Wild Wednesdays - Rustic Peach Galette

I just returned from being back home in Minnesota where the days are long, the time feels short, and someone is always in the kitchen! The farming and nostalgic recipes are rearin’ to be used so this pairing I created for Nashville Box Club, but one that uses my mom’s tried and true recipes!

Memories of her hands making this same dough, rolling it out, being in the kitchen. The pies cooking and radio on blast. Calling out to my Dad that it was time for supper after the 5 o’clock whistle blew.

The easiest pastry that can be used in multiple ways, this one as a galette. Don’t worry, she’s never been a lobbyist for the sugar board so this is minimal on added sugar and utilizes the natural flavor and juices of the fruit! Enjoy with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and you’re set.

Wild Wednesdays - Savory Summer Peach Dish

Now that the heat has arrived in Tennessee, the craving for fresh, juicy, crisp anything is real. I’m talking light summer meals because we’re already uncomfortable sweating through every inch of clothing we are wearing, don’t want to add overstuffed and bloated to that equation also. 

So check out this Savory Summer Peach Salad (?), I guess it is a salad but also maybe not, gonna give it the ability to be whatever it wants in this life. While this can be seen as more of an appetizer, if you want to make this your full meal, just add some meat like prosciutto and maybe some bread to help soak up some of the juices or even make your own small bites crostini. Add a glass of wine or a spritz and you quite literally have the perfect situation.

Enjoy!

Wild Wednesdays - Summer Supper Pt 1

Even with the weather being finicky and throwing us some serious shade (and cold), there have been enough brighter days to hold onto the beautiful fact that Spring is here and Summer is coming. Which makes me even more excited to eat outside basically every day and spend as much time as possible outside.

Last year during the throes of Covid, I got into playing with different grilled sandwich recipes and this one turned out to be one of my favorites, and when paired with the super easy Mediterranean-type salad it makes it complete. Cook together or make separately for a crowd!

So, pour yourself a drink, open the windows and let the summer roll around you as you make this delicious meal!

Pro tip: wait to add the fresh herbs if you are transporting to a friend’s house, adding them when you get there will look total baller and it will save the herbs from wilting too much in the salad!

Wild Wednesdays - Stock the Bar - Part 1

The latest version of bar hopping is traveling from the kitchen table to the wine rack on the other side of the fridge, and deciding what you want from a menu is staring at your supplies and deciphering what ingredients you have to make something and the exasperation and exhilaration of yelling above the din of strangers and music to a bartender who you contemplate slipping your number to at the end of the night has now been exchanged to barking an order at your roommate or partner for a Gin + Tonic, heavy on the gin because the Zoom calls today…

The rise of the at-home bartender is at an all time high. Covid has taken away ease of accessibility of our favorite bars and restaurants (but if they’re still open, go order something from them right now). Maybe it’s instilled a sense of curiosity or given you the courage to tackle the seemingly tall task of conquering a cocktail. I get messages from friends or followers who are at the store and staring at the never ending aisles wondering what to buy, so I decided to give this very ambiguous overview for a starting point.

First of all, let that intimidation fall away. There are so. Many. Options. It’s ok if you didn’t buy the same top shelf bourbon as your friend or you can’t tell the differences between gins yet. You’ll get there and by experimenting will develop your palate and begin to notice those subtle differences. And trust me, friends will be delighted that you asked them over to make them anything and spend time with you, so don’t worry if it’s the very best, masterful drink they’ve ever had, the company makes it perfect. 

Cocktail wise? I suggest learning 1-3 drinks. Enough to give you a little range and once you have those under your belt and feel like you really own them, go forth and play. Experiment, mess up, play with variations, give yourself permission to annihilate ingredients! I’ve made some of my best cocktails when I let curiosity guide me and also knowing that you can adjust levels of ingredients doesn’t mean it was bad, improvements take time. 

