I’ve made no secret of my love of Floriole Bakery and was beyond excited when this long-time farmer’s market favorite announced plans to open a storefront. Imagine how I felt when the storefront was mere blocks from my office! If you are in Chicago and looking to find me, Floriole is a pretty good place to start. I’m proud to call myself a regular. I am so impressed with everything that Sandra Holl and her amazing team creates. Next time you are in town, stop by for a croissant and tell them Tim sent you. More on Floriole over at ReadyMade, but here are some behind the scenes photos of the bakery at work.

The Moon Safari Wins! The Moon Safari Wins!

Many delicious drinks were suggested. Four of the best made it into the finals. Hundred of votes were cast. The winning drink is The Moon Safari, inspired by The Breslin and suggested by Caitlin.

This was one of my favorites and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Pineapple and tarragon all summer long!

Thanks to everyone who suggested a drink, or voted.

Now find yourself a ripe pineapple and have a cocktail.

Happy Summer, everyone!

A couple of weeks ago I asked for drink ideas to sip all summer. You came through in a big way with lots of really wonderful suggestions.

It wasn’t easy narrowing them down to 3 finalists, so we chose 4—which wasn’t much easier. I wanted to try almost every cocktail suggested by you, my fine readers. But in an effort to preserve our livers and  live to drink another day, we narrowed down the competition to these fantastic finalists. We were looking for something seasonal, creative and delicious—these all qualified.

In reviewing the submissions, I noticed some trends. Strawberries made their way onto the list several times, as did pineapple, basil and other fresh herbs. Several of you suggested cucumber-based drinks, which I love. Many of you were inspired by drinks you had at favorite bars or restaurants and these final nominees are really an homage to modern mixologists.

So, without further delay, I present to you the 4 finalists for the 2010 Drink of Summer:

We are bad banana eaters. Very inconsistent. Some weeks we’ll go through a bunch in a couple of days and other weeks they will languish on the counter turning spotted and black as we both try our best to ignore them and hope the other one will deal with them. So, it is in everyone’s best interest to collect recipes that use up the bananas once they have passed the point of no return.

Today I am coming to you with a few random items and one delicious recipe:

I can hardly believe it is June. Farmer’s Market season has begun in the Midwest and we are now lucky enough to live a couple of blocks from our local market. Saturday mornings are now my favorite part of the week.

With summer quickly approaching, I put a call out for a special seasonal cocktail and boy did you deliver! So many excellent suggestions. All of them, really. Those comments will remain a good resource for anyone looking for a refreshing summer drink. We’re in the process of testing some of your recipes out and will be offering three finalists up for a vote later in the month. Soon, the official drink of summer will be crowned.  Can’t wait.