The Nectarine Vodka Throwdown

Many years ago, I made fruit-infused vodkas (apricot and cherry) as gifts for some friends.  It was incredibly easy and quite tasty.  I decided to use Melissa's fruit to make nectarine vodka.

I cut several nectarines into chunks and put them in a glass canning jar. 

I filled the jar with vodka so that it covered the fruit.  I used a medium quality vodka- not the most expensive I could find, but not the least either.  I put on the lid and moved the jar to a cabinet, away from heat and light. 

Each day, I shook the container and returned it to the cabinet.  Here's how it looked on Days 1, 2 and 5.

At the end of the fifth day, the nectarines had given up most of their color (and flavor) to the vodka and were looking a bit worse for wear.  I put cheesecloth over a clean jar and poured the vodka in.

Then I challenged Steve to a Nectarine Vodka Throwdown.  Let me start by saying that neither of us drinks much or often.  We know a fair bit about wine, but next to nothing about mixed drinks.  We have a few types of alcohol in the house, but certainly not enough for anyone who actually knows something about inventing mixed drinks.  But as I've said before, I never let the fact that I have no clue how to do something stop me, whether it's jewelry making, cake decorating, or vodka-drink inventing.  

With no idea what I was doing, I mixed together 1 oz. nectarine vodka and 1 oz. orange juice and poured them in a martini glass.  I added Sprite until it seemed sort of full, then poured in a splash of grenadine.  Pretty!  It tasted good, but the nectarine flavor was not very prominent. 

Steve dug around in the cabinet and found dry vermouth.  He mixed 1 oz. nectarine vodka, 1/2 oz. of dry vermouth, 1/8 tsp. sugar, and 1 oz. Sprite.  He poured it in the glass and added a splash of grenadine.  The resulting drink was... um... drinkable.  Almost.  I took two sips to give it a fair chance, but it did not earn my vote for winner of the Throwdown.

I decided to enter a second drink in the Throwdown.  My contest, my rules.... right?

We have a decent collection of Torani syrups for making sno-cones.  Perhaps one would go well with nectarine vodka?  I rejected root beer right away, along with lemon, cherry, and orange.  All would overwhelm the flavor of the nectarine.  Then I found the vanilla.  Hmmm....  I mixed 1 oz. vanilla Torani with 1 oz. nectarine vodka, then add the juice and zest of one lemon.  Delicious!  I promptly declared myself the winner. 

 Of course, for all I know, I've invented a drink that already exists.  If so, I need to know its name so I can order it on the extremely rare occasions when I get a cocktail.  If it didn't exist, I need to name it.  Suggestions anyone?

Any Disneyland fans out there?

Today marks the 100th post on my blog!  Time flies when you're having fun!  And speaking of having fun, do the letters in my name look familiar to anyone?    

Our family goes to Disneyland every year on or around my nephew Timothy's birthday.  The last time we were there, I thought it would be fun to take photographs of each letter of the alphabet and turn it into a scavenger hunt game for Timothy and Trevor to do on our next visit.    

Here's what I made for Timothy:

 

And here's Trevor's:

I made these using the collage feature in Picasa.  I LOVE Picasa.  It is simple to use, has tons of features, and is totally free.  To make the collage, I simply selected the photos I wanted, resized them, then arranged them how I wanted on a black canvas.  A simple crop and it was done. 

Timothy is such a Disneyland mega-fan that he will probably be able to identify the location of every letter within ten seconds of seeing this post.  How many can the rest of you identify?

Since this is my 100th post, I decided to celebrate the milestone with a giveaway.  Would you like a Disneyland name collage with your name or the name(s) of your kids?  I'll let random.org pick a lucky winner- just leave me a comment!  I'll announce a winner on Thursday.

Looking forward to the next 100 posts!

Christmas in July

Seven months later and I'm finally making time to scrap my Christmas photos.  Christmas in July!  It feels a bit strange to pull out the snowflake vellum when it's 100 degrees outside, but it's also fun to work with colors and embellishments that I haven't used since scrapping the previous Christmas.

I absolutely love the Christmas list that Trevor made, complete with adorable invented spellings.  I wanted that to be the focus of the layout.  It felt strange not to add any journaling besides a translation, as I almost always tell a whole story on my pages.  But in this case, I think it works just like this.

I used a sketch by Shannon White.  As you can see, I both rotated and flipped the sketch.   I loved working with the strips of paper... and all of them are scraps! 

Happy Christmas in July!

Baked Nectarines with Gingerbread Topping

Our kitchen has been out of commission while Steve has replaced our garbage disposal, added a Chilipepper, and fixed some plumbing issues.  Needless to say, it's hard to test peach and nectarine recipes without being able to use the kitchen.  Undaunted, I gathered up some ingredients and took them to our friend Suzzi's house, where I had access to a 100% operational kitchen.

My idea was to do some sort of baked nectarines with a streusel topping.  I started with some basic streusel ingredients (flour, sugar, butter) and added some spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves).  I mixed and adjusted until the streusel tasted like gingerbread, then spread a heavy coat on top of nectarine slices.

(I didn't actually make this poolside.  I couldn't get a good picture indoors, so I brought in out for a photo.)

I put it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  When it came out, the nectarines were perfectly cooked, but the topping (I can't reasonably call it streusel anymore) was unevenly cooked.  Some of it was gooey, some crumbly.  Since there were no ingredients that needed cooking for food safety reasons, I served it up as is.    

(Just out of the oven.  It smelled amazing.)

Despite its less-than-perfect appearance, it was absolutely delicious!  The topping had all the flavors of gingerbread and was an ideal complement to the nectarines.  It was wonderful on its own, but I imagine it would be even better over ice cream or under whipped cream (or both!)

I have mixed feelings about this recipe.  It isn't exactly a cool, light, summery dish, ideal for perfectly ripe nectarines.  And it's not very pretty.  On the other hand, it is delicious!  I don't plan to do any further experimentation with this one, but if I did, my first step would be to stir the topping into the nectarine slices so that they were all evenly coated instead of just sprinkling it on top. 

Baked Nectarines with Gingerbread Topping

                                 6 nectarines, sliced                  1/2 tsp. nutmeg

                                 1/2 c. flour                              1/2 tsp. ginger

                                 1/2 c. brown sugar                   1/4 tsp. cloves

                                 1 tsp. cinnamon                       1/4 c. butter

Spread the nectarine slices evenly in a 9x13 inch baking dish and set aside.  In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Sprinkle topping evenly over nectarine slices.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Maple-Glazed Nectarines

Here's another recipe I developed using Melissa's nectarines.  I'm having so much fun experimenting!

Maple-Glazed Nectarines

                                            4 nectarines                     1/4 tsp. cinnamon
                                            4 tsp. maple syrup           1/4 tsp. nutmeg
                                            2 tsp. lemon juice            1 T. butter

Slice nectarines and set aside.  In a small bowl, combine maple syrup, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix thoroughly, then set aside.

Add butter to a pan and heat until the butter is foamy and just starts to turn a golden color.

Reduce heat to low.  Add nectarines.  Stir gently to coat with butter.  Cook approximately 1 minute. 

Add maple mixture to pan.  Cook for one minute, stirring gently to make sure all nectarines are coated.

Place in bowls to serve, drizzling glaze over the top.

This is also delicious over vanilla ice cream, on Belgian waffles, or topped with whipped cream.  Yum!