So very intrigued by “the Airmail,” a rum and champagne cocktail that I first came across on a blog based out of the UK.  I’ve found several variations on this recipe (just tweaking the ratios a bit) but very little on the origins of this drink.  According to Esquire’s “resident cocktail historian,” “[the Airmail] simply turns up, as if by spontaneous generation, in our 1949 Handbook for Hosts. The name, at least, isn’t much of a riddle: Way back when, airmail was the last word in getting something from point A to point B. And in fact, this one’ll do just that to you, but quick.”  That reference to a 1949 book is all I could find.  Anybody know more?

Once I obtain some rum, a liquor we tend no to kep in the house, I plan to test out this recipe from Imbibe magazine:

1 1/2 oz. añejo rum
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. honey syrup (1 part honey to 1 part water)
1 oz. prosecco
Ice cubes
Tools: shaker, strainer, eyedropper
Glass: coupe
Garnish: eyedropper of Angostura bitters, mint leaf

Combine rum, lime juice, syrup and ice in shaker. Shake vigorously. Strain into glass and top with prosecco. Garnish by dragging mint leaf through bitters to create an attractive design, then laying mint leaf on top.

Many thanks to the British Postal Museum’s Twitter feed for
sending me down this cocktail and mail history path…

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.  It means so much to me that you stop by my (teeny, tiny) corner of the Internet.  Today, I’m revisiting a favorite poem– “Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo.  It’s such a beautiful summation of why we’re drawn to family gatherings (biological or made) around warm bread and good wine.

I hope your day is full of love, laughter, moist turkey, and a football victory (unless you’re a Cowboys fan (sorry)).

Perhaps the World Ends Here
by Joy Harjo

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

“Perhaps the World Ends Here” from The Woman Who Fell From the Sky by Joy Harjo. Copyright © 1994.
Available online via the Poetry Foundation.

Every year about this time I have to fight the urge to acquire more school supplies, stock up on fresh notebooks, and buy a fancy new lunchbox.  The lunchbox is one of those things that I could spend hours looking at and, if I had a zillion dollars lying around, would probably own 50 of.  The object of my desire this year is the Planetbox (above), a stainless steel lunchbox that reminds me simultaneously of a cafeteria tray and a bento box (or the laptop lunch).

And, I love that you can put magnets on the little bumps to jazz it up.  I’m actually not sure I’d use magnets– I love the über utilitarian look of the plain steel– but it’s a really nice touch.  Still, can I justify $40+ for a lunchbox?  Perhaps the better question is, should I justify a $40+ lunchbox?  Yes, I do need to get better about packing my lunch and yes I do want to avoid plastic… but is spending money the best way to save it?  No.  It’s just going to stay on the “maybe if I find some money in my winter coat” list.

A lobster roll from the Net Result

A lot of shellfish that Will gathered…

Corn that wasn’t this green in real life…

Potato wedges…

Water and (evidence of) roasted beets.

So sorry about that absence being longer than a week.  Came down with a nasty bout of food poisoning after my trip.  Though I’m feeling much better now, it was not the most pleasant week.  Anyway, let’s get back into it shall we?

Jon and I just bottled our 4th homebrew batch.  Did I ever tell you how batch 1-3 turned out?  Pretty good, actually.  Honestly, I was surprised when we opened the first bottle of the first batch and had actual, drinkable beer.  Our 2nd batch turned out ‘effing amazing (pardon the language).  It was a clone of the Stone Ruination IPA (currently my favorite IPA).

Jon, I have to admit, has kind of taken the lead on the whole homebrew thing.  Although I have great plans to be a super cool brewer chick, in reality, I’m the pretty assistant.

The batch we just bottled is a pseudo-clone of a Lagunitas beer we both really like.  Sadly, it was awfully hot the weekend we decided to brew and when we tasted a bit (un-aged, obviously) during the bottling it was kind of… not good.  It smells like a million dollars, but… I think it’s going to need a lot of time to mellow in the bottle.  So– no more brewing until autumn or until we can use a friend’s basement to ensure the temperature stays at a reasonable range.

By the way, should you find yourself in DC in the next week or so I highly recommend stopping by Pizzeria Paradisio’s “JulyPA” event.  31 IPAs on tap.

Sorry the oil tracker was up there for so long– let’s move onto something a bit more positive, okay?  This week I picked up our first CSA share from the good folks at Evensong Farm. I picked this farm for a number of reasons: 1) it’s owned by women (and you know I’m all about the girl power), 2) it’s near Antietam Battlefield (hello 19th century history, my favorite), and 3) they don’t use “synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or genetically modified inputs.”  Oh, and if you’re confused by what the hell a CSA is look here.

