Facets 08 2017

FACETS

August 2017 The magazine for women.

Geise strives to teach 'real-life skills' Bruntz breaks ground at CMB Bass fills many roles for Boone athletics

FACETS 2 | FACETS | AUGUST 2017

The magazine for women.

Editor MARGO NIEMEYER

Publisher SCOTT ANDERSON

Contributors RONNA LAWLESS ANDREW LOGUE LUKE MANDERFELD IAN MURPHY JOE RANDLEMAN

Tribune Editor MICHAEL CRUMB

Photographs JOE RANDLEMAN RONNA LAWLESS KEVIN PATTERSON FACETS IS A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF GATEHOUSE MEDIA IOWA HOLDINGS.

ADVERTISERS To advertise in Facets magazine, contact Tiffany Hilfiker at (515) 663-6973 PHONE (515) 663-6923 ADDRESS 317 Fifth St. Ames, IA, 50010 EMAIL mniemeyer@amestrib.com ONLINE www.amestrib.com/sections/ special-sections/facets

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any of us have been involved in a group that has a coach: softball, football, volleyball, wrestling, even marching band and dance. Our coaches, our leaders, have put forth the effort to teach us what hard work and responsibility look like.

I was in the marching band and took dance lessons, I was also a wrestling manager in high school. Marching band is the closest I have been to being an athlete in high school, although many people will tell you that marching band is not a sport. Maybe it's not.

But, I did learn a lot about myself and what I am capable of mentally and physically. Our coaches were the band director, the assistants for each section and our student section leaders. You could tell our band director loved marching and teaching us the proper technique. That enjoyment is what helped us take pride in our form. It was our motivation to keep our lines straight. Our form and music memorization were not the only things the band students took away from their time in marching band. In marching band, there is a set place for every foot step and every body. If someone misses a competition, there is a hole. Some days we had a lot of holes. We were held accountable not only by our band director — our coach — but also by each other, our fellow students. As the season went on, we became more dedicated and passionate about the score and where our feet fell and whether our neighbors on the field were on or off the count. We as students were concerned about these things because our coach had instilled the importance of accuracy.

As a band we had worked very hard and wanted to see every section and band member succeed.

It may seem silly but it is the same in football or softball. Your coaches do their best to teach you accountability, to be responsible for yourself, to help those around you and to encourage your teammates.

Many athletes have grown and matured with the lessons they are taught by teammates, the opposing team or the crowd cheering them on, but for me it all starts with the coach. If the coach enjoys what she does, if she has the passion to teach the new kids the sport and help the seasoned athletes build on and refine their skills, if she leads by example, athletes will take notice and in the end become better people.

On the cover: Molly Geise at her home in Story City, holding the ball her team gave her after her 200th win as the volleyball coach at Roland-Story High School. Photo by Ronna Lawless/GateHouse Iowa

FACETS • Table of contents coaching 4

Lori Stephenson Busy is best for Stephenson

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Crystal Bruntz Bruntz breaks ground at CMB

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Andrea Grove-McDonough Draws from running career in coaching style

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Jill Bass Bass fills many roles for Boone athletics

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Molly Geise Strives to teach her players 'real-life skills'

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Christy Johnson-Lynch Feels an obligation to help and mentor

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Danielle Schmidt Schmidt's vision for success came into focus at Grundy Center

savor 22

Simple grain salad Another use for summer's sweet cherries

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Fruit and cheese dessert Unexpectedly luscious and healthful

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Cooking for two Negroni spinoff Clear winner for hot weather

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coaching: Lori Stephenson

BY JOE RANDLEMAN GateHouse Iowa

Lori Stephenson, pictured with her daughter Abby, led the Nevada varsity volleyball program to a 29-14 record and a state tournament appearance in Class 4A in her first season as head coach in 2016. Stephenson is also heavily involved in many other aspects of Nevada athletics as well as being a mother of two children. Photo by Joe Randleman/ Nevada Journal

Busy is best for Nevada’s Stephenson

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f there is a high school sporting event going on at, Nevada, there is a good chance current Cub head volleyball coach Lori Stephenson will be participating in it in some manner.

Stephenson, who lives in Nevada with her husband Bernie, took over as the head volleyball coach at Nevada this past fall. But she has been much more than a coach for Nevada athletics.

“Lori gives so much of her time to the activities programs,” Nevada Athletic Director Kyle Hutchinson said. “She has been the driving force behind our Facebook site and promoting all programs. Her work with the sports management class has just added to the branding of our school.”

Stephenson also takes photos at as many events she can attend, though her schedule figures to wind down a bit with the graduation of her youngest child — daughter Abby, who was a multi-sport star during the past four years.

Lori Stephenson: coaching “I expect this year will be a little easier since I won’t go to all the away soccer and basketball games,” Stephenson said. “It’ll be weird to not be going all the time, but I’ll welcome a few more nights at home.”

But Stephenson still figures to be a prominent part of Nevada athletics in the near future. She is coming off a tremendous first season at the helm of the Cub volleyball coaching.

With her daughter — an all-state performer — leading an outstanding senior class ,Nevada went 29-14 in 2016 and made the state tournament for the fourth year in a row despite moving up from Class 3A to 4A. “Lori did a tremendous job in her first year as a head coach, building on an already strong program,” Hutchinson said. “She has been integral in the success of the program not only last year as a head coach but also as an assistant in years past. Her commitment to building a program from the youth on up ensures continued success and progress.”

Stephenson began her varsity coaching career coaching volleyball at Independence in the 1990s. She also had a short coaching stint as the sophomore volleyball coach at Iowa City West and coached middle school track at both schools.

In 1995 Stephenson retired from coaching due to the birth of her eldest child — son Patrick. But as Patrick and Abby began to grow up she began itching to get back on the sidelines.

“My first jobs kind of went with my teaching jobs, but I went back in 2010 because Patrick didn’t want any of my coaching in track,” Stephenson said. “I thought that someone else might appreciate my knowledge, and they needed someone to help Kristin Meyer with middle school track.”

In 2010 Stephenson coached middle school track and seventh-grade volleyball. She took a three-year break from officially coaching volleyball but was still plenty active with the Cub program.

Then-Nevada high school volleyball coach James Brockway had recently turned the program from a floundering one into a powerhouse — leading the Cubs to their first state tournament appearance in 2008. He said Stephenson was a great addition to the program.

