Pixelated Crumb

Growing up, my family had several traditions varying from reading The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve to eating pizza and renting a movie every Friday night. Now that my sister and I have grown up and moved out, the big tradition is going to one of our two favorite Mexican restaurants (they’re actually owned by the same people and have the exact same menu) and getting a pitcher of frozen margaritas. It’s pretty much a given that if my sister and I are both in DC at the same time (which frankly, doesn’t happen nearly enough), we will all go out to Cactus Cantina or Lauriol Plaza and enjoy a nice salt-rimmed glass or two of ice cold margaritas.

My brother-in-law gave me his super simple and tasty recipe for margaritas and up until a few months ago, it was my go-to recipe for when I was craving a margarita. But I’ve always wondered: what would a margarita made completely from scratch taste like? Well, when I saw that Cook’s Illustrated had a recipe for fresh margaritas, I didn’t have to wonder any more. If the fine folks at Cook’s Illustrated had a recipe they were going to stand behind, well, I had to try it.

Their recipe uses fresh lemon and lime juice, zest, sugar, salt, triple sec, and of course tequila, and that’s it. Completely natural. And so totally delicious. To make sure the drink is packed with enough citrus flavor, they have you steep the lemon and lime juice with both lemon and lime zest for up to 24 hours.

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Where have I been, you ask? No, I haven’t fallen off a cliff and, no, I haven’t given up on blogging. The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind of work, school, and play and I’m only just now catching my breath. I was hoping to make some lemon lime basil cookies to take on my trip to Philadelphia last weekend, but at 11:00 pm the night before we were leaving, I discovered that the huge tub of basil we had in the fridge had gone bad. Since it was so late and I was so tired, I just gave up and went to bed instead.

We made the trip down to Philly for my niece’s dedication, and it was a great excuse to get out of Boston and spend time with family. Sophie, my youngest niece, was adorable and her older sister, Amelia, was giddy with excitement with all the family there. Not only did we get to catch up with family and meet my sister-in-law’s newest nephew, but we got to do it over an amazing dinner at Yang Ming, considered by some to be the best Chinese restaurant in the country. The appetizers were outstanding and practically a meal unto themselves, and my jumbo shrimp with honey walnuts was even better than what I got in San Francisco. Who knew Bryn Mawr, PA had such good Chinese food?

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I have a confession to make. I only got Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours a couple of months ago. I love to bake more than just about anything and yet I’ve only just now picked up this book? Greenspan has not only coauthored books with culinary legends Julia Child, Daniel Boulud, and Pierre Hermé, but her spectacular cookbooks have inspired bloggers around the world to participate in Tuesdays with Dorie, an online cooking group committed to baking one recipe from her cookbook every week. The group finished baking their way through Baking: From My Home to Yours right about the time that I got the cookbook and have now moved on to Baking with Julia.

I am sorely behind and am going to have to do things at my own slow pace, but I do intend to make as many of the recipes as possible because they are good. Ok, I’ve only made two recipes so far from her cookbook, but they were both phenomenal and Baking is filled with wonderful tips and techniques. Would you expect anything less from a woman who has inspired hundreds of bloggers to bake a recipe from her book once a week?

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As much as I love fall, I’ve been happy that it has still been fairly warm in Boston. Most importantly, the farmers’ market still has tomatoes and honestly, that’s all I need to fend off fears of snow and ice. I love fall and living in New England, it doesn’t really get any better. The only problem is that fall feels so short and then winter comes along.