Liquor. Recommending at least one clear and one dark liquor will give you at least two different profiles to educate on and that means you can also satisfy drinks for friends on either side. Some people will drink anything that tastes like kerosene and up, others won’t touch it if it isn’t vodka. If you have an offer of both you have a chance of catching both sides (and if you have a friend who hates everything, suggest they pick a bottle of wine or you can make them the H20 Cocktail with an extra lime wedge). 

Kitty’s Picks:

• Bourbon

• Gin

• Tequila

BOURBON/WHISKEY

• Old Fashioned

• Whiskey sour

• Neat

• Manhattan

• Hot Toddy

GIN

• Gin + Tonic

• Dirty Martini

• Gin Fizz

• French 75

• Bijou

VODKA

• Moscow Mule

• Marinti 

• Vodka Tonic/Soda

• Bloody Mary

TEQUILA

• Makes me crazy (not a drink, just fact) 

• Margarita

• Paloma

• Tequila Soda

• St - Rita

MEZCAL

• Mezcal Negroni

• Neat

• French Intervention

• Mezcal Margarita

RUM

• Daiquiri

• Cuba Libre

• Mai Tai

• Dark & Stormy

Liquers/Digestifs/Apertifs. When I started filming the short little intro I began to realize I had SO much more to say about literally everything, so maybe at one point I’ll do some fun facts about each liquor and its sisters or derivatives? 

It got me really going on the Digestifs and Apertifs part, there are so very many to choose from, different levels of alcohols, flavors, etc, so, just gonna say. Try them. And don’t be afraid of starting with a pick from the bottom shelf *gasp* I know, but this way if you start with Triple Sec and find out you like the cocktails you’ve made with it, then you can graduate into using Cointreau or Grand Marnier or Dry Curacao and up your game even more. Amaros are a game all of their own with the Rabarbaros, Melettis, Braulios, Avernas, then the Fernets, Chartreuses, Aperols, the list goes on. Tasting profiles range from a cola-esque profile to pine and mint, so, once again, if you don’t like one, move onto the next because there is a flavor for everyone.

Kitty’s Picks:

• Dry Curacao

• Aperol

• Campari

• Meletti

• Averna

Bitters. Something you don’t know why you need it but the Old Fashioned Recipe calls for it and you bought it and the same bottle has been sitting on the shelf for four years. Ironically, bitters and amaros are very similar, they are sort of the same thing in different concentrations. Both are botanicals and herbs mixed with clear liquor at highly concentrated alcohol contents, the different is that bitters have a 35-45% alcohol level and you only use a few drops at a time, which is technically why are they are considered non alcoholic. 

Adding a few drops is meant to enhance the flavors of the liquor in your cocktail, not to overpower them, which is why you only use a small amount. There are many kinds of bitters, but starting off I recommend the Angostura Aromatic Bitters and Orange Bitters. With those two you will be able to start making more variety of drinks and can expand from there into chocolate bitter, rhubarb, mint, etc.

Kitty’s picks:

• Angostura

• Orange

Simple Syrups. So easy to make it’s not even funny. Literally just a type of sugar and water, meant enhance and potentially change a flavor profile. These can be made using white sugar, honey or agave, and equal parts water. That is a basic simple, and from there you can add fruit, herbs, etc for your cocktails. 

Kitty’s Picks;

• Basic

• Pineapple

• Honey

I’ve always got limes and lemons on hand and the citrus is needed to cut through and give way to other flavors in drinks, but be careful that they don’t overpower. Also, drink water. Throw that citrus shiz in that glass with some ice and your body will be giving you pray hands emojis. 

Kitty’s Picks:

• Lemons

• Limes

• Orange 

Have fun, enjoy responsibly, and let me know what you’re making.

Wild Wednesdays - Bathtub Bon Appetit

The time has come.

Bathtub Bon Appetit. What is one of my favorite and ultimate ways to relax and what appears to be everyone’s less than secret obsession, is here. It’s kind of extra, self-indulgent, and pretty incredible. I feel like I should have my friends who have no gone on to try it for themselves to write reviews to show that it lives up to its hype. I’ve been doing it so long I don’t really remember when it started, only that at the first time I did it was because there was no other thing I needed most than to eat a McDonald’s burger in the bath. Fairytale beginning, amiright.

