Sixtieth Post ~ Steak Shish Kebabs with Orange Soy Marinade

I'd like to call these "Shish kebabs," but if you were to research the etymology of the name of this summer-time treat, you'd call me a liar.

You see, loyal readers, the word "shish" is accurate (stemming from the Turkish "şiş" meaning "skewer") but the "kebab" part is where you'd get me. "Kebab" comes from the Persian "kabab" (کباب) and means "fried."

But if I were to call this a plate of steak "shishes" you wouldn't have any idea what I was talking about. So we shall concede to the modernization of language (read: borrowing words and completely changing their meanings) and call them "steak shish kebabs."

Here's how you make these particular food anomalies:

For the marinade:

~ Orange juice

~ Soy sauce

~ Sugar

~ Garlic

For the "shishes:"

~ Steak (cut into cubes)

~ Chunks of bell pepper

~ Mushrooms (I'm back to my baby bellas)

~ Garlic (jarred or crushed)

~ Sesame seeds

~ Fresh parsley

In a skillet, combine the orange juice, soy sauce, garlic and about a tea spoon of sugar. Simmer it so that all the flavors meld. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Preheat your toaster oven or other heating apparatus on 350 on broil. I accidentally had it on 300, and I had to pop these back in.

Dice up the steak and bell pepper.

:: PAUSE ::

I had trouble falling asleep last night. As I am a foodie, I would rather dream up recipes for lambs than count them leaping over fences. So I thought about the steak I had put into the fridge to thaw and considered how I might prepare it. In my subsequent dream, I saw it skewered upon a stick with mushrooms, garlic, orange, soy, and - peppers! Orange bell peppers! (Yes, I dream about food, and I dream in color!) Orange is my favorite color, so it could have just been channeled in through that path, but I have to say, when I found this incredibly bright orange bell at Wegmans today, I felt that it just might be kismet.

:: UNPAUSE ::

Assemble the shish-kebabs-which-are-not-to-be-kebabed and lay them in a shallow pan. Pour the sauce over them and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. Let them marinate for about 15 minutes, spooning sauce over them occasionally. Put them in the toaster oven for five minutes, turn them, and put them in for another five. When you're ready to enjoy them, garnish them with fresh parsley. It adds a wonderful light flavor to the meal.

I paired tonight's dinner with an Argentine Malbec by Elm Tree. It's fruity enough to match the whole "summer barbecue" feeling of the meal, but hearty enough to stand up to some seriously intense flavors. I was impressed by the fact that it never tasted tart next to the sweet orange-soy sauce, but also served to cleanse the palate as I enjoyed the fresh peppers, earthy mushrooms and steak. A good pairing, and a "dream-come-true" meal - even if its name is etymologically incorrect!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

Fifty-ninth Post ~ Breaded Pork Tenderloins with Herb Pasta

Tonight's dinner was a snap to prepare and filled my apartment with the wonderful aroma of fresh herbs - perfect for a stormy spring night!

Here's what you'll need for this quick and easy meal:

~ Pork tenderloin cut into 1" thick medallions

~ Italian breadcrumbs

~ Grated Parmesan cheese

~ Fresh herbs of your choice (I chose parsley, rosemary, thyme and basil)

~ Olive oil

~ Pasta of your choice

~ Ground sea salt

~ Tomato

Get your water boiling (with salt and olive oil, if you wish).

Chop up some fresh herbs. I am becoming incredibly attached to the fresh herb section in Wegmans. You can buy the prettily packaged ones for $1.99 or a massive rubber-banded bunch for $1.29. I usually go the route of the massive bunch, because if you wrap them in plastic and store them in the veggie keeper of your fridge, they last for weeks. I have far better success with that route than I do with potted plants. I am a plant serial killer. But that's another story for another time...

So I chopped up some rosemary, thyme, parsley and basil. Mmmm, the aroma! Positively intoxicating. Dice up a bit of tomato and set that to the side. Next, slice the pork into medallions. By now, your water should be well on its way to boiling, so dump in your pasta and set the timer for 10 minutes.

