Batter Licker

Have you ever enjoyed a dark ‘n’ stormy? I only discovered the dark rum, ginger beer and lime cocktail about a year ago, slurping up quite a few while watching a friend compete in windsurfing races last spring and summer.

Not being a huge fan of rum, I was a bit skeptical at first, but the ginger and lime components won me over.

I love the refreshing tang of lime and the spicy zing of ginger – perfect for either a warm summer’s day or a frigidly windy but confusingly sunny spring afternoon, and we get plenty of the latter in San Francisco.

But now that I’ve thought to swap out the rum for my much more beloved gin, I don’t think I’ll be returning to the original. Nor to my other warm weather go-to, a standard gin and tonic.

… Read the rest of bright ‘n’ windy (gin, ginger ale and lime cocktail) on BatterLicker.com!

I didn’t have enough sad, brown, dead, squishy bananas to make banana bread. I only had one limp little fella laying around, filling my fridge with his sickly sweet scent. He had to go, pronto.

So I blended him to smithereens. (I get a little violent about soggy old bananas sometimes, especially when they taunt me with their so-totally-grossness while I’m trying hard not to waste “food” – if bananas that far gone even still qualify as edible.)

… Read the rest of peanut butter, banana, and almond milk shake on BatterLicker.com!

I admit it. I finally succumbed to the infusing-vodka-with-candy madness that’s been going around. I’m not proud, but it was too easy not to do it. There were a few stray candy canes, some lonely vodka and a clean glass jar hanging around, begging for attention.

I justified it by arguing – in my head, of course – that I wouldn’t have gotten around to eating those last few candy canes anyway; the vodka would have sat untouched for another 6 months; the jar needed to serve a practical function or else get tossed into the recycling bin; and a candy cane vodka would really just be peppermint vodka, which wasn’t too bizarre (ahem, candy corn vodka) had to taste great in some sort of cocktail.

And it did taste fantastic in this one. Like a grownup peppermint milkshake of sorts. Except then I had to go and name it a “snowtini,” which sounds so frou-frou I’m not sure I’d ever order it off a cocktail menu.

… Read the rest of candy cane snowtini on BatterLicker.com!

I’m sick. Again. Jay brought something home at the beginning of the week, and the stuffy nose, plugged up ears and sore throat are now launching a full attack on my immune system.

Anyone else think sore throats are the absolute worst? Even cough drops aren’t helping me out this time around. To feel any relief whatsoever, I have to keep pumping hot herbal tea down my throat.

Normally, that would mean quite a few bags of tea – not to mention trips to the restroom. But as I sucked down my initial mugful this morning, I boiled up a potful of homebrewed tea.

It might sound complicated, but it’s not. For me, uncomplicated is key when I’m sick.

I had some cinnamon sticks and a leftover nub of ginger on hand, so I just boiled them with a lot of water while marking up a licensing agreement during the first 45 minutes of work this morning. And I’ve been going back to refill my mug ever since.

… Read the rest of ginger cinnamon tea on BatterLicker.com!

Yesterday, I sneezed violently and continuously for about 6 hours straight.

I’ve struggled with pretty intense allergy attacks since childhood, so this wasn’t a big surprise. But I still can’t get used to the fact that, when these attacks happen once a month or so, the only way to get them to stop is to knock myself out with Benadryl or Nyquil – a half dose because I’m hypersensitive to medicine too.

And it still annoys me when I wake up the next morning and feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. A truck full of sickness. Severe nasal and chest congestion, post nasal drip, swollen sinuses, and some more sneezing and coughing. As though that weren’t unpleasant enough, if I don’t stay very warm, drink lots of liquids, avoid air conditioning and the outdoors, and barely move the entire next day, this 2-day allergy attack-induced cold ramps up into a 2-week flu.

Once I’m sick, I don’t usually feel like drinking fluids. I used to drink orange juice, but now more than a few sips will produce acid reflux symptoms. I know I’m supposed to drink water or decaf tea, but it’s a constant struggle to get liquid down.

A couple years ago, I was struck with some creativity during a moment of illness and poured a packet of Super Orange Emergen-C into a glass of club soda. Maybe I had been watching You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, which features an orange soda called Fizzy Bubblech. Maybe not.

Either way, this sick person cocktail has become a sick-time staple for me. The bubbles soothe my throat and stomach, the orange flavor makes it more appealing than nasty plain water (I love water in real life; in sick life, I can’t stand it) without giving me acid reflux like OJ does, and it pumps me full of Vitamin C when I need it most.

… Read the rest of fizzy bubblech on BatterLicker.com!