FOOD
Summer Drinks
Brain Freeze (non-alcoholic)
(As a punch or a single glass)
1 part 7UP
1 part pineapple juice
1 part lime sherbet
In a blender combine all ingredients. Blend until mixed and be careful of brain freeze. -- Carol Brocker
Frisky Sours
1 6-ounce can frozen orange-grapefruit concentrate
1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 1/2 cups whiskey
1 1/2 cups cold water
Ice cubes (optional)
In a blender combine first 4 ingredients blend till mixed. Serve over ice.
Makes 9 (4-ounce) servings -- Carol Brocker
Yogurt Sip
1 10-ounce package frozen peach slices
1 cup plain yogurt (8 ounces)
1/4 cup peach brandy or other brandy
1/4 cup light rum
1 Tablespoon honey
Ground nutmeg
Let peaches stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. In a blender, combine yogurt, brandy, rum, and honey.
Add undrained peaches. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses. Top with nutmeg. Makes 5 (4-ounce) servings -- Carol Brocker
Frosty Cranberry Cocktail
1 6-ounce frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate
3/4 cup light rum
1 medium banana, cut up
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups ice cubes
In a blender combine cranberry juice, rum, banana and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Add ice blend until slushy. Pour into glasses. Garnish each with banana slices. Makes 7 (4-ounce) servings -- Carol Brocker
French Revolution
Vive la France! Celebrate Bastille Day on July 14 with this simple and refreshing cocktail, guaranteed to liberate your taste buds!
1 ounce brandy
2 ounce framboise
3 ounce Champagne
Mix ingredients in a flute. Garnish with a lemon twist. -- Ericka Berg
Cool Cappuccino Shake (non-alcoholic)
Who needs Frappacinos? This beverage is simple to make and smooth on the palette. One taste of this drink and you won’t be going back to Starbucks.
1 cup milk
1 envelope General Foods Int'l Coffees Cappuccino, any flavor
1/2 cup Cool Whip Whipped Topping, unthawed
Place milk and cappuccino mix in blender container and cover. Blend on high speed until dissolved. Add whipped topping and cover. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately. -- Ericka Berg
Strawberry Pina Colada
2 parts golden rum
1 part Coco Lopez crème of coconut
3 parts pineapple juice
3 parts frozen lemonade concentrate
dash of cream
2-3 per person frozen strawberries
ice
The recipe is vague, but it can’t go wrong. Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until all the ice is crushed. Add more ice for a thicker drink. Makes 3-4 large glasses that you won’t be able to put down! -- Jessica McDaniel
Cranberry Orange Juice (non-alcoholic)
Good and good for you
Unsweetened cranberry juice is thought to lower cholesterol and to prevent urinary tract infections; it may even reduce the risk of gum disease, stomach ulcers and cancer. But without all the corn syrup (sugar is a bad thing for urinary tract infections), the unsweetened stuff is unpalatable (i.e. nasty). A good way to work it into ones diet is by mixing it into a glass of orange juice, which includes the added health bonus of vitamin C. Five parts orange juice to one part cranberry juice is recommended.
--David Lasky
Whence cometh wasabi?
Ebbtide columnist and resident wassbi grower Chris Jones tells the story
Chris Jones
Managing Editor
Ever wonder what was in that little pile of green stuff that comes stuck to the side of the plate with your sushi order? If you are a bit of a sushi gourmet you may know that the little pungent green pile is called wasabi. But what is wasabi and where does it come from?
Anyone who has bothered to ask this question of the man behind the sushi bar is liable to have been told the standard wasabi myth: Wasabi is a rare plant that grows exclusively in the clearest, most pristine waters of remote mountain streams. Any other type of stream would be too polluted to support the finicky wasabi plant. Wasabi is thus imbued with a sort of mystical quality, which raises it to the highest level of plant spirituality.
The truth about wasabi may not have the romance of the standard myth but it is at least as, if not more, interesting.
First of all, much of the wasabi served in sushi restaurants is not really wasabi at all. Most prepared wasabi is a mixture of horseradish and green food coloring. Because the tastes of both wasabi and horseradish are more sensation than actual taste, this ersatz mixture gives an acceptable taste facsimile of the real thing. This little deception is actually a good thing for sushi diners. If Japanese restaurants were forced to use real wasabi, there wouldn’t be enough wasabi in the world to satisfy the demand. What’s more, the current price of real wasabi (somewhere near $50 per pound) would likely increase to the point where the little half-inch high pile on your plate would cost more than your whole meal.
Wasabi is often grown in water but it may just as easily be grown in soil. If it is cultivated in water the water must be flowing, not still. In Japan, wasabi farmers position their plots on slopes near streams where water can be made to flow continuously through the wasabi beds. The growing medium is a mixture of sand and gravel.
Wasabi has another peculiarity: It cannot stand direct sunlight. Wasabi farms in Japan look like convoluted versions of the artist Christoff’s “Running Fence”: long, 6- to 8-foot-high curtains of green or black shade-cloth snake through the rows shielding the plants from exposure to the sun. In any sunlight stronger than the weakest winter rays, wasabi will begin to wilt in a matter of minutes. The same will happen if the temperature rises much over 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Wasabi is somewhat resistant to frost. Only severe frosts that freeze the soil a few inches below the surface of the ground will kill the plants.
Any climate that provides plenty of rain, little sunlight, mild winters and cool summers is perfect for wasabi. In North America, this means the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to British Columbia. Another area that has proved to be excellent for wasabi cultivation is the Chinese province of Yunnan. Yunnan is not that far from the tropics, but its high elevation and frequent cloudy days have recently made it a center of wasabi production.
The part of the plant that contains the pungent flavor is the stem or, more properly, the rhizome. It takes 18 months to two years of growth for a wasabi plant to produce a rhizome large enough to accompany a modest sushi dinner.
To prepare the wasabi, the outer covering of the rhizome must first be removed with a potato peeler or similar utensil. Then the fibrous core of the rhizome must be finely grated. If the wasabi is not grated finely enough it will have a fibrous, woody texture. Once grated, the wasabi is not the bright green normally seen in the artificial product but is a very pale green – almost white. At this point (and if they are available), grated wasabi leaves can be added to the mix to deepen the color and add to the overall bulk of the preparation.
Once grated, fresh wasabi should be consumed immediately. Grated wasabi left overnight in the refrigerator loses all flavor. The flavor of real wasabi is slightly less intense than the horseradish version and has a hint of sweetness which the imitation product lacks.
Seattle is one of the few places in the world where fresh wasabi is frequently available. There is one wasabi vendor who appears each Wednesday at the Pike Place Market. Uwajimaya in the International District generally stocks wasabi. For a real gourmet adventure you may want to buy a couple of large plants and take them along the next time you dine at a Japanese restaurant. Your local sushi chef will love it – especially if you give one plant to him while he prepares the other one for you.
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Forme D'Ambert
