Tarragon Infused Vodka Cocktails

Tons of Tarragon...

Infused some vodka with tarragon from the garden for 3-4 days.  Very nice bouquet.

Strained into a bottle for keeping.

Muddled fresh tarragon and mint, freshly squeezed lemon juice, a tiny amount of agave syrup, plus the infused vodka - shake over ice.  Add champagne topper (of course) and garnish with fresh tarragon and lemon rind.  Very refreshing.

Picklin', preservin', jammin'

Now that I have a functional kitchen in San Diego, I've started getting around to projects I've not had the opportunity to launch, such as:  pickling stuff, preserving stuff, infusing stuff, and making jam out of stuff. 

Here are a few of my latest endeavors...

Pickles:

 

 

  

Preserved Meyer lemons:

Jalapeno infused tequila margaritas:

Pineapple Vodka Cocktail

I promised you (and Tim) a pineapple cocktail, and here it is!

I think we may turn this spate of elaborate cocktails into a weekly thing, inspired by some colleagues of Tim's who live in Bangkok and have new cocktail Friday each week.  Anyone want to join in?

Dubbed "Teenage Dream" by its creator, this fresh pineapple juice cocktail is a relative of the mojito, but made with vodka instead of rum.  Lime and mint are muddled with sugar, pineapple juice and vodka are stirred in, and then the whole thing is poured over ice, topped with a spritz of soda water and enjoyed.

We liked this, but blending and straining the fresh pineapple may have taken this cocktail into the category of too much work (or at least too many dishes for us, as we are dishwasher-less).  In the flavor category, it's a winner, though!

Mango Cocktail

Tim was musing the other day that we should make a pineapple and vodka cocktail of some sort since the pineapple is so sweet and easy to get here (you can pick one out and have them peel it for you at the store...so easy).  My mouth started watering at the thought, but we didn't have a pineapple at that exact moment.  We did have a ripe mango, though, not yet earmarked for another purpose, so I looked up some mango cocktail recipes and immediately had at it, with delicious (albeit not very photogenic) results:

I ended up using this recipe from The Kitchn... mango puree, lemon juice, vodka, a little simple syrup and soda water.  So good.  Not too sweet, not too thick, extremely refreshing.  An exciting break from our usual, the gin rickey.

For a party I think you could make a big pitcher of the mango/lemon/vodka mix and then have people pour it in the glass and top off with soda water.  Also, I think a flavored simple syrup would do well here- ginger, lemongrass or vanilla, or maybe chili for some spice.  I guess you could do flavored vodka, too, if you wanted. 

Pineapple vodka cocktail recipe coming soon...

Super Bowl Bloody Marys

Here in Indonesia, Super Bowl Sunday occurs at 6:30 am on Monday morning... Tim insisted on getting up for it since his Giants are in the game. This early rising necessitates a special beverage and breakfast foods.  Bloody Marys it is!

Here's the recipe we made up based on ingredient availability (i.e. no celery salt, no horseradish, no lemon):

2 cups tomato juice

3 ounces vodka

3/4 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup lime juice

1 teaspoon Sriracha

Fresh cracked pepper and a pinch of sea salt

Celery sticks, lime wedges and olives for garnish

Mix all ingredients, shake with ice, pour into glasses, garnish, drink.

Served with scrambled eggs, hash browns and the unappetizingly named "streaky bacon" from Bali.

Christmas Punch with Lemon/Lime Ice Wreath!

We had a cookie decorating party/ugly holiday sweater party to kick off December, and I decided that would be a good opportunity to bust out some punch and this fancy ice-ring. The Other Martha provided the recipe for Christmas punch, a tasty blend of pomegranate, cranberry, vodka and citrus. Bon Appetit gave me the idea for the wreath-like lemon and lime ice ring, made in a bundt pan. The real Martha provided the cool 3-in-1 punch bowl/dip tray/cake dome.

Cantaloupe Sherbet: Meh.

The flavors of this cantaloupe sherbet were really tasty: creamy, fruity, a hint o' lime. However, the texture was off-putting- lots of little bits of cantaloupe took away from the smoothness you want from a sherbet... I give this recipe a resounding "Meh." Maybe if I'd run the cantaloupe puree through a seive or chinois before mixing it with the cream and freezing it, it wouldn't be as weird?