Drink

Tea Time

By Valerie, January 12, 2012. Photos by Valerie

My tea drawer selection ranges from the ordinary to extraordinary. Full disclosure: we reach for the ordinary way more than the extraordinary.

Favorite Blog Posts of 2011

By Valerie, January 3, 2012. Photos by Valerie

A a collection of my most popular and personal favorite blog posts of 2011.

Merchant of Venice Sparkling Wine Cocktail

By Valerie, December 20, 2011. Photos by Valerie

This is a great (and easy) holiday cocktail, the cinnamon and pomegranate add a warm, wintry touch to the Prosecco.

Hot Chocolate Sticks

By Valerie, December 16, 2011. Photos by Valerie

These little sticks were a big hit at my daughter’s birthday party last weekend. You take these little sticks of chocolate and stir them into of mugs of warm milk to make hot chocolate.

Trader Joe’s Wines: Reds

By Valerie, December 15, 2011. Photos by Valerie

This is the second in my Trader Joe’s wine tasting series (see my reviews of TJ’s whites). For this round I chose seven reds based first on price ($12.99 and under) and second on origin: a mix of domestic, French, and Italian.

Apple Cider Press Party

By Valerie, December 3, 2011. Photos by Valerie

Last weekend I was transported to my ranch-life fantasy at the annual apple cider-making party at Rancho San Julian in the Santa Ynez Valley. It was a wonderful tableau of a life connected to the land, with a total mix of the community—from nuns to cowboys to a fab French woman in full finery—coming together to peel apples, send them through the mill, and press the cider. It was also a time of kids climbing in trees and sharing stories under the shade of old Continue reading…

Trader Joe’s Wines: Whites

By Valerie, December 1, 2011. Photos by Valerie

I thought it might be fun to try it and also grab some other wines for comparison. So I threw a random selection of bottles in the cart, tasted them all, and came-up with a few that were winners.

ROOT, an Authentic American Liqueur

By Valerie, November 2, 2011. Photos by Valerie

ROOT tastes like spiked root beer. It’s a sarsaparilla concoction that you imagine sipping neat on a cold fall night, snuggled in cashmere around the camp fire at your posh Telluride mountain home (we’re imagining here …).

Beaujolais Cru

By Valerie, October 20, 2011. Photos by Valerie

This 2009 Beaujolais-Cru is the perfect red wine choice for Southern California’s Indian summers.

Gin & Bear It

By Valerie, October 14, 2011. Photos by Valerie

Is it just me, or is that glass ...

Mix a harvest of bright, succulent limes with our Indian summer heat wave and you have the perfect excuse for a good old gin cocktail. Mine is aptly named Sisters’ Gin Gimlet.