that my curiosities have been satisfied, I still have 4/5 of the jar left to soak up more pineapple flavor. Then I can really enjoy it next week (though, who really enjoys tequila anyways?!).

Piña Colada Margarita

• 2 shots (4 oz) pineapple infused tequila
• 1/2 c fresh pineapple
• 1/2 c coconut milk
• ice to thicken up
• salt to rim the glass

Enjoy the warm weather this weekend!

Week 18: Black Velvet

Every week in 2011, for 52-straight weeks, I hope to try something new and blog about it here. This is the 18th week in the series, when I made and tasted my first Black Velvet cocktail. Here you can find a list of all my weekly adventures in 2011.

If you recall, I recently bought my first pack of stout and made chocolate stout cupcakes two weeks ago. Earlier last week, I inched closer towards finishing that six pack (slow and steady, guys) in a new cocktail: The Black Velvet.

As someone who's a fan of Black & Tans (see here for a recipe and photo), I stumbled across a recipe for the Black Velvet several weeks ago. I bookmarked it as something to add to my weekly new things and kept it in the back of my head. Ever since buying the stout, I knew this would have to be next on the list.

Black Velvets are fairly simple, really. All it involves is champagne (or sparkling wine) and stout, Guiness is recommended. Well, we had Veuve Clicquot and milk stout.

The only "directions" I read said pour each equally in a pretty glass and enjoy the beautiful color. My mistake, I used both hands to pour equal proportions of the alcohols and it never crossed my mind to tilt the glass. Before I knew it, the ratio was 30 percent cocktail and 70 percent foam. Oops. Letting it settle, I slowly tilted the flute and poured in the drinks one at a time. Finally I was left with a flute of what resembled a very fizzy barley wine.

The verdict: I think our champagne may have gone bad. It had been in the fridge for a while. If not, I think something rubbed me the wrong way with this beverage. It was sweet, sour, bitter and heavy all at the same time. Interesting sensations and flavors for cocktails, but maybe not all at the same time. I did like the color and the foam. I think I might have to try this again with the recommended Guiness and maybe a different kind of bubbly.

Then again, maybe it was the Thai dinner paired with the cocktail that made something taste funny. If I do this again, it's going to be solely as an apéritif. Lesson learned :) But glad I finally drummed up the courage to take the plunge into the Black Velvet!

Avocado Daiquiris: more good than weird

Before I get into the good stuff (booze), I have to tell you about this show J.D. loves called Drinking Made Easy. It's a pretty neat show and it's based loosely off Zane Lamprey's earlier show, Three Sheets. Three Sheets is actually the show that sparked my desire to one day travel to Belize :)

We all know I'm a sucker for travel, so why not throw in some interesting alcohol facts and recipes, right?! Well, when Drinking Made Easy hit Portland, Ore., the illusive avocado daiquiri caught my eye.

And it was only a matter of time before I put my own spin on it.

Avocado Daiquiri (adapted from Mint/820)

Ingredients:

• 4 oz mango rum (original recipe calls for 4 oz light & gold rum)
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 2 oz simple syrup
• 1/4 medium-ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 oz heavy cream
• 1/2 oz skim milk
• 1 1/2 c ice

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As weird as it sounds, I really enjoyed this cocktail! It was creamy and fruity and refreshing. I think it would be a lot bolder without the mango rum, and will definitely have to try it again. Although I had to work during the night of Cinco de Mayo (and I'm French, remember?! I shouldn't even have to acknowledge that "holiday") I'd definitely make these again to "catch up". Or for any occasion, really.

Enjoy! Oh and...

To summarize, two posts ago I said I was going on an alcohol detox, didn't I...?! Oops :)

I'm not crazy

...right??

J.D. enjoyed a mixed drink after dinner last night and I got pretty excited. A far cry from the usual glass of wine or bottle of beer with a meal. I think I even cried out, "I didn't realize it was cocktail time!!" before springing for the stainless steel cocktail shaker in the kitchen.

Before I knew it, the Rosemary Bellinitini was born out of my crazed head. We had half a bottle of peach purée in the fridge, an entire bag of rosemary from the last time I trimmed the hedges in the yard, and a pretty untouched bottle of Swedish clementine vodka. Money.

I mixed up what I thought would be a winning combination before spitting it out into the sink. You see, I'm pretty sensitive to the strength of alcohol. Shoot, I'm good to go after two drinks, tops. So you can see how a regular martini could be a bit much for me.

Modifications were in order. And I whipped up my first ever batch of simple syrup. Here is the final product of my 30 minute laboring:

(In my haste this was the only picture of the concoction shot -- from my iPhone)

Rosemary Bellinitini

• 2 oz. Clementine vodka
• 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
• 1 oz. peach purée
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 2 sprigs of rosemary

Toss two sprigs of rosemary into a cocktail shaker, making sure the needles don't fall of the stems. Then add about two handfuls of ice, to ensure your drink stays nice and cold. Add in the remaining wet ingredients, cover and shake vigorously. Garnish with rosemary if you wish and enjoy.

Maybe next time I'll throw some sparkling wine into the mix...

(Source)

Oh yeah, during the next three days, voting is OPEN for Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog! Whether you're a member or not, please go here and help me move on to the next round :) Then I'll show you a celebration that puts this drink to shame.