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Author: Claire Menard

The Bee’s Knees

by Claire Menard

This cocktail was popular one hundred years ago during the Jazz Age. The sweet-sour combination was ideal to mask the taste of the harsh “bathtub gin” brewed locally or at home in defiance of Prohibition laws. 

Ingredients

For the Honey Simple Syrup: 

  • ½ cup honey 
  • ½ cup water 

 For the cocktail: 

  • 1 lemon, washed well to make twist for garnish (optional) 
  • 2 ounces gin (or vodka) 
  • 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice 
  • 1 tablespoon honey simple syrup (or to taste) 

Directions

1. Make the Honey Simple Syrup: Bring the honey and water to a boil in small saucepan over medium heat, then lower to a simmer. Simmer until the mixture is reduced by half to form a syrup. Set aside in a sealed container, preferably glass. 

2. Make the Lemon Twist: Take a potato peeler, sharp paring knife or small channel knife and peel a narrow strip of rind around the lemon crosswise. Place the strip on a flat surface, pith side up, and roll away from you in tight coils—as if rolling a rug. Uncoil and use in your cocktail as a garnish. 

3. Make the Cocktail: Add the gin or vodka, lemon juice, honey simple syrup to a shaker with ice and shake well. Pour into a champagne bowl or martini glass and serve with the lemon twist, if desired. Alternatively, you may mix the ingredients in one tall glass and pour over anther tall glass filled with ice. Pour into a martini glass or champagne bowl using a strainer. Serve with the lemon twist, if desired. 

Shrewsbury Biscuits

by Claire Menard

Named for a town in England in the county of Shropshire bordering Wales, the Shrewsbury biscuit is essentially a shortbread cookie. Carried to America via early colonists this cookie was commonly flavored with caraway seeds which impart a faint licorice taste. If you don’t like caraway, you may simply omit it.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter 
  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) softened butter 
  • 1 cup sugar 
  • 1 egg 
  • 2 ½ cups flour with additional as needed 
  • 1 ½ tablespoons caraway seeds 
  • zest of 1 lemon 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

2. Cream together the butter until fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes in a stand mixer. Add the egg and beat until well combined. 

3. Slightly crush the caraway seeds in a mortar and whisk into the flour along with the lemon zest. Add the flour to the butter and egg mixture and mix until it comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. 

4. Flour a clean work surface liberally and roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Use a 2-inch round or fluted cookie cutter to cut out the cookies and place on the cookie sheet about 1 ½ inches apart. 

5. Bake for about 10 minutes or until they begin to brown slightly around the edges. Remove and cool before serving. 

Follow along with our video tutorial at home!

Mad Lib – Accident or Sabotage with the Westport Owls

by Claire Menard
Owls Football JPGDownload

Hear more about the Owls football team with our Tuesday Treasure video from April 7th. The real story follows:

Late November 1931, just a few days after Thanksgiving, the Westport Owls were set to play a football game against the Saugatuck Wanderer Juniors. These two Westport teams had a heated rivalry brewing.  

The players sparred verbally and physically on the field, but roughly half-way through the game the score was lopsided in favor of the Owls, 20 – 0. At that point, the game reached a fever-pitch.  

The game had started in the early afternoon, but the winter sunlight was waning. In the semi-darkness the next play would decide the fate of the game. The Westport fullback fumbled the ball on a line plunge. Players heaped onto the ball and the referee rushed to locate the ball’s position. After several tense moments, the players were removed but the ball had disappeared!  

With no other ball available to play, the game ended on that sour note. Westport Owls manager, John E. Ryan, reported the disappearance of the ball to the police believing sabotage by the opposing team. The ball was never recovered.