Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail

Prior to the Prohibition era, the Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail was originally meant to cure hangovers. Thus, the name "Corpse Reviver."

I first found a recipe for this cocktail in my 1948 edition of The Standard Bartender's Guide by Patrick Gavin Duffy (interestingly, the book does not contain a recipe for #1).

The least prominent, but the most interesting ingredient in this cocktail is absinthe. It has quite a history and ritual for consumption, and was often thought of as a hallucinogenic and associated with addiction. You can read more about absinthe here. It's pretty fascinating. It is a botanical liqueur with a very high alcohol content. It is traditionally prepared by holding a slotted absinthe spoon and a sugar cube over the absinthe and slowly pouring iced water over the sugar until it dissolves.

Romanian Easter Bread | Cozonac

This month, the Bread Baking Babes are making Romanian Easter Bread.

I posted my braided dough on a bread baking group, and a sweet person posted, "Cozonac! It looks perfect! I'm Romanian and I know!" How cool is that? I'm pretty sure she is referring to Elle's (the Bread Baking Babes' kitchen of the month) bread, which I also posted, but I still beamed with pride. Bread geeks do that.

Cantonese Style Stir-Fried Pork with Chinese Broccoli | Wok Wednesdays

This Cantonese Style Stir-Fried Pork with Chinese Broccoli was amazingly rich and delicious.

This dish requires quite a bit of preparation prior to the stir-fry (there are 17 ingredients), but it is so worth it. The combination of all of the ingredients creates a sauce that is just simply amazingly flavorful. Once you have the ingredients prepped, the dish takes just minutes to make.

Matzos with Sesame Seeds

These matzo crackers are very hard to put down once you begin snacking on them. They are so crunchy and thin, that "just one more" doesn't seem like it would hurt.

Matzos, or Matzah, are a crisp unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jews during Passover. It is baked quickly, to reenact the Exodus.

These would be delicious with hummus, Boursin and smoked salmon, or even butter (think buttered Saltines). They are also just as tasty plain. So good!

Chocolate Mint Sandwiches

These chocolate mint sandwiches are super crispy (but still tender) and super chocolaty. The cookies themselves are similar to chocolate wafers (only way better), and would make an excellent chocolate wafer crust (if you want to take it to the next level)

The filling is made from melted white chocolate spiked with a little peppermint oil. As a result, the filling hardens pretty quickly, just like a chocolate bar, so there's no moisture to soften the cookies themselves. The cookies will last up to two weeks in a sealed container, which makes them perfect for make-ahead gifts. They can even be frozen for up to two months.

Garlicky Rib Eye Steak with Garlic Bruschetta and Aged Balsamic

This Garlicky Ribeye Steak with Garlic Bruschetta and Aged Balsamic was pretty much a revelation.

Placing the steak on grilled garlic bruschetta and having a bit of each on each forkful was sooooo good! Even my steak and potatoes Irish-born husband, who would just as soon skip anything garlic, said he would have skipped the potato (as did I) if he'd known how good this combination was.

Pane di Pasqua - Italian Easter Bread Wreath

This Pane di Pasqua is a southern Italian traditional bread for Easter, and is typically baked with colored hard boiled eggs nestled into the shaped loaves.

This bread is made from an enriched dough, and is somewhat sweet, with a faint orange vanilla flavor from Fiori di Sicilia, or "flowers of Sicily." The dominant flavors are vanilla and orange, so if you don't have Fiori di Sicilia, you can use a combination of orange oil and vanilla to achieve a similar flavor.