New spring drinks for you

Although most days it is still too cold to sit on my front porch and drink, I do it anyway, because I am so impatient to resume my summer hobby of sitting on my front porch and drinking.  And while I am bundled up from head to toe, mittens and all, I am enjoying drinks that make me think of spring, which helps me ignore the shivering.  All recipes yield one drink, but it would be nice of you to make enough to share.  And my neighbor says it looks sad when you drink martinis on the porch all by yourself.

April Rain

  

2 oz. vodka

½ oz. lime juice

½ oz. dry vermouth

lime peel for garnish

Shake vodka, lime juice, and vermouth vigorously over plenty of ice (the shaker should be almost to cold to hold!) and pour into a martini glass.  Garnish with lime peel.  

Early Spring Martini

2 oz. vodka

½ oz. dry vermouth

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon frozen peas

1 small lettuce leave, ripped into pieces

Muddle peas and lettuce in a shaker.  Add remaining ingredients, shake together with plenty of ice and strain into a martini glass.  

Sparkling Cucumber Cocktail

2 oz. gin

1 teaspoon Rose’s Lime

1 teaspoon super fine or granulated white sugar

 thin slices of cucumber, plus one thicker slice for garnish

Tonic water

In a martini shaker, muddle the 4 thin cucumber slices with the sugar.  When cukes seem well-beaten and have create a good amount of juice, pour in the gin and Rose’s lime.  Add lots of ice and shake vigorously.  Strain into a martini glass, top with about 2-3 ounces of tonic water and garnish with remaining cucumber slice.

Greeley, CO's weirdest restaurant

Ostensibly, Red's Dogs and Donuts hearkens back to Greeley's potato-loving past, offering "spudnuts", or doughnuts made with potato flour.  In reality, it's a crazy hot mess of A.D.D. junk food love--doughnuts (most are not spudnuts), "gourmet" hotdogs made with kobe beef (Why bother?  Can anyone explain this?) and all kinds of random toppings like mole sauce with pickled red onions and coleslaw with bacon, as well as a couple of special treats you can't find anywhere else.  In fact, you might not ever have heard of them.

Kolaches are a yeast-based bun filled with meat, vegetables, or fruit.  Most are geared towards breakfast (though Red's is open until 8pm weekdays, midnight weekends) and amount to enclosed Egg McMuffin-style sandwiches.  And then there are the Wacky Waffles (I'm pretty sure a "TM" belongs after that term).  Wacky Waffles are merely Belgian waffles with various toppings, most of them including candy and heavy whipped cream, but I guess maybe they thought waffles weren't exciting enough to sell without a special name.

Now, I'm not making fun--their doughnuts are pretty incredible (though you can save your money on the Baconator--you can see the bacon, but you can't taste it), and the kolaches are a pretty handy portable way to fill up.  All in all, the food is made well and with a great affection for all that is unhealthy.  And the extreme enthusiasm with which the workers greet and serve you behind the counter is downright heart-warming.  I'm just saying, this place is bizarre.  And the owners are definitely going to die of heart disease soon.

Blue C Sushi Extra Super Good!!!!!!

Blue C Sushi can be found in mediocre, overpriced shopping areas throughout suburban Seattle, and it's sickeningly lit with copious neon lights.  Open the doors and you are overwhelmed with insipid, thumping ambient trance music and your eyes will eventually be assaulted by Japanese sports shows projected onto the largest wall in the room (because a widescreen t.v. just isn't enough).  But here's why you should go: it's totally fun!  Oh, and the food is amazing!

So, Blue C is modeled after the first Japanese restaurants to work on conveyor belts in the 1950s--food comes gliding around on a long train, plated on color-coded plates.  The color of the plate tells you how much you will pay if you take it.  So, watch carefully and grad whatever you want--the host adds up the costs at the end.  Picking your food becomes a whimsical group activity, and the slower pace of eating keeps you from getting overstuffed.  Prices are also quite reasonable, particularly for Seattle.

The food itself is beautiful: lovely sushi rolls and sushi nigiri with the freshest of fish, comforting noodle dishes and innovative salads, and tasty little naughty things like mini doughnuts and cheesecake.  I loved the seared ahi tuna--it might be the best I have ever had.  And it cost me $4.25.  I had one of the most satisfying, delectable Japanese meals of my life for $22.95, and I got a good giggle out of the cheesy aesthetic.

So, Blue C Sushi, when are you branching out?  Or do I have to keep flying back to Seattle to eat well?

This recipe is actually my mom's.

Take that, crumbly sawdust shortbread recipes (I‘m talkin‘ to you, Martha Stewart)!  This one’s the best!

Mama Riner’s Oatmeal Shortbread

Makes about 5 dozen pieces.  

1 cup unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

1 ½ cups flour

3.4 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cup quick oats

Preheat oven at 325°F.  Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Gradually add the flour, oats, and salt.  Press into a greased 13x9x2 pan.   Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.  Cool 10 minutes before cutting into squares.