Photo by leprechaun947

Back in July, Angie, Jane and I went to a restaurant in DC called Hook. Angie, damn her, introduced me to the lemon drop martini. I’m not a big martini drinker though I learned to make them when I was around 11 or 12, since both my grandmothers drank them. One liked them with vermouth and an olive, and the other liked them with gin and a twist of lime. Either way I thought they were disgusting.

Lemon drops, however, are delicious. After I had an exceptional one at Hook, I tried a bunch of different recipes and nothing was as good as that one. So I emailed the restaurant, and asked if they’d be kind enough to share if I promised to go back there the next time I was in DC. Imagine my holy hell surprise when the waiter who took care of our table replied and sent the recipe. And it is delicious times ten when you make it in your own home. Why? It’s much cheaper than in a restaurant!

So, without further ado, my favorite lemon drop martini recipe.

The Lemon Drop Martini at Hook

1 & 1/2 oz ketel one citron vodka (aka 3 tbsp)
Squeeze 1/4 lemon juice (1 tbsp)
splash fresh lime juice
1 oz sugar syrup. (2 tbsp)

Sugar syrup is easy: one cup of sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water over heat, then allow to cool.

According to J, the wonderful waiter, “The key is to shake it with lots of ice to make it really cold and bring out the bright lemon flavors.” I have used bottled lemon juice and bottled lime juice, and with lots of ice and serving it cold, it was still exceptional, but fresh is amazing.

Paired with a candied lemon peel from Angie, this drink makes me a very happy Sarah indeed.

L’chaim!

This recipe came from my online friend Sunita five years ago. We used to jokingly refer to it as slug tea because of how the ginger would come out looking at the end of the process. I know, an attractive visual as an introduction to this recipe. I really love both the taste and the adaptability of the recipe. I tried to get Sunita to write this post, but she’s got a lot going on (like all of the bargain shopping she does, go read her blog, you’ll be amazed) and since I talked about it on Twitter this morning, I wanted to share the recipe. Oh, and Sunita asks that we all stop calling it chai tea, please.

Homemade Chai
Ingredients:
fresh ginger
5-6 cups water
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar sugar
1-2 tsp Red Label Tea I use decaf ceylon tea because I don’t do caffeine. You can use any black tea, really, but Red Label is traditional. Use loose leaf. No tea bags please.

Directions:
1. No need to peel the ginger (you’ll be straining this tea at the end, not eating the ginger) but you will want to split it open and crush it some, to release the juices. I do this using my mortar and pestle but you can do it by just chopping it up a bit.
2. Put the ginger and water in a pan and boil for about five minutes. Boil. To bring the flavor of the ginger out and into the water. The longer you boil (or simmer), the stronger the ginger flavor, but you’ll also lose water too, so keep an eye on that.
3. Add the tea to taste (it’s strong, you really don’t need a lot) and let boil another five minutes or so.
4. Add milk and sugar. Boil again. It’s ready whenever you are.
5. Strain the tea into a mug. I use a Teavana 32 oz Perfect Tea Maker. Best tea maker ever, but also incredibly handy for straining chai.

I know, I made that seem really easy, but it is. The biggest trick is infusing the ginger flavor into the water. The recipe is hugely adaptable and you may wish to add more/less ginger, milk, sugar, tea. How much you add is up to your individual taste, and you can’t ruin the tea by experimenting with the amounts. You can also experiment with crushed cardamom pods, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, red pepper and dried orange peel. Go nuts figuring out which flavor combination works for you once you’ve tasted the basic recipe.