“Lori is one of the most dedicated learners I have ever seen as a coach,” Brockway said. “She was always taking notes and finding ways to improve herself as a coach and improve young women across all their sports. Lori was always there to help be it filling in to coach or working behind the scenes to have stuff ready to go. She was also very helpful as we worked to get our middle schooler into a mindset that hard work and a strong core makes great people and athletes.”

In 2014 Stephenson was hired as the new eighthgrade volleyball coach but was moved to Junior-varsity coach by new head varsity coach Will Baumann.

Baumann left the program after leading Nevada to the Class 3A state championship in 2015, and Hutchinson

knew who to turn to as the next coach for the powerhouse program.

Stephenson said balancing coaching and her other activities at Nevada along with being a mother does present challenges.

“I didn’t coach for 15 years because of the time it required when the kids were younger,” Stephenson said. “I assume that happens a lot since we have less than 10 female coaches in the entire district. This year I hired a cleaning lady, Abby, so that helped a lot,” Stephenson joked. “But seriously, I hardly ever cooked a meal for all three of us to sit down and eat together. Bernie and Abby are completely adept at fixing their own food, but we lost some of that core family time. Of course we spent a lot of time in the gym at the same time, but it’s not quite the same.”

And that doesn’t stop now that both of her children will be in college — Patrick at University of Iowa and Abby at Drake University.

“I tell people I’ll keep coaching until it becomes a job,” Stephenson said. “Right now it’s a passion, and I don’t mind putting in the time. Abby is playing soccer at Drake this fall, so I hope I’ll still be able to see her play and maintain the volleyball schedule. If not, I’ll need to reevaluate at the end of the season.”

Stephenson said she advises women looking at entering the coaching field that they can always find the time if it’s something they truly love.

“Follow your passion, and it’s okay if that passion changes as your life changes,” Stephenson said. “I really enjoyed coaching before the kids were born, and I have really enjoyed getting back into it as they got older.”

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coaching: Crystal Bruntz BYJOE RANDLEMAN GateHouse Iowa

BRUNTZ BREAKS GROUND AT CMB Becomes female head coach of boys’ soccer team

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axter resident Crystal Bruntz broke ground at Collins-Maxwell-Baxter this spring by becoming a female head coach of a boys’ sports team.

Bruntz took over the reign of the CMB boys’ varsity soccer program in just the second year of the program after it was revived in 2016. In her first year at the school, she helped the Raiders go from 2-11 to 8-11 this spring competing in Class 2A — the second-largest soccer class in Iowa.

“I saw improvement in the boys in every game,” Baxter Athletic Director Lori Fricke said. “You could see their hard work at practice paying off in the games. The bar was set high for them and they never backed down. Coach Bruntz continuously pushed them to be better players and people, both on and off the pitch. It was awesome to see their excitement when they won but also to see their determination to get better and be competitive in every game.”

Bruntz, who lives just outside of Baxter with her husband Jordan, son Josh and daughter Caitlyn, has been coaching her children since they were little kids in recreation leagues for softball, basketball and soccer. In 2017 she decided to throw her hat into coaching at the high school level after the head

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Crystal Bruntz: coaching “For anyone getting into coaching you need to understand why you want to coach, learn as much as you can about coaching. Watch other coaches for both good and bad coaching styles. ... Be prepared to communicate constantly and make sure you are having fun.” boys’ soccer coach position opened at CMB. “I have always wanted to coach but hadn’t had the opportunity because of careers at corporate jobs to be able to find the time to coach at this level,” Bruntz said. “I had heard there would be an opening for a soccer coach and decided to get my coaching authorization over the winter just in case a coach was not found.”

Once Bruntz was chosen as the new head coach it meant she was going to be coach her son again at the high school level.

“I did my best to treat him in the same way as everyone else,” Bruntz said. “Once the game started, Josh was a player on the roster.”

Another challenge Bruntz faced was getting kids from four different school districts to come together. In addition to Collins-Maxwell and Baxter, the Raider, boys’ soccer program also took in kids from Colo-NESCO and West Marshall.

But it was something Bruntz relished.

“I enjoy working with the team to help them become better players and better teammates,” Bruntz said. “It’s exciting to see the team learn and grow in their sporting skills as well as social skills. I’ve been coaching many of the boys on the soccer team since we played U10 soccer, and it’s been a big learning curve for all of us.”

The end result of Bruntz’ coaching saw CMB show vast improvement in her first year of coaching. It also left a positive impact on her players that goes beyond the soccer field.

“What I admire most about Crystal is her determination to win and the amount of time and effort she takes to prepare for practices and games,” CMB senior all-conference player Carter Fricke said. “Crystal is very knowledgeable in the sport and ran practices with a wide variety of drills. She always kept practices interesting and kept the players engaged.”

Fricke said the players did not look at Bruntz any differently as a woman coaching a team of teenage boys.

“The example Crystal sets is that being a male or female coach doesn’t matter if you have the passion to coach, put forth the effort, and make it happen,” Fricke said. “Although Crystal was the only female coach I had, I didn’t view her any differently than any other coach. In just her first season, she has proven that a female coach can lead a boys program and have success. However, this didn’t happen overnight, as she has been active in our rec soccer program for years and previously coached a number of our high school players through that program.”

Bruntz added that gender never entered into the equation when it came to her coaching.

“I don’t know that I face anything unique being a coach of a boys team,” Bruntz said. “It may be because I’ve coached teams of boys, girls and co-ed before so I’m comfortable coaching the boys. The biggest change was moving from recreational to high school level where practice is Monday through Friday, you play to win and not everyone gets to play. And there is a lot more paperwork and administration.

We dealt with many issues this season including eligibility and injuries.

However, any coach would have had to deal with these issues.”

For that reason she gives the same advice to women looking to beginning a coaching career at the high school level — no matter what gender they coach — as she would the guys: “For anyone getting into coaching you need to understand why you want to coach,” Bruntz said. “Learn as much as you can about coaching.

Watch other coaches for both good and bad coaching styles. Have thick skin, as not everyone will ever agree with you. Be prepared to communicate constantly and make sure you are having fun.”

