it has been a very interesting week. and i'm sure just like me, you are ready for a cocktail. 

autumn is upon us and in the spirit of the change of the seasons, i decided to mix up my life a bit. i've gotten it in my head that not only is it a good idea to pick up some classes as an indoor cycling instructor, but those classes are at 6am. 

yes, you read that correctly. 6. in the morning. like, before the sun is up. i foolishly thought this early hour was behind me when i stopped swimming competitively, but i guess i thought wrong. 

i'm a little bit nervous. i'm really excited for the new challenge and for how fit i'm going to be. but mostly, i just want to have a tasty libation as i scour music and build playlists. 

summer might be over, but i'm still dreaming of rio and my passion fruit ripened at the perfect moment. while this drink is traditionally made with brazilian cachaca, but it can also be made with a light rum or vodka. if you haven't yet noticed, i don't often differ from my vodka cocktail so that is what i used.

passion fruit caipirinha
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 5 minutes
total time: 5 minutes
ingredients: 2.5 oz cachaca, vodka or light rum. .5 lime, sliced in half. pulp from .5 passion fruit. 1 tsp white sugar. 1 cup crushed ice (if you don't have crushed on hand, you can crush yours in a plastic bag with a muddler or rolling pin. 

in the glass you are serving in, muddle together the ice, sugar, lime and passion fruit. when the ingredients are well muddled and the sugar appears to have dissolved.

pour the liquor in, stir well and serve.

xo, a

passion fruit caipirinha
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 5 minutes
total time: 5 minutes
ingredients: 2.5 oz cachaca, vodka or light rum. .5 lime, sliced in half. pulp from .5 passion fruit. 1 tsp white sugar. 1 cup crushed ice (if you don't have crushed on hand, you can crush yours in a plastic bag with a muddler or rolling pin.
in the glass you are serving in, muddle together the ice, sugar, lime and passion fruit. when the ingredients are well muddled and the sugar appears to have dissolved.
pour the liquor in, stir well and serve.

bom dia friends. (brasillian good morning and one of the only phrases i was able to nail.)

after 20 hours of travel, wes and i arrived home yesterday afternoon from what can only be described as an epic trip. 

sure, if my brother had come home with a gold medal i would have to come up with an even more enthusiastic word than epic, but i'm pretty ok with epic. 

watching joshua compete as an olympian was one of the great highlights of my life. until of course he scored his first olympic goal. and his second. and third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, you get the point. it was pretty spectacular watching him thrive and lead among the world's greatest players.

even though the team was unable to advance to medal rounds, his infectious optimism, never say die attitude and obvious leadership brought me to tears multiple times. he is a true athlete and leader, but most importantly, just an amazing guy. 

the only highlight of his team's early exit was that we got to spend a really good amount of time with him as we experienced what rio has to offer. beautiful landscape, delicious food and some of the most energetic and inviting people i've ever had the pleasure of meeting. plus, they really know how to party. 

wes and i even managed one night of partying that led into the wee morning hours. circa three am we were feeling pretty good and we coined our new anthem. "we're old, we can hang. we're old, we can hang." complete with raise the roof hand motions of course. 

rio had many highlights. we spent plenty of time at our favorite beach kiosk enjoying the stunning beaches and amazingly fresh seafood. christ the redeemer was so nice, we hiked it twice. we strolled and dinned the famed copacabana and ipanema beaches, browsed the sunday hippie market and spent a day at the stunning prainha beach just below a nature preserve. we even managed a dinner party for fifteen despite the challenges at the local market and severe lack of kitchen tools. 

i decided to give myself a much needed vacation while away since my plan is to grind hard from this moment through the end of the year, but i just couldn't resist shooting one dish in our beautiful brasillian treehouse. 

despite the challenges of the local markets, eggs, bread and avocado were easy to come by. and while poached eggs may seem overwhelming, wes taught me the perfect trick to make perfectly poached eggs a snap. 

poached eggs + avocado toast
serves: 4
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 10 minutes
total time: 15 minutes
ingredients: 4 large slices sourdough toast (we were only able to find mini loaves so i used a few pieces to equal 1 piece). 2 large avocados, halved and sliced. 4 eggs, cracked into individual small bowls or cups. juice of 1 lime. 1 tsp salt. .25 tsp pepper. 

start by bringing 2 medium sized pots of water to a boil. you do not want to over crowd your pots, so if you want to eat at one time you will need two pots. divide .5 tsp of salt between the two pots of water. 

while your water is coming to a boil, toast your bread. you can do so by toasting it to your desired doneness (i prefer lightly browned) in a toaster or in a 375 f oven for 5-7 minutes. if you are toasting your toast in the oven or toaster oven, make sure to flip the bread halfway through so it is toasted evenly. 

once your water has come to a boil, use a spoon to create a whirlpool in each pot. once the water is swirling, pour in one egg at a time. once you have two eggs in a pot, turn off the heat, cover and set the time for 5 minutes.

as your eggs are poaching, set out a piece of toast on each plate. 

spread .25 of the avocado slices onto each piece of toast. season the avocado with half the remaining salt and pepper and squeeze a bit of lime juice on the avocado. 

when the 5 minute timer goes off, using a slotted spoon, remove each egg from the water back into its own dish. 

after all the eggs have been retrieved, gently top each toast with a poached egg. season the eggs with the last of the salt and pepper and serve hot. 

xoxo
a

poached eggs + avocado toast
serves: 4
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 10 minutes
total time: 15 minutes
ingredients: 4 large slices sourdough toast (we were only able to find mini loaves so i used a few pieces to equal 1 piece). 2 large avocados, halved and sliced. 4 eggs, cracked into individual small bowls or cups. juice of 1 lime. 1 tsp salt. .25 tsp pepper.
start by bringing 2 medium sized pots of water to a boil. you do not want to over crowd your pots, so if you want to eat at one time you will need two pots. divide .5 tsp of salt between the two pots of water.
while your water is coming to a boil, toast your bread. you can do so by toasting it to your desired doneness (i prefer lightly browned) in a toaster or in a 375 f oven for 5-7 minutes. if you are toasting your toast in the oven or toaster oven, make sure to flip the bread halfway through so it is toasted evenly.
once your water has come to a boil, use a spoon to create a whirlpool in each pot. once the water is swirling, pour in one egg at a time. once you have two eggs in a pot, turn off the heat, cover and set the time for 5 minutes.
as your eggs are poaching, set out a piece of toast on each plate.
spread .25 of the avocado slices onto each piece of toast. season the avocado with half the remaining salt and pepper and squeeze a bit of lime juice on the avocado.
when the 5 minute timer goes off, using a slotted spoon, remove each egg from the water back into its own dish.
after all the eggs have been retrieved, gently top each toast with a poached egg. season the eggs with the last of the salt and pepper and serve hot.