Life is a FIESTA with ¡LUCINDA!

Tequila Recipes, Herb Recipes, Herb Gardens, Garden Design, & Entertaining

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Featured Presenter at Burlington Wine & Food Festival June 17th-20th in Vermont

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Wine and Food Festival

 

I am thrilled to visit Vermont…to escape Texas floods,  mosquitos, heat and humidity!  I’ll sign copies of my book at each event, ¡VIVA TEQUILA! Cocktails, Cooking, and Other Agave Adventures and  present several tequila/mezcal events, including a festive slide show, a tequila dinner, an Añejo and dessert tasting, and a cooking class.

Then,  I look forward to relax at the Saturday Wine & Food festival–to sample the renowned cuisine of the region and meet some wonderful new friends!  Here’s some information about my events…hope to see some of y’all there! Visit the Event Site for times and locations.

 

Judging the “Great Shakes”
Cocktail Competition

Wednesday | June 17th | 4:30 – 6:30 | Waterworks | SOLD OUT

 

Tequila Añejo & Dessert Tasting

Wednesday | June 17th | 7:30 – 9:30 | Waterworks

 

¡Viva Tequila Fiesta!

(Festive Slide Show Presentation, Tequila Tasting and Mexican Buffet)

Thursday | June 18th | 6:00 – 8:30 |
Hotel Vermont

 

Fiesta Cooking Class with Chef Contos and Lucinda Hutson

You’ll learn all about tequila and mezcal, Mexico’s beloved agave spirits, and gather inspiration  to create your own Mexican fiesta with many fun and festive recipes. Mexican attire suggested!

Friday | June 19th | 6:00 – 8:00 | Chef Contos Kitchen & Store | Voted one of the best cooking schools in the world by FOOD & WINE

 

 

 ¡Let’s Fiesta in Vermont!

 

 

¡VIVA TEQUILA! Book Signing at Métier Cook’s Supply in Austin Sunday, April 26th

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tequila book, viva tequila, tequila mezcal, cantina bar, recipes, tequila traditions

Come join us for a tequila celebration at Métier, Austin’s exciting new cooking supply store, where I’ll be signing copies of my book, ¡VIVA TEQUILA!  Sip extraordinary T1 (Tequila Uno) along with a sampling of my spicy Sangrita, tequila’s quintessential non-alcoholic chaser (recipe in my book)…try a Poor Man’s Paloma  spiked with Austin’s own award winning 512 Tequila…and shop with others who love gustatory delights.

Keep ¡VIVA TEQUILA!  in mind for your spring and summer gift giving.  Does your Mama drink tequila?  Does your Papa drink it too?  Remember Mother’s Day is May 10th….and Father’s Day is  June 21st.

And every graduate needs to know more about tequila and other agave spirits!

For a special wedding gift, fill a basket with tequila treats:  a signed copy of ¡VIVA TEQUILA! ,  a bottle of 100% agave tequila, some margarita or shot glasses, cocktail napkins, a lime squeezer,  a shaker…be creative and have fun!

If you can’t be with us, order books from Métier or by mail order from my website.

Look forward to see you at the Métier book signing in Austin

Sunday, April 26th from 1 -3 p.m.

Find out more about Métier Cook’s Supply.

¡Fiesta Always!

Spring Spritzers

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I love to create festive cocktails!   In this post you’ll read about spring spritzers… and  find a recipe for a lively concoction that I made for Desi Arnaz one summer while I was fishing in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

 

gin and tonic cucumber salad burnet spritzer

Gin and Tonic with cucumber slices, rose petals, and salad burnet, a cucumber scented herb.

 

Garnish and Flavor Cocktails from the Garden

‘Tis the season of the spritzers…the time to make refreshing coolers and to flavor and garnish them with fragrant sprigs of herbs and colorful flowers.  My spring garden is lush with aromatic herbs like lemon balm and lemon  verbena, spearmint, pineapple sage, and salad burnet, an herb with pretty serrated  cucumber-scented leaves.  Rosemary, sage,  oregano, chiles, basil and bay add extra flavor to savory cocktails like Bloody Mary’s and Micheladas.

