There are a lot of cooks in this kitchen!

Unfortunately I was born without the cooking gene. In fact, I'm the queen of take out! A million years ago, when I asked Ben to give me his list of friends for his eighth birthday party Monty the delivery guy from Picasso Pizza was number one. Let's put it this way, when the doorbell rings at my house everyone runs to answer it because chances are, it's dinner.

But now I am newly inspired by the amazingly talented staff at Fishs Eddy. I mean, Mary's gestapo soup,  or whatever it's called? Yum! And Kelly's cucumber and ginger infused vodka? Heeelllo Saturday night! I'm going to try to actually make some of these recipes, fine
cuisine that I could never expect from Panda Express!

Cucumber and Ginger Infused Vodka
From Kelly

Ingredients:

• 2 Cucumbers peeled and sliced - I used English Cucumbers because they have very little to no seeds.
• 1 medium to large piece of Ginger root - I liked it a little spicier so I used a larger piece1 (750ml) bottle of good quality Vodka

Equipment Needed:

• 1 Quart Mason Jar
• Large Strainer
• Sterilized Bottle or Jar for the finished product

Wash and peel both the cucumber and ginger. Cut into small pieces to fit in the mason jar.
Fill the ingredients approximately 1/3 of the jar.  Fill the remainder with vodka so that all ingredients are submerged. Screw the lid on tight and shake vigorously. Refrigerate until the vodka reaches the desired level of infusion, at least 3 days to 1 week. Once you feel that it is at your desired level of taste strain out the ingredients and discard.

Store the vodka in the fridge and you're ready to make yourself a delicious summer cocktail!
Just grab a highball glass. 2oz's of your vodka infusion, ice and top it off with some seltzer!

Gazpacho Soup
From Mary

"Soup that doesn't make you sweat."

Ingredients:

• 1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeeled
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded 
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups of tomato juice
• 1/4 cup wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Chop in large cubes and keep separate: cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onion. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor until coarsely chopped - do not over process! After each vegetable is processed, combine in a large bowl. Add garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving.

The longer it sits, the more the flavors develop.

Have your guests garnish their own soup...bodega medium or small are the perfect vessels.

Balsamic Ice Cream
From Jen

"People freak the fuck out for it."

Ingredients:

• 8 egg yolks, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• Seeds of 1 vanilla bean  (scraped) or 1 tbsp good vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar

In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar - mix until smooth and pale in color. In a large saucepan, bring cream, milk, and vanilla to a boil. Remove from heat and slowly temper into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Add balsamic. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Chill custard mixture for at least one hour, then follow the directions specific to your ice cream maker.

Serve with seasonal fresh fruit - figs, blackberries, cherries, or strawberries all work well.

Keeps 2 days in the freezer.

Restaurant Style Ceviche
From Sophia

Great for summer festivities (I literally got this recipe from a Mexican restaurant in California, so good.)

About 1 tablespoon of each sauces:

• Valentina (Salsa Picante)
• Tapatio
• Bufalo- Chipotle
• Bufalo- Jalapeño
• El Yucateco- Chile Habanero (Red Sauce)
• El Yucateco- Chile Habanero (Green Sauce)

Plus:

• 8-12 Lime
• 1 White Onion
• 2-3 lb. of Shrimp
• 4 Tomatoes
• 1 Cilantro Branch
• 3-5 Avocados
• 2-3 Cucumbers
• 1 Cup Clamato
• Tostada Shells

Boil Shrimp in water,1 cup of Clamato, and 1 lime juice. When Shrimp is pink, remove and throw a bowl of ice cubes in the pot. Stir until ice melts (this makes the shrimp soft). Chop onions, shrimp, tomatoes, cilantro, avocados, and cucumbers into a large mixing bowl. Squeeze limes and add each hot sauces to chopped ingredients. Toss and chill in refrigerator until serving.  Serve on your favorite tostada shells.

Lychee Mojito
From Courtney

Ingredients:

• 5-6 fresh mint leaves
• 2-3 fresh lychees (or canned)
• 1/2 tsp superfine sugar
• 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 2 ounces good gin
• 1 ounce club soda, or sparkling water
• Ice

In a cocktail shaker, muddle mint leaves and 1/2 of a sliced lychee with 1/2 tsp of superfine sugar. Add lime juice, simple syrup, gin and ice. Shake well and strain into chilled glass. Top with the club soda or sparkling water and garnish with fresh lychees and mint.

Who's Your Daddy?

It’s Father’s Day this weekend (you didn’t forget did you!?) so we asked around to see what some of the Fishs Eddy team is giving their dads. This one's for you, Dad!