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coaching; Andrea Grove-McDonough

BY LUKE MANDERFELD Special to the Ames Tribune

Iowa State coach Andrea Grove-McDonough draws from running career in coaching style

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ndrea Grove-McDonough, head women's cross-country coach at Iowa State University, can still pinpoint the exact day when she turned around her running career.

It was October 1994. The weather was showing small signs of the frigid-cold temperatures that lay just a month or two away. But on this day, the sun was shining and the weather was warm enough for a run.

As her feet rhythmically tapped against the ground, Grove-McDonough’s mind started to reflect.

A native of Winnipeg, Canada, she was committed to run for the University of Minnesota on a scholarship, but her first three years hadn’t gone according to plan.

She was going out with her friends too much, she was away from home and her performance on the track was suffering.

“I can honestly say that it was a disaster,” Grove-McDonough said. “I was not running well. I was just kind of floundering and kind of unhappy. Kind of lost a little bit. Maybe not as mature as I thought I was, and I was struggling with adjusting from being away from home and being on a really big team.”

But her opportunity in Minneapolis hadn’t wavered.

After a discussion with then-coach Gary Wilson and some assistants, Grove-McDonough felt a desire to get her act straight. That autumn day in 1994 was the first day along the path.

Grove-McDonough was in the middle of a routine eightmile run around the Mississippi River when she stopped on the corner just a few blocks away from the Bierman Field Athletic Building. She came to a realization: Her collegiate career was nearing an end — she had just two more seasons left, including a fifth year — and she had hardly lived up to expectations.

“I had this moment, and maybe I matured a little bit too,” Grove-McDonough said. “I decided that I was going to stop getting in my own way. I was going to do everything that I could do to become an All-American when I graduated. I knew that I might fail, but if I tried, then I could walk away without any regrets.”

The improvements were slow and steady, but soon

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enough, she started to live up to that potential. She made it to the final in the 1,500-meter race at the Big Ten Outdoor Championship for the first time in 1995. She flourished from there, and it culminated in a fifth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run at the 1996 NCAA Championships, earning her the coveted All-America honor.

As a professional runner, Grove-McDonough found similar success. She won the 10,000-meter run in the Canadian Olympic Trials in 2008 but wasn’t selected to the Olympic team because of her age. That’s when she decided to call it quits and become a coach.

Andrea Grove-McDonough: coaching Grove-McDonough still tells that comeback story to her athletes, as a badge of honor and as a learning opportunity for her runners.

“It just kind of comes up when we’re on the bus or just talking,” Grove-McDonough said. “I don’t really talk about it in front of a big group, but it’s just something that everyone ends up hearing at least once.”

The realization she came to in 1994 hasn’t strayed. She has incorporated it into every venture she has embarked upon in the running world — her 10-plus years as a professional runner, her five years as a coach at the University of Connecticut, and now as the head women’s cross-country coach at ISU. “I didn’t retire from track and field until I was 34 years old, and I’ve only been a coach for about nine years,” Grove-McDonough said. “So I tell people everyone that I was an athlete for a lot longer than I was a coach, so I still think like an athlete.”

Her athlete-centered approach has certainly led to success. At Connecticut, Grove-McDonough became the head women’s cross-country coach in 2010 after three years as an assistant. In that short time, her team garnered a national ranking for the first time in program history. The Huskies have continued to compete on a national level, even after her departure.

In her four seasons at Iowa State, she has led the Cyclones

to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2015 and three Big 12 Championships — 2013, 2014 and 2016 — continuing the success seen by former coach Corey Ihmels. Iowa State was also ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation in the 2015 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason rankings.

“I think it’s always been about communicating and being accessible to your athletes,” Grove-McDonough said when asked about the key to her success. “I’m laughing as loud as anyone at practice. The girls have a good time.

The best teams I’ve had has been when we’ve connected on a personal level.”

Grove-McDonough has an “over-the-top” personality, as she describes it. She loves to have fun during practice and meets. If she senses her team is a little too tense before a competition, she will blast some upbeat music and dance.

She’s also tough. She wasn’t a fan of running when she first started as a kid during track day in junior high school, but she was certainly good at it. She just had the will to keep going, even though her mind was screaming at her to stop.

Her flamboyant personality stood in stark contrast to her predecessor when she arrived in Ames to take over program.

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coaching: Andrea Grove-McDonough GROVE-MCDONOUGH continued from page 9

Ihmels, who coached Iowa State from 2008-2013, didn’t focus as much on the one-on-one relationship aspect of coaching as he did the cerebral side. He was a much stricter coach.

When Grove-McDonough arrived, she scheduled individual meetings with every runner, attempting to get to know them on a personal level.

“It was a huge transition,” said former runner Crystal Nelson, who was a sophomore when Grove-McDonough arrived. “(Ihmels) was very strict. I didn’t really have a personal relationship with him. He was my head coach, and that was basically all I knew about him.

“Then when Grove-McDonough came in, it was a complete flipflop. She wanted to get to know us past us being a runner.”

Despite the success Grove-McDonough has seen in Ames, it hasn’t been without some disappointments. In the last two seasons, the Cyclones have fallen below expectations at the national level.

In 2015, with injuries to key runners piling up, Iowa State was forced to trot out runners who weren’t in the starting picture to begin the year. The Cyclones finished second at the Big 12 Championship, snapping a four-year win streak at the event, and 24th at nationals — a far cry from the team’s top ranking in the preseason.

“We really did an amazing job for who they were and where they were coming from,” Grove-McDonough said. “I think we always think about what we could’ve been, and not really about the women that we had and what they did.”

In 2016, the Cyclones entered the season as No. 17 team in the nation, and jumped up to as high as No. 12 during the season.

They won the Big 12 Championship for the fifth time in six seasons, leading Grove-McDonough to believe there was more on the horizon, perhaps a top-10 finish at the NCAA meet.

The team was young and didn’t have a lot of experience at a national stage. Also, Grove-McDonough had a baby and wasn’t around the team as much as she wanted.

The Cyclones finished in 29th place.

“The way we ran at nationals really was a kick in the gut,” Grove-McDonough said. “It was a really tough competition for all of us. There was some hard questions about what went wrong. What can we fix? And what, if anything, can we do together to be better?

I think those questions fall on my shoulders as much as anyone.”

Those questions may not have answers yet, but the experience of disappointment has the potential to raise the level of the program in the future.

