A sunny holiday weekend cries out for a cold, thick smoothie. Here's a simple one that's sure to please.
Mixed Berry Smoothie
Ingredients
- 2 cups of frozen mixed berries
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
- 1 sliced banana
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 6oz cup of vanilla yogurt
Put all of the ingredients into a blender. Blend until thick and smooth.
I'm taking a trip to Sweden soon. In honor of that (and by request of Jana), here's a recipe for some homemade aquavit. I first saw this made on PBS on New Scandinavian Cooking, and then again in that show's Norwegian host Andrea Viestad's book, Kitchen of Light. It's an aquired taste, at least for an American, but I like it.
Aquavit
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons of dill seeds
- 2 star anise
- 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
- 1 whole clove
- 1 1-inch cinnamon stick (optional)
- 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds (optional)
- 1 1-liter bottle of vodka
Add the spices to the vodka bottle and cover tightly. Let it stand for 2 or 3 weeks, depending on how strong you want it to be. Shake the bottle occasionally. Once it's reached the desired flavor, strain it and return to the bottle.
I was looking around on Foodry today and was amused by some of the restaurant names from around the country. Here are a few of them:
Sacks Art Of Sandwicherie - Phoenix, AZ
Ignoring the obvious hilarity of "Sacks", "Sandiwicherie" is just a cool word.
Tibetan Yak Restaurant - Queens, NY
Yak. Just saying it makes me snicker. Plus the thought of one in the middle of Queens...
Souper Bowl - Anchorage, AK
Ok, not so funny. But give them a break -- they're in Alaska.
Big Tomato - Pembroke Pines, FL
Is it a fruit or a vegetable? It's big, whatever it is.
Dot & Etta's Shrimp Hut - Detroit, MI
Shrimp must be popular in Detroit -- Dot and Etta have a couple of locations.
Sitting Duck - Bigfork, MT
Just don't wear your elk antlers to dinner.
Squealer's - Meridian, MS
Onomatopoeia.
Mooner's Bar & Lounge - Mitchell, SD
Hehe. He said Mooner. After dinner, you can stop at the Corn Palace.
Tailgators - Perryton, TX
I hear gator tail tastes like chicken.
The Meating Place - Perryton, TX
Another one from Perryton! They're a creative bunch. I'm not sure I want to know what "meating" is, though.
Fingers, Wings & Other Things - Philadelphia, PA
Don't ask what the Other Things are.
A Wok on the Beach - Gulf Shores, AL
Wok is a word made for punning. This is a particularly good one.
Wok Right Inn - South Bend, IN
Not that funny, but this one gets two puns for the price of one.
Sar's Oriental Cuisine - Tacoma, WA
Not that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is funny, but I wonder if they had a decline in business a couple of years ago.
I'm sure there are some even better ones out there. Let me know about them! (And if you've actually have eaten there, submit a review.)
Technorati tags: restaurants funny
Our backyard apple tree is dropping apples like crazy, much faster than I can eat them by hand. Too many of them are already being wasted, sitting on the ground for days, so I decided to do something about it: make applesauce. Here's what I did, based on a recipe at Simply Recipes.
Applesauce
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds of a good cooking apple
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large pinch of salt
- 1 cup of water
Peel, core, and quarter the apples. Put them in a pot large enough to hold them with some extra room. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
Remove from heat and mash with potato masher or, for a smoother applesauce, use a food processor. Allow to cool a bit and either serve immediately warm or refrigerate or freeze.
Technorati tags: cooking recipe apples applesauce