I've always spent my summers with my family in the Adirondacks. So many of my favorite childhood memories with my father happened there; hiking mountains, learning how to drive, building our family cabin with friends… This Father's Day I would want to relive those memories by gifting my Dad with the Camping Mug from our 'Great Outdoors' pattern--as well as a good bottle of Bourbon. To my father, there's nothing quite like enjoying a nice glass of bourbon--or a cup of coffee--while taking in a mountain view.

-Abby

My dad is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for – I struggle every year to find something that’s out of the box enough to match his off-beat taste. Thank god for Fishs Eddy! I think he’ll get a real kick out of a vintage glove mold. They have just the right mix of history and quirk to spark his interest, and will be a striking addition his work desk!

-Marianne

My dad would love to take me on the Path train to Hoboken on weekends. We'd walk along the the train tracks and hang out by the piers. We'd go for lunch at a local diner or at the cafeteria at Woolworth's. I loved the sounds of the teaspoons rattling against the peoples cups drinking coffee. My dad's not alive any more, so I'll buy a green band cup and saucer to drink my coffee in the morning. 

-Noah

Growing up, I guess I could best describe my father as a playmate, with a credit card and a drivers license. So it's hard to say WHAT I would get him for Father's Day that wasn't from Toys-R-Us...or a fancy car dealership. I wouldn't get him dinner plates because he eats directly out of containers, and that includes soup cans. I wouldn't get him storage-ware because most of the stuff in his fridge is pre 9-11. At this point I don't want to encourage him to store leftovers. I guess I would get him a wife. But we don't sell those. So the next best thing is our porcelain bird whistle. My father would get hours of entertainment out of something like that. Yeah, I would get him the bird whistle for Father's Day and I would take him to the park so he can play with it.

-Julie

My dad does a lot of things well but cooking is not one of them - his cooking repertoire consists of pancakes and waffles. When my mom was out of town we would have pancakes and waffles every night for the entire week. It was always fun until the third night when my sister and I would be begging for anything else! For Father’s Day this year, I would give him the Health Grade ‘B’ tray with a stack of pancakes on top. Fortunately humor is something he does well.

-Katherine

My dad visited me in New York for the first time this month. He pretty much enjoyed everything, from walking to riding the trains. He particularly enjoyed downtown Manhattan. He said to us that he always dreamed of going to Ground Zero, so we took him there. That was his favorite place. I would give him anything from the 212 collection because it would remind him of how much fun the trip was.

-Alexis

Tchotchkes on Broadway!

Full disclosure: I love musicals, especially the glitzy, colorful, extravagant ones! Hence the frequent Broadway references that make their way into our signs, sales and window displays.

So it only makes sense that along with my love for Broadway musicals comes my love for glitzy, colorful tchotchkes....hence all of our American Made glass MUST-HAVE-swan toothpick holders-dolly figurines-saltcellars-frogs-unicorns etc... (ok so tchotchkes and broadway shows don’t necessarily go together but they do for the purposes of this blog post)

Slag color!

It was several years ago when Dave and Billy came across thousands of these beautiful little glass pieces, somewhere in West Virginia. They weren't really looking for tiny glass unicorns but, well, it happened. And they were irresistibly gorgeous! No two colors were alike and some had slag color which is two colors mixed together.

That night at their hotel, Billy even "caught" Dave lining up the little glass frogs and scotty dogs on his nightstand. 

Enter Billy.

Dave: uh hey Billy, I uh, I uh, I’m just checking for imperfections in the glass.

Billy: No you’re not! You’re playing with them!

The following week when Dave went back to get the rest, he was so excited that he was, well, less discriminating in what he got.

Get ye' a toe clipper!

Dave (calling from the road trip): Jool wait till you see these amazing toothpick holders I got! They’re in the shape of a boot!

Me: Sounds amazing Dave I miss you and I can’t wait to see the boot toothpick holders. Do come home soon.

Me (seeing the boot toothpick holders): Dave look closely at this toothpick holder! It’s Quasimoto’s boot! It has a toe sticking out of it!

Dave: I got eight thousand.

Aside from the infamous boot, Dave and Billy found the most incredible colors and shapes. They got doll figurines in every shade imaginable. And yes, we tied those into a Broadway Show! Anitra and Won’s window deserves a Tony!

My favorite - the bowling pin ashtrays!

Oh, and my absolute favorite? A tiny ashtray that was made for a bowling ally…it makes me want to dance and sing... but I'll spare you!

Some glass figurines weren't even cut off the font (mold)!