
Summer Lime & Lemongrass Cooler
In August I love to drink fresh lime juice in the evening. If you keep the mixture on the tart side, the zing from the thing is so intense you won’t need to add alcohol. But a drop of rum or vodka never hurt anyone. Here’s my recipe for two:
1 stalk lemongrass*
2 Thai basil leaves
2 mint leaves
1 kaffir lime leaf
1 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup super fine sugar (honey also works), or 1/2 cup if you are a lightweight
Lots of crushed or shaved ice
Tonic Water
Cook lemongrass stalk at 300°F for 20 minutes. Cut 2 inches off the stout end of the lemongrass and 1 inch off the slender end. Roughly chop lemongrass.
Put lemongrass, basil, mint, kaffir lime leaf, lime juice, and sugar in blender. Blend. Let sit for 20 minutes or more. Blend again. Mix with 1 cup tonic water, after all the blending. Pour through a fine sieve into a little pitcher. Pour over into cocktail glasses with lots of ice. Have more ice on hand to add while drinking.
*If it’s too much trouble to find lemongrass or if you are too lazy, substitute an inch of fresh ginger, roughly chopped.
Laurie Winer is an editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books.
New York
by Michael Tucker
I had an experience the other night that was right out of Larry David’s universe or Seinfeld’s. A classic. I’ll try to describe it for you.
It was around 9:45 and I was at Danji, the wonderful...
Read more...Northern California
by Maylynn Morales
It was my 33rd birthday and I decided to treat myself to a nice trip to Sonoma Valley. Some call it the “Jesus year”, but I like to call it another excuse to play in wine country! With all the...
Mid-Atlantic
by Rachel Parker
In my neck of the woods—the Jewish side of a New Jersey town—we didn’t even consider biscuits. Dough was for bagels and bialys. Biscuits were either something we gave the dog, or something popped...
New York
by Michael Tucker
We went to the Lower East Side the other night to see what the young people are up to. Our son, Max, was playing a gig at the Bowery Ballroom with a great band called dinowalrus. They totally...