Posts categorized as Drinks

I was cramping while surfing. My friend and incredibly skilled surfer, Kaori, pointed out that I’m probably dehydrated. Yup, this makes total sense. I told her I have a hard time “getting it down.” She said, cold water shocks your system, try warm water. I thought that was a little strange. Kaori explained it’s customary in China and most Asian countries to drink warm water in the winter and room temperature water in the summer. I was very curious about this. “Everytime I’d see my great grandma, at some point, […]

Sip echinacea tea on a chilly fall evening, taking a pause to enjoy a quiet moment. I’ve been puttering around the garden. There’s so much to do, see, smell and enjoy in the fall. I’ve discovered a landscape of mushrooms under the oak hydrangea and other mushroom villages nestled below the brush. They indicate a healthy garden because mushrooms thrive in rich, organic soil. I’m not a mushroom expert but I take pleasure in investigating the funny little things. With the cool autumn season and consistent rain, the fungi appear […]

The heat is on and caffeinated icy-cold coffee drinks have been the topic of conversation in my circle on the sand.  My friend Keith said in Key Food the Manhattan Special now has a little pop-up stand! I’d like to think my column on the vintage coffee soda a few weeks ago resulted in an up-tick in sales!  I’m on the beach last weekend with a bunch of friends. We were enjoying the entertainment of a very crowded foamy lineup on a knee high afternoon. “I think I have to […]

  My friend Magara invited a few of us over for dinner and served homemade oat milk shots for dessert. How creative, right? I couldn’t believe the warm, oat-y taste! The oat milk was rich and creamy with the perfect balance of sweetness. I enjoyed it so much (and can’t stop talking about it) that Magara gifted me a nut milk bag so I can start making my own oat milk. One challenge with oat milk is a potentially gluey texture. It’s the starch in oats that can cause this […]

“All the Italians in the old neighborhood drank them,” my friend Keith said. He remembers his father sitting on the stoop at their home in East New York, 30 years ago. Mr. Vittore would crack open an ice-cold Manhattan Special, gulping the caffeine boost down, during those sultry, dog-days of summer. The Manhattan Special is the world’s most delicious pure espresso coffee soda, says the company’s website… and me… and every Italian man in New York over the age of 65. The icon design has not altered much in the […]

Every summer I end up snacking on my serviceberry trees while I’m doing garden work. This year, I wanted to use the fruit in a proper way. I got out the ladder and harvested as many as I could. I left the berries on the very high branches. Partly for the birds and partly out of laziness.  I gathered 9 cups! And there are still more on my tree in the front garden. Use a scissor to clip the berry clusters  I decided to make juice. I muddled the berries […]

This past weekend was The Beach 91st Street Community Gardens’ plant sale. A big thank you to the garden members who donated plants and helped manage the event. Special thanks to Walsh Properties, Inc. and Rockaway Beach resident Joanne McGrath for donating so many beautiful perennials and bulbs. Props to The Wave for promoting the sale in The Happenings section last week! The event was a great success. Most importantly, it was an opportunity for the community to come together and enjoy the garden space, talk about plants, and mingle. It was […]

You’ve seen Anthony Medina’s byline in the paper. He’s one of The Wave’s beat reporters. But he’s also an expert Coquito-maker, and this is the second year his family has been selling their version of the holiday beverage. In Spanish, Coquito means little coconut. It’s a traditional Christmas and New Year’s drink that originated in Puerto Rico. It’s made with Puerto Rican rum, coconut milk, cream of coconut, and sweetened condensed milk. Other spices and flavoring can be added like ginger, anise, nutmeg, cinnamon, or egg yolk. A few weeks […]

It’s been so hot and humid. The other day I wanted an ice pop so bad but I knew I didn’t have any. Instead, I pathetically stuck my head in the freezer for a minute to cool down. I remember as kids, my sisters and I would make icy pops at the kitchen table. It gave us something to do and we would anticipate enjoying the cooling treat after the long summer day  playing outside. My mother gave us those small bathroom cups to make our ices with and she […]

Last summer we were so busy with renovations, it wasn’t even a summer for us. With most of the construction complete, this year is different. It’s only hitting me now… we have a beach house in Rockaway.  Friends, friends of friends, Great Aunt Mary’s second cousin, my co-workers and everyone in-between is dropping in. Text message: “Hey Paula, I’m down in Rockaway, can I park in your driveway? Oh, lets get drinks at Connolly’s too!” After two weekends of random drop-ins, it clicked. “This is going to happen every weekend, isn’t it? I need to […]