Winter Mojito: Reinvention in a Glass
I didn’t expect to start redefining tradition with a mojito. But here we are in a New Year redefining our goals, our cocktails, and even ourselves. Why should traditions get a pass?
Tradition will tell us this is a summer drink — hot weather, white rum, crushed mint in a cold sweating glass. But as far as I can tell, tradition didn’t have to brave the holiday mall circuit, spend three days taking down Christmas, or recover from back-to-back-to-back group texts about who’s bringing which appetizer to the party I didn’t even have time to clean the house for.
So this year, the mojito isn’t waiting for June. It’s stepping into winter with cranberries, spice, and a kind of quiet confidence that comes from knowing you no longer have to do things the way you used to. We’re no longer clinging to the past. We’re editing it for our today.
Bourbon Bundt Cake aka “Bundt Cake Gladys”
A Bourbon Bundt Cake Worthy of Its Name
Every family has a recipe like this one — the thing that shows up at every gathering, half-joked about, entirely devoured, and passed around on a folded paper napkin, or on nothing at all. In our case, it’s a vanilla bourbon bundt cake. Or, as we’ve always called it, Bundt Cake Gladys.
As far as I can recall, it was the only thing my grandmother ever baked in her bundt pan, which I still have. It’s a thin, cheap supermarket aluminum pan, worn and a little bent along the edges. It’s also the oldest baking pan I own, and the only one I’ll probably never throw out. She may have had others in her lifetime, but this was the one she had at the end, and in my mind, that makes it hers forever.
The Pink Lady Cocktail: Mixing Courage and Gin
If cocktails had personalities (and they do, especially after the second round), the Pink Lady would be your eccentric aunt. The one who insists on full costume for brunch, douses herself in vintage Chanel No. 5, and waits until everyone has dismissed her as harmless. Then she casually eviscerates a guest with a one-liner that […]
Lemon Lime Champagne Granita
Aunt Caroline wasn’t whipping up Lemon Lime Champagne Granita the night she sent Uncle Drew out for lemons. However, when the weather turns scorching hot and I spot a bowl of lemons on the counter I can’t help but chuckle and think of Aunt Caroline and this particular dessert. And, of course, that unforgettable night […]
Roasted Bone Marrow, and Me.
Here is the thing with Roasted Bone Marrow and me: I always get anxious introducing this personal preference of mine to anybody new. Am I about to lose my new friend, or will admitting some small nugget of truth serve to cement our friendship further? Or, as is sometimes the case, will I be surprised […]
Dorie’s “My Newest Gourgeres” Will Turn Your Head
If Dorie Greenspan thinks that just because she publishes a souped up, fancy schmancy, new and improved recipe for gourgeres I’m going to kick her oldest recipe for gourgeres the curb, well, she has another thing coming. (“My Newest Gourgeres”, page 8, “Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook”) No ma’am. I am way too loyal to her classic […]
