Margaritaville, sangriaville, and beerville

It's been my quest this summer to find nice, cool summer drinks. This weekend I happened to find 3.

1) strawberry margaritas:

Blend together equal parts tequila and Jose Cuervo margarita. Add a handful of frozen strawberries. Squeeze half a lime into the mix and blend completely.
Add a lime slice as a garnish.



 2) sangria:
Buy a bottle of red wine(I hear Italian wines with a bit of cherry flavor are best for this). Chop 1 green apple, 1 red apple, 1 orange. Put them in the wine in a pitcher. Put in two spoonfuls of sugar. Squeeze in half a lime. Stir. Enjoy!





3) beer:
One of my friends from home was visiting and we passed this kind of beer in the co op. She said it tasted exactly like lemonade and I had to try it. Saranac shandy. It's lager and lemonade made to keep on the European tradition of mixing beer and lemonade in the summer months. It tastes exactly like lemonade. It's awesome! I highly recommend.

This is for (iced coffee) lovers

The other day I passed this product and had to have it. I love iced coffee but I have to make it ahead of time because I have to make the coffee, add sugar while it is still hot, then refrigerate it. While you still have to plan ahead with this stuff, it means you can have some variety in how sweet you want your coffee each morning, or if you are serving it to several different people. Anyway, I highly recommend it.
It's produced by sugar in the raw. Here is a picture to help you find it.

Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1776

I had a rather quiet fourth of July, so I decided to buy some fireworks, some beer, and some food and have the very few (but amazing) people I know in D.C. over to celebrate over the weekend.  I share a bunch of food recipes on this blog.  Here is a recipe for a great Saturday night:

1) Food- I served chips and salsa/veggies and dip.  Keeping it simple is best.  Everyone gets something they like and the host/hostess doesn't have to bend over backward making food for everyone.  I also made my cheesecake stuffed strawberries only this time I coated them in dark chocolate (great addition...I highly recommend it).

2) Beer- Chris and I bought lots of beer.  If you are beer drinkers, you can never have enough.  The only problem is having enough of a mix that someone can find something that they like.  Good thing Chris and I have kind of opposite tastes in beer.  We bought Sierra Nevada Summerfest, Flying Dog Raging Bitch, Flying Dog Seasonal (my personal favorite of the selection), Anchor Liberty ale (fitting for the 4th, and also Chris's favorite of the selection), and finally Allagash White.  All in all it was a pretty good variety.

3) Music- I created a long playlist featuring Arcade Fire, Beirut, Bombay Bicycle Club, Grouplove, Imagine Dragons, Kid Cudi, The Lumineers, Matt and Kim, Of Monsters and Men, Oh Land, Portugal. The Man, among many many others.  I focused mostly on chiller music with a little sprinkling of more dancy stuff.

4) Sprarklers and/or fireworks- Parties are always better with sparklers.  Since fireworks are illegal in most states I would suggest sparklers over fireworks, they are also easier clean up.  While we had both, the fireworks were a bit lackluster considering most of them were fountains that did the same thing as the other ones.

Last, but not least
5) Good people- I don't know a lot of people in D.C. right now, but I know a few, and the key to having a great Saturday night is surrounding yourself with fun people.

So there it is.  My recipe for a good Saturday night. 

          

New music obsessions 2

So I did a post like this not too long ago, but I have a few new bands/songs that I'd like to share.

1) I Need a Dollar- Aloe Blacc (real first name Egbert)
Chris and I have been watching How to Make it in America (an HBO show about young, up and coming designers who cannot catch a break).  We love the show, and this song is the song that plays during the opening credits.  I haven't listened to much of his other stuff.  He is an American soul singer and rapper.  He has two albums called Shine through and Good Things. 

2) Oh Land
In my last post about new music my friend Colin posted a comment about Oh Land, and I decided to check them out (see, I really do listen, so definitely post if you have anyone I should be listening to). 

http://www.ohlandmusic.com/

The lead singer is Danish, and has a pretty cool sound.  She currently lives in Brooklyn (cause that's where it's at).  They have two albums Fauna and Oh Land.  I only downloaded Oh Land, and it's pretty great.  It's fun.  I did not like most of the slower tracks, but luckily there aren't many of them.  My favorite tracks are:

3) Sun of a Gun
4) Voodoo
8) White Nights
10) We Turn It Up

3) The Lumineers
Another iTunes top 100 find.  There were many to sift through, but this caught my ear.  The song in the top 100 was Ho Hey.  It is fun.  It is kind of a weird genre.  I'm not sure what they call themselves, but I would say definitely indie but with a little country thrown in there.

http://thelumineers.com/

To answer my previous question they are a folk rock band.  They are based out of Denver, CO.  Two of the band members met and played together in NYC before moving to CO.  They met the third member of their band on Craigslist (the times really are changing).  They have one album called The Lumineers.  Their slower songs are good, but very mellow.  Their upbeat songs are catchy and fun.  My favorite tracks are:

1) Ho Hey
2) Stubborn Love
4) Dead Sea
5) Classy Girls
7) Flapper Girl

 4) Bombay Bicycle Club
I am actually not sure where I heard about this band.  I found a note in my phone to look them up, so I did. 

http://www.bombaybicycleclubmusic.com/

They are an indie band from London, England.  The name of the band came from a chain of popular Indian food restaurants in England (fun fact).  They have three albums: I had the blues but I shook them, Flaws, and A Different Kind of Fix.  I downloaded A Different Kind of Fix and Flaws.  My favorite tracks are:

From A Different Kind of Fix:
3) Your Eyes
6) Shuffle
8) Leave It

From Flaws:
1) Rinse Me Down
3) Dust On The Ground
4) Ivy and Gold
6) Fairytale Lullaby

 Anyway, leave a comment if you know of any new music I should be writing about.  I'm always looking for good new music!

A little bit salty and a lot bit sweet

For a while now I have been looking for a good brownie recipe.  Not being really satisfied by any of them I combined a few recipes to make this one.  It is pretty easy, and doesn't require many ingredients.

Brownies:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla (I add a little more, but for most people 1 teaspoon is good)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Semi-sweet chocolate chips (however many you want)

Pre-heat oven to 350
In a big bowl, melt 1 cup butter
Add sugar and mix
Add cocoa powder, vanilla and mix
Add eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and mix completely.
Make sure that there are no lumps.  Cocoa powder clumps easily, so using a mixer is best, but a fork will do.
Add chocolate chips and stir.
Grease 9x13 pan and pour batter in evenly (using one pan makes thick brownies like in the picture...if thinner brownies are desired use two pans or don't use the all of the batter)
Bake at 350 for 20-30 mins.  Mine were about 26 mins, but every oven is different.

When they are done here are some ideas for something a little extra

Chocolate frosting topping:
3 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk or cream

Whisk together and spread over brownies before cutting...make sure the brownies are FULLY cooled. 

If you are feeling truly adventurous (which Chris is) or just love bacon (which Chris does) you can add bacon bits to the frosting.

If you want something a bit more basic, simply cutting up strawberries or another fruit (into small squares) and sprinkling over the top of the brownies adds nice flavor without being super rich.

Blackberry ice cream is also another good option, and for summer (and all those my age who are too unemployed or don't want to pay for AC this one might be a good option for you) it can cool you off a bit.

Enjoy!!