Mango Margarita

It was a rainy day, the type where the clouds are heavy and full and the sun stays hidden. I adore when these days come around, Mother Nature's excuse to spend the day relaxed and indoors. Though I don't need to find a reason to bake, these long, gloomy days make it feel just right. The oven never runs the apartment too hot and freshly made cookies and cakes taste just a little bit sweeter.

These days come as a surprise, a small reminder in a busy world to slow down and embrace the calm of a quiet day.

Last weekend was the start of summer break. To celebrate, a round of drinks was in order. I have made it no secret that margaritas are my cocktail of choice and that statement still stands today. In the past, I have played around with winter flavors, but this occasion called for something a bit brighter. With mangoes on sale at the market, it became an easy decision. After whipping up a couple in the blender, my boyfriend and I toasted each other for the coming months.

For sun, for hot afternoons, for cool evenings, for friends and family.

Mango Margaritas are a refreshing drink for warm summer nights. A traditional margarita is infused with the puree of fresh, ripe mango. With a squeeze of lime and a shot of triple sec, the fruity drink becomes lip-smacking tart. Though I found two teaspoons of sugar to be just right for me, you could add more or less to your own tastes. Serve on the rocks or blended to suit your own tastes.

Click to read more ...

Boozy Margarita Lime Cake

Margaritas are my favorite cocktail. There is no "when push comes to shove" or hesitancy in that statement. I declare it with the utmost certainty—I love margaritas. Truthfully, when celebrations come around, margaritas usually find a place in the mix, whether it be on the Fourth of July, ringing in the New Year, or reveling in turning twenty-five. Pair it with a side of chips and salsa and I'm yours. Though margaritas may come in every shade and flavor to match, the classic will always have a place in my heart.

The tart and sourness of fresh lime juice never grows tired.

When it comes to boozy cakes, I don't like them to shy away from the alcohol. It's not that I am much of a drinker (which I am not), but if a cake is going to advertise itself as such, I'd like it to live up to my expectations. When I worked in a bakery, I had visions of opening my own "boozy bakery," providing cupcake cocktails in martini glasses. I dreamed of cupcakes infused with Kahula or red wine, and chocolate cupcakes with rum.

While the dreams of my cake shop never grew to fruition, my boozy cake bakery idea stuck with me, settling somewhere inside my sugar-addled brain.

When I thought of making my own margarita cake, I consulted quite a few recipes on the subject. Some included a couple tablespoons of tequila in the batter, some brushed the top with it, but I felt that both of these options did not give enough to fulfill my lofty expectations. Whenever this happens, I set out to do something completely different. There is not only alcohol baked into this particular cake, but it is soaked into the finished product. While lime may be the primary flavor, the tequila isn't too far behind, providing a subtle taste and tingling taste buds.

Cocktail cakes should never fail to please.

This Boozy Margarita Lime Cake is a celebration of lime and tequila. Fresh lime juice and zest find their way into the batter (along with the alcohol to make a margarita complete). When finished baking, the cake is soaked in tequila and orange liquor to give it a little extra zing. Topped with a lime coconut whipped cream and slices of citrus, the cake goes from ordinary to extraordinary. This cake makes for the perfect end to a Mexican meal or fabulous dinner party.

Click to read more ...

Pineapple Jam

I turned twenty-five years old yesterday. I have been on this earth for exactly a quarter of a century. In many ways, I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around it. For the first time I feel, well, older. Perhaps, somehow, more grown up. I am wrapping up my final semester of graduate school, focusing on coursework much more than the social life I prized during university. Soon, however, the shoe will move to the other foot. I have been offered a job teaching high school science this fall and will very soon have lessons to plan, homework to correct, and students of my own to tend.

The times they are a-changin'.

I feel very much an adult, as if the child within me has headed off to summer camp and I've been left behind, waving her goodbye. I go to bed at a reasonable hour each evening, balking at the idea of staying up beyond one in the morning for any reason whatsoever. My refrigerator is full of fruits and vegetables; I optimistically pack a healthy lunch each morning so I'll be forced to eat it when hunger kicks in (this trick, by the way, works wonders). My work ethic is an employer's dream, but I find myself working so frequently that I rarely let loose, leave the house, and do something fun. It's easy to get caught up in responsibilities and forget there is anything outside of them.

Perhaps, you could say, I'm learning how to become an adult, learning to take on new obligations, but not allow them to slowly take over the other pieces of my life. Trying to find a sense of balance in a world that is leaning too far in one direction. Growing up is hard.

I think we should all be allowed a moment to say goodbye to the age we are leaving behind, a moment to grieve, a moment to celebrate, a moment to embrace the future, a moment to call our own and for which no one can judge us. Turning twenty five caught up with me last weekend. I realized, for the first time, that any sense of childhood was officially behind me. I filled up a glass of red wine, and then filled it up again, lamenting my burgeoning spider veins and faint laugh lines to my boyfriend. I walked out on the third story balcony to the apartment, bemoaning my impending old age as the lights in the courtyard made slow circles through air.

As if to show my despair at leaving childhood behind, I threw baby carrots at a neighborhood rabbit who was scampering through the grass below simply because an adult would never do that (the rabbit, I might add, did not seem to appreciate the free dinner). I gave up when I ran out of carrots, collapsing on the couch in front of an episode of Game of Thrones. I had my moment then, a little messy, a little unrefined, and then it passed as if it had never arrived.

The birthday has come and gone since then. The gifts have been unwrapped, the wishes wished, the candles blown out, and the peace made with growing older. Twenty five no longer feels so old anymore and I feel ready and even a little excited to embrace a new number. Thirty? Now that's old. :)

Pineapple Jam has a unique flavor, both sweet and acidic, and complements a toasted English muffin well. Fresh, ripe pineapple is blended into small pieces and cooked down on the stove until it thickens and slightly caramelizes. The addition of vanilla adds a bright tone while a touch of molasses adds a greater depth of flavor. The jam can be finished with a bit of lime zest for a bold twist, but it isn't necessary to create a rounded flavor.

Click to read more ...