A Taste of Spain at Home

We learned a lot about Spanish culture on our recent honeymoon cruise along the Spanish coast. For one thing, we learned that only tourists order sangria. We found this out after trying a few different variations of the iconic drink, the best of which contained sliced local mini-bananas and was out of this world.

Flaunting my touristness with the best sangria ever, in the Canary Islands

But the point is, we stopped ordering sangria. We learned that locals order the simpler (and cheaper) drink, tinto del verano. Literally translated to "red wine of summer," it is a delicious mix of Spanish red wine and carbonated lemonade. For me, it transformed red wine from a complement to a dinner-time meal to a refreshing afternoon beverage. We did a lot of walking and liked to stop for a refreshment and a tapa or two, and we started ordering a tinto del verano at every stop. I think we might have earned a little respect from the locals for not ordering a sangria like they expected us to do. We also saved a few euros by avoiding a menu item reserved for tourists.

Standard tapas-style lunch, complete with tinto del verano

I was a little sad to leave Spain and my daily tinto del verano fix. Luckily, while at the store the other day I happened to notice a 2-liter of calorie-free carbonated lemonade! I didn't know they even made that, and I immediately thought of attempting my own version of tinto del verano.

Sparkling lemonade to the rescue!

I found some super-cheap Spanish tempranillo wine and came home to experiment. 

Add ice to a wine glass and fill about halfway with the wine. Add sparkling lemonade to fill glass. Add a squirt of lemon juice if you like it extra lemony. 

Give it a try, we really love it!

Saturday Brewday

This weekend I decided to try round two of making my own hard cider. The time I made it before it came out delicious and I'm not sure why I've waited this long to try it again! They had a great deal on apple juice at Publix last week so I stocked up. We made a trip down to our friend Brock's Homebrew Store and got a few other necessary ingredients then headed home to brew.

The whole process is pretty simple - sanitizing all the equipment is actually the hardest part! That's only true for cider though; Nate made a red ale at the same time and it was considerably more work. I created my recipe to sort of mimic my new favorite store-bought cider, Angry Orchard Apple Ginger. I'm so excited to see how it turns out!

Kayla's Sweet Honey Ginger Cider

5 gallons Mott's Natural Fresh-Pressed juice

1 pound light brown sugar

1 pound clover honey

Cider yeast

5 gallons of juice!

The juice does not have to be heated to make the cider. I only heated one half gallon in order to dissolve the brown sugar and honey, then I added it to the rest of the juice in the primary fermentation bucket. When heating the juice it's important not to let it boil, as this will set the pectins and result in a hazy cider. Not pretty! 

That's all there is to the first step in making the cider. It's fermenting in our kegerator at 68 degrees for a few weeks. After the primary fermentation stage, I'll add another 1-2 pounds of honey, along with some fresh ginger and some dried orange peel.  Adding the honey at this point will prevent the yeast from turning it into alcohol and preserve that great honey flavor. The fresh ginger is a wild card - it has great potential but it's a little risky, so let's hope it works out.

Our kegerator is painted with chalkboard paint, so I redecorated it for our new brews! Can't wait to try it in a few weeks!

New to Homebrew

About a year ago I was introduced to the world of homebrewed beer. Until then, I thought all those self-proclaimed "beer-lovers" out there tightly clutching their Bud Light bottles had a genuine appreciation for the drink. I also believed the more seasoned beer enthusiasts preferred Yuengling or Guiness. Alas, this is not so my friend. It turns out that true connoisseurs of brew can't buy their favorite beer from the store - because they make it themselves.

It all started when Nate saw a Mr. Beer kit on sale and decided on a whim to purchase it. Mr. Beer is the start-up set of choice for rookie homebrewers. The box sat unopened for a while until as a birthday gift, I gave Nate all the ingredients for his first two batches of homebrew. I chose ingredients to mimic his favorite store-bought brand, Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat. Our recipe included wheat malt, clover honey, coriander seeds, and orange peel.

The whole process is quite involved. The first step, and possibly the most important, is sanitizing every tool and every surface involved with brewing. Once the actual brewing has started there are specific temperatures and times to add each ingredient, which vary depending on your desired brew. The whole process can take anywhere from 1-5 hours. Not being a huge beer drinker myself, this is a bit excessive for me, but I definitely appreciate the art (and science) of the process.

I'm not sure if homebrewing is the next big thing (or if I'm just now becoming aware of it), but it sure seems to be gaining popularity. I have a large group of friends that gather together to brew at least once a month. They each make a different type and enjoy sampling each others creations. I don't think any of them would ever again be caught holding a Natural Light can..

The enjoyment of actually drinking their brews is unfortunately lost on me, but I didn't want to miss out on the fun. So recently Nate and I decided to brew our first hard cider. We went the easy route by starting with pre-made apple juice (rather than pressing our own apples). It was a much simpler process than brewing beer. The ingredients included preservative-free apple juice, orange blossom honey, and English cider yeast. The fermenting process works the same as with beer: the yeast consumes the sugar and turns it into alcohol and CO2, which carbonates the drink. Ours has been fermenting for about a month and should be ready to bottle any time. I sampled it after 2 weeks and it was already drinkable, so it should be delicious by now.

Homemade things always seem to taste better. So if you haven't tried a homebrew yet, you should. And if you ask nicely, most brewers are more than willing to share. :)

Delicious Date Night

Recently mi novio took me on a fancy little date night for no reason at all. Knowing my dear love of food, he decided we should have a delicious little night on the town. Our first stop was Djon's Lobster & Steak Chophouse in Melbourne Beach, Florida. I loved the ambiance there. The lounge was dimly lit, but not so dark that you can't make out your plate in front of you. (If you don't know, I have a strict no eating in the dark policy.) We sat in cushy, overstuffed, red velvet armchairs surrounded by modern art. We ordered Djon's signature martinis; I generally expect to be impressed by the house special when the look of the place appeals to me this much. As soon as we heard the description I knew I wouldn't be disappointed: vodka, cointreau, and passion fruit liqueur with pineapple and cranberry juices. They were a perfect start to the evening. Next we ordered the seared, sesame-encrusted tuna sashimi appetizer. And oh, I am so glad we did. I think I could have died happy during the moments that tuna was on my tongue. It was served with julienne green onions and drizzled with a sesame-soy vinaigrette. Ohhh, perfection. I ate it so slowly, and savored it so completely, that when I had finished I felt no need for a main course. Really, we didn't see any reason to lessen the experience by muddling it with superfluous food. So after a romantic walk down the pier, we moved on to the next stop in our date.

Downtown Melbourne boasts several delightful little night spots, but this night we opted to visit Foobar. It was an appropriate end to the evening; mellow but fun, with RJ the bartender mixing us his own personal concoctions based on our moods. I chose fruity while my manly man went with sweet. My personal cocktail a la RJ turned out to be made up of grey goose vodka, Malibu coconut rum, cranberry juice, V8 splash and orange juice, finished with a squeeze of lime. I don't know how but RJ read me right and served me up my ideal drink! The manly dessert cocktail was a mixture of vodka, creme de banana liqueur, half & half, chocolate syrup, plus a Foobar mystery ingredient that left the whole thing tasting fabulous! The Foobar experience capped off our date night and we left for home with our taste buds buzzing contentedly.