Speaking of making your own nocino, here’s a cocktail using nocino that I made with DIY Cocktails. The Black Walnut Manhattan is a traditional Manhattan that uses nocino in place of vermouth. It’s tasty and elegant. Here’s how to make it. Black Walnut Manhattan (makes one drink) Ingredients: 1.5 oz bourbon 1 oz nocino 2 …
Last year, I Grew My Own Hops. You may be wondering what we did with those hops. Well, we made a Standard English Bitter with them. The below recipe is from the book Brewing Classic Styles, except we changed it based on what malt we could get and the addition of homegrown hops. The resulting …
This year, I took a lunch hour to pick some berries from a patch down the road and got a pretty good haul. Since Savvy Jr. has been eating a lot of toast, I decided to make jam with it the berries. I made the following recipe, which makes eight 8-ounce jars of jam. Since …
My orange tree is giving me a lot of oranges this year, so I decided to make orange marmalade. I’m pleased with how it came out. I used Alton Brown’s recipe, except I reduced the amount of sugar in it. His recipe calls for about 7 cups of sugar, which seemed like way too much. …
Nocino is an Italian liqueur made from green walnuts. It’s sweet, nutty, and spicy. You can mix it with a cocktail, drink it straight, or pour it over vanilla ice cream for a delicious dessert. Like most liqueurs, nocino can be pretty pricey. A small bottle (375 ml) starts at about $30. So last summer, …
This Steampunk Octopus Door Handle is so cool. $110. From the site: My octopus door handles are 100% home made in Paris, France. I made the mold for these when I needed door handles for my boat. But a lot of people liked it, and this is why I decided to bring a small batch …
Honey Barbecue Plum Cocktail: Grilled plums, bourbon, and honey liqueur. Plum Margarita: Frozen plums, silver tequila, and don’t forget the blender. Plum Smash: Plum, whiskey, and a little bit of thyme.
I’ve talked about reducing food waste quite a bit on this blog, but it looks like the issue is getting worse. A new study says that Americans waste 40%–almost half!–of their food, according to the Natural Resources Defence Council. An average family of four wastes $2,275 in food each year, or 20 pounds per person …
DIY Cocktails and I tried out plum margaritas, and you know? They’re awesome. Cold and refreshing and so easy to make. We used frozen plums, so we didn’t even have to add any ice. Plum Margarita (Makes one margarita) Ingredients: Three plums, halved, the pits removed, and frozen 2 ounces silver tequila 1 ounce triple …
I don’t know why, but there’s something fun about drinking bourbon out of a flask. So I was pleased to be able to try out this Ted Baker Canoe Hip Flask from Flamingo Gifts. I waited until our recent trip to the coast to try it out. We rented a cabin overlooking the water. One …