Start a good dash of olive oil heating in a skillet. Mix one part Italian breadcrumbs and one part grated parm in a prep bowl. Coat the pork medallions in this heavenly mixture and set them into the hot oil. Turn the burner on low and let them cook until they are done halfway up. Carefully turn them.

Drain the pasta and mix in the herbs and tomato. You may wish to heat it again for just a moment to let all the flavors meld. The tenderloin medallions should be done by now; serve it on a plate garnished with some extra parm (and extra sea salt, if you want!).

I enjoyed tonight's meal with the rest of my Negroamaro Rosato. It paired beautifully with the meal, complimenting the fresh herbs and turning fruity in the face of the salt and parmesan. A delightful pairing made even more delightful by the fact that I drank it out of one of my new Riedel glasses - a splurge from a recent cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. My wine appreciation has reached new heights!

Yours in the love of food and wine,
AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-eighth Post ~ Rosemary Garlic Pork Tenderloins en Papillote

It's crested above eighty degrees here in Buffalo, and as someone who never wills the winter to leave nor the days to become hot, I feel that I have the right to complain, if only for a moment. The humidity is at 60%, and when you couple that with 84 degrees, and then couple THAT with a third-floor apartment dwelling, you end up having a real issue about what to make for dinner.

Yes, it all comes down to that: Dinner.

So tonight I opted to cook "en papillote" for three reasons:

1.) It's quick - when it's this hot out, I don't have a whole lot of energy.

2.) It's light - the en papillote method cooks your food entirely through steam - no heavy oils or butters.

3.) It's convenient - prep your raw ingredients and stick it in the toaster oven - no need to stand over a hot stove!

So here's what you'll need for tonight's dinner:

~ Pork tenderloin (cut into a little less than a one-inch medallions)

~ Mushrooms

~ White wine

~ Garlic (fresh or jarred - I went jarred because it amounted in less to wash later on over a hot sink)

~ Fresh herbs of choice (I used rosemary and thyme, because they're my perennial favorites)

~ Coarse ground sea salt

~ Dijon mustard (optional)

Cut out your parchment paper heart and set your pork medallions in one half. Over this, place your herbs. Sauté some mushroom slices in a pan with a little water, a dash of olive oil and some salt. Place them on top of the fresh herbs. Over this scatter a bit of crushed garlic.

Fold the "heart" and crimp the edges. Into the naturally-formed "spout" at the heart's bottom, pour about a tablespoon of white wine.

Seal it up and cook it for about 13 minutes in a pre-heated 375-degree oven.

I went into the other room and enjoyed the breeze from a fan while I worked for a bit. When the timer went off, I transferred the parchment package to a plate and paired the meal with an Italian Rosato from Negroamaro by Cantele. It was delightfully bright with a nose of sun-ripened raspberries and unexpected notes of anise.

Upon tasting the pork and mushrooms, I found them to be flavorful, yet lacking just a bit. I put a small amount of dijon mustard onto the pork and found that it married the flavors of the rosemary and garlic beautifully - however, as a caveat to oenophiles everywhere, I have to mention that it did kill some of the subtle beauty of the wine.

I think that if I had it to do over again (which of course, I do; that's the beauty of cooking!) I would enjoy the meal with this wine as mentioned without the mustard, and for an alternate taste, I would place a bit of dijon en papillote prior to cooking, and then pair the meal with a little heavier of a wine, such as a pinot noir or a merlot.

All in all, a good meal (and I intend to take another tasting of the Rosata in a little while after my palette clears a bit) and all the more satisfying for its hot-weather-friendly nature!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-seventh Post ~ Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms with Stilton Cream Sauce

Yes - it's as you suspected. I've got all this stilton left over from yesterday's Blueberry Chambourcin Port Fest and I'm just itching to cook with it. That and I want to have a meal worthy of the final glass of port!

Here's what you'll need to make tonight's 10-minute meal:

~ Chicken tenderloin

~ Mushrooms

~ Garlic (jarred or fresh)

~ Balsamic vinegar

~ Sea salt

~ Olive oil

~ Pasta of your choice

~ Stilton (or similar blue)

~ Cream

~ Fresh (or dried) thyme

Start a pot of water boiling. Slice up some mushrooms and start them sautéing with some garlic, salt and olive oil. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar. At this point your water should be boiling, so add your pasta and start watching the clock.

