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.

Holiday Spirit

Holidays are obviously full of gift giving, food devouring, drink swilling and lots of family time, with some those ensuing more-so around family than usual.

If you’re friends with me then it’s fair to say at some point I’ll either make you a gift or food object at some point. I’ll be honest, sometimes it is me trying to save money but other times it’s because I tried something awesome and I want to share it with everyone. Literally.  

So, infusing gin. I love gin as a base for cocktails because you can do a lot with it and it’s easy to play around with. I got the idea to do an infusion when I wanted to add some flavor to fin but couldn’t find the right type of liqueur or bitters to do it and thought there had to be a way to infuse it into the gin. Turns out there is.

For my gin infusions I tried to think of my friends and what their personalities evoked when I thought of them/what flavors they like and what ones would work well with gin. My synopsis? Lemon, grapefruit, chamomile and ginger.

And it’s SUPER easy. Almost way too easy.

Pick your poison. Then pick your infusion.

Chamomile:

1 mason jar of gin

2 tea bags

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Let steep for 1 day and take out tea bags. Keep in jar or transfer to resalable , airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place.

Lemon/Grapefruit/Ginger

1 mason jar of gin

Peel rind of one lemon

Juice lemon and pour into jar

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Let sit for 1-2 days, then take out rind, strain gin with a fine mesh strainer (I used a fine cotton cloth) and transfer gin back to jar or reseal-able airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place.

 CHEERS.

Enjoy Responsibly.

Healing Winter Broth Recipe

Last January, during a bout of sickness where, for a few days, I did believe that I was not going to survive the winter, I made up this recipe. I was housesitting and didn’t have access to my arsenal of voodoo stuff at home so I was making do with what they had in their pantry for whatever I could think of that could help me. So, this was born.

As always, you can adjust this for your own taste. I prefer bold flavors with a good deal of heat and spice but I also know if I gave that to my roommate she might throw up. So feel free to make this a version of your own! If you are feeling a cold coming on I would add two cloves of garlic and healthy amounts of freshly grated ginger (or dry spices if you have to) to really nip things in the bud.

Enjoy.

Healing Winter Broth 

1 cup (8 oz) of broth (vegetable, bone or chicken, preferable low sodium)

½ tsp Himalayan rock salt

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 clove fresh garlic

Pinch of green onion tops

1 tsp of freshly grated ginger

*Pour broth into small saucepan and turn heat to medium/low. You just want to heat the broth, it doesn’t need to boil.

When broth is beginning to simmer, add the rest of ingredients.

Enjoy.