“The past two years have been a learning experience for all of the girls, and for Grove-McDonough too,” Nelson said. “Because I don’t think she was used to having a completely new team.”

The Cyclones are expected to be nationally ranked once again before the 2017 season, but that won’t stop Iowa State from trying to prove doubters, however many there are, wrong. Grove-McDonough has been attempting to hold onto that comeback mentality ever since her runner days at Minnesota.

The next season will be no different.

“Now I think we have a chip on our shoulders. I certainly do. I think the athletes do,” Grove-McDonough said. “Maybe we got too comfortable (the last two years.) And you can never be too comfortable at this level.”

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“We really did an amazing job for who they were and where they were coming from.

I think we always think about what we could’ve been, and not really about the women that we had and what they did.”

Jill Bass: coaching

Bass fi lls many roles for Boone athletics

BY ANDREW LOGUE GateHouse Iowa

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or more than three decades, Jill Bass has been an extra pair of eyes for coaches, a supportive ear for athletes and a voice rarely heard outside the locker room.

The longtime varsity assistant and middle-school coach at Boone continues to make countless, subtle contributions, while drawing little attention.

Bass’ influence stretches across generations and she offers the perspective of both a competitor and mentor.

“I would say that my favorite (sports) season growing up was whatever season was in season,” Bass recalled. “Now, it’s all organized. There’s a lot of demands on kids, spreads them a little thin.”

Bass, who is currently an eighth-grade girls’ track coach for the Toreadors, was born in Boone, but attended Boyden-Hull High School, where her father, Craig, served as the superintendent.

She starred in basketball as well as softball and was a member of Boyden-Hull’s first volleyball team.

Her greatest individual success, however, was winning a discus title at the 1980 State Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, with a throw of 132 feet and 8 inches.

Bass’ personal best was 142-11 — which would have won any of the four classes at this year’s State meet.

Despite her athletic accomplishments — all coming less than a decade after the passage of Title IX — scholarship opportunities to big-time universities were limited.

Female equality was often seen by administra- Elizabeth Boesen, left, Kathy Abrahamson and Jill Bass, right, coached together back in 1984 and have been back coaching tors and boosters as a mandate instead of a viable together for the last couple of years. Photo contributed by Jill Bass sporting pursuit or entertainment option.

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coaching: Jill Bass BASS continued from page 11

“Pretty much the best way to go to college, if you wanted to play sports, is through your academics,” Bass said. “That was always kind of pushed, even from my family and my coaches.”

The challenges stemmed partly from Iowa being among the last states to play six-on-six basketball.

Fans, and in some cases entire communities, were devoted to that version of hoops throughout the 1980s. But recruiters of the day wondered if Iowa players could transition to the more mainstream five-on-five.

“It was more likely the forwards were going to go on to play college basketball,” said Bass, who played forward and center, “if anybody did.”

She eventually joined the basketball and softball programs at Northwestern College in Orange

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Boone girls’ 1989 basketball team. Jill Bass stands in the back row on the right. Photo contributed by Jill Bass

City.

Today, high school girls are given more chances to excel

beyond the prep level, but that quest sometimes leads them to be more singularly devoted.

“I definitely like to see kids do three, four sports,” Bass said. “I think it keeps them well rounded. I think college coaches kind of feel the same a lot of times.”

Bass returned to Boone after graduation, serving as an assistant basketball coach from 1984 into the 1990s, and again in the early 2000s.

Her most treasured memory might be the Toreadors advancing to the Girls’ State Basketball Tournament in 1989.

The journey included an upset of a highly-ranked Nevada team, and ended in one of Iowa’s most storied venues.

“They put on a pretty good show down there, back in the day, at Vets Auditorium,” Bass recalled. “I think it was everybody’s dream to be able to get there.

“So, if you couldn’t get there as a player, it was really awesome to get there on the coaching staff.”

Bass, a high school math

teacher, also worked with throwers on the track team.

More and more, the girls she tutors are chasing their athletic dreams at earlier ages, experiencing the same possibilities and pitfalls as the boys.

“I would say it has expanded,” Bass said of various youth programs. “I was fortunate enough to be able to play all the different sports, but I never played anything until I was a seventh-grader.

“So we didn’t have the Little League and those options for girls. Now, they have the softball and the basketball and the volleyball.”

Advances in training techniques and additional avenues to improvement have also been rewarding, from Amateur Athletic Union programs to individual coaches who can oversee an athlete’s progress.

“The greatest change is the amount of time that they are putting in, outside of the season,” Bass said. “And there’s a big push to get into the weight room. That’s really helped girls’ athletics as much as anything.”

Molly Geise: coaching

Geise strives to teach her players ‘real-life skills’

BY RONNA LAWLESS GateHouse Iowa

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olly Geise was a little hesitant to start coaching in 2001, but over the years she’s become hooked.

Now the varsity volleyball coach at Roland-Story High School, Geise was recruited by parents to coach the freshman volleyball team back in 2001.

At the time, Geise was the busy mom of one-year-old MaKayla and was working full-time for her husband Brandon, a State Farm insurance agent. “He was super understanding and really encouraged me to do it,” Geise said.

“Everybody thinks that if you don’t teach, you don’t coach, but that changed a long time ago,” she said.

After coaching for two seasons, Geise gave birth to her second child, Madison, and she thought having two kids, a fulltime job and a coaching position would be too much. She was considering stepping down as coach.

But then Roland-Story’s varsity coach took a job at Ames High. Geise was needed to fill that position.

“I said, ‘OK, well, I’ll do it for one year.’ But then it becomes kind of an addiction where you love the kids and now I can’t imagine not coaching,” Geise said.

Since taking over as head varsity coach, Geise had their third daughter, Miley, in 2008. She stopped working at State Farm, and now focuses on being a mom, wife and coach.

“I didn’t start coaching for my kids at all,” she said. “In fact, that’s what was going to keep me from coaching. Now MaKayla is going to be a junior and loves GEISE, page 15

Roland-Story volleyball coach Molly Geise, right, runs onto the court after a win against Gilbert in 2015. Photo by Kevin Patterson

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coaching: Molly Geise

Molly Geise at her home in Story City, holding the ball her team gave her after her 200th win as the volleyball coach at RolandStory High |School.

