It's sangria time. I promised to post a recipe awhile ago and I'm finally following through on that. I generally don't follow through very well, have you noticed. Like I still need to do a post on the bathrooms as mentioned ages ago (yeah that's right you know you want it), finish up Kooch, finish up Rambling Rose, and do an update on the state of my mom's dog Mocha...

I'm giving you not one but TWO recipes for sangria.

Red Sangria 1 bottle red wine 1 1/2 cups light rum 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup orange juice 1 orange, sliced into rounds 1 lime, sliced into rounds 1 lemon, sliced into rounds Chill for at least 2 hours.

Passionfruit Sangria Lighter and more refreshing than a red! 1 bottle dry white wine (sauvignon blanc) 1/2 cup brandy (or light rum) 1/4 cup triple sec 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 cup passionfruit juice (like Goya brand, can be found in the canned beans section of most conventional supermarkets) 1 orange, sliced into rounds 1 lemon, sliced into rounds 1/2 cup blackberries Chill for at least 2 hours.

Now go make one!

While you do that, I'll be shaking up a martini. After drinking sangrias for two weeks non-stop, I started on the dirty vodka martinis as if tomorrow would never come. It's weird because on paper this is the type of drink I can't stomach, for the same reasons I can't drink Bloody Marys - cocktails aren't supposed to be savory. But now 5 o'clock will roll around and my taste buds will start tingling from craving the savory brine of olives that will then be washed down by a wave of ice-cold vodka. I had four Friday night, and at least two every night thereafter. So that's...a lot. I may have a problem.

Dirty Vodka Martini
Martini's are traditionally gin-based. But gin is yucky to me.

2 oz vodka (I prefer Grey Goose)
2 Tbs olive juice from the jar
1 Tbs dry vermouth (I leave this out and replace with more vodka :) )

Shake with ice, pour and garnish with green olives. Enjoy!

Thank you for all the tips on how to properly pick up for button bands. I could have sworn I had done it before but amazingly this is the first time I've knit button bands. Which would explain why I thought it would be a snap. Of all the techniques that I had to overcome while knitting Rambling Rose - intarsia, back and forth yoking with intarsia, back and forth yoking with shortrow shaping with intarsia - I really didn't think I'd be stumped by the button bands when all was said and done!

...Here is this Tuesday's installment of my Favorite Things:

The Belle de Brillet Sidecar oooooooo

Belle de Brillet is a pear cognac. It is my very good friend. I am not a huge fan of pears nor cognac per se, but together they make a really lovely couple. This stuff is not exactly cheap ($40 a bottle) but really, you get what you pay for. You get some French. You get some class. You get it in a sexy pear-shaped bottle.

The cognac is not pear flavored, but pear infused, so this is about as far from the nasty, sickly sweet fake stuff as you can get. It's delicately pear-y, very floral, very smooth, and even after overindulging on a couple of sidecars (very easy to do), your mornings will remain hangover-free. And you'll think to yourself, Why, what a tasty little drink I had last night! I just might do it again real soon!

So treat yourself to a bottle and try it out. We make these when we have friends over and let me tell you, they're always a huge hit.

For a perfect serving of a Belle de Brillet Sidecar:
1.5 oz Belle de Brillet
1 oz cognac (optional, can substitute with more BdB)
1 oz Grand Marnier (or triple sec)
juice of half a lemon (absolutely no substitutes for the real thing!)
about 1-2 oz simple syrup, to taste (or dissolve 2 tsp of sugar in 1 oz of water)

Shake with plenty of ice, pour, and get ready to FALL IN LOVE.

We are in the midst of our 2nd Annual Memorial Day Getaway with Kitty and her fiance. (This trip has been planned much more in advance than our plans to sell our house, if that gives any indication to how well Duck and I ready ourselves for major life events...) Last year we were in Ogunquit, Maine. This year we are in another seaside town of Jamestown, Rhode Island, just adjacent to Newport.

We have been eating seafood and making cocktails, of course.

A "Jamestown"

Look how pretty this drink is! Kitty has made an old-fashioned of sorts, which comprises of: fresh mashed cherries, sugar, a splash of orange juice, a dash of bitters, and bourbon over ice. We have dubbed this drink "The Jamestown" in honor of our week here.

Meanwhile, I made this...

A Pink Mojito

It's a pink mojito, the pink courtesy also of two mashed cherries. There is no cherry flavor per se, so they're there for color really. Pretty, no?

I have finished my glass and now must refill.

How I love the summer. Cheers to you all!

Before the dawn of Mojitos, the Sidecar reigned supreme in alcoholic content at our house. It is tangy, sweet and refreshing when chilled to the bone. Here's how to make a sidecar (not that you asked, but I have nothing else to write about. Oh except did you hear, did your pink little baby ears hear, Bush said a BAD WORD, which we average citizens would never have heard until CNN made the video and audio headline news. Don't make me go to FoxNews! So is the era of puritanical censorship finally over now, or does this mean Bush will have to fine himself? Also, him swearing is more newsworthy than him lying! But really in the end, WHO THE F!#*$ CARES?!)

