Posts Tagged ‘cocktail’

**sings** It’s the most… wonderful time… of the yeaaar!

Okaaay I know that’s actually a Christmas song but it’s far more appropriate for me to sing it during Halloween. This weekend/day fills me with more joy than almost anything else and I decided to celebrate this year with a nice little shindig in my apt. Not as much of a production as my Oscar party, but still just as fun. I wanted to keep the food simple, seasonal, and a little on the playful side, so I whipped up a delicious cheese ball and some finger foods (not literally), and a deliciously spicy and sinful punch. Everything was pretty easy and left plenty of time to focus on my costume… which was one of the most ambitious things I’ve ever done.

I’m a Lichtenstein painting!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

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I attended a very special wedding this past weekend. Let me stand you to a mint julep and tell you all about it.

During college I was notorious for getting floormates and friends addicted to my favorite television shows. Buffy, LOST, Firefly. Only one person joined me in my addiction to a 1980′s TV miniseries about pre- and post-Civil War America, and that was my best friend and roommate Rach. We were addicted to North and South and watched it every time we moved into a new room. Every time we moved out. On weekends. On sick days. We loved Orry and George, their friendship, the ridiculous accents, the costumes. Everything.

We even made a trek out to Charleston, SC to visit the houses where they filmed it and had one of the best vacations ever.

So when Rach got engaged to a fellow North & South fan (the only other person we ever met at Cornell who a) knew what North & South was and b) loved it – obviously a match made in heaven!), she asked me to make cupcakes with a perfect little nod to their favorite miniseries. Mint julep cupcakes.

I was honored to be asked to make the “wedding cake” for them, and I wanted to do it right. Knob Creek in the batter, silver cupcake liners (to represent those gorgeous silver glasses the drink is normally served in), and fresh mint leaves on top. Both the batter and frosting were a gorgeous pale green due to copious amounts of créme de menthe, but the balance was there. They were rich but refreshing, and had that bite of liquor without the aftereffects. I was incredibly proud to serve them and even prouder that they were served at an unconventional wedding done the bride and groom’s way – which is what every wedding should be.

So congrats to Rach & Brandon! May your love be as everlasting as Orry and George’s Madeline’s.

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I almost entitled this post “stress-relieving whiskey sours” because that’s what they are.

Life has been a little off the rails the past few months (thus the lack of updates). Lots of change, most of it not in the positive realm. Yet I persevere. I persevere with optimism, exercise endorphins, and fine bourbon. Preferably stirred with homemade sour mix.

I only started to truly appreciate whiskey and bourbon in the past couple years of my life. Once my mother learned of it she gushed how it was my grandmother’s favorite spirit and I must have inherited it. We even share the same favorite drink: the whiskey sour.

I stray. I make mine with bourbon. I make fresh sour mix (none of that overly sugared disgusting bottled stuff.) They’re delicious and refreshing and everything you need to wind down after a long, hard day. Especially a long, hard day that’s 91° warm with 90% humidity.

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Everyone seems to be choosing the Pimm’s Cup as their favorite summer drink this year. Not me. Pimm’s is my favorite anytime drink. I don’t discriminate based on season.

It is incredibly refreshing and bubbly and has citrus garnish, making it the ideal summer cooler, but the underlying pungent, almost spicy nature of the cocktail also makes it one of my favs for fall…winter… and even spring. Pimm’s No. 1 is a gin-based liqueur infused with spices, fruit, and botanicals. Combine it with ginger ale and some thin slices of cucumber (plus lemon and orange for me), and you’ve got a Pimm’s Cup.

I love cocktails like this because they’re simple, require no special tools, and can easily be served for a crowd. Just muddle some slices of citrus and cucumber, add the Pimm’s, and top with with ginger ale. Sip. Savor. Sigh.

Last week at PubWest, standing around with a drink in your hand was a very popular activity for me. You go to mixers, out to dinner, meet for drinks, etc., and naturally, a cocktail is the accessory of choice.  Although I usually go the vodka cranberry route at those events because frankly it’s hard to screw up, I was craving nothing but Tom Collins(es) the entire time I was there.

I owe my affection towards Tom Collins (Have you met Tom Collins?) to my friend Sara Barnes. We met up for drinks when I was in DC a couple years ago and she ordered the fizzy, citrusy gin cocktail and thus introduced me to Mr. Collins. I wasn’t crazy about the drink then but retried it later after gaining a love of gin and now adore them on occasion. My biggest issue is 99% of the time when you order them at any bar, they’re made with overly sickly-saccharine sweet-n-sour mix (blech) and taste little like the pure, fresh version the original recipe is from. So here’s my ode to the Tom Collins.

Some would say I desecrate it by using lime juice in addition to lemon but I think it gives it a nice zing. Something I’d love to try is a similar drink I had at the Cup Cafe in the Hotel Congress while I was in Tucson: the “Indian Ice Water.” They used Tanqueray Rangpur, lime juice, sugar and soda. Sort of like a Tom Collins meets mojito. Yum.