Chill out with an Apricot Piña Colada

By Sandy Hu

Summer is a time for fruity drinks – preferably gussied up with a fancy garnish and sipped through a straw. If you have a blender, it’s easy to whip up delicious, Fresh Apricot Piña Coladas in minutes. Serve each drink immediately because the ingredients will separate upon standing.

Fruits are not uniformly sweet, so you may have to adjust the recipe with more simple syrup, depending on the quality of your fruit. Use simple syrup Instead of sugar to sweeten because sugar will not dissolve readily in cold liquids.

To make simple syrup, just combine equal parts of sugar and water and boil gently for a minute or two until sugar is dissolved. Store any leftovers in a glass jar, refrigerated, up to a month. You can use simple syrup to sweeten iced tea, sangria, lemonade and other cold drinks.

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Raising the Ice Bar

By Karie Barreira

While my cravings for winter ice cream may be a bit unconventional, it’s clear I’m not the only one who likes to embrace the cold weather. Seasonal watering holes have been popping up all over the country; like Igloo Bar, a temporal Eskimo den situated rinkside at Rockefeller Center and serving “ice melter” cocktails to skaters and spectators.

On a recent visit to Toronto, Canada, I visited the Drake Hotel’s “climate-defiant” rooftop bar, complete with live campfire and cozy blankets to snuggle while sipping your Scorched Marshmallow and Frangelico Hot Chocolate.

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