I was settling in with my copy of Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails (Thanks to Blogging for Books for my free copy for review) waiting for my farrier to come. The horses are where the property name Funny Farm comes from - we were mad I tell you! I expected to get some fabulous new cocktail recipes...expand my horizons a little. By page 15, I knew I was in for a far more educational experience!
By this point the authors, former college roommates at University of Virginia, have discussed the importance of glass shape and how ice cubes are necessary for not only chilling the drink but for diluting the alcohol as well. You learn how to muddle ingredients and get some great tips for garnishes.
This book is full of really great-looking, easy-to-make recipes divided into seasonal categories. My list of recipes I can't wait to try include the Mexi-Cafe (I still have never tried cinnamon with coffee), The Frenchie (wine and berries), and the Watermelon Daiquiri. Not all of them are alcoholic, like the Lilac Bloom. As that name implies, there are some surprising ingredients in some of their recipes (lavender ?!?!?). The photos are gorgeous...this is really a BEAUTIFUL book! But there is one thing that I found completely annoying: their style of sticking a bottle (or other object) smack dab in the center of a caption. Even after I figured out their style, I kept trying to read the entire left side before moving to the right...nope - read straight across. Another quirky thing that was a little annoying was that even though the recipe steps are numbered and easy to find, sometimes they shuffled them around on the page. All in all, I enjoyed this book: beautiful photos and really interesting and easy recipes that I believe will come in handy one day soon!
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