Super Simple Berry Sauce

I’m embarrassed to post this recipe because it’s so easy. It can’t even be called a recipe.

Here’s what happens: Berry season starts, my eyes get really wide, my stomach stretches, and even though I try to eat as many raspberries and strawberries as I can (summer doesn’t start until you’ve overdosed), it’s just not possible to eat them up before they start to get moldy.

Especially raspberries. Right?

Those little suckers are like fireflies–so gorgeous and then Poof! they’re dim or dead. Especially if they come straight from the farmers market.

So here’s the solution.

Ingredients

• Raspberries (or strawberries, loganberries, blackberries, or marionberries)
• Sugar (to your sweetness level)
• Some lime juice

Now Do This

• Throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mash them with a potato masher.

I told you it was that easy. And you’re like, “Duh. That’s called mashing berries. I do it all the time.” And I’m like, “Invite me over.”

Baby Woww invited hizzself over:

You should put the sauce in jars so you can freeze it or store it easily.

Your sauce will want to pour itself onto

• cereal
• oatmeal shortbread
• ice cream

It will also want to be infused into gin or bourbon or vodka.

BTW, I’m sure a fork will work for mashing, but you should really have a potato masher in your kitchen (it’s nicest to have two–keep your eyes peeled at thrift shops).

 

Halloween Drink Ideas with Portland Bloggers

Alicia from the amazing home-infusing blog Boozed + Infused got a group of us excited about infusing liquor at home. (Let’s be real: it wasn’t that hard.) We had so much fun going over to Alicia’s back in May that I had everyone over to my house this weekend for Halloween-themed drinks.

Apparently bloggers do exist in real life. (Left to right: Me, Jodi of the upcoming blog The Mama Gut, Alicia of Boozed + Infused, Poppy of Funny or Snot, Krista of Mostly Mommyhood.)

I infused peanut bourbon for a Payday candy bar-themed shot: 2 parts caramel syrup, 1 part peanut bourbon, shake of salt. Stir well with a cocktail stirrer. 

Alicia arrived with this amazing basket that looked like Little Red Riding Hood stopped at the liquor store and Dean and Deluca.

Alicia made an orange-chocolate martini that tasked like a liquid version of the holiday chocolate orange with those little chocolate sections. The orange-chocolate martini was killer, and would be perfect for December: start infusing your chocolate bourbon now. Alicia suggested serving it with dark chocolate.

Those are Poppy’s ginger lemon cookies on the left: chewy texture with a lovely ginger-lemon kick. Poppy, give us the recipe! Also pictured: orange-chocolate martinis, flask of caramel apple liqueur.

Alicia also made caramel-apple liqueur: Caramel apple vodka mixed with homemade caramel syrup. It’s the perfect vehicle for slices of real caramel apple.

Krista wins the appetizer creativity award for her Frankenweenie mummy pizzas, and cheese monsters.

This gathering has become so much fun that we’re thinking of going buck-wild and getting a Portland-area bloggers conference together. Stay tuned. This pipe dream may just become a boozy reality. Cheers!

Boozed + Infused: The Backstory

The Internet sucks up my time with a vacuum hose, but sometimes it rewards me with an e-friend who invites me over for cocktails, and then lets me stay to drink liquor out of mason jars from her closet.

Craigslist would say this is a bad idea.

My personal experience of having a roommate with a million skeezy Internet boyfriends (she met them all on AIM chat–and gratefully I only met a few of them in person) would also suggest that meeting strangers for drinks at their homes would be a bad idea.*

*Not Caitlin the cheesemaker from Milk’s Leap, she was one of the most wonderful roommates ever! In fact, all my roommates have been awesome except that one.

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But I think there was more fear on my new e-friend Alicia’s part (or there should have been). She did invite us over to her house… (Not sure who Alicia is? She’s a big part of the genius behind Boozed + Infused, the amazing home-infused liqueurs blog. Find out why you should love her here.)

A few months back Alicia and I crossed paths on the interwebs, and I fell in love. I asked if I could feature her under my Northwest Artists & Creative Genius series. She was flattered and suggested that I should taste her infusions before writing about them.

Brilliant idea, Alicia! 

Strangely, my husband was not worried.

So then why stop there–I begged Alicia to make it a foursome and let me invite my other e-friend girl-crushes.