Now it’s moved onto cooking complicated dishes (or doing a fun game of what can I make from the pantry), sipping on a cocktail that fits the food and r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g.

It’s a combination of all the self care. Amazing food, tasty cocktail, bath, oils, crystals, reading or watching. Music and cooking. A time to decompress and stop time. The cooking begins the art of the slow down, the bath running, music playing, beginning to let the day go.

Soak a minimum of 20-30 minutes. You’re welcome.

60's Christmas Inspo - Grapefruit Gum Drops

So, here’s the thing. Kitty wanted a 1960’s themed Christmas Party (think Madmen meets Leave It to Beaver) with a house full of like 50 friends, martinis and old fashioneds splashing around, 60’s era appetizers and food being dipped into and falling on the floor, the record player raging and laughter ringing throughout the house…and Covid ruined it.

So, redirected. Six of our pod members were still down to meet and do a little themed thing along with white elephant and playing some board games.

Dirty Martinis were had, butterfly shrimp, puppy chow, meatballs and baked brie was had (among other delicious things. We did white elephant (with an actual ceramic white elephant somehow beating out the other gifts as the most sought after prize. Farkle was played and decaf coffee was drank and I asked everyone to leave at 9:45 pm (don’t worry they stayed until 10:30pm).

BUT. The gem of the show were the Grapefruit Gumdrops that had intimidated me for YEARS, and, like a lot of hard things I’ve tackled this quarantine, were something I wanted to complete and accomplish so that the scary candy making monsters weren’t lurking in the closet anymore.

Turns out, they are so easy and perfectly delicious. So, everyone make these whether you are going to eat them all or not. They are pretty, holiday spirit-y, and will make you feel like a badass in the kitchen whether you make them for yourself or give them away.

*Recipe from Better Home + Gardens/Dec 2017

Holiday Gift Guide - Part One

The holidays are upon us and who knew that we would still be in Pandemic mode and even more unsure of what the next year holds. While you are probably starting to put your Christmas lists and budgets together, sifting through names for Christmas Card lists and if you’ll be going home or not, the gift giving portion can be overwhelming.

While I waver between the idealistic simplicity of minimalism and the undoubted maximalist that I am (to be fair, I think I am smack dab in the middle) I can’t argue with anyone that I have many things and I do love a good piece. Servingware, vintage glasses, random antiques and nature I’ve collected and the thing is that no one can come at me because I have probably lent something completely random and obscure to half the people in Nashville at one time or the other.

But, I will say, the holidays can make people consumer crazy and I’m as guilty getting caught up in it as everyone else. Usually it’s a slow easing out of my tabs as I realize I just spent an hour googling a random item at 10:30 pm that in actuality I have no intention of buying and then taking some deep breaths and murmuring some words about being content with what I have.

So, here’s an idea for you. That beer bread from the second episode for Wild Wednesdays? It makes a great gift. Low number of ingredients, easy to mix and make, and is basically foolproof. Just combine all of the dry ingredients into a bag or cute containers ( can be all divided up), add in a can of beer and instructions, then package up (in a super cute stocking from Spark Vintage) and gift!

Great for someone who wants to get into baking but is intimidated, a group activity for kids, or a friend who wants the self care of being in the kitchen without the stress of a million things happening at once. It gets used, is practical and won’t take up shelf space.

Happy Holidays,

Kat

Episode Two - Breaking Bread - Wild Wednesdays

Let’s. Break. This. Bread.

Honestly, I roll my eyes to admit that I have too many thoughts as an adult of wishing that I had taken high school way more seriously, this coming from a teacher’s pet and kid who loved learning and reading and school and homework (for the most part). I do, however, wish there had been avenues to explore things that I was interested and curious about but didn’t immediately grasp. I was fascinated by so many things but we moved quickly through subjects and atoms and periodic tables and equations and my mind had more questions than they allowed answers for so I just waded through and tried to get passing grades. Did I tell you I cried whenever I didn’t get an A (annoyed at myself, even) so when I tell you I was happy with a C or D in math that came after an exorbitant amount of personal blows to the ego. 

