[summer]solutions

it's no secret i've had a little spare time this summer. days spent searching for firms with job openings and nights filled with editing and fixing resumes and portfolios. well, maybe not the whole day, just the majority of it. the rest of the hours are filled with more domestic endeavors. my apartment has never been cleaner, all shirts and pants are pressed and ironed, and all shelved items have been organized and in some instances alphabetized. i've also had a little more time to prepare meals. while looking through a magazine one day trying to find interesting dishes, i came across two drink recipes that caught my eye. one was for a "dark and stormy" and the other, the "perfect iced coffee". i was hooked, i had to try them. i bought the ingredients and started to prepare.

now, i'm not sure if it's every young man's dream to be a bartender at some point in his life, but while preparing the "dark and stormy" part of me felt like a young tom cruise in the movie "cocktail". one flip of the rum bottle, which i nearly dropped, quickly brought me back into reality. a classic "dark and stormy" is very simple. some "goslings black seal rum", ginger beer, and a lime. you fill a glass with ice, pour in a little rum, top the glass off with ginger beer, squeeze in half a lime, and than garnish with a lime slice. not only did this turn out to be amazingly refreshing, but if softly playing the song "kokomo" in the background, is a little slice of heaven.


the next liquid experiment was the "perfect iced coffee". now i love coffee, however, during the summer months, my body hates being hot on the outside as well as the inside, hence, my new found love for iced coffee. however handing over four dollars to some coffee house barista seems ridiculous to me. now, i've tried making iced coffee before by simply placing regular coffee in the freezer, and it turned out alright, however the words "perfect iced coffee intrigued me. word to the wise, do not place the coffee pot directly from the coffee maker into the freezer.....

to get the "prefect iced coffee" apparently you have to "cold press" the coffee. you grind some beans, place them into a french press and then stir in cold water. you then let it sit in the fridge for 12 hours. later, you press the mixture into a glass, add in a little milk and sugar, and presto! an iced coffee. now i'm not a coffee snob by any means, however this cold press method really has something going for it!
i know summer is rapidly coming to an end, but if you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands, i highly recommend trying out both drinks....as well as the "cocktail" soundtrack.