Shaking off the sense of gloom

Ahh, November in the Northwest. Breezy, drippy, and dark with a chance of power outages. 

A good month for cozy blankets and good books. And loyal companions.

Today was one of those rare days with nothing on the agenda. No place I needed to go. Nothing pressing to accomplish. The most urgent task this morning was making coffee. 

Coffee accomplished, I threw some bacon in the oven and lounged on the couch with the super pooch. 

She 100% approved of this approach to the day.

We ate some of the bacon. I did some of the dishes. And then I realized I needed to rescue the tomatoes that were starting to get squishy.

Wait! 

Squishy tomatoes? Bacon? Aren't there some peppers and celery in the fridge? Suddenly, I had a clever plan. 

Yeah, I totally could have made salad. But...I make a *lot* of salads. And it's a gloomy Saturday with no must-dos. 

Bloody yes!

I love tomatoes. I love spicy things. But it was a long time before I learned to love Bloody Marys. But home-made Bloody Mary mix with really ripe (squishy) tomatoes is a glorious thing. 

I don't really have a recipe for this. It's more a matter of tuning it to your taste and available ingredients. Here's what I threw together:

1 1/2 cups of very ripe cherry tomatoes, obliterated with a stick blender
Grated celery
Grated baby bell pepper
Worcestershire sauce
Rooster sauce (Sriracha)
Honey
Sherry vinegar
Soy sauce
Wasabi powder
Garlic powder
Chimayo chile
Pimenton de la vera
Ground coriander
Black pepper
Liquid smoke (just a tiny bit)

Vodka or gin?

I'm generally in the gin camp, but I have some Hatch Chile infused vodka from Scratch Distillery over in Edmonds. I'm not sure if they were specifically targeting this use...but it's awesome in a Bloody Mary. 

Here's the line-up for today's gloom-buster. Since I opted for vodka instead of gin, I added a dash of Woodcutter's Doug Fir bitters. 

Personally, I think Bloody Mary garnishes are often over the top. And since my mix is a bit chunky, I prefer to shake and double-strain. 

It did not disappoint.




2 oz Bloody Mary mix

2 oz Scratch Hatch Chile infused vodka

A little fresh squeezed lime juice

Dash of Woodcutter's Doug Fir bitters

Ice

Bacon, tomato, and celery leaf for garnish

Shake and double strain into a martini glass.

Enjoy!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A farewell to summer

Image
 This weekend brought the first significant fall storms to the Northwest. While they were among the strongest storms ever recorded off the coast, it's just been typical fall weather here in Kingston. The sun even came out for a bit this afternoon.  During one of the breaks in the rain, I harvested the rest of the tomatoes and chiles.  Overall, it was a pretty successful growing season: Mini bells were very mini, but were a good choice.  Padron peppers did much better than I'd hoped--curious to see if they got hotter as I let them get "too big".  Cherry tomatoes were, as expected, the tomato stars. The teeny ones were great for snacking while gardening, but will probably opt for a yellow pear or something instead next year. (Or, as a friend suggested, Sun Golds. I've grown them in the past & they were great.) The other pepper varieties struggled, mostly from deer predation. The few Numex, Poblano, and Jalapeno peppers that I did get were good, though. Now I k...
Read more

Birthday cheesecake

When I was much younger, I settled on cheesecake as my favorite birthday cake. We’re talking the Jello-brand sort with canned cherries and a graham cracker crust.  Though I have fond memories, I’m certain I would find that rendition a sickly-sweet disappointment if I had it now. But the memory motivated me to learn how to make a proper cheesecake. I’m not much of a baker, but if you want a cheesecake or a banana cream pie, I can probably deliver. Still need to work out those Draeger’s chocolate gateaus, though. If you know me, you might be wondering why I’m talking birthday cake in March. No, I’m not still celebrating *my* birthday, it turns out Mark shares my fondness for cheesecake. Of course he does. Turns out I was wrong, mom—we have rather a lot in common. It just took some time for that to become apparent. This has nothing to do with baking, but that really struck me as we were hanging out with my friend John today. The discussion turned to dating, particularly app-based dati...
Read more

Chili con carne

This weekend is going to feature a couple firsts. I’m entering a Chili cook off on Friday, and have two pieces of art that are going to be in an art show on Saturday. The art is ready and I’m proud to show it. I don’t expect it to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s fun and original. While I would love for someone to bid and take home both pieces, I wouldn’t be sad about bringing them home and adding them to the grotto. It’s just cool to have the opportunity to show them off. I’ve done a fair bit of design-on-demand, but this is the first time I’ve ever created artwork that I hoped someone might want to buy. The chili? Oh, I am so less prepared. The one thing I can guarantee is that it’s not going to be like the others. I rummaged through the freezer and pantry to see what might go in the pot. A pork tenderloin? Some bacon? A half pound of ground pork. Anasazi beans? Dried chiles? No, I’m not doing a straight-up pork chili. Nor am I sacrificing the prime NY steaks I found. Tri tip? Bott...
Read more