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Drinks
Make My Bittersweet Naughty Negroni

Anyone who loves classic cocktails or things Italian knows the Negroni. It’s a bracing and bittersweet cocktail that stars Campari, sweet vermouth and gin. Lately, I’ve noticed that riffs on this traditional Florentine cocktail have been making the rounds. Just the other day, GQ Magazine penned a love letter to the Negroni Sbagliato, a version that adds a sparkling wine, such as Prosecco, to the mix. The name “sbagliato” roughly means broken or incorrect, as if adding Prosecco is a bad thing. The original Negroni is named for Count Camillo Negroni, an esteemed patron of Caffè Cassoni in Florence. He usually drank Americanos (Campari, sweet vermouth and club soda), but one day in 1919, he asked barman Fosco Scarselli to swap the soda for gin! What may have started as libation to erase a bad day has become an Italian contribution to the classic cocktail pantheon. The Count even has…
February 1, 2023
Bubbly Events
Make a Pink Pepperberry Fizz, Then Join Us for National Rosé Day

Most fun holidays only happen once a year. But how lucky are we to get two days to celebrate all the styles of beautiful pink wines? National Rosé Day is always on the second Saturday in June, and that falls on June 13 this year. It’s a good makeup, in case you missed Rosé Day on February 7. I’m so thrilled to be partnering with Champagne Blaine of The Fizz is Female and Rita Jammet of Champagne La Caravelle for a Zoom chat at 9 am Pacific/12 Eastern on Saturday June 13. Rita will tell the story of her fabulous champagne brand that she and her husband created. Then I’ll share a recipe for a simple cocktail using La Caravelle Rosé, and a fun breakfast/weekend brunch food pairing that always works. Rosé is one of the best styles of wine for food pairing, so you won’t be disappointed. Here’s the…
June 12, 2020
Cocktail Recipes
Quarantine Cooking: Corona Sour Cocktail Recipe

Unpacking my leftovers from Thanksgiving 2019, I found a surprise in my bag: a bottle of pomegranate molasses. It wasn’t mine, but since no one else had claimed it after the mass cooking session, our hostess Jill decided I needed it. I put the stowaway on the high kitchen shelf along with the rose water and orange blossom water, and pretty much forgot about it unless I needed something behind it. But in the spirit of using what I have in the house, I decided I’d figure out what to do with that bottle of pomegranate molasses. The thick, dark red syrup has a deep flavor similar to molasses along with the tang of pomegranate. This year, I’m planting a pomegranate in my garden. If you have room, the pomegranate is one of the prettiest bushes you can imagine. The flowers are bright coral-red trumpets with a burst of yellow…
May 6, 2020
Celebrity Chefs, Food + Recipes
DIY Crackers: Olive Oil Crackers or Carta Musica Recipe

I needed some unleavened bread yesterday, and didn’t feel like risking my health by squeezing into one of my little neighborhood markets for them. So I went looking for recipes, and quickly found this exceedingly simple and delicious one. Or rather, the esteemed Mark Bittman found it, I’m just at good at Google. The original recipe is from Sardinia, the island off Italy that’s renowned for olive oil and honey. This wispy flatbread is called carta musica which means sheet music in Italian. If you get creative and infuse the dough with soft herbs and flowers, like they do in this Food & Wine story, it will look more like sheet music with pale sheets with dark lines. (And they say this same dough can be used for ravioli too) If you’re in need of matzoh as you celebrate Passover, or just want fresh crackers without having to go to the…
May 5, 2020
Celebrity Chefs, Dinner Tonight, Food + Recipes
Eat + Repeat: Nigella’s Asian Flavoured Short Ribs

*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click one and make a purchase, I earn a small commission, at no cost to you. You never know when you’ll discover one of those genius recipes that’s so satisfying that everyone wants to eat it again and again. I scored when I tried this Nigella Lawson recipe for Asian Flavoured Short Ribs from her cookbook Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food.* I interviewed Nigella years ago when she was on a press trip for her book Forever Summer*. She was smart, engaged and lovely all around. She was plenty striking too, with black hair and a pale yet rosy complexion that defined peaches and cream. I don’t recall her outfit, but I do remember her aquamarine ring with a stone the size of a medjool date for what at the time was her secret engagement to Charles Saatchi. Most of all, I liked…
March 31, 2020