I mean, suddenly I’m the cool girl with an invitation to try home-infused liqueurs. My crushes would have to like me now. Right??**

**Do you like me? __ Yes   __ No   __ Maybe __ Yes, if you pay for a massage once a week

That’s how Krista from Mostly Mommyhood and Poppy from Funny or Snot also showed up at Alicia’s.  They are smart, sassy women who have cool/hilarious mom blogs. Check them out if you’re in to that sort of thing.

(Left to right: Alicia, Poppy, Krista)

None of this seemed weird until I rang Alicia’s doorbell. What the H-E-double-hockey-sticks were we doing? It’s not a good idea to go to a stranger’s house for candy. It’s not a good idea to invite volatile-weirdo-moms over, especially if you don’t know them.

But THANK YOU Alicia for taking a chance on us.

We started out with blueberry pieball cocktails and then moved on to coffee-bourbon milkshakes. The pieballs were perfect for a beautiful afternoon, and the milkshakes really would have been better served by the gallon in a trough. And if you decide to make the milkshake at home, you might make an extra bucket so your family can have some.

But our surprise thrill was getting to see Alicia’s closet where she stores her concoctions. It’s worth posting again.

This is the most awesome liquor closet in the world. It’s like Cool Moon Ice Cream for the 21-and-over set. We had a million spoons and dozens of jars of home-infused liqueur at our fingertips.

Note: Poppy doesn’t really have any spots on her face. Apparently that’s Instagram’s instant liver-spot effect. Please don’t throw our love away, Poppy.

Here’s Krista after a few spoonfuls…

I’m blushing and feeling hung over just thinking about the experience. I’m also feeling lucky that I didn’t have to sleep on Alicia’s front porch after she thought I had left.

The moral of this story is: Sometimes it’s worth it to risk your life for new friends and liquor. Kids, take note.

Wondering what the girl crushes thought of me?

Krista from Mostly Mommyhood, Sometimes Mommy Needs to be Boozed + Infused

Poppy from Funny or Snot, Boozed + Infused: An Invitation

Alicia from Boozed + Infused, Blueberry Gin

Northwest Artists & Creative Genius: Boozed + Infused Blog

Have you met Alicia at Boozed + Infused?

No?! 

Why are you still here? Stop reading this boring post and go learn how to make pineapple liqueur and coffee-bourbon milkshakes.

After experimenting with  the totally homespun drink-infusing genius on Alicia’s blog, you will be able to call yourself a mixologist. In Portland that earns you a lot of cache (and possibly a guest spot on Portlandia).

Alicia and her sister Eileen recently started Boozed + Infused, and already they’re building a vibrant pocket community of infusing enthusiasts. You know a blog is well on its way when posts have comments, and Boozed + Infused even gets nerdy comments from other infusers: Awesome!

I’m just a lowly groupie, but I still snagged a sweet invitation to Alicia’s for cocktails. It was possibly the best day of 2012.

Even if you’re not in PDX, you’ll love Boozed + Infused, and you’ll be rewarded with epic coolness points at all the summer barbecues you go to when you show up with homemade coconut liqueur or tamarind-orange gin.

Now git on over!

You’re still here.

Well, stalker, here are a few more ways to get your Boozed + Infused on…

You’ll definitely want to follow Boozed + Infused on Pinterest.

And why not add @BoozedInfused to your Twitter party?

No? You’re more of a Facebook junkie?  Go like Boozed + Infused!

Seriously, why haven’t you left?

Will a recipe for a Blueberry Pieball cocktail make you go away?

Blueberry Pieball (It’s a play on the classic highball cocktails)

• 1.5 oz Blueberry Gin
• 0.5 oz Dry Vermouth
• 0.5 oz Brandy
• 3 oz club soda
• 2 oz ginger ale
• lemon twist
• Blueberry Ice Cubes (made from blueberry juice) and frozen blueberries to keep the drink cold

Pour each of the ingredients into a tall glass, add a few blueberry ice cubes, frozen blueberries, and one regular ice cube, then garnish with a lemon twist.

Recipe courtesy of Boozed + Infused (visit to find more tips for this drink). Thank you, Alicia!

And if you haven’t had enough, yet, the backstory is next… It includes three other women and hard alcohol.

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Geometric triangle pattern from August Empress. Title fonts from dafont.com.