Cold-Brew Coffee

Do you remember that freaky snowstorm last October? The one that left millions of children across the Northeast in tears because they had to cancel trick-or-treating on Halloween? Where thousands of people were without power?


If you do, you might think I'm crazy for still being obsessed with this storm. What's the big deal, you might say. Halloween got rescheduled. There was pretty snow. It was romantic because of the darkness from power outages, so you could take a break from technology and really get back to connecting with people. I'm going to stop you right there, imaginary person who's arguing with me. I'm all for romancin' in the dark, but no electricity? You know what you need to make coffee? ELECTRICITY!


Throughout the three day long power outage in Massachusetts, I was berated. And shamed. Because at 8 a.m. when the power went out, I ran around like a crazy person insisting that cold-brew coffee existed, and that I could make it in an hour. Guess which one of those things is true? Right. It exists, but it's a pretty long (hands-off) process. So when I tried to serve nasty, slightly coffee-flavored water with huge grinds in it to several caffeine-addicted friends who were already getting headaches (you know who you are), they were merciless. This post is my vindication, my restoration to the halls of culinary awesomeness, and most of all--my revenge. Cold-Brew: it's a thing.

Celery Soda

It's hot out today. Like, tear-all-your-clothes-off-and-go-running-through-the-sprinkler hot. Or do-nothing-but-nap-in-an-air-conditioned-library hot. If neither of these options are available, I highly suggest making a cool and refreshing drink--celery soda.


I had my first celery soda along with my first pastrami on rye many many years ago. And while Dr. Brown's Cel-ray is still my drink of choice with mustard, pickles, and copious amounts of smoked meat, it's pretty darn excellent any time, any where. A lot of the Jewish delis by me have stopped stocking the celery variety, which makes me bat-knish crazy. So a few years ago I started to make my own...now you can, too!