(Actually, I care that he eats with his mouth open. That's just wrong.)

Materials

Brandy, Cointreau (or Triple-sec), sugar, lemons, shaker, martini glass. I have no idea what brands of brandy are considered top-shelf or bottom-shelf, though I'm pretty sure what we use is bottom-shelf since we always get the cheapest. If you are brave you can use Armanac instead of brandy.

Prep Your Glasses

1. First slice the lemons in half, then slice a small sliver of a wedge from either halves. Set the wedges aside.  Juice the lemons, 1 lemon per drink.
2. With the lemon wedge, smear a thin layer of juice on the rim of the glasses. (This is a nice little trick invented by Duck. Using the lemon wedge keeps the juice on the rim, and the rest of the glass dry, so that when you dip it in sugar, you don't get huge, messy clumps.)
3. Dip the rim of the glass in sugar. Repeat as necessary for complete sugar coverage.
4. Tada! Pretty sugar-rimmed martini glasses.
   
   This is entirely optional, but Duck is the Official Sidecar Bartender at the house, and he insists on it.

Add Alcohol

5. Fill shaker with ice. Add 2 parts brandy (or 3 oz for one drink)
6. Add 1 part Cointreau (or 1.5 oz for one drink)
7. Add 1 part lemon juice (or one lemon for one drink)
8. Shake shake shake!
9. Pour...
10. And enjoy! Responsibly!

Since I have no new knitting news of interest to report, I'd like to share with you, on this 4th of July weekend, the other addiction that I have to attend to on a daily basis.

Mojitos. BRING IT.

I make my mojitos like the way one might make a parfait, or a chocolate sundae: in layers.

1. First, squeeze a lime. My metric is usually one lime per drink, but sometimes I'll juice two. When I'm feeling very daring, or when I have run out of limes, I will squeeze a lemon instead. Sometimes, like last night, I might even squeeze a lime AND a lemon. I NEVER use anything that comes out of a bottle or that plastic lime thing.
2. Have glasses ready. I usually use squat scotch glasses as this keeps the alcohol-level-per-serving in check. Taller glasses are reserved for specialdays.
   Add a heaping tablespoon of bar sugar into your glass - the more sugar the better - then add lime juice. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
   Then tear the leaves from 2-3 sprigs of mint - the more mint the better - and muddle them in the lime juice to release the minty essence. I use the handle of knife for muddling.
3. Now fill your glass with crushed ice. Regular ice is fine, but I find my drink is more refreshing somehow with crushed ice.
4. Now add rum. I usually eyeball it, but you may discover later when you've woken up with pounding eyeballs that eyeballing is a dangerous technique. What you want is about 1.5 to 2 shots of rum. And only light rum will do. I use Bacardi.
5. Optional: Now add a splash of whiskey. I use Jameson. Just a splash or so. This is my own twist on the drink, discovered when I was just short of rum for a full drink, so I topped the glass with whiskey instead. It turned out pretty good.
6. After the alcohol's in place, top off with a splash of club soda, stir lightly, and garnish with a sprig of mint. Enjoy! 
   
   It should only be enjoyed once per evening. This drink is pretty potent, the way I make it.

We are heading to western Mass. for 4th July weekend, and of course the questions I always have to ask before we go to western Mass is 1) do I need to make a stop at WEBS? and 2) do I need to make a stop at Col0rful Stitches? In other words, Do I need more yarn?

I think the answer to that is NO, but then I think of my upcoming trip to Philly, and I'm swishing my tail...Know how my high school bff invited me to the lake in NH a few weeks ago, and I couldn't get there because I left my wallet on a subway (I did get it back finally)? Well to make up for that I'm going to spend 4th of July with her in Philadelphia, where she's been studying for her anthropology doctorate. She goes to Africa next month for a year or so for research towards her dissertation. Here is an excerpt of her proposal:

I take as a case study a rural district in central Mozambique where Pentecostal/Charismatic African Independent healing churches and female spirit mediums are both undergoing rapid growth. It examines the ways in which language is used as a critical means through which healing is effected in the ceremonies of spirit mediums and of healing churches.

I'm like, Whuh.

I leave Monday via Amtrak. Taking the train will be fun, and with 6 whole hours at my disposal, what will I knit? Rose of England is too unwieldy, I still can't garner interest to knit my mom's sweater (sorry Mom), so the only choice I have is to knit socks. Sigh. Such a burden. Really it's not such a bad thing since I'm planning to gift them for Christmas, but the problem is which sock yarn do I bring? I have three skeins of Regia self-striping which I don't feel like using right now because the wool is itchier and hot than the merino variety. So I have a skein of Koigu multicolored, but I'm kind of not into the multicolored at the moment...

Long story short, do I get more solid or semi-solid sock yarn, even though I so don't need them? I know as soon as I step in WEBS or Col0rful Stitches I won't be able to control myself. But I want sock yarn. But I have some already. But I want others. Damn this horrible sock addiction.