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If you've ever had an Aviation cocktail, chances are you've had the version described by Harry Craddock of the Savoy Hotel in London in his 1930 "The Savoy Cocktail Book". His recipe, and virtually every one described since then goes something like this:

• 1 1/2 - 2 oz Gin
• 1/2 - 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp - 1/2 oz Maraschino liqueur

From what I've seen in my research, many people seem to prefer Gary Regan's version from "The Joy of Mixology":

• 2 oz Gin
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur

In all cases, you combine with ice in a shaker, shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

If this describes your experience with the Aviation, then you might be interested to know that there's a version of the cocktail that predates Craddock's version and includes an ingredient not often seen in American bars: Crème de violette. In fact, the first published version of the Aviation is found in Hugo Ensslin's 1916 "Recipes for Mixed Drinks." The only difference between it and the "modern" versions is the inclusion of Crème de violette.

On my last trip to France, I picked up a bottle of Pagè's Crème de violette (it's sold everywhere over there) because I really wanted to try a proper Aviation and I couldn't find any here in Arizona. I know there's at least one brand sold in the US, but I couldn't find it.

I've tried several different variations of Ensslin's original recipe with the Crème de violette. I've settle on the following ratio of ingredients which I find allows aspects of all of the ingredients to come through without any one overpowering the drink:

• 2 oz Gin
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz Crème de violette
• 1/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur

After combining all of the ingredients in a shaker with ice and shaking, I strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry. I tend to agree with those who claim the name originates from the blueish color the Crème de violette imparts on the drink. It's hard to look of it and not think of the wild blue yonder.

I've recently been lamenting the closing of our neighborhood water ice shop. It might not sound like a big deal, but I live in Arizona where water ice (Italian Ice) is a rarity. Everywhere I go it's either shaved ice, snow cones, or gelato, but I digress.

I'd been reading on NPR's website about how easy it is to make granita lately, which is pretty much the water ice that I'm used to (although water ice tends to be finer grained, but that's a matter of technique, not ingredients), so I decided that it was finally time to give it a try.

I was originally just going to try one of the recipes from the website, but while I was out in my yard, I noticed that our mint plant was looking like it could use a trim, so it dawned on me that I could probably take what I had learned from the article and concoct a Mojito granita, so that's what I set off to do.

Here's the basic recipe I came up with:

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Bacardi White Rum
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (3-4 limes)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 3 sprigs mint
• Additional mint for garnishing

Start by combining the sugar and water in a sauce pan and bringing to a rolling boil. Continue to boil 5 minutes while stirring the syrup.

Remove the simple syrup from the stove and add the three mint sprigs. Allow to steep for about 5 minutes, then discard the mint sprigs and continue to allow to cool.

In the meantime, measure out 1/2 cup of rum.

Add 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice and set aside.

Next, chop the fresh mint until you have about 2 tbsp. A little extra never hurt anyone.

Once the simple syrup has completely cooled, pour it in a metal (preferred) or glass 13x9 inch baking dish/pan. Add the lime juice, rum, and chopped mint. Stir to combine.

Place the 13x9 pan in the freezer. Set a timer for 40 minutes. When it goes off, whisk (or stir with a fork).

You'll need to repeat this every 40 minutes or so for several hours until the pan is full of loose, well defined crystals.

This will take anywhere from 4-8 hours.

Here's the granita after a few hours. Notice how much thicker it is and that there are definite crystals forming.

When the granita is completely done freezing, it should be comprised of loose crystals and looks something like this:

Serve the granita in chilled glasses. All I had handy were some double old-fashioned glasses, but they worked fine.

You should note that this recipe has alcohol in it, which lowers the freezing point of the mix. If you omit the alcohol, add an equivalent about of water and change the stir time to every 30 minutes to keep large clumps from forming.

The consistency of my final product was almost snow like. I probably could have packed it tightly and put it back in the freezer to get it closer to the water ice consistency I'm used to. I also heard that using a large metal spoon to scrape the ice as it freezes instead of stirring helps to produce smaller crystals. I may try that next time. Regardless, the granita turned out to be really great. It was light, refreshing, and tasted just like its namesake cocktail.