Cut the tenderloins into bite-sized pieces. Your mushrooms should be moving right along at this point, so add the chicken, another dash of salt, olive oil and balsamic. As soon as the chicken and mushrooms are cooked through, set them to the side in a prep bowl.

In the same pan (d0n't worry about rinsing) add about a tablespoon of stilton and some cream. You don't need too much of this sauce. What I made for my meal was enough to just coat the bottom of my stick-free skillet. So not much.

Once the sauce is nicely melded and your pasta is done, drain the pasta and put it on a plate. Top with the chicken and mushrooms from the prep bowl. Top that with a bit of fresh thyme.

The food paired beautifully with the blueberry chambourcin port and the meal itself came together nicely, too. The flavors held their own - the chicken and mushrooms were flavorful in their own right, but also were accented by the bit of stilton. The thyme added a nice fresh note to it, and it has become my all-time (all-thyme?) favorite herb to keep on hand!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-sixth Post ~ Wine Feature: Blueberry Chambourcin Port Dinner

I arrived home on Sunday travel-weary (yet brimming with memories!) from our 16-day Alaskan adventure. Marked on my calendar, where it had been firmly planted for three months, were the words "PORT FEST".

I had gotten my hands on a unique vintage - a bottle of blueberry chambourcin port - from Vetter Vineyards about a year ago. Fellow foodie and wine connoisseur Meg and I decided that if we were going to do justice to a bottle (or even part of a bottle!) of port, we'd have to plan this right. So plan we did. Here's the menu:

BEVERAGES

~ Blueberry Chambourcin Port

~ Ice water

APPETIZER

~ Hickory-smoked almonds (Wegmans - way cheaper than Blue Diamond, and just as yummy!)

~ Imported French chocolate (via Japan and my friend Nozomi!)

~ Stilton (a classic, right?)

ENTRÉE

~ Pork medallions ladened with blueberry chutney (home-made by Meg's awesome mom!)

~ Steamed broccoli florets (what, we can't be healthy about this?)

DESSERT

~ Meg's outstanding blueberry cobbler

Here's how to pull it all together so that you can enjoy many hours of dining, dishing and drinking!

Make sure the port has had at least 24 hours out of the wine rack standing upright to allow sediments to, well, settle. Chill for about 15 minutes before pouring.

Have the cheese, almonds, chocolate and water ready on the table.

Know your limitations: Meg handled the baking. Period. Although she did assure me that this was a user-friendly recipe, I gladly stepped aside and readied the entrée while she handled getting dessert in the oven:

Put either stick-free foil on the pan or a little olive oil. Slice pork into inch-thick medallions. We had two each. Spoon some blueberry chutney (or another fruit chutney or even jam) over the pork. Pop in a 350-degree oven/toaster oven for about fifteen minutes.

This chutney was sweet and had a little zip, either from cardamom or chili powder, or possibly both. Meg's mom - care to weigh in? In any case, this chutney stood alone without any need for additional spices. If you're using jam, consider grating a little nutmeg over the top or adding a spring of a fresh herb like rosemary or thyme and a hint of black pepper.

While the pork is cooking and the cobbler is baking, sit and enjoy the appetizer and your first tasting of port. Vetter's port went wonderfully with the appetizer - the chocolate brought out the velvety texture of the wine, and the stilton and smoked almonds highlighted its intense berry tones. The wine is intense without being too heady - the bouquet is as delicious as the flavor, and it warms you at the first sip without that dizzying effect one can experience with too bold a drink. At 18%, it's also slightly lighter than most other ports I've encountered, which, in my opinion, makes it a more enjoyable beverage. A fine start!

During the last few minutes your pork is in, steam the broccoli in the microwave for three minutes or until desired doneness. The easiest method is to put the broccoli in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Try very hard not to burn yourself on the escaping steam when it's done.

Serve the pork with lightly buttered and salted broccoli. The port complemented the pork beautifully! Even though port is typically reserved as an after-dinner drink, this ruby port was fruity and approachable with bright characteristics. This made it a wonderful mirror to the entrée.