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Molly Geise: coaching GEISE continued from page 13

volleyball and wants to play in college. And Madison loves it. And Miley is just going to be ready to start playing next year.”

Geise doesn’t push volleyball or any other sports on her kids. But her love of athletics likely sets an example that they are following independently.

“Softball was my favorite when I was growing up. That was kind of my love,” Geise said. “I played four years in college at Simpson College. I played against the Olympic team — the U.S. and Canadian Olympic teams — as a pitcher. It was the games before they went to the Olympics, and the U.S. won it that year.”

Her high school coach at North Central High School in Manly, which is now the Central Springs school district, convinced Geise to play volleyball while she was at college.

She played middle hitter on the Simpson volleyball team for two years on top of playing softball for the college.

“It’s how I met my best friends,” she said. “Especially when you’re new to a school, volleyball practice starts before school even begins, and at the beginning of the

year kids have automatic friends who are going to look out for them.”

Geise teaches her players volleyball skills and strategies, but her coaching goals go beyond the court.

“I’ve always had as my philosophy that I want sports to teach kids different real-life skills — skills like communication and dedication and working for something,” Geise said. “My goal for each player is to get the best out of them. It’s not to compare them to the person next to them — I want them to be the best they can be. That’s sometimes hard for kids because they tend to compare themselves with the person next to them.”

Athletes have to learn to work through ups and downs, “and hopefully that will help prepare them to be a mom or an employee or a spouse or whatever they might want to be,” she said.

Geise tries to coach her players the way she would want her own kids to be coached.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit of tough love, but then I definitely show them love as well,” she said. “You have to push them, but you have to show them you care about them too.”

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coaching: Christy Johnson-Lynch

BY IAN MURPHY GateHouse Iowa

Johnson-Lynch feels an obligation to help and mentor

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hristy Johnson-Lynch has done plenty of winning in her career as the Iowa State volleyball coach.

She took over the program in 2004 and since then has posted a 246-123 record, with her wins doubling her losses over her 12 years at the helm.

Now, entering her 13th season with 11 NCAA tournament appearances to her name, Johnson-Lynch is a dean of female coaches in the NCAA volleyball ranks, a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly.

In the 2015-16 academic year, the most recent year for which data is available, men outnumbered women 83-43 at the Division I FBS level of college volleyball coaches.

Early in her career, she didn’t give much thought to being a female coach but gained perspective as she coached longer.

She said she’s gained appreciation for the women who have coached volleyball before her.

“I feel an obligation, not just an obligation but a desire, to help and mentor women who are struggling, or not, but who are just going through some experiences that I went through,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Johnson-Lynch said she gets calls from other female coaches who are trying to make their way in coaching ranks.

Between coaching, recruiting, travel and raising a family, the time constraints of the job can wear on a coach, and that’s an experience Johnson-Lynch is familiar with.

After a bad year or two, Johnson-Lynch said the desire to leave the coaching ranks can grow.

“I’ve been there, you’ve had a couple bad seasons or it’s been super stressful, you think OK, I’m making all these sacrifices with my family it doesn’t feel like it’s worth it, it doesn’t feel rewarding,” she said. “I tell coaches to wait, sometimes your opinion on what you should do is kind of skewed. I encourage coaches to wait until it feels better, and hopefully it gets a little bit more rewarding.”

Sometimes, Johnson-Lynch said, she and the coaches 18 | FACETS | AUGUST 2017

who call seeking advice talk through the challenges.

She advises other coaches to delegate and be comfortable letting things go to their assistant coaches.

And Johnson-Lynch’s advice comes with weight, having reached the highest levels of the sport as a player and coach.

Johnson-Lynch was twice an All-American at Nebraska, in 1994 and 1995, and was the starting setter on Nebraska’s first national championship team in 1995.

Christy Johnson-Lynch: coaching

Iowa State volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch hits the ball to Kristen Hahn during practice Wednesday, Mar. 30, 2011 at the Forker Building in Ames. Photo by Amy Vinchattle

The Huskers went 63-2 in the two seasons Johnson-Lynch was named an All-American.

She also played internationally, on the U.S. Junior National Team in 1989 and on the U.S. National “B” Team in 1993.

Her coaching career first took her to Wisconsin as an assistant, and later to ISU. The Cyclones posted 13 total wins against 167 losses in nine seasons of Big 12 play before Johnson-Lynch arrived.

In Johnson-Lynch’s tenure, the Cyclones are 141-75 in the Big 12, and last season picked up a 3-2 home win over No. 5 Texas, the first for the Cyclones since 2012.

ISU has six 20-win seasons during Johnson-Lynch’s tenure and has never posted a losing record with her at the helm.

But Johnson-Lynch never imagined ISU would become her career job, and she would become synonymous with the program.

“I think when I first started, it was just see what happens, I figured we’d get better but I really didn’t know what that meant,” she said. “It took me, like, probably a couple years. We didn’t set goals right away. We didn’t have the patience. It was

just let’s see what happens.”

The goal setting became a big part of the program as Johnson-Lynch’s tenure went on.

The first few seasons, she tried to find and iron out the program’s inefficiencies.

She pointed to recruiting, the lifeblood of any college sport, and player development for her success. Putting a volleyball team on the floor is the easy part of coaching, she said.

But early in her tenure, her approach was “let’s just try to get a little better and see what happens,” she said.

With the 2017 season rapidly approaching down, Johnson-Lynch has big expectations for her team.

The Cyclones finished 18-11 last season and fell out of the NCAA tournament in the first round a year ago with a 3-0 loss to Purdue. Expectations are high this season.

“We’ve been solid, it’s been a few years since we’ve made a deep run in the tournament, and that’s my hope and goal for the year,” Johnson-Lynch said. “We return a lot of the pieces from last year, we have huge experience out on the floor. We’re pretty veteran. I have huge expectations for this season.”

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coaching: Danielle Schmidt

BY ANDREW LOGUE GateHouse Iowa

SCHMIDT’S VISION FOR SUCCESS CAME INTO FOCUS AT GRUNDY CENTER

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s a teenager, Danielle Schmidt experienced a rare sort of comradery.

Now the volleyball coach for Boone High School, she’s trying to cultivate and recreate a similar bond among her players.

“We were fortunate to have a very nice group of girls who were together all the way though,” Schmidt said of growing up in Grundy Center. “And we were pretty athletic.”

