Are you ready for a respite from winter? I know I just went on about how much I love snow and cold, and I do, truly. But I also like a little mid-winter fantasy. This usually involves turning the heat up in the house, making a island feast and drinking a few cocktails with umbrellas. Are you with me? Let’s start with the cocktails and then we can move on to the feast. I have been watching the Olympic ice dancing and they keep talking about the swizzle. I know this is some sort of twirly move on the ice, but for me, swizzle means something entirely different, as in swizzle stick or better yet, rum swizzle. A real swizzle stick is a multi-forked branch of a tropical bush. It will swizzle your drink into a froth, a sort of rustic little whisk. Modern versions are a little more colorful and plastic, and really, just for show, but they are fun.

The Real Deal- Wooden Swizzle Sticks

Sparkly Festive Swizzle Sticks

A rum swizzle is a Bermudian drink of dark rum, orange juice, pineapple juice and a squeeze of lime. It is delicious with or without the frothy head produced by the swizzle and the umbrella (or swizzle stick) is optional, but it does make for a festive touch! After a long week spent standing at a trade show, a few rum swizzles are certainly in order.  I will follow my cocktails with a spicy vegetable curry.  I like the thriftiness of making a meal from all those winter vegetables still filling the market. Winter squash and root vegetables make a delicious curry enriched with coconut milk and warmed with a little spicy heat. I know curry is not really an island dish but it makes me think of warm climates. That will have to do, for now.

Stay Warm! Joy

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With a late Thanksgiving this year and one less week on the calendar between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the pace of the season feels positively frenetic, the faces on the shoppers a little panicked. For me, the shopping, poker evening and other gambling game, and gifting are over, so I can just focus on the merrymaking. I am thinking of sprucing up my cocktail party game. I will admit to being truly uninspired when it comes to making salty, delicious little bites. They look great in pictures and recipes but inevitably, by the time I have finished making dinner and dessert, I can’t be bothered to do more than put out a piece of cheese and some nuts. Pathetic, I know. Even when I throw a party that is all about the cocktails and snacks, I fall down on the job. Homemade pizza cut into little squares is about as fancy as I get. Once, for a truly epic party-probably New Year’s Eve- I made thinly sliced filet on little homemade parker house rolls. That was the peak and I have yet to return to it!

I gave over an afternoon to the cause and tested a few cocktails with girlfiends. We did not try anything particularly seasonal- I am not keen on creamy peppermint drinks or overly sweet red concoctions. Instead we stuck with the classic, a three olive martini, a gin gimlet and a cosmo. I’ve noticed that if you spruce up the liquid party and then nobody will care that all they ate was pita chips and hummus and not much else. Fancy, signature drinks seem to be all the rage and that would be quite a fun project. This morning’s NY Times food section is full of interesting drinks (and a few yummy snacks). Maybe I need to invite over a few friends to help me try a few and taste- who’s in?

A delicious cocktail just might be the perfect little helper for Santa!

Happy Holidays, Joy

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When my children were small, I used to make them smoothies for breakfast. It was so simple and healthy, filled with yogurt, milk and fruit. And they loved them. I haven’t pulled out my blender in quite a while, but lately I have seen lots of articles featuring milk shakes and I thought it was time for the blender to have a space on my counter again.  Summer is coming, or so I am told, and I love a dairy free smoothie for my own breakfast, made with silken tofu, soy milk and fruit. And who doesn’t adore a creamy, thick milk shake for an indulgent treat!

I am not one to sip a shake with my meal, but I love it as liquid dessert. Add a shot of something sweet and boozy and you have the perfect treat to enjoy around your Fancy Fire Pit. With that in mind, I whipped up a few adult milk shakes last night.

Getting ready for summer sipping!

The beauty of milk shakes is the ease of them. Just pile ice cream, ice or milk, depending on how decadent you like your shakes, fruit or chocolate syrup, and a little shot of something, like Kahlua and Irish Cream, in the case of this one. Whir it up and you have something creamy and delicious.

The thermostat outdoors is still hovering in the low 60s, but when summer does actually begin, I will be ready! My fire pit is piled high with wood and my blender is pulled out and primed for action.

Happy Sipping! Joy

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I have been fortunate enough to have two vacations this winter in warm places and each time, I have looked around and found a perfect place for a fire pit. I promise this is the last post of this sort as I am now staying put in the frozen North for the duration of the winter. So indulge me this one final fantasy island photo, taken on the Caribbean coast of Panama.

Now isn’t that just the perfect spot for a Fancy Fire Pit?? I might even design one specially for this location with an island theme, palm trees, pineapples and the like. There certainly was no shortage of downed palm trees and leaves to burn and we had delicious red snapper and local spiny lobsters cooked on a fire with said wood so it clearly works quite well. Just imagine yourself enjoying this view, wearing a Panama hat and drinking a Panama Cocktail. Truthfully, the cocktail seems more like dessert  but Panamanian beer is also very good! To make a Panama Cocktail, combine equal parts white creme de cacao, brandy and cream and serve well chilled – delicioso!!

Stay Warm, Joy

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Whenever I travel, I look around and think, “now here is a good place for a fire pit”. I don’t worry too much about the logistics of actually getting a Fancy Fire Pit to said location, that would ruin the fantasy. I am currently on a small island off of Puerto Rico called Vieques. This is a place where they have trouble getting planes to land on time and one cannot dependably find a banana or a lime in the little local grocery. Needless to say, shipping a fire pit here would be difficult at best. And yet, it is so beautiful and has lovely warm days and breezy nights.

The perfect spot for a Fancy Fire Pit!

There is very little to do here save go to the beach during the day and drink rum punch at night. Which makes it a perfect place for a fire pit- can we say evening activity!

If you don’t care for rum punch and would like to get into the holiday spirit, they have an island version of eggnog which is rich, delicious and very strong. It is called Coquito and is made with coconut milk and lots of rum.

Recipe for Coquito. A little glass of this stuff goes a long way!

Happy Holidays, Joy

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