Enjoy some photos, some girl talk, nibble on some more chocolate, and then enjoy the cobbler. Here is a link to this recipe that Meg found (and masterfully executed, I might add)! The blueberry-stained copy she gave me will reside in my cookbook forever! The cobbler's sweetness gave the port a bit of a refreshing snap to it - but it wasn't at all clashing. It was a perfect dessert for this (typically) dessert wine!

A fine meal, fine wine, and the best ingredient of all, fine companionship!

Yours in the love of good food, wine and camaraderie,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-fifth Post ~ Honey Balsamic Glazed Duck with Mushrooms

I searched online for a bit today to find some new ideas for duck. I have used fruit and wine reductions a number of times and wanted to try something different... I read many ideas, and blended this and that into the recipe that was tonight's dinner.

Here's what you'll need:

~ 1 duck breast

~ Balsamic vinegar

~ Honey

~ Olive oil

~ Coarse ground sea salt

~ Nutmeg

~ one or two cloves

~ Fresh thyme

~ Fresh rosemary

~ Small amount minced onion

~ Pre-washed, pre-sliced mushrooms

In a stick-free pan, start a small amount of olive oil sizzling. Mince the onion. Prep the duck.

:: PAUSE ::

Now, I'm not passing judgement here, but the duck is one... shall we say insulated bird. I am normally clueless about what to do with the cushion of fat on a duck breast. Why does duck a l'orange come with such a lovely crispy skin? The trick, I've learned, is in scoring the fat. With a really sharp knife, cut a crisscross pattern in the fat (which, all these years, I thought was decorative, but actually serves a purpose). The slices allow the fat to melt as it's cooked, rendering a nice crispy skin. I've yet to completely master this art, but I've come the closest this time than ever before to a nice crispy duck breast. Practice makes perfect, I say!

:: UNPAUSE ::

So score the duck and place it skin-side down in the oil. Jump back and nurse your teensie little oil burns. One never learns.

Let the duck sit like that for a few minutes while you toss in the onion and mushrooms. Grind on some salt, and splash a healthy amount of balsamic vinegar over the whole deal. Add the fresh thyme and a small amount (you don't want this to be the predominant flavor) of rosemary.

Now, the fun part. Pour on the honey. Don't be shy. The consistency of the pan's contents will instantly change. It seems that everything gets slower; the sizzling is less intense, the oil gently simmers, and everything melds into a lovely, dark, sweet, caramelized sauce. It was at this point that I was inspired to toss a clove into the mix and grind on some nutmeg with my neat little grinder that I picked up when I was in the West Indies along with these dark, lovely, rich little seeds.

Flip the duck breast and continue simmering everything together. At some point, you may wish to remove the sauce and mushrooms from the pan, place them in a prep bowl, and continue cooking the duck until it's fully done (when the juices run clear).

Serve with the mushrooms and sauce poured over the top. Given that this meal was obviously inspired by a mad sweet tooth, I decided to go with the "compliment" method of wine pairing tonight and enjoyed the duck with a white catawba that Meg and I picked up in Ferrera vineyards in Ohio. It added a nice fruity note to the meal, without being too sweet but not tart, either.

All in all, a satisfying meal!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-fourth Post ~ Easy Sirloin Steak with Mushrooms and Fingerling Potatoes

Maybe it's the fact that I'm halfway through the week. Maybe it's the sunshine. Whatever the reason, today just feels like a day that should be celebrated. And I like to celebrate with a good dinner.

I ran to Wegmans after class and picked up two organic sirloin steaks, a bag of fingerlings, and a package of pre-washed and sliced baby bellas mushrooms, for a change of pace from the buttons.

