summer cool down

as most of the people living back east already know, its been hot hot hot for too many days in a row...and for those in other parts of the world, you have no doubt heard all of us complaining about it, and we promise, its justified!  here is a drink we cant stop sipping and one that we think is a perfect cool me down treat on a hot summer weekend.  

we have started to get some amazing produce from our local csa in the last few weeks, and recently received some strawberries that were to die for.  we quickly remembered this great strawberry cup recipe from gourmet in print a few years ago.  we made the shrub syrup (the gourmet recipe without adding the soda water and ice cubes), added a little adult enhancer and a bit of cucumber and we think it pretty delicious, let us know what you think!

strawberry cucumber cocktail
makes 1 drink

1 oz. strawberry shrub syrup (recipe)
1.5 oz. quality vodka
2 oz. soda water
garnish with persian cucumber ribbons

combine with ice and stir

all images ©andrewpurcell 2013

the greek burger

for the final entry of our unofficial burger week, we decided to go with classic mediterranean flavors. it's like a lamb kebab and a greek salad together on a bun and we call it the greek burger. it was so much fun coming up with different out of the box burger recipes that we're thinking we will definitely need to post more of our creations throughout the summer, so stay tuned. we are off to the hot sun of palm springs for the weekend - have a great weekend!

The Greek Burger

cracked wheat bun

ground lamb patty with crumbled feta

cucumber, yogurt and mint tzatziki

thinly sliced red onion

mache or arugula

sliced tomato (optional)