Funny Valentine (Blood Orange Old Fashioned)

 This is a really good cocktail. It has a little more depth than a traditional Old Fashioned, At its best, there are complex flavors that blend well but also stand out at different points, on their own. Also, this is an easy drink to make in bulk, making it a party favorite. 

You will need:

• 4 oz. bourbon
• 1/2 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• blood oranges
  
• Aztec Chocolate Bitters (or a bitters that you prefer)

There are two ways to make this drink. Old school and new school.

I want to go old school:

1. Get a shaker. add some ice.
   
2. Pour in the bourbon. Stir. (You want that bourbon to get cold, so agitate it!)
3. Get an old fashioned glass.
4. Add the Luxardo Marachino Liqueur to the glass.
5. Quarter a blood orange and squeeze the juice of one quarter of blood orange into the glass. Drop the quarter blood orange into the glass.
   
6. Add the bitters.
7. Muddle these ingredients.
8. Stir the bourbon in the shaker. You want it cold!
9. Add ice to the old fashioned glass. Make sure you have good, hard ice. The larger the cube, the better.
10. Add the bourbon to the glass. Stir if you like, but only gently. You want this drink to be a progressive one--it will start boozy and get sweeter as you go down.
11. Garnish with a cherry, or blood orange rind, or blood orange slice. Up to you!

I'm postmodern, thank you very much:

1. Get a shaker. Add some ice. 
2. Pour in bourbon, Luxardo Marachino Liqueur, and bitters.
3. Quarter a blood orange and squeeze the juice of one quarter of the blood orange into the shaker.
4. Stir, baby, stir.
5. Let it sit while you prepare garnish. You want this baby cold!
6. Get an old fashioned glass. Add a big ice cube, or whatever ice you use. You can also serve this drink straight up, but make sure it has plenty of time to chill in that shaker.
   
7. Stir, baby, stir. (the shaker, obviously).
8. Pour the old fashioned into the glass. 
9. Garnish with a cherry, or blood orange rind, or blood orange slice. Up to you!

A word on garnish:

If you are going old school, consider skewering a cherry, an eighth cut of the blood orange (a little triangle), and another cherry on a toothpick and using that as a garnish. 

The rind is by far the most elegant garnish. And blood orange rind can be absolutely beautiful. Just make sure to leave out the pith, express the oils, and then give the rim of the glass a twirl. This works great in either.

Slices of blood orange are gorgeous. And don't feel bad about mixing garnishes. This is a drink that can be elegant or a little noisy.

Blood Orange Margarita

 This is hardly original, but it is the best damn margarita I've ever had. And the proportions are not hard to get right, but easy to mess up.

• 4 oz tequila
• 2 oz lime juice
• 2 oz blood orange
• tsp or so of agave syrup (preferably amber)
  
• pinch salt

The 1:1 ratio of juice to tequila can be altered to 1.5:1 or even 2:1 depending on taste. Blood oranges are only mildly sweet, but definitely not acidic enough without the lime juice.

Agave syrup is to taste. Honestly, I just squeeze in a little, shake the margarita, and then taste. It is easy to adjust the sugar upwards, a little more work to juice some more limes.

Miso For weekday soups

 Recipe for a workweek's worth of miso soup.

make a quart of dashi broth. Kombu and don't skimp on the Katsuboshi. 

next, take a pint of the dashi and make the miso broth. This will make (roughly) three servings.

• 16 oz. dashi broth
  
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 1 tbsp mirin

I prefer to mix the miso, mirin, and 2 oz. of the dashi broth, and then add it to the rest of the broth. Like you're making a roux. Then, you can adjust to taste, depending on how strong you want your miso broth. Once it is appropriately strong, take it off the heat. Let it cool, and store it in the fridge.

Day of, Take six oz. or so of the miso broth, put it over heat, add mushrooms, nori, green onions. Meanwhile, cut up tofu into bite size pieces. Put the tofu in the serving bowl (or thermos, or whatever). Bring the heat up slowly. If eating immediately, serve the broth once warmed, and mushrooms are cooked. If putting in a thermos, I heat the broth slowly, let the mushrooms cook, then bring the whole mixture to a boil, then pour into the thermos, to ensure it remains warm. Do as you please, though.