Schmidt was a post-player in basketball and a middle-blocker in volleyball, helping the Spartans advance to state tournaments four times in the mid-2000s.

Grundy Center’s hoops team won the Class 2-A championship in 2005.

“There was a school consolidation so we really didn’t actually all get together till our freshman year,” said Schmidt, who also ran track and played softball. “It all kind of fell together … and to have a 2-A school with ten seniors on a team is kind of unheard of.

That didn’t mean they could all be stars.

“A majority went on to play college sports in one form or another.”

“Some started as freshmen and were starters all the way through, forever,” Schmidt said. “Others never really got to see the court, but it didn’t really matter. Everyone had a role on the team and were extremely

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supportive of each other and appreciated the experience they were having.

“I think that’s something that needs to be taught now.”

Being multi-dimensional is another trait that seemed to be more appreciated a decade ago.

“It was really big that we were able to do multiple sports, do multiple things and have success in different areas,” Schmidt said. “Now, everyone is told to pick a sport and go after it. But I think it was probably a benefit to have a variety of things going on.”

Schmidt earned 15 varsity letters at Grundy Center, plus various all-district, all-conference and allstate honors.

She went on to play volleyball

Danielle Schmidt: coaching

for Minnesota State (where she received more athletic and academic honors) and earned a degree in business.

Her initial foray into coaching came as an assistant at Concordia.

“Once I coached college, I found a passion for it,” Schmidt said. “I loved it. It was fun to be on the other side of the game and actually get to teach what you’ve learned.”

She moved to Des Moines with her husband, Dana, so he could go to school to study physical therapy.

That led her to coaching at Saydel High School, and eventually Boone.

Schmidt took over the Toreadors after a stellar 2014 season, and they’ve been gradually rebuilding since.

“A ton of individual improvement and team bonding,” she said, “but not necessarily in terms of winning and losing.”

How do you handle wins and losses as a player, compared to coaching?

“I think it’s something I’m still learning,” Schmidt said. “I think as a player, if you go home after a loss you think about what you did and you can go out and shoot some more hoops or you can run a few more laps. I can improve myself. I can do better.

“And as a coach, I really wish I could just physically put in the effort to make myself a better coach.”

There’s also a constant psychological maneuvering, motivating young players and building their confidence, without being overconfident.

“What I like about coaching is it’s not too black and white,” Schmidt said. “There’s a lot of modifying to it.”

Now, a mother of two children ages 2 and 5, Schmidt maintains her love of sports and still steps onto the court whenever possible.

It brings Schmidt back to her roots, and reminds her of why she loves to compete.

“Keeping your passion for it has been a big deal as well,” Schmidt said. “Not just sitting on the sidelines, but in some way participating in your sport and continuing to learn.”

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Warm Brown Rice and Chickpea Salad With Photo by Goran Kosanovic/Washington Post

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Another use for summer’s sweet cherries: In a simple grain salad

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’m never surprised at how much I love cherries. They’re a summertime favorite, a member of my beloved stone-fruit family. But I tend to eat them out of hand, or perhaps as part of the morning trifecta of yogurt-fruit-granola.

Or, of course, baked into a cobbler or pie.

Every now and again, though, I am surprised at just how good they are in a salad: alongside farro and pecans, say, or chopped spinach and goat cheese, where their firm texture either stands up well next to crunchy and chewy things or counterbalances soft ingredients.

The salad possibilities can be very simple, too, because the cherries lend some of their juice to the whole affair, eliminating (much the way tomatoes do) the need for a constructed dressing.

It could hardly get much simpler than the brown rice salad I found in “Everyday Vegetarian,” the new cookbook by the editors of Cooking Light (Oxmoor House). The stars of the salad are quartered sweet cherries, mixed into a base of warm, precooked brown rice (from a package if you don’t have any leftover) along with chickpeas, green onions, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. On top goes a little goat cheese.

Take it to work for lunch, pack it for a picnic side dish or eat it as a light supper, made heartier with the addition of roast vegetables or another (green) salad on the side. This is one of those dishes that’s just as flexible in the eating as it is in the making.

WARM BROWN RICE AND CHICKPEA SALAD WITH CHERRIES 4 servings, Healthy If you can’t find fresh cherries, use dried instead: Add 2 tablespoons boiling water to 1/4 cup unsweetened dried cherries, let them stand for 10 minutes, then drain and chop them.

If you don’t want to cook your own brown rice, look for pouches of precooked brown rice, such as Uncle Ben’s brand, or cooked/frozen brown rice, available at Whole Foods Market.

Adapted from “Everyday Vegetarian” by the editors of Cooking Light (Oxmoor House, 2017).

Ingredients 2 cups cooked brown rice, warmed 2 scallions, trimmed and chopped (about 1/4 cup) 1/4 cup lightly packed chopped fresh basil leaves

BY JOE YONAN Washington Post

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (may substitute white wine or sherry vinegar) 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more as needed 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more as needed 32 fresh cherries (about 9 ounces), pitted and quartered (see headnote) 1 3/4 cups home-cooked or no-salt-added canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained (from one 15-ounce can) 2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled or in pinches (about 1/2 cup) Steps Combine the brown rice, scallions, basil, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, cherries and chickpeas in a mixing bowl, stirring to incorporate. Taste, and add more salt and pepper, as needed.

Divide among individual bowls, sprinkle each evenly with the goat cheese, and serve.

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Grilled Plums With Goat Cheese and Honey-Thyme Drizzle.

Photo by Deb Lindsey/Washington Post

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This fruit and cheese dessert is unexpectedly luscious — and healthful

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plate fresh fruit and cheese is a delightful way to cap off a summer meal. But add some heat, honey and herbs to that basic pairing and you wind up with a sensuous, out-of-the-ordinary dessert that has a real wow factor.

In the accompanying recipe, the heat of the grill warms ripe plum halves just enough to caramelize them a bit and release their juices while the char that forms on their cut sides gives them a slightly savory flair.

Pretty much any large stone fruit, such as peaches or nectarines, would work as a substitute. They key is to use whatever looks and smells the most beautifully fresh and ripe. The fruit is served warm, or at room temperature, with goat cheese — but not the usual, plain goat cheese.

