Though Labor Day has passed, I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer quite yet. The weather might be getting cooler, but I’m in denial. I’m still enjoying the corn, peaches, tomatoes, and warm summer evenings. As long as summer produce is still here, I see no need to start cooking with squash and apples. Instead, I’m taking advantage of late summer’s bounty by slow roasting tomatoes, devouring slices of watermelon, and snacking on raspberries. But my current favorite summer recipe is not a dish, but a cocktail.

A Blueberry Ginger Smash Cocktail contains freshly muddled …

Alcohol-infused ice pops. Wait, but alcohol doesn’t freeze…right? Actually, Erin Nichols shows that you can with her cocktail-inspired ice pop recipes. The secret? Cook most of the liquor off while retaining the flavor.

I was ecstatic to be chosen as the SKC contributor to review this book! My 21st birthday is in a few weeks, and I have been waiting for this day more than ever. Graduating from college as a 20-year-old really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…especially when you couldn’t legally drink with your friends during college and still can’t drink with them after graduation…

In my third year of school, I had an epiphany. A beer epiphany. Until that year, I equated beer with the watered-down, foamy stuff served at fraternity parties. Then I was introduced to the flavorful and rich brews that I’m now well acquainted with, and to be honest it was pretty life-changing (as any good epiphany should be). Today, I can proudly assert that it doesn’t get much better than a cold fizzy beer with a juicy burger or greasy take-out. While I’m no hop aficionado and haven’t made the leap to homemade brewing, I’m always looking and excited …

In December, when I was still studying abroad in France, my best friend Emilie (who is French) came to visit me at the end of my program. We went to Marmande, France, where her grandparents live. The last thing I thought we would be filling our days with was a double date. Initially, I was excited when Emilie told me about the idea. But then I realized that I was going on a date with two young French men who spoke very little English, and since I have the French speaking skills of a five year old, I had …

For my birthday last week, a good friend gave me a silver flask filled with clear rum. I decided to make hot buttered rum as a birthday nightcap for myself, but hot buttered rum is also a perfect drink for any cold wintery night. The buttery, creamy, and comforting flavor of this drink warms any heart. Hot buttered rum is a great for holiday parties and can be made in large batches easily. To take a sweet photograph for this post, I used a clear cup, but hot buttered rum tastes better sipped out of a hearty mug.

When I was about one week into my freshman year of college, I remember thinking that I had finally discovered the way to a Jessica Biel body. If I had a diet soda for breakfast, a salad bar lunch, a few scoops of peanut butter for protein during the day, and then only drank on the weekends, I would be seeing washboard abs in NO time.
Six months and 40 pounds later, I was was staring at my muffin top and wondering what had gone wrong.
I had fallen into that trap to which so many students succumb: I had …

If you’re in college, even if you’re a freshman, by now you must know about, have participated in, or wish you hadn’t participated in at least one drinking game. There’s the classic “truth or drink” variation on truth or dare; “King’s Cup”; “Flip Cup”; “Beer Pong”; and countless others that involve pitchers, cards, or ping pong balls. Here a few games you may not have tried.

**Drinking Games for the Bar**

Sure, for the most part you go out in order to meet people or explore new places, but sometimes things can get boring out there, so here are a …