Dining with the Doctor: Charles Dickens' Own Christmas Punch for a Doctor Who Regeneration Party

Tick tock goes the clock 

And all the years they fly

Tick tock and all too soon

You and I must die

Tick tock goes the clock 

We laughed at fate and mourned her

Tick tock goes the clock 

Even for the Doctor

(from "Night Terrors") 

All Whovians know the true meaning of Christmas: the annual Doctor Who special. And this is particularly true this year. Not only is 2013 the 50th anniversary of the iconic BBC show, but in this year's special, "The Time of the Doctor," the 11th Doctor, played by Matt Smith, will regenerate into a new one, Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor.  Now that's a Christmas birth I can get excited about.

The Bee's Knees Cocktail: Velma West, the Hammer Murderess {Macabre Meals & Dastardly Drinks}

In my post about Anna Marie Hahn, aka the Blonde Borgia, I discussed the origins and the rise of the female poisoner as a cultural archetype. And while it is more or less true that poisoners tend to be women, certainly not all murderesses are poisoners. Take Velma West, the Hammer Murderess; or, as newspapers of the time dubbed her, "A 12 O'Clock Girl in a 9 O'Clock Town."

In 1926 - the height of the Prohibition era in the U.S. - the 20-year-old West, nee Velma Van Woert - was working as a shopgirl in Cleveland, Ohio. She became engaged to a much older man, but broke it off abruptly after meeting her future husband, Eddie West, at a picnic. She married Eddie and moved from her beloved Jazz Age city of Cleveland to the small, repressive rural area of Lake County, Ohio.

Things did not go well for her.

Spiked Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

Ah, summer picnics. Humidity, sunburn, flies, mosquitos, ants, warm beer, screaming children, and the threat of listeria in every mayonnaise-soaked bite. When it's a million degrees outside, I would really prefer to eat inside. There's only one way to get through these sweaty ordeals of Americana: drink.

And so this is why, when the theme of this month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge - hosted as ever by the lovely Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - turned out to be picnic foods, I knew that my "food" was going to be of the potent liquid variety.

Whiskey, Three Ways: Lovely Booze-y Cocktails for Valentine's Day ... or Anytime

When I was invited by the Four Seasons to participate in their Taste by Four Seasons Valentine's Day virtual cocktail class  it took me about thislong to say "yes!" After all, the featured ingredient was to be whiskey - in this case, Knob Creek Rye Whiskey. And you know me.

Bourbon, whiskey, Scotch ... I love it all, whether neat or in a well crafted cocktail, and given that participants would be learning recipes from three Four Seasons mixologists, I felt confident that these cocktails would be beautifully balanced. I was absolutely correct in that assumption.

Ice Cider Cocktail with Spicy Chile Apple Chips

Here is a random list of things that you will never find on the dinner table at Casa Trix: apple pie, apple sauce, apple strudel, apple dumplings, apple cake, caramel covered apples ... Sensing a pattern here? Yes, it's true: While everyone else in my hemisphere is busy extolling the virtues of freshly-picked autumn apples and scheming ways to stuff them into everything from pastry crusts to pork tenderloin, I am left somewhat cold.  It's not that I hate them - I just don't get all worked up about them. For me, the very idea of apples elicits a resounding "meh."

So you can imagine my initial blankness when the theme of the September 5 Star Makeover - hosted as always by Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - was announced. Apples. Oh my.

La Flama Blanca: A Fizzy Lime & Basil Mezcal Cocktail

This lovely drink was inspired by a recipe I recently received through the Better Homes & Gardens Recipe Insiders Group. It's been awhile since I Trixified a BHG recipe (the last one was asiago baked hummus back in January) because the truth is, they haven't been all that inspiring to me. Meatloaf ... sickeningly sweet desserts with names like "donut pudding" ... lots of things with the word "bake" in the name, like "egg bake," "sausage bake," etc. Just not feeling it. (And now it's time to wait for the email telling me that they're kicking me out for my smack talk.)

Tales of Many New Orleans Cocktails: 4 Days, 40-plus Drinks, 2 People, 0 Hangovers

Riding the streetcar to lunch at Commander's Palace!

I realize that I may not exactly have my pulse on the zeitgeist, culinarily speaking, with this post. After all, the Internet is currently abuzz with hopeful New Year's food resolutions:  solemn oaths to observe every single Meatless Monday, exuberant promises to lead a low fat lifestyle ... and, of course, many well-intentioned vows to drink less.

Not me! Don't get me wrong: I don't plan to eat nearly as much duck fat as I did in the last week of 2011 - it is unsustainable! - but I'm not kidding myself. Enjoying a good cocktail is one of the profound pleasures of life, one I never intend to give up. And on my recent four-day trip to New Orleans with Poppa Trix I indulged this passion with abandon. No, I don't mean that I guzzled disgusting grenade drinks or sugary, artless, booze filled cups of crap on Bourbon Street. That is a New Orleans drinking experience for people who don't enjoy drinking, but rather crave being drunk. And annoying.

It's Cocktail Time: Tasty Trix is featured on the Food Network UK's Locally Sourced Blog!

Pinch me, because this drink  ....

... is featured on this here little ole site:

How cool is that?

There is very little that can cheer me up after returning from a trip to New Orleans. I wake up in a gray fog of "meh," missing the warmth, the food, the people, the architecture, the music, and, of course, the cocktails of that most beautiful, strange, and fiercely individual city in the whole United States - maybe the world.

But having a recipe featured on the Food Network UK site? Well, now, that's gonna cheer me up a bit! And that's just what happened this morning. 

The Cobbler Cocktail: Vodka with Grapes Macerated in Monastery Herbal Liqueur & Pandan Simple Syrup for the International Incident Cobbler Party

You may be wondering what the heck I'm doing posting a cocktail for the September International Incident Party - hosted as always by our lovely foundress, Penny aka Jeroxie - when the theme is cobbler. Have I lost my mind? Is this an alcoholic's coded cry for help? Is there nothing I won't do to get out of making dessert?

Well, yes, no, and yes, but that's beside the point. You see, I did a little cobbler research and discovered that while it can certainly be a fruity dessert wth a crumbly topping ("pie for the unmotivated,"  stated one definition) there is an older and more arcane definition: An iced drink made with wine, sherry, sugar, and lemon. Bingo!

So I decided to combine the fruit element with the wine element and incorporate macerated grapes into my cocktail, which I have dubbed "The Cobbler." Drink enough of it and its name changes to "The Bobbler."

Culinary Cocktails, Navajo Tacos, Macarons, and More: A Wrap Up of My First Four Urbanite Food & Drink Issues!

The Queen Bee Cocktail: Belvedere vodka, yuzu, elderflower syrup, and honey water .. mmmm

It's been a month since my weekly Web zine for the Urbanite launched, so I thought I'd do a little wrap up and show you why I have been so frazzled lately!