Ginger Syrup & Homemade Ginger Ale

I first saw ginger syrup at a booth at the Brooklyn Flea. I was really tempted by it's neat glass bottle, but after learning how simple it was to make and hearing the $10 price tag, I thought, why can't I make this myself?

So with the air conditioner blasting, I decided to try my hand at some homemade ginger syrup. It was very easy, with only three ingredients and at the end I had half a wine bottle of some yummy syrup to make homemade ginger ale! It would also be great used in cocktails, which I am looking forward to experimenting with.

Recipe:

Approx. 6" hand of ginger

1 cups sugar

3 cups water

Chop the ginger (you can leave the skin on) roughly, and combine with the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Cool, strain and enjoy!

Endive & Pear Salad

Such an amazing combination. After a long weekend of overindulging (eh, it was a holiday!) I decided I needed to get out and do some healthy walking to my green grocer. On my mind was Barefoot Contessa's special Barefoot in Paris and the endive and pear salad she made. I swapped out the wine vinegar for balsamic vinegar and it was still very good. Make sure to toast the walnuts for a few minutes, it makes them even crispier!

Eye Candy

Taking a little break from my cooked food photos to enjoy the beauty of raw food. Not to worry, I'm not becoming a raw foodist. Nothing against them, I just like my cheese melted sometimes, thank you very much.

The first photo is a sicilian eggplant, isn't it cute?? I was having a bad day but finding this little round, spongy veggie in a tiny green grocer made it a little better.

Below, what might be mistaken for green roses, is actually the very end of bok choy which I discovered when I cut them off to clean the vegetable. Nature's pretty freakin' amazing sometimes.