Pear, Ginger and Thyme Martini

Experimenting with cocktails in the summer is as easy as a trip to the fruit stand. Smelling ripe fruit at the market instantly brought ideas for new refreshments but not all fruit lend themselves well to being pureed. If the fruit is not particularly juicy or if it's very fibrous, I find it more efficient to let the beverage department of my supermarket help me out.

The Most Tender Meatballs Ever

Did you ever find yourself ridiculously slow to realize something simple? For years I've made my meatloaf, not with the standard high fat meatloaf mix but with extra lean ground sirloin. And the way I kept my meatloaf moist and juicy was by loading it with veggies. Yet somehow, it's taken me years to come to the same realization with meatballs.

Mango Martini

I'm sure that many of you are quite familiar with mangoes and so this post will be mostly comedy. I say that in light of my recent incorrect assumption that I could figure out how to properly cut open a mango. I'll spare you the gory details but lets just say that I ended up with sticky mango juice on the counter, the floor, my shirt and the dog.

Happy National Martini Day!

Click on the photograph to check out all these martinis and the rest of the amazing cocktail creations available on our blog.  Cheers!

Cheesy Beef Tortilla Cups

I love Italian food and usually when I visit Claudia's What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine blog, it's to admire her Italian recipes. If you haven't seen it yet, be prepared to immediately want to bookmark lots of her tasty offerings. But considering that, it was quite ironic that the first recipe of hers I ended up actually trying was Mexican inspired! Back around Cinco De Mayo, Claudia posted her tempting looking recipe for Mexican Taco Cupcakes. It was so instantly appealing and I had all the ingredients in the house so I made it for dinner that night and Brian and I both really liked it.

Strawberry Cheese Crumb Cake

Despite my deep love of chocolate, somehow warm weather brings out my desire for fruit based desserts. Oh, I'm not quite ready to give up the flour, butter and sugar. It's just that I'd rather see lemons and blueberries in the batter than cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

An Anniversary Overlooking the Hudson (Review of Harvest-on-Hudson)

Harvest-on-Hudson, 1 River Street, Hastings, NY 10706, 914-478-2800 www.harvest2000.com

Sometime last year I accidentally came across the web site for this restaurant and was immediately taken with the stunning photographs of the place. I knew that I absolutely wanted us to go there but somehow, a year passed, life got busy and we never quite found the opportunity. This past weekend, however, Brian and I were celebrating our 5th anniversary and we did so with a reservation, at long last, for dinner at Harvest.

Watermelon Martini

I crave watermelon in the summer. When it's hot outside, I want that sweet, juicy refreshment to cool me off. And the practice of carving out a watermelon bowl and pouring in vodka is certainly nothing new at picnics and BBQ's. So why not just blend it all in a chilled martini glass?!

Cucumbers with Tahini and Crumbled Feta

Some foods just represent summer to me. Ice cream, of course, and sweet cherries and grilled corn to name a few. But the quintessential summer veggie for me is cucumbers. Something about the light, crisp flavor begs to be eaten in warm weather. I slice them raw and put them on top of toasted bread with cream cheese for breakfast and I throw chunks of them into practically every salad I make.