Madison&Mayberry

When Life Hands You Lemons...

make Limoncello! I have a confession. I made two batches, intending to give  them out as Christmas presents last year. Well, they never made it out of the apartment.

Way before Danny DeVito made the lemon liqueur famous on daytime tv, I fell in love with it in Italy when I wondered what was this sweet lemony drink served at the end of meals? But back in the US, store-bought limoncello was sickly sweet with only a hint of lemon. So what's a girl to do but make her own? Following in-depth instructions posted on egullet, the results are better than anything you'd find in the store. It would make a great homemade Christmas present, if you can manage to give it away.

Here's the limoncello formula, courtesy of egullet's Limoncello Queen, Katie. I've condensed the original recipe: 

-- Take the peels of one dozen lemons + 1 lime, either removed with a vegetable peeler, or microplaned off. Katie thinks the infusion is faster with the microplaned little shreds of peel and I tend to agree. Plus, I think the microplane is quicker anyway.

-- Place the peels into an airtight container and cover with one bottle of 100 proof vodka or Everclear. There is a lot of debate on the egullet limoncello thread about whether to use vodka or not. Personally, I used a grain alcohol that I found in Alabama and brought to NY. If you can find it in your state, I'd go for the Everclear. As it says on the thread, "the higher alcohol level seems to get better extraction from the peels." Plus, my friend Doreen tried the vodka route, deeming it a disaster. I'm inclinded to believe if you just use vodka, it's just going to taste like lemon vodka. And that's not what we're aiming for.

-- Place the jar in a safe place (I used my closet) where a roommate won't wonder what on earth is in the container and toss it. It should be turning yellowy from the oils. Let sit around three weeks.

-- Filter through a coffee filter or cheesecloth into a large bottle or jar. Discard lemon peels. Make a simple syrup, dissolving three cups of sugar into three cups of water. Add two cups of the simple syrup to the limoncello. Taste it. You're drinking it, so make it to your liking. Does it need more simple syrup? Is it already too sweet? Fill the rest up with water. I reused my grain alcohol bottle -- So for a 750 ml bottle, I usually add half the limoncello mixture and half the simple syrup. If you used 100 proof vodka, you may need to add more regular vodka into the mix.

There are other 'cellos to be made. Clementine, orange, maybe even lime? The choices are endless. My friend Doreen made one with apple peels and cinnamon, which is next on my list to try.

Introducing Cofftea

While this may look like a normal cup of coffee it is far more glamorous --

It all started months ago during one of Bryan's summer cookouts. Ryan and his friends had been conspiring in the kitchen for a long time, triumphantly announcing they had come up with the best drink invention of all time -- coffee and tea together. Talk about a caffeine high!

You don't want to brew the coffee too strong. While it's brewing, insert your favorite tea bag, like shown above. I used Bigelow's Constant Comment. Add sugar and milk, if desired. While my friend Heather, who owns a coffee shop, was skeptical of the cofftea, it's worth a shot even if it may not appeal to a mass audience. I'm not a coffee drinker but the mixture of lightly flavored coffee with the orange and spice from the tea works for me, even if I can't proclaim it the best drink invention ever.

Ham Soda, Anyone?

Inevitably, my mom and I always have the "What to serve for Christmas dinner?" debate. No meat makes me happier than ham, except bacon perhaps. But my mom isn't a ham fan. My sister, Mariah, refused to eat last year's lamb in that I'm-not-trying-anything-new preteen way of hers. Everyone else enjoyed the lamb. And I am vastly opposed to turkey since we just had it for Thanksgiving. Who wants turkey twice in one month?

I've found the solution, thanks to CNN.com, who recently highlighted a soda manufacturer that offers limited holiday flavored selections:

"The Christmas pack will feature such flavors as Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham. The Hanukkah pack will have Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas."

So maybe we could have turkey to appease everyone else and ham soda to appease me?? Or we can just douse my piece of turkey with the ham soda ?

As a backup-plan, maybe Slow Braised Pork with Black Grapes and Balsamic? I've made it before and it's excellent. The grapes melt down into the sauce and combine with the tang of the balsamic.

In other holiday recipe news, last week's New York magazine gave some excellent ethnic influenced holiday ideas from Coconut Fried Yams to Potato Gnocchi Gratin. Find the recipes here.

Spiked Oreo Milkshakes

Michelle and I visited BLT Burger recently to finally sample the food. The burgers were okay -- the buns are thin and got soggy really quickly, making it hard to eat and harder to want to eat. But it's worth a visit just for their spiked milkshakes, which even get a shout-out on Wikipedia:

"BLT Burger in New York sells a $5 Twinkie Boy shake, which is made with a Hostess Twinkie, vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup. The BLT restaurant sells $10 spiked shakes, which contain liquor such as whiskey or Kahlua."

Michelle and I opted to split the Oreo milkshake with chocolate ice cream, Oreos, Kahlua and chocolate liqueur. Here's the best part -- They have these massive straws, perfect for drinking up the chunks of Oreo.

So we recreated our own Spiked Oreo Milkshakes. We free formed it so I have no idea of quantities unfortunately. I crushed the Oreos in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Into the blender, we put several scoops of chocolate ice cream, the crushed Oreos and the alcohol. We tasted it and would adjust the flavors as needed. We thought maybe we would need to thin out the milkshake with milk but it was not needed. Warning -- These are delicious but incredibly filling, especially if you pile whipped cream on top of them like I did. But it's worth every last chocolaty drop.