Mexicola!

So I promised my pal Whitney that I'd post about the bagels next, but I spent this morning tending to the garden and didn't realise until I'd finished that hey! It's pretty hot out there! And hey! It's 3 o'clock! Time for a Mexicola!


This is a drink my friend Meg described minutes ago as 'confusing' - and I think I know what she means, for it's sweet and cold and spicy all at the same time. But she hasn't tasted it yet! I'm drinking one right this minute, dear readers, and I can tell you that it is good. First you take your glass and rub the rim with a wedge of lime. Now, salt that baby. Take some tequila blanco and splash it in. Squeeze in some lime juice and add a little sugar syrup and a dash or two of tabasco. Throw in a few ice cubes and top with coca-cola. And that's it! Crazy, yes? I tell you what, it's been a long time since I've had coca-cola, but this cocktail is so refreshing. And tangy. And spicy. It's a total party-starter.

Mexicola
From Gourmet Traveller November 2010, recipe by Anton Forte of Shady Pines, Sydney

Makes 1

1/4 lime for rubbing, plus 30ml lime juice
45 ml tequila blanco
10 ml sugar syrup
2 dashes Tabasco
Coca-Cola to fill

1. Rub the rim of your glass with the lime wedge, reserve lime. Dip the glass rim in slat and shake off excess. Add tequila, lime juice, sugar syrup and Tabasco, then ice. Fill with Coca-Cola and, if you're feeling fancy, garnish with the reserved lime wedge and serve.

Bessie Jackson

Wednesday afternoon and the clock has just struck 3 - it's Soul Time. For those who don't already, this is the time to switch on your radio, tune into 106.7 PBS FM and bliss out to Vince Peach's excellent show. And seeing as this particular Wednesday afternoon happens to be New Years Eve, I thought about 3 o'clock might be a good time for a cocktail, too.


I can't think of a more perfect drink for this particular scenario than the Bessie Jackson cocktail in my friend Jane's gorgeous new book Cocktails & Rock Tales that I haven't had a chance to tell you about until now. When I picked up my copy and opened it randomly, this was the first recipe l saw. And, I soon realised, that it was housed in the Soul section. And, it uses Stone's Green Ginger Wine - so it really couldn't be more perfect, for a Wednesday afternoon at 3. If it so happens that you're listening to something else, like...The Pixies for instance, or Dolly Parton, Jane's book can help you out too with delicious drinks for a whole heap of genres. But of course for me, it's Soul and so I'm sitting here with my little cat Quincy, my other third away camping with the boys, sipping my Bessie Jackson on New Years Eve. Don't worry - it's quite blissful. And there are plenty of folk arriving later in the evening to attend to the seafood extravaganza that has eaten up all my fridge space. Of course.

Happy New Years. I hope yours is as sweet.x

Bessie Jackson

From Jane Rocca's Cocktails & Rock Tales

8 mint leaves

5 dashes of bitters

45ml Tennessee whiskey

15ml green ginger wine

30ml clear apple juice

mint spring to garnish

Muddle mint leaves and bitters in a shaker. Add remaining ingredients (except for garnish) and shake up with ice. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over ice (not an old champagne glass as in my picture) and garnish with mint spring. So. Good.

Green Ginger Caipirinha

I thought we'd start with a drink - after all, many good things do.

Welcome: after apple-picking is a way to share the recipes I love with friends everywhere - those I've cooked for and those I haven't. It's a way to get around to the hundreds of recipes I've never made but have always wanted to, to share the favorites I always come back to, and to spend time thinking and writing (even more) about the sublime everyday pleasure that is food. And so a toast - to beginnings. And to cooking, learning and eating, together and alone. I hope this archive of my favorite things to cook and eat gives you all that these recipes give me - and I look forward so much to your ideas and suggestions.  

  

Ze drink? A number of weeks ago now, after my first sip of this severely bastardised 'caipirinha', I announced that my summer this year would be sponsored by Stone's Green Ginger Wine. Later in the evening, after a good number more sips, I announced that I would start a food blog. Since then, I've served Stone's at my birthday party, at our first barbecue of the year, and have found ways to drag the giant jewel-green bottle out just about every Friday night, whether we have company or not. I can't get enough and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

So head to your local bottle shop and venture into the corner you'd usually avoid. Yes, the one lined with boxes and flagons of McWilliams sweet sherry and novelty-sized ruby ports. There, in its 1.5l bottle, (it could last you all summer) you'll find Stone's Green Ginger Wine. Now, a sip of Stone's delivers one super-zingy ginger blast - spicy, sweet, smooth - and is surprisingly good simply splashed over a couple of ice cubes. Sniffing some excellent potential from the beginning, I took myself here and discovered a multitude of ways to enjoy the golden-green liquor, but I can't get far beyond the Green Ginger Caipirinha. You simply muddle small wedges of fresh lime, brown sugar and a few mint leaves in the bottom of a glass, fill with crushed ice and top up with Stone's Green Ginger Wine. Perfectly refreshing. For a less spicy incarnation, top up with lemonade or soda water to taste. Chink, chink.

So cheers, and do come by again soon! The oven's on and I've got big plans.x