Trader Vic's Mai Tai

Trader Vic Mai Tai | A Thought For Food

Booze. Cuz No Great Birthday Started With Anyone Eating Salad. My friends Mandy and Lany gave me this card while we were at the bar on Saturday for an early birthday celebration. It made us all chuckle, including the bartenders serving our group of 15. A few weeks ago, I made reservations at our favorite spot, The Baldwin Bar, which not only serves up fantastic Sichuan Chinese food, but beautifully crafted cocktails (including a perfectly made Trader Vic's Mai Tai). We sat together at one long table and dined on bowls of Dan Dan noodles, platters of fried tilapia tossed with peppers and leeks, braised eggplant, and garlicky pea pod greens. Flaming cocktails were served. There was drinking and laughter and more drinking. 7 hours later, at 1:30 in the morning, Eric and I made our way home. Success.

So, today is my actual birthday. I'm now 31. Where did this last year go? Part of it was buried under snow. Some of it was spent in a hammock by the lake. We traveled to New Orleans, the Berkshires, and a number of times to the Cape. Overall, a good year. I'm proud of the work I've done and the growth of my business, but, more importantly, how I've found ways to balance my life a bit more... to take time for myself and for my relationships. It's something I still struggle with, but I think I'm getting better at it. We have a lot of exciting things planned over the next few months, so I feel like I'm going to be in celebration mode for a while. Point being: I really can't complain. Life is good.

Trader Vic Mai Tai | A Thought For Food

Trader Vic Mai Tai | A Thought For Food

Trader Vic's Mai Tai | A Thought For Food

Trader Vic's Mai Tai

Tools
Jigger
Cocktail shaker

Ingredients
1 oz amber rum
1 oz dark Jamaican rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz orgeat syrup
1/2 oz of Cointreau
Fresh mint, for garnish

Crushed ice

Directions

1. Add the rums, lime juice, orgeat, and Cointreau to the cocktail shaker with two or three ice cubes and shake for 15-20 seconds, until chilled.

2. Fill a rocks glass with crushed ice. Pour drink into glass and garnish with mint.

A Note on Food Deserts #DrinkGoodDoGood

There are many Americans with limited access to fresh produce. Read more about this issue over on the blog and learn how you can help. #drinkgooddogood #sponsored

I'll admit that I sometimes take for-granted the wonderful produce Eric and I have access to. Our weekly vegetable pick up is full of locally grown, organic ingredients. For those items that might be missing, we're within walking distance to a farmer's market or grocery store. It's a luxury, I know, and it's one that many residents in areas around Boston and other cities don't share.

Around the country, nearly 24 million Americans live in what are referred to as "food deserts."In fact, there are 71,000 people in Boston who live without ready access to fresh fruits and vegetables. That’s nearly enough people to fill up half the Boston Common! Which is why I'm thrilled to be partnering with Naked Juice and Wholesome Wave on their Drink Good. Do Good. campaign to educate folks about food deserts in urban environments. Even in Boston, which is surrounded by countless farms, there are areas of the city where people do not have many options. Not all neighborhoods have stores or farmer's markets, so for individuals without access to a car, it's a challenge to acquire fresh ingredients. And, of course, there's the issue of affordability. In parts of the city, like Dudley Square, 50% of the residents make $25,000 a year or less.

As a part of their Drink Good. Do Good. program, they'll be donating up to 500,000 pounds of produce these communities. And you, dear readers, can help too! Simply take a photo of yourself holding a piece of fresh produce, post it on Instagram and use the hashtag #drinkgooddogood. Lastly, tag a friend to do the same. For every person who posts, Naked Juice will donate 10lbs of fresh produce.

Learn more about the Drink Good. Do Good. campaign here. 

There are many Americans with limited access to fresh produce. Read more about this issue over on the blog and learn how you can help. #drinkgooddogood #sponsored

There are many Americans with limited access to fresh produce. Read more about this issue over on the blog and learn how you can help. #drinkgooddogood #sponsored

There are many Americans with limited access to fresh produce. Read more about this issue over on the blog and learn how you can help. #drinkgooddogood #sponsored

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Naked Juice and Wholesome Wave. Working with these brands to get the message out about such an important issue is something I feel strongly about. As always, any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Chilled Plum Soup

Chilled Plum Soup // A Thought For Food #recipe

I consciously took a week off from blogging. As much as I fought it, I think I needed a little break. Once again I was finding that I was putting pressure on myself to post because that's what I'd grown accustomed to. That's not a reason to blog. It's not why I want to blog. So, I took a little time off. I'm back now and feeling pretty darn good about this space, the creative process, and, most importantly, the recipes I plan to share over the next few months.

There was a bit of an inner struggle about what to post. I knew I wanted to do something seasonal, but I felt like I'd covered all the bases recently with the dishes I've created using tomato, corn, cherries and berries. What was there left to do? I looked through the local market and saw these beautiful plums. I didn't know exactly where it was all going, but I knew I didn't want to do a cake. Been there, done that. Poached? Eh. Not really doing it for me. Ok, so cooked and then turned into something. A soup. Cold. That's summer, but then, maybe, just a little hit of fall flavors. Cinnamon and ginger. This is one of those dishes I knew was going to work as soon as I smelled it cooking. Our whole house filled with the aromas that I find so comforting in the cooler months, and, yet, here we are with a chilled soup to enjoy during these last hot and humid days of summer.

Yogurt makes for the ideal garnish for a sweet soup like this, which needs a bit of tang to balance it out. In recent months, I've really grown to appreciate all the ways one can apply yogurt to a dish. For those interested in such a subject (believe me, I wasn't at first, but now I'm hooked), my friend, fellow blogger, and cookbook author, Cheryl Sternman Rule, recently came out with Yogurt Culture. Just flipping through the book will have you rushing to the store to pick up a container.

Chilled Plum Soup // A Thought For Food

Chilled Plum Soup

Yield 4 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs red or black plums (about 8), cut in half and pitted
1 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and sliced into chunks
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon agave
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon tarragon leaves
Yogurt, for serving

Directions

1. Place plums into a pot with apple juice, ginger, cinnamon sticks, tarragon agave and salt. Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes or until plums are very soft. Discard cinnamon stick.

2. Using an immersion blender or food processor or blender, purée mixture until smooth.

3. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Ladle into bowls and serve with a dollop of yogurt.