A Michelada (pronounced meech-ehl-ah-dah) might be one of the most underrated cocktails ever created. I’m hestiant to even call it a cocktail — It’s easy to make, and even easier to drink — You basically can’t mess it up and it always tastes great. Like in-a-hammock-on-a-beach-wearing-a-sombrero great. It’s GREAT. If you haven’t experienced THE GREATEST…
Summer is FINALLY here. After 6 months of the dreary, anti-climactic Massachusetts winter, it’s the greatest feeling to lay in the warm sun and ditch the heavy winter coats (..nothing against a good coat!). Summer means BBQs, beers (and ciders!) on the beach, bonfires, boats and plenty of other b-words and non-b-words that all point…
It’s memorial day weekend, which means lots of BBQ, a big jug of punch, an epic cookout…and possibly fireworks. A solid recipe for a great time at the Manganini residence. Now about that punch. As per usual, I’ve been assigned punch duty. Not that I’m a great bartender or anything like that (Donald is the…
This past Sunday Donald and I went to one of my favorite places in the city: HMart! This huge Korean grocery store is right in the middle of Central Square in Boston (by MIT). We walked there from our apartment in about 40 minutes – But once you’re inside the whole place feels worlds away….
Remember when Donald (head brewer) and I (the assistant) brewed that farmhouse saison months ago? We’ll it has FINALLY reached final gravity (about 1.01), and we racked it into secondary. It wasn’t that easy. Saison yeast likes warmer temperatures, around 80 degrees, much like myself. We had to put the brew in the bathroom with…
A little over two years ago, Donald introduced me to Kimchi. It’s a Korean staple food, but I hadn’t really given it a shot. He told me about how he had tried to make it and failed, so naturally, I accepted the challenge and set out to make my own Kimchi. I haven’t followed a…
Discovering new cooking techniques and recipes can be difficult. Sometimes I just don’t have the patience or time, or I just don’t know where to start. It can be tempting to keep making the same meals again and again – it’s just muscle memory! But really nailing a new dish can be exciting and rewarding….
Yogurt prices are bananas. Store brand yogurt? 2.49 Oh you want brand name yogurt? 3.99 Make that organic. $5.49 Greek? $6.49 Organic Greek? Just fork over your wallet and your left kidney. I have yogurt everyday at work for breakfast, and the idea of ingesting all those additives – like hormones and antibiotics – on…
The old cliché still holds true: The grass is always greener… Boston is fantastic in lots of ways, but it just can’t compete with the country life. We can’t have chickens on our tiny Somerville balcony (not that I haven’t thought about it…), and a hike from our apartment might end in Boston Common or…
I’m not much of a meat-eater. In fact, for half my life I’ve been an on-and-off vegetarian, but there are three meats I always have a hard time giving up when I go veg: Hamburgers, Chicken wings, and Lamb shanks. Every few months I splurge on a good lamb shank or two and treat myself…