Cheerful purple pansies and johnny-jump-ups make any spritzer special, as do rose petals,  spikes of lavender or sunny nasturtiums.  My Mexican limes, kumquats, satsuma and Meyer lemons are now dressed in fragrant blooms and I can’t wait for  summer when their tangy fruits will flavor margaritas  and other summer spritzers.

 

A Gin and Tonic You’ll Remember

After reading a British murder mystery, my book club has decided to meet this week in my garden for tea sandwiches and Gin & Tonics ...but my version of a G&T is pretty darn special.  It’s  flavored with  icy cucumber slices, rose petals and delicate sprigs of salad burnet.  Hope you’ll like it too!

Here’s my article with recipes for this gin and tonic and other seasonal spritzers (including the one I made for Desi)  found in  Edible Austin, where I have a  regular column,  La Casa de Buen Sabor.  

(Stay tuned for my next month’s article in Edible Austin about May Wine, another of my signature cocktails flavored with fresh herbs, strawberries, and flowers.)

Enjoy a festive spritzer in the spring garden!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Easter to All!

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easter eggs cascarones easter

Make your Easter celebration one that your guests won’t  forget!  Here you’ll find a fiesta pineapple punch, Mexican confetti-filled eggs, spicy ethnic-inspired deviled eggs and Hoppin’ Jalapeño Carrot Cake–things they won’t find at other gatherings.

Welcome to this glorious season of new beginnings!  Lush greenery and colorful flowers highlight my little purple house, offering perfect hide-aways for Easter eggs beneath their verdant foliage.  My garden  springs forth in all its splendor with a plethora of fragrant herbs and cheerful flowers to flavor and garnish celebratory spring dishes.

 

Festive Punch  Delights Guests at Easter Brunch:

I love to greet Easter guests with my  Herb Garden Fiesta Punch,  found in my first book, The Herb Garden Cookbook.  It’s flavored with fragrant lemon balm and mint and chunks of fresh pineapple and  garnished gaily with purple pansies. This  refreshing cooler sure gives a Mimosa some competition when it’s topped with Italian Prosecco or Spanish Cava!

party punch, lemon herbs, purple pansies, mimosa, tequila punch

photo by Cooke Photographics from The Herb Garden Cookbook

 

Before the Easter egg hunt, serve Herb Garden Fiesta Punch  along with an assortment of  pan dulce (sweet  yeast bread) purchased at your favorite local Mexican bakery (or serve your choice of other pastries.)  Adorn the tray with fresh flowers and/or cascarones.

 

pan dulce easter eggs cascarones brunch

 

Cascarones Are A Mexican Easter Tradition:

Cascarones (“egg shells“) are colorfully-dyed Easter eggs filled with confetti, popular throughout Mexico.  Revelers sneak up on unsuspecting guests, cracking  cascarones over their heads, and showering them with confetti… and some say, good luck! (Cascarones are also popular at New Year’s and at weddings.)  Many Mexican markets and grocery stores sell cartons of cascarones during this time of year.

 

cascarones confetti eggs easter

Buy ’em or dye ’em then hide ’em ….and have fun cracking  them over the heads of those not expecting the surprise of this Mexican tradition!

 

cascarones egg carton easter confetti

 

 

Not your every day deviled eggs:

What’s Easter without  deviled eggs?   My recipes for deviled eggs are quite lively and filled with unexpected surprises that showcase ethnic cuisines, ingredients, and  culinary traditions.  Pretty plates for serving deviled eggs are all the rage today, but I like to serve them from my grandmother’s purple majolica egg dish.

deviled eggs easter pansies egg plate

 

Hoppin’ Jalapeño Carrot Cake for your favorite bunny:

A favorite recipe from  my book ¡VIVA TEQUILA! Cocktails, Cooking, and Other Agave Adventures  will surely get your fiesta hoppin’!  My spicy Hoppin’ Jalapeño Carrot Cake has a margarita-inspired frosting flavored with tequila, Cointreau and lime zest.  But guess what gives this cake its unique flavor?  Freshly chopped jalapeños!   Serve as a whole cake or as cupcakes, festively garnished with whole red and green jalapeños.

