Gooseberry Gin Fizz

One of the best things about having a home garden is that I can grow things that are kind of hard to find in the market. Take gooseberries, for example. They're easy to grow, slightly harder to pick because they have huge thorns, and a total treasure in my yard. Those huge thorns help to keep birds and critters from stealing my bounty... like they did with my cherries this year, grrrrrrrrr...

An Evening with A Hollow Leg

I recently had an opportunity that I just couldn't pass up.  If you follow From Scratch on Facebook, you might remember that this past summer, I was asking people to vote for a local Chicago drink slinger, Devin Kidner, in Slow Food's Ark of Taste Cocktail Competition.  At that point, I was just happy to be supporting someone who used KOVAL liquor, Seedling cider, Ellis Farms honey, and other local ingredients to make what sounded like a pretty great drink.  Devin contacted me, and we were able to meet up in person.  It didn't take long for me to realize that we shared a lot of the same interests and beliefs about local food, about heritage strains of plants, and about supporting local farmers, and I felt like we could have chatted for days.  Turns out, Devin's drink took first place, earning her a trip to Italy to be a USA delegate at Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto!  And that kicked off a boozy whirlwind of exciting opportunities for her, including being invited to moderate the Speakeasy workshop of Terra Madre, becoming head mixologist at KOVAL distillery, being invited to design drinks for an event in NYC, teaching classes for Rhine Hall (another Chicago distillery) and starting up Hollow Leg.  Hollow Leg is Devin's way of packaging all her passion and knowledge about local drinks and presenting it to people who want to learn.  She offers classes on mixology, some basic and some more in-depth, but all meant to give the students the confidence to experiment with their drinks with Julia Child-like curiosity and conviction.  She has a line of classes called Hep Hops, that focuses on the up-and-coming trend of beer cocktails, and offers services to corporations looking to impress their clients.  She also has what I think is one of the coolest ideas ever: Cocktail Whispering, where she will talk to you, find out a bit about you and what you like to drink, and then design you your own personalized cocktail.  You get to name it and everything!  How cool is that?!?!

Lovely Lavender Lemonade

I love summer evenings, where you can still feel the heat of the day, but it's lost its edge, and you can just sit outside and enjoy being where you are.  There's nothing much better than kicking up my feet in my hammock and watching the kids play around.  Unless, of course, you add in a tasty cool drink.

Today I was inspired by the lavender in my yard.  Lavender lemonade sounds lovely, doesn't it?  Sweet, tart, and floral.  Ooh, and let's kick it up a notch by adding a little gin.  Wink wink.

Strawberry Bonanza Part 5 - Strawberry Gin Fizz

So, remember that roasted strawberry syrup?  No?  Oops, because I haven't posted it yet.  Have to fix that...

So, toss a couple of cups of chopped strawberries with 2-3 Tablespoons of sugar and the seeds of a whole vanilla bean.  Spread them out on a parchment-covered baking sheet with edges, then bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.