Sunday, July 11, 2010

Better than never, right?

You know it's been awhile when you have to pause and try to remember your blogger password.

Yep. So how you been? Ahem.

Unfortunately, I don't even have a fun excuse for my absence, like I've been on a beach for a month or I was the grand prize winner in a chocolate contest and have been blissfully munching away.

I have to have heart surgery in a week to repair a leaking valve. This has been causing my energy to be depleted by even the teeniest of tasks, which in turn has led to a lack of activity in the kitchen. And in most of the places I've been occupying, really. But things will be fixed, everything will be alright, and I'll be back to my shenanigans in no time!

Alright, time to up the mood again. Who's up for some sangria??

Adam and I actually made this over a month ago for Memorial Day (before the turn of events described above), so these pictures are slightly...vintage? (An appropriate term when dealing with wine.)

What would a cooking adventure be without Adam playing with citrus?

My boyfriend and citrus.

It didn't take long for things to start becoming lovely...

Sangria

I'll admit, I spent much of the afternoon opening the refrigerator door, retrieving a slice of lemon or lime and exclaiming "would you look at THIS?!?!?!"

I like to think that the rest of the people in the house were as impressed. They did a good job of pretending to be, anyways.

But, c'mon...
Yum

Gorgeous.

Sangria is fantastically easy to make, and wonderfully adaptable. I like to think there's not much you can do to screw it up, as I've made it several times in several ways and each time it has been tasty.

Here's what we did:

1 bottle of wine (we used a Pinot Noir)
1/4 cup of white rum
1/8 cup of Cointreau
1 lemon
1 lime
1 orange
1/4 cup of frozen strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries (I would probably eliminate these next time, they just became a bit mushy)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 12 oz can of seltzer (plain, or lemon-lime or orange flavored works well)

Combine everything except the seltzer into a large enough vessel, and refrigerate for a few hours (we left ours to steep for about 6 hours, I believe), stirring occasionally and looking at the lovely colors. Feel free to taste-test. You don't want to serve unfit sangria to your guests.

Right before serving, top it off with the seltzer. Enjoy!!!

4 comments:

aquamom60 said...

sounds delish. Next time, if you omit the mushy berries, you might want to throw in a few slices of granny smith apple!

Sara said...

Good idea!!! We were also toying with the idea of pear, but weren't sure how that would meld with the citrus.

Hannah said...

I'm so sorry to hear that you were absent due to such unpleasant circumstances! All the same, I'm so happy that you're okay now, and you're posting again. Just try to take it easy and treat yourself well. While I love your posts, the blog should come second to your well-being! :)

Weight Loss Goals said...

Thanks for the sangria recipe, always a patio favorite. Best of luck with the surgery, keep positive!