Emma Riva

1 week ago | tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva

The Negroni is a true liquor lover’s cocktail. It’s potent, no mixers, no teeny-tiny ingredient proportions, just vermouth, Campari, and gin. It can be the harbinger of a wicked hangover or the progenitor of a wonderfully free conversation—possibly both! It’s the perfect apéritif, and a hearty meal afterward often balances out the potential for inebriation. To make a good Negroni requires that you tame multiple spirits together.

1 week ago | publicsource.org | Emma Riva |Rich Lord

I still catch myself going to the passenger side, even when I’m the one driving — which isn’t often. I’ll borrow a friend’s car occasionally, but for the most part, I’m a “passenger princess.” I got my license when I moved to Pittsburgh, but I found quickly that affording to buy a car as a freelance reporter was a pipe dream. So, I’ve remained a passenger. People have varying opinions on it — that it’s impossible, that it’s doable but not ideal, or that it’s a political statement of some sort.

2 weeks ago | tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva

Drinking sake is a lot of fun, school is not. To enter the world of sake, however, you have to learn a little math, a little science, a little vocabulary, and a dash of history. Sake is delicious, but it requires a baseline level of knowledge to figure out what you’re going to like. Like wine, sake’s story is a mixture of history and science, and you can approach it from wherever you want to start. If you want to nerd out about fermentation, you can do that with sake.

3 weeks ago | tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva

The classic martini is an invitation to channel your inner James Bond, but make sure it’s stirred not shaken. A well-made martini should always be stirred because, as James first reminds us in the 1958 novel, Dr. No, the shaking bruises the ice and further waters down the cocktail too quickly. Instead opt for a rapid stir to mingle and chill the simple ingredients. Aside from sounding cool, the name refers to Genever, the Dutch predecessor to gin.

3 weeks ago | tablemagazine.com | Emma Riva

The Greyhound 75 is a fun play on the classic French 75, which originated in Paris in the 19th century and became popular in the Roaring 20s. While the older version combines champagne, gin, lemon, and sugar, we might be thirsty for the intriguing tang of pamplemousse. That’s French for grapefruit, and it’s fun to say. Because le pamplemousse brings a bit more sweetness than the usual lemon, we cut back on the sugar here.