paquin eats:

Here’s a little quickie post because it’s Tuesday, we all need a drink and I need to get rid of the nagging sensation that comes when I’ve shot pictures for a blog post and neglected to post about it for a solid month (or more). I love whiskey, particularly rye (Bulleit is one of my favorites). I just as equally like bourbon. And I love nothing more than either one, mixed with sour lemon and just enough superfine sugar.

Unfortunately, I’ve come to expect something much different from my whiskey sours. Yeah, sure, I’m naive to think most bars will make them from scratch. I’ve come to expect sour mix and all its alarming neon glow, the saccharine residue it leaves on your teeth. But beyond that, most bars can hardly scratch an ounce and a half of the good stuff, which is a crying shame.

This drink feels earnest being made from scratch, and fights a sour drink’s tendency to be overly sweet by using maple syrup. Beyond this, though, the maple adds depth in addition to sweetness, helping to draw out the wood and spice flavors that come from higher quality bourbons and whiskeys. Yes, you could just as easily use Ten High. I’ve done it before. But as always, you get what you put into your work. Either way, this is perfect for serving multiple people without the hassle of shaking up a bunch of individual drinks, especially considering each person can moderate their booze levels to their taste.

Maple Whiskey Sour

I think more wheat-driven whiskeys and bourbons work fantastically in this (Old Fitzgerald is one of the first that comes to mind). As always, though, follow your nose and do what makes you happy. Also, amounts can be adjusted; the recipe, as written, doesn’t make as many drinks as you might think.

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (with an efficient juicer, you can get this and maybe even 1/3 cup more from 2 pounds of lemons, or about eight)
2 1/2 cups cold water, or more to your taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup of a good-quality maple syrup
Bourbon
Ice

Mix lemon juice with 2 1/2 cups cold water and 1/4 cup maple syrup. Taste for sweetness, adding more maple syrup if desired. If you found the mix just right, add 1/4 cup water instead. Stir to mix.

Fill a glass with ice. Pour your desired amount of booze (a shot and a half worked for me), then top off with lemonade. Promptly chug, lest I steal the glass from you.

I alluded in my last post that I have a very skeptical view of foods being healthy for the sake of health. I’m not against diets, nor am I in favor of gratuitous attitudes toward food whose rejection of health depends on limitless butter. I want flavor out of what I eat, regardless of what’s required to create it. If it’s 2 sticks of butter, fantastic. If it’s whole-wheat flour, teff and oat bran, I’m just as happy. I’m just not going to have an agenda about food; food is food.

So before anyone gets too alarmed that I’m again writing a post that has a potentially healthful recipe at the end, you can rest assured that I’m bridging the gap between both worlds! Sure, these look innocent enough: raspberries macerated with lemon and sugar, sandwiched between two layers of an oat crust. One could eat them for breakfast and not feel guilty or “sinful.” But oh, if only you knew what lies beneath. « Read the rest of this entry »

Although I realize talking about the weather has been a) an occurrence in almost all of my posts and b) a traditional sign of banality, I can’t pretend it hasn’t been influencing me. My windows are open. The AC is off. I don’t look out my window with hesitation and fear, bracing for 100º weather and Missouri humidity. I can wear sweaters! Pants! Both at the same time! It’s a glorious time of year, where even faux corporate comfort in the form of pumpkin spice latte ads at Starbucks can charm me, and in celebration I figured I’d light up the oven and not feel guilty for making the house even warmer.

I posted some obnoxious tweet a couple days ago about how all I wanted to do was bake with apples, so I did. But don’t be alarmed at the phrase “whole-wheat” (I assume that all of you, like me, are hostile to such terms, traditionally associated with healthfulness). These muffins kick ass. So rather than go on and on about them, I figured I’d save you from my obviously forced writing and just show them to you… and then give you the recipe at the end, because I’m certainly not sharing this batch. « Read the rest of this entry »