Saturday, January 12, 2008

Winter Grapefruit Sorbet
When the mercury gets way low there's nothing quite like a nice simple bowl of ... sorbet? Don't ask what I was thinking making frozen treats while snowflakes piled upon our windowsill. Perhaps inspired by Alaskans (the biggest per capita U.S. consumers of ice cream despite frigid conditions), something clicked.

One big secret of citrus lovers is that paradoxically, in the dead of winter, you'll find the absolute BEST in sunny oranges and vibrant grapefruit. It's a blast of sunshine and vitamins. Making sorbet is a lot easier than you might expect - no need for an ice cream maker. This recipe would be great with fresh rosemary infused into the simple syrup, get creative. Get the recipe...

Winter Grapefruit Sorbet

2 cups water
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed/strained ruby red grapefruit juice (don't use bottled!)
zest of one grapefruit
2 tablespoons grapefruit pulp
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1. Mix water and sugar in a sauce pot and heat on medium until the sugar dissolves entirely. Place pot in the fridge or chill down in bowl of ice.

2. Combine remaining ingredients with chilled simple syrup and place in a stainless steel bowl in the freezer.

3. Return each hour to mix. The corn syrup will help keep the sorbet from getting grainy and icy, but the more you stir the smoother the result.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Auntie's New Newsletter
Auntie's Notes was badly in need of an update when I moved aboard with company. The publication had solid content but was presented poorly. The first step was to pick a uniform font and style book. The emphasis is placed strikingly on the words and letters with liberal use of handsome drop caps.

Originally designed with a spot blue ink as the sole color (still very present in the design), I was able to negotiate with the printer to move to four color processing.