We’re just doing a half-share; Jon and I can barely plan when we’re doing laundry let alone an entire week’s worth of dinners-at-home (between classes and lectures and friends and work happy hours we eat out more than I care to admit).  Anyway, this week we got an enormous head of romaine lettuce, a “spicy” greens mix, peas, radishes (yum), bok choy,* green onions/chives, cilantro (yessss!), and garlic scapes.  Sorry, does that read like I’m bragging?  I kind of meant to.  Kind of.

A recipe for the excellent and 100% vegan dip I made from the radishes is after the jump…

This recipe is a variation of one in this month’s issue of Martha Stewart Living.  I can’t find it online yet, but it’s in the one with the hamburger and person in a blue checkered shirt on the cover (by the way, looks like there is a $1 off coupon on the site– wish I’d seen that).  Anyway, here is my variation on her garbanzo and radish dip– it is a bit more garlicy and I used cilantro instead of basil because a) that’s what we had and b) we are BIG cilantro fans in this house:

Ingredients:

2 cans unsalted garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (keep about 1/3 cup of the liquid)
2 Tbs olive oil
Sea salt, pepper to taste
Cilantro to taste
9 radishes, chopped
2 cloves garlic
juice from 2 fresh lemons
Pita chips and/or bread for dipping

Instructions:

Lightly mash garbanzo beans, oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl until creamy but still chunky.  Stir in the lemon juice, radishes, garlic, and cilantro.  Stir in some of the reserved garbanzo bean liquid until dip holds together.  Refrigerate at least 30 min before serving.

Note: I tried mushing up the beans with forks and a blender.  The blender did NOT work well– spewed beans all over the kitchen.  If you have a stick blender like you use for soups I’d suggest using that.  If not, one of those things you use for pie crusts.  I have no idea what they’re called– the semi circle of like 4 wires on a handle.

*If you play your cards right, maybe I’ll share Jon’s insanely good recipe for spicy Asian noodles with Bok Choy.  I have no idea how he makes it, so actually paying attention for once might be smart.

We spent the weekend in NYC with friends and a lot of oysters.  I haven’t had that much fun in a long time– college friends always make me feel like less of a weirdo.  I suppose at college you’re just surrounded by folks who are weird in much the same way you are.  Anyway, no photos– too busy having fun to worry about it.  However, I did make a quick drawing of the oysters for the 64 Shades of Wax project.  I think I heard our hosts say they had over 100.  I believe it, I must have eaten 8 or 9 and there were at least 15 people at the party.

On a totally different note, I like how our scanner is starting to get a build up of crayon wax on it– it’s making the scans fun and a little unpredicatble.  I’m not sure though if Jon will find this as fascinating as I do.  Plus, it is entirely possible that I’m just trying to make not cleaning the scanner bed okay.  Hard to know…

My goodness… that was fast.  It’s almost 2010?

Like SouleMama, one of my favorite crafty-lady bloggers, I’m a tree-out-the-door on the morning of the 26th kind of girl.  Or, in my case, folded up and put back into its box.  The glitter snowflakes are down and so is the garland.  The wreath will stay on the door until New Years’ but that’s all that’s left.  But, also like SouleMama, I like that I get to share (and see) some things that were happening behind the scenes for the last month or so.

Today, a few shots from our Christmas day.  Tomorrow, a few shots of some craft projects and a give away related to my holiday cards.

No-knead bread– this might be my best loaf yet!

That vintage glass decanter is from Jon… I am in love with old glass things right now.

The blog will be pretty quiet this week, I’ll be out of town for work and then Jon and I have lots of fun plans: NFL game, decorating for the holidays, and enjoying this dark time of year– perfect for this cocktail and nights on the couch with a book.

We finally did it!  This weekend we brewed our first batch of beer.  It’s still fermenting, as we speak the wort is bubbling away in the fermenter.  At least, I think it’s called wort.  It has the yeast in it now, obviously, so perhaps it becomes something else?  Clearly I need to brush up on my terminology.

Here’s what it looked like right after I put the yeast in.

Brewing requires a lot of instructions.  Really though, I think it can probably be boiled down (no pun intended) to three things: keep things clean, follow directions, be patient.  Good life advice, really.

If all goes well we should be bottling about a week, then another week or two until we can crack one open.  I’ll keep you all posted.