Chocolate Chip Shakes

If you were to ask Alyssa what her favorite beverage is, I'm betting a million to one that she would answer Starbucks' Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino. Actually, she refers to it as "frozen hot chocolate," so you'd win that bet on a technicality. As the days have gotten hotter and hotter, she requests "girl time" visits to Starbucks with a frequency that may eventually land me on our local Starbucks VIP list, if such a list exists.

When I spoke to her on the phone this week, she requested a trip this weekend, as she generally does. As a home cook, I was surprised to find myself offering for the very first time to learn to make them for her instead. Duh.

By the way, I would never feed this already-climbing-the-walls eight year old a coffee drink. This is a cream-based Frappuccino that wires her up enough with its unapologetic chocolaty-ness.

You will need:

1 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons chocolate syrup
2 cups of ice
1/8 tsp vanilla
 
I found this to work perfectly and even managed to blend it well with an immersion (hand) blender, since our standard upright blender broke a few months back. Feel free to experiment and play around with the proportions until it's just right. This gave us 3 juice-glass sized servings.
 
Prefer your Frap with some whipped cream? You'll need:

1 cup heavy cream, very cold
2-3 tablespoons sugar

Beat, beat, beat, until stiff, about 4 minutes. Plop by the spoonful atop the shakes and drizzle with chocolate syrup, if you can handle more chocolate.

Please an eight year old today.

Or a thirty year old.

Non-Verbal: Perfect Summer Beer

White Sangria

I like a good red wine, but I enjoy it more in the winter. Summer calls for light, refreshing, cold, fruity cocktails, perfect for bringing to the backyard porch swing and rocking gently while your boyfriend absentmindedly strums his guitar.

At least that's what I had in mind for this sangria. The aforementioned scenario never actually happened, but I'm hopeful that it still could. In any event - man, this was easy.

You will need:

Medium-dry white wine (I used a blend of Pinot Grigio and Chablis)

Dry or brut sparkling wine/Champagne

12 ounces white grape or white grape-peach juice

2 whole peaches, sliced into wedges

2 whole limes, sliced into rounds

Handful green grapes to your liking, sliced in half lengthwise

Handful sliced frozen strawberries

Fresh mint leaves (optional)

In a pitcher or beverage server, pour equal parts wine and grape juice, filling the pitcher 3/4 full.

Add all fruit aside from strawberries and stir. Allow the mixture to refrigerate for at least an hour, but up to 4. When ready to serve, add strawberries and mint if using to pitcher, and top pitcher with champagne. Stir gently.

Serve without ice, making sure all glasses are served with some of the cold fruit from the pitcher!

Alyssa's 8th Birthday

I've been itching to entertain. Since Josh and I had yet to throw a party at our place, when conversations about Alyssa's birthday started coming up, my mind started racing. We quickly decided that we would go all-out, to simultaneously satisfy my entertaining itch, and to give her an 8th birthday to remember. Or hopefully remember. Try as I might, I can remember my 7th and 10th birthdays, but 8 and 9 are for some reason lost forever. Good thing we're in the age of the digital camera!

Alyssa made up her mind while I decorated Andrea's birthday cake back in April that she wanted a heart-shaped, pink strawberry cake for her birthday, much like the one we made for her last year...

...which was monstrous. Rich, crazy decadent, and tipping the scales at 10 pounds of sweet birthday evil. Or goodness, depending on the circumference of your waist.

So we designed the whole party around the cake. I did my best to channel my inner Amy Atlas, found leftover Valentine's decorations at various dollar stores (I was surprised but giddy to find them in June), created a dessert table, and did the place up in pink, red and white.

I'm pretty proud to say I did this all myself...cooking, baking, decorating. It's nice to remind myself from time to time that my degree in Event Management didn't go completely to waste. Josh told me "I don't want you to stress about this." So I started everything on Tuesday, and listed out what to do and when to do it throughout the rest of the week.

I'm a chronic list maker. They make me feel in-control.

The heart/pink/red theme was also carried over into some of the food:

 533 pink and white marshmallows, counted by hand...the winner took them all home (thank God)

Pink Party Punch (Simply Raspberry lemonade, Sprite and frozen raspberries)

                                                         Muddy Buddies with red M&Ms

Candied pecans

Strawberry Whoppers

Chocolate covered strawberries

 White sangria...for the grownups only, of course

 Cookies, dyed with red food coloring and decorated with royal icing

Maui onion dip

 And of course, the birthday cake!

The turnout was great. We came up with some great games, Josh surprised me with a hidden talent:

And everyone enjoyed themselves - especially the birthday girl!

Happy birthday, Alyssa! I hope it was everything you wanted and more than you expected.

Strawberry Vanilla Agua Fresca

The nearly two pounds of leftover strawberries from Andrea's cake were taunting me incessantly from the refrigerator; threatening to turn white and fuzzy at any moment if I didn't find a suitable application for them quickly. Thanks to Serious Eats, I found exactly what I was looking for.

Aguas Frescas are refreshing, light fruit drinks popular in Latin America, which basically consist of some sort of pureed fruit, sugar, and ice cold water. I would make no adjustments to this recipe unless you're making it for a picky 7-year-old, in which case you should add a glug or two of simple syrup to pump up the sweetness. Otherwise she may tell you "it tastes like nothing." Hmph.

While we didn't partake on Saturday afternoon for obvious reasons, a splash or two of Triple Sec or Limoncello might be nice also.

You will need:

1 pound strawberries, hulled
4 cups ice cold water, divided
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
Ice, for serving
Optional: simple syrup, recipe follows

In a blender, combine the strawberries with 2 cups of the water and the vanilla extract. Puree until completely liquid. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or through cheesecloth into a pitcher.

Stir in the remaining 2 cups water, lemon juice, sugar and/or simple syrup to taste, if using. Pour into ice-filled glasses and serve.

Simple Syrup:
1 cup water
2 cups sugar

Bring the water to a rolling boil and add sugar. Stir and heat through until sugar is completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature and pour into a sterilized glass bottle (I just dunked it and rinsed it in some more boiling water). Keep in refrigerator for up to a month.