Pere whipped together a batch of Koulourakia for Greek Orthodox Easter this weekend:

Making them is pretty simple. Here's the recipe she used:

• 3 1/2c sifted flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2/3c softened butter
• 3/4c sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• Reserved egg whites
• 1 tbsp yogurt
• 1 tbsp rum
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Next cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks, one at a time beating between additions. Stir in yogurt, rum, vanila and lemon zest. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients and knead until you have a pliable dough.

Break off chunks about the size of a golf ball and roll into 3 inch ropes and shape. Brush on reserved egg whites, sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional) and bake on buttered cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 30-36 cookies.

I think I have finally found the perfect cooking method for steak. I've tried just about everything over the years - grilling, pan frying, broiling, baking, searing in a pan then finishing in the oven, etc. While some methods have on occasion produced a decent steak, none have done it consistently in a way that could even begin to compete with your average steakhouse. That is, until now.

Several months ago, Cooks Illustrated published a technique for cooking steak that turned convention on its head. Instead of following the advice to first sear the steak, then finish it (either on the grill or in the oven), Cooks Illustrated recommended raising the internal temperature of the steak to about 90 degrees in the oven, then finishing it off by searing it on all sides. The reasoning is that by first bringing the internal temp up to 90 degrees, the final sear is able to give you a nice caramelized crust without the usual band of overcooked gray meat that sits just below the surface and the undercooked, often raw center that follows. I've tried this technique twice now - once on a prime NY strip and a second time on a Kobe NY strip steak, and both times the steak has come out absolutely perfect - seared on the outside with a nice caramelized crust, and completely medium-rare on the inside - all the way through. The steaks have been buttery soft and extremely flavorful and juicy. I'll probably never cook steak another way again.

Want to try it at home? Here's all you need to do:

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees (use center rack). Meanwhile, remove your steaks from refrigerator, pat dry, and rub gently with salt and pepper on both sides (be careful not to use too much salt). After the steaks have rested for about 15 minutes, place them on a wire cooling rack inside of a standard cookie sheet. This will allow hot air from the oven to evenly circulate around the steaks. Place the steaks in the oven and allow to warm until their internal temperature reaches about 90 degrees. This should take 20-25 minutes for a 1 1/2 - 2 inch NY strip steak.

When the steak is almost at 90 degrees, heat about 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pan over medium-high heat, until it begins to smoke. When the steak has reached the correct internal temperature, remove from the oven and sear in the pan approximately 2 minutes per side. Once the two sides have been seared, be sure to sear the edges of each steak by holding the edges against the pan using tongs. Each edge should only take 30-45 seconds. Be warned, the searing will probably generate a good amount of smoke. You want a good steak, this is the price you have to pay. Open some windows and turn on your exhaust hood!

As soon as the steaks are done searing, remove them from the pan and place them back on the wire cooling rack. Tent with foil, and allow about 10 minutes before serving.

I'll put steaks cooked using this method up against any steakhouse steak I've had.

I love blood oranges, and eagerly await their appearance in my local stores every November. This year, my local Safeway didn't get them until this week (don't worry, I had other sources). While I was there today picking up some last minute ingredients for the Osso Buco I made for dinner tonight, I picked up a couple pounds.

I really wanted to make a cocktail with the blood oranges, but I couldn't decide what I was in the mood for. Eventually, I settled on a variation of the caipirinha. Since I didn't have cachaça on hand, I decided to use rum instead:

• Juice of one blood orange
• 2 oz Bacardi Gold Rum
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz simple syrup

Combine ingredients in a shaker and shake over ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

I've been making limoncello at home, from lemons grown in my backyard for about 5 years now. During that time, I've experimented with various recipes, tweaking the ingredients and amounts here and there looking for that one "perfect" recipe. Until last year, I had always used 100 proof vodka as the base for the liqueur, but compared to commercial limoncellos I had tried, I felt something was missing. My vodka version just didn't have enough lemon essence to satisfy what I was after.

Last year, I made two batches of limoncello using the same recipe with one small difference. The first batch used 100 proof vodka while the second batch used 190 proof grain alcohol (they had to be diluted with different amounts of sugar-water). When it came time to taste the two batches side by side, the difference in taste was amazing. The batch made with grain alcohol had a much brighter and stronger taste of lemon than did the vodka version. It was obvious to me that the grain alcohol had done a much better job of removing and infusing the essential oils from the lemon peels than the vodka was capable of.

