’tis the season for early morning yardsales, brunch on a patio and afternoons on the back deck, cocktail in hand, enjoying the honey sweet breeze and golden sunlight. this is the time of year when all things are new and my outlook can’t help but reflect that. i want to try new things, visit new places and learn something completely unexpected. i want my photography to grow. i want my images to be more elevated, singular and imaginative. clearly, spring has gotten to me!
back to where i started- spring is such a beautiful time to sit back and love the world around us. lucky for us, we recently seeded our yard which means a few weeks of twilight watering. which REALLY means chatting in the back yard swing while moving our little sprinkler six times so that it waters every corner of the yard. so, for around an hour, we’re pulled out of our little world of email, podcasts and editing and we just sit and watch the sparkling water fall around us. we talk about everything, or sometimes nothing. it’s such a great time for us- we may just stick to it even when the grass starts to grow!
lately, some nights, just before swing/sprinkler time, i make us a cocktail. i am hardly a recipe follower so usually i just combine what i like and hope for the best. then, i split it and add a little more sugar to matt’s and a little more bitterness to mine and we just sit and sip. on a really good night i’ll take down a little snack too but, honestly, i think that’s only happened once so far. ;) anyway, because a post is always better with a picture (and a recipe?), here is my latest favorite, let’s call it a rosemary old fashioned soda?
the recipe:
2 oz bourbon
2 dashes bitters
1 oz rosemary simple syrup
(1c sugar, 1c water, 2 sprigs rosemary, crushed, simmer, let cool)
1/2 of a caramelized lemon, juiced
(place lemon in a pan cut side down, cook at medium until warmed through & browned, let cool)
3 cherries
orange peel
rosemary sprig
soda
fill a tall glass with ice. throw in first 7 ingredients and swirl. top with soda. go sit outside. ;)
do you have a favorite back porch beverage? i’d love to hear about it! happy spring! :)
I love reading your blogs. I swear you guys seem like the perfect couple with a perfect life. Sarah and I tried our hand in gardening last week and needless to say the flowers looked better before we put them into the ground. Anyways, keep up the great wotk and great writing and Ill keep bragging about you and sending people to your website.
Mark
i just want a back porch! that’s at the top or our list for our next house hunt (starts in less than 2 weeks!). i miss having a place to watch the sun go down (or come up).
Book-marking this post to make that drink. Sounds (and looks) divine.
I love thinking about you guys sipping on the swing every night! This drink sounds like one we’ll have to try here at Greg’s Pub…hope to have it with you guys soon! <3
haha, kate didn’t mention that this wasn’t my particular favorite ;). i’ll have to post one of my drinks at some point!
and mark- we’re DEFINITELY not perfect or getting it right the first time. last year we did a bunch of experimenting and had half dead plants all around. this time though, kate did her due diligence and a ton of research so we’re hoping it’ll end up a little more successful!
this looks/sounds delicious! definitely going to give it a try.