Make This

DIY Chartreuse. Or Something Like That.

Posted on Apr 16, 2012 in Distilleries, Featured, Make This, Recipes, Travel | 5 comments

The directions from Lyon to the Chartreuse distillery go something like this:  Exit the parking garage while trying to fire up your GPS. As it searches listlessly for a satellite (shouting “Look up!” or pointing it at the sky does not help), drive across the river with the vague feeling that the freeway might be in that direction. Eventually, a crisp Scottish voice will come to life and guide you to Quai Bellevue and from there you will find the ramp to Marseille/Genève/Grenoble/Porta de Croix Luizet/Périphérique Est, the pronounciation of which your Scottish guide will mangle in that...

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Niki Jabbour’s Inspired Cocktail Garden Idea

Posted on Feb 6, 2012 in Botany, Featured, Make This | 2 comments

Who cares if it’s February?  I want my basil mojito and I want it now.   Niki Jabbour, author of a new book called The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener, offers these two brilliant bartender-inspired ideas for sheltering herbs and any other tender young green thing.  Modeled after the classic Victorian glass cloche or bell jar, these repurposed wine glasses do the job perfectly, creating a miniature greenhouse that keeps the plant warm and protected from the elements. And for larger plants:  the punch bowl!  Brilliant.   photos courtesy of Joseph De Sciose and The Year Round...

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Grenadine: If There’s an Easy Way to Juice a Pomegranate, I Don’t Know What It Is.

Posted on Jan 13, 2012 in Featured, Make This, Recipes | 3 comments

This time last year, I made a little homemade grenadine during pomegranate season.  We had a party shortly after that in which we mixed up Pink Lady cocktails according to this recipe in Imbibe magazine. The drinks were a hit–and although we hadn’t been using grenadine around the house before that, we definitely put it into heavy rotation after the party. Then we ran out. By that time, pomegranates were out of season.  We tried buying grenadine at the liquor store, and we tried making our own using bottled pomegranate juice.  Neither were remotely as good as the homemade...

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