I decided to be ambitious this month. I paused reading Game of Thrones to read The Hundred Foot Journey for Brooklyn Kitchen’s Foodie book club and finished it on the plane back from Cali for tonight’s meeting. I knew I was gonna be exhausted after taking the red-eye in from LAX, so I planned ahead of time a nice, simple recipe that I would be able to put together quickly.

Garam Masala peach tea with apple juice and bourbon.

The point of foodie book club is to make a dish inspired by the book. In this book, the main character is Indian, and his father drinks tea with garam masala each day. The main character, Hassan, starts cooking in India, then moves on to London, then a town at the base of the Alps, and inevitably becomes a 3-Michelin star chef in Paris, like ya do. The book was not great, but had some great food decriptions, my favorite being “What glorious fish. We’d pass oily bonito, the silver bodies with the squashed, yellow glazed heads. I loved the tray of squid, the skin purple and glistening like the tip of a penis.”

After about 100 pages of these drawn out food descriptions and endless and unnecessary drama in the book…(Wait, his neighbor set him on fire??) I was over it. I did finish it though! And I made some amazing tea that is perfect for winter.

I made a less boozy version but you feel free to do it up. i will next time when I’m around people I know can drink like I can.

I filled a 2 liter container a little over 3/4 full of water and set it on the stove to an almost boil, then added in 5 Indian peach tea bags, one of my all time favorite teas, but you can do what you like. I stirred this around and then pulled out 3 of the bags and added in a cup of apple juice and 3/4 cups of bourbon. Stir in a tablespoon of garam masala and stir on high for 5 minutes, then drink!

It is warm and spicy, but not too hot or too savory, fruity and flavorful, but not too sweet. Feels wonderful in this cold weather.

Also to note, 2 of the other people made wonderful little things I want to share as well.

One girl, Amy, brought squash buns that didn’t rise, which works for me, because I prefer my bread doughy and soft. She served them with butter and honey.They were really lovely. Recipe from her below.

And Second, my amazing and seriously GIFTED friend Emily from Nomnivorous made curried banana financiers with carmelized pineapple tops that were SO awesome. She also brought some bacon brittle she was recipe-testing for someone, and they were heart-stopping. Literally. But YUM, and I don’t really get into the whole bacon craze.

I have also signed up for the Brooklyn Kitchen’s casserole competition this month AND their savory pie contest in November, which I picked up my flour for today so i can start practicing.

Tickets are $5, so please buy one on their site and come out, eat some pie, drink some beer, and vote!