Birds, Books and Bourbon

With the holiday season in full swing, there is little time for blog writing amongst the decorating, shopping, cooking, and winter weather watching. We had to shlep the cat family and ourselves to the basement last weekend during a rare Raleigh tornado warning. I had just made an online grocery order hours before and worried that my limes would be whirled away in a freak weather event. Thankfully, our home and grocery store escaped with only a broken flagpole and some flooding (at the Lowes – our recent roof repairs seem to be holding) but my citrus order remained unscathed (good news for this week’s cocktail!). Oddly enough, our bird feeders were full just minutes before and after the EF-1 tornado flew overhead. Likely they had known all the time that our fears were unfounded.

One of the backyard visitors we have yet to highlight is the enchanting white-breasted nuthatch. They were scarce at the feeders this year until the brisk fall days arrived and their diet of mostly insects became a little less plentiful. They also enjoy peanuts, sunflower seeds, and my peanut butter suet. They can be recognized by their larger size compared to their brown headed cousins, short neck, black cap, blue-grey back and of course a white breast. The nuthatches can be identified from a distance by their tendency to turn sideways and upside down on tree trunks and branches.  They also make a cute nasal yammer that is distinctive and loud. This male has been a little shy but has started to visit more and more each day. 

In the spirit of the season, during out latest Costco trip my husband picked up a bottle of their holiday “spiced cranberry margarita” wine cocktail (NC does not allow sales of any spirits outside of an ABC store, just wine and beer). The original may be a decent replacement for the real thing in a pinch, but I am not a big fan of their spin-off varieties. I knew I could do better. So, I took my favorite margarita recipe, the Grand Margarita by the makers of Grand Marnier, and made it holiday style with a splash of cranberry juice and real cranberry garnish. A huge improvement, pretty, and very tasty with good balance and color. I find that my margaritas dilute out quickly when poured over ice, so I did not add any ice to the shaker when I mixed the ingredients.

Gather your ingredients: Tequila blanco (Flecha Azul), Grand Marnier, simple syrup, lime juice, cranberry juice, rocks glass, salt for rimming the glass and cranberries for garnish. Cocktail shaker, citrus squeezer, measuring spoon/ jigger or scale complete the setup.

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber was an apt accompaniment to bird time this week as it tells the tale of a woman blogger, writing about her daily efforts to win over her cantankerous neighbor and ending up getting more than she bargained for when she falls head over heels instead. A cute Christmas tale and a quick read. Enjoy, and remember to drink responsibly 🙂