Intricacies of sourdough and the breads you have to whisper magic words to and leave gifts for them to rise are not necessarily my forte but a quest I aim to conquer soon. I knew I wanted to do my mom’s beer bread as a segment since I bring it to everything, the easiest thing to make if you are short on time or even ingredients. People will be impressed, bread will be eaten, you will leave the table with your head high…and you can still try to learn sourdough and watch every YouTube tutorial.

But beer bread is a great to: 

• Give as a gift, just combine dry ingredients and package together with a can or bottle of beer. 

• Bring to a dinner party with local butter, or make a dipping oil (people will think you fancy)

• Enjoy by yourself, on the couch with a bottle of wine, the dipping oil, and some brie and honey. 

Don’t do drugs. Stay in school. Make beer bread. Share with a friend. Or don’t, and eat it in bed by yourself.

Tiger Kitty Tears - A Cocktail

An odd name for a cocktail, to be sure. I’ve said how much I hate long, drawn out paragraphs to recipes because we don’t need to know every minute detail of the weekend you just had, but this one does owe some backstory.

It was the week of the launch for Wild Wednesdays. I was exhausted, suffering from Impostor Syndrome, questioning everything I’ve ever done and will I ever make enough money to like, have a savings account much less buy a house or send my plant babies to college. The spiral hit and every issue I’d bottled up inside came bursting forth. I couldn’t stop it. Family issues, hurt and disappointment from romantic relationships, that comparison of legit everyone is better and more talented than me, feeling like everything I was touching wasn’t good enough, people were disappointed in me and I was running at 100000% but the production was 50%. That I was choosing to do this thing that I felt so compelled and drawn to but was it all a complete joke and should I just go get a desk job somewhere and let them start calling me Kathy and die a slow, drawn out death but be able to chat about my 401K.

So, instead of working out, my roommate sat at the kitchen table with me, tears streaming down my face, my breath catching and voice shaking as I unloaded it all, ashamed that I was feeling and acting like a child and yet I couldn’t stop. My chest ached and my heart hurt. Barely able to see through the barrage of tears, my hands fumbled around my bar cart, picking up bottles, putting them down, keeping the ones that felt right, until I had ingredients in front of me.

I needed to play and produce one thing right. Something to end the day. To close on a high note and be born anew in the morning. It wasn’t really about the cocktail, getting drunk or showing off my perfect life and perfect skills on social media. It was about the familiar, the unknown and, mostly, trusting my instincts. The same instincts that I’ve trusted through this entire process and that haven’t let me down, but because of the world, insecure people projecting their shit, lack of grounding and burning the candle at both ends, I’d started second guessing.

So I played.

I didn’t think. I didn’t second guess. I didn’t measure carefully. Tears ran down my face and splashed onto my arms, I’m sure a few forayed into the shaker. I felt.

It was exactly right.

And so was that night. While I don’t advocate for always treating your friends as therapists, there are time and places when that happens authentically and I am always and forever grateful to the humans who have been there for me in moments like that, and feel honored when I can be that person for one of my friends. We skipped a workout for a walk and Mexican Food, a movie and margaritas. I handed my worries to the next day and in the end, it was perfect.

It can be hard when you live the type of life that no one has a rule book for or hands you the to-do list to be successful or is like, here’s your tasks for the rest of your life. It’s exciting and thrilling, freeing and inspiring. The world is ours and can be intoxicating with the possibilities. And yet, to produce all the time can take you to dark places, is terrifying, constantly putting yourself out there because the separation between art/work/self is a constant battle.

So, close your laptop at 5, put down your brush, place your camera back into its case. Do something creative that isn’t for production. Write some thoughts to burn. Treat yourself like a child and eat some food and put yourself down to bed early.