Recipes from Past Events

As mentioned yesterday, we are going to post a food recipe along with the month's drink recipe. Here's this month's recipe, as well as last month's.

Watermelon Feta Salad - July Favorite Recipe
2 cups watermelon cubes
2 cups feta (haloumi or kasseri would also work)
Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Thyme

Combine watermelon and feta in a bowl, stir carefully. Add spices to taste, stir again. Serve immediately.


And from our Celebrating New Orleans gathering at Stone Manhattan's place, here's another:

New Orleans Rocket Salad - June Favorite Recipe
Baby Arugula/Rocket (lots)
Grilled Vidalia Onions (couple medium)
Crumbled Goat Cheese (lots!)
Spicy/Sweet Pecans (lots of these too!)
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt/Pepper

Take a big bowl, and fill it with arugula. Drizzle the salad leaves with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and dust with salt & pepper. Slice thinly, and grill (on the stovetop in a grill pan is fine) a couple of medium Vidalia onions. While still warm, chop up the grilled onion, add a little salt and pepper, a little olive oil, and add to the bowl of salad. Add crumbled goat cheese and heated, chopped sweet/spicy pecans (Ms. Manhattan got hers at Trader Joe's). Mix/toss and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Cobblers and Summer Snacks

Most of the lovely ladies of Chicago LUPEC gathered again last night at Morning Delight's place for an evening of classic cobbler cocktails and conversation. Being a trained chef, Ms. Delight wowed the group with a fantastic array of summer-themed salads and snacks. Pictured from left are Stone Manhattan, Delilah, Eight is Enough, Kiki Royale, Shelley Temple and Morning Delight. Unfortunately, Ginny Tonic was not able to join us, and Little Audrey (me) was taking the picture.


For those who might not be aware, cobbler drinks were popular in the mid to late 1800's and into the 1900's. Made with a base of wine or spirit, their main distinguishing characteristic is an abundance of fresh fruit on top of the drink. The first cocktail we tried was a blackberry bourbon cobbler, made as follows:

Blackberry Bourbon Cobbler
2-2 1/2 oz Old Whiskey River Bourbon (to taste)
1/2 oz Lejay Creme de Mure
Dash of simple syrup

Fill rocks glass with crushed ice. Shake ingredients with ice, strain into glass over ice. Top with a mixture of fresh berries. We used blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Unfortunately the photo of the cocktail didn't turn out, so you'll have to imagine it with us.

This Month's Food Recipe
Not wanting to neglect the food side of our gatherings, we have decided that we will highlight both one drink recipe and one food recipe from each gathering to feature on our blog. This month's food recipe will be coming soon, I'm waiting for Morning Delight to send it to me (or post it herself). Here's a picture to tempt you:

And two other final notes:

• Goldfish Crackers - thankfully Ms. Manhattan remembered to bring these, or we would have violated our own rule. Given that she probably cannot attend our August event, Ms. Enough has been assigned the task of procuring the goldfish.
  

• Rye Confession - At this month's gathering, it was disclosed that two of our members were what you might call a "*#%^ing mess" when they were little kids, with lots of unusual challenges to overcome that involved corrective devices. At least one of their mothers said as much (a direct quote) when asked by a friend of the member. Her mom must be a helluva character. Luckily the stories were surrounded by much laughter from the tellers, and we're delighted to report that none us feel we are *#%^ing messes now, although others might disagree.