When I spotted a magazine called Garden & Gun on a friend’s desk, I thought, “Well, this should be good,” as I half-rolled my eyes. My only previous exposure to the magazine had been to a positively infuriating article about how Southern women are peaches who love babies and cook perfect meals and Western women, like myself, are cold, harsh witches who hate children and couldn’t make toast if our lives depended on it.
I was less than impressed. But I was happily surprised to discover, that aside from that tacky article, the magazine has a lot of wonderful recipes and travel suggestions.
The website for Garden & Gun is also quite good and features a number of charming videos and articles on how to craft the perfect cocktail. This one, from Husk Bar, teaches you how to create a lovely cocktail called The Midnight Tea. It’s a bit labor intensive, since a tincture of Everclear and bergamot tea must be prepared days in advance, but it looks delicious nonetheless.
Behind the Bar: Midnight Tea from Garden & Gun on Vimeo.
And what does one wear to a Southern tea party that serves a cocktail that sure to get the party started?
A floral, dancing dress, of course.
Am definitely saving up for the Milly dress now.
I remember being similarly annoyed by the “Southern Women” article. I was raised in New England and my mom taught us that we could write thank you notes, cook amazing meals, and love babies…even with a high powered career. And my New York born-and-raised boyfriend continues to open car doors for me and give up his seat on the Metro to women and elderly folks. Manners are manners.