Le Jardin: June (and a cocktail recipe)

Because I didn't make anything this Memorial Day weekend save for Black & Blue Mojitos (recipe below!) and a bowl of guacamole, I'm resorting to posting pictures of the back 40. So far, things are going swimmingly....

The cucumbers are taking off; there's probably a dozen blossoms already. Hopefully, I can train/tie them up the fence. There will be lots of pickle experiments this summer.

The peas are doing ok--I've never dealt with peas, so I don't know if they look good, too thin, or are slow to fruit (or maybe, they're fine). All the March/April cooking magazines I get promote pea recipes, but those editors are crazy--here in central Ohio we most definitely do not have fresh peas in April...


The radishes, however, are most definitely doing well. I pulled half of my little row of radishes last weekend, and will probably pull the rest this weekend.


Broccoli. Again, I'm not really familiar with the growing of broccoli, but basically, you get a giant (close to two feet tall) stalk, with big, green, cabbage-like leaves (which means cabbage worms-ugh), and the broccoli crown grows out of the very center of the stalk. This is looking straight down on the top of the plant. Kinda cool.

Alrighty: Here's a recipe (and I use this term loosely) for what I'm calling Black & Blue Mojitos--pretty much ideal for sipping on a back porch with your feet soaking in a kiddie pool...but that's just me.

Black & Blue Mojitos

Rum (clear, spiced, aged, whatever you have on hand)
Blackberries
Blueberries
Agave syrup (this happened to be sitting on my friend's counter, otherwise, it would read: simple syrup)
Club soda/Soda water

In a shaker, pour a couple of ounces of rum, a handful of each of the berries, and a squirt (a tablespoon?) of the agave or simple syrup. Add a handful of ice and shake the bejesus out of it--you want those berries to get really bruised and banged up. (Get it? Black & Blue! Ha!)

Pour into a glass (highball is fine) add a little more ice and top with a splash of club soda. Add some mint leaves for garnish if you're feeling fancy (or more rum if you're feeling saucy).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strawberry Basil Shrub (aka, the Drinking Vinegar Craze)

Image
Drinking vinegars, or shrubs, are all the rage these days. Shrubs are fruit infused vingegars sweetened with sugar, and they are delicious mixed with some soda water or any given liquor. Shrubs have been around on the fancy-cocktail circuit for a while (I had a shrub cocktail at Nopa in San Franciso in 2009, and they're making a splash at Andy Ricker's Thai street food mecca  Pok Pok in Portland, Oregon.  His "Pok Pok Som Drinking Vinegars" are so popular that he's producing them for sale outside of his restaurant, and they're now available at Weiland's in Clintonville.  On the local blog scene, last week the lovely Rachel Tayse chronicled her creation of a rhubarb shrub on her blog Hounds in the Kitchen .  You should check it out. Over at the Ham Sandwich HQ, I had a dozen pounds of strawberries, courtesy of a seriously focused hour of picking at Schacht Family Farms last Saturday.   My freezer is not big enough for twelve pounds of frozen str...
Read more

Civility and Respect in the Workplace

It has been EIGHT years since I've posted anything on this blog. The name doesn't really make sense any more (it's a long story), but we'll deal with that later. I needed to put some thoughts down on paper and  share them, but LinkedIn only allows 1300 characters in a post. So, hello, and no, this post is not about food.  This morning, I attended a CLE training about improving workplace civility and respect as a means of preemptively managing sexual harassment and workplace bullying.  The speaker,  Fran Sepler , offered a powerful and though-provoking presentation, with a great deal more nuance and detail than I'm sharing. I had a couple big take-aways/reminders (I took six pages of notes!!), ones that weren't really about sexual harassment at all, but about the value and need for civility and respect in the workplace. Hopefully, this will resonate with you, and apologies to Fran for my attempt to (poorly) summarize her information-laden talk. Did you ...
Read more

Vice Presidential Debate Drinking Game

Image
I know everyone else is doing it, but here's another set of rules for tomorrow's VP debate. You can thank me on Friday morning, when you can't remember any of the drivel that was spouted the night before. Also, it looks like we'll be playing at Barley's on High St.---come on down and join! The Vice Presidential Debate Drinking Game (brought to you by Cliff, Ethan, myself, and of course, the internet): Take a drink if : Palin touches her glasses and/or becomes more “adorable” Palin says “hockey mom,” “Russia,” “9/11,” or “maverick” Palin just rephrases the question she’s asked in an attempt to make it an answer. (Two if she uses the moderator’s name repeatedly) Biden mentions taking the train to work or questions Palin’s experience. Biden makes a historically inaccurate reference. Biden makes a condescending reference or gives a condescending look. Either of the candidates says anything folksy. Two drinks if it's the actual word "folks." Either of the...
Read more