This year, I've decided to make another batch of the grain alcohol based limoncello. My lemon tree had a bad year, perhaps due to last year's frost, and only produced enough lemons for a single batch of limoncello - about 16 lemons total. Tweaking my recipe from last year a bit, here's what I'm planning to do:

Combine the peels (with pith removed) of 16 lemons with two 750ml bottles of grain alcohol (Everclear brand) in a glass jar. Swirl vigorously and make sure all of the peels are submerged. Place the jar in a cool dark place for 30-45 days, until the liquid is bright yellow.

After the initial steeping time is up, make a simple syrup by bringing 6 cups of spring water and 4 cups of sugar to a boil while stirring rapidly. Allow to boil for minutes, then remove from the stove and allow to cool to room temperature. Next, add the simple syrup to the jar with the grain alcohol and lemon peels. Put the jar back in its cool dark place for another 30-45 days.

Once the limoncello has aged, strain it to remove the peels and any other particulates before bottling in individual sealable bottles. I like to use French limonade botles with ceramic caps. I once tried buying plain, unused bottles, but I found that to be much more expensive than just buying the French limonade, drinking it, then reusing the bottles for my limoncello.

If you find this recipe to be a bit to strong, you can further dilute the limoncello by adding additional water or sugar syrup to taste.

Over the weekend, Pere and I baked up a batch of sugar cookies. There are certain recipes I'm sentimental about, and sugar cookies are one of them.

I prefer the recipe my mom's used ever since I was a little kid. She would make the dough early in the morning, or sometimes the night before, and later in the day, my brothers and I would use our cookie cutters to make all sorts of wonderful shapes. I once tried to make a huge cookie from all of the left-over dough, but that didn't work out as well as intended. I digress...

Here's the family recipe, in case you want to give it a shot:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• grated rind of one orange
• 1 tbsp orange juice

Start by creaming the butter and sugar. Add the beaten eggs and mix well (I use a stand mixer). Meanwhile, add the salt and baking powder to the flour and slowly add to the mixing bowl. Next, add the orange zest and orange juice. Continue mixing until all ingredients are well incorporated.

I like to remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place into a greased bowl (for easier removal later). Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill.

Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. You may want to cut the dough in half to make it more manageable. Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch and cut with your cutters. I find that using a dough cutter/scraper to transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets is easier than doing it by hand. Once you have the cut cookies on cookie sheets, feel free to decorate with colored sugar. Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven and desired doneness. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

I was shopping at Trader Joe's the other day when I came across fresh figs. The season for them is so short, as is the supply in Arizona, that I just had to get some.

What to do with them was easy. This month's Bon Appetit had an easy recipe for figs with goat cheese and peppered honey:

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• Soft goat cheese
• 12 Fresh figs

Combine honey and pepper and set aside. Cut stems from figs and make an "X" in the top (starting stem side up), stopping the knife blade 1/4" from the bottom. Spread each fig open and place a small ball (apprx 1 tsp) of goat cheese in the center. Drizzle with peppered honey and serve.

Pere and were both craving BLT's the other night, so we thought it might be fun to make them for dinner, only stepped up a little. Instead of the standard version, we made ours from slices of crusty artisan bread, heirloom tomato, romaine, and thick cut smoked bacon. We each made two. Pere's were both toasted, with mayo while I had mine untoasted, one with mayo and the other with salad dressing. Both were delicious, although I liked the one made with mayo a little more. The heirloom tomatoes we used were so much more flavorful than standard beefsteak or other hybrid varieties.

Scrounging around the house for something to make for dinner tonight without having to go to the store for more supplies, the main ingredient of the day seemed to be ground beef. I thought picadillo might be good. In the past, I've used Trader Joe's jarred picadillo simmer sauce and found it to be pretty good. Tonight, however, with no simmer sauce, it was time to make it from scratch.

After a little searching around the internet for the basic ingredient list, I came up with the following version which you should be able to whip together in 20 minutes - just the amount of time it should also take you to steam some white rice and heat up a can of beans.

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup pimento stuffed olives, chopped
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 8oz tomato sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and allow to cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add ground beef, green onion, garlic, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Add olives, raisins and almonds and allow to cook an additional 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and stir well to combine. Reduce heat if necessary and allow to simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with rice and beans.