Here, chevre is whipped with honey and a dash of milk into a smooth, dollop-able cream and then chilled, so its texture resembles a dense whipped cream. It tastes rich and lightly sweet, with the intriguing undertone of the distinctively grassy cheese.

Each plum half is topped a dollop of the cream, punctuated with a plump blackberry and finished with a drizzle of honey, lemon juice and fresh thyme. The herb adds a unique floral essence and is a pleasant element of surprise because thyme is more typically associated with savory dishes than dessert. Basil or mint would work well, too, when you want to switch it up.

The result is a fruit-and-cheese plate taken to new heights, one that is at once sweet, savory, earthy and heavenly.

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BY ELLIE KRIEGER Special to the Washington Post

4 medium ripe plums (about 20 ounces total) 1/2 tablespoon olive oil 8 blackberries (about 3 1/2 ounces total) Steps Combine the goat cheese, milk and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the honey in a mixing bowl. Use a handheld electric mixer to beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until creamy. Makes about 1/2 cup. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and up to 3 days.

Whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey, the lemon juice and the thyme in a small bowl.

Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Cut the plums in half through the stem end, pit them and brush the cut sides with oil. Grill the plums, cut sides down, for 2 to 4 minutes, until they have softened a bit and there’s some char on the plums’ flesh. Transfer cut sides up to a plate to cool slightly.

Serve the plums with a dollop of the goat cheese cream, each topped with a blackberry and drizzled with the honey-thyme mixture.

GRILLED PLUMS WITH GOAT CHEESE AND HONEY-THYME DRIZZLE 4 servings Whipping goat cheese with honey and a little milk makes a smooth cream with a rich, lightly sweet flavor that has the intriguing undertone of the distinctively grassy cheese. The cream is a treat served atop just about any fresh fruit, but here it is spooned onto grilled plums and drizzled with honey, lemon and thyme.

The plums can be cooked on an outdoor grill as well.

MAKE AHEAD: The goat cheese cream needs to be refrigerated for at least 30 minutes before serving, and up to 3 days.

From nutritionist and cookbook author Ellie Krieger.

Ingredients 2 1/2 ounces soft goat cheese (chevre) 3 tablespoons low-fat (2 percent) or whole milk 3 1/2 tablespoons honey, divided 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme leaves FACETS | AUGUST 2017 | 25

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Chilled fresh tomato soup garnished with basil, salt and pepper is paired with drop biscuits and prepared for two. Photo by Morgan Timms/St. Louis Post-Dispath/ TNS

Recipes for when you are cooking for two CHILLED FRESH TOMATO SOUP Yield: 2 servings 2 pounds tomatoes, cored 1 shallot, sliced thin 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled 2 teaspoons tomato paste 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika, optional Pinch cayenne pepper Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar, plus extra for seasoning 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or mint 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with nonstick spray.

2. Cut 1 pound of the tomatoes in half horizontally and arrange cut side up on prepared sheet. Arrange shallot and garlic in single layer over 1 area of the sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, then remove shallot and garlic. Return sheet to oven and continue to roast tomatoes until softened but not browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

3. Peel garlic cloves and place in blender with roasted shallot and roasted tomatoes. Cut remaining 1 pound tomatoes into eighths and add to blender along with tomato paste, paprika, if using, cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process until smooth, about 30 seconds. With blender running, slowly add oil until incorporated.

4. Pour puree through fine-mesh strainer into nonreactive bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids. Stir in vinegar. Cover and refrigerate until well-chilled and flavors meld, at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

5. To serve, stir soup to recombine and season with salt and extra vinegar to taste. Ladle soup into individual chilled serving bowls and sprinkle with basil. Season with pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Recipe from “The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen

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BY DANIEL NEMAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch

1. Pat steak dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Lay steak in skillet and cook until well-browned on first side, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip steak, reduce heat to medium, and continue to cook until meat registers 120 to 125 degrees (for medium rare), 1 to 4 minutes. Transfer steak to cutting board, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest while finishing salad. Pour off fat from skillet but do not wipe clean.

2. Whisk remaining 3 tablespoons oil, vinegar, shallot and mustard together in a large bowl.

3. Add mushrooms and 1 tablespoon vinaigrette to nowempty skillet and cook over medium heat until mushrooms are golden, 6 to 8 minutes; let cool slightly.

4. Add spinach and capers to remaining vinaigrette and gently toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Divide spinach among individual plates or transfer to serving platter and top with mushrooms. Slice steak thin and arrange over salad. Sprinkle with blue cheese and serve.

Recipe from “The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook,” by America’s Test Kitchen

STEAK, MUSHROOM AND BLUE CHEESE SALAD Yield: 2 servings 1 (8-ounce) boneless strip steak, 3/4-inch thick, trimmed Salt and pepper 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 small shallot, minced 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 8 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and quartered 4 ounces (4 cups) baby spinach 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and minced 1 ounce blue cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup) FACETS | AUGUST 2017 | 27

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BY M. CARRIE ALLAN Special to the Washington Post

The Negroni spinoff that’s a clear winner for hot weather

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here was a line to get into the Galleria dell’Accademia, where clots of tourists peered up at Michelangelo’s luminous David, his every line a rebuke to those of us neglecting our physical and spiritual fitness.

There was a longer line to get inside the hulking Duomo, its glowing interior of saints gesturing toward centuries of struggle and grace. There were lines to the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Vecchio, even for the tubs of gelato I wanted to plant my face in.

There were lines, in fact, for virtually every Florentine delight we wanted to visit when we were in Italy last year — save one. We walked right into Caffe Giacosa, formerly Caffe Casoni, reputed birthplace of the Negroni.

The Negroni may not be the Sistine Chapel or Neapolitan pizza, but it's one of Italy’s great gifts: a three-part harmony of gin, sweet vermouth and bitter Campari, typically served over ice with a slice of orange. My husband ordered the classic, while I swerved toward the white Negroni, and we spent the hour sipping our drinks and eating salty snacks that complemented them perfectly, watching the lines-to-be pass us by.

I'll drink a Negroni any time of year, but I find bitter spirits particularly appealing in these sweltering months.

On the tongue, bitterness can balance sweetness, cut through fat and add intrigue to salt (think of how bitter broccoli rabe finds its apex matched with sharp provolone). These are matters of the palate, but I find bitterness also slices through heat and humidity, a sharp slap to the system.

