The Tom Cat cocktail from The Hygge Life.

The Tom Cat

While I can’t believe January is almost over, I’m also relieved that January is almost over. This is my least favorite time of year, and furry blanket and globe lights aside, I’m eager for the trees to have leaves on them again and for a 60-degree day to be a normal one rather than a data point either supporting or denying the existence of climate change. At least this weekend we get a respite of sorts from football, so for the first time since September our neighborhood will not be run amok by people trolling for parking spots to hit up the bars all day. Next weekend, on the other hand, should be interesting—while the Ravens aren’t in the Super Bowl (obviously), we are close enough to Philly that there are many an Eagles fan around here too, so I have a feeling we’ll be staying firmly in our apartment after Michael returns home from the gym. We do have some excellent food plans for that day, so I’m not complaining.

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On Cherry Bombe’s new cookbook and their International Supper Club from this past weekend.

The Sinsear Cocktail

I was doing so well in getting back to the blogging habit, and then my weekends got busy there in October between visits home and visitors here and a trip up to New York for work, so I’ve been a little distracted from this space. I’m always eager to get back to cooking after a few days on the road, and that combined with the acquisition of five new cookbooks since my self-imposed buying embargo lifted meant that I took to both weekend meal planning and figuring out what I’m making this week while Michael is away with gusto.

One of those books was the Cherry Bombe cookbook, which was one I was not expecting to get so soon, but a few weeks ago I was scrolling through Instagram and saw that the authors (and founders of the magazine) were coming to Baltimore as part of their cookbook tour, and they were having a really cool event up at Trohv in the Hampden neighborhood. It was billed as a party featuring some local food people and promised delicious snacks and YesWayRose’s Summer Water, so I ended up getting two tickets for Michael and myself and we took an Uber up on an otherwise unassuming Monday evening after work.

Cava sangria from José Andrés, because even I am finding this heat to be a little much.

Cava Sangria

Sangria was something I dabbled with in New York but fully embraced when we moved to Stamford–many a weekend during the spring and summer months would I make a big pitcher for us to sip on, often relaxing out on our balcony. My sangria-making frequency went down significantly since we moved to Baltimore, likely because we’ll spend many weekends either traipsing around the city looking for fun or we’re on the road to visit people.

Israeli salad and Israeli salad water martini from Zahav.

Israeli Salad Water Martini from Zahav.

One of the things I always lament about getting cookbooks in the fall and then later in winter during the holidays is that inevitably I’m going to find a whole host of recipes that sound amazing but I must wait to make them until better weather arrives. While flipping through Zahav back during Christmas I did exactly that not far into the book–not only did the Israeli salad featured look both fantastic and simple, but then Michael Solomonov went and did one better and add in an Israeli salad water martini that looked damn refreshing as well.

Grapefruit moonshine and rosemary sparkler, pending a better name.

Grapefruit Moonshine and Rosemary Sparkler

When you go to a local food festival and end up tasting a really delicious grapefruit-infused moonshine you obviously need to buy yourself a bottle of it to take home…but then the question remains: what to make with it? This was the conundrum I had after picking up a bottle of Belle Isle’s Ruby Red Moonshine at the Emporiyum Baltimore last month, and after poking around the interwebs for about twenty minutes scrolling through a slideshow of grapefruit-forward cocktails, I eventually stumbled on my answer.

A brief check-in as I prep for New Year’s Eve.

Not pictured: the birthday cake crumb and the empanada meat mixture chilling out in the fridge.

I was all ready to wax philosophical on you all on how I like to plan for parties…but I’m in the midst of party planning and can’t do that just yet. Above is a glimpse of what I’ve been up to in our kitchen, and I can’t wait to share the details with you in the new year because that’s probably when I’ll finally have a chance to sit down and write in earnest.

Dave Arnold’s turmeric gin sour.

Turmeric Gin Sour

Well, I have good news and I have bad news: we’re less than a month away from the first day of winter. For some, that may be great news, especially for my skiing enthusiast friends, but for most of this this is simply a harbinger of gloom, doom, and darkness. (OK, I may be a bit dramatic in saying that, but STILL.) A few weeks ago when I realized that I had exactly one more night to get in a good daylight photo after 5PM before Daylight Savings ended, I decided that I couldn’t go without taking a photo of one of my favorite autumnal cocktails, and one to consider for your celebrations over this holiday weekend: the turmeric gin sour.