Home I went. Given that it was already pushing 10:30, I needed to get this dinner in order and on the table post haste. Here's what you'll need to make tonight's dinner, and here's how you can get it all on the table within a half hour or under:

~ One small sirloin steak (I've never bought organic steak before, but these were mismarked, I think, and therefore within the realm of what I like to pay for a small steak: $3 a pop)

~ Ground salt

~ Herb of choice for use on the whole meal (I relied heavily on thyme, 'cause that's what I have a bag of in my fridge, but I also had a little rosemary left, so I used some of that, too)

~ White wine

~ One clove garlic

~ Olive oil

~ Mushrooms

~ Fingerling potatoes

As soon as you walk in the door (after greeting a puppy, if applicable) start your toaster oven on conventional bake 350. Wash and pierce the fingerlings. Rub some olive oil on them and place them on a piece of foil on the same pan you plan to cook the steak on later on. Scatter some thyme and grind ample salt over them. Pop 'em in the oven.

In a pan, start some olive oil and white wine simmering. Add the mushrooms as soon as you get the package open, grind some sea salt over them, crush a clove of garlic into the mix, and add some thyme (assuming that's the fresh herb you're using) and add more wine and oil as it boils down.

As soon as the mushrooms are going, salt the steak and add some olive oil over the top. Place a sprig of rosemary on the top of it and place it next to the potatoes in your toaster oven. I usually go by the rule of 5 minutes on one side, 8 on the other. This was a bit smaller of a steak, so I went less.

Serve the steak topped with the mushrooms alongside your yummy fingerling potatoes (after about 30 minutes, they're perfect!). I enjoyed tonight's mid-week celebration meal with my last glass of Sangre de Toro Tempranillo. I cannot say enough good things about this wine. I think it will be one of those wines that I'll just always plan on having in my wine rack. Besides being really affordable, it's smooth and earthy with bright overtones of cherry and blackberry that deepen over time. It's a perfect match for a dinner like this!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,
AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-third Post ~ Savory Dill and White Wine Pork and Mushrooms

Tonight I left my night class with a sinking thought - a thought that would only occur in the mind of a grad student: "When exactly was that pizza from?" Because when you're in grad school, it's perfectly normal to walk into a classroom five minutes late, see a box of pizza on the conference table and flip the box open and start noshing a slice without ever entertaining the notion that perhaps that pizza was from last night's night class...

But I digress.

My point is that I came home tonight slightly full yet slightly hungry. So I finished up my stats homework and decided to cook something on the smallish yet still fulfilling side.

I had in my freezer three medallions that I had sliced from a small pork tenderloin that I had cooked last week. I thawed them out and assessed what else I had in my fridge. I had some button mushrooms and some fresh dill. I also had onion and garlic, and about two inches of a wonderful sweet white wine. We can work with this. Here's what you'll need for tonight's appetizer-sized meal:

~ Pork tenderloin cut into medallions

~ Button mushrooms

~ White wine (for sautéing, I prefer sweet NY whites as they have a lot of residual sugar which prevents the mushrooms from tasting tart)

~ Fresh dill (haven't had a lot of experience with this herb yet, but I really am warming to it!)

~ Garlic (one clove)

~ Small amount of onion

~ Coarse ground sea salt

~ Olive oil

~ A dash of balsamic vinegar

~ A quick squeeze of lemon

With one cutting board and one chef's knife (keep this simple - it's late) mince up the garlic and onion. Add it to the dash of olive oil and balsamic in your pan and a quick squeeze of lemon. Add some sweet wine. Take a taste for yourself. Add the mushrooms and start everything a-sizzlin'. Grind some salt over the whole thing and then add some dill (about one small sprig's worth).

Let this sauté for a bit until the mushrooms are almost done. Scootch the mushrooms to the center of the pan and place the pork medallions into the sauce on top of some of the garlic, onion and dill. Turn a few times until they are done. You may want to move them toward the center of the pan and the mushrooms out a bit.

The next time I make this meal, I think I would add a little fruit to the mix (perhaps some diced apple or dried apricot) to add a touch more sugar to the acidity of the sauce. I thought it was really tasty, but I thought it would be exceptional with just the slightest bit more sweetness.

I enjoyed this supper with a glass of Mastroberardino Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio. It's a 2005 and needed to be consumed... that, and it's a really enjoyable white wine, with crisp acidity that complemented the fresh lightness of the dill and citrus.

Yours in the love of good food and wine (regardless of the time of day!)

