Drinks

Orgeat is a funny word. I remember seeing it for the first time in a row of bottles of flavored syrups available to add to lattes and cappuccinos and Italian sodas at an independent coffee shop in the 90s, the kind of place that had lumpy couches and open-mic nights and a patina of patchouli-scented dinge. …

I don’t take the time to make fresh-squeezed lemonade that often, which is a pity because it actually takes very little effort and is pretty much the best thing to drink on a sunny summer day. But what might be even better is lemonade with puckery rhubarb added to turn it a deep, blushing pink. …

I’ve been doing battle with the ants who invaded my kitchen for the last couple of months, and it’s made me reluctant to take on big cooking projects lately for fear of finding something I’ve labored over swarmed with so many tiny hexapods. Uggh. But I couldn’t stay away forever. So I headed into the …

January is always the toughest month for me for cooking. There’s a post-holiday malaise that hangs over the kitchen. I try to balance the excesses of December with austerity, but it’s hard to get excited about much of the seasonal produce when the pickings are slim. Oh, I like root vegetables and cabbage and squash but sometimes …

I don’t remember exactly when I first learned about Fernet-Branca. But somehow, perhaps four or five years ago, a bottle of it found its way into our liquor cabinet, and for a long while after that I didn’t quite know what to make of it. It’s a beast of an amaro, an aggressively herbaceous Italian …

Let’s talk about shaking and stirring for a minute. What’s the difference? Shaking is a better way of emulsifying different kinds of liquids. Usually, cocktails that include citrus or muddled herbs or fruit or pretty much any non-alcoholic ingredients are shaken. (Exceptions to that include carbonated ingredients like ginger ale which are usually poured on …