Hot Toddy

This has been quite a week for the Bittmann family.  A virus has come through this house, hitting all three of us for about a week now and still going.  Its an odd one, too changing symptoms and victims daily.  My cooking has been downgraded to heating up frozens pizzas and leftover Boston Market for the most part.  The weekend came and I gave in; staying on the couch  trying to knock this thing out before work starts up again on Monday.  This saddens me today, of all days, because its Superbowl Sunday.  Not only is it Superbowl Sunday, but a Giants/ Patriots Superbowl and Shawn is a diehard, radical, ritualistic Giants fan.  Normally, on a day like today, I'd be cooking up a storm.  Creating some sort of ridiculous sandwich, followed up by our requisite 2nd quarter guacamole, and accompanied by some other fun appetizer foods.  Not this weekend, unfortunately..... this weekend I was thankful to have the guac ingredients on hand and couldn't even bring myself to go to the store.  Poor Shawn.  We made due, and pieced together some fun football foods to enjoy with the game.

One of Shawn's playoff rituals is enjoying his Makers Mark throughout the game.  My man loves his bourbon, and this is his brand.  I decided to join him in a drink by making myself a Hot Toddy.  I've never had one before, but always hear about it as an old fashioned cold remedy.  I looked up a recipe and then realized that this could be featured right here, for you fun folks!  Drink recipes count, right?   I found the perfect one on Epicurious, featuring exactly what I was looking for.  Hot water, lemon, honey, and bourbon.  I'm already a sucker for honey and lemon when I'm sick.  Why have I never thought to make this before?

I started by putting some water on in the teapot.  I decided to double the recipe simply because I love big mugs and the recipe wouldn't have filled it even halfway.  I feel like I should mention that I used one of my favorite mugs- a large one with a picture of Cinderella that says "A Princess Shouldn't Have to Work This Hard".  Its awesome.  I squeezed some lemon juice into a measuring cup, scooped out the seeds, smarted as the juice his a few cuts on my fingers, and poured out 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.  I then used the same cup to measure out a 1/2 cup of hot water and added 2 tablespoons of honey and 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) of bourbon.  I was convinced that the honey would be too much for my taste, so I tried it after one tablespoon to see if it needed more.  It definitely does, to counter the lemon and bourbon. They both have such strong flavors that they really need the honey to bring them together. 

I settled on the couch with my mug and a blanket to watch the rest of the game.  Oh, this was gooooood.  So soothing and warming and delicious.  It was really, really good.  You could taste the bourbon, for sure, but it was subtle and highlighted by the lemon and honey.  The warmth made it really comforting.  Again, why have I never thought to make this before? 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/drink/views/Hot-Toddy-233821