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-second Post ~ "Nest Egg" à la Accidental Chef

I got my Food Network magazine in the mail yesterday, and was thrilled to see that it features 50 recipes for eggs. Eggs are pretty much my mainstay for one of those middle-of-the-day "I need to wolf something down quickly before I leave" kinds of meals. So I was psyched.

On the cover is something called a "nest egg" and it looked yummy and easy enough to do - toast a piece of bread, cut out a hole, crack an egg into the hole, cover and cook - but I was wondering... where's the punched out hole? And couldn't we add SOMETHING else for a little flavor?

So I offer you the Nest Egg à la Accidental Chef - well, actually, two of them...

Here's what you'll need for this afternoon's pre-class snack.

~ One piece of bread

~ Butter

~ One egg

~ Fresh thyme (I imagine many other fresh herbs would be just as yummy, but thyme is my favorite for this kind of thing - fresh, lovely taste, no chopping...)

~ Coarse-ground salt

~ Persistence

After I made this the first time, I was surprised at how much resistance the spatula gave me as I tried to get it out of the pan. Then I finally succeeded in lifting it up, only to see that the underside was black. No scraping in the WORLD would have saved it. It was black half-way up the bread. I'm lucky I didn't burn down my kitchen.

Well, not really, but you can indulge me in my fears.

So I took another stab at it, and was successful, although the bread was still a bit crisp on the bottom. The method I thought of half-way through probably would have been best implemented earlier on...

Butter both sides of a piece of bread (potato bread for me, naturally). Get everything ready: prep the thyme (1-2 sprigs) and crack the egg into a prep bowl.

Start the bread grilling in a stick-free pan. Watch it like a hawk. Only grill it so that it is JUST starting to look golden. Take it off the pan and use a cookie cutter to cut a pretty hole out of the middle. I used a flower. It's actually the only cookie cutter I own, so that's the reason for that.

Set the flower aside and put the bread back into the pan. Carefully drop the egg right into the hole. Scatter the thyme over it and grind on some salt. Cover. Wait until the egg sets. And wait. And wait. And pray your bread doesn't burn.

:: PAUSE ::

When I was little, my mom had this neat technique for making bagels so that they were crispy yet not dry. She would slice and butter them, grill them on a griddle, then just as they were nearly done, she'd drop about a tablespoon or two of water into the griddle and slap on a lid. It would hiss like crazy, and it always intimidated me a little. But the steam would cook the bagels while the grilled side remained crispy and perfect. It was a neat little technique, and the hissing pan made me remember it. So I dropped in a little water and slapped the cover back on.

:: UNPAUSE ::

Eureka! The steam set the egg in seconds, and the toast remained unburnt. As I said, I'd go ahead and do that right off the bat before putting the lid on.

Third time's the charm, right?

I had this with my mandatory pre-class cup of coffee.

Here's to the love of good food and learning new (and recalling old!) techniques!

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-first Post ~ A Cold Remedy: The Hot Toddy.

This post is a sort of culinary sequel, if you will, to Post #32 on Chicken Soup. I've been hit by one of those awful spring colds, and after making myself a pot of chicken soup today (and eating three bowls of it) I was faced with the "bedtime" question... what to do about all those brutal cold symptoms that keep you up at night? Cold medicine renders me a zombie the next day... so the answer, my friends, lies in the Hot Toddy.

Now some of my friends have mocked me a bit for liking hot toddies when I'm sick. Personally, I say: don't mock until you've had one. Here's what you'll need for a classic (and dare I say elegant) hot toddy:

~ Herbal tea (Good herbal tea - I got these by Mighty Leaf at Wegmans and just had to include a picture - they're like little works of art! This one is chamomile and citrus)

~ Lemon (a slice is best, but lemon juice works as well!)

~ A cinnamon stick

~ Honey (be generous - it helps your throat!)

~ Brandy or whiskey (tonight's is made with a Kentucky bourbon infused with honey.

Muddle the lemon and honey together. Add the cinnamon and tea. Steep according to the directions. Add the spirit of your choice. I only add a "pony shot" (1 oz.) but this can certainly be altered to fit your desires!

Sit back, inhale deeply, sip this soothing concoction and let all the cold tension melt away!

Yours in the love of food and the healing power of just the right recipe,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.