By Amanda Rose | Berries
For a holiday beverage good hot or cold, with dairy milk or coconut milk, with bourbon or without, this drink combines cranberry with holiday spices for a memorable drink. We used dried cranberries which we soaked overnight in bourbon. Water would do but it certainly would not provide the richness of bourbon. For a stronger […]
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By Amanda Rose | Mint
The holidays are busy enough as it is — making some flavor infusions to keep stock in late November and December is a great strategy. We made up an infusion of peppermint and of holiday spices and we keep each in our refrigerator to put together quick drinks. These infusions allow us to use whole […]
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By Amanda Rose | Tips
As we scurry to get ready for the holidays, it is so easy to forget to thaw the turkey. I know everyone has done it: left the turkey out on the counter on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving hoping it will thaw more quickly at room temperature. It does thaw more quickly at room temperature but […]
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By Amanda Rose | Adventures
Our recent travels to Kauai, a gift from a family member, landed us on a tour of a taro farm, a crop we have never seen grown in California. The tour was a delight and an education. Taro is a root used in Asian cuisine and grown in heavily-watered fields. The water requirements are so […]
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By Amanda Rose | Chocolate
We find ourselves in Kauai this week and, thinking we couldn’t be luckier to laze on a Hawaiian island in November, we landed on a Kauai chocolate farm tasting eleven dark chocolates from around the globe. We felt so inspired that we thought we’d post a little shout-out. Steelgrass Farm, in the foothills above the […]
Continue readingBy Amanda Rose | Elderberry
We have had a great crop of elderberries this year and faced the big question of what to do with such a bounty — Freeze? Can? Ferment? Wine and jam are great options for elderberries but our main use this season has been elderberry syrup. We have frozen elderberries raw to make syrup (or anything […]
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