Much has been written on the history of the Negroni, the most credible story being one of an Italian count Negroni who, in 1919, asked the bartender at Caffe Casoni to boost his Americano (Campari, vermouth and soda) by subbing gin for the soda. In the years of the cocktail renaissance, the Negroni has spawned hundreds of variations.

These bitter apples sometimes fall far from the tree.

Once I started encountering “negronis” with banana liqueur, muddled basil, lemon soda and so forth, I began to fear the nomenclature of the Negroni was drifting the way the martini did in the 80s, when people started hanging a “tini" on the end of any drink served in the same kind of glass. And as bartender and author Gary Regan argued in his 2015 book, “The Negroni,” “These fits of fancy often lead to interesting drinks (but, I'd argue, rarely better ones).” I tend to concur: Last fall when someone pitched me on a “pumpkin spice Negroni,” a small part of me died.

Still, as Nick Farrell, who often plays with bitter 28 | FACETS | AUGUST 2017

liqueurs (known in Italy as amari) in his role as spirits manager at Iron Gate Restaurant in Washington, points out, “you can't ever really be super pedantic and draw bright lines and say 'Well, this one is a Negroni and this one isn’t,’ because it is a drinking culture, and it all gets fuzzy after a while.”

Plus, many Negroni spinoffs are worth investigating; the “white” Negroni itself is one. Invented by bartender Wayne Collins in 2001, the recipe is an equal-parts split of gin, the aperitif Lillet Blanc and Suze, a bitter gentian-based liqueur — and it too is now regularly spun into new drinks.

At Caffe Giacosa in Florence, I ordered the white Negroni specifically because I wanted to taste its Suze substitute, a golden liqueur called Biancosarti, which isn’t available in the States. Salers, the oldest of the gentian liqueurs, and Avèze are accessible here, and at Iron Gate, Farrell likes to make a white Negroni with an American gentian, Breckenridge Bitter. His first white Negroni was made by the restaurant’s former bartender, Jeff Faile, who dropped the gentian liqueur in favor of gin, white vermouth, and the bittersweet Cocchi Americano.

Despite their similar builds, the original and white Negronis are very different, primarily because the bitterness of gentian liqueurs is quite distinct from that of Campari. Due to brand secrecy around the specific botanicals, it’s hard to be certain about components of these liqueurs, but although Campari likely contains some gentian — the plant that lends bitter bite to countless amari — liqueurs such as Salers and Suze specifically highlight gentian’s herbal and floral notes, where Campari leans toward the bitterness of citrus and spice.

If you put a classic Negroni and a white one beneath the nose of a blindfolded bartender, she’d be able to tell the difference based solely on their aromatics. When I’m composing drinks and deciding the specific kind of bitterness I want, I tend to think of the red bitters as variations of Brooding Orange, the gentians as variations of Angry Lawn.

This has been complicated by Luxardo’s new Bitter Bianco, which places gentian more subtly within a spectrum of other flavors: The Bitter Bianco is citrusy on the nose, like freshly cut orange peels, and has citrus and pear and an almost honeysuckle-like note in its bitterness. Matteo Luxardo, a sixth-generation member of the family and export director for the company, told me they infuse the liqueur with some wormwood at the end of the process, giving it a lingering bitter finish. By design, it’s closer in flavor to Luxardo's own red bitter than it is to the

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Negroni Bianco. Photo by Deb Lindsey/Washington Post

gentian liqueurs it visually resembles. It certainly provides a new means for exploring the Negroni format.

If you're a Negroni lover looking to create a variation that soars while staying loyal to the original template, Farrell suggests getting to know what your components taste like, beyond simply knowing that amaro is bitter. You're looking for flavors that go together, “so knowing that Campari is more orange-forward or that Montenegro has that orange plus some vanilla. ... Once you have a better understanding of flavor affinities, you can make those matches” with base spirits and particular vermouths or aperitif wines. Find components that you like to drink on their own, or with a splash of club soda, and then think about what spices and flavors complement them.

You may land somewhere far from the drink’s Florentine roots, but very close to delizioso. And you won't have to fight any tourists to get into your liquor cabinet.

NEGRONI BIANCO 1 serving A variation of the white Negroni recipe originally invented by Wayne Collins, this adjusts the classic proportions to accommodate the Luxardo Bitter Bianco, a clear bittersweet liqueur that's milder and more citrusy than many gentian-based liqueurs. You'll want a juniper-forward gin for this — Junipero is a good option, but a classic like Tanqueray or Beefeater will work, too. The celery bitters are optional, but add great aromatics.

Luxardo Bianco is available at Ace Beverage and Batch 13, both in the District.

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Hierba Amarilla. Photo by Deb Lindsey/Washington Post

Adapted from a Luxardo-branded recipe.

Ingredients Ice 1 ounce London dry gin 1 ounce blanc/bianco vermouth 1 ounce Luxardo Bitter Bianco liqueur (see headnote) 2 dashes celery bitters (optional) Grapefruit peel or orange slice, for garnish Steps Place a large ice cube in a rocks glass and hold in the freezer while you make the drink.

Fill a mixing glass with ice. Add the gin, vermouth, liqueur and the bitters, if using, and stir for about 15 seconds, or until well chilled.

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Strain into the chilled rocks glass.

Express the grapefruit peel over the surface of the drink (by twisting it) and drop it in, or simply add the orange slice).

HIERBA AMARILLA 1 serving This is a mezcal-based white Negroni riff, in which the grassy notes of bittersweet, gentian-based Suze meet earthy mezcal. Del Maguey’s Vida works fine here, but if you have a particularly grassy or smoky bottle, give it a whirl.

Don’t skip the lemon peel garnish.

From Spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan.

Ingredients Ice 1 1/4 ounces mezcal 1 ounce Cocchi Americano aperitif wine 3/4 ounce Suze liqueur Lemon or orange peel, for garnish Steps Chill a Nick and Nora glass or cocktail (martini) glass.

Fill a mixing glass with ice, then add the mezcal, wine and liqueur.

Stir for about 15 seconds, or until chilled.

Strain into the chilled glass.

Express the citrus peel over the surface of the drink (by twisting it).

Press it against the rim of the glass, then drop it into the drink.

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