Drink O' The Week

Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

Found this in a recent Gourmet Magazine and made it for the first time this weekend. By all accounts it was a success, and I genuinely think I'll make it again. A great drink for a warm, late spring day.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice
1 8 in. piece fresh rosemary & enough 4 in. pieces to garnish
vodka
soda water
ice
lemon slices

At least one day ahead...
Make Lemon Rosemary Syrup
In a medium sauce pan combine lemon juice, sugar, and rosemary. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and simmer for 2 minutes. Strain out rosemary and chill.

To make the drinks...
Fill rocks or highball glasses halfway with ice.
Add approx 2 tbls Lemon Rosemary Syrup.
Add vodka - at least equal portion to Syrup, you may want to add more
Top off with soda water.
Stir.
Garnish with rosemary sprig and a slice of lemon.


I'm sure we could come up with any number of variations of this drink by using the Lemon Rosemary Syrup and changing up the rest of the ingredients. I think this would certainly be worth trying with Gin, I would consider myself more of a Gin guy than a Vodka guy any how. Maybe I'll let you know how that one turns out later this summer in a Drink O' The Week Remix!

Rosé Arrival

Lots of new Rosés in the store today! We tend to stock a lot more Rosé in the spring and summer and less so in the fall and winter. So naturally I tend to drink a lot more of them when the weather is warm and not so much when it's cold. I'll be checking out this years batch of new arrivals in the days and weeks to come, so stop back in for recommendations!

The Simple Wonders Of A Well Stocked Pantry

I often forget exactly what we have in our pantry...but I know that our pantry is usually stocked well enough that if I just grab a protein from the store, that I should be able to create a meal around it. A well stocked pantry goes a long way. For example, tonight all I picked up from the store was 3 chicken sausages.

With a little searching through the fridge I was able to find some suitable roasting partners for my sausages. A head of fennel, a red onion, and an apple later...it was ready to go into the oven.

To accompany my roasted sausages I just cooked some canned white beans with basic flavorings (onion and garlic) and added some fresh spinach along with a little more flavor (salt, olive oil, some dried herbs)...and there you have it. Dinner. Thursday night. Done. Tasty too.

If you would ever like any additional information on a meal you see in this space, please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment! Thanks for checking out my new blog.

vintner select trade show '09

Quick photo from the Loire Valley seminar.

oatmeal of the day - celery and red onion

What better way to start a new blog than with breakfast??

We make a lot of cooked grains for breakfast around here, especially in the cooler months. Grits, polenta, wheat bran, oatmeal...I'm probably forgetting others. It's rare that any one recipe is made twice, usually whatever is around that should be used, is used. Today it's celery and red onion. I think celery is a vegetable that can take over a dish with it's slightly bitter earthy flavor...sometimes that's something to avoid...and sometimes it's something to embrace! I really like celery...so today we're embracing it. Eat your celery kids.

I'll be back later with a few pictures from the Vintner Select 20th Anniversary Trade Show. Events like this are one of the best parts of my job.