[Kelly Carambula is cool. Not only does she run a fantastic blog, produces a beautiful food journal, she's a great person to hang out with at a cocktail party. Speaking of cocktails, she made one for us!]

This little number is inspired by the delicious fruit desserts that Tim shares. Blackberries, an ode to summer, are paired with a fall staple in my house, Fuji apple cider (regular apple cider works too) and bourbon to create a cocktail that’s sweet and satisfying. Finished with a rim of cinnamon sugar, it’s a perfect welcome to the beginning of a new season and another year of delicious treats from Tim.

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The other day at lunch, my friend Anna was telling me about someone she knew who roasted his own coffee beans at home. I made a joke about how ridiculous that was and then remembered that I had a vat of quinine syrup brewing in my fridge—who am I to judge? read more+++

In the immortal words of Alana from Toddlers & Tiaras, “My special juice is gonna help me win!!“.

Like Alana’s secret go-go juice (it involves Mountain Dew), this special juice really will help you win, not child beauty pageants, but the admiration of breakfast or brunch guests. It might also help you win beauty pageants, I just haven’t tried. Yet.

I’m getting off track.

This is my favorite juice blend and something that we make for very special breakfasts. I say “we” because Bryan juices the fruit. We don’t have anything to help juice, he uses a fork and sheer determination and then swears we are never making this stupid juice again, but of course we do. read more+++

Elderflowers are difficult to come by in Chicago. So when Seedling Farms announced some were available, I jumped at the opportunity to try the ever increasing pile of elderflower recipes I have been collecting. A week or two later, lucky me had a giant box of beautifully perfumed elderflower heads in my hot little hands.

In the states, we’re probably most familiar with elderflower in the form the ubiquitous St. Germain liqueur that has managed to make its way onto every cocktail menu. Europe is better at appreciating these delicate white flowers that are most often used to perfume a sweet cordial. The elder tree is actually a pretty remarkable plant that produces both these flower and elderberries, which are also used in culinary applications. Perhaps most interestingly, the tree has long been associated with witches, and the wood of the tree is particularly well suited to making magic wands. Cool.

What is not to love? And why isn’t there an elder tree on every corner?

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We’re all trying to figure out how to write about food after what has happened in Japan. Ruth Reichl’s tweets are getting more and more bizarre. We’re struggling. There isn’t an answer. We are unbelievably fortunate to be alive, and to have our homes, friends and family safe. Even this internet that brings me to you is such a privilege. My hope is that we are all appreciating our good fortune, and finding ways to help those that are suffering. And I hope that someday everyone will have the luxury of caring about the food they eat (or whatever else) as much as we do. read more+++

So, you have made your beautiful quince pie and have a cup or two of poaching liquid left over (I ended up with 1 3/4 cups). It would be unforgivable for you to pour it down the drain. What to do? Have a drink! The poaching liquid was too beautiful and fragrant for me to ignore, so I decided to invent a cocktail. This is a good idea for any future leftover poaching liquid (pear tarts?). All you need to do is strain the liquid into a jar and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use. read more+++

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:

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It is remarkable how my diet changes with the seasons. The things I am interested in eating, the amount of food and even the preparation. We had a few days of warm weather last month and I instantly adopted a summer palate. I was interested in salads and simple meals. I also wanted bright, refreshing things to drink.
At a recent dinner at Longman & Eagle I had a whiskey drink with ginger beer that was pretty outstanding and got me wondering about ginger beer. I’ve heard it used to describe a variety of beverages, some containing alcohol, some not, some carbonated, some not. A little internet research seems to confirm that the term is applied to a range of liquids and the only common component is, well, ginger. I was interested in a non-alcoholic version that I could use as a mixer with soda or something a little stronger and  decided to give making my own ginger beer a go. read more+++

A couple of summers ago, Bryan and I spent 4th of July in Paris with some family friends. They hosted a lovely barbecue in our honor and we ate and drank all sorts of delicious things. What stood out to me the most was an aperitif that the grandfather of the family had made. My French is pretty bad so I have no idea what it actually was, but I think it had something to do with prunes. In any case, I liked that liqueur so much and I loved that it was homemade. The kind man was clearly proud of his creation and spent the early part of the evening holding the bottle and giving out tastes to anyone who was interested. I had more than my share. read more+++

If you follow me on twitter you probably know that I was recently freaking out about the Angostura bitters shortage which was being written about in several places. My fear wasn’t that the shortage would effect the Manhattan or Old Fashioned I like to drink. I was worried it would effect something much more serious: Your Drink.

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