 

spicy carrot cake jalapeno tequila frosting easter

 

Dress Up Store-bought Items for more appeal:

Life is sometimes just too busy for cooking.  Use sprigs of fragrant herbs and flowers to garnish plates and give a personal touch to store-bought foods.  Don’t forget to garnish cocktails and cold drinks  too.

 

lemon tart garnished with edible flowers

 

pastries on platter with flowers mexican pan dulce

 

gin and tonic spring cocktail salad burnet limes

 

My spring garden is as colorful as an Easter basket:

cottage garden purple house spring flowers

And has many secret places to hide cascarones and other Easter surprises!

cascarones hidden eggs confetti eggs

 

cascarones easter broken easter eggs confetti eggs

 marshmallow chickens Easter children

 

May you rejoice in the Easter garden and its promise of renewal and hope!

girl in garden flower bed smelling flowers

 Easter Blessings to All!

Herb Garden Fiesta Punch

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party punch, lemon herbs, purple pansies, mimosa, tequila punch

Everyone loves this refreshing fiesta punch and party pleaser! It’s versatile and easy to make and lends  itself to many presentations.  Serve from a glass pitcher or punch bowl with sprigs of fresh mint and lemon-scented herbs and purple pansies or other edible flowers.  Spike it with tequila, rum or vodka, if you wish.  For a fabulous brunch drink for garden parties, showers, or weddings, serve this pretty punch in champagne flutes spritzed with Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, or champagne and garnish with a fresh  sprig  of mint or lemon balm and a purple pansy.  Move over Mimosas!

 

INGREDIENTS:

2  large bunches lemon balm and lemon verbena (add lots of sprigs of crushed lemon thyme, lemon basil, or lemon grass, too)

2  large bunches spearmint or a combination of mild flavored mints

2 large cans (46 ounces each) unsweetened pineapple juice

Juice of 3 lemons

Juice of 3 limes

3 cups fresh pineapple, bite-sized chunks  (optional)

3 lemons, cut into round slices

2–3 limes, cut into round slices

Your favorite bubbly ( spicy ginger brew like Maine Root or Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew),  Squirt (or your favorite grapefruit soda),  or other  artisan sodas or Prosecco or Cava)

Additional sprigs lemon balm and/or mint

Purple pansies or johnny-jump-ups

 

DIRECTIONS:

Tie up herb bouquets with kitchen twine. Gently bruise the fragrant herbs to release their flavor.  Place them in a large jar, and cover with the pineapple chunks and juice, citrus juices and lemon slices.  Chill overnight, stirring occasionally and pressing down on herbs with back of a wooden spoon.  Prior to serving, remove the herbs (they will have discolored) and replace with fresh herb sprigs.  Add lime slices and a generous splash of your favorite bubbly to the punch, and some pretty purple pansies or johnny-jump-ups (violas).  Pour into glasses and garnish with sprigs of fresh lemon balm or mint.

 

VARIATIONS:

Add lemon grass, fresh pineapple chunks, and spicy Jamaican ginger brew (from specialty grocery stores) to the original recipe.  Discard the tough outer leaves from 4 stalks of lemon grass and bruise the stalks with the back of a knife. Cut stalks into 2-inch segments and add them to the punch the day before serving. Long lemon grass stalks also make good “stirrers” for the punch.

Use limeade, lemonade, apple juice, or exotic tropical fruit juice (or any combination of juices) in place of the pineapple juice.  Add fresh lime juice to enhance flavors.